More Staatsoper.TV

And while we’re on the subject, here’s the schedule for the rest of the 2018 – 2019 live-stream season from the Bayerische Staatsoper:

01/06/2019

Bedřich Smetana

Die verkaufte Braut (The Bartered Bride)

18.00 hours

Conductor: Tomáš Hanus

Director: David Bösch

Selene Zanetti (Marie), Pavol Breslik (Hans), Günther Groissböck (Kezal)

02/23/2019

Ernst Krenek

Karl V.

19.00 hours

Conductor: Erik Nielsen

Director: Carlus Padrissa – La Fura dels Baus

Bo Skovhus (Karl V.), Anne Schwanewilms (Isabella), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Franz I.)

03/30/2019

Giacomo Puccini
La fanciulla del West
19.00 hours
Conductor: James Gaffigan
Director: Andreas Dresen
Anja Kampe (Minnie), Brandon Jovanovich (Dick), John Lundgren (Jack)

07/06/2019

Richard Strauss
Salome
20.00 hours
Conductor: Kirill Petrenko
Director: Krzysztof Warlikowski
Marlis Petersen (Salome), Wolfgang Koch (Jochanaan), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Herodes), Michaela Schuster (Herodias)

Met in HD Encores – Three Left this Summer

Three Met in HD summer encores are left this year. I  missed the gorgeous Butterfly last week because I was out of town. 

I am not sure I need to see this Trovatore again, but I’ll probably go anyway. 

I used to have the Onegin on DVD (I cannot find it...who did I loan it to? Sorry; to whom did I loan it?); and I think it's a "don't miss" performance and production (all those leaves!). I reviewed this one, and here is the first part. My Uncle (my Dad's brother) had some thoughts about this production of his favorite opera. 

And I simply must see Nina Stemme as Turandot.

Here are the dates the encores playing in my neighborhood (all Wednesdays):

• 06/27 – Trovatore 7:00 PM
• 07/11 – Eugene Onegin 7:00 PM
• 07/18 – Turandot 7:00 PM

Herheim’s Boheme – Must See DVD

So, this arrived yesterday. Everyone leave me alone. 

It’s a very Boheme Sunday. I’ll be back later to discuss. 

Turandot in Torino – Find the Diva

OK, so imagine you're a diva who can actually sing the role of Turandot. And you get hired for a production. And and the director says, "You'll never be on stage alone. You will be surrounded by the female chorus, and they will all be dressed exactly like you and move exactly like you. And they all be will  lip-synching your part with you. [Ed.: and some will over-act*.]  And, you will lip-synch all the choral parts with them. So most of the audience won't even be able to tell you're the actual diva."

Where's Waldo Turandot?

"Hmmmm," you think in your diva brain, "I am not that egotistical, I can handle that."

And then the director says, "Oh by the way, the opera ends when Liu dies—there's no big final happy ending duet. In fact, you die when Liu dies, and that's it." If you're still on board, then you are an exceptional diva!

So, they ended the performance where Puccini stopped writing, much as Arturo Toscanini did at its premiere almost 100 years ago. Toscanini stopped there because he wasn't pleased with either of Alfano's endings. And although the opera's also been completed by Luciano Berio (!!!), that ending didn't appeal to this director and maestro either. So they decided to follow Toscanini's lead. This shifts the focus away from Turandot's (less than convincing anyway) transformation from ice princess to love diva. And that's where Liu comes back in. She is in love with Calaf simply because he was nice to her. Not because she's bloodthirsty, vengeful, and unavailable. Calaf always seems more interested in "conquering" Turandot than actually loving her (or being in love with her). If he wanted love, Liu is right there for him. He's kind of a Pinkerton to me. But I digress.

Madama Butterfly “en Cinema” – so what?

As pop-star Basia (what’s she up to these days?) once sang, “Hello again, it’s me!” (the actual song title is A New Day for You from her Time and Tide album.)

The new production of Madama Butterfly from the Teatro Real in Madrid is wonderfully sung and played. (Some sing better than others, of course.) It happens to be Independence Day here in the U.S.; so, it seems oddly appropriate to watch this “ugly American” tale. In reality, this is the first absolutely free day I’ve had in a while. And it was just broadcast (streamed) live on the Opera Platform (OP) on 30 June.

