Aix tremendae, salva me
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence confronts the living and the dead — and its own future — through audacious productions and an intimate world premiere.
Nina Stemme
68 pieces since 2010 — in 19 roles, at 20 companies, most often at Metropolitan Opera.
68
pieces
19
roles
20
companies
17
years
By role
By company
Metropolitan Opera 13
Wiener Staatsoper 4
Lyric Opera of Chicago 4
San Francisco Opera 3
Cleveland Orchestra 2
Vienna State Opera 2
Los Angeles Philharmonic 1
Mariinsky Theatre 1
Königliches Opernhaus Stockholm 1
New York Philharmonic 1
Opernhaus Zürich 1
Philadelphia Orchestra 1
Royal Opera House 1
Royal Swedish Opera 1
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin 1
Gothenberg Opera 1
The Cleveland Orchestra 1
Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 1
Washington National Opera 1
Bregenzer Festspiele 1
Role Amme
Role Arabella
Someday she’ll come along, the girl I love
In Richard Strauss’s Arabella, the heroine is consumed with finding the right man—der Richtige—but who is the right Arabella?
Role Ariadne
Some day her prince will come
I checked back in on the Met’s revival of Ariadne auf Naxos yesterday, after a messy first night one week ago that left much to the imagination. Tenor Lance Ryan had been sick that night, and the cover who took his place was not much healthier, throwing the whole cast into a panic mode that […]
I would like a waffle
La Cieca preens proudly to present a peerless pair of protégés (left to right) Squirrel and Maury D’Annato. The bromancers attended (or one should say “took in”) last night’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Met, and as of early this afternoon they were still deconstructing.
Role Brünnhilde
Burning woman
I count myself as privileged to have witnessed Götterdämmerungat the Royal Opera House during this season’s revival of Keith Warner’s Ring.
A choice, not an ecosystem
Washington National Opera’s first Ring Cycle came to a bittersweet conclusion this past Sunday, closing the door on an extraordinary three weeks in the opera house and a remarkable musical and theatrical achievement for the company.
Ring à la russe
Wagner is becoming an important calling card for Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre.
Ring around the Bay
Here goes with the End of the Gods and the End of these Ring reviews: Götterdämmerung was more of a mixed bag than the other operas, but still left a powerful impression. This was where Zambello’s choice to steer clear of heavy spectacle was most evident to me. The cost in grandeur was offset by […]
Side Partitur
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. […]
Role Dyer's Wife
Die Frau ohne Schatten
Tonight’s chat is late (10:00 PM EDT / 7:00 PM PDT) and based on a pay-per-view event, but….
Storm of the century
A sense of celebration was definitely in the air last Thursday at the Vienna State Opera.
Role Elektra
Last dance
If it is true that there are few respectable ways for people over 40 without small children to celebrate Halloween, a performance of Richard Strauss’ pioneering horror opera Elektra belongs on the short list.
Twisted sisters
Nina Stemme’s Elektra always seemed the sanest individual onstage never quite giving over to obsession or hysteria with a good line in mordant sarcasm and contempt.
In the baroque midwinter
It’s been a rough winter in Chicago, and an especially rough one for lead singers at Lyric Opera of Chicago
Revenge served cold
Of course, Stemme had the character’s frenzied fury at her father’s murderers in hand, but she had far more nuance—at times this Elektra was seductive, sympathetic, loving, even humorous in her bitterness.
Dancer in the dark
Patrice Chéreau‘s Elektra brims with ideas beyond its eschewing of the opera’s standard, hysterical trappings.
Bleeding love
I have always wanted to see a production of Strauss’ Elektra that made my ears bleed.
Bleak house
The haunted Mycenae of Patrice Chéreau’s enthralling production of Richard Strauss’s Elektra had seized its viewers in an unrelenting vise that never relaxed even at its quietly shattering conclusion.
Aged in blood
Simply put, Christine Goerke is a stupendous Elektra.
So I married an axe murderess
I think the sturdier of you will enjoy Nina Stemme’s Elektra from Saturday night at Wiener Staatsoper.
Role Elisabeth
Springtime for Wagner
Could Marek Janowski do for Wagner what the early music movement did for the Baroque and Classical repertory?
