Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde - Bayerische Staatsoper, Münchner Opernfestspiele (Nationaltheater)

Performance 08th July

I had the immense pleasure and honor to be ablt to attend the first of the two last performances of Tristan und Isolde in Munich with the legendary Isolde of the last two centuries: Waltraud Meier!
But first to the production generally, which already is famous itself. Peter Konwitschny created a production that shows the emotions and intellectual content of this opus magnum appropriately. Every single move is supporting the dramatic plot and caused a very impressive impact. Supporting this great direction was the staging and the costumes of Johannes Leiacker, which seemed so abstract and just not from this world, but in a very positive way. The colorful staging and costumes created an almost magic atmosphere.
Same was valid for the music. Philippe Jordan's interpretation was so gentle and smooth, especially during the second act. He carried the singers over a most delicate carpet of sound and elicited the most marvelous virtuosity from the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, which was able to follow every command perfectly.
In the smaller roles we heard Kevin Conners as Ein Hirt, Christian Rieger as Ein Steuermann and Dean Power as Ein junger Seemann. All three of them mastered their roles very well and gave a fine performance. Francesco Petrozzi sang a fine Melot and gave a very appropriate portrayal of this quite unpleasant role.
As Brangäne Michelle Breedt jumped in for Elisabeth Kulman who cancelled her participation. Breedt did not really reach my expectations and seemed not to be the perfect choice for this role. She did not have enough power to be heard over the orchestra most of the time. She surely has a beautiful voice, but is more of a lyric mezzo soprano and Brangäne does call for much dramatic skills.
Someone who definitely has those skills is René Pape who sang König Marke with his powerful profound bass. His voice has the perfect noble and solemn timbre for this role. The finale of the second act was just magnificent and impressed me very much. Pape captured all the despair and disappointment of his role so perfectly that it was just marvelous!
Alan Held gave a solid performance as Kurwenal and especially during the final act he managed to show great acting skills and helped to make it very diverting (as diverting as Tristan 3rd act can possibly be).
Robert Dean Smith, who jumped in for the ill Peter Seiffert (I would have loved to hear Seiffert in this role), also gave a fine performance and showed that he is definitely capable of performing the role without major issues. I personally do not like the nasal timbre of his voice, but his overall performance was really fine. Especially during the third act he still seemed to have enough reserves to impress the audience with his power.
But now to the reason why I came to see the performance: Waltraud Meier's Isolde. Since she started to sing this role there has been the discussion if a mezzo can sing an appropriate Isolde and I think noone else showed better that it is definitely possible. Even more, because for me she is (or was) the Isolde of our times. Even though she might not have the very top notes anymore noone cares because everything else is just sublime and incredibly intensive. Her whole interpretation of the role is just legendary and especially the second act seemed just not from this world. Every single moment she was on stage she was capturing the attention of the audience.
In the very end during her first solo curtain call the whole auditorium seemed to explode. I have never heard such applause before and it seemed she did not expect it herself. The audience went mad and it took nearly half an hour until the applause finally ended. She even still had to get on the stage when the orchestra was already gone.
So finally I can just say that it was an incredible honor that I have been able to attend one of her final performances. I would give full 10 stars to Meier's Isolde but due to the fact that I have to assess the whole performance I would give it 9 stars.
And now I can just say: Thank you, Waltraud Meier, for the experience of such enormous artistry and an Isolde I will never forget!!!
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Richard Strauss, Arabella - Bayerische Staatsoper, Münchner Opernfestspiele (Nationaltheater)

