Die Frau Ohne Schatten from London via Ö1 Radio

Oh, and speaking of Richard Strauss: 

In case you missed it last time around, here is the March 2014 Die Frau Ohne Schatten broadcast from the Royal Opera House, with Emily Magee, Johan Botha, Michaela Schuster, Johan Reuter, and Elena Pankratova, under the baton of Symyon Bychkov, courtesy of Austria's Ö1 Radio. Available for about 5 days. 

Gratuitous Friday – The Dutchman, The Girl, and The Gown

In Act 2 of Der Fliegende Höllander, Senta (Anja Kampe) finally meets her Dutchman (Johan Reuter). She seems more interested in the dress than she is in him. With that voice, I'd be paying attention to him! Of course, we know Senta is really more interested in the idea of the Dutchman than she is in the man himself. 

This clip is from the recent webcast of the Bayerische Staatsoper production. Act 2 takes place in a gym—spinning, get it? These girls don’t need to be good at making thread to catch a husband. They need to be in shape! Meanwhile, Ms. Kampe and Mr. Reuter would sound just as great in a gym, in a barn, or on a bare stage!

Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander – Bayerische Staatsoper (Review of the Live Webcast)

The Bayrische Staatsoper is live webcasting selected performances this season. This afternoon I saw Peter Konwitschny’s version Der Fliegende Hollander, thanks to reading Intermezzo blog's reminder in time for me to actually watch it. 

Gratuitous Friday – Johan Reuter is Wotan (Das Rheingold)

Danish Bass-Baritone, Johan Reuter recently made his Met Debut as Jaroslav Prus in the Makropulos Case. I first noticed him in the same role on DVD from the 2011 Salzburg Festival. Reuter trained in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Opera Academy. 

Věc Makropulos – Salzburg 2011 (Part 3: Give Me Alchemy or Give Me Death)

In the course of Věc Makropulos, we learn that Emilia is in fact rather bored with living so long, constantly reinventing herself, and finding a new life and lover. She sings in her final aria that the relative brevity of life is what gives human existence its joys and meaning. Never-ending life seems to blur and ultimately render meaningless the differences between good and evil, happiness and sadness, and even life and death.