#gunther groissböck

[mozart2006]

Impressioni da Bayreuth 2024 - Tannhäuser

Foto ©Enrico Nawrath Per gli amici che non sono in grado di leggere il tedesco, ho tradotto la mia recensione in italiano. Continue reading Impressioni da Bayreuth 2024 – Tannhäuser

[icabl]

Wagner Week @ the Met Opera

ICA—Not only can you access Met Opera on Demand from our Databases, you now can enjoy an opera each night from Met Opera’s special offerings.

Each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming.  

Here’s a guide for Wagner Week.

SCHEDULE for WEEK 2

Monday, March 23: Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde Starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin, and René Pape, conducted by Simon Rattle. From October 8, 2016.

Tuesday, March 24: Wagner’s Das Rheingold Starring Wendy Bryn Harmer, Stephanie Blythe, Richard Croft, Gerhard Siegel, Dwayne Croft, Bryn Terfel, Eric Owens, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by James Levine. From October 9, 2010.

Wednesday, March 25: Wagner’s Die Walküre Starring Deborah Voigt, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by James Levine. From May 14, 2011.

Thursday, March 26: Wagner’s Siegfried Starring Deborah Voigt, Jay Hunter Morris, Gerhard Siegel, Bryn Terfel, and Eric Owens, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From November 5, 2011.

Friday, March 27: Wagner’s Götterdämmerung Starring Deborah Voigt, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Waltraud Meier, Jay Hunter Morris, Iain Paterson, Eric Owens, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From February 11, 2012.

Saturday, March 28: Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Starring Annette Dasch, Johan Botha, Paul Appleby, and Michael Volle, conducted by James Levine. From December 13, 2014.

Sunday, March 29: Wagner’s Tannhäuser Starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Johan Botha, Peter Mattei, and Gunther Groissböck, conducted by James Levine. From October 31, 2015.

[netlex]

photos : Tristan und Isolde - Metopera 2016

Nightly Met Opera Streams

“During this extraordinary and difficult time, the Met hopes to brighten the lives of our audience members even while our stage is dark. Each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming on the Met website, with each performance available for a period of 23 hours, from 7:30 p.m. EDT until 6:30 p.m. the following day. The schedule will include outstanding complete performances from the past 14 years of cinema transmissions, starring all of opera’s greatest singers”.

on the homepage of metopera.org  : performance will be available for 20 hours once posted, free of charge. until 6:30 

Monday, March 23 Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde

Starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin, and René Pape, conducted by Simon Rattle. From October 8, 2016. [review]

Tuesday, March 24

Wagner’s Das Rheingold

Starring Wendy Bryn Harmer, Stephanie Blythe, Richard Croft, Gerhard Siegel, Dwayne Croft, Bryn Terfel, Eric Owens, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by James Levine. From October 9, 2010.[review]

Wednesday, March 25

Wagner’s Die Walküre

Starring Deborah Voigt, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by James Levine. From May 14, 2011.

Thursday, March 26

Wagner’s Siegfried

Starring Deborah Voigt, Jay Hunter Morris, Gerhard Siegel, Bryn Terfel, and Eric Owens, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From November 5, 2011.

Friday, March 27

Wagner’s Götterdämmerung

Starring Deborah Voigt, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Waltraud Meier, Jay Hunter Morris, Iain Paterson, Eric Owens, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From February 11, 2012.

Saturday, March 28

Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Starring Annette Dasch, Johan Botha, Paul Appleby, and Michael Volle, conducted by James Levine. From December 13, 2014.

Sunday, March 29

Wagner’s Tannhäuser

Starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Johan Botha, Peter Mattei, and Gunther Groissböck, conducted by James Levine. From October 31, 2015.

[artmutt]

Es ist vorbei?

As an interdisciplinary composer and performer, you’d think that I would be deeply into opera. Yet, not so much. I’ll spare you my long rant about why, and boil it down to this. Opera is meant to be the apex of musical theater, and to completely work, the finished piece must function - and succeed - as both music and theater. This rarely happens. I can more or less count on one hand those works where the music is consistently compelling, and I am also caught up in the drama deeply enough to willingly suspend disbelief. In fact, much of the time, the only disbelief is that I spent money to sit through it.

