Walkure @ The Met

Photo: Ken Howard @The Met

Well, it is almost here, only 1 day left! For all of us out here and not at the Met, we can listen to the Walkure on line over the internet on this Met link.

It starts at 6,30pm NY time, that is 11,30pm London time and 12,30am elsewhere in Europe.
And a little present from a dear friend in New York, to make us feel a little bit closer :-))) Thanks sooo much!!!


The cast is, in case you need a reminder ;-)

Conductor: James Levine
Brünnhilde: Deborah Voigt
Sieglinde: Eva Maria Westbroek
Fricka: Stephanie Blythe
Siegmund: Jonas Kaufmann
Wotan: Bryn Terfel
Hunding: Hans-Peter König

For the impatient ones, here are a few small videos from the general rehearsal, courtesy of the Met :-) No need to explain who is who i guess ;-)))

Enjoy!

Hm, for whatever reason the embedded links don't seem to work, so here is the direct link to the Met Videos of the Walkure:

http://metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/template.aspx?id=16210&utm_source=FB&utm_medium=FB&utm_content=vids&utm_campaign=Walkure

In bocca al lupo to everyone for tomorrow night!!

ROH 2011/12 season now out!

Aeneas defeats Turnus, by Luca Giordano, 1634-1705.

Please see for details of the season the ROH announcement.

So let's see how we faired... It's a bit of a mixed bag to me , with good news and not so good news both for new productions and revivals.

As you can see the Troyens will be exciting :-) We still need to find out who else will be singing besides Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Caterina Antonacci as Cassandre and Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Didon, but it is good news all the way with Tony Pappano and David McVicar on the team as well. This will premiere on June 25th 2012.

More good news come with Il Trittico, to kick off the next season with the premiere on September 12th 2011. It will be continued by Richard Jones and conducted by Tony Pappano and will feature Anja Harteros and Eva-Maria Westbroek. Great news to have Anja Harteros finally back at the ROH!! And she will be back some more ;-)

Much less exciting is the presence of baritone Lucio Gallo and tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko. Both good singers certainly, but for me somehow missing the wow factor. My issue is however not so much related to the Trittico, but to the production which closes the season, a revival of Verdi’s Otello the season, from July 12th 2012. Antonio Pappano conducts the production by Elijah Moshinsky with Aleksandrs Antonenko, Anja Harteros and Lucio Gallo in the principal roles. Pappano is great news and for me together with Anja's Desdemona two very powerful reasons to go and see this! Also, because this for me is the Domingo-production and will have a nice flavour to see it live! But, and for me the buts are big.... this is not a soprano opera, or not only.. Unless all 3 leads are equally powerful it can never be all it can be..... However, to be honest no idea who could do Jago justice today..... But there must be more Otellos out there, who can not only sing the role decently, but truly inhabit it. This will still be a must see for me at least, but i have a feeling i will wish many times i was hearing something different. Honestly, i almost wish somebody would have tried to convince Domingo to do it one last time, i am pretty sure he would still be up to it in a way that would still be memorable. But, it is what it is.

Another piece of good news is the new (well, visiting from Salzburg) Rusalka, premiere February 27th 2012. Camilla Nylund, Bryan Hymel and bass-baritone Alan Held great reasons to go, but for me the main one is the debut at the ROH of conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Moving on, we get a new opera, Miss Fortune by Judith Weir, co-commissioned by The Royal Opera and the Bregenz Festival, where it premiere in July 2011. The cast will be lead by soprano Emma Bell and South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo, with former ENO Music Director Paul Daniel conducting. Crossing fingers for this to be a good one. The premiere at the ROH will be on March 12th, 2012.

The last new production in the main house will be ... Falstaff. Why this and not Forza, Ballo, Ernani, Luisa Miller, etc i don't know. But the production will be by Robert Carsen, which should hopefully make it interesting and Daniele Gatti is conducting, which i am very much looking forward to! The cast is: Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri, with Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez as Alice Ford, Slovak baritone Dalibor Jenis as Ford, Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Mistress Quickly, and American soprano Amanda Forsythe and Spanish-born tenor Joel Prieto as the young lovers, Nannetta and Fenton. All nice and good, however can you think of a really good Falstaff to have in this new production???? Probably the same name will come to your mind as it does to mine, and so i will ask the question that i think more people than me will think about: Why no Bryn? Terfel of course....

