Opera Chic

Barenboim's & Casoni's Xmas Gift

Earlier tonight in frosty, snowed-out Milan, Daniel Barenboim conducted La Scala's orchestra and the all-powerful Scala chorus -- the astonishingly beautiful creation of maestro Bruno Casoni, probably the greatest chorus in the world -- in the Concerto di Natale, the traditional Xmas concert here. Barenboim had rawked the opera house here four years ago with a Xmas Beethoven Ninth that truly had moments of absolute greatness, proudly Furtwaenglerian in that Barenboim way, and tonight he chose a 100% Verdi program (the Quartetto in mi minore per archi, and the bada$$ Quattro Pezzi Sacri -- Adriana Damato, the weakest voice from Barenboim's vocally unexciting Carmen, as soloist).

Now Verdi isn't really Barenboim's thang -- on this, everybody but the most abnormally enthusiastic DB freaks agree -- but then, frankly, Xmas & the Baby Jesus -- thank the Lord -- aren't really his thang either, so it's kind of par for the course.

The Scala chorus, on the other hand, could even sing Xmas carols that one would have to listen, in awe, and thank one's favorite deity for their existence -- and their chorus master Bruno Casoni -- on this wacky, snowed out, half-frozen planet.

Daniel Harding puts a Tutu over his Frac for Serata Béjart at La Scala

 

The 2009/10 ballet season of Teatro alla Scala opened on Thursday night with a triptych program highlighting three ballet styling of French choreographer Maurice Béjart, who passed away in 2007, leaving behind a legacy of fans and colleagues who spoke about his innovative vision and intellectual choreography. We were kind of disappointed that Scala doesn't make a big fuss of the first ballet like they do in NYC with the ABT and the NYCB, but it didn't dissuade us from putting on a Lanvin lace dress and Alexander McQueen lace-up heels.

Via Stravinksy and Mahler (so perfect for Béjart's rhythms of dance in the modern world), British Maestro Daniel Harding took the Filarmonica della Scala and Il Corpo di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala on a wild adventure full of snappy, intricate Stravinksy and intuitive, burnished Mahler -- his first ballet conducted in Milan was full of win. In all honesty, Opera Chic came for the symphony (we will forever admire the work of Béjart and for what he's done in revolutionizing contemporary dance, but his choreography doesn't speak to us like how we feel after a rousing Brahms or Beethoven) -- C'mon...who could pass up two of Stravinksy's coolest works? 

Sixteen lead dancers took to their skin-tight body stockings to flaunt Béjart's best moves (and their own disciplined musculature), choreographed to Stravinsky's Firebird and Rites of Spring -- then Mahler's Chant du Compagnon Errant accompanied by Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, which was sadly last heard at Scala in 1975.

Even though star etoile Roberto Bolle was forced to withdraw a month prior from Serata Béjart (where he's recovering from minor surgery in Germany), it gave 23-year-old Gabriele Corrado a chance to learn his Mahler and to also have a nice anecdote to tell his friends at dinner parties.

 

Stravinsky's Firebird began with a corps of a dozen mixed dancers in cotton peasant gear of work shirts and loose pants. The firebird, Antonio Sultera, appeared in a bright red body stocking and made Béjart's lean choreography looked effortless. The entire stage was used effectively by both leads (the phoenix was Eris Nezha) and lighting was fabulously clean. Harding's Firebird started as a tenebrous hum tinged with light. He wrapped the orchestra with a lyric, emotive gesture, and his reading expressed a tenderness and vulnerability.

The highlight of the night (for Opera Chic anyway) was Mahler's Chant du Compagnon Errant, accompanied by Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen sung by baritone Christopher Maltman. While the dancers were exceedingly excellent, (Massimo Murru and Gabriele Corrado), the baritone not so much with too many precarious high notes. Again, the choreography never overwhelmed the narrative with gesture or distraction. As lean as Bejart's choreography was, adversely Mahler's music was full of imaginative color, cleverly told by Harding, in perfect control of the soloist, the dancers, and the orchestra (he fared well enough that after the first pause he was gifted with smatterings of bravos as he walked to the podium to start the last half).

Stravinsky's Rites of Spring begins with an awakening of the dancers, lights shifting from midnight blue to golden yellow, signaling the tranition. The male dancers in unitards of greens and browns, the women in flesh-colored body stockings, the work built to a literal climax which melted into an intricate orgy, as unsexy as one could imagine -- not kinky, but kinetic.   

Harding understood well how one should be bright but not shrill, a fine line between the two which was greatly mastered, with great tension full of drive and passion. An uninhibited reading, unrestrained and unafraid to use the full fortissimo of the orchestra. 

Of course, aside from the superb music, one can always stay for the ballet.

 

  

Headlines for Teatro alla Scala's Carmen

The Italian media was mostly in agreement for their coverage of Teatro alla Scala's Opening Night Gala, all reporting on the fourteen minutes of applause that followed Bizet's Carmen, although peppered with booing, especially for director Emma Dante. Coverage was much leaner this year than prior years, economic crisis to blame. Here's a selection of pieces from the heaviest hitters of Italian media: Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, and La Repubblica.

 

 

~* Click the link below for La Stampa and La Repubblica *~

Let's Get Bizet: The Carmen La Scala Review Tra la la la la la la la...

Carmen, a fiery, seductive, uncontrollable man-eating harpy who tears through men (and women) without flinching -- it's easy work to categorize one of opera's most colorful & irresistible archetypes. So when GM of La Scala, Stephane Lissner, announced Scala's new season and brought 40-something Sicilian newcomer to opera direction, Emma Dante, to open their 2009/10 season with a new production of Bizet's Carmen, no one was quite sure what to expect. Punk opera? Revolution in the air? A big meh?

In the months leading-up to Dante's new Carmen, it was set forth that Dante -- a headstrong, counter-culture figure -- would propose a fresh, innovative, young version of Georges Bizet's tragic heroine. Dante is viewed as a sort of Diablo Cody of independent, off-Broadway Italian experimental & regional theater, and Scala could use her to try and make themselves look less lame.

But what we saw on opening night from Dante's Carmen was a convoluted direction without any really new ideas, declawed by Daniel Barenboim in its more radical choices (that had been artfully leaked to the press over the months preceding la prima) safely following Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy's idiosyncratic libretto (in Robert Didion's critical edition loaded with cuts). Which is fine.

But really, it's in bad form to hype a new production by an independent director as something that it most certainly is not. This isn't about attracting young people... actually, Opera Chic, almost always the youngest person in the room, found this new production as the most alienating of the recent la primas of the recent past: Patrice Chéreau's Tristan Und Isolde and Stéphane Braunschweig's Don Carlos included.

Without the sexy spark of the irresistible heroine and without chemistry between Carmen and Escamillo or Don Jose, this was indeed your grandparent's opera (with tons of Catholic imagery thrown in for good measure), as traditional and unimaginative as Peduzzi's conventional (albeit excellent) sets, leads weighted-down with matronly and static blocking, an absence of Bizet's fiery tenderness that was treated instead with a cold, jaded, hardened, bitter Carmen, punctuated by misogynistic tinges and violence everywhere.

 

Georges Bizet's four-act opéra comique premiered in Paris in March 1875, and Barenboim fittingly gave it a French, highly appropriate reading -- an enlightened, respectful, liberal tourist in the land of bullfights. Sloooooooooooooow as molasses at certain points, and tempi sloooooooooooooooowed down to gentle lulls. Dressed almost casually without a trace of tie or bow tie, the conductor led the orchestra on an un-rushed ride that overall, sustained itself well, best example being an overture that began as a ringing, pompous arch that showed much depth and foreshadowing.

The curtain opened with the humming of three white fans and although it's been told by preview that Dante's vision was more Morocco than Seville, OC wasn't convinced. The courtyard outside of the tobacco factory was full of activity -- carpet beaters and a full-on pregnant woman in the throes of labor (??). Scenographer Richard "Italian Churches Don't Look Like That" Peduzzi's solid brick facades towered in the background, although with Dominique Bruguière's somber, minimal lighting, one more or less had to imagine Peduzzi's sets.

We find Micaëla's Adriana Damato at the beginning of Act I, and OC is duly pleased that she's not in some frumpy, bucolic dress and rather wrapped in a rich, black coat. Oops! Nevermind! Micaëla strips the jacket and reveals she's been swathed in a lace abomination. A fach too far, Damato is an excellent singer with the wrong voice for this role, but Micaëla never made the marks, and the singer, transparently set-up in the image of Dante herself (with Halloweeny white streaks in her dark hair), was lightly booed at the curtain call.  

Moralès's Mathias Hausmann showed great range and engaging emotion, playing a sort of effeminate and sympathetic brigadier, swagger and predatory vibes stripped away, completely nonthreatening -- the one aberration in Dante's cruel world of violence and indifferent men.

And here comes Dante's promised symbolism: As the cigarette girls emptied from the factory, they wore black robes over their undergarments, while white cloths worn on the head were dual nun habits and towels. As they bathed, they writhed around each other, clearly all of them lesbians (we have the same convention at Lilla Pastia's Act II bar with all that egregious rubbing).

Writing was a main theme of the tragic female condition for Dante, and we saw a lot of it during Act I's climactic girl fight. Instead of throwing punches, girls in white slips pulled each other's hair, holding tight and writhing in pain for the remainder of the act. Blocking was boring and erratic, some girls freaking out like cats in heat, other sitting still but just contorting their mouths. Even OC, who's all about feminism and equality, was appalled by such myopic, dated symbolism. Dante's concepts of feminism and female submission are so woefully outdated that she's probably still burning her bra* (actually, at a very 1960s stab at feminism, we couldn't help notice the braless dancers all over the stage. Budget cuts, perhaps?)

* Bra-burning never really happened, not even back then -- it's an urban legend, like Vietnam vets getting spit on by pacifists, but this is a topic for another post.

The end of Act II's La liberté had the cigarette girls on the ground, baring their legs, portrayed as snarling, growling animals. WTF? Seriously? So Dante sees women as bisexual whores who are unable to control their animalistic urges, freely kicked around the stage by soldiers's boots and dragged off the stage by their hair. Tenuous symbolism goes even further with the presence of crosses and clergy that haunt the backgrounds of almost each act, wearily knocking away at derivatives.

Budget choice Anita Rachvelishvili, three student productions under her belt, a name barely uttered before her Carmen debut and a recent graduate of Scala's own Accademia, had a solid stage presence, anchoring, earthbound & frankly, earthy. A voice without sparkle or much expression or nuance, instead we had a deep, solid mezzo. Rachvelishvili worked a paltry handful of expressions throughout the range of her role, and the lack of passion left a giant void in the narrative. Whirling one's hair around and grabbing at your skirt doesn't make you sexy, and Rachvelishvili lacked charisma and the free spirit of Carmen's flirtations. Sadly enough, it wasn't until her curtain call that we saw her emote more than she had the entire evening while singing Carmen.

Jonas Kaufmann as Don José was the star of the evening, which isn't saying much when stacked-up to his colleagues. Although recovering from a cold that axed him from Thursday night's Scala Under 30 preview performance, his Act II La fleur que tu m’avais jetéegarnered hearty, spontaneous applause for its beauty and emotion, one of the only applause mid-act of the evening. Chemistry damned, OC's convinced that the applause after Près des remparts de Sévillewas a way to break the awkwardness of Kaufmann's sterile kiss with Rachvelishvili. A clean-shaven Kaufmann (face & chest included) actually made the entire cast (namely the cigarette girls) look dirtier and hairier by comparison -- and when that's the case, there's a big problem.

Erwin Schrott's Escamillo was a letdown. His voice was tired, and he lacked a palpable stage presence. We wanted more, but he took a subordinate role in his acting and singing.  Act IV opened with the only memorable touch, a gigantic incense holder that was swung from the heavens, the only moment of dynamic movement or novelty in the entire opera.

And yes, we did have Escamillo's rubber hand, along with a very awkward rape attempt -- a half-a$$ed leftover of Barenboim's trimming of Dante's more unsettling (for the Scala audience) ideas.

