Those h0rny Londoners may miss Anna (get well soon xoxoxo OperaChic) , but Erwin Schrott's massive pex are stealing teh show (no kwai!) in Don Giovanni. Rupert Christiansen in the Daily Telegraph is impressed (by teh pecks), and not impressed (by the Russian lady with bad hair):
Erwin Schrott is the most sardonic, seductive, witty and mercurial Don Giovanni I have ever seen (ed: daym!).
This hugely gifted (ed: !!!) Uruguayan bass oozes sex appeal, but he doesn't just preen his good looks and firm pecs - this is a subtle and thoughtful characterisation of an insouciantly self-centred aristocrat, sung with clarity and sensitivity.
His comic timing was immaculate, the champagne aria fizzed, the serenade melted, and he was dragged down to hell with splendid heroic defiance. An enthralling star turn.
The evening's other big attraction was the over-hyped Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, who cried off sick.
She was replaced as Donna Anna by the Royal Opera's resident apprentice, Marina Poplavskaya, who gave an intense but wayward and nervous performance - sometimes thrilling, sometimes off-pitch.
Hers is clearly a potentially major talent, but Mozart is not, I think, her bag. I want to hear her sweep through Verdi or Tchaikovsky.
2 wrdz: Lady Macbeth!!!