Why isn't he doing Falstaff and more importantly.. . why on earth is he not doing Hans Sachs?????????? Yes, we are getting a revival of Meistersinger by Graham Vick (why not take the production from Cardiff last year, it was great!?!!), conducted by Antonio Pappano (the good news about this production!) and with baritone Wolfgang Koch in his Royal Opera debut as Hans Sachs, New Zealand tenor Simon O’Neill as Walther, Australian baritone Peter Coleman-Wright as Sixtus Beckmesser, and British artists soprano Emma Bell as Eva, tenor Toby Spence as David and bass John Tomlinson as Veit Pogner. Well... Simon O'Neill will probably be a very nice Walther, but i have many questions about the rest. Koch is again an ok singer, whom i've seen as Telramund and Pizzaro and i didn't find him special in either...Sachs????? hm.... And i still remember the warmth and sheer musicality of Brindley Sherratt as Pogner in Cardiff and at the Proms. With all due respect to Mr Tomlinson, if his recent Inquisitor is anything to go by, it's time to let younger singers do some roles and i think this is one of those. Why Sherratt did somethintg as small as the King in Aida and not Pogner honestly beats me. And i never ever counted on the Meistersinger at the ROH without Bryn! I loved the opera and i fell in love with it largely due to him living the role, why the ROH couldn't convince him to come and sing it here i'd like to know. His absence in both Falstaff and Sachs is definitely my biggest dissapointment of the season. Anyway, Meistersinger starts December 19th, 2011.

These gaps are almost annoyingly completed by exceptional casting of revivals none of us really wanted to see again so soon. Gotta give it to them, i don't think anyone of us ever missed Rigoletto or Traviata..and there will be indeed 3 of the latter!!! But i can just about see myself trodding not once, but several times to catch each of the casts! Quoting " La traviata by Richard Eyre returns with a series of exciting casts. The first cast (30 September) offers Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya, American tenor James Valenti and Italian baritone Leo Nucci in the central roles. The second (25 November) features American soprano Ailyn Pérez, Polish tenor Piotr Beczala and British baritone Simon Keenlyside in the lead roles. In the third (2 January) the soprano role of Violetta is shared between Albanian Ermonela Jaho and Russian Anna Netrebko; the tenor role of Alfredo between American Stephen Costello and Italian Vittorio Grigolo; Italian baritone Paolo Gavanelli sings Giorgio Germont."

As to Rigoletto (30 March), conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, with Ekaterina Siurina, Vittorio Grigolo and Royal Opera debutant Greek baritone Dimitri Platanias. No, i didn't want to see any of these, but with these casts i'm bound to be drawn to hear them. Siurina is my favourite Gilda in the last years at the ROH, Platanias i am curious about and maybe Grigolo will be a good duca. If only they can convince David McVicar to come and pimp up his production before somebody else makes a big mess of it, again!

And there is more in the revivals to make your mouth water! Faust (18 September), with Angela Gheorghiu (sharing the role of Marguerite with Malin Byström), Vittorio Grigolo, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and René Pape. Great to see Angela back and above all Pape is finally back!!!! I hope it will not be just a short visit, but that he will be back for much more in the future! It was long overdue.

And there is also this faboulous revival of La bohème (April 28), conducted by Semyon Bychkov, and with Anja Harteros sharing the role of Mimì with Barbara Frittoli opposite Joseph Calleja and Roberto Alagna respectively :-) Niceee one, too bad Angela doesn't want to sing with Roberto again, it would have been lovely to see them in Boheme, but i will be cueing up to see both casts :-) Also great that Andris Nelsons will be back conducting Salome (31 May), with Angela Denoke, Egils Silins, Stig Andersen and Rosalind Plowright.

