Perth opera company drops Bizet's "Carmen" for "smoking reasons"

Name an opera - a French one.

The chances are it'll be Georges Bizet's "Carmen" - famous among opera aficianados and those not so "in the know" if you like.

It's staged regularly worldwide and in fact - get this - is, according to Operabase, a company to which over 700 opera houses report their performances, only second (for the 2014-15 season) behind  Giuseppe Verdi's "La traviata".

It'll be performed at some of the most prestigious venues during the current season, including New York's Metropolitan opera, Dresden's Semperoper, La Scala in Milan,  and Prague, Hamburg, Madrid, Budapest, Saint Peterburg, London, Berlin...and so the list goes on.

Anna Caterina Antonacci (screenshot from "Carmen" at the Royal Opera House in London, 2013)

But, although it was also scheduled to be performed in Perth, Western Australia, the powers that be have decided to "cancel" it for the next two years.

And for, what on the face of it...and even when delving a little deeper...seems to be the most extraordinary - and not to say, ridiculous - of reasons.

Smoking!

The opera, which debuted in 1875 is partially set in and around a tobacco factory in the Spanish city of Seville with portrayals of smoking in the setting, action, libretto and text...at least during the first act.

And that's apparently reason enough for the West Australia Opera Company to drop it from its schedules.

You see, from March 2015, the (state-owned) company has a two-year A$400,000 (around €270,000) partnership deal with the Western Australian government health agency  - Healthway.

West Australian Opera general manager Carolyn Chard said the company had voluntarily made the change to its schedule to accommodate Healthway's policies, describing it as "not difficult".

"We care about the health and wellbeing of our staff, stage performers and all the opera lovers throughout Western Australia," said Chard, adding that the decision had been a "voluntary" one to fit in with Heathway's policies.

Healthway chairwoman, Rosanna Capolingua, praised the decision, although she stressed that no pressure had been put on the opera company to drop "Carmen".

“The portrayal of smoking on stage, in film and on TV normalises smoking and presents it as being attractive, which could dissuade smokers from quitting and encourage young people to take it up.” she said.

What a lot of tosh - at least when it comes to an opera that has been so consistently performed down the decades.

Whatever.

Here's a clip of the most famous aria, "Habanera" from "Carmen", performed in 2013 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and featuring Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci in the title role.

Yes, she was blonde.

No, she didn't light up.

Friday's French music break - Plácido Domingo, "Niun mi tema"

Friday's French music break this week is something anyone who is interested in opera will be able to see live next week.

It's the aria, " Niun mi tema" (That none fear me")  sung (here) by  Plácido Domingo, from the final act of Giuseppe Verdi's "Otello".

Plácido Domingo (screenshot from "Otello", 1996 Metropolitan opera production)

It provides just a taste of an opera that many self-proclaimed experts have described as "having singing roles that the performers should not even be attempting to sing."

Just as it does every year, France 2 will be transmitting the entire production live from Théâtre Antique D'Orange as part of the festival des Chorégies: Tuesday August 5 from 21h50.

In the title role, of course, will be Roberto Alagna who, in recent years, seems to have made a habit of headlining the festival.

The 51-year-old tenor will be tackling the part for the first time and, while he'll undoubtedly thrill the home audience (TV viewers and those at the performance), "purists" might well judge the role to be beyond his capacities.

Whatever. Summer opera outdoors and at night - a treat indeed, even if the performers don't or can't deliver the goods (although once again, nitpickers might not agree).

Just as long as the heavens don't open.

Yours truly will be there on Saturday, hoping that the production will be more enjoyable than the disappointing "La Wally" was in Geneva.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Friday's French music break - Wilhelmenia Fernandez, "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana"

This week's Friday's French music break is a treat for all opera lovers out there; the American soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez singing "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from Alfredo Catalani's "Le Wally".

