Queen of the night

The program can be downloaded here.

An evening with Diana Damrau is full of fun, for starters.
If some people still have that cliché about opera, serious and solemn, where there's absolutely no place for fun or spontaneity, they definitively need to attend a concert with Damrau, who will tear to pieces these preconceived ideas.

Singers in their thirties and forties are generally fun and do not hesitate to interact with the public, some (Natalie Dessay) more than others (Juan Diego Flórez). Diana Damrau beats out everybody, making jokes just a few seconds before an aria whilst having problems adjusting her score holder, coming back on stage with a sweater in her hands to tell people to go have a drink because it's intermission time, having a laugh on stage, miming a sore throat to explain why there won't be more than one bis - one of the true disappointments of the evening, I would have hoped she would have sung an aria from Die Zauberflöte, after all Mozart was the core of this program (such as this one).

The pleasure she takes singing is communicative beyond words and I found myself smiling every time she was on stage, filled with unconditional joy.

And it is really a true blessing to hear her sing: the high notes are always spot on, the low ones are outstanding (which is not often true with sopranos) the nuances are superb, the emotions are always there - as she really experiences each and every note and its emotional intend, all concurring to a magnificent performance (being able to overshadow my dislike for Mozart and Salieri is an accomplishment very few have achieved).

Alas, the concert was really built to showcase equally Damrau and Rohrer, meaning she only sang in half of the pieces performed - 8 total, including the only bis. I would have loved for her to sing more... I guess I'll just have to wait till the end of June to hear her live again...

All photographs taken during the evening.