There is even some belcanto with La sonnambula (2November), starring Eglise Gutiérrez and Royal Opera debutant Spanish tenor Celso Albelo, (which i love, but not with this soprano i'm sorry) and the Fille du régiment (19 April), with Patrizia Ciofi and Colin Lee in the leading roles. Still no Lucia, why on earth this is such a no-no in this House i have no idea.... No Elisir, although i was hoping for a revival, Rolando Villazon still ows us a run of this from a couple of yeas back ;-)

Thank God no Carmen or Tosca ;-)

Last but not least as they say the Mozart trio: Don, Nozze and Cosi. Now if only they had decided to skip Cosi the current season! I'm afraid it will be too soon for another revival of that, trio or no trio.... The casts are all worth hearing though and i can take a lot more Mozart from these ;-) Here's the detail: Don Giovanni (21 January), Così fan tutte (27 January) and Le nozze di Figaro (11 February). Don Giovanni conducted by Constantinos Carydis (one to look out for!), with 2 Don's - Gerald Finley and Erwin Schrott! Colin Davis will conduct Così fan tutte and the cast includes soprano Malin Byström, tenor Charles Castronovo, soprano Rosemary Joshua, baritone Thomas Allen, and debutant Nikolay Borchev. Le nozze di Figaro by is conducted by Antonio Pappano (another one to look our for ;-))))), with Simon Keenlyside (yepeee!!!), Aleksandra Kurzak (also yepee!) , Kate Royal and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo.

Upsy, almost missed this! Der fliegende Holländer(Jeffrey Tate; Anja Kampe, Falk Struckmann, Endrik Wottrich, Stephen Milling). A production i really liked, which i am glad is being revived and the singing should be quite good as well :-)


And next year in June i belive we have a special Placido celebration, where apprently i will get part of my wish as he is said to be doing Act 2 of Rigoletto, then also from Simon Boccanegra and act 3 of Otello, hurray :-) I might get to hear Placido as a tenor once in my life live after all! :-))))

And if i got it right the season will continue through the summer right into the next with probably the Ring. Details on all of that to follow on the ROH site.

Generally satisfying season, with many great things to look forward to, even if some casts probably didn't end up as they were planned or are not really what i would have expected at the ROH. But, definitely looking forward to the season, there is something in everything to draw me into the House and in all but one case i think it is also more than just the music itself :-)

Aeneas leaving Dido - Pompeo Batoni 1747

Bayerische Staatsoper Munich 2011/12 season out now!

The new season is on line here:

http://www.bayerische.staatsoper.de/731--~spielplan~kalender_2008.html?l=de

And you gotta give it to them, a total singer's fest. The Ring is back, there are Carlos, Traviatas, Bohemes, a new Hoffmann, Cenerentolas, Rosenkavaliers, a new Turandot as well as many many more.

And they have secured: Angela Gheorghiu, Edita Gruberova, Diana Damrau (doing all ladies in the Hoffmann!!!!), Anja Harteros, Rene Fleming, Sophie Koch, Martina Serafin, Anna Netrebko, Joyce DiDonato, Roman Vargas, Jonas Kaufmann, Joseph Calleja, Simon Keenlyside, Pavol Breslik, John Rylea, Bryn Terfel, Alan Held ( the new Hollender), Lawrence Brownlee, Klaus Florian Vogt, Rolando Villazon (Hoffmann!!!), Mariusz Kwiecien (Posa!), Rene Pape (Filippo!), Lance Ryan, etc etc

However much i hate their "schriftliches Bestellungssystem" which this year again has treated me to a refusal you have to give it to them, a season to be very happy about if you live in Munich and dream about if you don't :-) Congratulations are in order i believe!

Check it out!

Elizabeth Llewellyn Rosenblatt recital St John's 13th April

13 Apr 2011 » 7:30PM » St John's, Smith Square ELIZABETH LLEWELLYN Soprano, Simon LepperPianist Songs and arias by composers including Handel, Mozart, Walton, Strauss, Puccini, Verdi and Gounod. Fo the full program information see the related Rosenblatt recital site. She has sung at the WNO and Opera North and her roles have included Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia and Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro. Most recent engagements included covering Donna Elvira for Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of Don Giovanni and her spectacular debut as Mimì for ENO’s revival production of La Bohème. To find out more check out this interview:



And this wonderful one with Edward Seckerson in the Independent .


And also this more recent interview done in preparation for tomorrow's recital:
What one thing that has happened in your life has made the biggest impact on who you are today as a singer and made you realise you wanted a career in music?

There are two answers to that question. The thing which had the biggest impact on my life as a singer was having to stop singing. When I started singing again in October 2007, it made me realise what a privilege it is to be able to make a career creating other worlds with just your voice, body and imagination. I do feel quite keenly that this is my privilege and not my right, and so not to be squandered. What made me realise that I wanted to become a singer was a recording given to me of Jessye Norman singing spirituals, "Es gibt ein Reich" from Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss, and "Dove sono" from Le Nozze di Figaro (which is included in my recital). I was utterly transfixed by the power and expressiveness of her voice. I had only just started having singing lessons myself, and longed to develop even a fraction of her ability to 'transport' an audience.

