Vent de contestation sur Bologne

Apparently, opera directors around the world can't run anything without some kind of conflicts. Conflicts that can only escalate to dramatic levels in countries such as France and Italy. How long has the revolution been under way in Bologna?
Forever, it seems.

Respect pour le public! Le gouvernement coupe le budget des théâtres de 200 millions d'euros: un char d'assaut en moins. Respect for the public! Governement is cutting the budget for theaters off 200 million euros: the cost of a tank.

"Vous n'avez pas été faits pour vivre comme des brutes." Dante, Inferno L'Art aussi est un bien !!! "You were not made to live like brutes." Art is a good too!!!

NB. Marco Tutino covrintendente e direttore artistico del Teatro Comunale di Bologna Tutino mène le théâtre à la faillite! Sauvons le théâtre! Tutino is running the theater to bankrupcy. Let's save the theater! 

 

Un vrai pays de barbares n'est pas un pays qui n'a jamais connu l'Art mais un pays qui ne sait ni apprécier, ni conserver ses innombrables chefs d'oeuvre. A real barbarian state is not a state where Art never existed but one that doesn't know how to love and preserve its countless masterpieces. 

Teatro comunale, Bologna July 19, 2009

Outside the Arena

Arena di Verona July 15, 2009

Il Paese di Verdi

Busseto, provincia di Parma July 13, 2009

Roncole

Roncole Verdi, provincia di Parma
Casa natale di Giuseppe Verdi
July 13, 2009

Fin de cycle

La Traviata
G.Verdi
Opéra de Lyon

Photo Opéra de Lyon

July 7 review (last performance of the run).
For further details about the cast and the production, see here.

Amazing how 15 days of performances can make a difference on an orchestra.
Although I am still very much doubtful about the level of the flute and French horns, I must say the orchestra as a whole sounded decent this time around.
Even the conduction of Gérard Korsten was more inspired and focused - but I still think he has a consensual and panache-less reading of the score.
The chorus was also better last night, which cannot be said of the cast as a whole.

The three main roles, Alfredo, Giorgio and Violetta sounded tired and both Alfredo and Violetta had lost some clarity in the voice (the problem was obvious for Edgaras Montvidas as Alfredo).

Ermonela Jaho as Violetta also looked pretty tired, which obviously brought her closer to her never-dying character (by the way, in this production, she doesn't actually die on stage, but ends up as a static zombie while the curtain is closing - talk about originality).

Once again, I couldn't really relate to the emotions she showcased, as I found myself deaf to her vocal expressivity. Her stage presence improved on the other hand, especially at the end (from "Addio del passato" to the end).

This performance was the official end of the 2008-09 season in Lyon. It's very doubtful I will attend any performance here next season. I'm done with Serge Dorny's choices.

Cordes raides

Musée de la Musique, Paris
June 16, 2009

Kaufmann's Lohengrin

Jonas Kaufmann latest CD Sehnsucht, with The Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado has been released by Decca in Germany, and a couple of extracts are available on YouTube;

- "In fernem Land", Lohengrin, Wagner
- "Mein lieber Schwan", Lohengrin, Wagner

What an appealing Lohengrin...

Little Red Riding Violetta

Natalie Dessay at the Santa Fe Opera for her first Traviata.

From PlaybillArts.