Opera Chic

Boulez Replaces Abbado @ Carnegie

Pierre Boulez will replace Claudio Abbado as conductor of Mahler's Third Symphony with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra on Oct. 6 at Carnegie Hall. No word yet on the replacement for Abbado's two performances of Oct. 3 and 4.

Boulez's Last Hurrah: Janacek's House of the Dead Conquers Vienna

Thirty-one years after their historic Ring in Bayreuth, Pierre Boulez and Patrice Chéreau have been reunited by another smashing success, Leos Janacek's last opera, they Syberian horror story that is From the House of the Dead, in Vienna (at the Festwochen). Standing ovations galore and great, great reviews in the Austrian press (esp Kurier and Die Presse). Sadly, it will be 82-year-old Boulez's last hurrah as opera conductor, because he wants to concentrate on composing. He will occasionally conduct symphonic works, but operas consume way too much time -- three or four months of work -- for the maestro.

We will admire the same production next year at la Scala (it's a co-production with la Scala, Aix-en-Provence, the Met and obviously the Wiener Festwochen).

A Boulez/Chereau interview on Orf is here.

Pierre Boulez: Mahler and Me

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Pierre Boulez in the Süddeutsche Zeitung:

Süddeutsche Zeitung: Do you have to be 80 years old to understand Mahler?

Pierre Boulez: *cries*

Well, no, not exactly -- the maestro reacts with extraordinary coolness, no matter how lame the question. And the interview is much better than the first, superdumbo question.

* photo BBC