Blazing Jupiter, the Jovial Star, my personal magical azimuth, plus Perseid meteors wafting about, burning out as do our souls, as we arrived home from Seattle Opera’s new production of Tristan und Isolde. Read more »
La Cieca must say that, for a chick, Katharina Wagner sure doesn’t talk much. But perhaps her reticence is something of a blessing, since it prevents her from spouting such facile generalizations as “…’Die Meistersinger,’ Hitler’s favorite Wagner opera.” Read more »
With over 2,600 votes cast over the course of last week, you, the cher public have spoken about which operas in the Met's repertoire will be de rigueur, can't miss, where-the-elite-meet Sternstunden, and which productions promise no more than a great big snooze. The top ten Met offerings will be Die Walküre, Das Rheingold, Le Comte Ory, Boris Godunov, Nixon in China, Don Carlo, Pelléas et Mélisande, Wozzeck, Capriccio and La Fanciulla del West. La Cieca needs hardly point out, need she, that of next season's seven new productions, six are in the top ten. Read more »
You know how La Cieca gets when one of her darling Regie productions gets dissed sight unseen, as happened on these shores with last Sunday's unveiling of the Hans Neuenfels Lohengrin at Bayreuth. (Not so much on this site, because La Cieca is happy to report that here at dear parterre.com all schools of opinion—even stupid ones—are given a full measure of respect.) Read more »
The premiere of Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival (starring, of course, Jonas Kaufmann) has just started. You can listen to the live broadcast here. Read more »
I'd never actually seen a production of Lohengrin before I agreed to review a new Decca DVD of Richard Jones's staging for the Bayerische Staastoper, starring Jonas Kaufmann, so I hope I've got this right: It's about this architect named Elsa, who lives in an Orwellian steampunk Germany that has videocamera technology but still dresses like it's the Third Reich. Her brother has disappeared — "MISSING" posters are everywhere — and Friedrich of Telramund accuses her of killing him. He is rescued at the last minute from being burnt at the stake when a nameless time-traveler arrives, carrying an animatronic swan. After a comical swordfight, he bests her accuser (by using magic powers making the hilt of his sword catch on fire), and introduces the local population to v-necks, trakkies and trainers. Read more »
Take a Wild Ride with a Valkyrie!! Yes, that's what all the signs say around Old Baghdad-by-the-Bay.... So, fasten your seatbelts, y'all, it's going to be a bumpy night! As it turned out, Die Walküre was an unexpectedly wonderful ride, marking the debut of someone who could be a very important new Brünnhilde, Nina Stemme. All were good to exceptional, but this was a night when the title character, for once, rightfully stood out. Read more »
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