Matthias Rexroth (Armindo) stretches under Christine Schaefer's (Partenope) watchful, distressed eyes in Haendel's "Partenope" @ Vienna's "Theater an der Wien", where the opera runs until March 6.
Below, Patricia Bardon (Rosmira/Eurimene) and Christine Schaefer (Partenope) go online, trying to look up Opera Chic on their crummy laptop.
Both photos by Armin Bardel.
**OC is watching live on ZDF the concert as broadcast via satellite. Scroll down for the half-time teaser pictures.
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Liveblogging the outdoor concert gala that is going on right now in Vienna's Schloss Schönbrunn with Vienna's Radio Symphony Orchestra and appearances by Rolando Villazón, Plácido Domingo, and Anna Netrebko. Program here!
Plácido Domingo sang first Jules Massenet's Le Cid - "O souverain, ô juge, ô père". Then Rolando Villazón sang Amilcare Ponchielli's Il figliuol prodigo - "Il padre!...Tenda natal". He's crazy sweaty.
omg omg it's Trebs. She's in a headband with gold and red accents, bright red lipstick, crazy preg. Wearing a floaty gigantic silk chiffon dress, bright red. She's singing Emmerich Kálmán's Die Csárdásfürstin - "Heia in den Bergen". Voice is deep and rich. She's dancing all over the stage and twirling in like a whole whirling dance. The dress hides her whole belly. She's not breaking a sweat. Her voice is so dark and creamy. She's done. Huge long black extensions for hair.
Back to Viallzon. His hair is big and fluffy. He's wearing a black shirt, black pants, and a black jacket with a Neru collar, and a gold braid on the collar. He's singing Francesco Paolo Tosti's "Ideale". Good control.
The concert is outdoors in the grand courtyard of Schloss Schönbrunn. It's closed to the public, with chairs set up for all the VIPS that snagged tickets to this hyped event. This is Netrebko's last performance before she takes a temporary hiatus for TEH BEBBE. The weather is clear and gorgeous, and the sun is just setting.
The Dominger is back. He's in a black tuxedo suit jacket with black satin accents. He just sang Richard Wagner's Die Walküre - "Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond". Fine.
La Trebs is back. She's in gigantic stiletto heels with that red dress. She's playing with her super-long extensions. She's singing Luigi Arditi's "Il bacio". Hanging dangling gold earrings. The cut of her dress makes her hips look srsly wide. The dress is an empire-waist with a srsly low cut decollete top. She's having a lot of fun. Someone just threw her a huge bouquet of long-stem red&white roses from the audience, and she caught it!
Plácido Domingo & Rolando Villazón are together on stage singing Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlo - "E lui! Desso!...Dio, che nell'alma infondere". It's a little, um, chaotic. It must be said that Rolando is wearing a crap load of foundation on his face. Maybe that's why he was sweating. They're all miked-up, obvs, but they sound good. THey're really getting into it, and Rolando's feelin' it. The Domigus is reading from music off a stand. They hugged at the end of the duet.
Now it's a pause. I can't wait for John Denver in the second half!! c u l8r! Ok make sure you scroll down for the first batch of teaser pictures...
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Back from the first break, and Domnigio hasn't changed his outfit. Boo. We were hoping for something sparkly. He's singing Franz Lehár's "Gern hab ich die Frau'n geküsst". He's holding his belly. The sun has completely set, so there are some electric blue light effects all over the structure he's singing under. Bertrand De Billy is conducting.
"VIVA WIEN!" Shouted Villazon to the audience when he came back out for the second break. He's acknowledging a few stray cat calls in the audience. Cute. He's clearly pleased. He's changed his jacket into a bright white one with a satin white-on-white floral pattern. He's singing Franz Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns - "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz". Someone threw him a boquet of orange flowers, which he barely caught, and some random old lady tried to slip him an envelope, but he couldn't get it.
LA ANNA! She's changed her dress into a black, full-length, tiered, ruffled number. It's black glittery layers, strapless. She's singing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov "The Rose and the Nightingale". Still the same Xtina Aguilera red lipstick. She's wearing a large, intricate necklace of blingy cristals or something. It's all diamonds with some really cheesy pink balls. She's taken the headband out of her hair, but it's still that half up-half down style.
Now it's a duet between Anna and Domingus. Franz Lehár's Die lustige Witwe - "Lippen schweigen". It's um, sweet. No podium for Domingo this time. That necklace just isn't working. It's all stiff and tight around her neck. She's rubbing on Domingo's arm. She got a nice ring from Schrott. omg they're waltzing together and the audience is applauding. Huge applause at the end for that gratuitous waltz.