You stopped singing for 10 years due to illness and when you returned to singing, you triumphed as Mimì in ENO’s production of La Bohème. Could you please tell us what this was like for you?

It was surreal and very exciting. Most nights I would giggle at my reflection in the mirror before going on stage, as I could not quite believe that I had such a golden opportunity to sing such a beautiful role. Every night I was encouraged by the warm reception from the audience at my curtain-call, but most of all it was very humbling to think that they had really enjoyed and appreciated what I brought to the production.

What advice would you give to a young aspiring singer?

Spend as much time and take as much care developping yourself as a person as you do honing your skills as an artist - travel, work a normal 9-5 job for a little while, be a keen observer of people, and be realistic with yourself... I have found that technical/vocal ability is only half the job. Our audiences want to be moved and changed by what we do, not simply impressed.

What is the most satisfying thing in your life as an opera singer? On the other hand what have you sacrificed for your art?

I love the fact that am an eternal student. There is always more to read/translate/learn/listen to, always a myriad of ways to deliver a line in an opera or a song, and you can never predict how a responsive audience (or colleague) will react. Even after thirteen performances of La Bohème, I came off stage thinking, "Next time, I'll play that scene differently" or, "I'd like to try to improve that section or build upon what I started there"... I am very fortunate that my work is so stimulating. The downside of my life as a singer has been that, especially since things have moved on so quickly for me and I have had to work hard to make the most of these opportunities, sadly I have spent less time with family and dear friends over the past three years.

What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?

"Wayfaring Stranger" as recorded by Eva Cassidy. I am a committed Christian and this song reminds me that, even though I have the very best job in the world, my real home is with Jesus Christ.

Do you cook? If so, what dish is your speciality?

I'm ashamed to admit that most of the time food is about taking on fuel! So when I do cook, it is a wonderful form of relaxation even if the result leaves much to be desired. My latest passion is making soups, and I have an interesting repertoire of them now, as they are a great way to get my "5-a-day". If I have lots of time, I can make an amazing bolognese, which takes at least three hours to cook.

If you weren’t an opera singer what would you be?

I had aspirations of becoming a journalist when I was in my mid-teens. If music had not broken at that point in my life, I am fairly certain I would have pursued that career.

If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

Tricky one, as I love living in London very much (which is why I have included the Walton songs in my programme). But there is a part of my genetic make-up which craves feeling the sun on my skin for at least half of the year. Whenever I can, I enjoy going to Italy on holiday as Italians seem to have the balance right between work and life, and style and substance... So I guess my answer would be somewhere in middle/south of Italy near a large town, and within striking distance of the beach.

Looking beyond your Rosenblatt Recital, could you please give us an outline of your forthcoming projects?

There are still a number of things to be confirmed, but a wonderful composer - Jean-Philippe Calvin - is writing a song-cycle for me which I hope to start working on soon. I will be singing the role of La Contessa in Opera Holland Park's production of Le Nozze di Figaro in the first two weeks of July this year, and then singing Governess (The Turn of the Screw) for an exciting new opera company in London. Early 2012 will see my first performance of Strauss' Vier Letze Lieder in Canterbury Cathedral, followed by a return to Holland Park in the summer to sing Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte). All of the details will appear on my website www.elizabethllewellyn.com, and you can follow my "blog" on my News page.

Celebrate Mahler with Claudio Abbado, Jonas Kaufmann and Anne Sofie von Otter

Gustav Mahler (1892) from Hofphotograph Leonhard Berlin-Bieber (1841–1931)
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UPDATE (21 April) unfortunately, the listed cinemas will no longer have the live broadcast :-(((( The only alternative available for most of us in the UK is the Digital concert hall live relay. Check the links from the Berliner Philharmoniker below for details, it is not free, but the cost is minimal.

http://www.digitalconcerthall.com/

http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/berliner-philharmoniker/

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It's exactly 100 years from the day of his death on May 18th this year. And on this occasion, Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker are dedicating him a special concert. They present Mahler’s last symphony which remained unfinished at his death in 1911 and Das Lied von der Erde, considered by him as “probably the most personal composition I ever created”.

