#elisabetta furlanetto

[nofatclips]

A Grain of Truth by Elvenking from the album Secrets of the Magick Grimoire

[widevibratobitch]

Top 5 Rodrigos

1. Ettore Bastianini because of course

2. Mario Sereni

3. Paolo Silveri

4. Mariusz Kwiecień and Etienne Dupuis*

5. Tito Gobbi

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Filippo for the character ask? and also Odabella because I've been thinking about her lately

Filippo:

favorite thing about them: one of the most complex, vividly human characters to have ever graced the operatic stage.

least favorite thing about them: PLEASE LEAVE THE FUCKING FLEMISH PROTESTANTS ALONE (also uh. be nice to your wife)

favorite line: *insert entirety of “Ella giammai m’amo/Elle ne m’aime pas”*

brOTP: honestly idk

OTP: therapy.

nOTP: Elisabetta? idk? this whole thing is just a MESS

random headcanon: he has Cocomelon songs stuck in his head constantly. this stems from never having a proper childhood

unpopular opinion: I don’t know? we all agree he’s Sad And Horny And Needs To Make Better Life Choices

song i associate with them: …see favorite line??? or “million years ago” by adele. sort of. although i associate that one more with violetta valéry. but i digress.

favorite picture of them:

sad boi, the one true king, Ferruccio Furlanetto <3

Odabella:

favorite thing about them: not only is she an utter badass, she takes time to connect with and understand her own emotions. she’s badass, she’s vulnerable, she’s strong, she’s self-aware, we fucking love to see it.

least favorite thing about them: WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DATING RANDOM TENOR NUMBER 463

favorite line: “Ma noi, donne italiche, cinte di ferro il seno, sul fumido terreno sempre vedrai pugnar!”

(“But you will always see us Italian women, with our breasts girded in steel, fighting on the smoky earth!”)

brOTP: Ezio.

OTP: Amelia Grimaldi from Simon Boccanegra. think about it.

nOTP: Attila (for obvious reasons) and Foresto (GIRL YOU CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER THAN HIM)

random headcanon: she was that one really awkward kid growing up, but only because she Had Not Figured Out Her Badass Power Yet

unpopular opinion: I don’t think I have one?

song i associate with them: me cheating again but both of her arias. just sum her up so PERFECTLY.

favorite picture of them:

[mistresstrevelyan]

When the inclusion of the Lacrimosa makes me question EVERYTHING

Like, Operablr(?) knows that Don Carlo is the GAYEST OPERA in the entire repertoire except for Hadrian BUT....

The Lacrimosa, when sung well, adds so many more layers.

Now van Dam sings it very much like a disappointed father figure.

But Furlanetto in the La Scala production from 2008 with a woefully miscast Stuart Neill in the title role and the very underrated Dalibor Jenis as Rodrigo...there is CRACKLING chemistry there, his “I loved him truly” sounds very much like....a man REALIZING shit about himself in like five minutes and not handling it very well.

Watch:

And for a comparison and a much better cast:

I believe Verdi cut this bc he needed the melody for the Requiem but its inclusion just rounds up the story so well and when sung by amazing artists ala Furlanetto, Pape and Van Dam...well, that’s the HIGHLIGHT of the night right there. Because I’m not interested in the Carlo/Elisabetta het stuff that follows lmao.

[solraneth-archive]

No but actually can’t stop thinking about Furlanetto’s Filippo trying to show a human emotion for once and reaching out to Elisabetta to comfort her during “giustizia giustizia sire” and being visibly hurt when she recoils.

