The Zurich “Agrippina”: Kasarova, Mijanovic, Bonitatibus
[Vesselina Kasarova as Agrippina and Marijana Mijanovic as Ottone in "Agrippina". Zürich, May 10th 2009. - Photo Credit: Susanne Schwiertz, Zurich Opera]
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The Zurich “Agrippina” is out! It offers Vesselina Kasarova in black gloves, channeling (as Purity put it) the late Bette Davis hair. Meanwhile, the (partially) see-through dress top seems to be channeling Catherine Naglestad’s legendary Alcina. Not that we would mind.
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Honorable mention: the smurf monkey.
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Also available: Anna Bonitatibus lounging in boots. Oh, those boots. Oh, the lounging.
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And Marijana Mijanovic in a stylish white coat and parted hair à la 1920 meets Clark Gable. The only time I’ve ever wanted Octavian to be written for contralto. A rosenkavalier is a rosenkavalier is a rosenkavalier…
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The entire “Agrippina” thumbnail Gallery of the Zurich opera press section (with thanks to Purity, Inma and Smorg) can be perused here (all photos: Susanne Schwiertz, Zurich Opera). – Feel free to link to any review you come across!
Gorgeous Vesselina in a gorgeous dress as a power-hungry Roman queen (or whoever that Agrippina was, can’t remember). You made my day. *goes off to her Vesselina Prayers Corner*
Here is a first review in the Wiener Zeitung, quite good:
http://www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=3895&alias=wzo&cob=413392
but another review at Deutschland Kulrurradio vanished, don’t know why, but perhaps I’ll find it again; this review at deutschland Radio didn’t like the production;
let’s see, I think tomorow there will be more reviews; I’m looking forward to be in Zürich for Agrippina on 21st May and 23rd May
greetings from munich
Suspa
@Suspa: thanks to Munich!
The whole gameshow/TV/soap angle looks like a reasonable parallel with the parody-on-power-structures-and-public-opinion-pressure angle that the libretto has. I’m curious to see how the monkey will fit in. (andthat gigantic plus Easter bunny that is also on the stills).
I’ll catch the last performance on May 26th, sadly without Kasarova, but I think I’ll manage to comfort myself amply with Mijanovic and Bonitatibus.
Hm. Do we need to invent a “hot mezzos in boots” tag next to the “hot mezzos in pants” tag?
After looking at the pictures I think it would be a great idea:-)
Hey Suspa say hi I’m there 21st and 23rd too….
Hot contraltos in 1920s haircuts ?
Hey Purity, that’s great, perhaps we could meet after the 21st afternoon:-) and discuss our impressions of VK and the ozher great mezzos…
Hey that would be great Suspa though I won’t have much time right after the show as I am off for a work related dinner in Zurich at 7pm (must say I would *much* rather be chatting exciteldy about the performance!).
Maybe Friday late afternoon or evening? I have a work meeting during the day Friday, I really do work you see as opposed to spend all my time wandering around going to the opera; that’s my fantasy life, harsh reality demands I work for all this fun!? Or Saturday either during the day or after the performance? Feel free to drop me a line – puritymccall at mac.com
Yours in fangirly excitement about May!!
Aha. I just remembered exactly what hair VK’s hair is channeling – Bette Davis in Jezebel. “She was half siren, half angel, all woman!” … “She asked all, she took all. She gave nothing!” http://www.flickr.com/photos/26073312@N08/2830141241/
Perhaps with a teeny smidgeon of Cloris Leachman in Young Frankenstein – which by the way I am quite convinced would, had it been around in Handel’s time, been a) an opera, b) written by him and c) fantastic.
I’m picturing it now, VK in a turban…
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2088/2881/1600/young-frankenstein_8.jpg .
NZZ review finally up, looks like we are in for a vocal treat at least! http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/kultur/aktuell/die_hohe_schule_der_intrige_1.2538116.html
thanks, Purity, that sounds like a Handelian Feast indeed.
the review in short: All Hail Kasarova
(do we disagree? I didn’t think so.)
Wondering what that bit about Mijanovic means – she’s been called “off-voice” before when people simply didn’t like her color. We’ll have to see. Meanwhile, I’m confounded because this is the first Mijanovic review I read where she is NOT called androgynous in some way or other.
