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2024-03-29
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2024-03-27 08:09:00
Revisiting Staatsoper Berlin’s Ring cycle proved a thrilling experience: Dmitri Tcherniakov's production returns to Unter den Linden with conductor Philippe Jordan
Wagner: Das Rheingold - Staatsoper Berlin, 2022 (Photo: Monika Rittershaus)Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelungen; Tomasz Konieczny, Rolando Villazón, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Robert Watson, Vida Miknevičiūtė, René Pape, Claudia Mahnke, Anja Kampe, Andreas Schager, Stephan Rügamer, dir: Dmitri Tcherniakov; Staatskapelle Berlin, cond: Phillipe Jordan; Staatsopernchor, dir: Dani Juris, Staatsoper Berlin, Germany Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 26 March 2024True to form, Dmitri Tcherniakov drifts miles away from Wagner’s original intentions but, nonetheless, comes up with an interesting and extremely rewarding productionThe current Ring at Staatsoper Berlin came into being in October 2022 directed by Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov due to be conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Sadly, though, Maestro Barenboim, had to pull out of the production because of severe health issues, a great blow to all but so disappointing for Barenboim in his 80th year. All change, please! Therefore, it’s musical chairs at Staatsoper with Maestro Barenboim, who has held […]
Royal Opera House (The Guardian)
2024-03-26 12:56:43
Linbury theatre, Royal Opera House, LondonRafael Bonachela’s beautiful choreography and Paula Levis’ striking costumes stand out in pieces ranging from a gentle voyage to Stark electro intensityTwenty years ago, Rafael Bonachela was a major new talent in UK dance. A Spaniard who’d spent years dancing in London with Rambert and was making waves with his choreography. But in 2009 he left to become artistic director at Sydney Dance Company, so this show is a bit of a homecoming. The triple bill, titled Ascent, opens with a short piece of Bonachela’s own, I Am-ness, and it’s a reminder of the quality of his choreography: 10 minutes of beautiful movement, set to the keening and soaring violin of Lonely Angel by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks. It’s less frenetic than some of Bonachela’s early works, and takes time and pleasure in the facility of the four dancers in long, continuous, ever-evolving phrases. They’re […]
2024-03-23 15:27:00
R.I.P. Maurizio Pollini (1942-2024)
(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)Maurizio Pollini was one of the guiding lights of my musical life: which is to say, he and his music-making were with me from the moment in my teens when I became seriously interested in music. More, composers and performers alike, are gone now than remain with us; I shall not tempt fate by naming those who are left. One of my very first cassette purchases – it may even have been the first – was his recording of Mozart’s Piano Concertos nos 19 and 23 with Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic. I love it more than I can say. Mozart’s music requires but one thing: perfection. Perfection it receives in what, I suspect, will always be one of my Desert Island Discs. In my first London concert, a Prom for which I took the bus up to London and back to Sheffield for a birthday treat […]
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 […]
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