Car Park Casta Diva
Fine music-making meets a clunker of a production in La Monnaie‘s revival of Norma
la monnaie
Vigorous to rigorous
Dmitry Matvienko led a performance of Mussorgsky and Shostakovich at La Monnaie with meticulous rectitude.
Drama therapy
Carmen in Brussels is dramatically vibrant, if vocally stretched
The twilight zone
As I mentioned in my last article (on the subject of Calixto Bieito’s production of Das Rheingold at the Paris Opera), in what the French might call une histoire belge, La Monnaie’s Ring cycle started with Romeo Castellucci as its director, and is now ending with Pierre Audi.
Götterdämmerung
The conclusion of Romeo Castellucci‘s Pierre Audi‘s Ring cycle live from Brussels
The best way to spread Christmas cheer
Back to Brussels last Sunday for my third new opera of the season (after The Time of our Singing, also at La Monnaie, and Picture a day like this, at the Opéra Comique): Mikael Karlsson’s Fanny and Alexander, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek.
Fanny and Alexander
A live broadcast from Brussels of a new opera by Mikael Karlsson and Royce Vavrek
Neither fish nor fowl
Nigel Wilkinson reviews Kris Defoort‘s kaleidoscopic, unsettling new opera in Brussels.
Turandot
Ewa Vesin, Stefano La Colla, Venera Gimadieva, and Michele Pertusi lead a live broadcast from Brussels conducted by Ouri Bronchti
Das Rheingold
Alain Altinonglu conducts Gábor Bretz, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Anett Frisch, Scott Hendricks, and Nicky Spence live from Brussels.
City of night
Krzysztof Warlikowski‘s controversial production of Don Giovanni at La Monnaie is now streaming online.
The naked and the dead
The controversial production of La traviata from La Monnaie directed by Andrea Breth is now available for viewing online.
Trivium pursuit
Since our usual (and always welcome) catalog of webcast radio opera is temporarily interrupted this week (get well soon, Betsy!), La Cieca offers as an alternative a video presentation that will become available at 2:00 PM EST (20:00 CET): Enescu’s Oedipe, from La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels.
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).