Mezzo Alert: Kasarova in the woods
If you missed Kasarova in the Zürich “Agrippina” (just like I did) or can’t afford the pilgrimage to Santiago this summer (much like me), there are still more chances to add Kasarova to your personal summer festival, some more remote than others.
And yet others, utterly remote.
The idyllic lakes-and-woods landscape of economically and populatory (if that is a word) challenged German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern always are a great excuse for a weekend vacation. No you can add Kasarova to that on July 19th.
To be exact, it’s Kasarova in a barn.
If that isn’t Arcadian, what is?
It is a performance at the Festspiele-Mecklenburg Vorpommern, a festival that is gaining in size and prestige and has been around since 1990.
This year, for the first time ever, it will include an appearance by Vesselina Kasarova. The date is July 19th, and the location is the Festspielscheune in 17194 Ulrichshusen. The festival website comes with driving instructions so you can’t get lost. Besides, if you got lost, chances are high that during summer, you’ll end up at some other idyllic lakeside with another concert.
Anne Sofie von Otter is singing her Terezín recital on August 30th, for example – something definitely worth checking out. Location is The Heiligen-Geist-Kirche in Wismar, 4 p.m.
Oh, and did I mention that the Kasarova recital (mixed with some orchestral works: two Haydn symphonies (22&101) and a violin concerto by Gruber) consists of Haydn’s “Berneice che fai?” and Both. Sesto. Arias?
Tickets are still available and start at a moderate 12€… The whole program is available here; tickets can be ordered online. The English version of the website can be accessed here.
And if you’re already up there in “Meck-Pomm”: it’s a perfect place to literally put up your tent for a few days, skinnydip in a lake or two, collect funghi porcini for dinner and feel very Arcadian. Now with mezzos included!
Damn I SO live in the wrong country… Can you go anywhere in Germany in the summer without tripping over a mezzo…? Thanks Anik. Still at least we have our own equivalent of Kasarova in a barn… the UKs lovely Aldeburgh Festival is new and improved this year with added magic ingredient VK…
http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk/events/cbso-sea
Also in a barn… you think she’s got into camping or something? (Actually, come to think of it, there was a fair old bit of camping in Zurich a few weeks ago
).
I’m depressed… I live on the wrong continent altogether!
Smorg… is turning the exact wrong color for this time of year.
Ms. Kasarova is really outdoing herself in summer festival appearances this year – awfully nice of her.
We should file a petition to move Smorg over to Europe at least for the festival summers… not sure we can compete with the San Diego coastline, but we’d be happy to share THE K.
Aw Smorgy you know we want you here… we could buy an old London bus and travel through Europe chasing mezzos – wow, wait a minute, this sounds like a movie; sort of 60s Cliff Richard meets Driving Miss Daisy meets tornado hunting disaster pic… I can see it now… move over Baroqueer, we’re getting in to the film business. Now, let’s see, who will play Anik…?)
Hmm… that also sounds like a strangely viable business opportunity too. “Mezzo Bus, can I help? Why yes indeed we have a bus leaving for Zurich in one hour…”
[OK I need a coffee, been in a boring meeting all afternoon and got an even more boring proposal to finish, it's obviously gone to my head!]
Hey Anik & Purity – Thanks!
I wish I could just move there (probably to Belgium or the Netherlands… somewhere cloudy)… if only to get away from the uptight English language reviewers. 
But this talk of a gay bus ride is reminding me of a film I saw a long while ago when I was still trying to learn French in college ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPLgAeXdvh0 )…. All the more reason to move to Europe!
Ah Victoria Abril, be still my heart… you seen her in the barking mad Penelope Cruz film Sin noticias de Dios…? I’d go straight for Javier Bardem