The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Month: April 2008
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* Notes * A production of Giulio Cesare opened at Opéra de Lausanne last Friday. The opera was cut down, and the performance was only three hours long. Emilio Sagi's production was on the traditional side, the setting looked like a Baroque take on the Roman and Ancient Egyptian worlds. In that sense it was…
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On the flight to Paris, I finished reading Paul Schofeld's The Redeemer Reborn: Parsifal as the Fifth Opera of Wagner's Ring. Certain aspects of the book annoyed me greatly, particularly on page 196 when Schofeld quotes from a conversation between Wagner and Cosima, and then comments: "I will discuss Wotan's renunciation further in a while,…
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* Notes * The April performances of Don Giovanni at Staatsoper Unter den Linden began last night, conducted by Asher Fisch. There were a few times that the orchestra and singers were not quite together, but worse was all the banging coming from backstage. Doubtless this will improve over time, but it was not particularly…
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* Notes * Yesterday I had an outing to the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin-Mitte, a museum I've been to a handful of times before, but never grow tired of. The museum itself dates from 1910, and was built to house the Pergamon Altar, and it is set to be overhauled in 2011. It was raining, and…
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This evening I happened upon Katja Popwo telling the Grimm fairy tale "Die alte Hexe und ihre Tochter," also known as "Der Krautesel." This was part of a weekly series at the Tadschikische Teestube (Tajik Tearoom) in the Palais am Festungsgraben. Ms. Popwo told the story from memory quite charmingly, relating the adventures of a…
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So far I've only gone to hear Don Carlo at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, which was not as amusing as it could have been, despite featuring quite a lot of nudity during the auto da fé scene. One cannot complain too much, as René Pape is singing Filippo II. I also took several photographs…
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May 10-14 2008: Madama Butterfly October 11-19 2008: Aida November 15-23 2008: Norma March 28- April 5 2009: Il Barbiere di Siviglia May 9-17 2009: Porgy and Bess Ruth Ann Swenson sings Adalgisa in Norma. 2008-2009 Season | Official Site
The Opera Tattler 