The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: April 2008
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September 6 2008: Angela Gheorghiu, sopranoSeptember 21 2008: Rudolf Buchbinder, pianoSeptember 25-28 2008: Mark Morris Dance GroupOctober 1 2008: Alexander McCall SmithOctober 5 2008: Richard Goode, pianoOctober 7 2008: Seymour HershOctober 8-12 2008: Druid Theatre CompanyOctober 9-10 2008: Cesária ÉvoraOctober 11 2008: Haruki MurakamiOctober 14-19 2008: Kirov BalletOctober 19 2008: Piotr Anderszewski, pianoOctober 24-25 2008:…
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* Notes * Calixto Bieito's production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Komische Oper was absolutely the worst opera experience I have ever had. Perhaps I am just hopelessly prudish, but watching 135 minutes of violence, which for the most part was directed against females, was not what I had in mind. Things started…
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* Notes * Intendant Peter Mussbach's production of Don Giovanni currently at Staatsoper Unter den Linden is muddled. It is difficult to believe Mussbach is a neurologist, given how brainless this co-production with La Scala was. There was quite a lot of ineffectual choreography, every person on stage falls to the ground at some point,…
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* Notes * Yesterday Tannhäuser had its final performance this season at Staatsoper Unter den Linden. To my great surprise, Harry Kupfer's production was fairly simple and worked well. The lines were clean and Buki Shiff's costumes for the principals were inoffensive, and some of her evening gowns for the chorus were stunning. This is…
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* Notes * On Thursday I went to hear the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic play in the Kammermusiksaal. The evening began with Schubert's "Rosamunde," String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor. It was all quite nice, just not too exciting. The musicians did not seem to have much rapport. They certainly seemed a…
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* Notes * This season's final performance of Pelléas et Mélisande at Staatsoper Unter den Linden was last Wednesday. The 1991 production, the work of one Ruth Berghaus, is truly absurd. Hartmut Meyer's set and costumes were both contributed to the folly. The set consists of a downstage mound with a hole in it, which…
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* Notes * Last Tuesday the French Quatuor Ebène played at the Kleiner Saal of the Konzerthaus Berlin. The performance started with a bracing rendition of Haydn's "Rider," String Quartet in G Minor, Opus 74. The Allegro started off rather stridently, the pace was good, fast but not over the top. In the Largo assai,…
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* Notes * The last performance this season of Pierangelo Valtinoni's Pinocchio at Komische Oper Berlin was last Tuesday morning. This hour-long opera for children was given in German, and Jetske Mijnssen's production is adorable. The set, designed by Benita Roth, was an over-sized blue cabinet with two doors and three drawers. Christine Mayer's costumes…
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Next season the Met presents 11 simulcasts, including: Opening Night Gala (North America Only)September 22, 2008 SalomeOctober 11, 2008 Doctor AtomicNovember 8, 2008 Le Damnation de FaustNovember 22, 2008 ThaisDecember 20, 2008 La RondineJanuary 10, 2009 Orfeo ed EuridiceJanuary 24, 2009 Lucia di LammermoorFebruary 7, 2009 Madama ButterflyMarch 7, 2009 La SonnambulaMarch 21, 2009 La…
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* Notes * The penultimate performance this season of Don Carlo at Staatsoper Unter den Linden was last Monday. The opera was presented in Italian as four acts, which does not start off with Don Carlo and Elisabetta meeting in Fontainebleau. Philipp Himmelmann's production included many scrims and walls, designed by Johannes Leiacker. The set…
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