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5 Questions to Jonas Söderman Bohlin
Jonas Söderman Bohlin composed the music and co-wrote the libretto of Tristessa, a brand new opera premiered at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm last week. The work is based on The Passion of New Eve, a book written by Angela Carter in the late 70s. It tells the story of Evelyn, an aggressive man who will become a woman against his will through the action of a feminist cult. He worships Tristessa, a Golden Age movie star that will eventually share his destiny. We discussed...
Published onthe 11 of October
The Paris Opera presents its 2018-2019 anniversary season, at the meeting point between tradition and modernity
As a national opera, the Paris Opera has historically taken on the role of preserving France's operatic heritage and bringing French opera to life. For all that, opera is obviously a distinctly living art form and since the beginning of his mandate at the head of the Parisian establishment, Stéphane Lissner has also been committed to contributing to updating the repertoire and has been working to diversify the cultural range of France's famous Opera. This is the reason for...
Published onthe 30 of January
Preview: Royal Opera 2017/18 Season
Although Kasper Holten left the post of Artistic Director of the Royal Opera in March 2017, he played the leading role in programming its 2017/18 season and, with a good blend of new productions and strong revivals, it looks to be a particularly fine one. Some composers whose operas have been neglected in recent seasons get a look-in, while several contemporary composers also have the opportunity to present new works. Add in the fact that many evenings feature some of the world’s...
Published onthe 25 of April
Director’s vision with Stéphane Lissner : Bringing great voices to the stage
For Stéphane Lissner, director of the Opéra National de Paris, the secret to programming a successful season could be summed up in three words: diversity, quality and relevance. That approach means matching the great voices of our time — singers like Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel, Anja Harteros and Anna Netrebko, and theater directors like Claus Guth and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker — with the composers of the past, some celebrated and others less acknowledged,...
Published onthe 07 of June
Yannick Nézet-Séguin replaces James Levine as the new musical director of the Metropolitan Opera
As we mentioned recently, James Levine has been forced to resign from his post as artistic director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, which he’d held since 1975, for reasons of health. And so for the first time in forty years, the Metropolitan will welcome a new musical director, only the third (officially) since the New York institution was established 135 years ago. And after several weeks of rumours, it was announced this afternoon that 41-year-old...
Published onthe 02 of June
Bryn Terfel : Becoming Boris Godunov
At London’s Royal Opera House, the Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel has just completed the run of his debut role as the title character of ‘‘Boris Godunov,’’ the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky’s only completed opera. ‘‘It’s one of the most iconic pieces written and has been described as a masterpiece,’’ says Terfel. The production, by the English director Richard Jones, is a new one, and the score...
Published onthe 18 of April
Metropolitan Opera : The 2016/17 season
Although the Metropolitan Opera clearly remains a prestigious opera house with one of the great lyric stages, it is well known that the New York institution has in recent years had to make do with a very limited budget – marked by a 22 million dollar deficit in 2014 and just barely in the black by a million dollars for 2015 thanks to the sale of some of its assets, and particularly through drastic cost-cutting measures that are ongoing. For the first time since its 2009-2010 season,...
Published onthe 19 of February
Paris Opera, Lissner Season 2: the 2016/2017 Season
At the Opéra de Paris, Stéphane Lissner, like any new director making his ambitions known, was met by sceptics and naysayers lying in wait for him, along with all those who wished him less than well: the success of his first performances quickly swept away all the reservations and banana peels strewn in his path. His success was obvious, hailed by national and international critics and corroborated by the enthusiasm of the audiences filling the halls.This success is of course...
Published onthe 10 of February
Leaders’ vision: New digital platforms for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Just over a year into his new job, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s managing director, Harald Krumpöck, feels that he could not have chosen a better time to step up from the ranks of the orchestra’s players to take on the post. ‘‘From a cultural perspective, we are living in an incredibly interesting time,’’ Krumpöck says. ‘‘Change is too small a word. It’s a time of upheaval. An extraordinary number of things are...
Published onthe 29 of December
La Damnation de Faust : genesis of a production with Stéphane Lissner
Early this December, the Opéra de Paris will present La Damnation de Faust, by Hector Berlioz, featuring Sophie Koch (in the role of Marguerite), Jonas Kaufmann (playing Faust) and Bryn Terfel (as Mephistopheles), in a new production designed by Alvis Hermanis. A much-anticipated production because of its prestigious casting, of course, but also because it is intended to be emblematic of the work of the newly appointed Stéphane Lissner, officially at the head of the Paris...
Published onthe 07 of December
Peter Gelb: Bringing high art to a wider public
Leader's vision - Peter Gelb Bringing high art to a wider public Although his 10th season as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera is under way, Peter Gelb doesn’t seem to be thinking much about milestones. Even an institution the size and stature of the Met faces keen challenges in today’s cultural marketplace, as he notes: ‘‘Opera at this level is an extraordinarily expensive undertaking — it’s not designed for 21st-century pocketbooks....
Published onthe 01 of October
Covent Garden: "A rich past informs a bright future"
For a major opera house in the modern world, looking toward the future can sometimes seem daunting, but the leaders of London’s Royal Opera House seem not only unfazed but positively enthusiastic about what lies ahead. Alongside Antonio Pappano, who has overseen musical direction since 2002, Kasper Holten, director of opera, and Alex Beard, chief executive, have a clear vision of how to preserve the house’s rich tradition, and transform and adapt it for the future. Both...
Published onthe 22 of July