On one hand hey man you brought it onto yourself by being a terrible husband (and a bad person all around) but also I am not immune to characters who seem cold and uncaring but are actually really vulnerable deep down and have no idea how to show affection or express emotions in general

[operaeoperanews]

DON CARLO al teatro alla Scala

DON CARLO al teatro alla Scala

DON CARLO in cinque atti al Teatro alla Scala di Milano nuova produzione

Review by Lukas Franceschini

Milano, 1 febbraio 2017

Ritorna al Teatro alla Scala l’opera Don Carlo di Giuseppe Verdi in nuovo allestimento di Peter Stein, creato al Festival di Salisburgo nel 2013 e recentemente acquistato dal teatro milanese, mettendo probabilmente “in cantina” il precedente spettacolo (2008), non…

[persinsala]

La Scala di Milano presenta, fino al 12 febbraio, il Don Carlo di Verdi nella versione in cinque atti. Un’opera magniloquente, complessa, che prende vita sul prestigioso palcoscenico scaligero, sotta la direzione del verdiano Myung-Whun Chung e con la regia dei Peter Stein. Una rappresentazione coraggiosa e perfettamente riuscita.

La storia delle rappresentazioni del Don Carlo di Giuseppe Verdi è complessa, ricca di interventi diretti ed indiretti, di interferenze e di ripensamenti. Ispirata dal lavoro di Friedrich Schiller, Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien, l’opera viene inizialmente presentata nella sua forma in cinque atti l’11 marzo 1867 all’Opéra di Parigi. Qualche mese dopo avvenne il debutto, al Teatro Comunale di Bologna, della versione italiana, sempre in cinque atti. Ma fin da quell’anno iniziarono i tagli e le modifiche all’opera, autorizzati, inizialmente, dallo stesso Verdi per far sì che l’opera acquisisse leggerezza ed efficacia. Nel 1884 la Scala presenta una versione in quattro atti concepita dallo stesso Verdi, ottenuta dalla versione originale francese attraverso l’espunzione dell’atto iniziale e dei ballabili. È proprio questa versione che si diffuse più rapidamente ed è ancora quella che oggi viene rappresentata con più frequenza.

La Scala decide di presentare la versione in cinque atti alla quale Verdi lavorò negli anni Ottanta, successivamente alla rappresentazione del 1884. La scelta coraggiosa di presentare questa versione completa dell’opera, che mancava da quarant’anni, e cioè da quella versione diretta da Claudio Abbado con la regia di Luca Ronconi presentata l’11 dicembre 1977, è una scelta vincente che ridona a questo capolavoro verdiano tutto il suo splendore ed il suo respiro.

Il Don Carlo si sviluppa su tre grandi conflitti che rappresentano i tre grandi assi sui quali si sviluppa la storia: quello del contrasto tra padre e figlio, tra Filippo II e Carlo, quello delle due diverse concezioni politiche del monarca assoluto Filippo e del liberale Rodrigo e quello del drammatico confronto tra Stato e Chiesa. Queste tematiche complesse si concretizzano in una composizione in grado di lavorare il materiale psicologico con grande finezza, lavorando ogni singolo personaggio per incastonarlo in un’opera grandiosa e tormentata. La rappresentazione del Don Carlo alla quale abbiamo assistito alla Scala, ci ha colpito per l’enorme rispetto del dettato verdiano e per l’interpretazione ineccepibile e autentica degli attori. Francesco Meli ha proposto un’interpretazione del Don Carlo lancinante, mosso dai moti patriottistici (spronati da Rodrigo, uno straordinario Simone Piazzola la cui presenza scenica è a dir poco grandiosa), dall’amore e dalla vendetta personale, lavorando un personaggio complesso con grande amore lirico. Krassimira Stoyanova è una Elisabetta di Valois impeccabile, personaggio chiave combattuto tra ragion di Stato e sentimento personale, spesso accompagnata da un’elegantissima Beatrice Uria-Monzon nel ruolo della terribile principessa Eboli, elemento che incide e fa sanguinare un’opera dove i conflitti sono già molteplici. Il ruolo del monarca assoluto Filippo II è stato impersonato da Michele Pertusi (chiamato all’ultimo minuto per sostituire Ferruccio Furlanetto) elegante e terribile basso che fa di Filippo un perfetto personaggio verdiano. La direzione dell’orchestra è stata assicurata dal M° Myung-Whun Chung, che ritorna a dirigere un’opera di Verdi dopo aver accolto un grande successo con la rappresentazione del Simon Boccanegra alla Fenice. La regia di Peter Stein è quella già presentata a Salisburgo nel 2013: una regia che si attiene al dettato verdiano con immenso rispetto e che concepisce, insieme al creatore delle scene Ferdinand Woegerbauer, luoghi grandiosi che evitano il rischio dell’eccesso e che, al contrario, propongono una efficacia proprio grazie ad una semplificazione aderente al tormento sublime dell’opera verdiana.

