You can call Robert Lepage many things (and the critics have!), but one thing you cannot call him is “inflexible.” Having already tweaked a number of details in his Ring production that did not create the desired effect in their first viewing, the Canadian Cagliostro is now in the process of restaging whole segments of the cycle for the Met’s 2012-13 presentation. A glimpse at the new look for the final scene of Die Walküre after the jump. Read more »
Daniel Barenboim does not want to conduct Berg’s Lulu. Or so it seems. Having waited decades into a rich and duplicative opera career to tackle this now-standard seven-scene work, he opts to truncate it, and not to the five scenes accessible while the composer’s widow was alive. No. The music director of Berlin’s well-heeled refugee Staatsoper Unter den Linden, operating at the Schiller Theater while its home undergoes a three-year retrofit, has acquiesced to a disfiguring and fruitless decision by one Andrea Breth. Read more »
Rusalka, in the marvelous production by Stefan Herheim, is now streaming live from La Monnaie. La Cieca is sure the cher public will not be shy about sharing their opinions about this staging!
In breaking news today, Margaret Thatcher announces her resignation as British Prime Minister…
The remarkable new/old production of La bohème from Norwegian Opera, directed by Stefan Herheim…
“Though Mr. Herheim’s work is rigorous, it is also fun, and this Rusalka is serious but the opposite of dour.”
It was indeed a curious sensation making a late morning trek to East 59th Street, a block devoted to showro0ms for bizarre upscale furniture and lighting fixtures, and then to enter a boutique cinema specializing in Hindi films (the big coming attraction right now is Desi Boyz) — and all this before sitting down in an auditiorium half- full of retirees to see a live performance of Don Giovanni from La Scala. That it worked as a Mozart experience I think can be chalked up to two factors: Robert Carsen‘s production and the constantly improving (if still imperfect) HD technology.
La Cieca is just back from the HD of Don Giovanni from La Scala: excellent singing through the whole cast, strong conducting (if tending to the slow side) by Daniel Barenboim, and a smart, chic production from Robert Carsen that frankly makes Michael Grandage look like an utter bumpkin. The presentation will repeat here in New York (and elsewhere) in coming days.
Cher Public