Michael Thalheimer’s non-staging of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail for the Deutsche Staatsoper has an interesting strategy to prevent the audience from running away during the interval – it has no intervals. The good news is that the transmigration for the Schillertheater has the dubious advantage of allowing the whole audience to see the [...]
Archive for February, 2011
Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Deutsche Staatsoper, 27.02.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Anna Prohaska, Cornelia Götz, Florian Hoffmann, Kenneth Tarver, Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater on February 27, 2011 | 15 Comments »
Otello, Duetsche Oper Berlin, 26.02.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Clifton Forbis, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mark Delavan, Soile Isokoski, Verdi's Otello on February 27, 2011 | 1 Comment »
My three or four reader (I guess by now I can say five or six) may remember how much I disliked Andreas Kriegenburg’s production of Verdi’s Otello for the Deutsche Oper, but I guess they would understand why I saw it again when they learn that Soile Isokoski was taking the role of Desdemona. Other [...]
R. Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 13.02.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Andrew Litton, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Manuela Uhl, Mark Delavan, Matthias Klink, R. Strauss's Die Liede der Danae, Thomas Blondelle on February 13, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Die Lieber der Danae is probably the most notable rarity among the R. Strauss’s later operas. Although Hofmannsthal original ideas were already quite convoluted, Joseph Gregor’s nonsensical libretto has a great deal of share in the work’s unpopularity. The composer himself often complained that he couldn’t find inspiration in Gregor’s verses. And Strauss did not [...]
Verdi’s La Traviata, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 06.02.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Anja Harteros, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Markus Brück, Verdi's La Traviata on February 6, 2011 | 7 Comments »
For someone who has truly lost interest in La Traviata, I’ve been quite often in the opera house for it. To be more specific, the only reason why I went to the Deutsche Oper today was Anja Harteros – and maybe I was curious to see Simon Keenlyside after a while (last time, it was [...]
Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater, 05.02.2011
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Galatea e Polifemo, Handel's Aci, Marcos Fink, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater, Sunhae Im, Vivica Genaux on February 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
As a great admirer of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, I thought I should give his earlier serenata a chance live at the theatre. It was a busy day and unfortunately I was not in the right mood for it. It is not my favorite work of Handel’s Italian period – and the numbers that I [...]
Mozart/R. Strauss Concert, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 04.02.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Anja Harteros on February 4, 2011 | 10 Comments »
In an attempt to give a twist to the usual orchestral concert, the minds behind the Deutsche Oper had the preposterous idea of inviting a Patch-Adams-like physician to moderate in a Mozart/R. Strauss program. When Intendentin Kirsten Harms introduced him as a Glückspezialist, I could not help understanding he was some sort of expert in [...]
Traetta’s Antigona, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater, 01.02.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Bejun Mehta, René Jacobs, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater, Traetta's Antigona, Verónica Cangemi on February 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Although Tommaso Traetta was an important name among the Reform composers, whose influence on the young Mozart can be clearly felt not only in works like Mitridate or Lucio Silla, but also in Idomeneo, his operas are today all but forgotten. Before Cristophe Rousset recorded his Antigona for Decca a couple of years ago, most [...]