Spettacolo visto giovedì 26 gennaio 2017

Lo spettacolo va in scena: Teatro alla Scala Via Filodrammatici, 2 – Milano fino a domenica 12 febbraio 2017 orari: mercoledi’ e sabato 18.30, domenica 14.30

Il Teatro alla Scala presenta Don Carlo di Giuseppe Verdi dramma lirico in cinque atti libretto di François-Joseph Méry e Camille Du Locle traduzione italiana di Achille De Lauzières e Angelo Zanardini direttore dell’orchestra Myung-Whun Chung regia Peter Stein coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala scene Ferdinand Woegerbauer costumi Anna Maria Heinreich luci Joachim Barth

Elisabetta di Valois Krassimira Stoyanova La principessa Eboli Ekaterina Semenchuk, Beatrice Uria-Monzon (22 Gennaio) Don Carlo Francesco Meli Rodrigo Simone Piazzola Filippo II Ferruccio Furlanetto, Michele Pertusi (26 Gennaio), Ildar Abdrazakov (29 Gennaio) Il Grande Inquisitore Eric Halfvarson (17, 22, 26, 29 Gennaio, 1, 4 e 12 Febbraio)Un frate Martin Summer Voce dal cielo Céline Mellon Sei deputati fiamminghi Gustavo Castillo, Rocco Cavalluzzi, Dongho Kim, Victor Sporyshev, Chen Lingjie, Paolo Ingrasciotta, Conte di Lerma/Un araldo reale Azer Zada Tebaldo Theresa Zisser

produzione del Festival di Salisburgo

durata 5 ore e 10 inclusi intervalli

http://www.teatroallascala.org

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  Don Carlo La Scala di Milano presenta, fino al 12 febbraio, il Don Carlo di Verdi nella versione in cinque atti.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Are there certain opera singers you totally associate with certain roles (because they really embodied the character)?

a non-exhaustive list, and only including filmed performances I’ve seen:

well now Karita Mattila as Salome, let’s start with that.

Jonas Kaufmann as Werther

Joyce DiDonato as Agrippina, Maria Stuarda, Rosina, Isolier, and Cendrillon

Lisette Oropesa as Manon Lescaut (the Massenet one), Marguérite de Valois, and Konstanze

Simon Keenlyside as Hamlet and Valentin

Marlis Petersen as Ophélie, Lulu, and Marietta/Marie’s Ghost

Renée Fleming as Thaïs, Rodelinda, and Tatyana

Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Onegin

Peter Mattei as both Figaro and Count Almaviva (depends on what part of the Figaro Cinematic Universe you’re in)

Isabel Leonard as Cherubino

Susanne Mentzer, also as Cherubino

Adèle Charvet as Ascanio

Léa Desandre as Urbain

Stephanie Blythe as Ulrica Arvidsson, Mistress Quickly, and Isabella

Julia Bullock as Anne Truelove

Kate Aldrich as Léonor (La favorite) and Fidès

John Osborn as Jean de Leyde

Ferruccio Furlanetto as Filippo II

Sondra Radvanovsky as Elisabetta I of England

Elīna Garanča as Carmen

Roberto Alagna as Don José and Faust

Marina Rebeka as Mathilde de Habsburg

Juan Diego Flórez as Ory and Tonio

Anna Caterina Antonacci as Cassandre

Stéphanie d’Oustrac, also as Cassandre and as Lazuli

Natalie Dessay as Marie (the one from La fille du régiment)

[solraneth-archive]

What I love so much about Furlanetto’s performance is that his Filippo is a full-fledged character and he’s very human. It’s obvious that he does care about Elisabetta and even about Carlo - I mean look at his expression after he signs the execution warrant. He’s lonely and paranoid and very much human and I love that

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

ALL (supervillain laugh) take your time tho :D

Oh no WHY alright I submit *sighs, shakes my head, and briefly regrets all my life choices*

here we go! (#9 and #19 are pending specific opera submissions)

I wrote an overly long post here in response to this question a while back

Don Carlo!!!

