Simon boccanegra Arte on Saint Nicholas day.
This rendition was an amazing 'tour de force' on the sound effects as orchestra chorus and conductor were in the rehearsal hall a kilometer away from Zurich opera house. Sound ingeneers, ( mixing tables and all the heavy sound techniques) worked since last September to keep the artists and stage going .
Tonight there was a marvellous sound effect in my room around the television screen almost as good as what I like (and I miss so often when I watch a live opera on television), the 'depth' effect. I always say that the sound is 'flat' in front of TV, compared to the sound in the opera house or any concert hall.
What I hear in a concert hall or in an opera house has always an effect of echoing through my body, invading me to the extreme level of vibrating in me when it is very good!
So, I really enjoyed watching this live rendition from Zurich Opera house.
I remembered tonight the unforgettable Simon Boccanegra from the Royal Opera House in July 2010. My passion made me abandon grandchildren and husband in our London hotel to catch the underground direct to Covent Graden in haste ... It was two days before flying back to France so I still have the feeling it was selfish on my side to do so, but I really wanted to catch both Placodo Domingo in this baryton role and Joseph Calleja - Adorno, I had never seen live....
Tonight it was like being there with a close approach to the singers in a sober staging. There was an assumed time swicth in modern times (1900) but with no extravagant staging or costumes.
The sea was there too : materialised when needed in the lyrics by a small whitish light boat like a shipwrecked on the shore when Simon was having a flashback, his young daughter was also there , and later even Maria, her mother he loved so much. His personal drama is always illustrated : it is a process I often resent but because of the bare staging it was fine.
The last image when dead Simon walks out with angel Amelia and angel Maria by his sides in plain white long dresses, it is rather tear-jerking, with the last notes. I am looking forward to watching it again on line tomorrow night if it is on.
I want to listen to the beautiful singing at the end of act one and to the entire act three. Both Christian Gehaher and Christof Fischesser were singing Simon and Fiesco for the first time and they were both moving, impressive, and so good musically together.
Intrigue, family tragedy, power struggles.Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra has recently had a renaissance and turns out to be surprisingly topical.For this new production staged by Zurich's general director Andreas Homoki – in full compliance with corona safety regulations – internationally acclaimed baritone Christian Gerhaher makes another debut in the title role, while Fabio Luisi conducts his last Verdi production as General Music Director at Opernhaus Zurich.
Intrigue, family tragedy, power struggles – that’s Verdi’s opera Simon Boccanegra in a nutshell. Verdi himself once said: “The piece is gloomy, because it has to be gloomy, but it’s gripping!” The opera has recently had a renaissance at all the world’s major opera houses and turns out to be surprisingly topical: a thriller in which men make history and women often fall victim to their machinations. The premiere was a flop, though when the work was revived at La Scala Milan nearly twenty-five years later it met with thunderous applause. This revised version is the one that Andreas Homoki has staged at Opernhaus Zurich. Internationally acclaimed baritone Christian Gerhaher as Boccanegra makes another thrilling debut at Opernhaus Zurich, having previously shone as Alban Berg’s Wozzeck and Heinz Holliger's Lenau. For conductor Fabio Luisi, however, this will be his last new production of a Verdi opera as General Music Director. The inspiration for Verdi’s stirring drama set against a political backdrop was a play by Antonio García Gutiérrez based on an episode from medieval history. The composer was struck by the peace overtures of Boccanegra, a fourteenth-century Doge of Genoa, and saw parallels between them and the nineteenth-century struggle for Italian unity. Where Verdi most excels, however, is in his musical characterization of powerful and power-hungry men. The melodrama Simon Boccanegra was composed for Venice in 1857and was thoroughly reworked by the composer himself in collaboration with Arrigo Boito in 1881.
- With :
- Christian Gerhaher (Simon Boccanegra)
- Jennifer Rowley (Maria Boccanegra)
- Christof Fischesser (Jacopo Fiesco)
- Otar Jorjikia (Gabriele Adorno)
- Savelii Andreev (Captain of the Crossbowmen)
- Siena Licht Miller (Amelia's maid)
- Nicholas Brownlee (Paolo Albiani)
- Brent Michael Smith (Pietro)
- Composer :
- Giuseppe Verdi
- Director :
- Andreas Homoki
- TV production :
- Michael Beyer
- Music director :
- Fabio Luisi
- Orchestra :
- Philharmonia Zürich
- Choir director :
- Janko Kastelic
- Choir :
- Chor der Oper Zürich
- Libretto :
- Arrigo Boito, Francesco Maria Piave
- Sets :
- Christian Schmidt
- Lighting :
- Franck Evin
- Dramaturge :
- Fabio Dietsche
- Country :
- Switzerland
- Year :
- 2020
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