In a libretto and composition that is so synced between the artists, it's amazing how very wrong Dante got the action -- too many moments anticlimactic thrusts on stage. We understand that all of her ~big ideas~ were smacked down by Barenboim and Lissner, so we're actually seeing a lean, cleaned-up version of Dante's ideas. Which is exactly what's so worrying. We're guessing Dante poured so much into her gimmicks, third arms, and doppelgangers that she never properly focused on the foundation or architecture of the staging, and it showed. Nothing new here, nothing edgy, provocative or refreshing. Just a lot of misplaced misogyny, and a reading of feminist ideals that are so datedly-entrenched in the Guerrilla Girls movement of the mid 1980s. Emma Dante apparently didn’t get the memo that the women's liberation has evolved past flashing ones panties as an act of defiance.

All in all we feel bad for Dante, a women who has the same dated ideas on feminism as a woman twice her age, way past the generation gap -- who lives in a world of threat, violence, and misogyny. A director who sees a very cool, awesome, vibrant story as a way to bring out the worst qualities in a person -- everything ugly and earthbound. You hire an amateur and no matter how hard you try to polish it, in the end it's still the work of an amateur.

Rightfully so, Emma Dante was booed along with the rest of the production crew at the end of the evening.  Barenboim didn’t give a crap, and came out on the stage after the curtains had been closed with Dante, who looked like she was about to cry. Which would have been fitting, although better they’re tears of joy for such an amateur to swindle Scala into paying her big bucks for something so painfully off the mark. Here we have a woman in her 40s who has never before directed an opera in her career and bragged that she had never set foot inside la Scala. We're inclined to think that before Scala invited her, she had never actually seen an opera either.  

Dalla Scala: Photos From La Prima

OC is slowly recovering from last night's Mega-Prima, ~Diablo Dante's~ new production of Carmenthat opened Teatro alla Scala's 2009/10 season and which exited to boos for the production team's portrayal of a dark, bitter heroine trapped in a misogynistic world full of hairpulling and violence. OC will share her thoughts in a bit, but in the meantime, enjoy the following photos of random celebrities and ambiance of last night.

Among the lawyers and politicians with the requesite +1s looking like college co-eds, we had in the house Marina Berlusconi, daughter of Silvio; aging socialite Marta Marotto; Letitia Moratti, mayor of Milan; Fiat VP John Elkann; Saif al Islam, son of Gaddafi; Prez of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano; Domenico Dolce (the other half of Gabbana) with his boyfriend Massimiliano; Dan Brown looking like a kid in a candy store; Umberto Eco who was seen democratically weathering Dan Brown; and of course, no night at Scala's la prima is complete with that woman of complete grace and stunning, natural beauty, Miss Valeria Marini. Placidone was there, too, in Milan for Scala's tribute to him tomorrow night and artfully dodging the paparazzi.

 

(Above: Letitia with Giorgio)

(Above: Berlusca's daughter Marina in Dolce Gabbana)

(Above: Moratti in emerald green Armani)

(Above: Dan Brown)

~*~ click the link below for tons more photos!~*~

Milanese Fashion at La Scala During a Year of Crisis

 

In a precarious year marked with economic hardship and unemployment for everyone (not just American...we've had it bad here in Italy), gowns for Teatro alla Scala's Opening Night are predicted to be *slightly* less opulent, while OC divines that tonight she'll see an almost all black delve into formal wear. What we will see is clear: Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti was gifted by her husband an emerald green, Giorgio Armani dress, while Marian Berlusconi will show up in a dress designed by friends Dolce & Gabbana. Italian designer Raffaella Curiel is coveted by many of Milan's most monied, who will be wearing her creations. Another thing's for sure -- with this drenching Sant'Ambrogio rain that started a few hours ago, OC's almost out the door in a very different outfit than she had planned. Milan's unforgiving weather and uneven cobblestones will happily make mincemeat out of your coveted Louboutins and trailing Hermes scarves.

Straight From the Horse's Orifice: La Scala's Prancing Ponies

You might think that it takes a full day of hairdressers, make-up artists, and stylists to get one ready for Milan's grandest social event of the Winter -- the exclusive opening of Teatro alla Scala's opera season, which falls on December 7th every year, rain or shine, snow or fog -- the evening of Sant'Ambrogio is serious business. And it's not only the Milanese who sacrifice their Val d'Aosta ponte vacations so that they can be well prepared and groomed for the high profile event -- let's not forget about the horses!

Out of the eighteen German and Hollander police horses, two are given the honor of making the grand entrance (starting at Palazzo Reale, down to Palazzo Marino). The duty falls on Van Gogh & Bellatrix, the 15-year-old white horses who are prepped with a full day spa treatment to prepare them for their prestigious entrances, braids and brushing, bathing and grooming. And apparently the horses seem to know how lucky they are: "E' ovvio che se ne rendono conto e si emozionano". It's clear that they get it, and it makes them excited." lol. Just watch where you step your gorgeous Rogier Vivier satin stilettos on the way out of the theater!

BREAKING: Jonas Kaufmann Out Of La Scala's General Rehearsal Of "Carmen" Tonight; GM Lissner Says JK Will Sing Monday Night's Premiere "100%"

Indisposed Jonas Kaufmann out of tonight's general rehearsal of "Carmen" at Scala.

The Scala season opens in 72 hrs.

Young tenor Riccardo Massi, Kaufmann's understudy and boyfriend of Anita Rachvelishvili, the unknown cast as "Carmen" by conductor Daniel Barenboim, replaces Kaufmann.

***Update:***

Scala GM Stéphane Lissner told Italian news agency Apcom that Kaufmann will be part of Monday's premiere "100%".

Getting Bizet: Carmen Season Premiere at La Scala

 

Photos of Teatro alla Scala's Carmen, which opens the 2009-10 season on December 7 in a new production by Emma Dante, with Barenboim conducting and Anita Rachvelishvili singing the lead.

 

Photos of Kaufmann and Schrott after the jump!

Prima della Prima: The Scala/Carmen Chronicles

 

Host Fabio Fazio, by far the coolest man on Italian TV, he of Rai Tre's unmissable talk show "Che Tempo Che fa" brings together a trifecta of classical insanity that is Daniel Barenboim, Claudio Abbado and Maurizio Pollini.

The television event, "Una notte all'opera" unites the three maestri for the very first time in a summit of musical superpowers. It happens tomorrow night from 9:10pm until 11:30 and OC is conflicted to cancel her dinner reservation at BiCE, but realizes that a plate of delicious gnocchetti freschi di castagne al pesto can be made fresh for her at whim. We hope no one spontaneously combusts or turns to vapor when the three sages appear on the same stage. 

Barneboim will lead the round table to hype his approaching Sant'Ambrogio/December 7th Teatro alla Scala season premiere, where he'll be conducting Bizet's Carmen for assorted VIPs and their bored escorts. The Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala and GM Lissner will be on hand to further elucidate, with concluding footage that has been previously shot throughout the halls of La Scala.

The Opera Chic Endorsement: Roberto Cavalli For Scala General Manager -- He Brings The PARTY!

Now who cares if the new board renewed Scala GM Stéphane Lissner's contract up to 2013 and he'll very likely remain until 2015 (when, despite his funny denials, he'd be all ready to take on Opera de Paris) -- Opera Chic endorses, as of today, Roberto Cavalli, who will bring some much needed fun over to Piazza della Scala's gloomy environs.

A Rape, A Hearse, A Rubber Arm, and Michael Jackson: Director Emma Dante Unveils Scala's Inaugural Carmen

First time opera director Emma Dante, the 42-year old stage director chosen by Scala GM Stéphane Lissner to direct the inaugural "Carmen" opening the season on Dec. 7 (to be conducted by Daniel Barenboim), is hard at work in rehearsals with Jonas Kaufmann (Don José), newcomer Anita Rachvelishvili (Carmen) and the rest of the cast.

Dante unveiled today in an interview with Corriere della Sera her main ideas: it'll be a Carmen that takes place in stark sets that remind one of the Italian South (Dante is a Southerner), a hearse will appear right at the beginning of the opera, already waiting for Carmen (the same hearse will show up again at the end of the opera, to take her away). Dante has decided to alter the libretto, and have Don José rape Carmen, ripping her clothes off, right before he goes for the kill -- "an extreme gesture", admits the Sicilian director, for an extreme reimagining of the opera.

Every character will have a doppelganger accompany them around the stage -- a priest for Micaela (a metaphor for her desire to get married, explains Dante), and Escamillo (Erwin Schrott) under his cape will hide a third arm -- yes, seriously -- as a metaphor for his bullfighting and his swordmanship. And five gypsy girls will always follow Carmen, silently, just like five veiled old women will never leave the stage, as silent witnesses of the action, a symbol of inescapable Fate.

Scala's Got A Brand New Board; Dudamel, Harding Mentioned As Possible New Music Director

Now that la Scala finally has, as of today, a spanking new board of directors, and that Stéphane Lissner has been confirmed as GM until 2013 -- but he'll stay on until 2015, the year when the Expo2015 rocks Milan -- there's increased chatter about the possible decision to finally name a Music Director. Daniel Barenboim enjoys the glorified status, the cash, the co-productions with Berlin and the largely ceremonial title of "Maestro Scaligero" that his idol Wilhelm Fuertwangler used to have, a glorified title of Guest Conductor that leaves the actual choices and the power safely in Lissner's hands.

Over the years, since 2005, when Lissner took over after the Riccardo Muti era, a sequence of high-profile Italian conductors has been initially mentioned as possible new MD -- Riccardo Chailly, then Daniele Gatti -- and their phantom campaigns have consistently crashed and burned in the famously Machiavellian world of Scala affairs.

And now the mostly all-powerful Lissner, safe until 2015 in his place, might -- it is said -- finally choose a Music Director. A Music Director he'd have to share power with, obviously (keep in mind, as mean Ioan Holender famously mentioned, Lissner can't read music). 

The two names being floated are Gustavo Dudamel's and Daniel Harding's.

Selling Scala By The Pound: Fondazione Scala VP Is Open To Possibility Of Admitting Foreign Investors To The Opera House's Board

Bruno Ermolli, Vice President of Fondazione Scala, the foundation that runs la Scala opera house, admitted earlier today in Milan, for the first time, that foreign investors could indeed be admitted in the Fondazione's board next month, when, on November 16, a new board will be voted in.

Ermolli didn't go so far as to comfirm that investment banks are already working toward this goal and did not confirm any deals have already been closed, but he conceded to ANSA news agency that "la Scala is world famous and our fundraising work is constantly evolving... we have nothing against foreign investors".

Shut'Em Down: Asbestos At La Scala, 275 Seats In The Loggione Cordoned Off

Finally, we know why the atmosphere over at the Loggione is so toxic: there's asbestos everywhere!

A nice chunk of the upper Gallerie of la Scala -- the infamous loggione -- has been cordoned off by the ever-vigilant health authorities because decades-old asbestos hadn't really been removed during the 2004 renovations that basically gutted the building.

The asbestos will be promptly removed -- it will take two months.

Corriere della Sera story here.

They Go To La Scala A Lot And You Don't: The New Scala Ads

The tag line for the new Scala ad campaign -- they want you to subscribe to their new season, the one whose program accidentally leaked on their web site while it was still supposed to be embargoed -- is  "You Were Not Here -- No More Regrets". (in the photo above, from today's Corriere della Sera newspaper, Daniel Barenboim and Patrice Chereau post-Tristan -- Opera Chic was there, obvs).

Funnily enough, Opera Chic's tag line, proudly, since October 2006, is "I Go To La Scala A Lot... And You Don't". On the other hand, Opera Chic sometimes does regret that -- and it's not just because of the astronomical ticket prices, even for humble Gallerie.

Below, an alternate take on the ad, remixed by operachic.com, parody, fair use, etc:

Dancing In The Streets: Scala Dancers Lament Budget Cuts, Take Piazza della Scala

Scala's dancers found a pretty cool way yesterday to protest against the government cuts that severely reduced Scala's budget (via la Repubblica, where there's a nice photogallery).

Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream @ la Scala: Came for Carsen, Stayed for the 20" d1ldo. Viva Shakespeare!!!

