Travelling and enjoying opera performances
The decision to go for Don Carlo in Berlin came in conjunction with booked Andrea Chenier at Deutsche Oper Berlin, which initially had Aleksandrs Antonenko role debut scheduled, and return flight on Monday morning thus providing opportunity to see an extra performance on Sunday. I was intrigued by seeing René Pape and somehow did not […]
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Flying overseas for the whole day, rushing through the congested New York city and arriving just an hour before the curtain might get things stressful. Nevertheless, despite tiredness and jet lag I managed to enjoy the last performance of renewed “Las Vegas” Rigoletto with a great cast, starring fabulous Željko Lučić, mesmerizing Joseph Calleja, impressive […]
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This has been a decision questioned by everyone I know: what could be a reason to attend two consequtive performances of “Nabucco” over one weekend? Love for Verdi masterpiece? Learning by heart any of lead roles? Or absolute obsession to gather as much as possible over short time span? Probably each of those might have […]
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It was a beautiful sunny day in Milano, and sitting on the rooftop terrasse of La Rinascente, sipping pre-opera espresso and watching the sun setting over the picturesque city, excitement was gradually increasing before going to see the live performance of the newest production by Alvis Hermanis at La Scala. I should admit, that it […]
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This was a hectic week – traveling to Paris twice in one week certainly is some extraordinary event even for a frequent traveler like me. I have booked Il Trovatore tickets as soon as those went on sale in Opera National de Paris and with regrets admitted even then, that none of the dates with […]
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Starting new year there are a lot of reviews of 2015 and just a few forward looking insights, thus I decided to put together my wishlist (or hopeful list) while absorbed in listening to Jonas Kaufmann singing Puccini at La Scala. Main unknowns yet are Munich Festspiele and Salzburg Festspiele ticket allocations which should come […]
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It seems like there is certain pattern in writing up reviews and impressions from the performances I have immensely enjoyed – it is much harder and time consuming rather than many good and some average performances required. Also this time has not been different as the only show I have seen twice, and got long-lasting […]
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The cast: Otello: Aleksandrs Antoņenko Desdemona: Sonya Yoncheva Iago: Željko Lučić Cassio: Dimitri Pittas Lodovico: Günther Groissböck Roderigo: Chad Shelton Montano: Jeff Mattsey Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Seguin Production: Bartlett Sher Set designer: Es Devlin Costume designer: Catherine Zuber Lighting designer: Donald Holder Projection designer: Luke Halls The 328th Metropolitan Opera performance That was an evening filled […]
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GIUSEPPE VERDI • IL TROVATORE, Salzburg Festspiele, Aug 14, 2015 This was the best performance seen this season in Salzburg, great comparison of impressions after seeing production live with perceptions from recorded/ streamed performances. The cast was well balanced and complementing each other, Anna Netrebko run the performance, while both Meli and Rucinski were believable […]
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Winter operatic treat in Berlin was crowned by Macbeth at Staatsoper Berlin with starry cast: Daniel Barenboim, Conductor and Staatskapelle Berlin Peter Mussbach, Director Andrea Schmidt-Futterer, Costume Designer Erich Wonder, Set Designer Liudmyla Monastyrska, Lady Macbeth Rolando Villazon, Macduff Florian Hoffmann, Malcolm Plácido Domingo, Macbeth René Pape, Banquo Short coffee break before the performance, […]
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