So when it works, I’m always touched. I know for many opera fans, their connection to the opera is through a devotion for certain performers. Opera lovers are often lovers of certain singers, or certain roles. One of the most beloved is the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. This role was one of Elizabeth Schwarzkopf’s defining moments. Others over the years have claimed it as their own. In our days, it is Renee Fleming who has the strongest stamp on the part, and she has sung it multiple times in multiple productions over the years. But recently, Fleming has decided to step back from operatic performances, while her voice is still the memorable instrument it has always been. (I first heard her live in Handel’s Alcina, and she was stunning.) Fleming decided to go out in style: one final production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Met, with the last performance included in the Met Live in HD series, broadcast live to movie theaters around the world.

To add to the star power, and nostalgia overload, mezzo soprano Elina Garanca, who has been performing the role of Octavian for many years, decided it was time to retire the part, while she could still be believable as a teenage boy. So this was also her final performance in a signature role. Get your hankies ready, ladies and gentlemen.

So, enter the skeptic, moi. I’ve never been terribly fond of Strauss. I’ve tried listening to Der Rosenkavalier many times, and struggle to get through it. While I’ve come to adore the final scene (the trio and duet that end the work), the rest of the opera, as a friend once noted, “is really boring.” The work always intrigued me, however, because of its obvious lesbian subtext. When Strauss decided to make Octavian a “trouser” role, of a man played by a mezzo-soprano, it meant a love triangle of three women. (Oddly enough, not unlike Handel’s Alcina.) Usually, the characters are dressed up in powdered wigs, in an 18th century setting, which actually increases the femininity of Octavian. I bet a lot of the opera’s fans are lesbians, or straight men getting off on the lesbian love scenes.

On the other hand, Rosenkavalier has one of the most literate librettos ever written. Hugo von Hofmannsthal created an intricate, funny, literary play. The opera is 4 hours long because Strauss couldn’t bring himself to cut any of the dialogue. Well, this new Met production, which sets the action not in the 18th century, but in the early 20th century, when the opera was written, suddenly made the whole thing work. Garanca was somehow believable as a 17-year-old boy, not just as a woman-in-drag. Strauss’s music didn’t seem to smother the libretto, but to enhance its emotion. Aspects of the plot that usually ring false in other productions, suddenly rang true. Baron Ochs, instead of an elderly bumbler, was a youthful sexist pig. Sophie was not a passive observer, but feisty and independent. I found myself welling up with tears at the end of the 1st Act, and again at the end of Act 3.

Having done a shout out to Garanca and Fleming, who both brought complete commitment to their roles, American soprano Erin Morley was wonderful as Sophie (and not the least bit schwach, as she describes herself). Gunther Groissböck’s Ochs brought an uncanny hint of Donald Trump to the role. And Matthew Polenzani sang the song of the Italian Singer in the first act with vitality and tenderness. That small part helped to launch the career of a young Italian tenor named Luciano Pavarotti. The huge standing ovation at the end of the performance was deserved all around.

[amantemadrid]

25 DE ABRIL. 19.00h. EN DIRECTO "AT HOME GALA" DESDE EL METROPOLITAN DE NUEVA YORK. LA GALA LÍRICA MÁS GRANDE DE LA HISTORIA.

Todos confinados, artistas y espectadores. El Metropolitan de Nueva York ha organizado el evento lírico más grande de la historia. La gala contará con cuarenta números uno de todo el mundo.

RECUERDA LA FECHA.

SÁBADO 25 DE ABRIL A LAS 19:00H. EN DIRECTO.

El coliseo neoyorquino, que ante la situación de pandemia mundial anunció que daba por perdida y terminada su temporada, colocará al director titular de la casa, Yannick Nézet-Seguin al frente de este evento histórico y que también acompañará al piano a algunos cantantes. 

La lista de voces es impresionante: Ildar Abdrazakov (que cantará desde Moscú, Rusia), Roberto Alagna y Aleksandra KurzaK (Le Raincy, Francia), Marco Armiliato (Lugano, Suiza), Jamie Barton (Atlanta, Georgia),Piotr Beczał (Zabnica, Polonia), Angel Blu (Alpone Nueva Jersey), Lawrence Brownlee (Niceville, Florida), Joseph Calleja (Mellieha, Malta), Javier Camarena (Zurich, Suiza),Nicole Car y Etienne Dupuis (París, Francia), David Chan (Closter, Nueva Jersey), Anthony Roth Costanzo (Nueva York), Stephen Costello y Yoon Kwon Costello (Nueva York), Diana Damrau y Nicolas Testé (Orange, Francia), Michael Fabiano (Bonita Springs, Florida), Renée Fleming (Virginia), Elīna Garanča (Roga, Letonia), Christine Goerk (Teaneck, Nueva Jersey), Gunther Groissböck (Lugano, Suiza), Jonas Kaufmann (Munich, Alemania), Quinn Kelsey (Toronto, Canadá), Isabel Leonard (Nueva York), Ambrogio Maestri (Lugano, Suiza), Peter Mattei (Bromma, Suecia), Erin Morley (New Haven, Connecticut), Anna Netrebko y Yusif Eyvazov (Vierna, Austria), Lisette Oropesa (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), René Pape (Dresde, Alemania), Ailyn Pérez y Soloman Howard (Chicago, Illinois), Matthew Polenzani (Pelaham, Nueva York), Anita Rachvelishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia), Golda Schultz (Baviera, Alemania), Nadine Sierra (Valencia, España), Bryn Terfel y Hannah Stone (Gales), Elza van den Heever (Montpellier, Francia), Michael Volle (Berlín, Alemania) y Sonya Yoncheva (Ginebra, Suiza).