There are conductors who, for some reason, get that most disheartening slur branded on their baton -- "workingman conductor". Or, as they like to say here, "routinier". Appropriately, the slur ends up being attached to the undeserving names of perfectly fine conductors. Because the same people who like to badmouth a masterpiece of elegance, grace and subtlety like L'Elisir d'Amore (everything they told you about L'Elisir -- or Don Pasquale for that matter -- is wrong, but this is the topic of a future post) like to slam perfectly fine, if definitely non-flashy, maestri.

Andrew Davis is one of those conductors -- more often than not your usual alleged connoisseur of opera who doesn't really get it will roll his (generally beady) eyes sighing some sort of dismissive remark about Sir Andrew. Who in fact, as he so often demonstrates whenever he steps on the podium, and as he showed last night at la Scala conducting A Midsummer Night 'sDream -- is a very gifted conductor. He has the gift of music -- he engages the listener. He's wary of the corny effects, understands deeply his scores, and some composers -- Britten, for example -- he simply gets it.

All due respect to a mostly excellent cast, last night's success is in large part Davis's work.

Anyway: as the curtain dropped on last night's Teatro alla Scala premiere of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, it was obvious, even before the numerous curtain calls and tonsil-busting "bravi", that the night had been a rousing success for all involved (even Robert Carsen himself, the director, showed up, and this is a vintage production, like from the Bush years -- Bush the Father years). When the cast and chorus eventually disappeared backstage for good and all the applause in the audience stopped, a riotous, congratulatory roar exploded from backstage and echoed around the theater -- a little backstage impromptu party, the singers in their hidden, not-so-private victory lap.

Carsen's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was seen for the first time at Scala last night, though it's ages old, already shown from Aix-en-Provence to Barcelona's Liceu spanning over two decades, and was released on DVD a few years ago (you can get the DVD here)

The libretto (written by Britten and bff Peter Pears) is indeed packed with love and lust. Carsen's production -- he's possibly our second-favorite living Canadian, after Alice Munro -- goes unexpectedly sexual without discretion. Throughout the course of the opera, we witness an explosive orgasm (Tytania from Bottom's prosthetic), a cat fight (between Helena and Hermia), and let's be frank...what more can be said about an opera that mentions the word "cock" or "love juice" in some form or another half-a-dozen times? Opera Chic wouldn't have been surprised to hear some "bukkake" interpolation in the libretto.

But then, Carsen somehow kept a detached, straightforward interpretation of the overt erotic themes (Opera Chic still recalls the hotness from his Semele and Traviata orgies and his Salome striptease -- he's a director who likes his gangbangs, and more power to him for that). And yes we'd be remiss to not mention Matthew Rose's 20" strap-on that would make Dirk Diggler blush [link NSFW], though you'll have to keep reading to hear about that!

Scala's 2009-2010 Season; Make It A Blockbuster Night

Finally, after the computer glitch exposed (one week ago) by Opera Chic (and promptly fixed by la Scala's IT department) that had prematurely introduced to the public the 2009-2010 season, la Scala earlier today presented their 2009-2010 season program to the press. 

It is, as we already knew, a very conservative season made essentially of hugely popular titles -- a new Carmen (twice, in December 2009 under Barenboim as season opener and as a reprise in October-November 2010 under Dudamel, directed by newcomer Emma Dante, with Erwin Schrott, Jonas Kaufmann and the baffling choice of absolute beginner Anita Rachvelishvili -- see video above), an old Rigoletto (with the eternal Leo Nucci, and conducted by our dear James Conlon), the already-seen Peter Mussbach production of Don Giovanni (with Erwin Schrott/Peter Mattei), a new Faust (conducted by the young talented Stéphane Deneve, a Opera Chic favorite, and directed by our dear nut Eimuntas Nekrosius, the cast: Giordani/Lungu), Pelly's Elisir (allegedly with Ronaldo Villazon and Netrebko surrogate Nino Machaidze), Ponnelle's old Barbiere (with Juan Diego Florez, Kate Aldrich, Joyce di Donato), a new Boccanegra (directed by Federico Tiezzi, conducted by Barenboim, with Domingo/Carlos Alvarez as Simon, Furlanetto and Anja Harteros). Two Wagners: Tannhauser under Mehta directed by the crazy guys from La Fura, Rheingold (directed by Guy Cassiers, la Scala's Ringmaster) under Barenboim. Only two operas from the 20th Century: a new Lulu conducted by Daniele Gatti and directed by Peter Stein, and Chereau's production of From the House of the Dead, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen (who, bless him, for this Janáček asked and obtained a whopping 7 weeks of rehearsals: with Willard White and Peter Mattei and John Mark Ainsley, and this is the one opera this season that Opera Chic does not want to miss for anything in the world).

Operas aside, the already-announced June 2010 return of envirofriendly conductor Claudio Abbado for a Mahler concert will happen and the Milanese maestro has indeed obtained trees -- magnolias -- from city authorities.

For a comprehensive list of the operas in the 2009-2010, click the link below.

La Scala Fixes Computer Glitch, 2009-2010 Season Program Disappears From Official Website

As we reported yesterday, a computer glitch -- the menus for next year's shows were left open in the official Scala website -- had revealed the full extent of la Scala's season one week before the season is to be revelaed to the public in the yearly ceremony/press event; unsurprisingly, the glitch has now been fixed, and the menus are closed -- you can only reach November 2009 now.

Or go back to Opera Chic's post and read the whole Milanese program for season 2009-2010.

Preview: Teatro Alla Scala's 2009/2010 Season Teaser

If you can't wait one full week for Teatro alla Scala to announce their 2009/10 season (which they'll do Tuesday, May 26), you can find details via a website glitch that makes the roster accessible online.

You can peruse next season's calendar starting here. Next season's roster is comprised of the following operas:

Carmen (to open the season conducted by Barenboim, then later by Dudamel)
Rigoletto
Don Giovanni
From the House of the Dead (conducted by Salonen)
Tannhäuser (conducted by Mehta)
Lulu (conducted by Gatti)
Simon Boccanegra (conducted by Domingo)
Das Rheingold (conducted by Barenboim)
Faust
Il Barbiere di Siviglia (with Florez)
L'occasione fa il ladro
L'elisir d'amore
Onegin

Special events are monopolized by The Dominger: a Gala for Placido Domingo, and the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program of Washington.

Two ballet tributes (Serata Béjart and Serata Forsythe) will herald Don Chisciotte and Trittico Novecento.

The recital season is comprised of solo performances from:

Ildar Abdrazakov
Simon Keenlyside
Angela Denoke
Fiorenza Cedolins
Waltraud Meier
Sonia Ganassi

And special soloists to appear are:

Maurizio Pollini
Krystian Zimerman
Lang Lang
Daniel Barenboim

The Rake's Regression: No Progress Here. Move Along.

Before touching down in Milan for last night's la prima, Robert Lepage's production of The Rake's Progress touts an almost rock 'n' roll world tour rider stemming through Brussels, London, Lyon, and San Francisco. It's five co-production backers range from Covent Garden to Opéra National de Lyon to Teatro Real. Which is why we're surprised that with such prestige, this production was such a huge miss.

French Canadian Lepage's new(ish) direction [seen last year @ Covent Garden, Rupert Christiansen reviewed it here] is one that's bursting with clever ideas and cinematic allusions, but disjointedness blights every idea from the narrative to the blocking. The continuity has been destroyed, and the production is a whirlwind of tricks. Through the course of Stravinsky's 1951 opera -- based on William Hogarth's series of eight, 18th century paintings -- we find allusions to Cheever & Hockney & Andrew Wyeth, as well as classic American cinematic triumphs like Psycho and Sunset Blvd, but there's too much gimmick and too little profundity. The individual direction fell flat and static, while characters were woodenly blocked and thoughtlessly anchored -- it's cool that Lepage has a nice library and a tasty collection of old DVDs, but still.

Lepage fast-forwards the libretto about 200 years, and the opera begins in homage to the idealized, American-West landscapes from the post-war era of the late 40s and 50s. Lepage employed broad swaths of video projections splashed across a flat-screen backdrop, showing us star-filled evenings (replete with shooting stars) to golden sunsets over the ocean (complete with undulating clouds). But these projections, at best, looked like expensive, snazzy computer screen-savers, especially when props crossed the projection, breaking the illusion. The reality of the video landscapes jarred with the idealized props (like the helium balloon Silver Streak trailer, and the cartoonish Texas saloon). It was all too pastiche to be harmonious. Lepage's tribute to the American landscape was earnest, but misguided. There was no clever commentary on the era that he so ardently tried to emulate; just a hollow and gimmick-filled production. The worst offense is that the singers were painted in such a homogeneous & monochromatic spectrum, that it was difficult to find any resonance. And while his characters were flat, and the lighting was even darker, Lepage had to balance the lack of spark with garishly-colored costumes in purples and magentas, and pulsating neon signs for Vegas's transposed graveyard.

Wanna keep reading? Click the link below...

Luca Ronconi's Il Viaggio A Reims: Rossini's Masterpiece @ La Scala, Again

The cemeterial, empty worship of dead singers and dead conductors and the adoration for the good old times that might or might not have actually been that good in the first place, together with the YouTube reviewers is one of the most fascinating phenomena in opera -- and probably the creepiest. Historically awesome productions must therefore, to follow the cult of the past, considered de facto lame because, say, Montsy or Claudione or whomever is not there anymore, and the past is always king (for some).

That's why among the more dogmatic Scalagoers the revival of Luca Ronconi's staging of Il Viaggio a Reims was by definition A BAD THING -- because it was once staged with greater musicians on the stage and in the pit.

OC's reaction to all that? She went twice (the premiere before Easter and the seconda rappresentazione after it). And she even liked it more the second time, imperfections and all (because opera is livelier and cooler and, frankly, more alive on a stage than on YouTube or in someone's cranky, possibly unreliable memories)

Rossini's legendary Coronation opera, the last Italian opera he inked (although we hear a revival in Le comte Ory -- one of the four, subsequent French-language operas Rossini stamped before he died), was originally commissioned to celebrate the 1825 coronation of King Charles X in Reims.

Viaggio a Reims is a demanding work, requiring 14 soloists (three sopranos, one contralto, two tenors, four baritones, and four basses culminating in a "Gran Pezzo Concertato" for 14 voices), and to stage coherence amid so many voices and Rossini's sometimes insensitive, comical undertones is a daunting task. There's also the multifaceted chorus, and the entire army of Charles' coronation party. But director Luca Ronconi's direction was sparkling with just one intermission (coming almost 2 hours into the production), and the 3+ hour opera seemed to last only a fraction of the running time.

Ronconi's legendary directorial premiere of Viaggio a Reims was in Pesaro for the 1984 Rossini Opera Festival, which was the first time it was heard with the rediscovered cuts & reconstruction, meticulously prepared by musicologist Janel Johnson & professor/musicologist Philip Gossett in the 1970s. The same production has been resurrected a handful of times: In 1985 at La Scala (again with Claudio Abbado); in the early 1990s at Pesaro & Ferrara for Rossini's bicentennial; and in 1999 for the Rossini Opera Festival (this one boasting Daniele Gatti leading our lamby prince, Juan Diego Florez ). Director John Cox tried for Covent Garden in the 90s, as did James Robinson for the New York City Opera, but none could adequately compete with Ronconi's perpetual exposition...not even Dario Fo's excellent (but politicized & liberally adapted) version for the Finnish National Opera in 2003.

Click below to read more...

Scala GM Sinks Daniele Gatti's Chances: "The Music Director Post? Barenboim Does Not Want It"

In an impressively self-congratulatory interview with yesterday's Il Sole 24 Ore, Scala General Manager Stéphane Lissner among other things explained how the Music Director post -- la Scala is MD-less since Riccardo Muti was effectively fired by the orchestra in early 2005 -- has been turned down by Daniel Barenboim and "at this point -- Lissner says -- we are OK with this".

No mention of Daniele Gatti, whose chances to get the post seemed to be extremely good and whose Don Carlo on Dec 7, 2008 appeared to be the season opener that would become the prelude to Gatti's nomination.

As we know, Gatti was badly booed that night (quite unfairly, in Opera Chic's view); and in yesterday's interview Lissner ignored Gatti's name. It was Barenboim's to take, if he wanted the job; he doesn't; therefore Lissner is not giving to anyone else for the foreseeable future.