Yeah great to see such rave review for VK (though we’d be shocked with anything less here wouldn’t we!). Am very much looking forward to Bonitatibus also, never heard her sing live. As to MM, yeah they obviously didn’t rate the performance but she is a bit like VK in that her voice often polarizes people.
I do wish VK would do more Handel, I just love hearing such an intelligent singer tackling it. Semele, Il Trionfo, Rinaldo, there’s loads for her to get stuck into. But I guess that goes into the drawer with my Bartoli / Kasarova as Vitellia / Sesto dream ticket… Closely followed by Bartoli as Sesto and Kasarova as Vitellia. Closely followed by Bartoli in any pants role. At all. Hey I have a great idea. Let’s set up an opera house!
And we have our conductor already….
http://www.laurenceequilbey.com/
OpernWeißesHemd
In Zurich naturally – well we might as well save costs on shipping in the performers…
We’d operate a very strict dress code.
…a conductor (or is that conductress, then?) with a YouTube Channel, no less.
http://www.youtube.com/user/laurenceequilbey
Oh good god I obviously am seriously in need of a good talking too, for a minute there I started seriously entertaining the idea of a niche opera house staging *extremely* queer friendly early and Baroque productions with ‘wow would never have thought of that’ castings and copiously researched notes from one Dr Lachev.
I mean how silly, it would cost loads…. only some really wealthy – oh – *cough American author based in Venice *cough* person could even begin to entertain an idea like that….
*Paging Donna Leon, paging Donna Leon*
She’s definitely the conductrix (?
) for us… she’s using the technology. And she has a white shirt – so again with the cost-savings.
running a baroqueer opera company?
…one good reason more to finish that doctorate!
Indeed
Awesome! And if the baroqueer opera company can use an artists’ entrance bouncer, I’ll volunteer!
I really hope they taped this Agrippina, maties. The staging looks interesting… Though, aside from the smurf monkey, I don’t see anything looking particularly objectionable so it shouldn’t turn out anything like that infernal Salzburg Ascanio in Alba.
Thanks for being on the ball as usual, Anik!
Since Zürich released all their frontrunner productions of recent years on DVD, I hope this one will be no exception!
And the staging looks concise (game show/media hype/soap reality); a lot more than the Vienna Forza, although the cast could pull off the cowgirl outfits, as well!
Why Smorgy, really. You are the staff photographer. Obviously.
Hmm, Anik, I am liking the idea of the cast pulling off cowgirl outfits a lot. I knew you would be our best choice for house regie.
PS Arkivmusic have the Alan Curtis Handel ’6-pack’ CD collection of Handel operas on sale right now…
a Curtis sixpack, endorsed by Ms. Leon?!
…there goes my white shirt budget for 2009/2010…
I wonder if Arkivmusic would do bulk discount for the Eyebaggers
…or give you a free white shirt for every sixpack you buy?
Cut eligible between “The Equilbey” (slim line), “The Kasarova” (sleeves slightly rolled up by default), “The Bartoli” (lamé/silk edition) and “The Ernman” (sleeveless, of course).
…oh dear. I clearly need to cut back on morning caffeine.
Damn, now I am thinking of opening a bespoke shirt tailoring shop… Branches in London, Paris, Vienna, Munich and Zurich. Summer stall in Santiago.
Keep the caffeine flowing Anik it’s good to have s distraction from exam board form filling!
And you forgot “The Bonitatibus” (black. clearly.) And for the femmes “The DiDonato” (sheer silk, range of colours).
Is it just me or is that an unsettling looking figure behind the strategically placed VK outstretched arm…
http://vesselinakasarova.blogspot.com/2009/05/proximamente.html
My goodness, why that’s the kind of thing that could shock some of our younger opera-dyke readers
Though I’m please to see that the Swiss take safe sex VERY seriously…
As ever thanks to Inma for the ‘hot of the presses’ images. Looks like she’s had fun in Zurich!
There was something other than VK in the picture (thanks Inma, indeed!)? Mhm— really?
(sidenote @Purity: Ernman stated in a chat today – yes reading ESC gossip (the things I do for operatic info!) has its perks – that she’ll be hitting Vienna in summer of 2010, teaming up as sisters with the empress of lamé next to La Loren, i.e. Cecilia Bartoli. Fine, that might mean Così, but it might also mean some really obscure and recently discovered Baroque opus… weee!!)