Premiere performance 6th July

After my very ambivalent experience of last week with Pelléas I had the chance to see a wonderful rendition of Arabella yesterday at the premiere performance of the Bavarian state opera in Munich. The production of Andreas Dresen is a marvelous example of great directing with a wonderful minimalistic staging by Mathias Fischer-Dieskau and lovely costumes by Sabine Greunig. The staging had a crossing double staircase in the center and was quite dark and without many colors. The costumes on the other hand were sometimes very colorfull and so there was a wonderful contrasts between staging and costumes. This contrast had a marvelous effect and looked just stunning. Depending on the current act they turned around the stage and so you had a different view during every act.
But also musically it was just a pleasure to be there. Philippe Jordan conducted the Bayerisches Staatsorchester very gently with exemplary delicacy and sense for the "Viennese sound". The orchestra supported the singers magnificently and did a wonderful job. Especially during the famous duets of the first and second act the orchestra accompanied the singers so delicately that is was a great pleasure to listen.
The soloists were all singing on a very high level from the main protagonists to the smaller supporting roles. Heike Grötzinger managed to give a lovely short performance as Kartenaufschlägerin. Also lovely in their short appearances: Dean Power, Andrea Borghini and Steven Humes as the three counts. All three of them did a fine job as the longing lovers of Arabella.
Eir Inderhaug gave a very agile and secure Fiakermilli with a very light and crystal clear soprano voice. She managed her incredibly difficult part really well and I was quite suprised that they obviously cut out the lovely finale of the second act.
Joseph Kaiser sang a very agitated and impetuous Matteo and portrayed the role very convincing. Especially his agony and despair were really great and he sang his part very well.
As Graf Waldner we had the pleasure to hear Kurt Rydl who gave a wonderful real viennese Waldner with charming acting skills and a profound bass voice. Even if it might not be as mighty as it has been in the past he still is a very good and versatile singer.
Same is valid for Doris Soffel who sang his wife Adelaide. She still has the power and stamina to fill the auditorium. Her voice might sound quite shrill and expressive from time to time but it suited her hysteric role perfectly. Thinking about her age it is incredibly that her voice still has such a level of quality.
A highlight of the evening was Hanna-Elisabeth Müller in the role of Zdenka. Her clear and powerful light soprano suited the role very well. She portrayed the distress of her role wonderfully and I was surprised how well she developed in this role (I already saw her debut in Salzburg last year). It was simply beautiful how well her voice fitted together with Harteros' voice in the lovely duet in the first act. Simply beautiful.
Thomas J. Mayer gave an impressive Mandryka with a strong and noble baritone voice. In addition to his great vocal abilities he showed some genuinely great acting skills. He showed so many details of his character that his whole performance was really convincing.
But of course the great highlight was Anja Harteros' Arabella. I do not like everything she does but there is no doubt that she is a great singer for Strauss operas. Her voice is like silver with a very clear and beautiful timbre. Her upper register is very light and she has the ability to sing the most delicate phrases like they were nothing. Her performance as little cheeky girl was really convincing and her whole appearance was just great. She totally fitted into this role and acted it out impressively.
The whole evening was a great pleasure and I enjoyed every single second of it. I really advice everyone to not miss the online broadcast on the 11th of july. The performance gets 9 stars from me.
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Claude Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande - Bayerische Staatsoper München, Münchner Opernfestspiele (Prinzregententheater)

Performance 1st July

As first performance of my summer festival season I attended the new production of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Bavarian state opera Munich. The overall performance was very ambivalent. The production was horendous but the musical parts were really great.
Christiane Pohle's production was just not present. Instead of helping to unfold the complicated and very symbolic plot it made everything worse. It is a pity that such a nice piece is produced so utterly cheaply. The staging (Maria-Alice Bahra) and the costumes (Sara Kittelmann) also did not really help a lot even though they looked acceptable (still, I am so sick of hotel lobbies as staging).
At least musically it was a great success. Constantinos Carydis and the Bayrisches Staatsorchester gave a brilliant performance full of colorfull impressionistic sounds with great delicacy and proficiency.
Evgenij Kachurovsky as Ein Hirt only had to sing a few lines but did it well anyway. Also just a few sentences to sing: Peter Lobert as Ein Arzt. Anyway Lobert impressed me a lot with the sheer power and the exemplary stamina of his voice! When he opened his mouth to sing it was a real moment of shock because I did not expect him to have such a huge voice. Really impressing.
Young boy Hanno Eilers sang the role of Yniold, Golauds son, and gave a nice and solid performance. During the curtain calls he got a lot of applause and I think he totally earned it for his performance.
Alastair Miles gave a very dignified and noble old king. I thought his voice faded a little bit next to Lobert, but anyway it suited his role of the old king. Munich's universal weapon Okka von der Damerau sang Geneviéve and showed off her strong and profound mezzo. She is probably one of the most talented allrounders Munich has in its ensemble. She simply sounds great in everything she does.
In the role of Golaud we heard Markus Eiche who gave a very convincing and even disturbing performance. His portrayal of the role really made a huge impression with all its depression and despair. Vocally he was best equipped with his strong and clear baritone voice.
Elliot Madore as Pelléas seemed very youthfull and fresh. His portrayal showed his role as a quite naive and innocent child that experiences his first great love. His voice sounded great in this for a baritone very high role. He managed it without any trouble and sounded lovely throughout the evening.
Probably the best performance of the evening was done by Elena Tsallagova as Mélisande. Her voice sounds like an angel with its most delicate timbre but still has quite some power to offer. Her dreamy phrasing and the sheer purity of her sound made her performance just glorious. Her agony during the final act was just really impressive and she managed to seem more and more closer to death with every minute. As I said, just glorious.
So in the end I have to say that it would have been better to just make a concert version instead of this horrible production but the music was really great and so I enjoyed the evening (at least acoustically). The whole performance gets 7 stars (even though the production itself should not even get 5).
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Richard Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer - Semperoper Dresden