Click below and read much more about this after the jump!

BREAKING NEWS & NOT AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE: Claudio Abbado Will Be Back At La Scala For A Concert After 16 Years

Daily newspaper Repubblica reports today that Claudio Abbado, former music director of la Scala fired by the orchestra in 1986, who hasn't conducted again the Scala orchestra since then and who had only sporadically conducted at la Scala in later years, and always with guest orchestras (his last appearence at la Scala took place in 1993 with the Berliner Philharmoniker), will return to la Scala to conduct a concert later this year next year.

Abbado had asked city authorities to plant 90,000 trees as a form of payment for his Scala gig; city authorities approved a tree-planting plan, and Abbado has said yes, he will indeed appear at la Scala. 

(Below, Repubblica's page)

The Two Foscaris? You Only Need One, With Leo Nucci: "I Due Foscari" @ la Scala

There are artists -- very few of them, unfortunately, but their being such rare wonders is also a large part of their appeal -- who set standards for all the rest, who show you how it's done; Michael Jordan dunking, Tiger Woods swinging, Paul Newman smiling, Marilyn Monroe walking in high heels.

Not only it's a clichè to say that they're worth the price of admission -- it's also incorrect. They're worth more -- they're priceless (even if la Scala, with its insane -- especially in this deep recession -- price policy is approaching the literally priceless level, in a bad way -- but we'll discuss this in another post).

Because the other night's premiere of I Due Foscari at la Scala was an example of this phenomenon. The playbill read like this:

Francesco Foscari: Leo Nucci
Jacopo Foscari: Fabio Sartori
Lucrezia Contarini: Manon Feubel
Jacopo Loredano: Marco Spotti
Barbarigo: Luca Casalin
Pisana: Alina Zinovjeva
Fante: Ramtin Ghazavi
Servo del Doge: Ernesto Panariello

Direttore: Stefano Ranzani

        Regia: Cesare Lievi

etc.

Opera Chic had bought her ticket for this underwhelming Verdi opera randomly in the middle of Scala's disappointing 2008/09 season essentially to have the privilege, once again, to hear Leo Nucci sing. By far the best Italian opera baritone since maestro Cappuccilli's retirement, Nucci, past 60, still has the control, the power, the sheer dramatic understanding of the role that make him a unique artist.

Even in a far from perfect production such as this one -- the recycled from a few seasons ago Lievi staging, a cast that kept changing, with original conductor Carlo Montanaro replaced by Nello Santi who pulled out in weird circumstances, and finally, Ranzani; soprano Svetla Vassileva replaced by Manon Feubel.

But then we had Nucci.

Read the rest of the review by clicking below!

OPERA CHIC EXCLUSIVE: Kate Aldrich To Sing "Carmen" @ La Scala Season Opener, Dec. 7, 2009; Updated With Zemsky Green Denial; OC Stands By Her Report

In a stunning upset win for the USA -- and the State of Maine -- young Mainer mezzo Kate Aldrich (whom Opera Chic saw as a stunning Adalgisa last year in Bologna) will be Carmen in the Emma Dante (a young emerging Italian director) production conducted by Daniel Barenboim, opening December 7, 2009 as la prima of next season (Jonas Kauffman and Erwin Schrott complete the cast, as previously announced by the company).

Among the highlights of the coming season, besides this production that sounds really interesting -- the director has stated that the inspiration will be Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities" and we're already intrigued as huge Calvino admirers -- there will be Hans Werner Henze's L'Upupa, finally at la Scala to honor the greatest living composer, a JDF Barbiere, a Norma that worries us since they apparently want to seriously cast Violeta Urmana as the lead, the classic Ronconi Tosca to be conducted by Barenboim, and a few other highlights. 

But this is Aldrich's red carpet moment -- the last time la Scala opened with Carmen was in 1984, a controversial production with Domingo/Verrett/Raimondi conducted by Abbado and directed by Piero Faggioni.

***update***

Jeffrey Mitchell from Zemsky Green Management wrote Opera Chic this morning in an email:

"Ms. Aldrich is otherwise engaged, and has not been offered this run of Carmen.
I must ask that in respect to Ms. Aldrich, and La Scala you correct your website immediately."

Opera Chic stands by her report.

Robert Carsen's Alcina at Teatro Alla Scala

Canadian director Robert Carsen's decade-old production of Haendel's Alcina, to celebrate the 250th anniversary to Handel's death was dusted off from Opéra National de Paris (which also traveled to Chicago Lyric Opera in the Fall of 1999 and starred Natalie Dessay as Morgana and Renee Fleming as Alcina) but should have probably been kept under lock & key, left to gather mold. OC is on the record as being an ardent Robert Carsen fan & devotee, having seen half-a-dozen Carsen productions since her three years in Milan -- his Scala Candide was brilliant but hammy-handed, his Teatro Regio Torino Salome was earth-shattering in its emotional and artistic impact, his Wiener Staatsoper Manon Lescaut was kind of meeeh, his Scala Kát'a Kabanová was completely off-the-hook, and his Opernhaus Zürich Semele was elegance squared -- and OC's DVD of Carsen's Dialogue des Carmelites is a prized possession of a perfect -- yes, perfect -- staging, but the production we saw last night was Carsen in derivative form, action distilled to a meager slice of remembrance, static, tenuous shadows of his Semele without most of the wit or tongue-in-cheek social commentary that Carsen has perfected like a rebellious teenager. He is not Ingmar Bergman, thank goodness, and he shouldn't pretend to be -- he's usually not bashful about being an opera director.

Seen at Milan's Piermarini for the first time last night, la prima was dampened by two meager, tepid curtain calls, mercifully abbreviated to spare poor Patricia Petibon's Scala debut further scorn from the thorny logginonisti who hurled boos at her (in addition to a conflagration of booing at the end of Act I). 

Heavy cuts (at least half-a-dozen arias, the chorus -- Maestro Casoni's peerless chorus -- reduced to a much smaller role, no ballet, and Oberto chillingly mutilated) peppered this almost-4-hour (including scene changes) production. Carsen used the desaturated, ivory walls of a palace to cage-in the action (ripped off by Claus Guth for his 2006 Nozze, with mold added here and there, and that unwritten Cupid), doors that slid open to reveal a garden -- touchingly Rousseauian in its dashing greens. The furniture consisted of, like, four Chippendale chairs, and a wheeled dinner cart. Lights -- very beautifully designed, obviously -- can not always compensate for that kind of spareness.

Act I opened to the all-male chorus in various states of undress slumbering on the floor (we had full-on frank n' beans -- photo above NOT from la Scala but from the same production in 2004 at Opéra Garnier)...a Spencer Tunick opening move by chess master Carsen that made us hope for much better things to come. The director chose to make the corps literally into corpses, men-turned-zombies from Alcina's charms, the ghosts of her past, the Furies of love past, and we like to consider that a Sam Raimi/Evil Dead homage -- without putrefaction -- even if it wasn't. Although there was lots of nudity, there was no sensual, sexual energy. The production, on purpose, was cold and stripped of any eroticism by that big Canadian tease.

Petibon, whose thin voice -- with less than perfect coloratura -- is more viable in a tiny Baroque opera house environment or recording studio, and was swallowed in the crevasses of Scala despite possible ~audio enhancement~ [last night at a certain interval of the opera, there was the clear, unmistakeable high-pitched whining of classic audio feedback which was obviously amped from the Scala stage...we're dying with this one because clearly there was some sort of amplification audio system being used; we knew Berlin's Staatsoper already used electronic sound enhancement, we didn't know la Scala had followed through], struggled from the beginning of her Scala debut last night. Act II's "Ama, sospira" was a rough embark despite the ethereal violin solo, Petibon labored through the grueling aria, struggling to keep up with Maestro Antonini's speed, appearing almost as pained as she looked in her (not-so-high) heels and tight French-maid costume.

Petibon was too sporty, too distracted, and too frivolous to be effective -- she was following stage directions, O.K., but you need different acting skills to pull it off -- she probably couldn't. She hobbled around in kitten heels that could have been 8-inch stilettos considering the way she plodded across the stage. Opera Chic felt bad for Petibon, and we're still fans of the lovely redhead...this was simply the wrong production for her.

It was at the end of Act I after Morgana's Tornami a vagheggiar that the Scala audience first voiced their disapproval. Roundly booed as the curtain went down, the boos fell onto an empty stage, but there was no doubt they were meant for Petibon, whose weak phrasing and underwhelming interpretation were an easy target for the *serious businessman* loggioni. Petibon's accuti were decent with her fluttering technique, but she lacked focus.

And in Tornami we have one of the very, very few truly outstanding monents in Carsen's staging -- Morgana serving dinner to an empty jacket -- those men, aren't they just empty suits? -- and dancing a little happy dance... The problem being that Nathalie Dessay (in a production that William Christie led beautifully as always) pulled it off with humor and her sweetness and vulnerability and gusto (see video below); Petibon couldn't.

Continue reading after the jump by clicking the link below...

Petiboooooooooo: The Audio Evidence, Curtain Call @ la Scala, Alcina, March 10, 2009

***update***

Link fixed

***

Thanks to a kind reader who had the presence of mind to take digital notes, Opera Chic can offer the recorded audio evidence of poor Patricia Petibon's treatment at the hands of Scala's loggione last night at curtain call for Alcina.

Click here for the mp3 file

Petibon enters at 0:11

BREAKING NEWS: Patricia "Petibombs" Petibon Badly Booed @ La Scala in "Alcina", Carsen Booed, Too

Opera Chic is just back from la Scala where she just witnessed the premiere of Robert Carsen's staging of Haendel's "Alcina" (the old Opéra de Paris staging) where the loggione has mercilessly booed (at the end of Act I, then massively at the end of the opera) Patricia Petibon -- an underwhelming Morgana, OK, especially in Act I, but in Opera Chic's opinion not deserving of the fury unleashed on her by the peanut gallery (she took it quite proudly, smiling all the way through her exit from the wings -- that's an A for grace, at least: her singing was indeed problematic, as Opera Chic will explain in her review tomorrow).

Very weirdly, Robert Carsen, the director, got a few boos, also -- maybe for the frequent male nudity displayed on stage? Hard to say. The staging is not Carsen's best -- not sheer explosive genius as his Salome from Teatro Regio di Torino was last year, OK, but very few stagings can achieve that kind of awesomeness -- and there were a few moments that were really too static for Carsen's standards, but seriously, it's understandable that Petibon --  whose tiny, tiny, not particularly beautiful voice doesn't sound right for a theater as big as la Scala, she's probably more at home in smaller houses or, sadly, in the recording studio -- got booed. It's really quite strange that Carsen, of all people, a director whose talent is on a level not exactly seen many times in a Scala season (he's interesting even when he badly flunks a staging, and this isn't the case anyway), had to taste some of the loggione's crankiness. 

Anja Harteros, as Alcina, started out very underwhelmingly in Act I -- she had OC worried that it would be a very, very long four hours -- but then recovered  in Act II and ended  very impressively (and she got applauded heartily at the end by the whole theater).

In Opera Chic's view the show was almost stolen by Monica Bacelli as Ruggiero -- maybe Opera Chic is lucky, but every time she witnessed a Bacelli performance, she always, always rocked.

Patricia Petibon Poised to Seduce Milan in Händel's Alcina at La Scala

Teatro alla Scala unveils a new Robert Carsen production of Georg Friedrich Händel's Alcina tomorrow night, and Opera Chic will be there (you won't -- except maybe for that dude over there) to bask in the glory of the sovereign, man-eating women-folk.

Our favorite pants-lady -- Monica Bacelli in a tie with Angelika Kirchschlager -- will be singing Ruggiero much to our delight. The black-magik seductress Alcina will be shared by Anja Harteros & Inga Kalna. We're expecting great things also from French coloratura & Baroque specialist, Patricia Petibon, who will be making her Scala debut in the role of Morgana. The ethereal soprano spoke to ~io Donna~ in a small interview (photo above), where she ruminated about la Scala (she's psyched to be singing there lol), the characteristics of Morgana (she's not a bad person per se...rather motivated out of jealousy and competition with her sister), and about being a diva (c'mon...just look at her! Raawwwr!)

