In the fall of 2015, I ended a seven-year hiatus from live opera with two of Alban Berg’s staged works. Both were new productions—the first being William Kentridge’s palimpsestic abstraction of a Lulu at the Met, and a week later, David McVicar’s stark, Weimar Republic inspired Wozzeck at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Read more »
Today at 1:30 PM, live video of Médée from the Staatsoper Berlin featuring Sonya Yoncheva and Charles Castronovo. Discuss!
Celebrated conductor William Christie, widely considered among the foremost interpreters of early-music for modern audiences, and his acclaimed ensemble Les Arts Florissants have delighted audiences at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) for 30 years. On March 1st, they return with Rameau, maître à danser, featuring two rarely seen operas originally penned by 18th-century French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau for the court of Louis XV.
A pastoral atmosphere prevails throughout La naissance d’Osiris, a one-act ballet set to a libretto by Louis de Cahusac commissioned to celebrate the birth of the Duke of Berry, future Louis XVI; Daphnis et Églé tells the story of two lovers ignorant of their own love for each other, charming audiences with its use of classic European dance styles like sarabande, gavotte, gigue, minuet, tambourin, and contredanse.
Both operatic miniatures served as a symbol of the court’s opulence as well as a source of evening entertainment; together, as Rameau, maître à danser, they serve as a sublime showcase for Christie’s singular brilliance and the ravishing power of baroque music. At the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Mar 1—3. Read more »
Live video stream from the Staatsoper Stuttgart starting at 11:00 AM. Read more »
All politics is vocal in Jan Lauwers’ Salzburg production of the Monteverdi masterpiece, which will be streamed at 12:30 PM on Monday.
Legendary diva and long-time friend of parterre box Aprile Millo offers a gracious and witty speech in acceptance of the Verdi d’Oro Prize in Busseto.
Okay, it’s only a couple of preview clips, but La Cieca has to say she’s bewildered by what seems to be some cross-repertoire meta-direction at the Met, especially as concerns Kristine Opolais (not pictured).
No guarantees, because we are talking about Russian TV technology here, but apparently at 2:00 PM today there is a video stream of Manon Lescaut from the Bolshoi starring Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov!
La Cieca’s spies in Dresden report that there were HD cameras aplenty in the Semperoper at Wednesday night’s performance of Lohengrin.
Cher Public