Don’t worry Anik, give yourself an hour or two and you’ll be able to see the rest of the image
Am now in official count down to London on Sunday and stage one of Mezzo Madness week! Will be keeping a special lookout for what Bonitatibus is wearing on her feet (patent DM boots, please, please, patent DM boots).
Bartolia + “Arms” Ernman. Hey I’d sit through Puccini for that… My fingers are crossed for La Bartoli having uncovered some long lost Cavalli about a handsome widowed Prince with small children who hires a stunningly attractive maid who in fact turns out to be a Goddess who has run away from Mount Olympus to live with the humans for a bit…. and his castle burns down and he has to live on a ship… hmm, this is starting to sound familiar…
@Purity: Cenerentola meets Giasone? With a superb VK cameo as Giunone or-who-did-you-think-really-rules-Mt.-Olympus? – I’m in!
…meanwhile, awaiting the AB Shoe report!
Now if we ever need someone for a non-singing role in the Baroqueer company there’s always Sigourney Weaver (thank you Dorothy Snarker, thank you!):
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1Ssoxfl0MvQ/SgvcWZM1DnI/AAAAAAAAJE8/3QyUBrsa6dI/s1600-h/gfuck3_sigourney.jpg
PS I did a little PR on Ms Snarker’s site, let’s hope we can get a few new recruits for the Baroqueer fundraising drive
@Purity: since we owe the most apt phrase of “arm cleavage” to Ms. Snarker, it seems only fitting to mention her inspiring photo post on female masculinity today – I am still torn between Sigourney Weaver and Tilda Swinton. Both of whom would get box seats at Baroqueer Opera, of course.
Off to a few days of zarzuela research now. Will keep eyes open for unknown Cavalli, or perhaps Farinelli left some scripts…?
LONDON CALLING
Quick update from London (gotta get some sleep, early train to Paris to catch tomorrow, work, and then von Otter in the evening!). And with proviso that if you want an informed and unbiased review you should look elsewhere – I’m out to enjoy life and celebrate the good stuff.
La Scintilla wonderful. VK (OMG was she ever) wonderful; the Agripinna strut is something to behold, she was having fun!, and the coloratura was just fantastic. Anik there were a couple of real spine tingling moments I couldn’t help but think “Anik would *love* this!”.
AB every bit as good as recordings hinted she would be (partic. second half, def. someone to see if you can, Come Nube was a highlight of the afternoon).
Of the men László Polgár stood out for me (*such* a rich voice, at one point I thought I’d melt, or drown in chocolate, or something) and great presence. Am looking forward to seeing him in the staged performance very, very, much. And hunting down recordings as we speak. Hmm, that’s two man-crushes in one year; I’d better watch myself or I may end getting drummed out the Kasarovian Army – and more importantly have some questions to answer at home
I will certainly be watching out for him in the future, couldn’t get enough of that bass.
MM – singing was *beautiful* but compared to VK and AB did seem to have a little less power behind it (though Minkowski does keep things moving along at a fair old clip!). But my god the intensity. I think perhaps the criticism in press was because it’s such a ‘straight’ part in a pretty much otherwise high-drama/comedy piece and so seems almost ‘out of place’… There’s a big emotional gear change when Ottone is on stage and it maybe makes MM’s set pieces feel a little less engaging that say Nerone’s.
No DM boots on AB
… though on upside rather beautiful shoes (the femme in me wants those!) and gorgeous outfit.
I was (pleasantly) taken aback by how much ‘stage business’ there was. It was great to see a concert performance with so much thought and effort having gone in to the staging, it certainly helped keep interest (much as I adore Handel even I will concede that it can drag sometimes). The performance element of today meant it never seemed to drag. In a funny way it reminded me of Chinese Opera – that kind of limbo between stand and sing and a full-on staging.
Great fun performance, even Minkowski quite literally got in on the act and Eva Libeau was a hoot, lots of entertainment, audience loved it and (for a UK audience) a very enthusiastic reception (esp. for AB, VK and new man-crush LP). Made a very drab London day very special.
