January 2017 – operaexplorer

Painting in blue and yellow: Beczala as Werther in Barcelona. January 28, 2017

The decision to revisit Liceu came spontaneously and was triggered by simultaneous discovery of one January weekend without opera trip and opportunity to see acclaimed Willy Decker production I have not seen yet, with very tempting cast – Anna Catarina Antonacci, who impressed me in short and brave Sancta Susanna in Paris, together with Piotr […]

by antrazalite

Fragility and tenderness of a superhero: return of Kaufmann as Lohengrin in Paris. Opera Bastille, January 21, 2017

The long awaited and triumphal coming-back prima happened a few days ago, thus all of us gathering for the second performance of Lohengrin in Opera Bastille were throbbing impatiently in presentiment. In the adrenaline rush just a day before the sacred date I have logged onto Opera de Paris web page and sourced another ticket, […]

by antrazalite

Puccini’s western starring Antonenko and Magee. La Fanciulla del West, Wiener Staatsoper, January 14th, 2017

Giacomo Puccini is one of my favourite composers, but somehow until now I have seen La Fanciulla del West only as livestream or MetHD and thus was quite eager to see it live with a great cast. As there was a plan to come to Vienna for La Sonnambula, the opportunity to see Aleksandrs Antonenko and […]

by antrazalite

Atonement for La Sonnambula: Florez, Pisaroni, Fally and Nazarova in Vienna Staatsoper, January 13th, 2017.

To get into opera travel on Friday, 13th might be an adventurous proposal even for the least superstitious opera fan as it turned out. Flight delay, mad dash by a taxi from the airport to arrive at the evening box office to collect the ticket just 5 minutes to start, then get changed in a […]