Performance 18th June

As last big journey during the season, I travelled to Dresden once more to see one of my favorites: Wagner's Holländer. The dutchman was the first Wagner opera I ever saw and is basically one of the reasons why I am Wagnerian today.
The production in Dresden is totally absurd and foolish. It seemed like you hear the opera and see something totally different. So many things did not make any sense and I think they did not take the piece seriously enough. Florentine Klepper's production is just total nonsense even though the staging (Martina Segna) and the costumes (Anna Sofie Tuma) were fine I did not really like the whole performance optically.
Musically I thought it was quite good. I expected it to be a little bit better but I have to say that my expectations were quite high from the very beginning. Constantin Trinks and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden gave a very strong and accentuated performance, but sometimes a little bit too loud.The singers (who had quite strong voices) were covered by the orchestra several times and I do not think it was due to weak voices...
What I liked very much was the choir (Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden) with great strong singing in the several choir scenes of the opera. Especially the big choir scene during the third act was a pleasure to hear.
In the role of the helmsman I heard Timothy Oliver who seemed not to be totally comfortable in the upper register but anyway he did a fine job in this small role.
Tichina Vaughn sang the role of Mary and showed a very profound an strong mezzo / alto voice. Especially in the lower register her voice sounded warm an strong while in the upper register her vibrato tended to get a little bit too strong. Nevertheless she gave a lovely performance in her role.
As Erik Tomislav Mužek had some issues with the role. He simply does not have the voice for this part for his light lyric tenor voice is not able to deliver it appropriately. His phrasing showed that he is quite strained and he did not have the neccessary calmness to perform the role with enough ease.
Georg Zeppenfeld gave a great Daland with his profound and dark voice. As I said the orchestra was quite loud and so from time to time his voice was covered which was quite a pity. Zeppenfeld's performance was wonderful without any doubt and he surely was one of the highlights.
In the role of the dutchman Evgeny Nikitin was one of the highly anticipated performances of the evening and I have to say that I was a little bit disappointed. He has quite a strong voice, but his phrasing was very rough and clipped. There surely are people who would like it, but it was not really my taste.
Christiane Libor on the other hand did not fail to convince me (once again). Her Senta has the perfect balance between gentle delicate singing and dramatic outbursts. I am just not getting tired of her voice which has a very distinctive timbre and sheer endless power reserves. Her ballad was really captivating and the second act duet was basically leaded by her.
Generally, as I said, I expected a little bit more but anyway I did like the performance in the end. Therefore I would give it 8 stars.
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Vincenzo Bellini, Norma - Bayerische Staatsoper München

