Puccini: La Boheme – Bregenzer Festspiel 2002 (Part 2: A Cozy Table for Two Hundred)

There are approximately a gazillion extras in this production of La Boheme: Shoppers, children, partiers, chefs, waiters, guards, street cleaners, private body guards, etc., etc. Zeffirelli would be envious. During the Momus scene, extras actually sit around the huge (main stage) table. In the crowd scenes there is always a big crowd, especially at Momus; but the principals are never obscured nor lost in the confusion.  There are a few modern-ish dance moves and a marching band that looks suspiciously Sgt. Pepper-inspired.  I will never get that “tattoo shimmy” line dance at the end of Act 2 out of my head. (For better or for worse.)

Puccini: La Boheme – Bregenzer Festspiel 2002 (Part 1: Cafe Grandissimo)

There are a few things we should note right up front about this DVD: 

1. An opera on the Seebühne at Bregenz is meant to be a spectacle. It’s a tourist attraction. The stage is in the lake. They have fireworks, there are tons of people on stage, they always have to work a boat into the production, and the set is usually something really strange and/or symbolic. (It also has to be sturdy enough to survive being in the lake for 2 full years.)

Monteverdi Monday – Simon Keenlyside is Orfeo

Here is a young-ish Simon Keenlyside in a beautiful (if slightly strange) production of L'Orfeo, choreographed and directed by Trisha Brown and conducted by Rene Jacobs in 1998. The singing is lovely, the dancing is lively, and you gotta admire all the singing while leaping about. 

                                                                Orfeo is happy 'cause he just married Eurydice.

                                                                We are happy 'cause he is singing & dancing!

Sunday Brunch – Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro: Sull' aria

Another Classic:

Dorothea Röschmann & Miah Persson 

in the 2006 Glyndebourne Royal Opera House production

I really enjoy the friendship that Rosina and Susanna have in this production. 

Luca Pisaroni in Recital – Edinburgh Festival 2012



Totally adorable!
(And so are the doggies!)

For those who missed either the live broadcast (6 AM Eastern time last Thursday) or the replays on BBC 3's iPlayer, here is the  (audio only) recital from August 23, 2012 (without most of the announcer chit-chat). 

Luca Pisaroni, bass-baritone 

Justus Zeyen, piano