What opera have you been watching lately?

[Nemorino]

With this one, I've seen all of Puccini's post-Manon operas. As I expected, this won't rank highly in my Puccini favorites; the plot has little to interest me personally. Acts 1 and 2 ask "what if" La Boheme starred the well-to-do. Act 3 is La Traviata, but if Violetta leaves without anyone convincing her (and she doesn't even have the decency to die at the end ).

Loved this cast, though. Got a good chuckle out of Lisette playing a character named Lisette.

[MAuer]

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Very good Pique Dame from Mariinsky 2015, conducted by Gergiev. Maxim Aksenov as Gherman had a great combination of voice, internal craziness and charisma. It's rare that the Gherman eclipses the Yeletsky, although the latter's gorgeous aria was splendid. Lovely singing from the Lisa. Good production too, less staid than the usual Mariinsky offerings.

You can catch it here

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

[Soave_Fanciulla]

We are officially done in Regie circles with the "theatre within a theatre" trope and have now moved into the "Never mind the plot, it's all about the composer's life" Konzept. It worked best with the upcoming Bayreuth Meistersinger DVD, was tolerable with the Tchaikovsky-clones Herheim Pique Dame, but what has Weber's rather blameless and successful (if short) life really got to do with Max in Der Freischütz? Yes I got that Max/Weber had composer's block rather than a lack of sharpshooting skills, but the giant birds, cross dressing Ännchen, flaming pianos and hanging Samiel were all a bit puzzling. The subtitles were in German, but here I think a lack of vocabulary knowledge might have been an advantage for once to avoid complete discombobulation. Never mind, Camilla Nylund and Andreas Schager were in great voice and the sets were pretty. If you want to watch it and deconstruct it for me here it is:

Act 1 & 2

Act 3

[MAuer]

If the costume designer had given Samiel a black robe, the character would have resembled a turkey vulture!

[Florestan]

Only 15 minutes into this and Jessica Pratt is blowing me away. What an awesome soprano!

[Soave_Fanciulla]

John Osborn does it again, and Erwin having a grand old time swaggering evilly. Interesting take on the Hoffmann story; it's already so weird it really doesn't matter if you get a bit Regie with it.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

An ancient Un ballo in maschera while cooking for the freezer. Great fun.

[Florestan]

[MAuer]

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Reasons to watch La Nonne Sanglante

1. Michael Spyres effortlessly despatching the most challenging arias. The man is a wonder.
2. Great singing by an excellent ensemble cast, with Jodie Devos and the beautiful Vannina Santoni.
3. Lovely melodic music from the young Gounod.
4. An imaginative and engrossing production, visually arresting, suitably creepy, and beautifully choreographed.
5. Convincing acting
6. And a wonderfully silly Gothic horror plot wherein our hero accidentally marries a dead nun and is haunted by her until he promises to avenge her murder.

[halochef]

[Hoffmann]

John Osborn does it again, and Erwin having a grand old time swaggering evilly. Interesting take on the Hoffmann story; it's already so weird it really doesn't matter if you get a bit Regie with it.

Hmm. Not sure what to think about a weird Hoffmann...

[CaptainVere]

Watched this livestream yesterday, it will be up for a while.

Really good cast. They encored the sextet.

[MAuer]

Dietrich Henschel is one of my fave baritones -- attractive voice, and a very expressive face. Kasarova behaves herself here; could be Harnoncourt was not as indulgent a conductor as Welser-Möst (La Clemenza di Tito). And the Telemacho is the young Jonas early in his career.