Wihelmenia Fernandez (screenshot from "Diva")

No, not much French about it at all, except that this version of the aria is probably one of the more popular and most well-known (but not necessarily "best") as it featured in Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 art house classic film "Diva" in which Fernandez played (and sang) the part of Cynthia Hawkins, "a beautiful and celebrated opera singer who has never consented to have her performances recorded."

So why dig up a version that's more than three decades old of an aria from an opera that first opened in 1892?

Well, even though many famous sopranos have had "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" in their repertoire (just do a search on YouTube and you'll come up with, among others, versions by Angela Gheorghiu, Renée Fleming and the late Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi ), "La Wally" as an opera is rarely performed.

Apparently that's because it's difficult to stage as it's set in the Tyrolean Alps with the heroine throwing herself to her death into an avalanche at the end, which sounds like hogwash as a reason, given the (sometimes improbable) plots in other operas (think Puccini's "Tosca" for example, in which the heroine "hurls herself off a parapet" at the end).

Anyway, right now "La Wally" is coming to the end of a run at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva - the first time it has been performed there since the venue reopened 50 years ago.

Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta (screenshot  from clip of "La Wally" Grand Théâtre de Genève)

Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta (pictured) shares the lead role with English-born Morenike Fadayomi (you can read her full official biography here) who takes over for the last two performances.

And for those of you who might fancy seeing the Geneva performance of "La Wally", Arte still has the June 20 "live transmission" in its site.

Friday's French music break - Angela Gheorghiu and Piotr Beczała, "La bohéme"

True to form this week's Friday's French music break isn't exactly...er...French.

Still, the setting of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's 1896 (yep, bang up to date) opera "La bohème" is Paris (the Latin quarter to be exact) and what is probably one of his best-known and popular works has just finished the first of two runs at l'Opéra Bastille.

Setting the opera in the 1930s as the (now 20-year-old) Jonathan Miller production does, might have upset some aficionados down the years, but quite frankly with Romanian soprano (and ace diva) Angela Gheorghui up there on stage as Mimi, supported by Polish tenor Piotr Beczała as Rudolfo, who gives a damn?

The pair reprise the roles they performed together in San Francisco five years ago.

Angela Gheorghiu and Piotr Beczała (screenshot from San Francisco Opera preview, 2008)

Gheorghui, suitably capricious and coquettish (both vocally and in terms of behavious with nobody quite knowing how she would perform on the night) in a role that has become one of her "fetishes" or signature pieces.

Beczała with a fine voice, but perhaps lacking the resonance of others who've sung the role and finding himself almost competing at times with the orchestra under Israeli conductor  Daniel Oren the

Ah "La bohème"!

Yes the libretto is far from being mindblowing. It's all about romance; "a love affair between a poor poet ( Rudolfo) and an equally hard-up seamstress" (Mimi) - doomed because, although they're made for each other, he's jealous of her flirtatiousness and she has consumption, to which she succumbs in the final act.

That's the not-quite "Brodie's Notes"-like plot version. Full of melodrama and lacking the great themes of some of Puccini's other works perhaps.

But - and it's a big but - "La bohème" is stuffed to bursting point with heart-rending arias and the most exquisite arrangements.

Puccini could pen a tune or two!

Anyway, Gheorghui and Beczała's  run came to an end on April 11.

Bravos all round as each member of the cast took their individual bows at regular intervals after the final performance with Gheorghui pausing just long enough to let everyone who was really the star, before making her way on to the stage.

But you can still catch ""La bohéme" at La Bastille in July with another Romanian soprano, Anita Hartig (who made her New York Metropolitan Opera debut debut in the role at the beginning of April) , and Italian tenor, Massimo Giordano, taking over the main roles.

Well worth seeing.

For the moment though, here's a "preview" video clip of excerpts of Gheorghui and Beczała performing in "La Bohème" in San Francisco in 2008.

Rossini's "La Cenerentola" in Paris - is it second helpings or leftovers?

