John Carver Alden News
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2024-04-24
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2024-03-15 09:42:00
Almost an expressionist nightmare: Janáček's Jenůfa at ENO with Jennifer Davis in the title role
Janáček:Jenůfa, Act 3 - Jennifer Davis - English National Opera, 2024 (Photo: © Ellie Kurttz)Janáček: Jenůfa; Jennifer Davis, Susan Bullock, Richard Trey Smagur, John Findon, Fiona Kimm, director: David Alden, conductor: Keri-Lynn Wilson; English National Opera at the London ColiseumReviewed 13 March 2024A vivid account of tis hard-edged, expressionist production showcasing intense and profound performances from the principalsDavid Alden's production of Janáček's Jenůfa at English National Opera debuted in 2006 and was last seen at the London Coliseum in 2016 [see my review]. The latest revival of the production is the last fully-staged opera ENO performs this season (two semi-staged performances of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle are to come), a significant moment when a large amount of 'who knows' seems to hang over the whole enterprise. But this revival, directed by David Alden, with movement director Maxine Braham, seemed to be a stake in the sand, showing what ENO does best. Conducted by […]
2024-03-14 13:02:12
Coliseum, LondonJennifer Davis in the title role and Susan Bullock as Kostelnička are both outstanding in Janáček’s unremittingly intense tale relocated to a drab industrial town in post-communist EuropeThe English National Opera season continues with a revival of David Alden’s 2006 staging of
2023-12-18 19:35:00
Ascanio in Alba, Oper Frankfurt, 17 December 2023
Bockenheimer DepotVenus – Kateryna Kasper Ascanio – Cecilia Hall Silvia – Karolina Bengtsson Aceste – Andrew Kim Fauno – Anna Nekhames Secretary – Aijan Ryskulova Bodyguard – Stefan Biaesch Silvia’s friends – Valentina Ziegler, Isabel Casás RamaNina Brazier (director)Christoph Fischer (set design)Henriette Hübschmann (costumes)Jonathan Pickers (lighting)Deborah Einspieler (dramaturgy)Vocal Ensemble (recorded)Frankfurt Opera and Museum OrchestraAlden Gatt (conductor)Images: Monika RittershausAceste (Andrew Kim), Silvia (Karolina Bengtsson), Venus (Kateryna Kasper), Ascanio (Cecelia Hall), Fauno (Anna Nekhames) It is not every day I get to hear a Mozart opera live for the first time. And yet, this year 2023, some time after my first year of opera-going, I have done so twice: Il re pastore at this year’s Salzburg Festival, albeit in concert performance, and now Oper Frankfurt’s new Ascanio in Alba, directed by Nina Brazier and conducted by Alden Gatt. Two to go, but another two ticked off the list—not that I ever wish to […]
2023-11-09 06:10:00
Thoughts on Lohengrin
[…] a completely different way from Jovanovich and who has a voice of unearthly beauty, of a type you rarely, if ever, find singing Wagner successfully. If you have not seen the video of the Neuenfels Lohengin from Bayreuth, I can't recommend it highly enough. It played better in the house than on video (friends found it a little silly; on stage, it was weirdly beautiful) but whatever. It's an amazing production and accurately represents Vogt's Lohengrin.The Alden production that SFO used muted a couple of points that are in the libretto. One is that there are both Saxons and Brabantians in the crowd when the curtain goes up on Act 1. We are in the 10th century, when Heinrich der Vogler (Henry the Fowler) was Duke of Saxony; he's in Brabant to recruit an army to stand up to the Hungarians. (It's always the Hungarians coming after you.) A staging could reasonably […]
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