I do hope to see more concert recitals with this level of staging (they do this kind of thing at the Proms now too), it’s a great way to get people (like best GBF) interested in seeing the full staged version. Made me wonder if companies couldn’t do some ‘try before you buy’ recitals… maybe alternate staged and recital version and give people a 2-for-1 deal. Fans like me would buy both, and newbies or waverers would be more likely to give a recital a try than the full thing on cost grounds. You hook ‘em (and high value efforts like this would do that) and you got yourself another sale and (more importantly) a newly hooked fan.
So final impressions… catch it if you can you won’t regret it! Even best GBF (who is no great fan of early music) loved it. We both left on a high – thankfully taking just a few steps along the corridor into the arms of a very good martini in the great Skylon Restaurant, you *must* at least check out the bar there if you visit the Royal Festival hall – great staff, great cocktails and a great view of the Thames and London from the huge windows… even Minkowski seemed to agree as he was sitting at the next table for a bit! Luckily it was only the first martini of the day so I managed to avoid making a fangirl fool of myself and going over to thank him for a wonderful afternoon. I think the enthusiastic applause did that far more appropriately!!
Can’t wait for Thursday (and Saturday
) and Zurich. If you can still get to Zurich and get a ticket, do. A fantastic 3.5 hours that just flew by sadly too fast!
PS the white shirt got an outing in honour of Eye Bags… even though I was bloody freezing strolling back to BGFs place later. And the Baroqueer audience contingent seemed pretty big, partic. boys, much to GBFs pleasure.
Oh and GBF and I did force ourselves to sit through ESC the night before – I’ll draw a veil over the music (the wine helped) but the Ernman arms gave a great performance. That said VK could probably give her a run for her money if today was anything to go by, we had some great shoulder action in the second half. Don’t know whose idea it was to ditch the jacket but thank you whoever you are
)
Danke Purity!!
You described the concert so well I can almost see and hear it! Definitely owe ya’ one. I’m so green with envy the local pigeons are mistaking me for a giant blob of movable mossy sloth! I’m glad to see all the positive reviews, too. By jove, she can use it after all the troubles early on in the year.
Cheerio!
Hey Smorgy thanks, and as you are already green I probably shouldn’t tell you I just spent the night with von Otter and more Handel….in Paris… followed by a lovely chat and glass of wine with a fellow Parisian Eye Bagger in a cafe with a view of the Eiffel Tower. I seem to be lucky with opera singers followed by drinks in places with spectacular views. Must figure out where to get my post-Agrippina drink in Zurich!
von Otter was very good BTW, though she did 2 Agrippina arias and gotta say – damn that’s another role VK owns! If only she’d try her hand at Semele. I would love to hear her sing in English for a change so I can take a break from forcing my head to struggle with my schoolgirl German, Italian and French (all of which are awful, was too busy at school skipping lessons to go to the beach and trying to decide if I was a mod or a punk – answer was both… a useful lesson that one, why pick, just be both
).
And another great review for the London concert and VK. All I can say is, Douglas…. right on!
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=7103
Howdy you gals! Thought you might enjoy a teaser clip of Agrippina on the Opernhaus TV ( http://opernhaustv.eviscomedia.com/media.1006.html ).
Thanks Smorg for the appetizer, and thanks Purity for the London calling review and the review links – I feel properly prepared for next week now (wouldn’t want to miss a second due to fainting). I can’t wait to see the show. (White Shirt is in the laundry already…)
AGRIPPINA ZURICH 21 MAY
So finally got to see the staged version yesterday after a dramatic dash from the airport as straight male travelling companion (best gbf has to “work” this week!), aka ‘Canada Boy’, and I were on a late running flight from Paris. On the upside we arrived adrenaline filled, on the downside no time to change so the white shirt stayed in its bag
I was in the stalls, a few rows back from the front row this time; meaning I got a bit more of the roundness of the acoustics (Saturday night is the balcony, so I will have had the full range of listening perspectives). I’ve already commented on how absolutely wonderful La Scintilla and Minkoski were on Sunday, and today was no exception (though I must say I did miss Minkowski’s cute features getting in on the acting as they did in London – he reminds me so much of a wonderful friend I had years ago, sadly lost to AIDS, who just could not turn down an opportunity to ham it up). The orchestra’s performance is so wonderfully fresh and infectious I kept finding myself breaking into a spontaneous smile (when I wasn’t gripped in the intensity of the singing, or wondering how the hell such an apparently mild-mannered Bulgarian can pull of such a truly funny/scary performance and still sing like a goddess). The staging was just mad and fun, set design is fantastic and the costuming beautiful. The whole thing came over as a delightful mix of every Douglas Sirk, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford movie you ever seen with a sprinkle of Myra Breckenridge and a hint of Almodovar. Filtered through a mid-80s London scene gay club. And as I grew up watching all that stuff and spent most of the 80s fighting my way through latex clad gay boys and leather dykes to get to the bar of various clubs, “Male Stripper” thumping on the speakers, and wondering if the ten foot man dressed as a cross between Lolita and a pirate at the bar next to me really was Boy George, I felt right at home! On the downside for the singers, between the wonderful drive of the orchestra/conducting and the staging they have a hell of a lot to contend with. It shows in a couple of places I think, and must be exhausting. But unless you are an absolute purist about the music then, who cares! I like my opera to blend music AND theatre and this surely does.
