Posts Tagged ‘Bavarian State Orchestra’

Schultheiß Savors the Dvořák

Saturday, December 13th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: December 13, 2014 MUNICH — Passive accompanist and intent visionary: Gianandrea Noseda managed to be both Nov. 18 in his debut program with the busy Bavarian State Orchestra. For Dvořák’s Violin Concerto (1879) he indulged David Schultheiß in a lyrical reading that generally took its time, ignoring chances in the outer […]

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Manon, Let’s Go

Thursday, December 11th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: December 11, 2014 MUNICH — Puccini lost even before the curtain went up Nov. 15 on Hans Neuenfels’ conceptual new staging of Manon Lescaut for Bavarian State Opera. Anna Netrebko, its titular star, abandoned the project in quiet disgust, understandably it turned out. Disaster did not follow, but the night and […]

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Festive Sides

Friday, August 29th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: August 29, 2014 MUNICH — Staged works and the legendary Lied evenings hold the limelight here at the annual Opernfestspiele, begun 139 years ago. But veins of chamber music and, since 2008, choral programming run through the five-week schedule, lending scope and affirming organizer Bayerische Staatsoper’s depth of musicianship. The chamber […]

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Blacher Channels Maupassant

Monday, July 7th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: July 7, 2014 MUNICH — It was standing room only for Die Flut yesterday (July 6). Not only was Boris Blacher’s 1946 radio opera sold out, but the audience was expected to stand or stroll through it, as directed by Aernout Mik at a former riding hall here. Improbably part of […]

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Verdi’s Lady Netrebko

Saturday, June 28th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: June 28, 2014 MUNICH — Verdi’s Macbeth is back, for its eighth run in six years at Bavarian State Opera, this time to open the dressy Opernfestspiele. The production’s giant chandelier, plastic sheeting, silly tent and field of skulls are now globally familiar, even if they don’t exactly transport us to […]

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Petrenko’s Sharper Boris

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: March 19, 2014 MUNICH — Bavarian State Opera’s flag-waving, Putin-skewering production of Boris Godunov had extra resonance in a revival on Sunday afternoon (March 16) as Crimeans engaged in their foregone conclusion of a referendum. Musically, too, all emerged tougher and more urgent than at last year’s premiere. Kirill Petrenko sharpened […]

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Petrenko’s Rosenkavalier

Friday, March 7th, 2014

By ANDREW POWELL Published: March 7, 2014 MUNICH — Kirill Petrenko unobtrusively passed the litmus test of Der Rosenkavalier here this week, shaping the score on his own terms (March 5) amid the hoopla of his Bavarian State Opera company’s 2014–15 season announcement. Energetic, vivid, not so flexible, often perilously fast or loud, but dynamically […]

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Kušej Saps Verdi’s Forza

Friday, December 27th, 2013

By ANDREW POWELL Published: December 27, 2013 MUNICH — Martin Kušej’s new staging of La forza del destino for Bavarian State Opera opened Dec. 22 and is due for streaming tomorrow. Well cast, it alas trivializes the feud and the questions of honor and destiny that excited Verdi and his librettist Piave, despite being the […]

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A Complete Frau, at Last

Friday, November 22nd, 2013

By ANDREW POWELL Published: November 22, 2013 MUNICH — Everything looked ready for its close-up, Mr. DeMille, at Die Frau ohne Schatten last night (Nov. 21). Down to the last falcon feather. When the cameras roll for a Dec. 1 live stream of this new Bavarian State Opera production, the copious blue-greens, red and purple […]

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Benjamin and Aimard

Saturday, November 2nd, 2013

By ANDREW POWELL Published: November 2, 2013 MUNICH — George Benjamin programmed strongly around his own Duet in a welcome conducting engagement Oct. 21 with the Bavarian State Orchestra. Alas, doing so overshadowed the subtle 2008 composition in its local premiere, even with dedicatee Pierre-Laurent Aimard as persuasive soloist. One of only three works published by […]

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