La Forza del Friday – It's Back!

I was actually looking for the ROH Manon Lescaut with JK, and I came across this instead. But don't tell anyone, just go watch it! It's got JK, AH, LT, and German subtitles!

May the Forza be with You

Thanks to Intermezzo for finding us the virtually (and probably wisely) unsearchable capture of Saturday's broadcast. I saw most of it live, but experienced some live stream issues. I also missed the plot setup during the prelude, so I am glad to have a chance to catch up. 

Although there are some incongruities in the staging, and Martin Kušej definitely sees the world through a “glass-half-empty” (or the toast landing on the floor, butter-side down) lens, I thought it was quite good overall. Of course, there’s some (really, really) wonderful singing, too! Get it before the toast gets cold!

La Forza del Opera Fans

The Staatsoper copyright police
capture another YT bootlegger.

Thanks to some enterprising opera fans, we have two video clips from Saturday's broadcast of Verdi's La Forza del Destino from the Bayerische Staatsoper, and two audio clips from the radio broadcast of the prima last week. Fingers crossed for full-length recordings (and keeping an eagle-eye out for them, as they will disappear as soon as we discover them!!)

I actually got to watch the broadcast on Saturday! I had trouble with the live-stream feed freezing in full-screen mode, and ultimately gave in to watching it in the small-screen version (better than not seeing it at all) after trying low, high, and HD transmission modes. (Hmmm, the only thing I didn't try was using IE instead of Chrome. I'll file that thought away for future troubleshooting.)  I have opinions, of course, about the production and performances (I liked both a lot), but I'll save those for later. Meanwhile, let's enjoy these clips!

Videos from December 28:

P.S. Sadly, the videos have vanished.

La Forza Del Destino from Staatsoper.TV on 12/29

It's not exactly a holiday standard, but it's still wonderful Christmas present from the Bayerische Staatsoper: Their new production (directed Martin Kusej—that should be interesting) of La Forza del Destino, starring my personal Traumpaar: Anja Harteros and Jonas Kaufmann. 

From the looks of the trailer, it's bloody, violent, and sexy-(ish)! Hey, it's opera! That's what it's all about, isn't it? And it's coming to a computer screen near you on Staatsoper.TV – Saturday, December 28, at 18:00 Munich time, which, these days, should be Noon in New York City.

La Forza del Destino – Opera Royal de Liege, Wallonie

Luciano Montanaro and Daniele Dessi

Under the laid back musical leadership of Paolo Arrivabeni, La Forza del Destino at the Opera Royal de Liege, Wallonie is another night for the basses and baritones. Domenico Balzani does well as the cranky Fra Melitone, and Giovanni Meoni as Don Carlo acquits himself ably, matching his tenor rival pretty much note-for-note. Best of all is Luciano Montanaro—profound, warm, pious, and reassuring as Il Padre Guardiano. Mezzo Carla Dirlikov is pretty and perky but comes across as a tame (and mature-sounding) gypsy, and Giovanni Iovino’s Trabuco just made me sad.