Now it's time for Radio Symphonieorchester Wien's solo of Johann Strauß jr.'s Unter Donner und Blitz op. 324 - Polka schnell. omg so corny. where's the dancing bear?
Next is Domingo & Villazón singing John Denver's "Perhaps Love". Somewhere in Muppet heaven Kermit the frog is wetting himself. Karaoke. "Some say dey don't know" heh. Who's idea was that? ok, that was actually really sweet.
Netrebko is back out singing Léo Delibes's "Les filles de Cadix". Those extensions are too long, getting caught under her armpits. But she's singing lovely. This one she's having lots of fun. I swear she has some red lipstick on her teeth, but I could be wrong. Let's wait for the final shots. Okay, now a duet between Anna and Rolando? omg everyone's twitching.It's ¡Sí, torero quiero ser!.
ok, show stopper trio, Rudolf Sieczynski's "Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume" Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo & Rolando Villazón on stage all together. Anna is reading off a stand, and she needs it...because she almost came in full force a dozen measures before she was supposed to. She's lost on this one. OM G THEY'RE FORGETTING THE WORDS!! The camera pulled away for a long shot, and then when it came back, Rolando had pulled the music off the stand. This is a trainwreck. They didn't practice this one. This is a mess.
Big applause. Long stemmed roses for Anna. The Dominger is taking a bis: Federico Torroba's "Amor, Vida De Mi Vida". We <3 u Domingus! I'd still throw my Eres at his feet!
Now it's Rolando's turn! His bis is a zarzuela, Alberto Arrabal La del soto del parral "Ya mis horas felices". He screamed VIVA at the crowd again. omg. Huge applause at the end.
Now it's Anna's turn: Strauss's Cacilie. It sounds weird. Ew. Let's pray she doesn't forget the words. Nope. Short and sweet.
Now all three are on stage, and they've been handed beautiful bouquets each. Villazon is fondling his flowers. They walk off the stage. Is it over? Nope, they're back out.
Another encore for the three! Libiamo from La Traviata. Predictable crowd pleasure, and the audience is peeing themselves. That sounded horrible. It was a parody of Verdi. That was embarrassing. It was like Medieval Times or something. The crowd sang along at one point. It's pretty much over.
ITS OVER!!! We've got a Youtube upload coming of that John Denver song, and loads more screen shots.
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It's unusual to see such public vitriol at such high levels, even in the famously snarky world of opera.
A few days ago Scala GM Stéphane Lissner had snarked, in the press, Vienna and Munich, "where they don't rehearse as much and this has recently been the cause of substandard shows", in Italian "spettacoli di basso livello", literally translated as "low-level shows". "A Vienna ho visto un Don Giovanni di assoluta routine. Per il signor Holender non è mai troppo tardi per imparare", Lissner told Italian paper La Stampa: "In Vienna I saw a substandard Don Giovanni. For Mr. Holender is never too late to learn".
Yesterday Ioan Holender, Vienna's Staatsoper director has shot back with surprising vitriol, as reported in today's papers.
"This (attack) is unprecedented between opera houses: it is very embarrassing to engage in a dispute with someone who cannot read music but I understand Lissner needs to distract the Italian press from what is happening -- or better yet, not happening -- at la Scala".
"To cancel a new production (ed: the Andrea Chenier Opera Chic wrote extensively about) because the director and almost all of the cast have vanished is quite unusual and unbelievable for a opera house. With such attacks against my work Lissner disqualified himself, since he knows that I have been leading for 16 years the glorious Vienna opera with more than 60 operas in repertoire and more than 300 shows every season. Monsieur Lissner's envy is understandable when one sees that these days on the Vienna podium we have Christian Thielemann, Seji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti and Zubin Mehta, who are among the world's greatest conductors. They are not at la Scala where, unfortunately, there is only Lissner: this is sad".
If we were Brits, we'd totally say: Blimey Guv'nor!
Moar Vienna randomness...
^^^^ kittymilk. srsly vienna, u rulez
^^^^^^ omg swiss mary-juana drink will get ur mouth high.
^^^^^ i swear it looked more perverted in person!
^^^^^^^^ this is pretty old skool rite here.
^^^^ alessi, i know, he's italian. but damn. just damn.
^^^^^ superbad represent. I am McLovin'
^^^^^ Billa truck. We dream of Billa.
Moar Vienna madness...
^^^^ the offical Mozart tour bus.
