Travelling and enjoying opera performances
The opera exploration journey this year has brought me to know several masterpieces from classical heritage which are not part of the popular “go-to” list, including Arrigo Boito and “Mephistophele”, Frommenthal Halevy and “La Juive”, and now also Giacomo Meyerbeer and “Les Huguenots”. Until now I have heard several arias, and when Deutsche Oper Berlin […]
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Another night with high expectations was turned into mild disappointment in the planning phase and then into unanimous approval and enthusiastic applause by sold out and packed Opera Bastille cheering main protagonists, conductor and director who was not there to receive gratitude from the public. The run of performances of Les Contes d’Hoffmann was highly […]
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The excitement was in the air, and just looking around you can notice an obvious difference in the audience of the premiere night – most of the people know each other, greeting, chatting and looking for the rooms where their designated reception is held. The main sponsor of BSO, The Linde Group, gathers their crowd at […]
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It was unplanned, spontaneous decision triggered by email received on Friday when packing for my trip to Paris for two first performances on Opera de Paris subscription package – “Eligabalo” at Palais Garnier and “Samson et Dalila” at Opera Bastille. The message stated that due to strike announced the performance of Samson et Dalila might be […]
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Production of “Fidelio” by Calixto Bieito is already 6 years old, but somehow I have missed the opportunity to get to know it earlier during my previous, quite frequent trips to Munich. Also this time Fidelio was not a primary choice since it came as convenience add-on following highly anticipated Meistersingers, with hope to witness Jonas […]
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The bad news came a week or so before the performance – Jonas Kaufmann cancelling all next month performances, starting with Meistersinger in Munich.. Should I cancel the trip and wait for next opportunity? When decided to go regardless of cast changes I made up my mind not to expect too much from the performance […]
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The opening of the new season in my opera calendar was marked by a trip to London, and I had high expectations for the new production of Norma, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano and performed by star duo of Sonya Yoncheva and Joseph Calleja. The expectations were overachieved both by brilliant musical interpretation as well as […]
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This was an interesting night at the opera – actively following the leading artists on social media, as well as preparing for the performance with a help of Salzburger Festspiele rich media library, I already had some perception built for what to expect on the last night of my annual trip attending the performance of “Faust”. During […]
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Saturday evening in the Haus für Mozart promised long awaited rendevouz with two of outstanding Mozart gentlemen – Ildebrando d’Arcangelo and Luca Pisaroni. I remember seeing previous production of Don Giovanni from Salzburg live streamed in summer of 2014, featuring both Ildebrando and Luca, just before my first visit to Salzburg festival a few weeks […]
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Unfortunately the performance I have been waiting most impatiently to see left me disappointed and a bit confused. After long weekend in April, devoted to Richard Strauss, as part of Straus-Wochen in Berlin, where Danae did not fit my travel schedule, I was quite eager to get to know the opera, and had high hopes […]
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