Ewa Podles, Clytemnestra, Nice 25-05-2011.

There is a terrible chaos in my blogging, perhaps I have to put up with it and adapt!
I was in Nice, which is my home town, on May the 25th for a daring performance of Elektra.
I came to see Ewa Podles I admire a lot.
Her contralto special rich voice and her colaratura abilities made her outstanding among deep women voices. Of course she is for me a gem in the realm of this type of singing voice, which begins with the mezzo soprano. She has also a bright high range, a rather striking one as great as a soprano. I have known her because of her Handel renditions, and gradually I started listening to her more. She has a dramatic clear diction and a very powerful acting.
Two arias, where it is possible to appreciate her voice: Rinaldo-Cara sposa
Orlando:E questo la Mercede
The cast:
Tragédie en 1 acte.
Livret d'Hugo von Hofmannsthal d'après Sophocle.
Créé à Dresde, au Semperoper, le 25 janvier 1909.
Production du Théâtre Mariinsky de Saint-Pétersbourg, présentée pour la première fois en France.

Direction musicale Michael Güttler*
Mise en scène Jonathan Kent* réalisée par Edward Dick*
Décors et costumes Paul Brown*
Lumière Tim Mitchell* réalisée par Bernard Barbero

Clytemnestre Ewa Podles *
Elektra Larissa Gogolevskaia*
Chrysothémis Manuela Uhl*
Egisthe Donald Litaker*
Oreste Vadim Kravetz*
Le précepteur d'Oreste Frédéric Goncalves
La confidente Corinne Parenti
La porteuse de traîne Yoon Jung Chang
Un jeune serviteur Christian Brüggemann*
Un vieux serviteur Stefano Olcese
La surveillante Isabelle Vernet
Première servante Jelena Bodrazic*
Deuxième servante Monika Waeckerle*
Troisième servante Sophie Angebault*
Quatrième servante Jae Hee Kim*
Cinquième servante Melody Louledjian*

Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice - Chœur de l'Opéra de Nice
Nice Opera House is a nice small Italian House, very comfortable for voices and orchestras. That night I had an ideal position, sitting right in the front middle row of the amphi theater, I had a splendid view of the pit, the stage, plus the house! I enjoyed myself so much that night. The Marinski singers were fantastic. Electra and Clytemnestra were astonishing.
This should have been televised because it was real art: setting, acting, music, singers, and of course the brilliant Strauss scores. For me it is one of the best operas, one I would like to see more often and it would have been an act of pure Art to share it through broadcasting. But the hype today must be made on "stars" like the ones we saw last night on Mezzo from Marseilles Opera House. (I will try to say what I feel after next sunday about Le Cid. I watched it on Mezzo last night but I will attend it on Sunday, last performance of the four ones).
Ewa Podles and Larissa Gogolevskaia, the infernal couple mother and daughter of the Greek myth, were both utterly good vocally and in their difficult acting. The transe dance of loony Electra was beyond words. Ewa was a sort of old glamourous haunted rich jet setter wrapped in a white long furcoat, as her daughter, almost like a tramp in a red striped tracksuit was squatting the cellar of the palace, among piles of junk. I loved that contrast, it was very craftily designed with stairs to the posh levels where Orestes will venge their father's slaughter. Agamemnon was always there in his daughter's heart, and in the military jacket she was wearing and dancing with. The waltz which begins and never ends was performed with the jacket.


The applause was thunderous at the end. It was too soon! I would have liked to stay longer. I wonder if I will see such a great cast again...