^^^^^ we just missed this!!
^^^^^ Wiener Staatsoper trailer.
^^^^^ i laughed. Out loud.
^^^^^ it was a mirror.
^^^^795€ = $1130 USD for this pocket watch, but it plays Mozart's greatest hits!
Detail of Mozart pocket watch ^^^^
^^^^ a clear shot of the Wiener Staatsoper from the terrace of the Albertina.
Everyone in Vienna was out pimpin Decca's Pavarotti Forever October release, and we're gonna do it, too. That's right. With this post.
still didn't buy it tho' *ppppthttththhtt*
In addition to the comprehensive music stores that litter Vienna's Kärntnerstrasse (like the dizzying EMI store) and the Ringstrasse, we kicked around the miniature Wiener Philharmoniker store that tempted with exclusive Wiener recordings. We had tried to visit during our first trip to Vienna last year, but they were closed for inventory or something. We <3 it because they even have their own Walk of Fame star smack in front of the store. Let's hope Walmart doesn't buy out the property one day.
In addition to CDs and DVDs, a smattering of Wiener Philharmoniker souvenirs becon. However, at €50 (USD $70), we balked at the purchase of an exclusive WP optical mouse. I mean, it's all sorts of rad, but dang...optical is kinda jumpy, and you can get one neways for 30 bucks.
But no joke. I'd be big pimpin with that optical mouse. true dat. after some kickball in the park, i'd pull off my leggings and oversized thrift store t-shirt, crack open a PBR, pop in some Decemberists, stream the screener of The Darjeeling Limited, and fire-up the Wiener optical mouse. Cuz im twee like dat.
Anyway OC could not resist and did buy a box of Clemens Krauss's throat lozenges because the weather was chilly, a Wilhelm Furtwaengler beanie hat for her little cousin, Karajan's penguin pajamas for her dad, but she could not bring herself to buy one of those creepy Hans Knappertbusch rubber mask/a$$chaps combos.
Now that teh gr8 *~*OC*~* has returned from Vienna and downloaded the images from all her various cameras and phones, she's ready to share with you the awesome things that she saw in the city. Viennarrific.
OC thought it was proper to pay her respects last week in Vienna @ Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof, Vienna's largest cemetery. Boarding the tram #71 out of Schwarzenbergplatz, we were treated to a panorama of some of Vienna's undercover boutiques and bars, running a 25 minute stretch from downtown. Destination: A gray and labyrinthish cememtery of gigantic tombstones. Here you find the graves of [cut&paste lol @ wikipaedia] Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Carl Czerny, Christoph Gluck, Lotte Lehmann, György Ligeti, Léonie Rysanek, Antonio Salieri, Franz Schmidt, Arnold Schönberg, Franz Schubert, the entire Strauss clan, Hugo Wolf, and Alexander von Zemlinsky. Among others, and a lame memorial to Mozart (his estimated grave actually stands in the now deconsecrated St. Marx-Friedhof @ Leberstrasse 6-8), the cemetery makes our own Cimitero Monumentale look like Washington Square Park (minus the drug dealers and skeevy old guys taking pictures of NYU students' feet).
Arnold Schönberg has one of the kewlest stones, simply a stylized & modern white cube perched precariously over his plot. We dropped an OE 40 @ the OG's grave. If you visit, make sure you stop @ the little office kiosk and buy a map for 20 euro cents because that sheet is off tah hook. Even with the map, it's difficult to navigate because of its ginormity. Luckily, most of the repositioned graves of our most beloved composers are found in partition 32A, marked with signage "Musiker" (see below).
You can go online and find the actual images of the notable graves, but OC won't do the pleasure 'cause it's not her thang.
Before Opera Chic decyphers her notes (hastily written in the back of a seriously chocolate-stained napkin from Demel), just a quick roundup – the review is coming later – on tonight’s production of Manon Lescaut at Vienna’s Staatsoper. We’ll write extensively tomorrow about the awesomeness of Fabio Armiliato’s and Daniela Dessì’s voices, but tonight we want to explain how, well, impressively not good the ideas Robert Carsen had for this staging, his second Manon Lescaut already, were.
We consider Carsen – together with David McVicar, Graham Vick, Nigel Lowery and a very few brilliant others who are mercifully under 70-years-old – the great hope for opera fans who hope to watch – and not just to listen – to some great shows in the future decades – Carsen is one of the kids whose responsibility it is to allow us not to go to the opera house wearing sleep masks to block out the sheer stupidity of the staging.
