The Salzburg Romeo et Juliette

I know, I know not exactly the photo you were expecting to see, but come on, the kiss, the touch, the death, the dress, the necklaces, the dagger are all over the place. But do click and you will see it is nevertheless about the same Romeo.

Everyone applauds the singers, the conductor, the orchestra, the staging, the whatnot. I think it is unfair that the critics don't get their share of applause!! In loose translations these were the critics thoughts on the show:

- Teasing instead of passion ( yep, no sex there...)
- Salzburg is looking for a superstar - in vain (maybe they are just shortsighted, someone give them the glasses!)
- Salzburg has the superstar ( but..i thought... oh well...)
- With joy about Oper-Ken and Oper Barbie ( no comment...)
- 324.000 watched Romeo in ORF ( finally we are getting some numbers, isn't that what it is all about?)
- the children's love and death in Verona (yep, they are both of kindergarten age, and don't you just see little gory black and white images of dead babies?? )

Marvellous!!!! I have rarely laughed so much!!! Way better than the stand ups at the Edinburgh festival!

And i needed the giggles because i totally dehydrated myself with crying over the death scene the other night. I have left enough comments on other people's wonderful posts about the performance ( Parsi, operanuts, ximo) and they have described the performance much better than i ever could, i just wanted to give praise to those who are never duly recognised for their merits!!

BRAVOOO!! BISSS!! ZUGABEEE!!!

Jonas Kaufmann on the cover of the September Gramophone! GO GET IT NOW!!!

Can't wait to read what the Gramphone has to say about the "stage animal" Jonas Kaufmann :-)

And here is a preview of the editorial from James Inverne

With his permission i will cite:

"Now, from Germany, comes Jonas Kaufmann.
His early vocal difficulties mean that he has burst upon the international scene as a fully mature, major artist. And "artist" with Kaufmann means the full deal - the man can sing, with a full-bodied ardour that recalls the great Ramón Vinay, and act with the commitment of a Jon Vickers. Without wishing to second-guess our forthcoming review of his new Carmen DVD, I'll go out on a limb and say that his stunning Don José is the most thrillingly acted on film since that of Luis Lima (also at Covent Garden, in 1997) and perhaps the best sung of any. It is good news indeed that this film and his recent Decca arias disc will be followed next year by a German-themed recital and, for EMI, a new Madama Butterfly opposite Angela Gheorghiu."

Seems to me that a lot of tenor themed articles are filling the papers lately :-) Good to know that the hunger for tenor voices seems to have been satisfied for the moment. There are excellent appetisers, first, second courses available, and even some scrumptious deserts!!

Thanks Gramophone for this edition, first thing tomorrow morning , even before my morning espresso i'll run to the shop to get my copy!

PS And latest news caught from here : http://209.20.72.76/news/2008/jul/07/madama-butterfly-recording/ So the recording of M Butterfly has happened during July in Rome :-) Niceeee. Interesting to hear Jonas as Pinkerton!

Imi e dor de tine! (missing you Timisoara)

Such is life...you never know where it takes you... and I am just about to say goodbye to another place, but more about that some other time...

Today somebody sent me this and just like that i drowned in memories... and went straight back in time to my childhood in Timisoara (a town also know as Temeswar or little Wien)

This is where I grew up and this is where i spent half my time: The opera! The love affair began early ;-) 3 years old i heard my first Nabucco! By the way, a little gossip, did you know little old me and Mr Ioan Holender share the same birthplace??? (yes, THE Ioan Holender from the Staatsoper in Wien )


Thanks Aluna for these wonderful pictures and memories!
http://www.yvettedefrance.com/Photos-du-monde/A1/Roumanie/Roumanie.htm

Readers, enjoy the pictures and if you like, go see the place, go enjoy the country, the music and the food! I am sure it will sneak its way into your hearts :-)

There are even pictures from the "famous Dracula castle", actually a nice medieval built belonging to the king known as Vlad Tepes, or Vlad Dracul. And where a beautiful movie version of La Cenerentola by Rossini was filmed :-)

And for you music lovers out there there is one event you shouldn't miss!! (this is where i have heard several times Maxim Vengerov work his violin magic and where Joshua Bell also played in the last edition)

http://www.festivalenescu.ro/ Watch this space as the program of the festival in 2009 will be announced in October 2008. If you want to know what happened at the 2007 edition here is an article that was published in The Guardian at the time:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/sep/19/festivals.classicalmusicandopera

And in case you wonder, as i expect you would, what Enescu music is like, well... here is a little something:

thanks for the video wwhagiuxx

And here is Enescu himself in an audio only recording playing the Corelli Sonata

Thanks for the video aimson

And this is probably the most famous piece composed by Enescu: Ciocirlia (the lark)


Thanks for the video gxgfree4rhyme

And by the way he was also Yehudi Menuhin's teacher. Here is a recording of them both playing Bach's double violin concerto with Yehudi being only 16 years old in his recording:



thanks for the video AbsoluteZ3R0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Enescu