Giovanni Antonini conducts this secksy Carsen production (last seen at Palais Garnier, 'tho he's made a few adjustment). We're expecting lots of seduction, naked man-butts, and gyrating o' plenty, as any Carsen without secks is naught a Carsen production. We will accept no imitations...it's ok, we can haendel it.

No Nello Santi For La Scala's "I Due Foscari" Next Month

One, two, three!

La Scala's "I Due Foscari" that opens on March 24 was supposed to have IMG's Carlo Montanaro as the conductor; but Montanaro won't be there next month, though (Opera Chic leaves to the reader the answer to the question whether the fiasco of his Traviata last season at la Scala has anything to do with this).

La Scala then announced Nello Santi as Montanaro's replacement; and as of today they still have Santi as the conductor on their website page for I Due Foscari. The choice made OC very happy -- Maestro Santi is a seasoned, excellent Verdi conductor.

But Opera Chic bets her new Costume National stilettos that Maestro Santi won't be there on March 24. Apparently due to "creative differences" over the choice, of all people, of the second-cast soprano to relieve lead Svetla Vassileva of her duties for a couple nights.

Opera Chic would never suggest that the young soprano in question also has a father who is a seasoned, excellent Verdi conductor.

Whatevs!

Anyway: another Italian conductor, younger than Santi, Opera Chic bets, will replace the replacement in that august pit.

(the photo above: Lee Friedlander's "New York", 1963)

+++update+++

La Scala miracolously -- and discreetly -- sent out a press release in the early evening, Stefano Ranzani replaces Nello Santi, no reason given.

Daniel's Hazing: Barenboim Gets Imperially Booed At La Scala

If it's Monday, this must be Beethoven. Tuesday? Wagner, kinda.

Daniel Barenboim is in town for his usual crazy schedule of commitments -- Tristan Und Isolde (a rerun of the Chereau production from last season, with the same cast -- Meier and Storey), various concerts as conductor/pianist, speeches, TV talk show appearances to promote his books, etc.

The problem with globetrotting pianists/conductors/authors/activists, quite obviously, is that  private flights are very fast and make traveling very easy; but portable concert Steinways haven't really been invented yet (it's easier to carry a score in one's attaché case than it is to drag around a big piano). And eventually, that's going to come back to haunt you.

Last night (Monday), Daniel Barenboim conducted the Filarmonica della Scala orchestra in Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht and lead the orchestra from the keyboard in Beethoven's Emperor. And while the Schoenberg went down well, with that monster of the Emperor trouble started almost immediately. He didn't simply lose the orchestra at times -- their fault as much as his, they've spent too much time without a music director and their sound has suffered -- but he did in spades what he does whenever he's in trouble -- he simply made mistakes, technical ones. He can be striking, and sometimes instead he just wings it. He's an unreliable concert pianist at this point, period. Opera Chic has heard him play wonderfully and just plain badly.

Last night OC wasn't there but, for once, one of Barenboim's bad nights (there have been others) hasn't been greeted with the usual perfunctory applause because let's face it he always conducts beautifully and everybody respects his commitment to peace -- but this time the loggione booed.

Let me repeat it: Barenboim got booed, for the first time, here in Milan. Loudly.

No matter how much some people tried to clap louder to drown out the boos, three friends in different parts of the opera house told Opera Chic that the booing was clearly audible, and sustained. And many who didn't really feel like booing -- they do respect the man and the artist, and OC isn't into booing either, so she wouldn't have, personally -- many simply didn't clap.

The problem with Barenboim the pianist is that he's just too uneven -- too unreliable. Unacceptable at his level of accomplishment, in this kind of venue. Opera Chic skips most of the (frequent) Barenboim piano concerts here in Milan because, frankly, not only we're quite clearly at the point now where he's a much better conductor than he is a pianist, but we're sad to report that he's really not that much of a solid pianist anymore -- too many lapses, simply.

Maurizio Pollini, who's from Milan, by the way, plays frequently la Scala, and eats Barenboim's lunch with his trademark cool X-ray powers of analysis and spotless architecture. We're priviliged to hear frequently, here in Milan, not just the best pianist of them all, the magic Grigory Sokolov, but Kissin is a frequent -- yearly -- visitor, too, and he's now a technically much more accomplished pianist than Danny B., former child prodigy that he is. Ethereal Rudolf Buchbinder often plays Milan, too, reminding us of what we talk about when we talk about Mozart. Radu Lupu's going to be here soon, to fiercely illuminate us from the catacumbal gloom of Conservatorio -- maybe he has time to chat with Barenboim, who knows. A quick Masterclass between friends, discreetly?

An intensely punishing schedule, worldwide travel, three orchestras to juggle (one of which is a huge organizational headache by itself, since traveling around the world -- and especially the Middle East -- with Israeli and Palestinian musicians is a recipe for uniquely bizarre visa troubles) books and speeches will ultimately lead you to sloppy, overworked, overthought, unnatural pedal work. A man of genius such as Barenboim must know, somewhere in the depths of his supreme self-confidence, that you cannot muscle and pedal your way out of trouble. And that an unreliable concert pianist is a pianist who needs to go back to the drawing board. It's not just singers who can blow out their voices -- pianists can bury their talent under too many unsubtle accents and too many missed practice sessions (memory will help you up to a point, and you can't will a mistake into submission, not when you're trying to tame the Emperor).

And there will always be someone in the audience who knows when you're winging it.

Sometimes, like last night in the loggione, they'll even signal that to you. As much as they want to like you.

Daniela Dessì Turns it Out: Conquering La Scala With Style

Daniela Dessì showed up earlier this week for a Teatro alla Scala recital, and by reading the program -- Fauré, Debussy, Puccini's arie giovanili and romanze da salotto (Puccini material that, to Opera Chic's ears, is not so stellar -- in that genre Tosti could do better than poor Giacomo, whose great genius lay elsewhere)  -- you would not think that this was a night for the best Puccini soprano out there -- the Tosca of our time (the first encore since 1956 -- after Tebaldi --  at Teatro Comunale di Firenze), a splendid Butterfly, a saucy Minnie (and her peerless Adriana makes her a Cilea singer of Olivero stature -- and Opera Chic does not take la signora Magda's name in vain).

A strange program, but then, Dessì began her career as a Rossini and Mozart soprano (her Scala debut, in 1989, was as Susanna) -- her repertoire got increasingly heavier in time. So Opera Chic had high hopes for the evening -- an evening that ended, as we'll see, triumphantly, because Dessì left the audience reeling and on their feet in standing ovation.

The recital started as coolly as her gown, la Dessì taking the stage in a sea foam green, frothy, floor-length dress with a tight bodice that, frankly, contained with extreme difficulty la Dessì's virtually unstoppable bewbs. The soprano was beguiling as ever, working her matching silk wrap and nodding every so often to pianist Marco Boemi (who OC wasn't particularly impressed with...inelegant pedal work and codas held way too long that sometimes distracted from la Dessì's inflections and tones). She started out coyly, perfect control and intonation as always, and it wasn't until the third Fauré piece, "Rêve d'amour", that Dessì started to really shine, continuing at a steady pace towards the climax of the first half. By the time she arrived at the Claude Debussy pieces, the audience was enthusiastically clamoring between sets, while unstoppable clapping clashed with simultaneous shushing. The Debussy works all stood out equally, from a queit, adequately nocturnal with "Nuit d'étoiles" to the final recitativo and aria from "Lia" (from "L’enfant prodigue") -- where for the first time in the recital she let it rip, unleashed that voice, and her pourquoi tu m’as quitté echoed as a heartbreaking plea for love worthy of, well, her Butterfly.

After intermission, Dessì turned up the heat, and waltzed onto the stage in a red-hawt, floor-length ball gown with a sweetheart bodice, looking stellar, the gigantosaurus bewbage that makes us love her even more held miracolously under control.

As much as the French repertoire was lovely, an interesting interpretation of a most elegant repertoire, the second half boasted seven Puccini works, more suited to la Dessì's evolving fach. Now it was time to ~Release the Kracken~! Dessì sailed through Mentìa l'avviso, Sole e amore, Sogno d’or, Terra e mare, Storiella d'amore, Morire? and Canto d'anime cranking up the heat exponentially, walking us through young Puccini's experiment, his toying with phrases that would emerge later in his most famous operas -- again, not material that seriously interfered with Opera Chic's panties the way Puccini operas do -- the vastly inferior Tosti did that kind of material better -- but Dessì's musicality and intelligence made it a worthwile musical journey.

It was all good, a nice night untile she treated the clamoring audience to five encores. And here, after a touching Mozart hommage to the Daniela of yesteryear, Dessì's unleashed her vocal Ferrari on Puccini and Cilea opera arias, throwing red meat in la Scala's hungry crawr the way few sopranos nowadays can do. Towards the last two encore, the audience couldn't even contain themselves, and just screamed random compliments and requests at the humble artist.

Let's see. First, she mentioned how, twenty years ago, she debuted at la Scala as Susanna, and she wanted to give us "Porgi amor" from Le Nozze, in memory of that very special night; Dessì's voice has grown since then, got larger, darker, stronger, and still she wore Mozart's melody like a glove, giving us a tender, melancholy, stately distinction, her final "or at least let me die" full of heartbreak and hard-earned wisdom. In Corriere della Sera's wise words, her "Porgi amor" was "immaculate" (the Milanese paper of record headlined the review with "Daniela Dessì Conquers La Scala", clocking in the ovations at 15 minutes, probably a record -- or close -- for voice recital).

She followed with Cilèa's "Poveri fiori" from Adriana Lecouvreur, wonderfully raising the stakes in one of her strongest roles; Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi, at breakneck speed and without the usual silly schmaltz -- and a virtuoso, delicate-as-a-cobweb hushed finale that should be have been recorded and studied from now on by young sopranos willing to tackle Lauretta; a ballsy "Tu che di gel sei cinta" from Turandot, all withheld aggression flaunting some insane pianissimi; and then, in front of a sweaty, throbbing audience almost entirely on their feet, Dessì sang "Vissi d'arte". Her trademark, soulful, emotionally hammering "Vissi d'arte". We didn't record it then and there, but this is how she does it:

That's Dessì alright. How do you deny her a triumph.

BREAKING: Director William Friedkin Pulls Out of La Scala's "Inconvenient Truth" Opera

Corriere della Sera is reporting today that director William Friedkin pulled out of his commitment to direct that Scala production of the opera inspired by Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", music by Giorgio Battistelli, libretto by J.D. McClatchy that will premiere on May 2011 (150th anniversary of Italy's independence).

Apparently, Friedkin has had problems with the libretto:

"I withdrew for artistic reasons, irreconcilable differences with McClatchy's libretto. This past September I received the libretto and I immediately called la Scala's Gaston Fournier (Artistic Consultant to Scala GM Stephane Lissner -- ed.) to state my negative reaction. I also did that with McClatchy and, via email, with Battistelli. Battistelli hoped to 'fix' somehow the libretto but I told him no, I couldn't work on [J.D. McClatchy] Sandy's libretto".

In October, Friedkin's agent, let it be known to la Scala that "under no condition whatsoever the director will accept to work on that libretto".

Friedkin again:

"Battistelli and Fournier then informed me that they felt they could indeed work on that libretto; professional differences were evident, so I decided to state again, in November, via my agent, that I have indeed withdrawn from this production for 'irreconcilable differences'".

Maybe Terry Gilliam, who pulled out of last year's Andrea Chenier -- later cancelled -- can take a crack at this apparently unworkable libretto? That'd be cool. Or maybe David Lynch?

The Makropulos Affair @ Scala: Immortality Never Sounded So Good

Edgar Allan Poe, that sad, crazy potato and possibly our greatest writer (together with Twain, that other nut Pound, and a couple others) taught us that there is no aestethic experience more powerful, for a reader, than being able to read a story from beginning to end in just one sitting.

(That's why he was such a firm believer in the power of short stories). Some works of musical theater, just like literature, are for their very nature best experienced in one sitting, straight up, no interruptions, no intervals, no time for overpriced drinks in the Ridotto (and no bathroom breaks, a possible issue in classical music with its increasingly aging audience).

