Newbie opera advice please

[Timmie]

Any thoughts on Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci for a newbie? I’d love to see Ermonela Jaho so I’m thinking of booking this.

[Lizbie1]

I'm less of a Jaho fan than many so I won't comment on her - I will say though that Rachvelishvili is always worth catching, and she's not down for anything here next season so I'm making the most of her presence in Cav.

 

The production is very good and vivid, and they're both great, appealing pieces.

 

 

[Geoff]

On 09/04/2022 at 12:59, Timmie said:

Any thoughts on Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci for a newbie? I’d love to see Ermonela Jaho so I’m thinking of booking this.

 

Go. The productions are excellent and Jaho is a wonder.

[Scheherezade]

I’d say go for both Jaho and Rachvelishvili. And there is also Kaufmann, still, no doubt, as much a draw as in the pre-Covid days. 

[Timmie]

Thanks all. I would like to see Kaufmann, I am slightly worried that I'll have trouble getting tickets when he is cast though 🙁 (I remember the Fidelio fun and games!).

[CCL]

I just booked for the opening night of Cavalleria/Pagliacci. Did you book, Timmie? There are still tickets available in the amphi, that was definitely all I could afford as I’m taking my daughter, too. 

[Timmie]

Yes, thanks CCL, I did get a ticket. Luckily (or unluckily?) I'm the only one in my family that likes opera, so that helps with the affordability 😄.

[art_enthusiast]

Just wondering if anyone has seen Samson and Dalila yet? I found it to be an incredible performance, with superb singing, sets and costumes.

[bangorballetboy]

1 hour ago, art_enthusiast said:

Just wondering if anyone has seen Samson and Dalila yet? I found it to be an incredible performance, with superb singing, sets and costumes.

Just back from the matinée.  Singing tremendous and the orchestra on top form. Staging was bland, confused and didn’t help to tell the story. The Bacchanale was booooorrring and unworthy of the name; if I’d been an attendee I’d have asked for my money back. The choreography was worthy of a primary school end of term show.

 

 

[Scheherezade]

1 hour ago, bangorballetboy said:

Just back from the matinée.  Singing tremendous and the orchestra on top form. Staging was bland, confused and didn’t help to tell the story. The Bacchanale was booooorrring and unworthy of the name; if I’d been an attendee I’d have asked for my money back. The choreography was worthy of a primary school end of term show.

 

 

Sorry art_enthusiast but I totally agree with bangorballetboy on this.
 

The sets conformed to a cross between drab, unimaginative greige and the increasingly overused school assembly hall.

 

The movements of the soldiers-come-mercenaries were telegraphed to such an extent that I had to bite back my laughter, an exercise that became markedly more difficult when the idol, for some reason channeling Bozo the Clown meets 50s children’s favourite, the Laughing Policeman, was wheeled out during what purported to be the bacchanale.
 

Against all of this, the singers and orchestra were wonderful, with a stellar Dalila from Elina Garanca, making it even more of a shame that anyone unfamiliar with the story wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on. 

[Lizbie1]

I thought the production was OK, but no more than that, and the bacchanale wasn't that bad. The idol was very odd and what's more must have cost a pretty penny. Seated as I was house left, there was quite a lot of the action that I either missed or strained to see, which was very annoying as there seemed no obvious reason for this (I can't remember Richard Jones being guilty of this fault in the past). The singing and playing was definitely the strongest thing about it. Garanca was unsurprisingly terrific, and SeokJong Baek is a real find.

 

I like a lot of Richard Jones's productions but the last two I've seen (this and the ENO Walkure) have also been the weakest I've seen. I wonder if he's spreading himself too thin.

[art_enthusiast]

I think Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci was so incredibly beautiful - I adored the sets, they seemed so realistic. The performances, simply stunning. SeokJong Baek, Elena Zilio, Aleksandra Kurzak, Roberto Alagna and the rest - wow.

[Scheherezade]

I agree with you, art_enthusiast. I was at the general rehearsal and felt that the performances took both operas - which I have never ranked among my favourites - to another level entirely. Alagna was on better form than I had seen for some time, Seok Jong Baek stepped into yet another role at short notice and had me entirely convinced, both vocally and dramatically, Kurzak made the most of what was a very busy night for her and Elena Zilio carried the house with her as always.