Just started Halka. Not very far in, but I’m liking it so far.

In full, Cavalleria rusticana (yesterday)

Die tote Stadt (specifically the one recording conducted by Erich Leinsdorf)

Sopranos, with baritones in a very close second.

I will keep advocating for a Belle Époque Simon Boccanegra until it actually happens. Also Paris Commune Le prophète.

*see the 2017 Paris Opéra cast, except very reluctantly swap in Furlanetto for Abdrazakov*

pending submission of a specific opera

really tough...the ROH 1985 one was my first, so it may be my favorite for sentimental reasons, although I also LOVE the current ROH/Met coproduction (with the exception of some details), the Salzburg 2013, and that Liège production from not too long ago

well, based on several factors (including roles I’ve played in musicals, choir assignments, and stuff from voice lessons in the past), I’ll say Poppea (Agrippina), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and Urbain (Les Huguenots)

Yes, my answer is Don Carlo

Depending on the day, either ‘Dio, che nell’alma infondere’, ‘Nuit d’ivresse et d’extase infinie’, or ‘Ô ciel! où courez-vous?’

my HOMEGIRL Princess Éboli

any really good rendition of ‘Depuis le jour’. that aria SLAPS.

I’m cheating and doing a play instead BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT anyway we need Ibsen-based operas and I nominate Hedda Gabler with Sonya Yoncheva and Lisette Oropesa as Hedda and Thea there I said it if you want further casting ask me again later

I don’t know if there’s any one character I have the same personality as??? although I was recently told by someone else on here that my personality is a cross between Figaro and Marguerite de Valois so... make of that what you will (and tell me what you think!)

we all know my answer to this (it’s Carlo/Rodrigo)

also pending a specific opera submission

depends on...a lot of factors, but I adore both Jonas Kaufmann and José Carreras (he is the best of the Three Tenors; no, I am not accepting criticism at this time)

going with Carmen for the sake of argument here, definitely Carmen

...I am not a fan of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut

probably Die tote Stadt, which is seriously bizarre but incredibly amazing (possibly because of its inherent bizarreness?)

not sure if this is in reference to characters or singers; I’ll assume this is about characters and say (of course) Carlo/Rodrigo, with Marie/Tonio and Fenton/Nannetta very close behind.

Renato needs love and hugs and just deserves so much better (he just needs to learn to not be a Jealous Baritone Husband). Other than that drama, he has a proven track record of being a good friend.

waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy too many. for the sake of being concise, five I love: Callas, Popp, Benackova, Oropesa, Rebeka.

Verdi ❤️ no one else has written so many great operas I love so much over such a long period of time

waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy too many (again). first one that popped into my head just now was Sophie from Werther, so we’re gonna go with her.

Act III finale, La bohème.

how has there not been a good opera version of Twelfth Night? that is operatic comedy gold WAITING to happen

a) I hate these singer questions because I have way too many, and b) among many, many others, Milnes, Gobbi, Zancanaro, Keenlyside, and Tézier. 

I see a sweet trouser role, I adopt him. also Annina from La traviata deserves WAY more credit than she gets. love her to death.

since I try to be optimistic or at least neutral when going into a new opera, none

cannot gender swap names in my head at the moment, so Carlo becomes a standard mid-late Verdi soprano role, Elisabetta becomes a baritone (YOU THOUGHT SHE’D BE A TENOR BUT NOOOOO), Rodrigo is the Good Mezzo who gets the Basically Non-Existent Mezzo Death Scene, Éboli is a tenor, Filippo goes full dramatic mezzo, and the Grand Inquisitor becomes a nearly-impossible-to-sing contralto role with a few extremely powerful high notes thrown in because why not. Tebaldo remains a coloratura soprano.

slightly cheating, but Berlioz’s Les Troyens (not directly based on myth, but kinda?)