Sadly, when you click to watch it on demand, you get the following message: “Sorry, this video is no longer available.” However, if you scroll down further, you’ll learn that there were “complications during the live streaming.” So instead of “no longer available,” it’s really only “not available yet.” 

Anyway, Teatro Real also live-streamed it on their Facebook page and you can find that on YouTube (with Spanish subtitles.) It’s a beautiful production, and it's the description on the OP site that tempted me to watch an opera that is low on my “Operas I Love” list:

Director Mario Gas sets his new interpretation of the opera on the stage of Madrid’s Teatro Real in a 1930’s film studio where they are working on a film adaptation of Puccini’s opera. Gas opens the opera’s plot up by adding a film crew, offering two interpretations simultaneously: the acting in front of the camera and the actual film.

What the director actually does is merely capitalize on the current trope of live streaming the opera on screens above the stage (see La Clemenza di Tito from La Monnaie, where it’s a news camera crew doing the filming; and several Don Giovannis in which one or more of the singers use their iPhones to live stream their antics.) In Clemenza and Giovanni the cameras/projections added another dimension to the story.

In this Butterfly, I kept waiting for the “film” layer to add new ideas; maybe showing us the relationship of the singers to one another off camera. However, all the cameras and crew do is get in the way, distancing us from the drama. Maybe that’s what the director intended. I guess I’ve been spoiled by Stefan Herheim. I’ve read about his Butterfly (I wonder if a video exists) in which Puccini has an active role; he had a subplot involving the Statue of Liberty (no, that was his Manon Lescaut); guest appearances by Manon, Mimi, and Tosca; and the concept that neither Puccini or the soprano want her to die; but she does anyway. That’s opera.

Hello, Ragazzi! (Part Three)

Fantasy Opera Casting: 

Stemme, Kaufmann, and friends in the Carsen staging.

Hello, Ragazzi! (Part Two)

I just noticed that it's been about four months since my last post. I have been watching and listening to and thinking about opera...just not writing about it lately. So, I am trying to decide whether to spew all my thoughts out in this one post, or spread them out over a few days. I think I will spread them out.

So, last night I saw the Met in HD encore of the 2014 broadcast of Cosi Fan Tutte. This post is not about that. Seeing Cosi led me to binge-reading older Cosi posts on my own blog and at The Earworm. This post is not about what I learned during this late-night binge-read. 

This post also is not about the new high-end theater that hosts the Met transmissions (wine and cheese at intermission). This post is about is the other opera series—or what’s left of it—at my local high-end cinema this year. There is one more opera in August. This post is about that opera. 

That opera is Puccini’s La fanciulla del west from La Scala. I am pretty sure I want to see that! But before I buy my tickets, I wanted to find out more. (The cinema website is not helpful about details. I guess they figure either you want to see it or you don’t.)

So, this is the Robert Carsen production—my curiosity is officially piqued­—with a typically Robert Carsen meta-theater concept, and what the Bachtrack review calls a “final, brilliant coup de théȃtre [that] brings us full circle.” It seems Mr. Carsen has taken the spaghetti western concept and really run with it. The opera begins and ends in a movie theater. OK, now I gotta go see it. But before I do, I research a little more. 

More Miah (Interview from 2011) Plus Sarah and John Mark

I was actually doing a search on tenor John Mark Ainsley, which led me to a 2008 interview with mezzo Sarah Connolly, which (obviously?) led me to this Miah Persson interview from 2011. As we know MP became an amazing Donna Elvira and Governess (in Turn of the Screw); and she turned out a rather charming Adina in L'Elisir. So, meanwhile, here she is in (for me) some unexpected repertoire. Can you imagine her Violetta? Sigh!

OK since I mentioned JMA and SC, here are some clips from them, too 

(in more expected repertoire):

Puccini: Manon Lescaut Webcast from Bayerische Staatsoper 7/31/2015

July 31, 2015, 8.15 p.m. (C.E.T.)

