Here's to happy opera! Happy for the end of this challenging year, and for the festive season. Celebrate, among other things, the wealth of live-streamed productions we have been offered, and the amazing range of operatic creations that have lit and enlivened the year.
Now, over the season of holidays, the offerings are delightful. And in a special gift for those enjoying comparison of composers and performances, there are rival operas on Cinderella - from Rossini and Massenet.
Happy Christmas from Glyndebourne
Source of many excellent free productions earlier in the year, Glyndebourne is screening as their gift now their production of Rossini's crazy version of the Cinderella story. Watch it here, La Cenerentola is available for free online from 6.00pm Thursday 17 December to 12.00pm Monday 4 January.
This is their 2005 production, directed by Peter Hall. Cinderella is Ruxandra Donose - listen to her triumphant final aria here - ending with a nice touch as her new princely husband realises what he's taken on!
There's insight here into the relation of the director and conductor. 'Hall argues that at Glyndebourne, unlike at most opera houses, a partnership of equals is possible. "Apart from Bayreuth," he says, "it's the only opera house in the world where the director is treated as seriously as the conductor. In all other houses in my experience, the conductor is king."'
And Season's Greetings from the Met.
Week 41 is 'Holiday Fare'. Take a moment to reflect: that's 41 weeks of free live streamed productions. Thankyou, Met opera.
Tuesday, December 22 Mozart’s The Magic Flute Starring Ying Huang, Erika Miklósa, Matthew Polenzani, Nathan Gunn, and René Pape, conducted by James Levine. From December 30, 2006.
And then - here's the rival Cinderella - Massenet's version, with an irrepressible Joyce DiDonato. This gorgeous production screened earlier in the COVID year and lifted us then. Check out the blog post here. It's on Wednesday, December 23
Massenet’s Cendrillon Starring Kathleen Kim, Joyce DiDonato, Alice Coote, Stephanie Blythe, and Laurent Naouri, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. From April 28, 2018.
Thursday, December 24 Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia Starring Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Christopher Maltman, Maurizo Muraro, and Paata Burchuladze, conducted by Michele Mariotti. From November 22, 2014.
Rossini's most lol opera, and we've had several productions this year. Check out the blog post on our Barbers, including this one, here.
Friday, December 25 Puccini’s La Bohème This is the first production of Franco Zeffirelli’s Boheme, which Met itself describes as 'one of the great classics in the history of the Met'... with a 'magical first cast: the touching and fragile Teresa Stratas as the dying Mimi, and young, handsome Jose Carreras as her passionate lover, Rodolfo.'
Check out our blog way back on this most performed of operas. The first two acts are about Christmas eve, but it's not actually a very jolly ending. The scene in the Cafe Momus may inform your handling of Christmas dinner. Starring Teresa Stratas, Renata Scotto, José Carreras, Richard Stilwell, and James Morris, conducted by James Levine. From January 16, 1982.
Saturday, December 26 Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel Starring Christine Schäfer, Alice Coote, Rosalind Plowright, Philip Langridge, and Alan Held, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. From January 1, 2008. Such good music, such a fun adaption of the old story. Here's our earlier blog post on the opera. Philip Langridge's witch is a joy in itself.
Sunday, December 27 Lehár’s The Merry Widow Starring Renée Fleming, Kelli O'Hara, Nathan Gunn, Alek Shrader, and Sir Thomas Allen, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. From January 17, 2015.
Renee is maybe a bit proper for Hanna? Check out our blog post on this production here.
Monday, December 28 Verdi’s Falstaff Starring Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Paolo Fanale, Ambrogio Maestri, and Franco Vassallo, conducted by James Levine. From December 14, 2013.
And to all our group members, and all who have followed this blog, warmest wishes for a new year with a better plot and a lot of music.
from Lyn and Tom, 17 Dec, 2020