For the LvdE the soloists will be Anne Sofie von Otter and Jonas Kaufmann. And i think this is the first time maestro Abbado will conduct LvdE (but do correct me if i am wrong).

Photo Claudio Abbado © Priska Ketterer

And you can see it too!!!!!! Here is how :

It will be live on arte according to this EUROARTS site and the ARD TV guide. I think it is also very likely to be released on DVD afterwards.

Or in London it will be shown live in cinemas at:
Picturehouse Greenwich

Picturehouse Stratford

For other cinemas around the UK, you can contact the distributor Myscreenevent or just do a google search, there are several locations in the Uk where one can already book, including the two cinema's in London mentioned.

Enjoy!!!!

ROH + BBC= more goodies!

There have been a number of successful broadcasts from the ROH this season on the BBC, both radio and TV, among which Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, the usual opera broadcasts and as we all remember the positively mouthwatering series of Opera Italia! All this, and i would also guess the considerable success Tony has had as a communicator of opera on TV (see the recent nomination from the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards for Creative Communication for the series) have lead to a new partnership with the BBC, which was announced today.

Quoting from the BBC press release on this:

"Alice's Adventures In Wonderland will be broadcast on BBC Two on Saturday 23 April at 2.30pm immediately preceded by a documentary exploring the making of the ballet at 2pm" "The Royal Opera House and the BBC will come together to co-produce new commissions for 2012 created especially for television prior to live performance on the stage ..."

More Tony! yay!!!! "The new deal includes a series on classical masterworks presented by Antonio Pappano, beginning with Pappano's Essential Tosca for BBC Two and also the development of a new five-part series about singing to be written and presented by Antonio Pappano"

And guess what????!!!! We will get THAT TOSCA on TV!! :-))) "Other presentations include The Royal Opera's production of Tosca Tosca with Angela Gheorghiu as the heroine, Jonas Kaufmann as her lover Cavaradossi and Bryn Terfel as the Chief of Police Scarpia, accompanied by Pappano's Essential Tosca, a documentary presented by Antonio Pappano in which he examines the dramatic importance of each location in the opera and illustrates what Puccini does musically to create a great theatrical experience."

By the way, the Tosca will also be on BBC Radio3 , as well as "Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon starring in Massenet's Werther, Nina Stemme as the heroine Leonora in Beethoven's Fidelio, and Simon Keenlyside singing the title role of Verdi's Macbeth for the first time in the UK. Radio 3 will also broadcast two operas live: Puccini's Madam Butterfly and a new production of Massenet's Cendrillon (Cinderella) with Joyce DiDonato in the title role. "

More details in the press release link above. Great news, isn't it? :-)

Wigmore 2011-2012

It's amazing what quantity (and quality!) of concerts and recitals are held at Wigmore every season. But if we talk only about recitals, looks like everybody who has a name (or wants to have one) as a recitalist is singing there, if not every year..almost.
Just in September list is impressive : the 10th Thomas Quasthoff, Christian Gerhaher the 20th (Müllerin), 22th (Winterreise) and 24th (Schwanengesang), the 21th Lawrence Zazzo, the 26th and 28th Ian Bostridge and the 29th Gerald Finley.



But this is just one month...there is much, much more : Christianne Stotijn, Mark Padmore, 5th November Simon Keenlyside, Elisabeth Watts, Anna Caterina Antonacci 6 December, Bernarda Fink, Anne Schwanewilms, Thomas Allen, Veronique Gens, Angelica Kirschlager, John Mark Ainsley, Christopher Maltman, Natalie Dessay, Magdalena Kozena, Miah Persson, Susan Graham, Juliane Banse,Christoph Pregardien, Joyce di Donato, 10th June Jonas Kaufmann, etc...
The complete info is not yet available on the website, but it will follow soon :)

Jonas Kaufmann comes back to Wigmore Hall

Now it's official. Jonas Kaufmann will give a new recital at Wigmore Hall on June 10th 2012 !with his faithful partner, Helmut Deutsch.

Copyright: LA Opera/Robert Millard

The programm is still not announced but whatever he sings it will be,for sure, the hottest ticket of the Wigmore season, especially after the announcement yesterday of his nomination for the Royal Philarmonic Society Music Awards "for his performance of Schubert’s Song Cycle Die Schöne Mullerin at Wigmore Hall".