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Aruna S

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Everything posted by Aruna S

  1. Aruna S
    I'm absolutely thrilled to have got tickets for Sylvia, both the Osipova/Bonelli and Nunez/Muntagirov casts. I was strongly tempted to buy for the Cuthbertson/Kish matinee too, but restrained myself. It could be a bit of a Sylvia overdose! If anyone else is going (30th November and 1st December) I'd be very happy to meet up. ll be wearing my badge
  2. Aruna S
    Another vote for the corps' diagonal leaps across the stage in Act 1 of Onegin, one of my favourite moments in this gorgeous ballet. I'd also like to add : -Juliet sitting absolutely still on her bed before rushing off to seek Friar Laurence's help -Siegfried drowning in the waves at the end of Nureyev's Swan Lake for the Vienna State Opera -The Prince facing the Shadow in Illusions like Swan Lake -The final moments of the Grand PDDs in Sleeping Beauty and Sylvia -The end bit of Myrtha's solo to surprisingly happy music -The Russian dance of the Nutcracker and Cossacks in... the Nutcracker - That amazing moment in Bright Stream when the Male Dancer swings the Ballerina orund and round. I could go on.
  3. Aruna S
    I'm also looking forward very much to that, Don Q Fan. Are you going to the premiere too?
  4. Aruna S
    A recording of this can be heard on BBC Radio 3 for 24 more days (I only discovered it the other day thanks to a ROH post on Facebook.) If it's allowed, and anyone needs it, I can post the link. Listening to the very informative commentary cleared up a mystery for me, apparently the entire riot scene, including Pan as the nightwatchman, was Hans Sachs' nightmare. This however raises further questions for me, why should Sachs be deploring all the Wahn when this was only in his own mind and not reality? I'm glad I was able to listen to the music without having to relive all the gimmicks of this production.
  5. Aruna S
    After trying both the Orchestre and Balcon sections I would definitely recommend the latter. IIRC the price is the same, and the Balcon has less cramped seating and better views. Like MAB I splurge on the tickets and economise elsewhere. You should register on the website and maybe do a dry run before booking opens - assuming that you'll be booking for something which isn't already on sale. The system automatically assigns seats in the category you choose, but it does give you a view from the seat before you confirm your booking, so you can change the seat if you don't like it. I've always found the site swamped when booking opens, but the queue works quite well. Good luck!
  6. Aruna S
    Thank you, Bluebird. I'm very pleased to see that Nunez/Muntagirov and Cuthbertson are dancing on the dates that I hope to go for.
  7. Aruna S
    Years ago there was a programme on the BBC World Service, presented by Gordon Clyde, where you could send in requests for music. A man wrote in asking for an aria from Rigoletto which his very young son persisted in calling 'elephant's ears'. It was "La Donna e' mobile", and I've never been able to get it out of my head since.
  8. Aruna S
    Thank you so much, Angela. I'm very excited to see that Illusions is on in April/July.
  9. Aruna S
    In my excitement over the Ring, I forgot to say I'm very pleased about Lohengrin too :-)
  10. Aruna S
    I don't quite know why the Ring Cycle isn't included, I'd read that it was expected to be staged in 2018 and was surprised to not find it in the season announcement. And then I found it on the website. After greatly enjoying Pappano's Meistersinger I'm looking forward to his Ring. Tickets go on sale in November, nearly a year in advance which is very useful for hotel planning but I wonder whether this is usual?
  11. Aruna S
    I attended last Saturday's performance and have mixed feelings. I went for the music, which was sublime, but the production itself was - far from that. My heart bled for the poor nightwatchman, hobbling forward on cloven hooves to take his bow at the end. Who in God's name would employ a faun as a nightwatchman at all, let alone in an ultra-conservative gentlemen's club? The mind boggles. What were all those strange masks in the riot scene? Eva flouncing off at the end is all very well, but where is she going to go and what is she going to do, with no means of support and no resources to provide for herself? In a society where her behaviour would have been found unacceptable? She throws open the doors and lets the light in, what a meaningless, rhetorical gesture it seemed! Still, it's a better ending than the latest Munich version which I watched in a livestream. That ended with Beckmesser rushing onstage and shooting himself.
  12. Aruna S
    Was it supposed to be Marie or Olga? In one of the rehearsal clips with Gary Harris and Viviana Durante they speak of her as Olga.
