Royal Opera's New Season 2007-8
The season opens on 10 September with Gluck’s “Iphigenie en Tauride” in a production by Robert Carsen shared with Chicago and San Francisco. Carsen’s productions tend to be sparse but beautiful: his “Eugen Onegin” at the Met didn’t quite work but his “Dialogue des Carmelites” for Netherlands Opera was stunning. This early opera might well suit his style. The cast is led by two big names, Susan Graham and Simon Keenlyside, and the musical direction is in the specialist hands of Ivor Bolton with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
October is taken up with three Ring cycles. I have already written about these and they are sold out.
Normal service resumes in mid-November with another shared production, this time of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore”. The director is Laurent Pelly who had such a success with “La Fille du Regiment this season. Rolando Villazon and Paolo Gavanelli are strong casting as Nemorino and Dulcamara. Aleksandra Kurzak sings Adina.
December brings what should be one of the highlights of the season: “Parsifal” conducted by Haitink. I am disturbed to see that this is a revival of the production by Klaus Michael Gruber, originally created for Netherlands Opera. I am encouraged to see that it is only ‘based on’ that original. I hope that the piece of coal representing the Grail will have gone; Amfortas will no longer be pushing round a long arm splint with a wheel at the end of it; and Klingsor will now have a castle and not a dolphinarium. The musical side looks very good: Christopher Ventris as Parsifal, Falk Struckmann as Amfortas, John Tomlinson as Gurnemanz, Willard White as Klingsor and Petra Lang as Kundry.
Christmas time brings “La Cenerentola”, with Toby Spence taking the role created by Florez in this production. Will Magdalena Kozena appear? The only time I tried to hear her she cancelled. If she does sing, is Rossini really her fach? I don’t think I shall be rushing for a ticket for this one.
Some starry casting for “La Traviata” in January and February: Anna Netrebko and Norah Amsellem as Violetta, with Jonas Kaufmann and Dmitri Horostovksy playing the male roles in cast A.
February also brings a revival of “Die Zauberfloete”, most notable for Kate Royal as Pamina and Keenlyside as Papageno.
The first entirely new production of the season comes with “Salome”, conducted by Philippe Jordan and directed by David McVicar. The director’s previous two efforts for the ROH, “Faust” and “Le Nozze di Figaro” were both outstanding. The title role will be sung by Nadja Michael.
The revival of “Eugen Onegin” in March might be worth catching for Marina Poplavskaya’s Tatyana and Piotr Beczala’s Lensky, as might “Carmen” for Marcelo Alvarez as Don Jose.
The ROH are obviously pinning high hopes on their World Premiere in April. Their commitment to new opera has been a bit hit and miss so far: “Sophie’s Choice” not a great success; Thomas Ades’s “The Tempest” a triumph; and Lorin Maazel’s “1984” a joke. So now we have “The Minotaur” from Harrison Birtwhistle with John Tomlinson in the title role and Pappano conducting. For anyone with an interest in new opera, a production not to be missed.
This will be followed by a fairly routine revival of “Simon Boccanegra”, with Marcus Haddock as Gabriele Adorno. He always sticks in my mind as the tenor who went into falsetto when singing Faust in a Met broadcast. The May revival of “Tosca” gives no cast but is notable for being conducted by Pappano: when he conducted this production when new I thought it some of the best Puccini conducting I had ever heard.
June brings what should be the outstanding new production of the season: Verdi’s “Don Carlo” directed by Nicholas Hytner and conducted by Pappano. The cast is led by Villazon and Poplavskaya, with Keenlyside as Rodrigo, Sonia Ganassi as Eboli and Ferriuccio Furlanetto as Philip II. I vividly remember the last ROH production of “Don Carlos” with Alagna, Mattila, Hampson and van Dam. That was one of my greatest ever evenings in the opera house. I hope this new production can match it.
A quick note of Thomas Ades’s “Powder her Face” in the Linbury Theatre. Ades’s first opera, which includes the infamous ‘cock-sucking’ aria.
Back in the main theatre, the season continues with “Ariadne auf Naxos” with Deborah Voigt(!) as Ariadne. This is followed by a strong revival of David McVicar’s excellent production of “Le Nozze di Figaro”, conducted by Charles Mackerras and with Barbara Frittoli as the Countess and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Figaro.
In July Sally Matthews, who impressed me so much in Munich’s “La Calisto” sings Anne Trulove in “The Rake’s Progress”. These performances will be conducted by Thomas Ades. I wish he would spend less time conducting and compose another opera himself.