Performance 13th June

Yesterday a marvelous performance of Bellini's famous opera took place in the bavarian state opera in Munich. A nice cast was led by not-from-this-world-soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. But first about the production.
The whole production (including staging, costumes and light concept) was designed by Jürgen Rose. It was quite dark with a few intensive blue contrasts. Rose also mixed together some authentic elements with modern aspects and managed to bring up a production that suited the opera quite appropriately. I especially liked the idea of using two seperate floors during the last scenes of the first act and the first scenes of the final act. I thought it looked quite impressively.
Musically Paolo Carignani led the Bayrisches Staatsorchester very tastefully and controlled through the piece. His interpretation was more focused on the dramatic content of the score than on too extensive focusing on the melodies which I thought was very good. The dramatic power of the orchestral passages were really nice and the singers were supported very well by Carignani and the orchestra.
Also fantastic: the Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper which sang the several choir scenes really wonderfully with great taste. I especially liked the "Guerra" scene during the second act for it was so rousing and exciting that I really had goosebumps.
Francesco Petrozzi sang the little role of Flavio, Pollione's friend, and did a good job. It is not really a role to shine bright but anyway he has a nice voice and sang beautifully.
Oroveso was sung by Mika Kares who has a huge instrument with a very dark profound timbre. Especially during the final scene I really liked his singing and acting for it really displayed the emotions of his character very convincingly.
Golda Schultz shined bright in the small role of Clothilde. Her clear soprano is quite strong for a lyric / light soprano and her timbre was just genuinely lovely and cute. I would love to hear her Sophie at this year's Rosenkavalier in Salzburg for she seems to have the right voice for this role.
Pollione was sung by Italian tenor Massimo Giordano. I personally thought that his voice sounds very natural and not as artificial as many others. His whole portrayal was really captivating and I have to say I really liked it. Of course I also have to say that he did not really stand a chance next to Radvanovsky, but really, let's be honest: who would?
Ekaterina Gubanova gave a wonderful Adalgisa with a strong but still agile mezzo voice that also impressed with some quite high notes. She sounded really great throughout the evening and her duets with Norma were some of this evenings highlights. During the final of the second act duet with Norma she definitely shared the final high note which genuinely impressed me.
But the most impressive aspect of the performance was Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma. What a huge immense voice, not to mention her incredible voice control!! She filled the auditorium with such ease and magnificent stamine that one was literally blown away. But not just her power, but also her delicate pianissimi are just marvelous. She performed the most amazing decrescendi I ever heard, and that several times throughout the evening. Her powerful dramatic voice might not be the most agile one but she managed the coloraturas without any problems and her enormously dramatic and convincing portrayal was genuinely extraordinary. This woman is the Norma of our days without any doubt! Her whole performance (including a bombastic high d during the climax of act 1) is best described as "intense" and was totally worth every effort.
If you have the chance to attend one of the remaining performances I can just advise you to go and see it for it is a real spectacle! And therefore I give Munich's current Norma 9 stars.
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Antonio Caldara, Dafne - Salzburger Landestheater, Heckentheater Mirabell

Premiere performance 7th June

What an extraordinary experience! Yesterday the Salzburger Landestheater brought a lovely opera from Antonio Caldara on the stage of the hedge theatre in the gardens of Mirabell. Hearing this music in such a cozy and elegant atmosphere is maybe the highlight of the Landestheater productions of this season.
Directed by Marco Dott and equipped by Bettina Richter the evening was a great success. The whole producion is simple, does not need much on the stage and shows that they really thought through the whole opera. Many lovely details and some marvelous ideas to support the plot made this production genuinely adoreable. For me it was a great example of simple elegance. The wonderful overall impression is also triggered by the interesting idea that every protagonist has a statue double (represented by 4 dancers). The imaginative choreography by Josef Vesely was great, very artistic and elegant, but still funny with great mimic details.
Vesely (Aminta's statue) himself jumped in for an injured collegue and danced together with Anastasia Bertinshaw (Dafne's statue), Iure de Castro (Febo's statue) and Andrii Lytvynenko (Peneo's statue).
I was most impressed by Bertinshaw and de Castro for they personified their roles so elegant and convincing that it was a pleasure to watch them. Bertinshaw really looks like a greek statue with her graceful elegant apperance (who would not fall in love with her) and also de Castro posed like a real greek god. Particularly funny were the several moments when the statues reacted to the humans making selfies and photos with them. I really had some great laughs during the performance due to the funny ideas.
But now to the musical part: Peter Ewaldt conducted the Mozarteumorchester with great elegance as well and accompanied his singers very appropriately and tastefully. The orchestra seemed to feel very comfortable with this music and performed it genuinely wonderfully with a great sense of phrasing.
Dafne's father Peneo was sung by Marcell Bakonyi who has a very noble voice which is capable of transmitting emotions very well. Especially his appearance with the bag full of touristic stuff was very entertaining.
Armin Gramer sang the role of Febo and gave a nice performance with his gentle even counter tenor voice. He impressed with great agility and very good acting (especially that he turns quite unsympathetic continuosly during the whole opera).
Kristofer Lundin sang Aminta, Dafne's other lover, and did that very beautifully. His youthful tenor has quite some stamina but also a very gentle timbre. I thought his character was quite heartbreaking and I always felt a little bit sorry for his character. Nevertheless he gave a very convincing and fine performance. I am pretty sure that he will sing some major roles in the closer future  for he seems to have a really good voice.
Dafne herself was sung by Hannah Bradbury with a clear beautiful and gentle light soprano voice. I wonder why she is not used for main roles more often. Her voice is chrystal clear with a strong but still light timbre. I loved how she created the contrast between impulsive young girl in the beginning and the broken disappointed woman in the end.
So finally I can say that this performance was an enormous pleasure to watch and hear. I highly recommend everyone who has the possibility to witness one of the following performances to do so because it genuinely is an experience not to be missed!!
Therefore: 9 stars from me.
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Richard Wagner, Tannhäuser - Oper Leipzig