In terms of individual performances? Libeau’s singing was wonderful and she is SUCH an amazing comedienne. Just truly hilarious. AB was incredibly powerful and her ornamentation was really engaging, but she has a hell of a lot of work to do against the staging. New man crush Polgar was even more affecting, oh god I so love his voice and he’s a very charming actor as well. MM seems to have come in for a fair bit of criticism, well I can say that I wish they had been there for this. She. Was. Magical. Unbelievably intense. There were a couple of occasions when she was singing I realized I had forgotten to breathe. The audience seemed to agree, she got a great roar at the end! And she was very, very funny in the absolutely hilarious scene with Poppea in ‘bed’. Speaking of which, a huge shout out to the ‘animals’ in that scene – there is a hugely funny bit of business with them that had me in stitches. I am sure the purists hated this, as it was the point that the giggling audience most interfered with the singing, but it was a stroke of genius directing.
Which brings me to VK. So, here’s the thing. It’s kind of embarrassing to be a ‘been there, done that. often. all over the world…’ mother of 2 forty-something, (whose last experience of OMG fan worship was the day she realized at 19 that the guy in front of her was Ingmar Bergman) to realize you are a total and utter fangirl. But it’s the truth, I just cannot help but melt every time I see her perform. She gives everything I have ever loved about great opera performances; brave, passionate, intelligent, funny, and above all just an absolutely magnetic stage presence. Oh hell I know she polarizes people sometimes. But as we have discussed here before, being queer means that ‘perfection’ is not something many of us understand or prize. She’s out there. On the edge. Doing it. And I for one will have to finally confess (just in case it’s not obvious) that I worship the stages she (in this production’s case) prowls across, chews up and spits out…
On the travelling white shirt gang tips side, we are staying in the Hotel Europe. Great little place right behind the Opernhaus, straight out the 70s (I mean that in a good way!) and with the friendliest staff I have ever encountered in a hotel. Oh and pretty much everyone here is much older so we get to feel ‘young’ too! Bonus! Unlike the last time I was here the exchange rate is not so terrible (at least compared to Paris – I am still reeling from the glass of malt that cost 16 euro, hell I could buy a cask of whisky for that back home!). The post opera drink was in a little café behind the opera house, not as spectacular as London and Paris but with the upside of getting to see Polgar stroll by. Yup, man-crush alright
And I got to meet the another lovely fellow EyeBagger, Suspa. The evening work commitment meant not much time to engage in too much giggling fangirl enthusiasm (although of course we managed a bit) but we have made an arrangement to do that Saturday. Oh and to round off a perfect day the work meeting went well, absolutely fantastic and exciting people and opportunity, which looks like it might lead to further reasons to visit Zurich more often.
In summary then? If you are a music purist you might struggle. If you don’t get some of the cultural reference points in the staging I suppose it might just irritate, offend or bemuse in parts. Canada Boy found some of it not to his taste, but we rationalized that over a beer later to the fact that… he’s Canadian ☺ Of course the thing about Handel and much early/baroque music is that it is meant to remind us that real life is the bastard love child (conceived in a drunken stupor in a bus shelter at 2am, possibly with a member of your own family…) of tragedy and comedy. In short, this is a wonderful, life affirming performance of music and theatre (you know… opera!). It’s not without its flaws, but life has enough of those already without dwelling further. As Handel was trying to point out: that’s life! So, come one, write to Opernhaus Zurich gang and demand they stage this again soon (it feels like a production that will grown in stature as some of the minor kinks – if you will excuse the pun, get ironed out), get the DVD out pronto, and keep up the (amazingly) good work!
