"My heart in the highlands, my heart is not here!"

http://www.operadetoulon.fr/Oeuvres/didon-et-enee/didon-et-enee.html





I could parody this famous poem:
My heart in Korea, my heart is not here...
This is the truth, I cannot simply try to make up my mind about these ten days without flying back there, gazing at our photos, reading, but not writing.
So, meanwhile I stopped in Paris and listened to Pelléas and Mélisande which I adored. The combination of beautiful singers, Natalie Dessay, Simon Keenlyside, Laurent Naouri, Alain Verhnes, Marie-Nicole Lemieux (what a singer!).... shook off the jetlag(we landed at Roissy the evening before) and I was quite happy to sit on the folded seat and have a nice view as I was at the last row of the second balcony at the TCE. L. Langrée helped me to still think I was flying, his beautiful Debussy's long musical phrases rocked me until a neighbour sneezed loudly just when Natalie was beginning her incredible ' oiseau' aria a capella. And she was so good. Of course Laurent Naouri-Golaud is superbe, here he did not have to pull his wife's hair as it was a concert version, I felt relieved! I quite enjoy concert versions because it seems to me the music sounds much better! Simon is a perfectionist when he sings in French, and I am so fond of his voice. They were terribly credible and acting their roles in a way, all of them.
Then, we spent Easter Sunday in Toulon, because I managed to get a ticket for Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, with the adorable Anna Caterina Antonacci. She is as classy as Anja Harteros according to me. The much awaited ' Ah! Belinda...was rendered with restraint, in perfect tones and prononciation and such elegance! I would have liked it to last longer! she was so good in her death aria 'When I am laid..'The Ode to santa Cecilia which began and ended the matinée did not match the beauty of Purcell's short opera, as it happened, I found it disturbing to finish on it, it stole the show to awesome Anna Caterina!. But still it was a worthless way of spending Easter Sunday.



I had a big blow when I was aware Miss Netrebko would not make her Stabat Mater on the 26th at Pleyel. I was really looking forward to seeing her again. I missed her televised Anna Bolena (I was in Korea). That evening too, I was going to meet some friends I had not seen for a long time. How disappointing! Still, that's how it goes, singers are human beings not machines, I do hope she is better by now!
This Kid is what La Monnaie de Munt found to advertise for 'les journées de l'opéra' ! It is great! I love this kid!!!
Images of early spring in Seoul and Andong countryside are still on my mind. As they had a long and cold winter, the flowering season was just starting when we arrived and was in full bloom when we left. I keep saying to myself I was so lucky to be there at that time. And so lucky to be welcomed by fantastic D's friends from Seoul National University who took us around and introduced us to gorgeous Korean food!