‘We really gotta hurry-‘ ‘But first, let’s sing about our feelings!’ or ‘death scene with lots of blood and sadness’ or ‘death by singing’ or party gone wrong (I’m a sucker for good opera tropes)

For baritones: Onegin, don’t go to the name day ball. Just don’t. For tenors: either Otello re: trusting Iago over Desdemona or...pretty much Hoffmann’s entire life.

Again, I hate these questions, but here are five anyway: Cossotto, Troyanos, DiDonato, Garanča, and Rachvelishvili.

FILIPPO (I would DIE to be able to play Filippo. also can I just say that bass and bass-baritone roles in (at least originally) French operas are...*chef’s kiss*.)

Éboli’s outfit in Act IV, Scene 1 of the 2017 Paris Don Carlos.

I really, really want to like Aida as much as everyone else seems to, but I still think that while the plot is good and the music is good, it somehow just doesn’t work and is also massively overrated.

so I don’t talk about Lucia di Lammermoor much but it’s awesome and the mad scene is one of my favorite things ever and ALSO THE OPERA SHOULD HAVE ENDED WITH THE MAD SCENE WHAT THE HELL CAMMARANO so yeah there’s that

well, I’ve been in love with Carmen since I was 7, so...

so many! Figaro seems like he’d be a pretty awesome BFF

Three words: Così. fan. tutte

La gioconda, which has okay music overall (although ‘Stella dal marinar’ is good and the Dance of the Hours is an absolute BOP) but I like the plot a lot better (imagine how it would have been if Verdi or even Boito wrote the music!). also ‘Cielo e mar’ is the third-most overrated tenor aria of all time and you can fight me on that.

way too many (again), but I gotta say it: especially in Verdi, Furlanetto simply cannot be beat.

so many ridiculous roles...you know what’s ridiculous? Hélène in Les veprês siciliennes. At least she gets a scene off, but other than that it’s *high notes* *low notes* *coloratura* *declamation over a huge orchestra and chorus* *sassing the French* *cadenza* *repeat for three hours*

I have been meaning to watch Boris Godunov in its entirety for a while and I WILL THIS WEEK (thanks, Met Opera!). Also literally any Wagner. I was going to see the Met HD of Höllander but you know what happened.

Tosca for tragedies, Barbiere di Siviglia for comedies, Don Giovanni for everyone. 

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

So... dream cast for Don Carlo and also costumes you'd like to see (per scene/character)

Thank you!!!!

Alright, let’s see here...since you followed up with ‘maybe one of current singers and one from any time’, here we go!

Two singers per lead for the current cast because I feel like it:

Carlo: Jonas Kaufmann/Michael Fabiano

Elisabetta: Sonya Yoncheva/Rachel Willis-Sørensen

Filippo: Ferruccio Furlanetto/Ildar Abdrazakov

Rodrigo: Ludovic Tézier/Simon Keenlyside/(okay fine a third one) Nicola Alaimo

Éboli: Elīna Garanča/Anita Rachvelishvili

The Grand Inquisitor: Eric Halfvarson/Dmitri Belosselskiy

For the all-time cast, just one apiece:

Carlo: the very aptly named Carlo Bergonzi

Elisabetta: Mirella Freni

Filippo: Ferruccio Furlanetto

Rodrigo: Giorgio Zancanaro

Éboli: Tatiana Troyanos

The Grand Inquisitor: since it is not possible to have Furlanetto duet with himself (‘tis a pity), Nicolai Ghiaurov  

Costumes per character: first, in my dream, it’s Renaissance costume porn for everyone. To expand:

Carlo and Elisabetta at Fontainebleau: I’m picturing them in pretty forest/nature-colored pastels, something that emphasizes how free and happy they are because they’ll never be like that again.

