Georges Bizet, Carmen - Salzburger Landestheater, Felsenreitschule

Premiere performance 18th October

If George Bizet had written his opera Carmen today maybe the people on stage wouldn't work at a cigarette factory and smuggle cigarettes but doing this with drugs. That’s exactly what the audience had to go through in the new production of the opera by Andreas Gergen at the Salzburger Landestheater, which had its opening night last sunday. In co-operation with Peter J. Davidson (stage set) and Conny Lüders (costumes) he creates an atmosphere of the drug-war, like it is happening nowadays in Mexico. This point stands out clearly at the beginning when the "fate-motive" is heard first in the overture: one of the extras shoots up himself to death and is carried off stage by some of the soldiers during the first choir. But also the field of red poppy speaks for the production of drugs. Well, why not? The audience would even see over the scene in which Carmen gives Don Jose the flower and pours water out of a bucket onto him - originally she throws it on him - and a modern hero of bullfight is expected to drive an extravagant luxurious car and to have a tightdressed woman on his side like a popstar today. Though you have to get used to the costumes especially to the women’s' one. Frasquita's and Mercedes's dress are covered with sequins and remembered me of the production of La cage aux follies just as the bull-costumes of the female ballet dancers: shocking pink hot pants and bras - again with sequins - , the baby-blue patent boots and the glittering golden horns. But on the top of this Michaela's costume during her aria "Je dis que rien ne m'epouvante": Jose shoots up himself before this aria and hallucinate her as Madonna wearing a blue cloak, a pink glittering dress and a halo in combination with a tiara. An interesting interpretation which is turned into absurdity by the costume. The men were luckier with their costumes: military uniforms, black trousers and shirts for the smugglers and stylized torero-pants in purple for the male dancers and white for Escamillo.
The scenery of the Felsenreitschule is used partly: at the beginning of the third act there were three smugglers coming down the wall and also the gallery was in use. At the final scene the choir - playing the audience of the bullfight - and some of the brass section where positioned there and in the second act the ballet dancers performed the dance Carmen should dance for Don Jose, which wasn't really showed on stage. At this point it should be mentioned that the ballet ensemble (choreography: Peter Breuer) presented a solid performance but should work a bit more on the synchronicity.
The last scene turns up a question which is not answered to the audience: what is happening with the feelings of Jose? First of all he stabbed her with a knife in a really unspectacular way - the audience may have expected that he shoots her up to death - after that he rejoices before he breaks down crying on his beloved Carmen. What was Andreas Gergen thinking about at this scene? This question also appears if you're thinking about the extra-person on stages representing the death. He wasn't as disturbing as the marionettes in the Zauberflöte production last season but just as superfluous as them.
All in one a production which isn't that bad but could be staged at the Landestheater in the same way what would be better for the singers because the room isn't that big.
Elena Stikhin (Michaela) with her brilliant and clear lyric soprano and Raimundus Juzuitis (Zuniga) with his dark but still youthfully sounding bass voice were the only ones of the soloist ensemble who really convinced by their singing and acting level. They had no problems with the wideness an size of the room and could be heard clear over the orchestra sound.(Normally you say the orchestra is too loud if you don’t hear the singers enough but in this case the orchestra’s sound level was appropriate for the room.) In the speaking passage it was the same the actors weren’t talking loudly enough so that they could be heard clearly except of Raimundus Juzuitis.
Concerning the acting Oksana Volkova (Carmen) and Andeka Gorrotxategi (Don Jose) did a good job. He had a really nice sounding bright lyric tenor which matches to the role and could reflect emotions in his voice. But it was a pity that he nearly wasn’t able to be heard over the orchestra in his middle register at some passages. Similar in Vonkova’s case. Her voice was rather dark sounding, sometimes to dark so that she sounded muffled. The mentioned problem to drown the orchestra was also to be heard in the performance of the other soloist: Elliott Carlton Hines (Morales/Dancairo), Zachary Nelson (Escamillio) together with Laura Nicorescu (Frasquita), Rowan Hellier (Mercedes) and Franz Supper (Remendado) who are in the soloist ensemble of the Landestheater. It also should be mentioned that the voices of Laura Nicorescu and Rowan Hellier didn’t assort well with each other in some passages.
The Chor des Salzburger Landestheaters ( + extra-choir) (rehearsal: Stefan Müller) and the children’s choir (rehearsal: Wolfgang Götz) did a very good job.
The performance, especially of the soloists of the wind instruments (Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg), under the conductorship of Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla was outstanding. She conducted in clear, big and fluent movements which were also energetic and active. Next to the space-filling sound she was able to outline chamber music like passages very well too. For this reason alone the performance is worth visiting.
All in one the performance gets 6 stars and I wish they would relocate the production in the next season into the Landestheater which would be better in terms of acoustics for the singers.
✰✰✰✰✰✰- - - -
Reviewed by Katharina Schiller

