Teatro Real Madrid: capital of Bel Canto, oct 29/30.

Two days in Madrid for Norma on the 29th and 30th of October precisely to catch two casts of singers, some adored ones like Karine Deshayes in Adalgisa along side with Gregory Kunde as her Roman lover, and of course the Norma of the second cast, the real last belcanto soprano, Mariella Devia. On sunday afternoon the audience in Teatro Real made a great standing ovation to La Devia and the whole cast: in fact the enthusiasm went crescendo and exploded at the last scene: all singers were also carried away by the excellence of the singing of the lead singer, Mariella Devia, and also the sustained tempo at the orchestra (Bellini sounded so romantic  during those two performances, even the excess of repetition which can sound aukward at times, were really exhilarating!) . Having followed Norma the previous night with also great pleasure but no excessive passion for Norma-Maria Agresta who seemed more comfortable in this role during the second act, then the real passion for the touching Adalgisa delivered by Karine Deshayes who was completely at ease with the bel canto arias, I tried to imagine what the duets between Adalgisa and Norma would have been with Devia-Deshayes. One can always dream... but it could have happened !
 It would have been sheer delight! (not that what I heard twice running was not convincing, but I feel the combination of these two voices and their degree of musicality and knowledge of this repertoire, would have been a real treat!).
What with the summery weather and the atmosphere of lingering holidays in Madrid plus these two wonderful moments spent at packed Teatro Real ( above all on sunday tardès) I felt I was not on real grounds.

I had the great pleasure to thank Karine Deshayes for what she gave us: her prayer was sung at a very high level of bel canto with wonderful accents and weight on words. It is such a wonderful musical moment but it is not alone: the whole Norma is full of divine music! (not only the very famous casta diva).

To follow Karine Deshayes: today updated ling to Moscow for live broadcast: Werther
at 4GMT.
Here   two photos from the October 30th: Mariella Devia under thundering applause and standing ovation:

Here is the link to ARTE CONCERT : the 29th cast(without Mariella Devia as Norma)
http://concert.arte.tv/fr/norma-de-vincenzo-bellini-au-teatro-real-de-madrid