[CCL]

I was at the opening night and I was really impressed. I’m quite an opera newbie so I hadn’t seen either of these two operas before. The staging, linking the two, was excellent- I loved the crowd scenes, the Easter hymn, the children’s chorus and the passion play. SeokJong Baek was superb as Turiddu and I felt very fortunate to be able to see Roberto Alagna as Canio - such an impassioned reading of ‘Vesti La Giubba’. As for Alexsandra Kurzak - the way she inhabited two such different roles was awe-inspiring and her singing was beautiful. An evening to remember for a long time!

[Scheherezade]

For anyone wondering whether or not to take a punt on Friday's remaining concert performance of Attila, only one word will do: Go!

 

The music is wonderful and the singing superb: Abdrazakov and Keenlyside might be expected to bring the house down as Attila and Ezio, but great performances too from Stefan Pop and Maria Jose Siri replacing Calleja and Radvanovsky and from Egor Zhuravski and Alexander Kopecczi in the supporting roles. And what a conducting debut from Speranza Scappucci! On last night's showing she must rank as real competition for Daniele Rustioni when Pappano moves on

 

Remarkably, there are purse-friendly tickets throughout the auditorium. Grab one of them before the word gets round!

 

 

[Lizbie1]

On 20/07/2022 at 19:13, Scheherezade said:

For anyone wondering whether or not to take a punt on Friday's remaining concert performance of Attila, only one word will do: Go!

 

The music is wonderful and the singing superb: Abdrazakov and Keenlyside might be expected to bring the house down as Attila and Ezio, but great performances too from Stefan Pop and Maria Jose Siri replacing Calleja and Radvanovsky and from Egor Zhuravski and Alexander Kopecczi in the supporting roles. And what a conducting debut from Speranza Scappucci! On last night's showing she must rank as real competition for Daniele Rustioni when Pappano moves on

 

Remarkably, there are purse-friendly tickets throughout the auditorium. Grab one of them before the word gets round!

 

 

 

Saw this last night and agree it was terrific, especially Abdrazakov. Great conducting too!

[alison]

Hmm, coming on this too late, I see, but

 

"For two nights only we're staging one of Verdi's most stirring operas.

With an all-star cast conducted by Speranza Scappucci in her Royal Opera debut, this dramatic work tells the founding story of Venice after the destruction of Aquileia by Attila, King of the Huns."

wasn't really enough to sell it to me.

[Timmie]

Continuing my quest for newbie operas what’s the view on Alcina? It nearly passed me by but I’ve just spotted Lisette Oropesa is in it.

I’ve decided I only really like easy stuff with lots of Soprano excitement. Does it fit in that category?

[Geoff]

I love your questions Timmie! As I know from being born into an opera performer family and spending much of the last fifty years with opera fans of all kinds, you ask out loud what heavy duty opera lovers whisper to themselves privately. 
 

So, is Handel boring? Long certainly, with plenty of da capo arias (you hear the aria once, then they sing it again). But the level of excitement provided by the virtuoso decoration added by the singers (including but not limited to the soprano) has kept audiences coming back for hundreds of years. That’s the key feature of the da capo aria: the first time is as the composer wrote, on the repeat the performers show (and show off) what they can do with it. 
 

My tip? Get a cheaper seat so you won’t mind leaving early if you find it’s not for you. When it works - and you’re right, I’ll be there for Oropesa - the live experience is a whole big thing more than any recording. 

[Lizbie1]

I agree with everything Geoff says!

[Timmie]

Thanks Geoff, I'll probably get a ticket then. I do appreciate the responses I get here 🙂.

[Geoff]

33 minutes ago, Timmie said:

Thanks Geoff, I'll probably get a ticket then. I do appreciate the responses I get here 🙂.

Great! Let us know here what you think.

