# Met To Do Messiaen's Only Opera In 2017 !



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

This is amazing news . The Metropolitan opera has just released some of its plans for the next five years or so, and the standout is the planned production of" St. Francois D'Assise", the monumental and extremely challenging only opera by Olivier Messiaen, which had its world premiere at the Paris opera in 1983 under Seiji Ozawa.
The work calls for a huge orchestra and chorus and is extremely static dramatically and oratorio-like , and the bass role of St. Francis is one of the longest and most difficult in opera .
The outstanding African-America bass Eric owen will portray the saint , but no conductor has been announced. 
It would be great to have Messiaen specialist Kent Nagano to conduct, and he led a superb DG recording which may not be easy to find now , with Jose Van Dam in the title role. Van Dam, who has recently retired at the age of 70, created the title role.
The only problem may be the many rather conservative members of the Met audience, who may find the whole thing a bit too much to swallow . But if the Met does some good advertizing, it might be able to avoid sparse ticket sales .Let's hope for the best !


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

If Crudblud was in NYC at the time he would be thrilled.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Yes, Nagano would be a great choice, and I hope they are able to bring him in for the event. Metzmacher also did a fine job in the more recent Pierre Audi production. 

If I have to swim the Atlantic ocean, in 2017 I'll do it. Maybe 2016, I'll need a head start with all that distance to cover.


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

Crudblud said:


> Yes, Nagano would be a great choice, and I hope they are able to bring him in for the event. Metzmacher also did a fine job in the more recent Pierre Audi production.
> 
> If I have to swim the Atlantic ocean, in 2017 I'll do it. Maybe 2016, I'll need a head start with all that distance to cover.


Yes, would love to get hold of the Amsterdam, Pierre Audi DVD of this opera having never heard or seen it before. Seems difficult to track down or it was very expensive.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

It has been released on the BBC OpusArte label, they're not Naxos cheap but certainly not as expensive as some *Germany based Universal subsidiaries* I could mention. If you do manage to find a copy it's easily one of the best ways to spend four hours I can think of.

As for the Met, I wonder if there will be a return to Messiaen's original designs. I don't know if you've seen any clips of the original Paris production, but the video quality is shot to ****. I would be interested in seeing a faithful reproduction of the original costumes and sets of those so that we can have an up to date, if van Dam-less St. François.

On the subject of finding a suitable "replacement" for van Dam, I'd be happy to see Rod Gilfry take on the role again, as he performed wonderfully in the Audi production.


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## Operadowney (Apr 4, 2012)

I'm hoping to be living in the States in time to go see this. Sounds great!


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