Carlo the rest of the opera: The most succinct way to describe it is ‘pretty much a 1560s version of the Hamlet aesthetic’. Except he gets the White Shirt With Buttons, Black Pants, and Black Boots in the prison scene because I said so.

Elisabetta the rest of the opera: very muted full-on period gowns, but maybe with a hint of gold or silver or bright color here and there just to make her stand out a bit more.

Filippo: dark and broody ALL THE TIME. except the auto-da-fé where he is dressed to the nine hundreds. Not nines, nine HUNDREDS because he is In Charge.

Rodrigo: dark but not broody; I like the thing in the Hytner ROH/Met production where they have him wearing a Flemish-style outfit pretty much the whole time. That’s my boy. Also he gets the same thing as Carlo in the prison scene because I said so.

Éboli: Ah, my fiery Éboli, Miss Attention-Grabbing herself. She needs to contrast with Elisabetta in just about every way in Acts II and III (but they need to complement each other because...reasons); she can have something ‘more’ than Elisabetta in Act IV, Scene 1, but maybe a little more on the muted side there. Since she is a ‘page’ in the prison scene, she also gets the white/black ensemble because I said so. In regards to the eyepatch matter, I don’t care super-much but she does look cooler when she has it.

The Grand Inquisitor: Grand clerical garb that sparks fear into the hearts of anyone who has the misfortune of seeing him. That is all.

Again, HUGE thank you for sending this! If you ever have any other opera asks, just drop on by; I always appreciate them! 😉

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Les Huguenots obv, Don Carlo, Trovatore, Eugene Onegin, Simon Boccanegra, Cav/Pag?

Alright, here we go: 

Les Huguenots: 

Setting-wise, I’m thinking either full-on period drama or modern present-day. (I mean, have you seen social media? People nowadays are often straight-up vicious.) 

Also, little to no cuts, and I would play it straight (as in “no overarching external concept” straight, not “heterosexual” straight because there are definitely some characters who are not straight in the slightest) but I think there’s more than enough in the libretto to keep any director busy. 

Lots of action, lots of spectacle, but at the same time going for an intimate focus on the principals, their relationships with each other, and where they stand in terms of society. No wonder this one’s so hard to pull off.

 Another thing that’s hard is pulling off the “this massacre is pretty much inevitable” thing in the early acts, because there are little signs everywhere hidden within the ostensibly happy stuff that serious trouble is brewing. It’s necessary, though. 

Finally, for Pete’s sake, Nevers will die onstage. 

(Addendum that’s not super-related: apparently there was a production somewhere in Germany a few years back where Nevers was an artist and everyone else were either characters in his paintings or people commissioning his work. IIRC [I only read reviews, I couldn’t find any video] instead of dying, Nevers was just kinda there the whole last act and towards the end he started dumping red paint everywhere and the result was a painting of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.) 

Okay, after I wrote all that, I found out that apparently people are doing their modern-day cast picks, so mine are: John Osborn or Yosep Kang as Raoul, Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Valentine, Lisette Oropesa or Erin Morley as Marguerite, Nicolas Testé or Michele Pertusi as Marcel, Artur Rucinski as Nevers, Ying Fang or Karine Deshayes as Urbain, and Christian van Horn as Saint-Bris. 

Don Carlo: 

First things first: I couldn’t care less about whether it’s in French or Italian (both work fine IMO), but including the whole Fontainebleau act and the Lacrimosa is a must. (I’d also include the Eboli/Elisabetta mask switchoff scene.) 

I would absolutely go period drama with it, but for sets and costumes, I’d take a little simpler and less elaborate/more abstract approach. Also definitely dark and moody (except for the first part of the courtyard at San Yuste scene). 

EXTREMELY GAY IN ALL THE WAYS. That is all. 

