Opera Chic

Fabio Luisi Announces Early Resignation: Opera Chic Has The Scoop

 

News out of Dresden today states that Fabio Luisi has announced his early resignation from the Staatsoper Dresden. As Chief Conductor/Music Director since 2007, Luisi was contracturally tethered until 2012. He had also announced in June 2009 that he'd be stepping in (after Gatti's 3-year contract expired) as General Director of the Opernhaus Zürich starting in the 2012/2013 season.

In advance of his heartbreaking decision, Maestro Luisi wrote an elegant, pretty harsh, open letter to his colleagues at the Staatskapelle, addressing everyone from the A.V. staff to the choir members about his resignation, marked with disappointment.

He repeats that throughout his tenure, he enforced his personal philosophy of open dialogue, teamwork, and a coexistence of musical ideas -- a cooperation shaped by loyalty and openness and a willingness to find solutions to any problem, big or small.

He says was severely disappointed by the management of the Staatskapelle. During the planning and negotiations of the 2010 Silvesterkonzertes he was left out of the loop (as Musical Director, this violates his contract) and management went ahead with the planning of the festival, regardless of his input. All negotiations from that point forward were dicey, ending in Maestro Luisi's decision.

Click the link to read an excerpt of Maestro Luisi's letter... 

The Duke of Mantua Gets His Filth On: Screenshots from Dresden Rigoletto

If you've ever fantasized about a mulleted Juan Diego Flórez fondling (fondueing) the bewbs of a topless young lady who happens to be naked aside from black spandex bottoms and a giant eagle head, you've come to the right place. Thanks to the 8-bottles-of-Robotussin-induced direction for the Staatsoper Dresden's Rigoletto, Nikolaus Lehnhoff begins Verdi's timeless masterpiece with a Hieronymus Bosch bang, which by Scene II, dies back down to a barely audible LeRoy Neiman fizz.

~*OC*~ made two flickr sets of plasma screen shots from the ARTE "live" broadcast of the June 21, 2008 Rigoletto at Staatsoper Dresden to satisfy all your Flórez needs.

 

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Go here for the Safe For Work set of 50ish images from the opera.

Go here for the Not Safe For Work set...JDF cupping Act I bewbs.

Too Much Love Will Kill You: Diana Damrau Shows You How It's Done

Ignore that silly baby blue house of dolls the director has trapped her in; nevermind those zany ninjas waiting to kidnap her. Just listen to her phrasing, witness her colors come alive. And watch her fall asleep, safe in the arms in love. To steal the show from the greatest tenore di grazia of this age on the night of his first big Duke of Mantua, you need a voice like this, and this kind of dramatic truth. Opera Chic is awed by the brilliance of Diana Damrau's star, even in that darkest night of Regietheater.

The Duke Of Mantua Is A Chubby Chaser: JDF in Dresden, "Bella Figlia Dell'Amore"

**** La Donna E' Mobile, Hells Yeah:

Live Aus Dresden: Juan Diego Florez's Duke Of Mantua, Finally -- On Arte TV

Just a teaser because it's late; and until tomorrow, enjoy the photos and just a few words -- tonight at 7PM Juan Diego Florez debuted in Europe his Duke of Mantua, his first big Verdi role (unitl now he had steered clear of all Verdi except for his delicious Fenton) that he had introduced to the world in Peru two months ago.

At 9PM -- just the time to crudely edit out all intermissions and the big ovations after the big arias -- Arte Tv has broadcast the entire show via satellite. Here are some images from the insanely bad production -- whose director thought a good idea to burden JDF with a terrifying mullet, a tragic ponytail in Act II, 1970s dinner jackets, leather trench coats, leather vests (revealing not-so-toned upper arms -- el mejor tenor del mundo needs to hit the gym a bit because, for once, we'd like our opera legends of today and tomorrow and of the day after tomorrow to be ripped, if at all possible) -- the Duke of Mantua in the Dresden production was in fact the Duke of Star Trek, presiding over a court of devils, lizards, crows, space aliens with grey metallic skin, topless girls with giant pigeon heads.

How was his Duke, ignoring the visual horror of the production? Juan Diego created a nervous, capricious monster of egotism with a hidden romantic, sweet streak -- whose lighter tenor voice cannot obviously match the greatest, thuggish Dukes of the past, but whose beautiful phrasing, warmth and clarity -- oh the sheer beauty of Florez's voice -- can make us understand not the Duke, but Gilda better.

Because it makes us understand how is it even possible to die for his lies -- even his "dear name", of course, is as phony as everything else about him. The fact that Gilda was Diana Damrau -- not simply the queen of the night but one of the very few queens of nowadays opera, really at the top of the game -- only made the night more special. And it was difficult not to swoon for the Staatskapelle's sound, thanks to Fabio Luisi's intelligent reading of the score -- a dark, burnished hearbeat pulsing through the night, with a wonderful transparency of sound, rich of German depth and Italianate warmth.

Of course, with a different, saner director in Niki Lehnhoff's place and Leo Nucci as Rigoletto we'd be able to call tonight's Rigoletto "the Dresden Rigoletto" the same way we say, fer example, "the Lisbon Traviata". But since the only true giant of this impossible role, il maestro Leo Nucci, wasn't part of the cast, we can only say that, yes, Zeljko Lucic's Rigoletto was vocally correct, if dramatically inert. Much more, of course, tomorrow.