TrendFEM - A Blog about Opera & Theatre
  • Home
  • Theatre
  • Opera
  • Blog
  • Classical Music
  • Dance
  • About
  • More
    • Stage Cake Podcast
    • Contact Me
    • Art & Museums
    • Films and other stuff
Home
Theatre
Opera
Blog
Classical Music
Dance
About
More
    Stage Cake Podcast
    Contact Me
    Art & Museums
    Films and other stuff
  • Home
  • Theatre
  • Opera
  • Blog
  • Classical Music
  • Dance
  • About
  • More
    • Stage Cake Podcast
    • Contact Me
    • Art & Museums
    • Films and other stuff
TrendFEM - A Blog about Opera & Theatre
Blog Classical Music Opera Theatre

January 8 – 23 2018: Riots of L.A., interviews with conductors and singers, Salome at the Covent Garden, Christian Slater, Theatre News & other Social Media bits

Gerald Finley as Scarpia and the ROH Chorus, Tosca 2018, (C) Catherine Ashmore

Welcome! Here’s a roundup of news, posts, bits and pieces I’ve been sharing on Social Media from the second week of January.  That includes Bridge Theatre’s PR email blunders, Devoted and Disgruntled’s 13th event, and lots of interviews and reviews.

TrendFem – My blog posts

I shared some of my thoughts of the opening night of #ROHTosca with Joseph Calleja, Gerald Finley and Adrianne Pieczonka. It’s the ninth revival of Jonathan Kent’s production. (Click here.)

Come and get a history lesson at the ‪@gatetheatre with ‪@NinaB0wers ‘s captivating performance ‪#Twilight1992 (here) focusing on the riots of Los Angeles in 1992.

It was National Popcorn Day on Friday 19th, so I sent out a post I wrote in 2016 discussing the effects that cinema live screen events have had on converting new audiences to opera (here).

It was the opening night of David McVicar’s revival production of Salome with Malin Bystrom and Michael Volle. I wrote about their tremendous performance here.

>>>

Classical Music Interview Opera

‘Don’t trip and fall on your face.’ An interview with Alexander Joel, conductor of Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House (2018)

‘Don’t trip. Don’t trip and fall on your face.’ Tonight (January 16th, 2018), the Royal Opera House shall broadcast director David McVicar’s revived production of Rigoletto live to cinemas across the UK and abroad, and its conductor Alexander Joel tells me what he hopes won’t happen on his first Live Cinema event. ‘I’m excited, but the cameras won’t be on me anyway. I don’t like cameras on my face. They’ll probably film me for those first five seconds I come into the pit… and then the orchestra will start.’

Alexander Joel has performed multiple times at the Royal Opera House since his debut in 2013, conducting La bohème. He was invited to conduct again at the Royal Opera House in 2015 and 2016 for their productions of La Traviata and Carmen. He has also performed a wide range of pieces from operas, ballets and symphonies in various countries and worked with many international orchestras including the Vlaamse Opera orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, to name a few.

>>>

Opera Review

Royal Opera House: Rigoletto (2017)

Rigoletto performed by Dimitri Platanias (Photo by Mark Donet)

Last night was the big night – the premiere of David McVicar’s 2001 debaucherous production of Verdi’s devastating father-daughter opera. This night was dedicated to Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky who died last month battling with brain cancer. The legendary singer was originally intended to perform the role of Rigoletto for this season and the audience was respectful as his name was announced just before the first act.

Speaking of the crowd, they were rather restless this evening, particularly upstairs at the amphitheatre where three phones went off and several mobile screens beamed their light in ‘The Gods’ blinding those sitting nearest to them. Nonetheless, they soon piped down as the commencing scene took an interesting turn. Verdi’s grand music introduced lascivious men fascinating over female prostitutes at the court of Mantua – an orgy happening at every corner of the stage. Some members of the Royal Opera’s orchestra performed Verdi’s score behind the stage, creating a muffled sound as courtiers screamed merrily, enjoying each other’s intimate pleasures. This – obviously – made some members of the audience feel uncomfortable.>>>

Opera Review

ENO: Rigoletto (2017)

Rigoletto - ENO - Alastair Muir

The ENO has revived an original Jonathan Miller production that took flight in 1982 – it received rave reviews regarding its unique and authentic stage work. Back in 1982, Miller’s innovation came from shifting Verdi’s original 19th century Italian Renaissance setting to the 1950s, a world of organised crime and gangster mafia. For Miller, a familiar and relatable reality, fuelled by betrayal, lawlessness, and murder, confirmed how equally disturbing and dark Verdi’s opera is.

