Diary of a Culture Hedonist

This production of Don Carlo, designed by Bob Crowley, hasn't dated much. Strong colours. Lots of chiaroscuro. It's very rare for a production with the entire cast being well cast and well matched. Ferruccio Furlanetto's Philip was profound, torn and weighted. Mariusz Kwiecien (Rodrigo) and Roberto Aronica (Don Carlos) were well matched, and their bromance duets were great. Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian replaced Anja Harteros as Elizabeth was a very fine substitute.The chorus was also on fine form. Antonio Pappano, once again, delivered a tight and moving performance of this great work.

It was a delight to go to Glyndebourne to watch one of my favourite opera -Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos . The set design by Julia Müer was very effective. Act 1 was set in a modest stately home (contradiction in terms here?) looked a bit like Glyndebourne. Act 2. The end of Act 1 hinted at what might happen in Act 2 ... the bombed country home now turned into a sanitorium. Kate Lindsey sang the role of the Composer, and surprisingly she returned on stage in a non-singing part. Zerbinatta was sung by Laura Claycomb - lots of vocal pyrotechnic and she carried her role in solo well. But when singing at her opposite Ariadne (Soile Isokoski) she seemed a bit less sympathetic. Prima Donna / Ariadne started out somewhat subdue, but by Act 2 she was well in command of the role. And it was a shame that Sergey Skorokhodov (Bacchus) was losing his voice soon after the opening phrases. Vladimir Jurowski conducted the opening performance (to be his last season at this house). The LPO played won...

Carl Fillion's set design for The Ring at The Met caused a real stir at the premier. Though not having the luxury of seeing the whole Ring, I managed to get a ticket to see Götterdämmerung. Fabio Luisi at the helm of the large Met orchestra kept everything going. There was enough breathing space for the drama to unfold, and there were muscular moments that needed to punctuate the drama. Probably not as poised as Bernard Haitink at Covent Garden many years ago, or as gutsy as Antonio Pappano this season in the same house. But nonetheless very good. Deborah Voigt was a fine Brünhilde - as the role demands from beginning to end. Lars Cleveman was quite a believable Siegfried - youngish looking, jumps about, looking slightly naive on stage. Hans-Peter Köonig was OK - none of his phrases sent shiver down my spine as there was not enough evil. Back to the set. The rotating 'fingers' really worked (you can see them in this pic - sitting above the performers), especially...

Having spent a whole morning at the Metropolitan Museum, it was a delight to walk into Café Boulud and be looked after well. The bread was great. Wine selection, with a European bias, was very good. The food was wonderfully prepared and with imaginative presentation. Pictured above was my starter - Smoked Sturgeon with american caviar, buckwheat crêpe, cucumber, dill. Delicous. This was followed by House Made Fettucine razor clams, sea urchin, lemon, fines herbes, bottarga:   And this was equally delicious.

A new production of Nabucco at the Royal Opera. As usual, there was a lot of anticipation, not least because Plácido Domingo was singing the title role as a baritone ! The somewhat barren set was by Alison Chitty. That's ok so long as the production has enough movement and choreography. Alas no. People (slaves, priests, etc.) were just milling about. Almost to the point of being tedious. Never mind. Liudmyla Monastyrska was a very strong Abigaille. But the real treat was watching and hearing Domingo - sure it's a baritone voice without the tenor ring, but he really got into the role - from confident, to mad, to reflective. That's a hard act to follow. The chorus was great too - and va pensiero was sung with spirituality.

I really liked the way Julia Jones conducted this production of Die Zauberflöte: it's brisk, it's light, and had enough breathing space for the critical moments. Christopher Maltman portrayed Papageno well, with lots of nice touches in the acting and singing. Albina Shagimuratova as Queen of the Night did not disappoint at the crucial aria. And David McVicar's production is till fun to watch.

It says "The Fifth Performance at the Royal Opera House". Didn't get to see it on the first night, but managed to enjoy Written on Skin nonetheless. And I do mean enjoy. Opera goers are often too stuck in their ways with the canonic works - Tosca, Carmen, Figaro, etc. So it's a real treat to see something new. The set by Vicki Mortimer was great - there was lots of details portraying the 'period' of the story, while bringing the singers "in and out" of the period. Very well lit by Jon Clark. As for the music and libretto, it was most intriguing. It took me a while to gang the hang of the phrases being sung in first and third person terms. Somehow it got me listening harder, thinking harder, and being drawn into the drama. George Benjamin's music felt very much an integral part of the work, very well crafted, and approachable too. I think it made a real difference with him conducting his own work too.