The more people in the chorus, the better, not just because grand opéra, but also because then it feels more overwhelming. The production should be overwhelming in just about every way, like getting-hit-by-a-wind-tunnel overwhelming. 

The ending: just leave the ending alone. As much as I understand wanting it to be a more closed-off ending, I actually really like how cliffhanger-y the ending is. (I’d be willing to play the Fontainebleau act as a flashback Carlo’s having before Act II.) 

Cast: Fabiano or Kaufmann, Harteros or Yoncheva, Furlanetto or Abdrazakov, Tezier or Keenlyside, Garanca or A-Rach, and Halfvarson because he’s the classic Grand Inquisitor. 

Il trovatore: 

Ooh, I really liked the McVicar idea of setting it during the Peninsular War, although I’d also love to hightail the plot to Italy and set it during the Risorgimento. 

Manrico is the least interesting lead in the entire thing IMO, but I would find a way to make him interesting, not just the “oh he’s the tenor and the title role so we have to focus on him” deal. 

I’d put a lot more focus onto both di Luna and Azucena, especially Azucena (there’s a reason why Verdi wanted her to be the title character). Maybe the production should progressively get more bizarre as it’s clear she’s more and more traumatized/insane by everything that’s happened. 

I’d have Manrico die onstage, too. 

Cast: not completely sure, maybe Lee, Radvanovsky, A-Rach, and Tezier or Rucinski (considering my first choice is no longer here...) 

Simon Boccanegra: 

Setting: Either keep it in very over-the-top period or (for a slightly more original idea) start the opera at the end of the Risorgimento movement and end it 25 years later. 

Go big or go home on the sets and costumes with this one. 

I’d like to stage the Prologue as Simon’s flashback, but otherwise play it completely straight. Also, cranking up the energy on the Simon/Amelia dynamic is a must. 

(A very interesting not-playing-it-straight concept I’ve toyed with that could potentially go with the end-of-the-Risorgimento setting: make Simon Boccanegra a parallel to Verdi. That would also be incredibly sad, given that Verdi’s two kids died very young.) 

Cast: Tezier (really my go-to current Verdi baritone), Rebeka or Yoncheva, Fabiano, Belosselskiy 

Eugene Onegin: 

Setting can be summed up as “Pushkin or Chekhov, take your pick.”  

I’m envisioning a set that’s half “looks like a charcoal drawing or muted oil painting” and half minimalist, and really beautiful period costumes. Also, snow everywhere in Acts II and III (the current Met production setting the final scene in a snowstorm? Genius. However, I’d probably have the snow raging outside and the two leads raging inside. Related: huge windows for the final scene to see said snowstorm.) 

Eugene Onegin is definitely bi and horribly regrets the duel. 

I would make this production have a huge emphasis on writing: Onegin is the brooding author/hero, Tatyana is a writer of course, Lensky’s a poet... maybe they’re all writing their own part of the story? 

Also, it’s cruel but I think it would make sense for Onegin to commit suicide at the end. 

Cast: Kweicken, Mattei, or Rucinski; Corinne Winters; Michael Fabiano; Alexander Vinogradov 

Cav/Pag: 

I know one’s technically set in Sicily and one in Calabria, but because I tend to like multiple-bills more if there’s a dramatic throughline, I’d set both in the same place and try to connect the two operas’ characters somehow. 

To me, both operas are about the personas people project versus who they really are- and God forbid that women don’t fit the perfect public persona and are instead genuine. As a result, I’d try to add a little theater to Cav and for the reverse effect (since Pag does take place on the Feast of the  Assumption), a little bit of Catholic ritual (and guilt) to Pag. 

I don’t think the aesthetic for the two operas should be so different: we’re talking the course of one day for both operas, except Pag both starts and ends later in the day (IIRC Cav starts at sunrise). 

Cast: not really sure tbh, although I heard the Dutch National Opera apparently had a really nice cast for it recently (A-Rach and Ailyn Perez!) 

To end: this is probably a good time to share my hot take that I like Cav more than Pag.