# Looking Forward



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

So what are you looking forward to, in opera?

For me: Natalie Dessay doing Tales of Hoffmann at the SF Opera.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Going to see the new production of Parsifal for the 2nd time on monday. The first time was an overwhelming experience so...!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Isn't it great when those overwhelming experiences come through for you?

Who stood out, in the first performance? I've seen Falk Struckmann only twice, once on the Fidelio with Karita Mattila, once as Scarpia in person. He wasn't too bad but I wouldn't have gone out of my way to see him. Who was best?


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

The world premiere of Stockhausen's _Mittwoch _in August in Birmingham (of all places).


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Les Troyens at ROH. I'm seeing a performance on 1st July but also going to the final dress rehearsal today. It's 03:20 & I'm eating my breakfast. I'm setting off at 05:00 to walk to the station to get the train at 05:55.

It doesn't start 'til 11:00 but our train service is poor so I want to give myself every chance of getting there in time.

Just a bit excited!


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

guythegreg said:


> Isn't it great when those overwhelming experiences come through for you?
> 
> Who stood out, in the first performance? I've seen Falk Struckmann only twice, once on the Fidelio with Karita Mattila, once as Scarpia in person. He wasn't too bad but I wouldn't have gone out of my way to see him. Who was best?


There werent really any week links in the cast. I think the best part for me was the staging and the decor, but a single highlight would have to be Parsifal's enlightenment in the 2nd act. Both Petra Lang and Christopher Ventirs sang tremendously, but I have to give credit to director Pierre Audi for directing that scene. IT was completely believable, and you could feel every utterance in your bones.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Jeremy Marchant said:


> The world premiere of Stockhausen's _Mittwoch _in August in Birmingham (of all places).


I've heard such terrible things about Stockhausen, none of which I can remember. Have you ever seen anything by him?


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

emiellucifuge said:


> There werent really any week links in the cast. I think the best part for me was the staging and the decor, but a single highlight would have to be Parsifal's enlightenment in the 2nd act. Both Petra Lang and Christopher Ventirs sang tremendously, but I have to give credit to director Pierre Audi for directing that scene. IT was completely believable, and you could feel every utterance in your bones.


Yes, the director gets a lot of blame when things go wrong; but when things go right he's a genius. Not a Wagnerliebhaber myself, but you almost make me wish I could go!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

sospiro said:


> Les Troyens at ROH. I'm seeing a performance on 1st July but also going to the final dress rehearsal today. It's 03:20 & I'm eating my breakfast. I'm setting off at 05:00 to walk to the station to get the train at 05:55.
> 
> It doesn't start 'til 11:00 but our train service is poor so I want to give myself every chance of getting there in time.
> 
> Just a bit excited!


OMG Les Troyens at ROH!! How I envy you. Good luck.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

_Porgy and Bess _at the Cincinnati Opera this coming Thursday with Measha Brueggergosman and Jonathan Lemalu in the title roles.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

They're doing Porgy and Bess here in NYC, except Audra McDonald just went down with a cold. I really should see it; Tommasini put it on his 100 best operas ever ... and a seatmate recommended it too, one night.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

sospiro said:


> Les Troyens at ROH


So ... how was it!!!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> So ... how was it!!!


I'll do a proper review after I've seen the performance on Sunday. But the rehearsal left me exhilarated, stunned & desperate to see it again. The music & singing fulfilled all my hopes & the staging is vintage McVicar. The horse, well horse's head, is HUGE, it breathes fire, is mechanised & made of metal, but didn't contain any Greeks. At the first interval I met up with a friend who'd I'd only met previously on Twitter & afterwards we met up again & went to the Stage Door. This is me with Director of Opera Kasper Holten.



My friend & I just couldn't tear ourselves away from the opera house & hung around the Stage Door for another hour, just talking & remembering everything we could. Then we went for a coffee which lasted another 3 hours & I eventually left London at 9.00 pm to go home. I was exhausted on Saturday but it was totally & utterly worth it.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

I love it!!! You had a great time!!! (Are those pearls? they work.) And you didn't freak the poor guy out or anything! I always go a little nuts when I'm meeting someone I have too much respect for. But he looks relaxed and pleasant.

You know, some things McVicar does right and some things ... I just don't know. His Manon, with Natalie Dessay, was just a little over the top. A step to the left, if you will, and then a few more steps, in a hurry, and then down a set of stairs ... lol. But his Trovatore, at the Met, is just exuberant and splendid! Well, we'll see. I'm so glad you had fun.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> I love it!!! You had a great time!!! (Are those pearls? they work.) And you didn't freak the poor guy out or anything! I always go a little nuts when I'm meeting someone I have too much respect for. But he looks relaxed and pleasant.


