This means war
Considering the size and the logistics for staging Les Troyens, every new production of Berlioz’s epic masterpiece is a special event.
Stéphane Degout
11 pieces since 2010 — in 7 roles, at 5 companies, most often at Metropolitan Opera.
11
pieces
7
roles
5
companies
17
years
Role Chorèbe
Role Don Chisciotte
Woeful countenance
“Trove Thursday” steps in with one of René Jacobs’s favorite and rarest rediscoveries, Francesco Conti’s marvelous Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena from 1719.
Role Hamlet
One that was a woman
Earlier this month the opera world was stunned to learn of the death of Belgian soprano Jodie Devos who died of breast cancer at just 35, and Chris’s Cache remembers her with a broadcast from last November of Devos as Ophélie in Hamlet, her only US appearance.
Role Nilakantha
Exotic asphyxiation
Both the mise-en-scène and the musical direction amplified the absolute worst tendencies of the Opéra Comique’s Lakmé in the most tasteless and baffling ways.
Role Pelléas
La lune est encore sur la mer
There was a general feeling of homecoming in the hall on Friday evening in anticipation of what promised to be a special return visit on many levels.
The sea was angry that day, my friends
It’s a sad story, really. Debussy and Maeterlinck had what the kids would call Major Drama over who was to sing Melisande (Mary Garden vs. the person you’ve never heard of) and so Maeterlinck didn’t see Pelleas until years after Debussy had died, so he never got to be like “word!” or, I suppose, “mot!”
Role Pinocchio
Tenors gone wild
Among several fine productions at Aix this summer, Dmitri Tcherniakov’s brilliantly conceived and executed Carmen proved a game changer.
Role the King
Lovely and never violent
There was a lot expectation about the new opera by George Benjamin and Martin Crimp. Their previous collaboration, Written on Skin, was an enormous critical and public success, earning the work a place in the exclusive club of 21th century classics with selected works by Saariaho, Heggie and Birtwistle.