Performance 31th May

What a night!! And what a finale of the Wagnerfesttage in Leipzig!! The Tannhäuser concert yesterday evening was a full success with incredible singing on a magnificent level. I have to admit that I had goosebumps during almost the whole performance. Even though it was just a concert performance (semi-staged) the whole cast did a marvelous job delivering the story.
Matthias Foremny conducted the Gewandhausorchester and the Chor der Oper Leipzig so delightfully amazing with such love for details and the overall impression of the score. The orchestra sounded so mighty and solemnly during the big scenes, but also delicately and soft during more intimate scenes. The choir mastered his several scenes, that are probably the most famous ones of the opera, without any problems with much grace and beauty.
In the small role of the young shepherd Jennifer Porto gave an impression of her lovely light soprano voice that suited very nicely to this role. She could have sung it a little bit more like the simple shepherd songs.
Dan Karlström and Sejong Chang sang the two smaller roles of Heinrich der Schreiber and Reinmar von Zweter. Both still had the chance to give an impression of their voices during the smaller ensemble scenes. Karlström with his strong light tenor voice and Chang with a profound noble bass voice.
Also showing exemplary nobility (and a bit of agressiveness) was Tuomas Pursio as Biterolf. His noble and powerful baritone voice suited the role, which always seems a bit rude, perfectly.
In the role of Walther von der Vogelweide, Sergey Pisarev was able to show his really beautiful tenor voice with a very gentle timbre. He surely did not have the biggest voice, but it genuinely is a very beautiful and clear one.
This time Rúni Brattaberg totally convinced me that Hunding in Walküre just is not his favorite role. His portrayal of the Landgraf Hermann was so noble and strong. His powerful profound bass voice suited the role of the loving father and regent so very appropriately
Another real highlight was Kathrin Göring as Venus. I already knew that she is a very strong performer, but this Venus really was sexy, seductive and so beautifully sung that everyone would just have stayed with her.
The male highlight for me was Mathias Hausmann as Wolfram von Eschenbach. I personally think that Wolfram is the real hero of the opera (who needs tenors anyway), because he is just such a lovely and honorably person. Hausmann sang the role with a strong baritone voice with wonderful legato phrasing and a very beautiful lyric timbre.
Daniel Kirch sang the male protagonist Tannhäuser with a powerful tenor voice which sometimes had some issues with intonation. Still his portrayal was very passionate and convincing. Everynow and then I thought he could have performed the role with a little bit more ease but anyway, his performance was really good and the role really is quite demanding.
And now finally to my total highlight of the evening: Christiane Libor's Elisabeth is just magnificent. She has the perfect balance between powerful stamina and beauty of tone (including the most delightful pianissimi) which is essential for this role. The whole character just suits her like a custom-made glove. Her prayer in the third act almost made me cry! Bravo, really bravo!
If this had been a real staged performance I think I would have turned mad because of its superiority. Nevertheless I will award 9 stars to this really marvelous grande finale of the Wagnerfesttage Leipzig.
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