Giacomo Puccini

Manon Lescaut

New production

Musical Direction: Alain Altinoglu

Stage Direction: Hans Neuenfels

With Kristine Opolais, Jonas Kaufmann a.o.

Neuenfels, Kaufmann, and Opolais – More about Manon Lescaut

I was going all nostalgic (for the summer...I have a short memory) and looking for the recording I made when BBC Radio 3 broadcast Manon Lescaut from the Royal Opera House. Of course that file has gone missing. After trolling the various disc drives where my music goes to hide, I gave up and googled it, thinking someone else must have recorded the broadcast. 

Well, I did find it, for 7 bucks, which I don’t care to spend on a questionable mp3 download. But better yet, I found this:

Interviews with the director, conductor, and stars of the Bayerische Staatsoper production. It's amazing what you find when you're looking for something else!

I also found this trailer:

In Other Staatsoper News - Manon Lescaut vs. Hans Neuenfels

The new production of Manon Lescaut at the Bayerische Staatsoper is produced/directed by the ever divisive Hans Neuenfels (I love his work, but many don't!) Possibly redeeming the production (or in my case, making it even more exciting) are the two leads: none other than Jonas and Kristine!

The opera will be broadcast, but not till next summer. Meanwhile be on the lookout for (probably) scathing reviews of the production. See more pics at the Staatsoper website.

And here are a few reviews (I am sure there are more somewhere) to tide us over, tempt us, or make us certain we don't want to see it. (Check all that apply.)

Bachtrack (in English)

Der Neue Merker (auf Deutsch)

Come on Manon, let's go!

I used to think (in my young childhood*) the opera was called Manon, Let's Go. And it's not totally nonsensical. I mean, when you think about it, that's basically what Des Grieux and Lescaut say to her in Act 2 while she's busy scooping up her jewelry instead of running from the police. 

Anyway, the reason for this post is to highlight the bounty of "making of" videos the ROH has posted for their new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut. (This was Puccini's first big hit. Apparently, he could easily have retired and lived off his profits from Edgar and Manon. But fortunately, he didn't rest on his laurels, or he never would have written La Boheme, and a few other big hits!)

Blogger eyesometric provides us with a bunch of other links about this production, and also reminds us that the BBC Radio 3 will be broadcasting a live performance of this new production from the ROH featuring Kristine Opolais, Jonas Kaufmann, and Christopher Maltman with Anthony Pappano waving the stick. 

Meanwhile, here are those videos:

*Yes, I was already listening to opera as a young child. I used to record the Met broadcasts on my reel-to-reel for frequent playback. One that I listened to over and over was an Ariadne with Tatiana Troyanos and…well, I didn’t care about who else was in it at that point. 

Rosenkavalier and Boheme from Sweden

Check out these 2014 videos from Malmö Opera in Sweden!

[Update 06/29/2014: I was clicking back through these links and found that whoever posted them has made them "private" videos. So we can't look at them again. However, I am sure if we keep an eye out, we'll find them again somewhere.]

Der Rosenkavalier
Act 1*
Act 2
Act 3

I am not sure what I think of this overall production, but I am particularly impressed with both the singing and acting of Dorottya Láng as Octavian (just one of the guys) and Sofie Asplund as Sofie.

La Boheme

Acts 1 & 2

Acts 3 & 4

Ditto about the production, but the guys do a nice job, especially Vladislav Sulimsky as Marcello, Daniel Hällström as Schaunard, and Joachim Bäckström (also heard recently with Dorothea 

Röschmann in Haydn's Seasons) as Rodolpho.

*The posts at YT cannot be embedded, so I am providing links only this time around.

North Star – A Great Article About Kristine Opolais

North Star Kristine Opolais

It sounds like a fairy tale. A beautiful young girl sings a song, a handsome listener falls in love with her, and in a blink of an eye she becomes a star. Now they travel the world, making music together. In broad strokes, that is exactly what happened to Kristine Opolais, the Latvian soprano who made a sensational debut at the Metropolitan Opera this past season. The New York Times hailed her “plush voice with a throbbing richness that lends a touch of poignancy to every phrase she sings” in her portrayal of Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine.  

