OPERA LIVELY

As part of our Central European coverage in the summer of 2018, Opera Lively interviewed in person Andreas Homoki in early July 2018 in Zurich. His fascinating answers are an interesting read. This interview is one of several done in that time period, together with reviews of sixteen live shows (three of them, at the Zurich Opera House). Our readers can consult the coverage portal by clicking [here], to find links to all those articles. We apologize for the delay in publishing this interview, which happened due to some unpredictable difficulties that are not the artist's fault, nor the opera house's. ...

After our spectacular interview with Maestro Riccardo Muti, we are now publishing the words of another giant of Italian music, Salvatore Sciarrino, the most important living Italian composer. Mr. Sciarrino is delightful and possesses great erudition. He speaks in a very literary manner, and likely would have produced even more sophisticated words, but since the interview was conducted in Italian, Mr. Sciarrino said he tried to "keep it simple" so that the translation would be easier. Well, it wasn't simple... His answers are deep and meaningful. We believe this is one of the best interviews we ever published on Opera Lively. ...

Opera Lively had the pleasure of interviewing the great tenor Jonas Kaufmann, on the occasion of his magnificent interpretation of the title role of Parsifal in the new production of the opera by the Bayerische Staatsoper, which we attended live on July 1, 2018 in Munich. Given the multiple demands on the famous tenor's time, we kept it short, but his intelligence and erudition still shine through, in his answers to our eight questions.

This interview is part of our Central Europe coverage trip in the summer of 2018, when we visited four countries, seven cities, and eight opera companies where we attended sixteen performances in as many days and interviewed twenty-one artists. We gathered this material in a portal with links to all articles, reviews, and interviews. Click [here] to consult the portal, and on "read more" below for Mr. Kaufmann's words. ...

This interview with the great French singer Sandrine Piau is being published very late for no fault of the artist, and we apologize for it. But even if it is no longer timely, it is still very interesting given Ms. Piau's intelligence and profound insights regarding the character Despina in Così fan tutte, which in the summer of 2016 she was singing for the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. This piece is therefore to be situated in our extensive coverage of that edition of the festival. We made a portal where we listed links to all the articles we published about Aix, and our readers can consult the other numerous interviews and reviews by clicking [here]. ...

We are honored to have interviewed in person one of the most prominent figures in all of opera, the prestigious stage director and opera company/festival administrator Jürgen Flimm, who was the artistic director of the Salzburg Festival and the Intendant, among others, of the Berlin Staatsoper (which I would call one of the top five opera companies in the world). He just recently (in April 2018) passed the baton to his successor at the Berlin Staatsoper, Matthias Schulz. At the time, when we talked with him, he still held the position. We chatted about his production of Salvatore Sciarrino's contemporary opera Luci Mie Traditrice. This interview, then, is another one in this cycle (we also interviewed the two lead singers and the conductor for this performance). Unfortunately for various reasons that have nothing to do with the artist, there was a delay in transcribing and publishing this piece, for which we apologize. ...

Our rendition of the great interviews we collected this past summer in Aix-en-Provence continues. We apologize for the slow pace: this one, since it was conducted in French, needed to be transcribed in French, submitted to the artist, then translated into English, but the wait was worth it, because the excellent baritone Stéphane Degout who sung a superb Pelléas has very interesting insights about the symbolic aspects of the opera. Stéphane is a great singer with very acclaimed performances in the best European houses and although more rarely, he's been to this side of the pond as well, performing the same role (and three others) at the Metropolitan Opera House, and he was also seen at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
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Continuing our publication of the interviews and reviews that resulted from our in-person coverage of the latest Festival d'Aix-en-Provence [see the portal which contains links to all articles by clicking (here)], today we are bringing to our members and readers a very interesting interview with the intelligent French bass-baritone Laurent Naouri, who sang a perfect Golaud in the gorgeous Katie Mitchell production of Pelléas et Mélisande (a full review of the show and other related interviews are also available in the portal above). Laurent's long and prestigious career boasts great roles and fantastic discography. The artist commands incredibly good English and possesses an engaging personality. Talking with him in person was a pleasure. Enjoy!
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Opera Lively attended in person the fabulous Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in Southern France, in the summer of 2016. We interviewed the talented and intelligent artist Kate Lindsey who sang the role of Dorabella in Christophe Honoré's daring production of Mozart's Così fan tutte. Kate's answers are very interesting!

Our Aix-en-Provence coverage contains several interviews, articles, and reviews (including our take on this Così). We gathered all the links on a portal that can be consulted by clicking [here]. ...

Photo © Jean-Baptiste Millot - Interview © Opera Lively

Opera Lively has interviewed Roberto Alagna, and it is one of our best interviews to date. This is the Opera Lively interview #159, and now both the French original and the English translation are available. Our French-speaking readers can benefit from this delightful and revealing piece by clicking [here] to see the French version. Scroll down or click on Read More below for the the English version.
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Opera Lively Press in conjunction with CreateSpace has published on April 3, 2018, the third book of our opera guides series, on Tchaikovsky's masterspiece Eugene Onegin.

It is difficult to appreciate in the 21^st century how much of a novelty was Onegin, when it premiered in Moscow. Back in 1879, most of Russian and Slavic opera was devoted to political topics (A life for the Tsar, Boris Godunov, Khovanschina…), fairy tales (Ruslan and Ludmila, Rusalka, May Night…) or even biblical adaptations like Serov’s Judith. However, Onegin was centered on the life and passions of standard human beings.

Onegin is a Romantic opera. It is also full of melody. There are no formal experiments here. It was the perfect daughter of her times. Of course, with such a skillful instrumental music composer for the orchestra as Tchaikovsky, we can find many fine details in the orchestration, as well as some motif building. But the prominent role is never in the pit: it’s in the voices of the singers.

This Opera Lively guidebook will walk the reader through the opera’s libretto (with a new translation), musical structure (in terms that can be understood by all), circumstance of composition, trivia, and wil provide CD and DVD reviews, comments on live performances, and interviews with singers and a conductor. Enjoy!

Available now on Amazon.com (and various international Amazon sites for the Kindle e-book): click [here] for the paperback and [here] for the Kindle edition. ...