Tonight's dress rehersal for Scala's Die Walküre -- that will open the season on December 7, the traditional Sant'Ambrogio gala -- will happen behind closed doors. As of today, Saturday's final rehersal, the so-called "preview for young people" (ie, Under 31 opera fans -- that's young for opera, sadly) is going ahead as planned.
Only Act II and III will be rehearsed tonight; Waltraud Meier (Sieglinde), who doesn't like the staging by Guy Cassiers (she's not alone) is apparently "under the weather". Simon O'Neill (Siegmund) is in bad shape, too -- worse than Meier.
Meier in today's Corriere della Sera attacked Cassiers "who left the singers alone", accusing him of only being interested in the visuals, mentioning how Patrice Chereau instead works much more -- and better -- with the singers.
This is not cool especially because some observers argue that the orchestra still needs solid rehersal time to iron out the kinks before the Dec. 7 premiere.
Daniel Barenboim conducts.
On the other hand, Nina Stemme (Brünnhilde) is doing good, and since Pape cancelled his commitment, OC is mostly excited for Nina.