Oh believe me when it's a singer I really like, I go to pieces & can't string two intelligent words together! Although he's a very clever guy & I admire his work, to me Kasper Holten is just an administrator.



guythegreg said:


> You know, some things McVicar does right and some things ... I just don't know. His Manon, with Natalie Dessay, was just a little over the top. A step to the left, if you will, and then a few more steps, in a hurry, and then down a set of stairs ... lol. But his Trovatore, at the Met, is just exuberant and splendid! Well, we'll see. I'm so glad you had fun.


I agree. I'm not a total fan but he's never boring.


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## macgeek2005 (Apr 1, 2006)

I'm looking forward (to put it very mildly) to La Clemenza di Tito Live in HD on December 1st! That opera is such a masterpiece.. after getting to know it intimately over the past few months, I strongly feel that everything there is exactly what Mozart meant to put, fitting of the opera seria genre, noble, pure and divine.. and it is of no less quality than his other great operas.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

what a coincidence - just viewed it for the first time on DVD last night! I'm preparing for the very same show. Didn't get all the way through, as my DVD was damaged, but I did enjoy what I saw. Jonas Kauffmann, Vesselina Kasarova, Eva Mei, Malin Hartelius. 

So ... where does it rank, with you, in the Mozart operas? Or maybe I should say, give me a list of your top 10 Mozart operas - is it on there?


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## macgeek2005 (Apr 1, 2006)

Well, first of all, I would watch the Levine/Ponnelle DVD. If you compare just the duet "Ah perdona, al primo affetto" across the different productions, it says everything that needs to be said about the differences between Ponnelle's authentic, sensitive approach and the cold, metallic "updated" versions that are on DVD. In these updated productions, every character looks angry all the time in comparison to Ponnelle's. 




The production at the Met in December will fortunately be Ponnelle's.. so it's also good to see that DVD in that regard.

In terms of where the opera ranks among Mozart's operas... I haven't actually gotten fully acquainted with all of Mozart's major operas yet, so I couldn't say. In fact, I'm most familiar with Tito out of all of them. Also, since I'm still in a place of getting to know music, my current ranking of the operas probably won't stay stable throughout the next few years, but currently it would go something like this:

The Marriage of Figaro
The Magic Flute
The Escape from the Seraglio
La Clemenza di Tito
Don Giovanni
Idomeneo

I haven't seen Cosi yet, but from what I've heard of it, it will probably rank in the higher part of the list once I do get to know it. Also, I haven't fully gotten to know Don Giovanni yet. I like the first four in my list equally though, with maybe Figaro being just a bit above the other three.. it was really hard to find an order for them one atop the other.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Thanks so much for your recommendation. I certainly will run out and get that DVD. 

As for me, I haven't been able to really enjoy any of his operas except Cosi fan tutte. I have a few different Magic Flutes, because of various different actresses I wanted to see in the roles, and a few different Nozzes di Figaro, for the same reason, but I don't actually enjoy them much. Cosi, on the other hand!! well. I wouldn't want to be without BOTH Riccardo Muti's version (with Alessandro Corbelli and Daniela Dessi) and the ancient, venerable and amazing Schwarzkopf/Ludwig/Bohm version. Best music ever written, for anything, full stop.

Thanks again.


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## Dakota (Jun 30, 2012)

Wow, how exciting! The Met is doing Les Troyens next season (and in the HD broadcasts) and I am looking forward to that. I don't know a lot of Berlioz but what I do know, I love! The Met will have some others that I have not seen before (Otello, La Clemenza di Tito) so it should be a wonderful season. I also plan to run down to Philadelphia to catch Opera Philly's "Silent Night" by Kevin Puts in February, another one I have heard but not yet seen. So many operas; I need to retire, lol.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Dakota said:


> Wow, how exciting! The Met is doing Les Troyens next season (and in the HD broadcasts) and I am looking forward to that. I don't know a lot of Berlioz but what I do know, I love! The Met will have some others that I have not seen before (Otello, La Clemenza di Tito) so it should be a wonderful season. I also plan to run down to Philadelphia to catch Opera Philly's "Silent Night" by Kevin Puts in February, another one I have heard but not yet seen. So many operas; I need to retire, lol.


Yes, it is going to be an exciting season! I am particularly looking forward to Diana Damrau's Violetta (although I am sort of cringing at the idea of Domingo doing Giorgio Germont lol). And Bartlett Sher's new Elisir d'Amore? A can't miss. I hope.

NEVER RETIRE!!


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