If you like your opera served up in easy to digest portions, then you probably can't beat Gioachino Rossini.

Arguably his best known works are "Il barbiere di Siviglia" and  "La Cenerentola", both of which have become staples at opera houses around the world.

And right now in Paris it's "La Cenerentola" which is back for the second time this season at the Palais Garnier.

A different line up from the first "helping" at the end of last year (all right enough already of the food references) but well worth seeing if only for the undeniable architectural opulence of the Palais Garnier and that wonderful Marc Chagall painted ceiling.

Palais Garnier, Marc Chagall painted ceiling

Oops. This review is supposed to be of the opera, not the setting.

But it's difficult not be impressed by the Palais Garnier, especially when the performance you're watching and listening to doesn't live up to your expectations.

And so it was with "La Cenerentola", which is a shame really as from the opening chords of the overture you know you're going to be in for something special as the music is a "light and energetic" prelude to what is to follow.

As with much opera, the plot of La Cenerentola" (libretto Jacopo Ferretti) is pretty pants.

It's Rossini's Cinderella without the "supernatural" flavour of Charles Perrault's original "Cendrillon" (no Fairy Godmothers or glass slippers) but retaining the moralising of good triumphing over evil.

The Orchestre de l’Opera National de Paris, under conductor Riccardo Frizza, took some stick earlier on in the season but quite frankly was more than up to the job.

The underperformers were rather the singers.

The great overacting (yes, opera singers can now act in spite of clichés that might abound, and besides it rather a prerequisite for a successful Rossini performance) was as hammed-up as warranted but it was accompanied by some - at times - disappointing singing.

The chorus was wonderful and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production - even though it's more than 40 years old - has stood the test of time.

But both lead voices, Italian tenor Antonino Siragusa as Don Ramiro and Italian mezzo soprano Serena Malfi as Angelina, were sometimes lost and submerged by the orchestra.

And they couldn't always manage the elaborate nature of the coloratura without resorting to belting out the high notes at unnecessarily full volume.

They were good but not exceptional.

Missing was the subtlety of a truly great performance such as the one Cecilia Bartoli gave in the role of Angelina at New York's Metropolitan opera in 1997.

Ah. Memories!



Still, the setting is magnificent (if you don't know the Palais Garnier, try doing an Internet image search - it's well worth it) and "La Cenerentola" remains a real delight and continues its run at the Palais Garnier until the end of March.

Palais Garnier (from Wikipedia)

La bohème "starring" Natalie Dessay

Actually that's not quite right as the current run of Giacomo Puccini's four-act work at the Opéra Bastille in Paris came to an end on Sunday.

But for many in the audience, Natalie Dessay's presence was probably the reason for theirs, regardless of the fact that she wasn't singing the main role, and it was something of a case of "move over Mimi, Musetta's here."

There's no doubt that without really trying Dessay somewhat stole the show but at the same time without upstaging the other singers.

Quite an achievement really.



That's not to say that the main protagonists in this production weren't good: in fact they were very good.

Massimo Giardino as Rodolfo and Inva Mula as Mimi in the final performance of the run (roles they shared with Stefano Secco and Tamar Iveri) more than held their own during the first act) with moving interpretations of the star struck lovers in those arias probably everyone knows "Che gelida manina" and "Sì, mi chiamano Mimì".

And the duet "O soave fanciulla" more than lived up to expectations.

But midway through the second act the audience seemed to lean forward collectively to watch and listen more attentively as the coquettish Musetta made her entrance and Dessay charmed everyone with "Quando me n’vò".

All right so perhaps it wasn't hard work for the 44-year-old French coloratura soprano to win over an already converted public.

Quite simply put she's a star here in France. Take two. She's an international star and her success has been built not only on the quality of her voice but also her ability to act.

In that sense Musetta, although a secondary role, is exactly suited to Dessay's knack of adding the lightest of comic touches where it's needed without falling into the trap of appearing ridiculous.

