Subscribe to
Opera Today

Receive articles and news via RSS feeds or email subscription.


twitter_logo[1].gif


UCP_9780226043425.gif

Recently in Performances

Domingo Conducts Holdridge’s New Opera Dulce Rosa

Dulce Rosa, a brand new opera, had its world premiere Friday night, May 17, 2013 at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California. It was produced by Los Angeles Opera, but staged in the smaller theater.

Verdi’s Falstaff at Glyndebourne

Richard Jones’ 2009 production of Verdi’s Falstaff translates the action from the first Elizabethan age to the start of the second.

Gareth John, Wigmore Hall

Baritone Gareth John is rapidly accumulating a war-chest of honours. Winner of the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier Award, he recently won the Royal Academy of Music Patrons’ Award and was presented the Silver Medal by the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

La bohème at ENO

This second revival of Jonathan Miller’s La bohème was the first time I had caught the production.

Rolando Villazón: Verdi (International Opera Stars Series 2013)

It’s Verdi’s bicentenary year and Rolando Villazón has two new CDs to plug — titled somewhat confusingly, ‘Villazón: Verdi’ and ‘Villazón’s Verdi’, the latter a ‘personal selection’ of favourite numbers performed by stars of the past and present.

Brahms Third in San Francisco

Nicola Luisotti and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra climbed out of the War Memorial pit, braved the wind whipped bay and held spellbound an audience at Cal Performances’ Zellerbach Auditorium at UC Berkeley.

Glyndebourne: Ariadne auf Naxos

Utterly mad but absolutely right — Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos started the Glyndebourne 2013 season with an explosion. Strauss could hardly have made his intentions more clear. Ariadne auf Naxos is not “about” Greek myth so much as a satire on art and the way art is made.

Wozzeck at ENO

“Man is an abyss. It makes one dizzy to look into it.” So utters Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck, repeating what was also a recurring motif in the playwright’s own letters.

Mulhouse: Rare Britten Well Done

National Opera Company of the Rhine has marked this year’s Benjamin Britten celebration with a remarkably compelling, often gripping new production of the seldom-seen Owen Wingrave.

Frankfurt's Intriguing Idomeneo

Once upon a time, Frankfurt Opera had the baddest ass reputation in Germany as “the” cutting edge producer of must-see opera.

Rigoletto at Lyric Opera of Chicago

Productions of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto can serve as a vehicle for individual singers to make a strong impression and become afterward associated with specific roles in the opera.

Britten Sinfonia with Ian Bostridge

Just in case we were not aware that the evening’s programme was ‘themed’, the Britten Sinfonia designed a visual accompaniment to their musical exploration of night, sleep and dreams.

Aida, Manitoba Opera

Poor Aida! She never seems to have anything go her way.

Superlative singing: Don Carlo, Royal Opera House

Is it possible to upstage Jonas Kaufmann? Kaufmann was brilliant in this Verdi Don Carlo at the Royal Opera House, London, but the rest of the cast was so good that he was but first among equals. Don Carlo is a vehicle for stars, but this time the stars were everyone on stage and in the pit. Even the solo arias, glorious as they are, grow organically out of perfect ensemble. This was a performance that brought out the true beauty of Verdi's music.

Sarah Connolly: French Song at Wigmore Hall

The big names were absent: Duparc, D’Indy, Debussy, Ravel … and while Fauré, Chausson, Roussel and several members of Les Six put in an appearance, in less than familiar guises, this survey of French song of the early 20th century and interwar years deliberately took us on a journey through infrequently travelled terrain.

Rare restoration: Handel’s Esther 1720

Composed between 1718 and 1720, Handel’s Esther is sometimes described as the ‘first English Oratorio’, but is in fact a hybrid form, mixing elements of oratorio, masque, pastoral and opera.

The Damnation of Faust, London

Hector Berlioz's légende dramatique, La Damnation de Faust, exists somewhere between cantata and opera. Berlioz's flexible attitude to dramatic form made the piece unworkable on the stages of early 19th century Paris and his music is so vivid that you wonder whether the piece needs staging at all.

Elizabeth Connell Memorial Concert, St John's Smith Square

St. John’s Smith Square was the site of Elizabeth Connell’s final London concert, intended as a farewell to London on her moving to Australia. It was rendered ultimately final by her unexpected death.