Giuseppe Verdi, Aida - Bayerische Staatsoper München

Performance 1st October 

With a cast like at that evening you certainly look forward to your visit of the opera with huge expectations: Krassimira Stoyanova in the title role and Jonas Kaufmann doing his stage debut as Radamès (if you are not considering the concertante performance in Rome last February for the Warner recording that came out recently) in one of the most popular Verdi operas. But let us start with the less pleasing aspects of that overall very successful evening.
Christof Nels production does not come up with a very convincing concept and the staging of the singers stays quite static over the whole performance. Unfortunately Jens Kilians weak scenery can not really enhance the general visual impression of the production, because there is only a very simplified edged and plain building on the stage that does not allow any associations to develop. The fact that this draft of a building is spinning during almost the whole opera does not make it more creative.
Anyway, the casting of the singers could compensate the lame staging concept easily. Although Christophoros Stamboglis still seemed a little bit ailing (he was subbed by Ain Anger at the previous performance and also will be subbed by him for the last two performances in this month), he still did a respectable job as the harsh priest Ramfis who shows absolutely no mercy for the Ethiopian prisoners of war or Radamès. Franco Vassallo convinced as the Ethiopian king Amonasro and with his powerful baritone voice he radiated such an authority that Aida's submitting to her father’s demand in the third act seemed very comprehensible.
Anna Smirnova's voice sounded kind of faint during Amneris’ less emotional parts but apart from that she has a strong voice that found its complete expression during her attacks of jealousy and her hysteric collapse when Radamès signs his own death warrant by not justifying himself after his act of treason. Unlike Krassimira Stoyanova who could draw on almost unlimited resources of colours by what she managed to reveal the inner conflict between her patriotism and the love to her father on the one hand and the passionate attraction towards Radamès on the other hand. While singing at all volumes with such a lightness, she exhaled a breathtaking subtle beauty especially during her piano parts.
Who could keep pace better with such a superb cast title role than splendid Jonas Kaufmann? Although Dan Ettinger's conducting seemed a bit undifferentiated and too loud at some parts so the singers had their difficulties to prevail over the orchestra and Kaufmann did not use the full power of his voice before the intermission, the tenor did absolutely not spare himself during the last two acts. The finale of the third act and particularly the last line of it „Sacerdote, io resto a te“ was pure dramatic intensity and the duet at the end of the opera between Stoyanova and Kaufmann proved that those two wonderful voices fit together perfectly.
 For that musical magnificent performance with a great singer ensemble but one limitation of a not always perfectly balanced orchestra and a quite weak staging I would still give 8 stars.
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰- -
reviewed by Lukas Leipfinger

NEWS - New authors starting to write for the Operatic Musicologist - NEWS

It is my great pleasure to announce two new members of this project. Mr. Lukas Leipfinger will cover performances in Munich. You can already find his short bio online here and later today his first review (Aida in Munich) will be available. The second person is Ms. Christine Arnold, B.A., who will write about performances in Essen and the surrounding area (including the Deutsche Oper am Rhein). Her short bio will be available soon as well. More authors will be announced soon. In future you will find the author of every review at the very end of it.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro - Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Performance 18th September