[Mary]

I recommend the Channel 4 film A Night with Handel, which I remember finding very inspiring when I was getting into Handel opera years ago- it features many of the most thrilling arias given modern contexts, to show how they dramatise psychological situations- and is really well filmed, narrated by Handel's biographer Jonathan Keates and of course with some great singers including Sarah Connolly. I think you can still get the DVD.

 

[Timmie]

On 18/10/2022 at 17:42, Geoff said:

Great! Let us know here what you think.

 

I went to the Alcina matinee last Saturday and I enjoyed it a lot. There were beautiful arias from all the leads, especially Oropesa of course, with Alcina’s aria at the end of Act 2 the most fabulous, I need to find some YouTube recordings of that. And Oberto (Rafael Flutter) how beautiful a voice that was.

Thanks for the info on the da capo arias, I would have wondered if the subtitle machine was broken given that it was blank for a lot of the time 😄.

Looking forward to hearing it again on the radio tomorrow to see how good my hi-fi set up is against my memories of last week.

[Lizbie1]

2 hours ago, Timmie said:

 

I went to the Alcina matinee last Saturday and I enjoyed it a lot. There were beautiful arias from all the leads, especially Oropesa of course, with Alcina’s aria at the end of Act 2 the most fabulous, I need to find some YouTube recordings of that. And Oberto (Rafael Flutter) how beautiful a voice that was.

Thanks for the info on the da capo arias, I would have wondered if the subtitle machine was broken given that it was blank for a lot of the time 😄.

Looking forward to hearing it again on the radio tomorrow to see how good my hi-fi set up is against my memories of last week.

 

I thought Oropesa was very, very good in this (as she is in everything, TBH). I don't know if you've seen her before but she has the knack of adjusting her voice and style to suit the piece and era it was written in.

 

I saw a clip once of her rehearsing some of the Lucia mad scene and she was asking the conductor: "how do you want me to phrase this? I can do it (demonstrating) like this or like that" - and each was immaculate and somehow fresh and surprising but at the same time as if it was exactly how it was intended by Donizetti. That can only come from a rare combination of technique and musicality.

 

Add to that a very beautiful timbre, good dramatic instincts and a charismatic stage presence and I think she's the complete package. (It's not the biggest voice but it's big enough for her repertoire and does seem to carry well enough.)

[art_enthusiast]

4 hours ago, Timmie said:

I went to the Alcina matinee last Saturday and I enjoyed it a lot. There were beautiful arias from all the leads, especially Oropesa of course, with Alcina’s aria at the end of Act 2 the most fabulous, I need to find some YouTube recordings of that. And Oberto (Rafael Flutter) how beautiful a voice that was.

Thanks for the info on the da capo arias, I would have wondered if the subtitle machine was broken given that it was blank for a lot of the time 😄.

Looking forward to hearing it again on the radio tomorrow to see how good my hi-fi set up is against my memories of last week.

 

Indeed, Oropesa and the entire cast were totally brilliant. I also loved the costumes and staging. I much prefer Alcina to Theodora (which I saw earlier this year, my first experience of Handel - brilliantly performed, but I wasn't too fond of it overall). Everyone had great chemistry and were just divine together. I really hope this cast was somehow recorded!

My first time seeing Emily D'Angelo, I thought she was stunning. Also very impressed by Rupert Charlesworth and Mary Bevan.

I didn't know it was going to be on the radio, which channel?

[Timmie]

BBC Radio Three tomorrow 18:30. They did a recording of La Traviata with Oropesa last year and she was really interesting in the interval chats so hopefully she'll do the same again.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fnvq

Edited December 2, 2022 by Timmie
link added

[Geoff]

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

I saw a clip once of her rehearsing some of the Lucia mad scene and she was asking the conductor: "how do you want me to phrase this? I can do it (demonstrating) like this or like that" - and each was immaculate and somehow fresh and surprising but at the same time as if it was exactly how it was intended by Donizetti. That can only come from a rare combination of technique and musicality.

That sounds most interesting. Lizbie1, any tips for what to search for to find this online? 

[Lizbie1]

20 minutes ago, Geoff said:

That sounds most interesting. Lizbie1, any tips for what to search for to find this online? 

 

I'd misremembered it slightly - it was 5 years ago! - but here's the video.