Did you know she's married to Andris Nelsons and that she's also a Mom? Read the rest of this article at Classical Singer Magazine* and listen to Kristine Opolaias as Magda in La Rondine at the Met:

*Classical Singer Magazine is aimed primarily at singers, but it is provides fascinating reading for lovers of singing, too. You can subscribe to print or online only versions.

Sunday Brunch – Joyce DiDonato Sings Puccini

Adventskonzert aus der Frauenkirche Dresden:

Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-sopraan ~ Julia Lezhneva, sopraan ~ Klaus Florian Vogt, tenor. Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden - Musikalische Leitung Markus Poschner. Kammerchor der Frauenkirche Leitung Matthias Grünert - Sächsischer Staatsopernchor. 

There are a few other clips from this concert on the TOOB. Where's the full program? Can't wait to hear it. 

Hello, Ragazzi! (Random Thoughts while Listening to Puccini)

I wonder if Japanese people find Madama Butterfly slightly embarrassing and annoying with its fake Japonaiserie. I wonder this because I found it odd, while listening to La Fanciulla del West, to hear the chorus singing, "Hello, ragazzi," "Whisky per tutti," and other cowboy-like phrases. (Not to mention, "doo dah, doo dah day," which, as far as I know, is not actually from the old west!) 

Whisky Milk Punch at The Bite House.

Come to think of it, Madama Butterfly also has fake American-nesses: that Star-Spangled Banner quote and Pinkerton's inquiry, "Milk punch o' whisky?" to name two.

What exactly is milk punch? I just read a suggestion that there's a comma missing; apparently it was supposed to be, "Milk, punch, or whisky?" On the other hand, there are recipes for milk punch. (Which came first: the drink or the opera?) 

Or, maybe they meant “milk punch with whisky.” (Yes, my mind does wander.)

I also noticed that Puccini has stolen some melodic bits from Phantom of the Opera for La Fanciulla. I wonder if Sir Andrew is aware of this...

Kaufmann & Stemme: La Fancuilla del West

Jonas Kaufmann & Nina Stemme in Puccini's La Fancuilla del West. Some brief excerpts below. It's better than nothing...and a good start!

The Nina Stemme Show: Turandot at the Royal Swedish Opera

Riccardo Massi & Nina Stemme

I just came across a thorough review by Aksel Tollåli at bachtrack of Nina Stemme's debut as Turandot. He also provides some detail on the production, which sounds intriguing. 

...the chorus, originally an angry, bloodthirsty mob of Chinese people, was turned into an angry, blood-thirsty mob of an opera audience, dressed to the nines, and seated in replicas of the chairs of the Royal Opera’s auditorium... The chorus egged on the singers in front of them...before leaving the stage after all of the interesting bits had happened, only to return after a while, champagne flutes in hand, for the next big moment. 

Nina Stemme is Turandot

Nina Stemme is the new Turandot. It only makes sense. Here is her "big aria." From his brief participation in this scene, it sounds like Riccardo Massi is a smooth, powerhouse Calaf, too. Below the YT clip is a link to the complete performance at Sveriges Radio. I have not heard the whole performance yet, but I need to do so soon, and so do you. It will be online only for about 20 more days.

(Update, 08/14/2016 - this is from a 2015 performance at La Scala -- the Stockholm recording was "disappeared." This is actually better, since it's video!)

In questa reggio

Puccini: Turandot Live performance from the Royal Opera, Stockholm. Recorded February 16, 2013 on SverigeSRadio. Thank you, Sveriges Radio!

(also, hear the riddle scene)

La Boheme – ROH, 2013 (OK Tevye, Tradition Ain’t All Bad)

Dmytro Popov, Stefania Dovahn, David Bižić, 

Nahuel Di Pierro, and Audun Iversen

www.facebook.com/davidbizic

There is something to be said, I guess, for a nice literal traditional opera production. Even more so for one performed by a non-superstar cast. It allows one to become more engaged in the story. My Dad and I went to see this at the local indie/arts cinema last night, mainly because they announced it when we were there on Saturday for the Lohengrin transmission (more about that in a separate post…yes there’s always more for me to say about that Lohengrin!)