Rise and Shine! ROH Friends Booking 4th March 2014

Last week The Royal Opera announced a rude awakening for Friends who want to nab those choice tickets.  They have moved the opening of the summer season booking on 4th March from a reasonable and sedate 10.00am to a mind-boggling 8.00am!  Not so bad I suppose if you have no need to earn a crust and get into work or have some lackey do the booking for you.  But for a lot of London and outer-London based Friends 8am is prime commuting time.  And in my case that means being stuck on a train, usually standing up and with no hint of a wi-fi signal.  What with that and the ROH's recommendation that I log in to the computer in good time, basically means I have to drag myself out of bed at around 5.30 to ensure I'm at my desk, logged in and ready to go by 8.00 am,  

Is it worth it?  Let's have a look.

La Boheme - Puccini

The revered and much loved John Copley production starts its final run before being retired for good. There are 11 performances and two casts to choose from.  First cast offers the delights of  Anna Netrebko gracing London with a rare visit....possibly.  I wouldn't lay odds on her actually turning up as the role of Mimi doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of her current repertoire of Lady Macbeth, Leonora (Trovatore), Manon Lescaut, and Anna Bolena.   She last sang Mimi around two years ago so there's every chance she will....and equally every chance she won't.  However her colleagues are not to be sniffed at with Joseph Calleja as Rodolfo and Jennifer Rowley making her much anticipated (by me) ROH debut as Musetta.

The second cast is actually my preferred - especially if I could do a bit of swapping around.  Lianna Haroutounian, who made a big impression here as Elisabetta in Don Carlo and Helene in Les Vespres siciliennes, sings Mimi, Piotr Beczala is Rodolfo.  For the final performance Placido Domingo takes up the conductors baton - very apt as he was this production's very first Rodolfo.  Tears will be shed!

Don Giovanni - Mozart

Kasper Holten's production of Don Giovanni makes a speedy return to the stage with a brand new cast.  Can't say that I'm overly keen to reacquaint myself with this production as I found it misogynistic and hard to take. However the cast assembled for this revival is very good indeed. Christopher Maltman is the Don, while Alex Esposito returns as his sidekick Leporello. Albina Shagimuratova, Dorothea Roschmann and Julia Lezhneva are Anna, Elvira and Zerlina while Rolando Villazon essays Don Ottavio - sharing the role with the fantastic Michele Angelini.  Alain Altinoglu conducts what should be a musically fabulous revival - if only the production were better.

Guillaume Tell - Rossini

Finally a new production! Damiano Michieletto makes his Royal Opera House debut with Rossini's opera - the one with the famous overture! Antonio Pappano will conduct a strong cast with Gerald Finley in the title role, Malin Bystrom as Mathilde and American tenor John Osborne as Arnold.  One to watch!

Falstaff - Verdi

Verdi's final opera makes a welcome return in Robert Carsen's very amiable production, updated to the 1950's.  The updating doesn't really work but doesn't really jar either so definitely worth seeing if you haven't seen it before.  Casting is fine without being star-driven - but then its not that sort of opera. Ambrogio Maestri returns as the corpulent knight,  Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta is Alice Ford (replacing a previously announced Marina Poplavskya) and Roland Wood (who I enjoyed as Roucher in Andrea Chenier) is Ford.

And that's it for opera performances for the 2014/15 season. There are a couple of extras to round off the season.  The Jette Parker Young Artists have their 'end of term' concert on 18th July which will include excerpts from Simon Boccanegra, Adriana Lecouvreur, Les pecheurs des perles, Romeo et Juliette and others.

While on 19th July Placido Domingo's Operalia competition comes to London for the first time.  A great chance to do spot possible stars of the future.

So that's it!  But what does next season hold?  No one quite knows - or at least they're not telling.  A season announcement is not expected until early April so until then why not visit the Future Royal Opera Wiki to keep abreast of matters - or even add some inside information!

I'll leave you with my bit of wishful thinking for next season:

The Best and the Worst of 2013

Following in the footsteps of so many bloggers, tweeters and opera critics I offer my own thoughts on the highs and lows of the live performances I attended in the year 2013.  I've restricted myself to five categories - as inspired by Opera Britannia's own review of the year.

Outstanding New Production

Amongst some lean pickings, my very first experience of a staged Parsifal won by a long margin. Apparently I may be going against the grain, but for a Parsifal virgin such as I, this was the ideal production to start with. It wasn't perfect by any means...but then I don't seek perfection in live performances.  Amongst the many glories was Gerald Finley as Amfortas, surely one of the greatest singing actors we currently have.

Best Revival

Of course it must be Don Carlo -  hardly surprising I hear you cry.  But quite apart from my predilection for Jonas Kaufmann, I must admit that Don Carlo is rapidly becoming my favourite Verdi opera. This revival, with a top notch cast was a real treat - if only the production itself was a little more inspiring but that is a minor cavil when you have such superb musical values on display.

Best Male Performance

All things considered this has to be Gerald Finley for his amazing performance as Amfortas in Parsifal. Simply stunning.  Close contenders were Erwin Schrott in Les Vepres Siciliennes (almost clinched by the infamous black dress) and Jonas Kaufmann in Don Carlo.

Best Female Performance

Another difficult choice but in the end I was so blown away by Lise Lindstrom's performance as Turandot that she emerged as the outright winner.  While I found the production itself a little disappointing (surely time for a new one?) she took the role by the throat and made her house debut in very fine style indeed.  I can't wait until I get the chance to see her again.

Honourable mention must go to Joyce di Donato in La Donna del Lago - again while I didn't love the production, she could do no wrong in my eyes.

Biggest Disappointment

Oh dear - where to start?  I suppose my biggest disappointments (apart from Anja Harteros cancellations) have been with most of the new productions I have seen at ROH - especially Nabucco and Eugene Onegin. Uninspiring, dreary and sometimes just plain weird, I have had some of my most disappointing evenings when attending a new production - with the honourable exception of the new Parsifal and I do hope that is an encouraging start to the 2013-14 rosta of new productions.  I'm certainly looking forward to Don Giovanni, Manon Lescaut and Maria Stuarda and Die Frau ohne Schatten but only time will tell if there has been an improvement.

So there it is - my highlights and lowlights of 2013.  It only remains for me to wish you a very Happy New Year and to wish you happy opera-going wherever you may be.