BACKGarsington Opera announces 2021 summer season
More welcome positive post-Covid signals are coming from the opera world, as Garsington Opera announces the opening of its box office for its 2021 summer season of live opera, featuring three new productions and one revival at its theatre on the Wormsley Estate in Buckinghamshire.
A new production of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier opens the season on 2 June with Miah Persson, who triumphed in Strauss’s Capriccio in 2018, as the Marschallin, Hanna Hipp is cast as Octavian and Soraya Mafi is Sophie. American bass-baritone Derrick Ballard makes his Garsington Opera debut as Baron Ochs. Other members of a distinguished cast are Kitty Whately and Richard Burkhard. Jordan de Souza also makes his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Bruno Ravella directs this new staging which is a co-production with Santa Fe Opera and Irish National Opera.
Michael Boyd’s 2016 production of Eugene Onegin returns, with Jonathan McGovern making his debut in the title role. Sam Furness sings Lensky and Matthew Rose is Gremin. Two exciting young artists appear in their house debut at Garsington: Moldovan soprano Natalia Tanasii as Tatyana and Singaporean-British mezzo Fleur Barron as Olga. Douglas Boyd conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra. Opera Now’s reviewer said of the 2016 premiere of this production: ‘A memorable Onegin that I would turn up on successive nights to savour.’
Corona: Kultureinrichtungen bleiben im Lockdown, aber Licht am Ende des Tunnels
Die am 28.Oktober 2020 für November auf der Konferenz der Bundeskanzlerin mit den Regierungschefinnen und Regierungschefs der Länder beschlossenen Corona-Maßnahmen werden, nach dem gestrigen Beschluss der Ministerpräsidenten und der Bundeskanzlerin, bis zum 20. Dezember 2020 bundesweit verlängert. Die auf Grund dieses Beschlusses geschlossenen Betriebe und Einrichtungen, also auch die betroffenen Kultureinrichtungen, bleiben damit leider zunächst weiterhin geschlossen.
Der Deutsche Kulturrat, der Spitzenverband der Bundeskulturverbände, ist froh, dass das Infektionsschutzgesetz kurz vor seiner Verabschiedung in der letzten Woche geändert wurde. Wir hatten angemahnt, dass Theater, Museen, Bibliotheken, Konzerthäuser, Kinos viel mehr als reine Vergnügungsorte sind und das sie nach unserer Verfassung (GG Art. 5, Abs. 3) unter besonderem Schutz steht, präsentiert wird. Der Deutsche Bundestag hatte in der letzten Minute in diesem Sinne das Gesetz geändert.
Corona: Cultural institutions remain in lockdown, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel
The Corona measures agreed on 28 October 2020 for November at the Conference of the Federal Chancellor with the Heads of Government of the Länder will be extended nationwide until 20 December 2020, following yesterday’s decision by the Minister-Presidents and the Federal Chancellor. The businesses and institutions closed on the basis of this decision, including the cultural institutions concerned, will thus unfortunately remain closed for the time being.
The German Cultural Council, the umbrella organisation of the federal cultural associations, is pleased that the Infection Protection Act was amended shortly before its adoption last week. We had warned that theatres, museums, libraries, concert halls, cinemas are much more than mere places of entertainment and that they are under special protection according to our constitution (GG Art. 5, Para. 3). The German Bundestag had changed the law in this sense at the last minute.
Scala de Milan : un grand gala à huis clos pour fêter “l’ouverture” de saison
Retransmis en direct à la télévision, l’événement réunira tout ce que la planète compte de stars du chant, de Roberto Alagna à Ludovic Tézier, en passant par Jonas Kaufmann, Juan Diego Florez, Placido Domingo ou Sonya Yoncheva.
Coup de tonnerre (encore un…) dans le ciel de la vie lyrique européenne : il y a quelques semaines, la Scala de Milan annonçait l’annulation de sa traditionnelle soirée du 7 décembre, date officielle de l’ouverture de saison, où se rue tout le gratin politico-médiatique de la Péninsule. Cette année, le rideau aurait dû se lever sur une nouvelle production de Lucia di Lammermoor de Donizetti. Mais la situation sanitaire critique à laquelle fait face la Lombardie (et les personnels de la Scala n’ont pas été épargnés, plusieurs cas de contamination ayant été à déplorer parmi les choristes et musiciens) ne permettait pas un tel événement.
Scala de Milan: a grand gala behind closed doors to celebrate the “opening” of the season
Broadcast live on television, the event will bring together everything the planet has to offer in terms of singing stars, from Roberto Alagna to Ludovic Tézier, including Jonas Kaufmann, Juan Diego Florez, Placido Domingo and Sonya Yoncheva.
A few weeks ago, La Scala of Milan announced the cancellation of its traditional evening on December 7th, the official date of the season opening, where all the political and media stars of the Peninsula are on the streets. This year, the curtain should have been raised on a new production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. But the critical health situation in Lombardy (and La Scala’s staff were not spared, with several cases of contamination among the choristers and musicians) did not allow for such an event.