Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera

One Gin was not quite enough for me to get through this. New production. Directorial debut of Kasper Holten. Simon Keenlyside as Eugene Onegin. It could have been so good. It wasn't. The least distracting was the staging - a few pillars, projected backdrops to portray the fields, bedroom, sun rise, snow storm did work. The orchestra played the score well under Ticciati, bar a few moments that lacked momentum.

Krassimira Stoyanova just didn't have the appropriate mannerism for Tatyana. Her voice was good but there was not enough ring and agility to portray the character adequately. And what's this dancing in the Letter Scene? I thought the female dancer was supposed to be Tatyana's imagination. But it really didn't work when Nurse (Kathleen Wilkinson sang that well) started singing at the dancer! Nyet!

The same thing recurred during the duel between Onegin and Lensky. There it was - the alto ego of Onegin milling around. Double Vision! Nyet!

And there was NO BALLROOM SCENE!!! The grand polonaise provided the cue, but one expected a scene at court, courtiers dancing, not modern dancers doing something completely different. Nyet!

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Hearing the Berlin Philharmonic at the Philharmonie

Those of us London-centric folks easily forget there are great concert halls in other parts of the world. I remember as a young kid buying DG LPs with von Karajan on the front cover conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. So as my first visit to the city, a visit to the Philharmonie to listen to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was a must. Ivan Fisher started the evening's concert with Haydn Symphony 88. A light and delightful work. As I'd expected, the acoustic of the hall was amazing - probably a good 2.5 second of reverberation - and much more generous than the Royal Festival Hall in London. The strings sounded sweet and the timpani came through clearly with definition. The audience was then treated to Béla Bartók's Seven Pieces for Choir and Chamber Orchestra: the Berlin Phil reduced in size occupying only half of the stage while the Netherlands Youth Choir took the other half. These young performers (all female) sang in Hungarian from memory - not easy at all - and rea...

Faust at the Royal Opera

This is a revival of Charles Edwards (design) / David McVicar (director) production of Gounod Faust. Visually, it is still exciting to watch with the ever changing stage sets of this fantasy. In this production, Erwin Schrott was Méphistophélès - who had style and poise as this devilish character. Michael Fabiano did a good job at portraying Faust - especially in the first act when he had to start off as an old man before turning into an energetic youngster. Irina Lungu had the right French voice type for Marguerite - somewhat vulnerable with sufficient warmth for the romantic scenes. Dan Ettinger in the pit kept the pace going, and the chorus did magnificently in those big numbers.

Will the swish looking Princi become the hottest thing on Wardour St?

This site on Wardour Street in Soho had seen many bars and restaurants come and go. The latest occupant is Princi, an up market Italian bakery brought to London by Alan Yau (of Hakkasan, Yauatcha fame). Natural stones, polished brass and water reflections dominate. The long communal tables ( de rigeur for any Soho eatery), leather upholstered chairs and perfect lighting make this a stylish choice for a slice of cake (made from organic "00" flour) and a caffé machiato from the Italian barista (yes he is, I talked to him in Italian). They seem to have an alcohol licence - so perfect for an early evening spritz , or a late evening caffé correto . The downside is that this is a self-service joint. While everything is stylishly done, all eating implements are disposable. So never mind the side plate.

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