Wohl war auch ich in Rom

I have read a lot about Robert Carsen’s production of Wagner’s Tannhaeuser and regretted that I could not be in Paris to check it. So when I read that it would be restaged in Rome, I’ve decided to follow Elisabeth’s advice: Nach Rom! However, here I am in Rome, but not Carsen’s production… The Teatro dell’Opera [...]

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Solemn, but not formidable

For the Accademia di Santa Cecilia’s season opening concert, musical director Antonio Pappano has chosen Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, a work that this orchestra had the honour to premiere in Italy in 1924 (!). It is certainly the right choice to highlight the abilities of chorus and orchestra – and the Santa Cecilia acquited itself quite well [...]

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Rattling and humming

I have never convinced myself whether I like Cecilia Bartoli or not. Well, that is a lie. I am pretty sure if I had to choose between liking and disliking I would pick “disliking”. But I have been trying to like for ages. In any case, I did not want to make a decision before seeing her [...]

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Ost-Lohengrin

Christine Mielitz’s production of Wagner’s Lohengrin for the Semperoper dates from 1983, i.e., like Trabants, it was made in the DDR.  To start with, it looks very old – as in those black and white photos from productions with Martha Fuchs, Max Lorenz et al. It also looks very old in the sense of “drab”, wobbly [...]

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Nicht bezaubernd

Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte is a challenge to any stage director – this is not an opera for children, but it certainly is a fairytale, the depths of which should rather be hinted at than fully explored. Günter Krämer’s 1991 staging for the Deutsche Oper tries to update things a bit, by having Monostatos talking pocket psychology [...]

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