No, I shouldn’t have gone there. (this is blurry because I may have been cutting multiple onions)

Review: Polish Count(ers), Greta Garbo. “Gismondo, rè di Polonia” at Theater an der Wien.

[Promo poster for “Gismondo, rè di Polonia” in the hall, Theater an der Wien/Vienna, 2018]

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Conflict of Interest

spot the conflict of interest.

also, if someone would please forward me that memo I apparently missed on CTs being the new go-to Ruggieros, thank you.

…part Scottish, French, Italian, a little bit Dame: Handel’s “Ariodante” at Wiener Staatsoper

[Curtain Call: Dancers, Benedikt Kobel (Odoardo), Wilhelm Schwinghammer (King of Scotland), Christophe Dumaux (Polinesso), Sarah Connolly (Ariodante), Chen Reiss (Ginevra), Hila Fahima (Dalinda), Rainer Trost (Lurcanio). Never mind the dead roast hanging from the ceiling.]

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Trousers-if-only Tuesday

[So. Crébassa is singing neither Andronico, nor Tamerlano in the new Scala “Tamerlano” (I would be smoking, too, given the news), but I will pretend this can mean Charleston, speakeasy scenes and Wenn die beste Freundin instead, while Tamerlano hooks up with Andronico. – Marianne Crébassa (Irene) in Handel’s “Tamerlano”, Milan 2017. – Photo Credit: Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano]

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Elbphilharmonie Opening

Last night, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg finally opened.

“Finally”, because it was supposed to be done six years ago, and because the costs have meanwhile outgrown even its very steep and stylish roof. But it’s done, and you should absolutely watch the on-demand available ARTE stream of the opening concert because the acoustics (engineered by Yasuhisa Toyota) are out of this world.

Also, the concert program is out of this world: yes, for the opening act before the concert, you get Beethoven and Mendelssohn and Brahms, with a fantastic NDR Orchestra – newly renamed NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester – under its principal conductor Thomas Hengelbrock. But the main concert afterwards has lots of very old and very new, off-the-beaten-path music and it is glorious.