#Irène Friedly

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I vespri siciliani - Oper Zürich 13.06.2024

I vespri siciliani - Oper Zürich 13.06.2024 #GiuseppeVerdi #CalixtoBieito #ivanrepušic #operzürich #review #ivesprisiciliani #operalover

Letzte Premiere der Saison an der Oper Zürich: “I vespri siciliani” – CALIXTO BIEITO inszeniert, eigentlich beste Voraussetzung, dieses selten gespielte Werk Verdis spannend auf der Opernbühne zu erleben. Ein grosser Wurf ist es jedoch leider nicht geworden… Continue reading I vespri siciliani – Oper Zürich 13.06.2024

[melancholialake]

Alban Berg - Wozzeck

a psychiatric tragedy

Andreas Homoki | Stage director

Christian Gerhaher | Wozzeck

Gun-Brit Barkmin | Marie

Brandon Jovanovich | Drum Major

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke | Captain

Lars Woldt | Doctor

Mauro Peter | Andres

Irène Friedli | Margret

[fagiolista-blog]

Rossini: La Cenerentola at Konzerthaus Dortmund on 11 Feb 2017

Angelina – Cecilia Bartoli

Don Ramiro – Edgardo Rocha

Dandini – Alessandro Corbelli

Don Magnifico – Carlos Chausson

Clorinda – Sen Guo

Tisbe – Irène Friedli

Alidoro – Ugo Guagliardo

Männerchor der Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Dirigent – Gianluca Capuano

Les Musiciens du Prince

Szenische Einrichtung – Claudia Blersch

The first time I saw Cecilia Bartoli in person was when she came to watch the last part of Franco Fagioli’s Rossini recital in Salzburg back in 2014 and he sang his Cherubino encore to her. The next day I tried to get an affordable ticket for La Cenerentola with her and Javier Camarena, but honestly, I wasn’t willing to pay €100 for a seat very high up and far away from everything – and as I had managed to get Ok tickets for L’Italiana in Algeri a few weeks later in Dortmund I thought I could save the expense. As we were hanging out in front of the hall in gorgeous early summer weather, I went into the hall when the first people hurried out after the last note had just finished. So, I saw the curtain calls and got to hear everyone sing Happy Birthday to La Bartoli. Well, that L’Italiana in Algeri in Dortmund got cancelled, so still no live experience of “Ceci”. So when La Cenerentola was announced for Dortmund I thought „Alright, let’s give it a try, at 100km away it’s relatively close, travel costs are only the fuel to drive there“ and I got myself a ticket for €39 - an absolute bargain compared to €194 and €175 for the two best categories…

My seat was in the first row of the so-called 2. Rang (gallery), pretty high up, and in the corner, just below the acoustic panels and next to/right above the orchestra, unfortunately behind the singers. Well, for €39 I thought that would be alright. Just a few weeks ago I had a seat directly behind the orchestra on the “Chorempore” for about €55 and it was absolutely brilliant (the same seat would have cost €119 for this Cenerentola).

But then, during the overture already, the music felt as if I had my hands on my ears or as if there were a glass pane in between the orchestra and my position. Very distant and somehow muffled. And it remained like that all evening. Every now and then a nice sound of the winds would make it all the way up nice and clear, sometimes the violins cleared up and occasionally the choir would be very present. While the orchestra sounded very clean and decent, however, they did not leave a lasting impression on me. They served the singers well, but they didn’t present an own special reading or interpretation of Rossini. Or it didn’t make it up to us.

I said to my seat neighbour that it felt as if we were sitting outside in the garden with the stereo turned inside the house. To which she found an even better description: “It’s like: ‘Hey, we are having a cool party down here, but you’re not part of it!’”. Agreed.