So Saturday on the horizon, better go get some work done!
@Purity: Thanks so much for the review!! Zurich should give you free tickets for the service you’re doing them. It sounds awesome, and I can’t wait for Tuesday, where I’ll lose capacity of speech when it comes to Mijanovic.
Polgar is a longtime favorite of mine, his sound exudes warmth and character like an upscale single malt. His Leporello in the Zurich production (DVD is out) is definitely worth checking out, but then, so are most of his performances. Can’t wait for Tuesday! Although I may already have said that…
Meanwhile, I’ll be joining Smorg in the movable moss corner.
Hear. Hear. Anik. No heavily starched white shirt can hide my glowingly green pigment now! Thanks for the great write up, Purity!
I’m pretty open to psychedelic staging (after all, I love the Hosseinpour Orphee in Munich even though most critics panned it), though photos from this Zurich Agrippina had me wonder a bit (after all, I detested that M22 Ascanio in Alba). There just has to be a DVD of this thing!! Arrgghhhhh!
Have fun on Tuesday, Anik!
(don’t forget to clap extra loud for me at the end if you like the show, too!)
AGRIPPINA ZURICH May 23, 2009
Sunday 24th was spent in Paris for a brief meeting and a long lunch with an old friend, and some time to reflect on the final stage in my week of cultural excess across Europe – the Saturday evening performance of Agrippina in Zurich. The day started with one of the highlights of my week, as Canada Boy and I met Suspa and her lovely sister and brother-in-law in Neumarkt in Zurich, a beautiful little square in an area full of great little shops. The great company was made even nicer by an absolutely gorgeous day. A slow wander back to our lovely little hotel (the Europe) and it was time to get ready. I deposited Canada Boy back at the hotel (one round of opera was enough for him!) and headed off, as excited as the first time I had gone to see it nearly a week earlier. This time I was up on the parkett in a room not too far down the left side. Great, since the previous time I was to the right so I picked up some action I missed first time around (particularly in the butcher scene f which more later). Although the performance was sold out on the web there were a smattering of empty seats and the audience seemed a little stuffier than the matinee gang. They giggled and applauded but it was all much more subdued than before. Mijanovic, it was announced, was feeling unwell but would sing, which makes the lone boo-er’s little outburst at the end for her in particular especially unforgivable. Though as Canada Boy and I were discussing in another context previously, the world is full of assholes with baggage to unpack on the rest of us
Highlights this time round? Kasarova’s Se vuoi pace was incredibly moving, and I so admired her for staying soft in the face of some pretty robust playing from La Scintilla. Which kind of suited the idea of this evil schemer is having one last attempt to persuade people she really does care. The ambiguity was palpable in the contrast. Suspa and I agreed there is something very special about that aria during our interval chatter (Suspa, her sister and brother-in-law and ‘he who shall be known as Suspa’s lovely smelling best friend’ and I met at the interval. It was so great to have people to talk Kasarova fan talk with instead of trying to persuade well meaning friends to understand that the way she moved her hand or a particular look was just. so. perfect.). It could be that the aria is the point in Agripinna where she is most aligned to the kind of tragic conflicted hero we fell in love with VK playing. It’s almost a Sesto moment. By way of contrast…. maybe it was the different acoustics where I was sitting, or the fact that I was right in the line of full on evil stare a couple of times, but the scene when Agrippina tries to set Pallas and Narcissus against each other was truly terrifying (and funny, how does she do it?). The Poppea scenes were, incredibly, even funnier. Liebau has perfect comic timing and she and Kasarova have great chemistry in the necklace scene; “Alpha female, meet alpha girl” (wait a minute, I think I have that comic…). And Bonitatibus rocked Come Nube like never before. She scorched through one run on my side of the stage that would have dried my hair had it been wet!