COMPLETA LA LECTURA.

[froggybangbang]

Reminder that the Metropolotain Opera offers free Operas stream. Something to do during this quarantine, and why not show the kids some of them so they'll know what an opera is!

I've seen these versions of Macbeth and Le Barbier de Seville when they broadcasted them in a cinema close to where I lived at the time and enjoyed both very much, I highly recommend!

https://www.metopera.org/

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Week 2: Wagner Week

Supplementary content—including synopses, articles, and more—is available here.

Monday, March 23

Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde

Starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin, and René Pape, conducted by Simon Rattle. From October 8, 2016.

Tuesday, March 24

Wagner’s Das Rheingold

Starring Wendy Bryn Harmer, Stephanie Blythe, Richard Croft, Gerhard Siegel, Dwayne Croft, Bryn Terfel, Eric Owens, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by James Levine. From October 9, 2010. 

Wednesday, March 25

Wagner’s Die Walküre

Starring Deborah Voigt, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by James Levine. From May 14, 2011.

Thursday, March 26

Wagner’s Siegfried

Starring Deborah Voigt, Jay Hunter Morris, Gerhard Siegel, Bryn Terfel, and Eric Owens, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From November 5, 2011.

Friday, March 27

Wagner’s Götterdämmerung

Starring Deborah Voigt, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Waltraud Meier, Jay Hunter Morris, Iain Paterson, Eric Owens, and Hans-Peter König, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From February 11, 2012.

Saturday, March 28

Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Starring Annette Dasch, Johan Botha, Paul Appleby, and Michael Volle, conducted by James Levine. From December 13, 2014.

Sunday, March 29

Wagner’s Tannhäuser

Starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Johan Botha, Peter Mattei, and Gunther Groissböck, conducted by James Levine. From October 31, 2015.

Week 3

Monday, March 30

Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites

Starring Isabel Leonard, Adrianne Pieczonka, and Karita Mattila, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From May 11, 2019. 

Tuesday, March 31

Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Starring Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, and Peter Mattei, conducted by Maurizio Benini. From March 24, 2007.

Wednesday, April 1

John Adams’s Nixon in China

Starring Janis Kelly and James Maddalena, conducted by John Adams. From February 12, 2011.

Thursday, April 2

Verdi’s Don Carlo

Starring Marina Poplavskaya, Roberto Alagna, Simon Keenlyside, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From December 11, 2010.

Friday, April 3

Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles 

Starring Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, and Mariusz Kwiecien, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. From January 16, 2016.

Saturday, April 4

Verdi’s Macbeth

Starring Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Željko Lučić, and René Pape, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From October 11, 2014.

Sunday, April 5

Bellini’s Norma

Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja, and Matthew Rose, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. From October 7, 2017.   

[mozart2006]

Bayerische Staatsoper - Rusalka

Foto ©Wilfried Hösl Dopo le emozionanti recite dello scorso dicembre all’ Oper Frankfurt, non volevo assolutamente perdermi il ritorno di Asmik Grigorian alla Bayerische Staatsoper, dove la quarantaduenne cantante lituana ha presentato la sua caratterizzazione del ruolo principale nella ripresa della Rusalka di Antonin Dvořák, Continue reading Untitled

[mozart2006]

Impressioni da Bayreuth - Die Meistersinger

Impressioni da Bayreuth – Die Meistersinger

Foto ©Enrico Nawrath

Anche quest’ anno la mia inesauribile passione wagneriana mi ha spinto fino a Bayreuth per la consueta visita al festival fondato da Richard Wagner, (more…)