The Makropulos Affair is one of those works that should really be staged without pause, not to dilute its subtle, creepy power. As the key theme to The Makropulos Affair, the conundrum of immortality is truly a mixed blessing. After last night's premiere of Leoš Janácek's three-act opera at Teatro alla Scala, despite the creamy music, gorgeous direction/sets, and stellar singing, we honestly felt like the old/restyled-as-new Luca Ronconi staging tested our own immortality and our resolve to keep things simpler, sparing continuity for big ideas and even bigger sets.

The Makropulos Affair is Janácek's stabby stab at turning Karel Capek's 1922 play into opera (where after he had seen the play in Prague in 1922, he started communicating with Capek to gain rights and artistic guidance), complete with libretto (penned by the maestro between 1923 - 1925) continuing on the everlasting argument of immortality.

More Scala Grudges: Abbado Asks For 90,000 Trees, Muti Snarks Scala GM Lissner

Besides the all-too-present drama of singers pulling out of shows, singers being fired, singers being booed off the stage, singers being kept away from the premises by the police, political backstabbing, conductors fired by the orchestra, frequent strikes, and general feverish unrest, Teatro alla Scala has a historical penchant for generating massive beefs between artists, conductors, managers, etc.

Far from being a recent phenomenon -- Callas snubbed by the then-GM, Tebaldi harassed until she went off to San Carlo and the Met, Freni and even Pavarotti savagely booed by the loggione, frequent guest conductor Herbert Von Karajan eventually snubbed in favor of, all people, Karl Böhm, etc etc -- the situation has gotten worse since Claudio Abbado left as Music Director in 1986 and his successor Riccardo Muti left in 2005, both voted down by the all-powerful orchestra.

The Milan-born Abbado came back in the late 1980s and early 1990s as Music Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker and successor to Herbie Von K., probably the swankiest job in classical music -- always with other orchestras -- but he has never conducted the Scala orchestra again. He hasn't been back since the early 1990s due to a series of problems he had with the administrators back then. Abbado has since turned down every opening, every invitation to come back to his native city.

Riccardo Muti, well, after the early 2005 drama he has become a highly paid freelancer -- Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo -- a guest conductor in New York and future Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, besides his usual summer commitment in Salzburg and the directorship of the Whitsun Festival in Mozart's hometown and the directorship of his youth orchestra, the Cherubini.

Both have apparently been asked by the current General Manager Stephane Lissner, who has never worked with either conductor, to come back to la Scala (the dream scenario, as Scala gossip has it, would apparently have been a Abbado Magic Flute and a Mozart/DaPonte opera with Muti).

The answers?

Abbado, famously an opponent of the current conservative city government of Milan, has just answered that he will come back for free, only if the city government plants 90,000 new trees. (The cost would apparently be around two million euros). The project's feasibility? Kind of up in the air. Which, frankly, seems to be the point of Abbado's request.

Muti, instead, got crankier in an interview with Il Giornale:

"Mr. Lissner says he would like to meet me. But he never called me. No phone calls, no letters. I don't know him. He told a story of an encounter we had in Paris back when I was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, but I met many people, I have no recollection of such an encounter. It must have been a very quick episode. I expected at least to receive a letter, as a courtesy, when he arrived at la Scala, since I had spent so much time in that theater. But not even that."

(...)

"Maybe someone told him that I moved to an igloo; but I really think he knows I don't live too far. I'm often in Piacenza, with Orchestra Cherubini... I don't know what he is waiting for. He lost a chance to meet me in Salzburg, where he saw the Otello I conducted there. Salzburg's Jurgen Flimm told me he had asked Lissner to come see me, but Lissner never came"

Abbado is 75. Muti is 67. Lissner is 55. Abbado and Muti are -- if not the two best -- two of the very small roster of the best conductors out there. Lissner is running the most famous opera house in the world, and one of the oldest. But this I want a forest!, bring me flowers and send me fan mail, no I won't, is totally high school, all over again.

Dec 7, 2009: Barenboim's Carmen @ la Scala With Kauffman, Schrott, and?

The 2009-2010 season at Teatro alla Scala will begin on December 7, 2009, with a production that, on paper, seems much less disorganized than the recent fired-Filianoti, booed-Gatti sad disaster of a Don Carlo.

The next season opener is a Carmen that Maestro Scaligero (aka super special principal guest conductor) Daniel Barenboim will conduct; Sicilian prodigy Emma Dante -- an interesting, and out of left field choice to say the least -- will direct the production; Escamillo will be Mr. Anna Netrebko aka Erwin Schrott; Don José will be Jonas Kaufmann, as Scala GM Stephane Lissner told "Il Giornale".

What about the lead?, you'll ask.

As of today, they don't really have one yet. If Nadja Michael manages to get out of a commitment at la Monnaie in Brussels (Iphigenie) that overlaps with Carmen, she'll be cast. Another name that's been floated around is Marina Domashenko's -- both singers have already worked with Barenboim, in different roles, in the past and DB doesn't seem keen on working with an untested singer for this big prima.

Obviously, if all else fails, the solution is easy:

Just mike'er up, close down the loggione and enjoy the worldwide publicity!

Domingo On The Filianoti/Scala Mess: "If You Select A Singer You Have To Go All The Way"

Placido Domingo spoke, right before Xmas, with Corriere della Sera about his love for Puccini, and he also took the time to comment on the sudden decision by la Scala to fire tenor Giuseppe Filianoti a few hours before the premiere of this past December 7, broadcast worldwide.

Here's Placidone's take:

"Filianoti was scheduled to sing Lucrezia Borgia at 'my' Washington National Opera but he then asked me to free him in order to accept la Scala's proposal for December 7. The mistake was to organize that preview for the students that critics have been allowed to see. Someone said that singers were so-so and the conductor got scared and chose to replace the tenor. I don't want to criticize the general manager but if you selected a singer you have to go all the way, maybe someone will boo, but your decision is your decision. A bad moment for Filianoti. He had a contract with us, why did they even contact him? Having said that, I really hope to have Filianoti back to the USA; I will be back to Italy next season to celebrate my 40 years at la Scala with Simon Boccanegra"

Speaking of Filianoti, here's more of his Don Carlo at Scala courtesy of "babyfairy".

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OPERA CHIC BEST OF 2008: What Rawked, What Sucked, What F*@#ed Our S#'t Up

CONDUCTOR OF THE YEAR
Fabio Luisi

Surprise choice? If you think so, you have never heard him conduct. Fabio Luisi is Opera Chic's Conductor of the Year 2008 because he has a German brain and an Italian heart. Because with the Dresden Staatskapelle – “Dresden’s gold”, wrote the following day august Corriere della Sera newspaper -- he appeared at la Scala, in a benefit concert, and showed those of us who were ready to listen that Heldenleben (with the original finale, and Konzertmeister Kai Vogler teaching how you play the violin) is a masterpiece of subtlety and even irony far different than the usual windbaggy, sappy, irony-free piece we’re accustomed to hear (and that includes Herbie, genius as he was, photographed with his airplane and his Porsche, triumphant over his enemies). Luisi can do Wagner, he can do Italian opera (AND he recorded “Jerusalem”, that forgotten Verdi masterpiece). Because he once conducted in a Pink Panther costume (long story). Because his website seriously rules. Because he published his autobiography in Germany and Austria, and he isn’t even 50. He went so native that now he even speaks Italian with a faint Teutonic inflection. He has two cute pugs. Luisi downright rawks.

SINGER OF THE YEAR, FEMALE
Diana Damrau
Because if an alien race of giant rabid mutant penguins threatened to invade Earth she’d wear her Queen of the Night costume and she’d stare them into submission even before opening her mouth. Then she’d proceed to bash all their heads with a baseball bat and she’d make herself an alien penguin sandwich. On rye. With mayo.

SINGER OF THE YEAR, MALE
Ernesto Palacio
What? He retired years ago? Yes, he did – as a singer, OK. But he manages Juan Diego Florez in a way that he makes us wish he ran the careers of so many singers of great talent we see crash and burn for so many reasons. Maestro Palacio is behind Juan Diego’s decision to drop for the time being the Duke of Mantua after one preview in Lima and one run in Dresden; Palacio understands that the increased visibility that Verdi gives you is not worth damaging your voice; Verdi (except for Fenton, but you don’t really build a career on that role) is too heavy for Juan Diego’s perfectly tuned instrument. Hence, he will not push his voice to do Verdi. Better to be the king of Rossini and Donizetti, “el mejor tenor libero de la historia” in Placido Domingo’s words, than to be just another tenor who pushed his voice and crashed and burned. Opera Chic knows he’s busy but she’d like Palacio to be an adviser for her personal decisions, too – like a life coach. Fish or chicken? Ask Palacio. Seaside or mountains? Ask Palacio. Creme brulee or panettone? Ask Palacio.

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Graham Vick

Because he once again fu#@ed our sh^t up by staging La Clemenza di Tito in Mussolini’s Rome (for Teatro Comunale di Torino) and La Rondine in a 1950s sophisticated comedy setting like a Jean Negulesco film for La Fenice, spoofing in the second act his nemesis Franco Zeffirelli’s Boheme Cafe Momus scene, and Vick came up with a truly heartbreaking idea for the ending, where love ends and the sky – literally – falls. As soon as OC takes over a major opera house in a coup, she's giving Vick absolute artistic powah.

OPERA PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
Salomé, with Nicola Beller Carbone, directed by Robert Carsen, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, Teatro Regio di Torino
Salome in a Vegas casino vault? Horrible slimy old men stripping down during the dance of the seven veils instead of Salome? Salome surviving the end of the opera, in a genius plot twist? Leave it to Carsen to twist the Strauss opera on its ear finding new layers of meaning in that wonderful way of his. Whenever Carsen is on, he’s totally on. Noseda (OC did not hear him conduct when she saw Salome, it was his night off, but she's well aware of his work) may be the most underrated major conductor out there. And Teatro Regio di Torino does very interesting first class productions without the same massive amount of public financing enjoyed for example by la Scala.

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR (100 TIMES SO)
Elliott Carter
His new work sounds so fresh that he must have some seriously weird painting up in his attic getting all old wrinkly in his place.

NEW WORK OF THE YEAR
“Elogium Musicum”, Hans Werner Henze
On October 2, 2008, Riccardo Chailly conducted in Leipzig Hans Werner Henze's latest work, Elogium Musicum Amatissimi Amici Nunc Remoti, the 25-minutes elegy Henze wrote -- with prominent Classics professor Franco Serpa's Latin text -- in memory of Henze's companion of more than 40 years, Fausto Moroni, who died unexpectedly in April 2007. It's the story of two falcons always flying side by side, until one of them disappears from the sky; the music begins as a heartbreakingly beautiful string quartet, in quiet and serenity that gets increasingly animate -- then the second movement, "Nox", Night, becomes dissonant and chaotic and upsetting, a tempest of sorrow.

It's a stunning work by a man who had to endure a crushing blow and nevertheless turned it into art, a work made even more heartbreaking by the fact that, as the music in the finale seems to resign itself to disappear into nothingness, an alto saxophone appears, faintly at first, then stronger: it's Fausto. And Hans Werner Henze's dark night of the soul ends in the warm light of an Italian dawn. 

Well, what to say of a work of such power? In the indifference of the blissfully distracted American media, German opinion immediately understood that we are dealing with a historic work here: Neues Deutschland called the elegy Henze's "Opus summum", the pinnacle of his work. The economy and precision of Henze's writing reminded Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of Verdi's Quattro Pezzi Sacri. "History is being made again, finally, in Leipzig", exulted the Leipziger Volkszeitung.

This is just a silly blog of a silly girl somewhere on the Internet; and our calling Elogium Musicum the new work of the year 2008 is nothing. But our admiration is real -- as is the timeless beauty of that elegy.