As already mentioned the reception was not as enthusiastic as Thursday, but warm enough for VK and AB in particular. Afterwards I joined my new German friends in the balcony bar as they waited for autographs, a thing I think is not something we Brits do that much (or maybe just me, I never particularly like seeing ‘behind the magic…’.) As Kasarova walked by I was struck by the huge transformation from a scenery chewing huge presence to a rather exhausted looking, slight figure of a woman who really didn’t look like she could frighten a mouse let alone an Emperor! Convinced me once again that she is a fantastic actress (and made me think she would be perfect for the part of Sophie Arp, the Zurich born Dada artist who looked every inch the genteel Zurich lady and yet was a towering figure in the history of modern art and design, architecture and even dance! But that’s a story for a whole other blog site! Or even better, another Baroqueer opera!). Likewise AB and MM who were also there were and similarly transformed from these incredibly powerful characters to ‘everyday folks’. It’s incredible to think what feats of transformation opera singers pull off, and then they have to sing as well!
So was it worth it; seeing the same performance three times in a week? I’ll let you be the judge:
- I was reminded how much I adore Agripppina, I’m not religious but if I was Handel would be my god
- I was overwhelmed by Kasarova’s performance and singing – and reminded again how annoying it is to be living in the time of ‘dumb ideas that just will not die’ (thank you digital technology!); one review says she is mannered and to lazy reviewers everywhere she is forever more mannered! One says she has problem register breaks and… well you get the pattern! And lazy audiences believe it… Arghh!
- I concluded that the people saying Bonitatibus is a big new star are right
- I was moved to tears by Polgar, Mijanovic and Kasarova
- I discovered a comedienne (Liebau – finally got my fingers around spelling that name right !) as funny and engaging as Bartoli in full mad pixie mode
- I was forced to prostrate myself again in the face of the genius of Minkowski (I was actually very close to where he stood, and just above, so I got a great view of him doing his thing)
- I finally found a non-trouser role I really, really like Kasarova in
- I got to put La Scintilla to the top of my orchestra’s I’d walk over hot coals to hear list
- I got to focus on acting and singing *and* staging *and* orchestra *and* conducting (and even lighting and choreography and ‘orchestra guy with dreads who is the only white guy I’ve ever seen pull dreads off…’)
- I fell in love with a giant stuffed elephant (though I have a feeling society’s isn’t ready for *that* kind of love that dare not speak its name)
But all this pales in to insignificance against what this last week – and the ensemble of people responsible for Agrippina in London and Zurich – gave me. I fell madly in love with life again. I had a discussion with GBF a while back about why people (i.e. me) get so caught up in things like opera. He felt it was a bit melancholy; living vicariously through the stage what is missing from everyday life. I couldn’t articulate at the time why I strongly disagreed. I can now. Handel, and all involved in this Zurich opera production, and the people I have meet through it, have reminded me that it is only in reflecting through art (of whatever kind turns you on, for me it happens to be opera) on the great horrible, messy, hilarious, tragic car-crash that is everyday life that the spirit can truly soar free of the bonds that ‘the system’ and ‘society’ try and tie us down with. During those three visits I was forced to face myself once again – the stupid and callow youth, the anxious mother, the idealistic kid, the deceiver and the deceived, the brave bit of me, and the cowardly bit of me. I was reminded of how amazing it was each time in my life I threw caution to wind, and of the occasions when having done that I had to bear the consequences. I was reminded of how closely intertwined sex and love and pain can be. Of how power liberates and corrupts. But mostly it allowed me reflect back on the young me embarking on life’s journey, stupid and ill equipped but enthusiastic at least, to muse on where I have got to now, and to look forward with enthusiasm to everything (good and bad) to come. And all of that reminded me that above all we have to Carpe Diem!
And it’s really and truly all part of ‘real, real life’ this opera business. I spent the better part of the ‘rest’ of my week thinking about how cell biologists image one of life’s fundamental phenomena (at least in so far as we understand life currently) – the cell. To image these cell processes in order to advance our understanding of humanity is the remit of the people I work with, to help them find news ways of doing that is mine. But of course image and imagining have the same etymological root. Opera and 21st century microscopy are not so far apart really (hmm, Baroqueer gang, our second production could be an opera about power, sex and deception in life science labs…). Both seek to break down and put back together again the mess of life in order to advance our knowledge about it (or at least the kind of opera I like does!). In one of my other lives I try and nudge along the products of two human cell division and multiplication process into adulthood. Again not so very different from the creative birthing that is opera (it is imagined by the composers et al, but can only be brought to life on stage, in the ‘doing’ – all very hermeneutical!). My third real life, the one so richly engaged with this week, is opera and it allows me to filter and expand on my understanding of the rest, to savour all this ‘being’ (ok now we are getting phenomenological !).