Various accounts from those who saw it back then spoke kindly of Miller’s artistry, however, after seeing it at the Coliseum, revived by Elaine Tyler-Hall with designers Rosemary Vercoe and Patrick Robertson, whatever magic they saw then didn’t seem present here. Perhaps for the 1980s this was a novelty, but after three decades, where stage directing has clearly evolved, this may not seem so new to a contemporary audience. Nevertheless, there are some extraordinary moments and performances to take away from this revived undertaking.

>>>

Like Trendfem On Facebook

Facebook Pagelike Widget

Awarded Top 30 Theatre Blogs by Feedspot

Archives

Get new posts by email

Topics

BBC Proms (13) English National Opera (17) Interview (35) Musical (15) opera (21) Q & A (29) Royal Albert Hall (11) Royal Opera House (20) shakespeare (12) theatre (13)

TWEET FEED

The profile image of MaryGNguyen
Drama llama Mary🌸🎶 5 hours ago

May I just vote for ' Janácek' in general, please. twitter.com/aquilanebula/s…

Favourite (late) Janáček opera? #classicalpoll

— Christian Hoskins (@aquilanebula) February 19, 2019
The profile image of MaryGNguyen
Drama llama Mary🌸🎶 5 hours ago

Yes, Karita. I remember how amazing you were at the BBC Proms, 2016. trendfem.blogspot.com/2016/08/bbc-pr… twitter.com/MattilaKarita/…

For me MAKROPULOS.

Luckily Jenůfa wasn’t put on there.

I love KAT’A.

I don’t mind being in second place. Well. With Cunning little Vixen leading I do - a bit.

I mean; PEOPLE! C’mon - go vote. Elina it is. MAKROPULOS❤️

— Karita Mattila (@MattilaKarita) February 19, 2019
The profile image of jingerbreadmin
sɪɴ¨̮ || sope fs📌 2 days ago

UNMUTE THIS, YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS Retweeted by Drama llama Mary🌸🎶

The profile image of tinyfilmlesbian
megan 18 hours ago

when press accreditation costs £50, you are already excluding people from going and further contributing to the dearth of working class critics in film journalism Retweeted by Drama llama Mary🌸🎶

The profile image of FernRiddell
Dr Fern Riddell 1 day ago

Real live footage of me being followed by all my insecurities Retweeted by Drama llama Mary🌸🎶

The profile image of RealHughJackman
Hugh Jackman 18 hours ago

This is where you wanna be. @BRITs @AtlanticRecords #Gracey #Wallen Retweeted by Drama llama Mary🌸🎶

The profile image of GWR
GuinnessWorldRecords 1 day ago

Welcome to the family, @RealHughJackman. Congratulations on your record-breaking @Marvel career as Wolverine. Retweeted by Drama llama Mary🌸🎶

The profile image of MaryGNguyen
Drama llama Mary🌸🎶 1 day ago

Without having seen Come From Away yet I'm already reading this tweet thinking 'I know, I know'. twitter.com/rochellebalboa…

Spent the whole of my lunch break reading reviews of Come From Away from bloggers. 👍 Traditional criticism is becoming harder and harder to stomach when many paper critics now seem to find petty reasons to pick holes in a show successfully spreading some good in the world.

— Rochelle Bisson (@rochellebalboa) February 19, 2019
The profile image of MaryGNguyen
Drama llama Mary🌸🎶 1 day ago

Yes, I just booked advanced tickets for a film about a female writer who forgets she's also a kick-ass superhero. Not enough of those types of films, if you ask me. @captainmarvel

Categories

Art & Museums (9) Blog (40) Circus (1) Classical Music (39) Contemporary Music (1) Dance (15) Film Music (1) Interview (48) News (2) Opera (162) Opinion (1) Other (17) review (3) Review (222) Stage Cake Podcast (4) Theatre (150)

Follow me on Instagram
© 2018 by Trendfem | All rights reserved
I use cookies to ensure that I give you the best experience on my blog. If you continue to use this blog, I will assume that you are happy with it. To find out more, including how to control cookies, click Privacy Policy.OkPrivacy Policy