  13. Aruna S
    My two cents after watching the cinema relay. The story of the last Tsar has fascinated me since seeing "Nicholas and Alexandra" as a child, so I knew the background. I've been following the forum thread, and that obviously influenced me a bit. I prepared for the performance by watching clips of the Insight evening and rehearsals. I tried to keep an open mind although I was leaning towards not being wowed. I absolutely loved the ballet, from beginning to end, the music, the costumes and the sets. Well, maybe not the swimsuits. Osipova gave a great performance, haunting as Anna Anderson and charming as the young Grand Duchess. Arestis and Cowley also stood out for me among the women. Nunez's Kschessinskaya was very Odile, and I thought Bonelli seemed a little off. I agree that Darcey isn't terribly good at interviews, and she seems to have a real problem remembering names. Ketin erm Kenneth? Come on! A very encouraging sign was that there was a large audience at my local cinema, in Perugia, despite the ongoing aftershocks of last week's earthquakes.
  14. Aruna S
    I have their cat umbrella which is both pretty and functional. It copes well with strong wind too. http://www.pylones.com/en/outdoor/100-gift-design-telescopic-umbrella-chapka.html# Mine is black.
  15. Aruna S
    As a cat-lover and owner since I was a little girl, I've had plenty of experience of cats scorning the comfortable maternity wards we prepare for them and picking the most unsuitable places. I would suggest not moving things out of the cupboard as this would frighten her and she may try to move her kittens to a safer place. I second Janet's advice to put food and water near the cupboard. Since she is clearly attached to you, keep talking to her now and then to let her know you're there, and that nobody is going to disturb her. Once she feels reassured, she should come out and eat. As for the kittens, hopefully they're alive and well, if they aren't there's nothing to be done for them at this point. I would take it as a good sign that she's staying in there with them, I remember one mother cat who completely ignored her first litter. Dropper feeding didn't work and they didn't survive. She went on to be an excellent mother the second time round, go figure. Good luck!
  16. Aruna S
    I'm going to be there for R&J, Taming and Onegin and will be wearing my brand new badge. I would be very happy to meet up - to see Angela again, and perhaps meet toursenlair and anyone else, maybe before a performance or during an interval? A mini-Balletcoforum gettogether :-)
  17. Aruna S
    It made me smile to read this : "In the nail care category, the Queen is said to wear just one nail polish: Essie’s Ballet Slippers."
  18. Aruna S
    My badge has arrived and is rather nice but small. This is what I bought (the dark blue one) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B015J2TAN6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Not sure how visible it will be but I shall try it out in Munich/Stuttgart in July :-)
  19. Aruna S
    I bought mine on Amazon UK in the end, it was easier. Hasn't yet arrived so I can't try it out at the cinema this evening.
  20. Aruna S
    La Scala has just announced its 2016-17 season, which includes Die Meistersinger, in March, the same period as the ROH's production. Has anyone been to both opera houses and have an opinion on the comparative merits? I'm thinking particularly of the chorus, the ROH's was excellent in Tannhauser earlier this month.
  21. Aruna S
    I saw it last week and loved it. Except for the dance part, watching them roll around on the sloping surface was unnerving. Lots of potential for injury there, I think.
  22. Aruna S
    Would you mind sharing the link please, vmmom? I live in Italy too, and I wanted to order from Amazon Italy but the supplier didn't have plain blue badges.
  23. Aruna S
    Here's another review: http://boulezian.blogspot.it/2016/04/tannhauser-royal-opera-26-april-2016.html This is going to be my first live Wagner,so I think I'm going to stop reading reviews and try to go to it with an open mind. Although I do feel that the two great singers I've been listening to in the title role, Rene Kollo and Spas Wenkoff, are unlikely to be cast in the shade by Peter Seiffert.
  24. Aruna S
    I doubt that the badges will be ready in time, so if anyone is going to Tannhäuser at the ROH next month and would like to say hello, would you let me know please?
  25. Aruna S
    I've just discovered this thread and wanted to add my voice to the chorus of thanks. It is wonderful to have a place to read/talk about our shared passion and I've picked up lots of very useful tips. I've so far only met a couple of other forum members, but hope that will change if we manage to have some sort of identification. I'm a member of an Italian ballet forum, and once I thought someone looked like a member of that forum (don't ask) at a performance at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome. The horrified and suspicious response I got when I tried to talk to them put me off ever doing that again!
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