Let’s take a look at the singers then. Can’t say much about the two sisters as they were basically inaudible to us, especially in the first part. The gentlemen got through a bit better, especially the tenor voice of Edgardo Rocha who apparently sang quite well. Clean coloratura, relatively easy high notes. No top high note as far as I can tell, but I’m not a huge fan of those bravo-craving top notes anyway. Everything was set out to suit the undisputed star of the evening, Cecilia Bartoli. Everything was centered around her, so she was able to shine. And she did. Her voice carried better than I had feared, her coloratura was top notch, her tone very warm, colourful, very secure and solid ranging from the lowest up to the highest register (as far as we could tell pricking up our ears).

That this was a semi-staged (incl. costumes) rather than a conventional concert version usually found in concert halls was a very welcome change even if I was only sometimes able to make out facial expressions. It’s always so refreshing to see singers sing freely, not hiding behind note stands and burying their heads in the scores. Like this there was more movement, more action and made some of the singers sing to the sides at least every now and then so we got to hear them, too.

The hall was pretty much packed, the only bigger free spaces I saw were in the Chorempore directly behind the orchestra. After the intermission, however, there were a few empty seats in the stalls as well, despite some people from the cheaper seats moving into those very few top seats that had been empty in the first half. For such a large crowd, the audience members were relatively well-behaved, there were the unavoidable loud, unmuffled coughers, of course, and of course the lady behind us took half an aria to unwrap her cough sweet, only to then drop the metal box with more of those. Moreover, it would have been nice if people had held their applause back until the actual end of an aria instead of clapping prematurely on several occasions.

During curtain calls - both after the first and the second part - I was waiting for the singers to actually turn around and also bow to the audience in their back. But they didn’t. Mrs. Bartoli and some of the singers did turn around to thank the orchestra and choir, but there was no acknowledgement of those about 15% of the audience. Or they did it so quickly I missed it or so late I had already left. A few weeks ago in the same hall, Teodor Currentzis even made the whole Vienna Symphony turn around to bow the - then significantly smaller - audience around them. If a complete orchestra can do that, soloists should be able to do the same.

Well, so now I can say I have heard La Bartoli live, even if the evening didn’t have any lasting impression on me rather than not to book for those seats again. And that La Cenerentola won’t become one of my favourite operas – although I would give it another try if done with three crazy enough countertenors ;-)

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Amerika - Oper Zürich 09.03.2024

Amerika - Oper Zürich 09.03.2024 #franzkafka #romanhaubenstockramati #amerika #operzürich #sebastianbaumgarten #gabrielfeltz #vorstellungsbesprechung #rezension #kritik #operalover #musiktheater

Es ist Kafka-Jubiläumsjahr und so bemüht man sich überall um eine entsprechende Würdigung. Das Zürcher Opernhaus zeigt eine Oper von Roman Haubenstock-Ramati nach dem Roman-Fragment “Amerika” in der Regie von SEBASTIAN BAUMGARTEN… Continue reading Amerika – Oper Zürich 09.03.2024

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Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci - Oper Zürich 26.01.2022

Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci - Oper Zürich 25.01.2022 #oper #verismo #sternstunde #elinagaranca #marceloalvarez #paolocarignani #grischaasagaroff #oper #operalover #rezension #opernkritik #besprechung #operzürich

Verismo at it’s best! Begeisterungsstürme des Publikums an Zürichs Oper für die beiden Repertoire-Gassenhauer um Liebe, Leidenschaft und Mord – wiederaufgenommen in hervorragender Besetzung: “Cavalleria Rusticana” und “Pagliacci”… (more…)

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Girls with a pearl earring - Oper Zürich 08.05.2022

Girl with a pearl earring - Oper Zürich 8.5.2022 #uraufführung #oper #stefanwirth #peterrundel #tedhuffman #thomashampson #laurasnouffer #janvermeer #rezension #oper #operzürich #kritik #operalover #opera #malerei

Wer kennt es nicht, Jan Vermeers Gemälde “Mädchen mit dem Perlohrring”? Spätestens seit Tracy Chevaliers Roman und der darauf basierenden Verfilmung von 2004 ist die fiktive Biografie des Hausmädchens Griet – die dafür Modell gestanden haben soll – wohl einem grossen Publikum bekannt… (more…)