Marina Rebeka: Elle
Escaping Confinement with French Arias
My attempts to write a review of the Paris Opera’s production of Jules Massenet’s opera Manon have been continuously thwarted during the last few weeks. First, opening night at the Bastille Opera House was canceled because of a strike, then … Read More
Philharmonie de Paris
Concerted Sound in Disconcerting Hall
The group of concert halls located at the Cité de la Musique in Paris’s Parc de la Villette, known as the Philharmonie, has now been open for almost five years, but for various reasons, I had never managed to attend … Read More
Don Carlo
Political Intrigue at the Spanish Court
Paris has a close connection with Verdi’s most ambitious and – in the five-act version now at the Bastille Opera – longest work. A French-language version of Don Carlo was first performed in the city in March 1867, with an … Read More
Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna at the Théâtre du Châtelet
Making the Classics Sexy Again
When he walked out onto the stage of Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet Sunday afternoon, he was greeted with whoops and hollers, just like any rock star, but although he may look like one, Teodor Currentzis is no such thing. He … Read More
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
The Hazards of the Opera Stage
With the necessary fusion of so many musical and theatrical forces, staging opera can be a hazardous business, as was demonstrated at the second performance of Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1934 opera Lady Macbeth of … Read More
Die Fledermaus
And the Band Played On
A sparkling production of Johann Strauss the Younger‘s Die Fledermaus by the Academy of the Paris Opera is being performed at the MC 93 theater in the Paris suburb of Bobigny before touring four French cities. With a terrific cast … Read More
Tristan und Isolde
The Joys of Tragedy
Some might think that foregoing one of the final days of late-summer sunshine to spend over five hours cooped up in a theater watching Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde demonstrates either an admirable sense of duty or complete madness. When … Read More
Festival de la Chaise-Dieu
Musical Tourism in the Auvergne
Finding a place of space and solace in France in August is no mean feat, especially one with a world-class classical music festival, one of the finest abbeys in France, great countryside and good-value, available accommodation. Oh, and decent, well-priced … Read More
L’Heure Espagnole & Gianni Schicchi
Belly Laughs at the Opera
In the opera world, it has now become the rule rather than the exception to pair Maurice Ravel’s 1911 one-act opera L’Heure Espagnole with Giacomo Puccini’s 1918 single-act Gianni Schicchi. It is easy to see why: although each piece … Read More
Barbara, Voilà Combien de Jours…
Homage to a Grande Chanteuse
I am intrigued by the chanteuse Barbara because she is one of those musical icons adored by the French (and pretty much no one else), along with Johnny Hallyday, Serge Gainsbourg and Claude François. I find this idolatry far more understandable in … Read More