De Maestro. Een legendarisch voorbeeld van een akoestische en fysieke nachtmerrie is de \\\\\\\”Scena delle maschere\\\\\\\” (Don Giovanni): Donna Anna, Don Ottavio en Donna Elvira zingen het trio \\\\\\\”Protegga il giusto cielo\\\\\\\”. Voor deze balscène componeerde Mozart drie verschillende on-stage orkestjes die tegelijk met het orkest in de bak spelen. Elk groepje speelt in een andere maatsoort, resp. in 2/4, 3/4 en 3/8. Tegelijkertijd lopen de solisten zingend door de feestgangers. Lekker dan!
Tag: Opera Gazet
Het Conceptuele Rariteitenkabinet van het Regietheater. Ironie is het duizenddingendoekje van de hedendaagse regie. Handig, veelzijdig en vooral populair bij mensen die hun Morgenmuffeligkeit tot levensmotto hebben gemaakt en niet meer geloven dat schoonheid zonder aanhalingstekens kan bestaan.
The Conceptual Cabinet of Curiosities. Irony: the favorite Swiss Army knife. Contemporary directing harbors, likely out of incompetence, an almost pathological fear of sincerity. You see it time and again: comical extras during tragic music, sexually charged actions in formal scenes, ugly sets to strip the music of its noble aura.
Wij van WC-Eend. Wanneer medewerkers van externe recensiewebsites tegelijk bijdragen leveren aan Odeon, wordt de discussie over journalistieke onafhankelijkheid gevoelig. In dit kleine cultureel ecosysteem van “opera in Nederland” lopen kritiek, toegang, netwerk en institutionele belangen door elkaar heen. Opera is tenslotte niet alleen een kunstvorm, maar ook een sociaal stelsel van foyers, premières, ons-kent-ons en daaruit voortvloeiende wederzijdse afhankelijkheden..
Posts from overseas. Although many British critics were also shocked by the scene, Opera Gazet’s fierce, principled activism against this production drew considerable criticism within the British opera community, including on English-language forums and platforms. The accusation of prudishness: British opera lovers and progressive critics accused Keegel of having \’narrow-minded, Victorian morality\’.
Punished by Facebook. I do have a hunch where the “many complaints” are coming from —namely, from those who are covertly working against us— but I can’t prove anything, so speculating about it seems pointless.
Facebook’s latest announcement was that our suspension would end on May 16. We’ll see.
Based on an ancient tale from pre-Islamic Arabia, Zarqa Al Yamama tells the story of a legendary woman born to the Geddes tribe and blessed with the gift of foresight. Foreseeing the approach of a rival army that threatens to destroy her people, the story follows the heroine as she attempts to warn her leader and his advisors of the impending danger.
Dann Barber’s all-purpose unit set was deceptively simple and highly effective, proof positive that even in a grand, capacious venue like the Palais, and within a lumbering, overstated comedic farce, sometimes the simplest scenic conceits, well-executed, are all that is required.
And frankly, in this financially perilous, post-Covid reality, if “that’ll do” is the default standard, why SHOULDN’T opera companies save themselves a buck, abandon the scenic and production elements entirely, and revert to purely concert presentations or broadcasts? Why stage opera at all if you’re not going to kick it in the proverbial?Suzanne Chaundy’s credit as director appeared to be nominal at best. Her “direction” meandered listlessly from perfunctory to non-existent, risibly boasting a seemingly inexhaustible supply of stone dead, egg-on-face navel-gazing during transitions from recitative to number, a veritable mountain of motiveless and uninformed to-ing & fro-ing from the principals, and chorus scenes presented in bland-and-deliver concert form rather than anything approaching an actual crowd scene. And this was on top of the gaping holes in rudimentary, entry level stagecraft — inconsistencies atop anachronisms atop hamfistedness. The evening emerged as a deeply frustrating exercise in the all-pervading “that’ll do”-ism that beleaguers opera production here and abroad, and which, sadly, seems to be Melbourne Opera’s signature style.IDOMENEO. Whether it was opening night enthusiasm, active sabotage, or Hume foolishly seeking to have her cake and eat it too, the behavioral and spatial credibility so clearly sought rapidly descended into laughably melodramatic indulgence.
Vague modernism coupled with psychological groupthink and underpinned by shocking ignorance and a fierce desire to be part of an imaginary cultural elite.