Brian Dickie

Philly

There are two superb institutions for the advanced training and development of singers here in Philadelphia.  The oldest and most distinguished, and arguably the best such establishment in the world, is the Curtis Institute.  And then there is the Academy of Vocal Arts, no mean performer and always a fantastic hunting ground for singers.  And I have been in both today - a solid six hours of hearing much of the best young talent in this country.

Opera knows few international boundaries - so not surprisingly both Curtis and AVA have a good sprinkling of young people from around the world.  If I were a teenager I would say that the quality ranges from amazing through spectacular to awesome.  I think I should just say that the level never falls below exceptional and in some cases clearly reaches the pinnacle of what one can expect from 20 something full time students.  There are always singers here who are going to go on to major international careers.  Is this a vintage year?  Maybe not....but it is an extremely good one and more than a handful will be going on to great things.

I will mention just two - a South African bass-baritone at AVA and a Chinese mezzo at Curtis, two young people who seem to me to epitomise and encapsulate the international world in which we live and work.

They were Musa Ngqungwana from Port Elizabeth and Nian Wang from Nanjing, China.  More will be heard of these.  But also, to be fair, of many of the others as well!

I was delighted to have Roger Weitz, COT's former General Manager and now General Director of Opera Omaha, with me all day.  And it was, as always, such a pleasure to see Mikael Eliasen who runs the vocal department of Curtis. We had a good lunch together at Parc, just across the street from Curtis.  And then, when all was done, supper was with David Devan, General Director of the Philadephia Opera.  He is a star of the younger generation of administrators.

I leave Philadelphia on a 7:25 pm train tomorrow - another early night and early start for me.

Home for a minute or two!

I arrived back in Chicago this afternoon and was in the office for a couple of hours.  But I have a 6 am flight to Philadelphia tomorrow morning so I think that I will just stay on London time and have a late night going to bed at 2am.  But that is just 8 pm here......then up at 4 and off to the airport at 4:45.  Crazy really!

But Curtis and AVA in Philadelphia are fruitful hunting grounds.  And then my two days in New York on Wednesday and Thursday are bound to be full of rich pickings as well.  Every year brings a new miraculous vintage.  But for now I am signing off but watch this space for the latest news tomorrow.

Weekend off opera.......

I have attended seven opera performances in the last eight days so I thought that a weekend off would not be out of place.  I return to Chicago tomorrow and have spent the weekend with and around the family.  And also around London......including the delights of Covent Garden and the colorful Neal's Yard.  And the smelly cheese shop as well!

And today we had a family visit to the British Museum - mostly concentrating on Egyptian stuff - currently a favorite study subject for English schoolchildren under nine. 

So we saw mummies......  And then drifted on to really modern things such as Greek and Roman.  Trajan seen here is a mere 2003 years old.  And the Rosetta Stone has been on display at the British Museum since 1802.  Of course it attracts crowds, but it is just one item in the enormous collection of one of the major museums of the world.

I will be back in Chicago tomorrow afternoon.  But only too briefly.  My East coast auditions, albeit abbreviated, will be in Philadelphia on Tuesday and New York on Wednesday and Thursday.

I will be glad to be finally home late on Thursday for an extended period.  We have lots of happenings in store between now and Christmas.

A contrast in styles

Photo: © Neil Libbert/ENO

We were back in yesterday evening's Eugene Onegin, from Barrie Kosky's wacky and brilliant Regietheater of Thursday evening's Castor and Pollux, to the more classical approach of English directorial style in the no less brilliant hands of Deborah Warner.  And it was approriate that Peter Hall, the undisputed master of this "method", was in the audience last night and greatly enjoyed it.

There was so much to love in this production - so it may be invidious to pick out individuals.  But I will anyway!  Let us restrict ourselves to tenors and a mezzo. Toby Spence is a stunning passionate Lensky, really marvellously sung, and played with that exceptional intelligence and sensibility one so often finds in British artists. A wonderful performance.  And the M. Triquet of Adrian Thompson is one for the collection, a delicious performance from a graduate of the Glyndebourne Chorus of the 1970s, one of so many who went on the long distinguished careers.  I also loved Claudia Huckle's Olga, a part never easy to cast requiring as it does vocal characteristics (a genuine contralto) less often encountered in a personality right for the part in all other respects.  But here we had the ideal - for me anyway!

Edward Gardner has the piece in his soul and conjured up great playing from the ENO orchestra.  And hats off to the First Horn - a rarely encountered spotless performance of the many exposed moments.  Yet another musical pleasure!  And tribute also to Martin Pickard for his splendid new translation.

Speaking of hats, I missed Tatiana's red beret in the St Petersburg scene.......but otherwise Deborah Warner's detailed observation of character, time, place, emotional interaction, created a world that one entered and was absorbed by.  The Larin party (Act 2 Scene 1) was a remarkable many layered creation. Devastating actually.........and so on throughout the evening.  A great night at the opera.

French baroque

The relative neglect of French baroque opera (notwithstanding the superb advocacy over the years by William Christie) may be coming to an end - perhaps this decade will see the same renewed interest in this repertoire that we saw in the 60's with Monteverdi, the 70s with Cavalli, and the 80s with Handel.

COT introduced Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Médée to Chicago audiences last season; the English National Opera has just given London the treat of Rameau's Castor and Pollux in a wild and enjoyable production by Barrie Kosky, superbly conducted by Christian Curnyn. One hopes that the success of this will ensure that they delve further.

I was at the penultimate performance last night - only one to go, next Thursday December 1.  But this is a co-production with Berlin's Komische Oper where Barrie Kosky will be Intendant from September 2012, so it will presumably be eventually seen there.  And it will surely be revived at ENO.

The music was the glory of the evening.  Christian Curnyn drew playing of exceptional stylishness and beauty from the English National Opera orchestra - his work here demonstrates what remarkable results can be achieved with an opera house's resident orchestra.  In the hands of Christian they were once again transformed.  Given Christian's work with COT over the last two seasons this was no surprise to me - just yet another evening of pleasure from this remarkable musician.

For me the vocal highlights were Sophie Bevan's ravishingly sung Télaïre, and the remarkable Allan Clayton as Castor.  Clayton is the new star to emerge from a long line of English tenors of distinction - quite wonderful assured singing, completely undaunted by the high tessitura, a confident and dominating performance all round.  What to say about Sophie Bevan?  She is a complete winner.  A gorgeous sound, flawless singing, and natural musicianship of magical spontaneity.  And she threw herself (literally on a number of occasions) in to the production with unstinting energy - Barrie Kosky demands a lot from his singers and they willingly deliver!

Sophie's sister Mary shone in the ENO Figaro last month - what a family! 

This evening I am back at the Coliseum for Eugene Onegin.

A quick dash around Covent Garden

The Garrick Club approached from Floral Street

I am staying at the Garrick for the rest of my time in London this week.  This is extremely conveniently located,  half way between the English National Opera and The Royal Opera House.  It is also a delightful place - I have been a member since 1977.

Covent Garden as well as being the home of the Royal Opera, is also the home of that cheese that you buy at great cost in Whole Foods in Chicago.  I must bring some home with me next week!

This evening I am at Castor and Pollux at the ENO.  By all accounts from distinguished colleagues it is something quite remarkable, although the critics have been somewhat sniffy.  So what?  I will see for myself and let you know.

Ruddigore

What a treat I had this evening.  Gilbert and Sullivan is something that all we Brits grew up with. part of the culture at that time anyway - but that’s a very long time ago.  For me Ruddigore is of special interest and that is why I made the effort to go along this evening to the Barbican Theatre.  Opera North have a spectacularly successful production of this rarely performed G and S.  I had not seen the piece for more than 50 years - and that last time I only saw parts of it - because I was the leading lady, Rose Maybud, in 1956.  Somewhere there are photographs of this - I will find them in due course.

As you may imagine, this was a seriously spooky experience!  Memories of school more than fifity years ago are inevitably somewhat episodic.  But this brought back memories very vividly.  I have no idea where the cast are now - my leading man, Hugh Ramsbotham, was the son of the Bishop of Wakefield.  His elder brother went on to become a distinguished British General, David Ramsbotham - the whole family had been at my boarding school. The other cast members had exotic last names - Greatorix, Devereux......I wonder what happened to them all.

Opera North's production was by Jo Davies, designed by Richard Hudson (sets) and Gabrielle Dalton (costumes).  Amy Freston as Rose and Grant Doyle as Robin caught the character and spirit of the piece to perfection.  And it was good to see our friend Hal Cazalet, who had been with COT last season in Death and the Powers, bringing the house down with his all singing and all dancing Richard Dauntless.  But the cast was uniformly strong........with some excellent performances from old friends from Glyndebourne vintage 1980!

Altogether a great evening of music theatre.  And by the way the Barbican Theatre is perfectly suited to this kind of piece.  It was built for, and to the specifications of, the Royal Shakespeare Company.  This is a wonderful space and acoustic for G and S. 

It was also good to see so many old friends and colleagues in the audience, always one of the joys of attending performances in London.  Its a bit like going into a club......!

Tomorrow I will be at the English National Opera for Castor and Pollux.  And on Friday back there for Eugene Onegin.  These two new productions have been very warmly received.  ENO is on a roll!

Its late - signing off now!