Due to the fact that I am spending the next few months in the United Kingdom I decided to have a week off in London before I move on into the north. Having a full week here I definitely had to go to the ROH and see something. Lovely enough they just started performances of Mozart's Figaro and so I went to see the second performance last friday.
The production was directed by David McVicar who brought a very conservative version onstage which included a lot of lovely funny details. The way he let the roles just enfold their characters was really marvelous and enabled the plot to feel very understandable and close to everyday's life. The stage and costume designs (designer: Tanya McCallin) were utterly beautiful and made a wonderfull impression. Especially the second act and the final dress of the Countess looked marvelously!
Musically the evening started a little bit rough for during the first scenes the singers and the orchestra were not always matching together perfectly. In general Ivor Bolton seemed not to have everything under control all the time. I regularly had the feeling that they entered dangerous situations but they always managed to keep the danger away.
The orchestra of the Royal Opera House played lovely even though there were a few small details that troubled the performance from time to time. Nevertheless the overall impression was good and the British definitely know how to bring Mozart to life. Also the choir scenes (members of the Royal Opera chorus) sounded lovely and were very pleasant.
Heather Engebretson sang a very strong light Barbarina and showed some acting talent as well. Her voice sounds so smoothly and beautifully that it was a pity she did not sing more.
Alasdair Elliott sang a very know-it-all Don Curzio but made quite an impression during his short appearance. As did Jeremy White as Antonio who totally catched the audience with his wonderful acting during the finale of the second act. Don Basilio was funnily performed by Krystian Adam who also made a fine impression.
Carlo Lepore sang a very strong Bartolo with a very powerfull voice that sounded wonderfull, especially during his Vendetta aria during the first act. He upgraded his role vocally (if you can say that).
Once more I saw Dame Ann Murray as Marcellina and like one month ago at the Salzburg festival she did not fail to convince me. It is magnificent that her voice still has such quality and power. She did not seem weak or tired at all. Once again she proves that female singers are definitely able to be singing on a high level in their sixties.
A wonderful highlight for me was Kate Lindsey who I just saw exactly one month ago as Dido at the Salzburg festival. Now she sang the role of Cherubino and sounded marvelously once more. Her voice has such a warm and smooth timbre that everything she sings sounds like coming from heaven. But not just her singing was great, also her acting. She totally filled the character with life and was responsible for some of the evening's best jokes.
Stéphane Degout sang a very appropriate Count Almaviva with his very noble baritone voice. I would say that the timbre of his voice is just perfect for this role. He sounds noble, strict and passionate at the same time and his acting (especially his mimic) was wonderful as well. He sang his role really elegantly and did not fail to impress the audience at all.
His wife, the Countess, was performed by American soprano Ellie Dehn who gave her debut at ROH. The role of the Countess is very difficult because the role calls for a soprano with enough volume and maturity while having a very light and clear upper register. Dehn definitely has those abilities and sang a remarkable Countess. Her phrasing was so clear and beautiful that I was wishing to hear her arias once more again after she finished them.
Also a pleasure to hear was Anita Hartig as Susanna. She has a very strong light voice and a very beautiful crystal clear timbre. Her whole interpretation was nearly perfect with wonderful phrasing and very exact singing. Her performance was really exemplary and displayed many lovely details of her character. Like most other soloists she also showed some acting talent.
Her husband Figaro was performed by Erwin Schrott who I finally heard live now! He is such a stage animal with his marvelous acting and the phenomenal singing. Schrott definitely is one of the persons that can catch an audience with every little move they do and in addition he is able to fullfill the musical requirements in a thrilling way as well. His voice is very strong and everything seems to be very easy when he sings and still his voice seems to be very flexible. He is able to display a wide range of colors with his voice and his performance is best discribed by calling it excellent.
The vocal quality of the performance was even better than the one of the Salzburg festival this summer and impressed me a lot. But not just the singing was great, also the acting of the main protagonists was so convincing that one did not have the feeling that one is sitting in a theatre but being right there in the Count's palace!
I genuinely enjoyed the evening (even though I had to stand the whole performance) and so I would give the performance 9 stars!
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰-

Giuseppe Verdi, Ernani - Salzburger Festspiele, Großes Festspielhaus

Performance 29th August

As final performance of this year's festival I attended the concert performance of Verdi's Ernani. The performance was led by Riccardo Muti, who is probably the best choice for Verdi. His performances of Verdi operas at the Salzburg festival of those last few years were all really exceptional and so was Ernani. He has a natural sense for the melodies and the musical form of those operas. His young orchestra, the orchestra giovanile Luigi Cherubini, is a great highligh as well for those young musicians play so thrillingly that every small theme in the orchestra becomes a small victory. Everything was played exactly as it should and so a big part of the evening was already bound to be successfull. Also the short backstage appearance of the Mozarteumorchester was fine and lovely played.
The Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor did a fine job as well even though they definitely had better performances this year. They sometimes did not seem totally together and I had the feeling that they did not have enough time to fully inhale the score.
In the smaller roles we heard Gianfranco Montresor, Antonello Ceron and Simge Büyükedes as Jago, Don Riccardo and Giovanna. Especially Büyükedes impressed me a lot for she had a very beautiful dark voice with a warm timbre and actually looked more noble than Donna Elvira.
Don Carlo was sung by Luca Salsi with a profound and very aggressive baritone voice. The timbre of the voice suited the future Emperor quite well and his portrayal was really ravishing and full of emotion.
My personal highlight of the evening was Ildar Abdrazakov as Silva. His huge bass voice has a very dark and profound timbre. He was able to put all the evilness of his character into his singing and gave a genuinely brilliant performance. His phrasing and his interpretation show great musical intellect and I enjoyed every minute of his singing. Bravo!
Vittoria Yeo sang Donna Elvira and did a good job. She managed to sing it appropriately but I also do have to say that she definitely does not really have the perfect voice for it. The problem of Donna Elvira is that it actually is a very low role that also calls for a light and easy higher register. A dramatic coloratura with lyric qualities would be the perfect cast. Yeo managed the coloraturas without any problems but in the lower parts she seemed not to be totally comfortable. Anyway her performance was still really good.
Italian tenor Francesco Meli sang the title part and was great as well. He found the perfect balance between the contrasting lyric and dramatic parts of this role. His phrasing was great and he definitely understands what it means to bring life to a role. His stamina is huge (I do have to say that I sat in the front, but you could tell that his voice filled the auditorium) and actually I sometimes had the feeling that he sang too loud. He seemed to switch between two levels: loud and extremely loud. If he did work a little bit on dynamics he would definitely be able to do a perfect performance.
I really enjoyed the whole performance and liked the opera very much even though the plot is complete nonsense (like most Verdi plots). The quality of the singers and the orchestra was marvelous and so I would give Ernani 8 stars.
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰- -

Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier - Salzburger Festspiele, Großes Festspielhaus

Performance 26th August

As a little update of last year's performance of this production I will just write a few words about new singers and some highlights (for the whole review of last year look at "August 2014").
Franz Welser-Möst and the Wiener Philharmoniker sounded magnificently this year (I really do not know what is different this year) and improved a lot compared to last year. I enjoyed the whole performance a lot this year.
New in the production (besides many small roles) was Andeka Gorrotxategi as the Italian singer. I liked his performance way better than last year's singer because his voice was strong and sounded elegantly and very youthfully.
Also new in the cast was Golda Schultz as Sophie. She replaced Mojca Erdmann who was not able to convince last year. Schultz on the other hand sang marvelously and had a great success in this role. Her gleaming clear light soprano is strong enough to fill the house and she sounded deligthfully. Her acting sometimes seemed exaggerated but the overall impression was lovely. She definitely made the whole casting stellar. BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!
Krassimira Stoyanova was also able to convince again and seemed even more secure this year. Her performance seemed more natural and her voice sounded clearly and beautifully.
Sophie Koch also did a fine job even though I had the feeling that she was not totally fit this evening. Nevertheless she showed that she still is one of the best Octavians out there.
My personal highlight was Günther Groissböck who this time did not fight a cold. Last year he sang totally impressively even with a cold. This year it was just not from this world. He sang the optional low c in the first act and everything just sounded powerfully, classy and kind of dangerously as well. His interpretation improved over the last year and made his performance perfect. He definitely is the Ochs of our days and will be first choice for the next decade in this role.
After giving the production 9 stars last year I now feel like I have to give it 10 this year for they worked out every deficit and managed to bring a perfect performance on stage.
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰

Jules Massenet, Werther - Salzburger Festspiele, Großes Festspielhaus

Performance 22nd August

Another concert performance was Massenet's opera with a mezzo as female lead based on a novel by Goethe. Due to personal reasons Elina Garanca (who was originally planned to sing Charlotte) had to cancel her involvement but the festival managed to find another Diva to jump in.
The Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg was led by Alejo Pérez who might not have been the perfect choice for french opera. It was ok but sometimes I missed the diversity of colors which is so typical for french opera. Nevertheless the orchestra gave a fine performance with a nice balance between dramatic outbursts and delicate melodies.
In the smaller roles we heard Ruben Drole (Johan) with a very gentle warm baritone voice, Martin Zysset (Schmidt) with a light clear tenor and Giorgio Surian as Charlotte's father (Le Bailli) with a profound dark bass voice.
Daniel Schmutzhard sang a very elegant and noble Albert with his lovely baritone voice. It has a youthful and heroic color with a warm smooth timbre. His phrasing was very tastefull and showed great musical intelligence.
A personal highlight for me was Elena Tsallagova as Sophie. Not just does she look enormously elegantly, she also sings most delicately with a lovely light soprano which has quite some power. Every phrase she sings sounds extraordinarily gently and her whole performance was just marvelously.
The diva replacement for the role of Charlotte was Angela Gheorghiu who is quite the personification of a diva. Already during her first appearance one had the feeling that she thought the opera was called Charlotte and not Werther. Nevertheless she gave a brilliant performance even though this role definitely calls for a mezzo soprano. During the lower parts of the role she sometimes had issues with the volume. Her performance was lovely and the audience was very thankfull for such a wonderful replacement.
The main attraction of the evening was the protagonist, who was sung by Piotr Beczala. His strong and gentle tenor voice is on the top of its possibilities. The timbre of his voice is probably best described as warm, youthfull and noble. He sang his role so elegantly and intensively that the whole performance was just ravishing. His high notes seemed quite effortless and sounded so purely.
The whole evening lasted quite long (it started at 9pm and finished at midnight) but was quite a success with delightful singing and a great cast. So I give Werther in Salzburg 9 stars.
✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰-