Royal Opera: Les Troyens

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Sadly, Jonas Kaufmann has had to withdraw from the eagerly anticipated production of Les Troyens at Covent Garden (and presumably the related Proms performance).

Trojan Hoarse: http://www.opera-britannia.com/index...d=709&Itemid=1

It looks as if the withdrawl of Eva-Maria Westbroek, rumoured several weeks ago, has come to naught and, with Anna-Caterina Antonacci in the production, this still looks to be the operatic highlight of the season.

[underthecountertenor]

Greatly looking forward to it, despite Kaufmann's withdrawal. What a terrible season the ROH has had for cancellations. And it's already started for next season as well, with Diana Damrau withdrawing from Robert le Diable on almost exactly the same day as the House magazine appeared featuring her on the front cover!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

What a terrible season the ROH has had for cancellations.

The season's not over yet...

[Barbirollians]

Surely not opera's first lady in Boheme ?

[bluestateprommer]

Sadly, Jonas Kaufmann has had to withdraw from the eagerly anticipated production of Les Troyens at Covent Garden (and presumably the related Proms performance).......

It's official now, per The Proms' weblisting, that JK is out of Prom 11, with Bryan Hymel taking his place as Enee. The Forum calendar is correspondingly updated as well.

[Belgrove]

This is being streamed on July 5th on thespace.org

http://www.roh.org.uk/news/les-troyens-to-be-streamed-and-broadcast-on-5-july

The reviews have been largely positive. I'm going later in the run.

[Frances_iom]

The reviews have been largely positive.

literally very warm I would expect ! - I'd aim for an early performance as not clear the house would survive if some of the fire raising props went wrong!
Other than that a long evening - Cassandra was probably the best on the 1st night but in all honesty Berlioz might well have been better advised to tighten up some of the numbers - that said there are some truely beautiful sections and it is good to see it as a whole.

[bluestateprommer]

One review of the ROH's Les Troyens is from the NYT critic Anthony Tommasini (lucky him to get to travel for work):

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/arts/music/les-troyens-at-the-royal-opera-house-in-london.html

The Met in NYC will also be doing a production that will be HD'ed to cinemas next January. Seems to be the year for Les Troyens, and it's not even a Berlioz anniversary year.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I was there on Thursday and really liked the production which - apart from the metal hulk set of Part I and the half-naked dancers in Act IV - scored quite low on McVicar Bingo. I thought the contrast between Troy and Carthage worked well; I especially liked the honeycomb-like nature of Carthage, with Dido as Queen Bee at its centre... good to see photographs in the lavish (= expensive) programme, which seemed to have inspired the set production. I didn't mind the ballet sequences, mainly because I enjoy the music.

I felt Part I was dramatically much stronger than Part II, but this is as much Berlioz's fault as McVicar's. I wasn't convinced by the ending. I did see it coming, partly because of the view I had from the Amphitheatre, but it earned a fair amount of derision from audience members emerging from the House (at a very reasonable 10:20pm).

I thought most of the performances were excellent. Anna Caterina Antonacci was, predictably, rather wonderful. It seems she limits her operatic repertoire rather than being ignored by the ROH for seasons on end, but I do hope we see her again at this address soon as she's a fabulously committed performer. I thought she was superbly partnered by Fabio Capitanucci's Corebus and that Act I duet will be an earworm for weeks to come, I predict.

Bryan Hymel was mightily impressive. A friend on Monday (who had seen the Dress) felt that Jonas Kaufmann might just have been too perfect(!); he's certainly has a more baritonal sound, where a brighter tenor, such as Hymel's, is more appropriate in grand French repertoire. His acting isn't much to write home about, but with a voice like that...

Eva-Maria Westbroek as Dido was less successful than the other leads; a charming stage presence in Act III, but she wasn't as mesmerizing as I'd hoped for in the final scene and - vocally - I'd prefer a richer voice, something a bit more mezzo-ish like Jessye Norman. Hanna Hipp was an excellent Anna and Ed Lyon very fine as Hylas. Ji-Min Park was a little underwhelming in Iopas' beautiful aria 'O blonde Cérès' - difficult to rid my mind of Mark Padmore in the Châtelet production.

I'm looking forward to hearing this again at the Proms.

[BBMmk2]

I heard that kauffman was to withdraw from this production. What a loss for the team! His health is getting worse?

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I heard that kauffman was to withdraw from this production. What a loss for the team! His health is getting worse?

Kaufmann withdrew from all operatic engagements in May and June. He did appear before the Champions League final in Munich, but mimed. Fans were worried it was something serious, but it seems he is getting back to vocal health and will resume his calendar shortly. He has already withdrawn from the Troyens prom performance, which I suspect is out of fairness to Bryan Hymel who has stepped in so valiantly at Covent Garden. http://www.jonaskaufmann.com/de/4/#34

[Prommer]

It is such a shame to relay this, but I have it on high authority that J. Kaufmann, whom I respect very much as a performer and as an artist, was in the case of Les Troyens not prepared to commit the time to rehearsals that the ROH required, and that, even when (after much soul-searching) they offered some compromises, these were dismissed as inadequate. In other words, this is not a problem confined to serial cancellers and obvious divas, but has become a deep-rooted and systemic problem even with those at the top of their game. The reason? The high demand for, and lack of supply of, top singers at the major international houses leading to artists knowing what they can get away with, especially when they can see the returns of concert tours compared to a run of performances even at a big house. They need to keep a toe hold at such places, but they also know that their demands will mostly be met, and that they need not devote much time to different productions of pieces they already have in their repertoire. Oh dear!

[Flosshilde]

But does that tally with IGI's comment that he withdrew from all operatic engagements in May & June?

[Prommer]

No, not at first blush - but apparently this is what he was asking for behind the scenes. I can only assume that, once he had elected to withdraw, a reason of illness was the preferred get-out rather than coming clean on these backstage manoeuvres, and that therefore he had to cancel other appointments that fell in the period for fear of his new performance policy becoming known and causing some collateral reputation damage.

[David-G]

I would not agree with Il Grande Inquisitor that the Carthage acts are weaker dramatically than the Trojan ones. I have never felt this with previous productions that I have seen. If that seemed the case here, I would put that down in part to the production, but also to our Dido being a less compelling actress than our Cassandra. Of course, the mood of the Carthaginian acts is quite different; less tense, and more expansive.

McVicar tried very hard to be faithful to Berlioz's intentions and to the spirit of the opera. I felt that if he did not always succeed, it was a very genuine attempt, and in consequence I enjoyed the production greatly.

Incidentally, we were told in no uncertain terms by David Cairns at the Study Day that dividing the opera into two parts was absolutely against Berlioz's intentions, and that one should NOT refer to "Part 1" and "Part 2" !