By Adriel
9 comments
Role Färberin
What we do in the shadows
The Wiener Staatsoper commemorated its 150th anniversary with a musically sensational presentation of Richard Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten.
Role Isolde
Höchste Lust!
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Philadelphia Orchestra, Stuart Skelton, and Nina Stemme in a Tristan und Isolde for the ages
‘Tristan’ minus one
Imagine my surprise then when I discovered a new recording of Tristan und Isolde released by Navona Records, a small label based in New Hampshire that primarily focuses on recitals of chamber music, solo works, and smaller ensemble pieces.
Wien disposition
Following classic recordings documenting the work of Karl Böhm and Herbert von Karajan. Orfeo’s 150 Years Wiener Staatsoper box moves on to new releases that are seeing their first incarnation on an officially available disc.
No view from the bridge
Mariusz Trelinski unveiled a rather gloomy, though musically satisfying, Tristan und Isolde.
Night and dreams
At the Opernhaus Zürich, the coat check is not optional.
Gould standard
Midway through his traversal of Wagner’s 10 mature operas for PentaTone, we’ve learned this about Marek Janowski:
Role Katerina
Crime of “Passion”
Bohuslav Martinu’s The Greek Passion has had a rough life.
Role Kostelnicka
Reconcilable differences
Cameron Kelsall reports on a transcendent Jenufa from the Cleveland Orchestra
To forgive, divine
Leos Janacek’s 1904 opera Jenufa could be a rather grim affair.
Role Kostelnička Buryjovka
Martial “La”
I’ve never had a better time in an opera house.
Role Leonore
About a boy
So what’s up with Nina Stemme’s Stimme?
Role Minnie
Golden ‘Girls’ season finale
The conclusion of our Fanciulla del West video overview in three parts looks at a trio of performances from the 2010s.
Hello from the other side
A woman reads from the Bible. There is a dance scene in a tavern. The discovery of blood gives away the protagonist.
Girl of the Golden North
Two years before she brought the role to Wiener Staatsoper in a production somewhat dominated by Jonas Kaufmann, soprano Nina Stemme sang her first-ever Minnie in La fanciulla del West at Stockholm’s Royal Opera.
Shadows on the silver screen
Strange as it is to encounter two such disparate works presented with the identical production concept, it’s odder still that the opera you’d think would be the slam dunk is anything but.
Role Nurse
Trick mirror
A recent conversation with a friend who has loved Die Frau ohne Schatten for twice as long as I have been alive revealed that we both had some unresolved questions about the plot.
Role Salome
The constant nymph
The old adage “the third time’s the charm” proved to be the case with me and Daphne, Richard Strauss’s ravishing bukolische Tragödie, when I recently heard it performed by Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra.
Grand, hotel
Sneaking in under the wire during the final week of May were two highpoints of New York’s opera season: the Cleveland Orchestra’s Salome with a stunning Nina Stemme and operamission’s revelatory US stage premiere of a complete edition of Handel’s first opera Almira.
Role Senta
Distinctive and unreservedly commendable
My sole live encounter with Seiji Ozawa coincided with his final appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, where he conducted its 2008 revival of Tchaikovsky’s Pikovaya Dama.
Role Turandot
Winter afternoon’s dream
It took the better part of a decade—including two high-profile cancelations—or New York to finally hear Anna Netrebko in recital.
Ice storm
Two months after my last visit to this season’s sixteen-performance run of Puccini’s Turandot, I returned eager to witness the latest chapter in the sporadic Met career of Nina Stemme. Rising stars Anita Hartig and Alexander Tsymbalyuk also appeared in their roles for the first time at the Met, so Monday evening turned into a […]
Enigma variation
On Thursday evening Jennifer Wilson “finally” made a belated, disappointing Met debut as Turandot.
The unanswered question
Would exciting American dramatic soprano Christine Goerke be the next great ice-princess we have been waiting for?
Role Woman/Judith
Wait and see
Erwartung and Bluebeard’s Castle returned to Lincoln Center Thursday night in a musically scintillating if theatrically mild double-bill by the New York Philharmonic.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