Add to that the fact that in interviews Dessay always comes across as completely grounded and totally "un-diva-ish" and it's not hard to understand her popularity.

For those who might have missed her this time around in "La bohème" there'll soon be another chance to see her.

Dessay will be back at Opéra Bastille in Paris from January 25, 2010 when she'll be reprising her role of Amina in Vincenzo Bellini's "La sonnambula" - a part she sang to great critical acclaim at New York's Metropolitan Opera earlier this year.

A slice of life in France - Rigoletto at Vaux-le Vicomte

Name a château in France and the chances are pretty high that somewhere near the top of the list will be Versailles, 20 kilometres southwest of the capital Paris.

Sorry folks from the outset, this piece isn't about that most royal of palaces, but its popularity owes a lot to another château, this one lying 55 kilometres east of Paris near the town of Melun in the département of Seine-et-Marne; Vaux-le-Vicomte.

Sports and television fans might remember the name from a wedding back in July 2007 (O7/07/07) held there as French basketball ace, Tony Parker, and Desperate Housewives' star, Eva Longoria, tied the knot in front of a star-studded guest list.

French history buffs will doubtless be more familiar with its significance as setting a model for what would become the Louis XIV "style", if you will, of building a palace.

At the weekend it was the turn of opera lovers to enjoy the splendour of Vaux-le-Vicomte for an outdoor performance of Verdi's Rigoletto.

Yes admittedly it's rather late in the year to be attending an opera "à la belle étoile" so-to speak, the season in Europe naturally tends to be confined to July and August.

On Saturday though the Gods were smiling, sort of, for the third and final performance at Vaux-le-Vicomte of Verdi's operatic "masterpiece of treachery and vengeance."

The principle of Opéra en plein air is undoubtedly a noble one, to bring opera to a wider audience at an affordable price and to stage performances at settings which in themselves, reflect the culture and heritage of France.

While the singers and the orchestra put in sterling performance, the one thing organisers could inevitably have no control over was the weather.

And therein lies the problem of performing outside at night so late in the year.

Perhaps many in the audience were hoping that Gilda would die the inevitable death a little sooner that planned because, simply put, it was so ruddy cold.

"If it rains, then please remain seated until the performance resumes," announced Tristan Duval the producer and organiser of Opéra en plein air, in his introduction.

There were some doubtful groans from many in the audience already shivering in their sweaters and coats.

"There'll be no intermission and spectators are requested to stay in their seats until the end so as not to disturb the performers," the audience was further informed.

Yes the setting was spectacular, but did it really lend anything to the production? The jury is maybe out on that and besides it's always going to be rather subjective.

The voices were good, although perhaps when Gilda went for those high notes, there might have been some listening who thought she might not quite make them. She did.

And what was it with a portion of the audience which couldn't resist humming along as the Duke of Mantua broke into the opera's most famous aria "La donna è mobile"?

Seriously though it was hard for even the most ardent fan to concentrate when the real focus was not on what was happening on stage but whether blood could be brought back to all limbs after two-and-a-half hours sitting in the cold.

Now in its ninth year, previous seasons have taken productions of among others, Offenbach's "The tales of Hoffmann" (2008), Rossini's "Barber of Seville" (2007) and Mozart's The magic flute (2006), around the county, to perform in front of more than 40,000 people in some of the most spectacular settings.

This year has been the turn of Rigoletto, with performances at, for example, the Château du Champ-de-Bataille in Normandy, Château d'Haroué in Lorraine and the Cité de Carcassonne in south-central France.

Vaux-le Vicomte was the penultimate venue for this year with performances on three consecutive nights, and the opera will now move on to Château de Chambord in the département of Loir-et-Cher for the final staging on September 19.

A piece of advice to those who'll be attending the sold-out performance would have to be to "wrap up warm" just in case.

Château Vaux-le-Vicomte welcomes the opera

No comment on the parking

Rigoletto - get your programme

Applause

Take a bow