So whilst I may have vicariously enjoyed the thrill of being in love, the excitement of bettering someone, or the thrill of plotting against your enemies, that vicarious thrill only lasted for those few hours. Somewhere along the way, opera taught me to be a true bon vivant in a way I’m not sure I would have had Handel, Mozart, Monteverdi, Cavalli et al not made me think, desire, and need. Those hours reminded me: to delight in new friends made via opera; to savour time in the company of old and more recent friends made possible by opera; to enjoy a wonderful city, Zurich; to marvel at how much better a martini tastes when staring out a giant window at the Thames with your dearest, best, friend in the world; to marvel at our luck in managing to make it to Tibits (best food in Zurich – no question!) just before midnight closing on Saturday night in time for a much needed sandwich stop. And now as I write this I am sitting at a pavement table outside the restaurant on the Quai de l’Hotel de Ville in Paris I have visited every single time I have been in Paris since I was 22 years old. The sun is shining; I am about to be joined by the first person I ever really loved, and lost, and whom I managed to stay in touch with thanks to his forbearance – not much Handel needed to teach me about being a callow youth or betraying people! The waiters are kind about my awful French (though my grasp of the language of food and wine is my one strong point!), and I get to feel for a moment like a local and not a tourist. This being near the Marais there are hordes of queers wandering by (much as I believe opera is fundamentally a queer art form, all that closeted stuff can get to me after a bit, it’s very nice to be back in the world of the in-your-face queer life, no need to masquerade, or tone it down, or keep it for the stage only). Wine is on the table, people watching is in full swing, the air is full of some kind of seeds floating about reminding us that life is for soaring and procreating in preference to sinking and decaying. So if you have never been before, then go to the opera and see if it can’t help you get a little more out of your real life too (oh and no, DVDs are not a substitute, opera is a performance art).
@Purity: thanks once more for reviewing!! (and much more than that)
It’s too bad that this latest entry is a little long for a t-shirt! Hmm, perhaps some kimonofesto for the extended white shirts and baroqueer wear edition…?
@Purity: what kind of moving words….and what an Agrippina-weekend, two very gripping evenings with an outstanding VK (what a hell of an actress and singer) and a very good MM and AB and LP and by meeting you and Brain it was even more precious!
@Anik: I hope the Tuesday Agrippina is a worthy Agrippina (but I think VK’s actress skills couldn’t be outclassed in this production)
@suspa: right you are, I don’t think anyone could compete with Kasarova in the role in this production – I will focus more on MM, AB and LP instead!
Don’t worry Anik, between those three, the charming Poppea, and of course who could forget La Scintilla (the wind gang in particular were fantastic) and Minkowski there should be LOADS to keep you happy. And if we all start bugging them enough maybe they will get the production and VK back for 2010-11. It really does seem to me the kind of things that needs to be in rep to build/educate an audience and iron out some of the (small) kinks (and hey who knows, maybe kill of that dumb rumour that VK is mannered once and for all, how nice would that be…).
Suspa – yeah that sure was a magical few days in Zurich. Here’s hoping VK gives us many more (and many more opportunities to meet up – best gay boy friend is now very jealous he didn’t get to meet you!).
By the way: the upcoming opera production with Bartoli (Semele)and Ernman (Juno) will be the Carsen production of Handel’s Semele, opening the season 2010.2011 at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna.
That is certainly something worth braving the cake shops of Vienna for
…the cake shops and the ice cream parlors and then wine store on Naschmarkt corner after a performance at Theater an der Wien. With Bartoli. And Ernman. Oh my.
Many thanks for the information, Marian!
[...] part of europe have not heard of it before. I myself would not have known what it was if not for this famous post from Anik (it kept popping up again and again and again when i was searching for [...]
surplus of counter-tenors « thadieu's opera rambling outlet said this on March 22, 2011 at 9:10 |