DUMBEST DECISION OF THE YEAR
La Scala unions' strike for 3 nights of Dudamel's Boheme.
The winner, hands down, is the Scala unions who senselessly -- and masochistically -- chose to sink the first three nights of Gustavo Dudamel's "La Bohéme" at la Scala. A hot young conductor, an interesting young cast (among them the really cool James Valenti) and Franco Zeffirelli's super-famous staging of the work, all at la Scala, made for a really cool event. The cancellation created a flurry of reimbursements for the three sold-out shows, didn't do anything to advance the contract drama that was protracted to this month a few hours before la prima and is probably not entirely over yet anyway. What it did, it punished the audience and disrespected a conductor who had already conducted an interesting Don Giovanni at la Scala -- but who won't appear in another opera here in Milan for a while now. The opera had the eventual greenlight by the unions in the second half of July, in the semi-deserted city, in the silence of the international media -- despite Dudamel's prominence -- and even hometown paper Corriere della Sera relegated the show to a small notice. But then la Scala's leadership in shooting themselves in the foot is a well known fact.

Below, Dudamel's triumph in Berlin with the same opera.

Filianoti As Don Carlo During General Rehearsal, Dec 4, 2008, Scala: Io la vidi

(**disclaimer: This video was uploaded by YouTube user CaterinaDeMedici67**)

Everything's Just Ducky For Teatro alla Scala

Comix are for kids, which is why we didn't read the 150 pages of Italian-language Topolino, recommended to us by a blogeague who knows about our ~la Scala fetish~.

But we couldn't disappoint our readers who were curious to see a few clips from the December 9, 2008 Topolino, featuring a plot device that involved Teatro alla Scala's season opener. Or something. I've never read a single book in my entire life, comix or books without pictures, so i dont recognize what any of this is.

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Teatro alla Scala Will Make Sure You Can Boo Their Operas On Time

Italian magazines recently presented this advertisement from one of the official sponsors for Teatro alla Scala's opening night: the perfect watch to synchronize your catcalls with.

Don Carlo at La Scala...The Final Verdict

O how O.C. wishes she could serenade you with luxurious, exciting tales from this year's Teatro alla Scala opening night premiere, but then she'd have to fabricate some insane tall tale about how the singing was stellar & the direction was brilliant & the casting was sublime and half-naked co-eds straight from the pages of Bruce Weber's A&F Quarterlies whisked her from her Bentley into her palco and tipped her sips of Hennessy Cognac from her silver & crocodile Prada flask. None of that happened. Instead, OC passed the holiday of Sant'Ambrogio witnessing one of the most depressing and anticlimactic opening night in recent memory.

Palazzo Marino was done up in Christmas lights covering the windows, absent of all the flashy love it was kissed with last year. Not many celebrities bothered begging for tickets to the ultra-VIP event, but instead we saw more skanks and old men in smoking, and loads of politicians that must have been gifted with tickets for their support of March 2008's winning bid for Milan's victory in Expo 2015.

By contrast to the night of suckage, OC spent a relaxing afternoon strolling around the ritzy (and packed) sidewalks of via Monte Napoleone, Via Sant'Andrea, and Via della Spiga, where she coincidentally saw Scala GM Stephan Lissner (unmistakable quaff of gray hair) plus female accomplice enjoying the windows. Then she shopped-up a lovely appetite for lunch at BiCE, where many of Milan's society fakers&shakers were also enjoying a moment of respite before the drama-infused la prima. Spotted at BiCE was that scarily plastic man of the eternally relaxed brow, Renato Balestra, and OC almost tossed her insalata di carciofi to the floor in shock.

Then it was back home to get out of her Stella McCartney sweater dress and into something a bit secksier...so O.C. decked herself out in the Alexander McQueen cap-sleeved princess dress in black crepe and chiffon, black silk knit Prada stockings, Prada RTW Fall 2007 black heels, a '30s vintage Girard-Perregaux watch, black Burberry Prorsum long&lean wool lady coat, and a small Alexander McQueen black ribbon clutch. Slammin.

We should have known the night would be off to a chaotic and start, as paparazzi were just really freaking annoying this year, the crowds were more obnoxious. This all converged when a rogue complaint was hurled at Gatti as he took his place on the podium to inaugurate the 08/09 season.

Gatti's conducting was overall big, ballsy, bold and layered with lots of nuance. In the house, it was the right balance. At least we give credit to Gatti for trying to correct the downer drain of stark, drab, and vacant spaces that director Stéphane Braunschweig envisioned for the environs. It seemed Gatti was trying to balance and paint the orchestra in more richness than it warranted, which at least breathed a bit of viscera into the endless swaths of blank, plaster walls and endless wooden flooring...and since the production was so flat, detached, and superficial, Gatti at least made up for that by infusing the orchestra with layers&layers of sound. For OC, it worked...we like our opera rugged and raw with dirty beats, and c'mon, this is the freaking season opener. It's supposed to be a take no prisoners, sweep the leg night we demand and paid some serious euros for. On the podium, Gatti's idiosyncrasies were grand and he kept pushing for a bigger sound. The overture was rich, the horns and strings absolutely delicious, and the brass supurbly controlled. We liked the way Gatti shaped every phrase, and at so many points, OC just closed her eyes to block out the depressing effortlessness of the scenery.

The curtain opened to a boring, white, stone alter in the middle of the stage, echoed by a dozen vertical panels that spanned across the back. Blue light flooded the stage to add to the frigidness of the scenery, except for the alter which had been focused in the spotlight. Marion Hewlett's lighting prowess was so insultingly derivative (green light for the garden, red light for "Gloria a Filippo! Gloria al ciel!", blue light for the early morning prison). With the big budgets that are extended to Scala collaborators, OC doesn't understand where Hewlett tucked away her profit, as her conception of lighting lacked of imagination, interpretation, and really was one of the shallowest delves we could have projected onto the psychology of the plot.

The chorus of monks appeared dressed in black capes and white under robes, with their hoods raised. Under the careful and experienced direction of Maestro Bruno Casoni, they were always on point. Casoni is the one key player at Scala that the loggionisti will never, ever criticize or turn on, and lucky for opera fans, Casoni is always the saving grace to any opera (at last night's la prima, after all the insane booing at the final curtain call, Casoni was showered with praise and "Bravo Casoni" as he bent to pick up a stray rose from the stage).

When Stuart Neill, our Don Carlo for the evening, finally came out of hiding, whispers and twitters fell all around. His physical size filled OC's Scala neighbors with uncomfortable squirming. I won't apologize for my fellow spectators, but to see a man of such, um, stature, is not really a common day thing in Milan. Braunschweig's direction was just too ridiculous for him (we know it had worked for Filianoti) but it should have been modified for Neill's girth. As he had to kneel down at the tomb in the first scene, it was immediately apparent that he was not a man used to kneeling down. It made the action look unnatural and broke any sort of spell that had been cast. Even worse was during, "qual voce a me dal ciel scende a parlar d'amor!", Neill had to deliver the lines lying on the floor, which was absolutely comical.

For me, Neill wasn't it. But at least he seemed to have more understanding of his role than his colleagues. Neill, with good reason, was completely washed in nervousness. His unfocused energy was sparkling across the stage, which led to a lot of jerky movements and clenched fists. His "Io la vidi" was not terrible, and OC doesn't particularly mind his stark, un-giftwrapped voice, but that introduced the small vignettes that we saw all night of miniature, baby versions of the main characters, a motif of the past and simultaneously the present. OC hated it, and didn't find it endearing or clever at all. Rather, it reduced the whole story to a pretty simplistic account.

Then popped out the Marquis, Rodrigo, sung by Slovakian baritone Dalibor Jenis and we weren't totally impressed. The chemistry between him and Neill wasn't convincing. They were like frat kids who bumped into each other at the local bar. Which brings us to our main complaint: no one was convincing in the cast (except Dolora Zajick and to a lesser extent Ferruccio Furlanetto, but we'll get to him in a bit). What we saw last night were not figures of Spanish royalty. It's like the servants had come out to play, and had stolen the costumes of their employers. We didn't get that sense of sixteenth century inbred royalty that we were longing for, and it was vaguely disappointing.

After the page sang his little lullaby, we were introduced to American mezzo Dolora Zajick as Princess Eboli wearing a gorgeous red day coat over her dress, her bewbs like a 10+++ on the shelf scale. Good lord. "Nei girdin del bello" was O.K., but for that she got only a lukewarm applause. But Zajick was daring and feisty, and at times drowned out Neill's voice with her chesty projection. She was greatly lauded for her "Ah! Piu non vedro..." and rightfully so.

The chemistry between Stuart Neill and Elisabetta of Valois's Fiorenza Cedolins wasn't terrible, but again, we wanted so much more. With Cedolins, we've come to expect a practiced and carefully studied delivery, devoid of particular depth or stylizing. When we saw her in the season opener last January for La Fenice's Puccini Rondine, we succinctly summarized: "Unless you have an undying Cedolins fetish -- OC doesn't, as she finds Cedolins correct, attractive, and with a good dose of charisma but essentially uninspiring." And we stick by the same observation. She wasn't bad, but she was cold, distant, and flat. Her  "Tu che le vanita' conoscesti del mondo" was really very good, sung in a gorgeous dark green dress, her full queen regalia.

But Cedolins's interpretation basically encapsulates the major issue we had with the evening: The pathos and viceral energy...passion and longing of Don Carlo was stripped and discarded. There was no interpretation...well, at least, only by Gatti, which fell flat on its face because he had no cooperation from the cast or crew involved in the staging. It's like the singers and Gatti existed on a seperate plane. There was no dialogue, no sublime answering and responding between cast and orchestra. They were both locked away in very myopic, muffled places, and that was very, very frustrating.

Scene V brought Philip II, King of Spain as Ferruccio Furlanetto, the only singer who we think actually worked in the cast at face value. Furlanetto's singing was decent enough, but we noticed by the end of Act II before the first intermission, he had run out of steam. But his acting and interpretation as Philip was stellar. Authoritative and menacing, he at least was a realistic King of Spain.

Now comes that infamous moment after the first intermission where Gatti took to the podium and was booed mercilessly. OC already explained what happened, and you can read here. Again, the booing wasn't concentrated to a few people...rather it stemmed from all over the house.

Thibault van Craenenbroeck's costumes were neither here nor there. We saw period dress for the royalty, but oddly at one point, 1940s working class gear for the chorus. What's going on here? The schism between the proletariats and the ruling class? Oh, please. But at least we had the impression that the costumes were expensive and well made, which was uplifting.

The last act was a perfect example of sceneographer Alexandre de Dardel's major malfunction. King Philip in his library was simply an empty room with a chair. The characters just weren't big enough to fill the minimalist space. We couldn't imagine it, and it needed so much more. Il grande inquisitore's Anatolij Kotscherga was even worse, but he was torn to shreds during the curtain call, so we're guessing he understood...his "tranquili lascio andar...un gran ribelle" was almost shouted in a cracked voice.

At curtain call, we were honestly expecting worse, and were surprised at how civil the audience acted. At first. For the collective call, not many booing or whistles were heard. But during the individual calls, grande inquisitore's Anatolij Kotscherga was slammed almost as hard as the trio of Stefan's Alexandre de Dardel, Thibault van Craenenbroeck, and Marion Hewlett (we linked the youtube here). Dolora Zajick's Eboli, Fiorenza Cedolins's Elisabetta, and Ferruccio Furlanetto's Filippo II were highly praised with some isolated boos for Cedolins interspresed, Dalibor Jenis's Rodrigo and Diogenes Randes's frate were given tepid applause...but Stuart Neill for his title role was both booed loudly and simultaneously praised, which he deflected by bending over and whispering to his mini-mi. Gatti was given the same treatment...roundly booed by some and praised by many others. The curtain call lasted a cursorily polite time, about 7 minutes in all, one of the shortest OC has seen in the theater and certainly the shortest for a prima in recebnt times, and we're guessing not for the reason that everyone was rushing for the after-theater parties and dinners.

Tenor Filianoti To Be Officially Fired by Scala Management Later This Week

New developments in the Filianoti shuffle @ la Scala:

Giuseppe Filianoti, who had been officially "reassigned" to different dates of the "Don Carlo" run at la Scala, not fired, la Scala had said at first, will be officially dismissed later this week, Opera Chic has learned.

Filianoti had been under contract to appear in 7 shows and his replacement Stuart Neill should have fulfilled only the remaining three.

Neill will apparently appear in all six of the remaining shows planned for December. Then after the holiday break, another tenor -- name to be announced, he hasn't been cast yet even if the process of searching for another Don Carlo has already begun days ago -- will appear in the four January shows.