Aida with all the Trimmings, Even a Blue Silk Elephant!

With the building of the Suez Canal, Egypt became more interesting to Western Europeans. Khedive Ismail Pasha wanted a hymn by Verdi for the opening of a new opera house in Cairo, but the composer said he did not write occasional pieces.

Die Zauberflöte, Royal Opera

Back for its fourth revival, David McVicar’s 2003 production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte has much charm, beauty and artistry.

OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »

Performances

22 Feb 2005

Anne Sofie von Otter at Göteborg

Yesterday [19 February 2005], I went to the concert hall in Göteborg, where Anne Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg held a recital. It was the first time I actually heard them live, and I must confess that I was apprehensive! I have listened to them so much on recordings and taken so much influence from them, especially when it comes to my repertoire — what if I didn’t like them in concert? The concert hall was full — 1200 seats, imagine that for a recital… I have a hard time getting jobs at all because it is so hard to attract audiences to recitals. But, they are world famous and that, of course, attracts a large audience.

Anne Sofie von Otter at Göteborg

Yesterday [19 February 2005], I went to the concert hall in Göteborg, where Anne Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg held a recital. It was the first time I actually heard them live, and I must confess that I was apprehensive! I have listened to them so much on recordings and taken so much influence from them, especially when it comes to my repertoire -- what if I didn't like them in concert? The concert hall was full -- 1200 seats, imagine that for a recital... I have a hard time getting jobs at all because it is so hard to attract audiences to recitals. But, they are world famous and that, of course, attracts a large audience.

At the beginning of the recital, I was embarrassed by people who clapped their hands after every song. I was wondering when/if the performers were going to say something about it, you could tell they were not happy about it. But what they did was wonderful! After three songs, Bengt Forsberg came to the microphone and talked about the next set of songs, "Four Serbian Folksongs" by Tor Aulin. Then Anne Sofie von Otter talked about the lyrics. As they were about to start, Bengt Forsberg jumped up again and said "ooh I just want to say that these pieces go so well together and would you please clap after all four are finished. We love that you do it, but..." He said it in such a friendly way that everyone felt at ease, and it was a great atmosphere during the rest of the concert.

The program:

Lars-Erik Larsson: Skyn, blomman och en lärka
Wilhelm Stenhammar: Melodi, I lönnens skymning, Gammal nederländare
Tor Aulin: Four serbian folksongs: Till en ros, Vinter i hjärtat, Vad vill jag, Domen
Ernest Chausson: Paysage (for piano)
Cécile Chaminade: L'anneau d'argent, L'amour captif, Viens, mon bien aimé, Sombrero

Intermission

Franz Schubert: Frühlingsglaube (D 686), Im Frühling (D 882), An mein herz (D 860), Im Abendrot (D 799)
Gustav Mahler: Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder, Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grünen Wald, Aus! Aus!
Erwin Schulhoff: Arabesque (op. 29, no. 1), Two pieces from "Hot music for piano"
Kurt Weill: Nannas Lied, Lied der Seeräuber-Jenny, Speak Low, Foolish heart

A wonderful and varied program. The two performers talked in between the pieces and made the atmosphere of the large room friendly and nice! They truly are professionals and they didn't seem to do anything but what they wanted to do.

The encores were fun: First, ABBAs "Thank you for the music", which became hilarious as Bengt Forsberg didn't play very well and von Otter started waving her arms beating the rhythm. In the end, she grabbed the mike and started to sing into it. I was laughing so hard that I cried- and later we got the explanation to what had happened: The lamps reflected on the music, so Bengt Forsberg couldn't see the music. The other encore was also Benny Andersson, from Kristina from Duvemala, "Ljusa kvällar om varen".

For me, this concert became a precious moment. The two performers truly brought out the best from the music, such a varied program, and everything performed in style. Even if they were funny and relaxed, they still performed the music with all the concentration and finesse that you could ask for. I wonder what they are like when they perform in other countries, if they are as relaxed and funny then, or if different cultures call for different behaviour?

This summer I was at the Scubertiade, and heard many good singers. No one talked in between songs though, and I have a hard time thinking that a concert like this could have taken place there. Or am I wrong?

Mia Edvardson
http://www.mia-edvardson.se

Send to a friend

Send a link to this article to a friend with an optional message.

Friend's Email Address: (required)

Your Email Address: (required)

Message (optional):