The seaon ends with what looks like a fairly routine revival (its 21st) of John Copley’s production of “La Boheme”. Most notable among the casting is Nicole Cabell as Musetta.
October is taken up with three Ring cycles. I have already written about these and they are sold out.
Normal service resumes in mid-November with another shared production, this time of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore”. The director is Laurent Pelly who had such a success with “La Fille du Regiment this season. Rolando Villazon and Paolo Gavanelli are strong casting as Nemorino and Dulcamara. Aleksandra Kurzak sings Adina.
December brings what should be one of the highlights of the season: “Parsifal” conducted by Haitink. I am disturbed to see that this is a revival of the production by Klaus Michael Gruber, originally created for Netherlands Opera. I am encouraged to see that it is only ‘based on’ that original. I hope that the piece of coal representing the Grail will have gone; Amfortas will no longer be pushing round a long arm splint with a wheel at the end of it; and Klingsor will now have a castle and not a dolphinarium. The musical side looks very good: Christopher Ventris as Parsifal, Falk Struckmann as Amfortas, John Tomlinson as Gurnemanz, Willard White as Klingsor and Petra Lang as Kundry.
Christmas time brings “La Cenerentola”, with Toby Spence taking the role created by Florez in this production. Will Magdalena Kozena appear? The only time I tried to hear her she cancelled. If she does sing, is Rossini really her fach? I don’t think I shall be rushing for a ticket for this one.
Some starry casting for “La Traviata” in January and February: Anna Netrebko and Norah Amsellem as Violetta, with Jonas Kaufmann and Dmitri Horostovksy playing the male roles in cast A.
February also brings a revival of “Die Zauberfloete”, most notable for Kate Royal as Pamina and Keenlyside as Papageno.
The first entirely new production of the season comes with “Salome”, conducted by Philippe Jordan and directed by David McVicar. The director’s previous two efforts for the ROH, “Faust” and “Le Nozze di Figaro” were both outstanding. The title role will be sung by Nadja Michael.
The revival of “Eugen Onegin” in March might be worth catching for Marina Poplavskaya’s Tatyana and Piotr Beczala’s Lensky, as might “Carmen” for Marcelo Alvarez as Don Jose.
The ROH are obviously pinning high hopes on their World Premiere in April. Their commitment to new opera has been a bit hit and miss so far: “Sophie’s Choice” not a great success; Thomas Ades’s “The Tempest” a triumph; and Lorin Maazel’s “1984” a joke. So now we have “The Minotaur” from Harrison Birtwhistle with John Tomlinson in the title role and Pappano conducting. For anyone with an interest in new opera, a production not to be missed.
This will be followed by a fairly routine revival of “Simon Boccanegra”, with Marcus Haddock as Gabriele Adorno. He always sticks in my mind as the tenor who went into falsetto when singing Faust in a Met broadcast. The May revival of “Tosca” gives no cast but is notable for being conducted by Pappano: when he conducted this production when new I thought it some of the best Puccini conducting I had ever heard.
June brings what should be the outstanding new production of the season: Verdi’s “Don Carlo” directed by Nicholas Hytner and conducted by Pappano. The cast is led by Villazon and Poplavskaya, with Keenlyside as Rodrigo, Sonia Ganassi as Eboli and Ferriuccio Furlanetto as Philip II. I vividly remember the last ROH production of “Don Carlos” with Alagna, Mattila, Hampson and van Dam. That was one of my greatest ever evenings in the opera house. I hope this new production can match it.
A quick note of Thomas Ades’s “Powder her Face” in the Linbury Theatre. Ades’s first opera, which includes the infamous ‘cock-sucking’ aria.
Back in the main theatre, the season continues with “Ariadne auf Naxos” with Deborah Voigt(!) as Ariadne. This is followed by a strong revival of David McVicar’s excellent production of “Le Nozze di Figaro”, conducted by Charles Mackerras and with Barbara Frittoli as the Countess and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Figaro.
In July Sally Matthews, who impressed me so much in Munich’s “La Calisto” sings Anne Trulove in “The Rake’s Progress”. These performances will be conducted by Thomas Ades. I wish he would spend less time conducting and compose another opera himself.
The seaon ends with what looks like a fairly routine revival (its 21st) of John Copley’s production of “La Boheme”. Most notable among the casting is Nicole Cabell as Musetta.
posted by Alnwickian at 11:12 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home