Milan's Merchants Vibing Off La Scala La Prima Fever

Following a yearly tradition, a handful of Milan's various downtown shops loaded their front displays with Verdi's Don Carlo paraphernalia for Scala's 2008/09 season opener. We saw it in 2006 for Verdi's Aida, and again in 2007 for Wagner's Tristan. The first three are from Sant Ambroeus's window, boasting an edible Verdi puppet and decorated Don Carlo panettone.

 

 

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Above & below: Larusmiani on via Montenapoleone and via Verri

 

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(Above: a shoe store downtown)

Supahstars! La Scala 2008/09 La Prima Brings Out Fashion Designers & Their Adoring Skanks

It's always curious to see the mixed crowds who turn out for Scala's St. Ambrogio season opener...the awesome mix of larger-than-life Italian celebrities, cleavage pouring out of the bustiers of even the homliest women, ancient grey farts stuffed into tuxes, and the various skanks who get it all wrong. This year was rather disappointing...the crowds were painfully boring. Tho we did spot a few celebs who are known outside of Italy: Stefano Gabbana & Domenico Dolce, Valentino Garavani, Valeria Marini, Roberto Bolle, and Renato Balestra.

Above we see poor Stefano Gabbana ambushed by Valeria Marini at last night's la prima. Stefano also spoke to the papers as an ersatz critic, and said that the the gloomy staging was "cemetary-like". ~zing~!! Here's oooo so much more:

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Ew. Just ew. Now we srsly need to cleanse our eyes...Here's Roberto Bolle:

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**click the magic link below to see tons more photos from the evening. You won't regret it!**

Curtain Call: "Vergogna" = Shame

(Video found on Youtube, *not* taken by Opera Chic -- her seats were much better, anyway!)

A General Theory of the Latest Scala Drama: Why Management Is Trying To Blame Filianoti For The Boos That Sunk Don Carlo's Opening Night

A few interesting facts re: this Don Carlo drama before bedtime (it's almost dawn here, seriously: too late for champagne, too early for cappuccino, might as well go to bed).

• The freshly-demoted Giuseppe Filianoti was present at Scala tonight, not on stage obviously but in a third-level box (together with other friends/relatives of cast members, among them his replacement Stuart Neill's girlfriend). He left after Act I.
• The boos -- over here, a whistle is never just that, there must be like a whole conspiracy behind it or the Italians just don't have as much fun -- ruined what had been hyped as the first Dec 7th Opening Night conducted by the frequent guest conductor whom most observers consider the front runner to get, eventually, one day in a not so distant future, the coveted job of Music Director of la Scala (as we mentioned earlier, a post previously held, these last 75 years, by Serafin, de Sabata, Toscanini, Giulini, Cantelli, Abbado, Muti).
• Scala GM Lissner came out clearly, right after the show, with unusually undiplomatic words: "The boos? Clearly the payback for the Filianoti situation, in the opera house it is well known". Meaning that it was an organized protest to undermine Gatti "guilty" of having de facto fired Filianoti, even if technically the tenor's still under contract, but his schedule has been reshuffled with Stuart Neill's -- now Filianoti is demoted to second cast (the smart money says he won't appear in any shows with the second cast, leaving open the question, and the additional drama, of who will be hired on such short notice to complete the run as Don Carlo with the second cast).

The conspiracy theory that supposes Filianoti somehow orchestrated an anti-Gatti riot by egging dozens of spectators on, convincing them to boo, etc, is made less easy to believe by the fact that booing and whistling were quite widespread -- not massive but certainly not the work of a few hit men.

It also remains to be seen how would someone like Filianoti, a singer only occasionally present here and not exactly the most powerful man in the Italian opera business, would manage to infiltrate so many accomplices in the theater on a night when tickets are incredibly scarce, monstrously expensive, by and large given out to sponsors and VIPs, and even cast members get just a few tickets -- in some cases just one ticket! -- for friends and family to the Sant'Ambrogio opening night. Again, it's not impossible to fill the stalls with a personal claque, obviously -- not impossible but very complicated on Dec 7th of all nights.

 An alternative hypothesis if you're conspiracy-minded is that a spontaneous movement of spectators moved by Filianoti's plight chose to boo Gatti in unison without having been somehow influenced by the singer or his entourage. Impossible? No. Very Likely? Bah.

If this conspiracy theory were true it would obviously leave the management and Gatti off the hook, erasing the painful fact that la Scala, in the post-Muti era, has had four Dec 7th opening nights -- Idomeneo/Bondy/Harding in '05, Aida/Zeffirelli/Chailly in '06, Tristan Und Isolde/Chereau/Barenboim in '07 and Don Carlo/Braunschweig/Gatti -- and this Don Carlo is by far the one that got booed the most -- even the Zeffirelli Aida, the one with Alagna (before he fled on the second night he regularly performed on Dec 7), didn't get as many catcalls, except for Alagna. Only Gatti, very likely the future Music Director -- if and when GM Lissner decides to give up some of his considerable power by sharing command of the place -- got such a bad reaction. Again, Opera Chic herself liked his work. But she can see why people would honestly find his conducting too uneven -- those speed changes -- and his vision of the score too unorthodox (the last two conductors who led Don Carlo here were Abbado in the 1970s and Muti in the 1990s, and both gave a much more even and conservative reading of the score).

Gatti -- whom Opera Chic personally liked and applauded heartily, as you can read in the post below -- is not the only one who got booed tonight, but on curtain call a nice chunk of the cast got hit by whistles and boos, too (not Zajick, OK); director Braunschweig and his team got a pretty good share of whipping, too.

Now the question is, did tne director -- whom Filianoti praised in his post-demotion interviews with two newspapers -- get booed also as "payback" by Filianoti loyalists?  By Gatti enemies? Really? The costume design lady, too? Sets? What about the seriously underperforming Grande Inquisitore, were the boos he had to endure at curtain call an act of payback to hit Gatti and sink the prima?

It's Opera Chic's right as an American to find all this drama here both entertaining and appalling. 

Maybe the Scala management is right, maybe this all happened because Gatti was a marked man, and people wanted to damage his profile and reputation to undermine him.

Maybe, his reading of the score was just too unpalatable for many (on this point OC disagrees) and the singing was substandard for such a big night (here OC agrees) and the staging really was just too drab and didn't really make any dramatic sense.

This analysis -- for full disclosure, as you can read in these last two days posts on this blog -- comes from someone who's really not a partisan here, from someone who would not have hired Filianoti in the first place, who thinks Filianoti has been treated very shabbily and in a manner unbecoming a world class opera house, from someone who generally likes Gatti and liked his work with the orchestra (not with the singers) tonight, and who thinks Braunschweig's work as director of Don Carlo was just dry, unfocused, and essentially forgettable.

Lots more on this Don Carlo with lots of pictures, reviews, conspiracy theories, and the usual in depth Opera Chic coverage tomorrow.

'night

Long Dong Carlo @ la Scala: The Teaser Review

(above: Stuart Neill or Giuseppe Filianoti.......hmmmmm?)

A few choice slices of opera sashimi for OC's readers to munch on as OC -- who just got back from opening night at la Scala, the paparazzi frenzy, the following festivities and the final paparazzi chase scene before getting home -- takes a well-deserved shower.

As you already know thanks to our off-the-cuff Blackjack post from la Scala, conductor Daniele Gatti got seriously booed by part of the audience -- not hundreds of people, because the applause was there, too, but certainly the nay-sayers were not just a few lone crazies -- after the first intermission. The booing somehow got less nasty after the second intermission; and at curtain call, Gatti got ovations but also some pretty sharp boos and whistles; thankfully, for Gatti and the Scala management, the director Stephane Braunschweig and his design/costume team got massive boos, much much worse than Gatti; and the Grande Inquisitore who replaced "indisposed" (yeah, right) Matti Salminen, the Russian Anatoly Kotscherga, was probably as badly treated as the director. Most of the cast got a pretty warm reception, except Kotscherga, even Giuseppe Filianoti's last-minute replacement Stuart Neill (who got some boos, too). But the only singer to really get a big, big ovation was Dolora Zajick (probably the wildest cheering, and with good reason, was enjoyed by the Maestro del Coro, Bruno Casoni, for the reasons we'll explain in a sec).

OC's ideas of this wildly uneven night, of this awful mess of Piazza della Scala?

Very quickly, before OC writes her actual review post later (or tomorrow if she's too sleepybonZ): Gatti got booed in part because some people clearly didn't like the way Giuseppe Filianoti was replaced 24 hours before opening night -- a night televised worldwide -- by Gatti and GM Stéphane Lissner. Some, clearly didn't appreciate the somewhat untraditional way Gatti shaped the score, with some very deliberate, thoughtful tempi and some impressive accelerations -- this was not your grandmother's Don Carlo, nor was it Abbado's or Giulini's. It's a DC for the present time, with ideas, with the patience to shape  slow tempi and the audacity to crank that big orchestra when needed. OC really liked Gatti's ideas -- she liked his pacing, the sheer beauty of the orchestral sound, the creamy, heartbreaking strings, the precisely calibrated brass. It's Verdi Grand Opera brilliantly analyzed through the lens of Meyerbeer and Wagner -- Gatti is a Bayreuth conductor and you're not, by0tch. Detractors think he got "too German", whatever that means, "too brash". Look, whatever. Rent Karajan's. Gatti created a lot of moments of great beauty. Probably not a general theory of Don Carlo as a whole, the way very few others did in the past, but a very worthy effort nonetheless. OC defends his work, musically.

Because it was a musically brilliant night, wrapped in the unique sound of maestro Bruno Casoni's chorus, clearly the best in the world when it comes to Verdi, certainly a top 3 (in the world) chorus for most of the rest of the repertoire. Seriously, it doesn't even translate to recordings, that magic; you hear the Scala chorus live, singing Verdi, and you get the feeling that's the sound Verdi heard in his own head as he was writing the score.

What really didn't work, and the blame is shared by Gatti and director Stephane Braunschweig for this, was the disconnect between that fantastic sound, those daring choices made by the conductor, and the singers interpretation.

It pains Opera Chic's heart that even Ferruccio Furlanetto, that maestro of unlimited powah and great charisma, only sporadically focused enough to go beyond his singing -- that was obviously very good, mostly, even it wasn't Furlanetto's best night either -- to actually create a character on that stage, to give life to Filippo II. The night's best singer, Dolora as Eboli, fighting off sharp pain in an arm she injured earlier during rehearsals, who really blessed us in the audience, created gorgeous sounds -- with truly uninspiring diction -- but again she lacked focus. Same for the flat delivery of Fiorenza Cedolins, Elisabetta, who didn't really make mistakes, good solid -- if limited -- singer that she is. The Grande Inquisitore was just bad, essentially speaking loudly, in an unclean manner also, through his part, totally killing the sense of dread that permeates this most awesome of Verdi stories -- that way, OC considers Don Carlo, far from being her favorite Verdi musically, to be the opposite of Trovatore. DC is a wonderful, touching, elaborately crafted scary story that shows like few others atheist Verdi's desperate search for meaning, while Trovatore presents a ridiculous, shallow, almost comically trashy piece of pulp that's nevertheless chock-full of fantastic, memorable tunes (try writing something as simply, genuinely touching and beautiful as "Il Balen del Suo Sorriso," Dick Wagner, you old douchebag you, OC double dares you with sugar on top).

Filianoti's replacement Stuart Neill? He actually looked like he hadn't simply replaced Filianoti -- he looked like he had eaten him. Neill, unfortunately, is a Mack truck of a man that the clueless director unmercifully forced to lie on that tomb with frankly comical results. If what you want for Scala's opening night of a major Verdi work is a tenor who actually hits the notes, probably all of them -- we didn't have a score in our Alexander McQueen purse sorry -- without charisma or sense of character, without showing that he cares about getting the girl, without really making you care for the way Destiny continually puts him in check until the final checkmate, well, if you don't care about any of that -- if you don't care about a warm, clean sound either -- then Neill did a good job as Don Carlo. This was la Scala's opening night, and he was the lead. Not enough, really. He's not bad at all, he's probably a solid singer, but not "Dec 7th at la Scala good" either.

ok shower time now later thx bi