But, tonight we really wished we had kept one of those sweet green Alitalia sleep masks we wore last week coming back from the US (and not only because Alitalia’s imminent going out of business will turn them into cool retro memorabilia pretty soon).
Because Carsen is like one of those TV cops with a bad attitude and a lot of street smarts: all instincts and chutzpah, and when they get it right they crack the case before the next commercials appear; when they’re wrong, they’re like totally sending an innocent man to the chair because they’ve made themselves certain that he’s guilty, even when he’s clearly not.
Because when Carsen gets it the kicks major a$$ the way he did with his ethereal Dialogues des Carmelites and his otherworldly Iphigenie, to name just two, that are among the best productions we have ever seen; when he gets it wrong he either hammers already delicate material like Bernstein’s Candide into submission turning into something else and really damaging the piece in the process, or he simply ruins a perfectly good opera the way he did tonight with Manon Lescaut.
A first act where the students are dressed up in contemporary, GAP-style lam4r clothes and dance just like in one of those old GAP ads, only not as well, in a clap-ur-hands-say-yea fashion; where the action takes place in a mall where the women’s fashion is from the 1950s and the big props are shopping bags from Chanel and Gucci (big Puccini message: shopping bad, clapping hands like a moron good); Manon is decked out in a man’s shirt and navy trench coat just like those big stars from the DDR realist films from the 1950s (a sin especially unforgivable when the soprano is as milfatuation-worthy as Daniela Dessì, who’d really deserve better from her director and costume designer). Des Grieux instead wears an appalling black fake-leather coat over a sleeveless greenish hoodie (and good luck with that when the tenor isn’t as tall and slender and young-looking as Fabio Armiliato).
In the second act all hell breaks loose – it starts with Manon dressed out badly even as a rich woman, in a shapeless long black nightie that’s supposed to be a dress, we fear, underneath a premaman-like loose flowing purple jacket – evidently all the shopping didn’t help much since she’s made to look like a tree trunk, a good idea when the soprano weighs more than 200 pounds, a major sin when you have a soprano as attractive as Dessì. Impromptu photo shoots (with horribly stereotypical gay makeup artists prancing in various teapot stances and stealing Manon’s makeup in ways that make those black porters and maids from 1930s Hollywood movies look like models of sensitivity) follow; Manon and her chambermaids end the act gang-raped by Geronte and a bunch of soldiers dressed as the bad guys in the Matrix.
The third act’s best idea is a perp-walk of models that turns into a fashion show’s catwalk, with Paris Hilton-style celebrity justice and paparazzi shooting their flashlights like crazy, over and over, as the singers try to go on with the opera Puccini went to the trouble of writing.
In the final act, well, the desert is that same mall, with used-up shopping bags everywhere, and tons of money thrown everywhere (all the money in the world won’t buy you water, get it? Get it?? Get IT????).
In all this chaos, Dessi’s and Armiliato's singing was the usual wonder, as always, as if their voices come out of their throats already filtered and equalized and corrected by a sound engineer – they sound better live than most opera singers in studio recordings.
When in doubt, if they’re up on stage and the director is losing his pewp the way Carsen did tonight, just close your eyes. Or purchase score desk, partial view seats. (They’ll certainly beat our 70-dollars a pop seats at the Staatsoper – the least you see, the better in this case. Just listen, and dream.
OC, reporting °rite now° from a chilly & crisp Vienna, stumbled onto a new Mozart novelty while shopping in the disastrously crappy and equally exhilarating Mariahilfer Strasse. In Vienna, one can predictably find Mozart's idealized visage almost everywhere, from t-shirts to mugs, umbrellas to chocolates, scarves to toilet paper. Why no one has mentioned the more creative exploitations of the Austrian idol is beyond me, so imma bring it 2u raw.
At Vienna°s Secks World Spartacus (dont be a prude, Prudey McPrudePants), you can tickle your fancy with certain phallic delights inspired by revered composers. Yah thats rite. Here you can dream of a model called "The Mighty Mozart" or one called "The Teasing Tchaikovsky". omg löööööllllllllll.
From "The Teasing Tchaikovsky", the manufacturer boasts:
"Compose your greatest s3xual symphony, for a sensational org4$mic opus" (...) "sure to reach your high G notes" (...) "an orchestral org4$m" (...) "Rapturous Raunchy Rhythms."
We °heart° whoever wrote the super cheesy copy, and wish we could be so bold as to appropriate it as our own. In the meantime, insert joke about batons °rite here°.
Moar 2morrow...specifically this.