Internet free Monday

I was in Paris for the day yesterday on the way to London - without internet although I thought that I had succeeded in posting something with my iPhone.  But evidently it didn't work!  Never mind - I am now in London on a very damp London November morning.  I will be here for Gilbert and Sullivan, Rameau and Tchaikovsky.  An eclectic mix indeed!

The highlight of Paris yesterday afternoon was the Stein exhibition at the Grand Palais - a remarkable collection of largely Matisse, Cézanne and Picasso, but many others besides, collected by Gertrude and her brother Leo, and her other brother Michael and his wife Sarah.  It is an extraordinary story, and a must see exhibition worth the journey to New York's Metropolitan Museuem where it will be for four months from February next year.  It closes in Paris on January 16 so if you are in Europe that is obviously easier!  But book - it is popular but Monday afternoon was a pretty good time to go.

Included of course is Picasso's 1906 portrait of Gertude Stein .

And a short expedition to the Centre Pompidou - the outside only - was followed by a decent Parisian dinner at the nearby Benoit.

 

Centre Georges Pompidou - you have been warned

Ring over!

What an exhausting weekend!  Götterdämmerung was accomplished in three hours this afternoon.  We lost the Norns - well that was ok by me.  This was an altogether excellent experience - but I fear for the singers.  I can see the advantage of getting the thing done on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  But what a stretch for some of them - especially Brünnhilde.  But she was a courageous trouper and did not flinch.  Good for her.

I think that this version by Jonathan Dove and Graham Vick is a triumph and I predict long life for it.  I'll be willing to bet that it becomes a favorite in Wagner's bicentenary year - 2013.  But a word of warning - it needs really fine singing - no short cuts, no cheap choices.  The voices may not have to have the size and stamina required for the original version in a large house.  But this stuff needs to be sung beautifully and this provides some interesting casting opportunities. 

For example, while I do not believe that Jeff Martin would be cast as Siegfried in a major house, I don't think that you can find a more beautifully and beguilingly sung Siegfried these days.  He was a pleasure.  Such clever choices as this across the board would create something really outstanding.  And there was lots of good stuff in this cast - but consistency is the name of the game.......

Anyway, an altogether excellent, enjoyable, and valuable weekend.

And then the dinner - with so many restaurants closed in the town center I thought that I might have to dine at MacDonalds.  But I googled "Caen restaurants ouverts dimanche" and came up with what turned out to be the perfect place as I am sure all my family will agree!  And it was just seven minutes walk from my hotel in the charming Rue du Vaugueux.  Nice place Caen - worth a detour.

Le p'tit B restaurant, 15 Rue du Vaugueux, Caen

Three down - one to go

Caen - William the Conqueror's castle

"Doing" a Ring cycle is an act of dedication that Wagner fanatics get high on.  It is an obsession, it is a narcotic, so it can be an addiction.  I have not sat through a complete Ring, a week in my life, since Bayreuth 1983.  And the first one was back in my teenage years at Covent Garden with Hans Hotter as Wotan and a sumptuous array of singers including Birgit Nilsson and Wolfgang Windgassen, conducted by Rudolph Kempe. And Joan Sutherland was a Rhinemaiden.......

This weekend in Caen is a somewhat different affair but immensely enjoyable, and an agreeable way to get a quick fix in these days of short attention span.  It is extremely well conducted by the meticulous but energetic Peter Rundel who does a magnificent job with his small orchestra, Porto's Remix Ensemble.  And his unfailing support for the singers, and his forward propulsion of the drama, turns this into a commanding performance - impressive. 

Walküre yesterday was accomplished in three hours, with a 20 minute intermission.  And Siegfried last night was 2 hours 40 with a single break.  I guess that Götterdämmerung will be three and a half hours, beginning at 4 pm and over in time for a nice dinner!

The Dove arrangement reduces the orchestra to just 19 players.  I think that I would prefer to beef up the the upper strings somewhat - and I am sure that some companies opt for that.  But they had the original Dove here!

And there was some fine singing, especially from the ladies.  In Rheingold I was struck by Louise Callinan's Erda and Nora Petročenko's Fricka; in Walküre by a splendid Korean soprano Jihye Son as Sieglinde, and Cécile De Boever's powerful incisive Brünnhilde.  And amongst the men we had a truly excellent Siegfried, cleanly and beautifully sung - how rare is that?  This was Jeff Martin, a name new to me.

The Mise en Scène, staging-production whatever, was a simple divided platform and a projection screen - creative minimalism COT style, devised and directed by the excellent Antoine Gindt.  Simple, effective, all you need for the Ring.  Wieland would have approved.

So I look forward to the grand finale this afternoon. 

Meanwhile I will be catching up on email and other paper work and will then go out for another walk around Caen on yet another lovely crisp sunny day.

Caen - William the Conqueror's tomb