<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Solveig Kringelborn Archives - Cultural Attaché</title> <atom:link href="https://culturalattache.co/tag/solveig-kringelborn/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://culturalattache.co/tag/solveig-kringelborn/</link> <description>The Guide to Arts and Culture events in and around Los Angeles</description> <lastBuildDate>Tue, 30 Mar 2021 10:58:22 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1</generator> <item> <title>Myths and Legends: Week 54 at the Met</title> <link>https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/22/myths-and-legends-week-54-at-the-met/</link> <comments>https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/22/myths-and-legends-week-54-at-the-met/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Mon, 22 Mar 2021 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Opera: Bravo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Streaming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Adriannę Pieczonka]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Anja Kampe]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bryn Terfel]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Burkhard Ulrich]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Christoph Willibald Gluck]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Danielle de Niese]]></category> <category><![CDATA[David Portillo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Der Fliegende Holländer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Don Giovanni]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Elektra]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Eric Owens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Esa-Pekka Salonen]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Evgeny Nikitin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ferruccio Furlanetto]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Franco Zeffirelli]]></category> <category><![CDATA[François Girard]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Franz-Josef Selig]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Frederica von Stade]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Gordon Hawkins]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Hector Berlioz]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Hei-Kyung Hong]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Heidi Grant Murphy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Hildegard Behrens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Idomeneo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Ileana Cotrubas]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Iphigénie en Tauride]]></category> <category><![CDATA[James Levine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jean-Pierre Ponnelle]]></category> <category><![CDATA[John Alexander]]></category> <category><![CDATA[John Relyea]]></category> <category><![CDATA[La Damnation de Faust]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Luciano Pavarotti]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Marcello Giordani]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mark Morris]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mihoko Fujimura]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Nina Stemme]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Orfeo ed Euridice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Patrice Chéreau]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Paul Groves]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Plácido Domingo]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Renée Fleming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Richard Strauss]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Richard Wagner]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Robert Lepage]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sergei Koptchak]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sergey Skorokhodov]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Solveig Kringelborn]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Stephanie Blythe]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Stephen Wadsworth]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Susan Graham]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Valery Gergiev]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Waltraud Meier]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=13499</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Metropolitan Opera Website<br /> <br /> March 22nd - March 28th</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/22/myths-and-legends-week-54-at-the-met/">Myths and Legends: Week 54 at the Met</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Big stories about heroes, anti-heroes and mythology take center stage in Week 54 at the Met. </p> <p>Of particular note this week is that two productions are being streamed for the very first time: a 1982-1983 season production of Mozart’s <em>Idomeneo</em> (remarkably the first time the opera had ever been performed at the Met) and a production of the composer’s <em>Don Giovanni</em> from the 2000-2001 season starring Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming.</p> <p>There is also the fourth showing of Strauss’ <em>Elektra</em> with Nina Stemme. If you haven’t seen this yet, I strongly urge you to do so. It’s a powerful production filled with amazing performances.</p> <p>All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.</p> <p>The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the <a href="http://metopera.org/">Metropolitan Opera website</a>. </p> <p>If you read this column early enough on March 22nd, you might still have time to catch the 2019-2020 season production of Handel’s <em>Agrippina</em> that concludes a week celebrating <em><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/15/viewers-choice-week-53-at-the-met/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Viewer’s Choice</a></em>.</p> <p>Here is the line-up for Week 54 at the Met:</p> <p>Monday, March 22 – Gluck’s <strong><em>Orfeo ed Euridice</em></strong></p> <p>Conducted by James Levine; starring Danielle de Niese, Heidi Grant Murphy and Stephanie Blythe. This Mark Morris production is from the 2008-2009 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on June 3rd and November 3rd. </p> <p>Once again the myth of Orpheus inspired a composer. Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera, which premiered in Vienna in 1762, has a libretto by Ranieri de’ Calzabigi. (Others who have been so inspired include Haydn, Lizst and Stravinsky. The story is also the inspiration for the Tony Award-winning musical <em>Hadestown</em>.)</p> <p>The Orpheus story is about a man who suddenly loses the love of his life, Euridice. He travels to the underworld to find her. He can bring her back, but only if he truly trusts in her love.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe title="Heidi Grant Murphy - Gli Sguardi Trattieni" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/huB6T3Qm-mk?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/arts/music/12orfe.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anthony Tomassini</a>, in his <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> review of this production, began his review with singular praise for Blythe: </p> <p>“With each performance the American mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe gives, it becomes increasingly apparent that a once-in-a-generation opera singer has arrived. Ms. Blythe’s latest triumph came on Friday night at the Metropolitan Opera: a vocally commanding and deeply poignant portrayal of Orfeo in a revival of Mark Morris’s 2007 production of Gluck’s sublime masterpiece <em>Orfeo ed Euridice</em>. This was Ms. Blythe’s first performance of Orfeo, a touchstone trouser role for many mezzo-sopranos, and she already owns it.”</p> <p>Tuesday, March 23 – Berlioz’s <strong><em>La Damnation de Faust</em></strong></p> <p>Conducted by James Levine; starring Susan Graham, Marcello Giordani and John Relyea. This Robert Lepage production is from the 2008-2009 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on May 25th and September 9th.</p> <p>Hector Berlioz composed this work in 1845. He never envisioned <em>La Damnation de Faust</em> to be staged as an opera, but rather as a concert work. The first time it was performed as an opera was in 1893. The Metropolitan Opera first performed it as a concert in 1896. It would be ten more years before The Met would present it as a fully-staged opera.</p> <p>Once again Goethe’s work serves as the inspiration for this story about the deal one man makes with the devil to save the woman he loves.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe title="Damnation de Faust - 2008 - Marcello Giordani, Susan Graham" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vkonmZsZcQ4?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p>With <em>Le Damnation de Faust</em>, Lepage made his Metropolitan Opera debut. His extensive use of video in this production was one of the many points of both interest and discussion in 2008. Critics at the time wondered if this was a sign of what his then-upcoming <em>Ring Cycle</em> might be like.</p> <p>Wednesday, March 24 – Gluck’s <strong><em>Iphigénie en Tauride</em></strong></p> <p>Conducted by Patrick Summers; starring Susan Graham, Plácido Domingo, Paul Groves and Gordon Hawkins. This revival of the 2007 Stephen Wadsworth production from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on June 17th.</p> <p>Christoph Willibald Gluck’s 1779 opera features a libretto by Nicolas-François Guillard. The opera had its world premiere in Paris.</p> <p>A storm is raging on the island of Tauris. Iphigenia and Diana (the goddess) beg for relief from the storm. But the bigger storm brewing is the one inside Iphigenia who longs to be reunited with her brother, Orest, whom she believes to be dead after her mother killed her father and Orest killed their mother in revenge. Iphigenia must navigate what the gods want as she tries to quiet her pain.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe title="Iphigénie en Tauride - The Metropolitan Opera" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JPcPGn3tjaw?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p>The 2007 production of this opera marked the first time in 90 years that Gluck’s opera was performed at the Metropolitan Opera. Both Graham and Domingo were in that production, too. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/arts/music/14iphi.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zachary Woolfe</a>, writing for the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span>, said of the production being offered:</p> <p>“An impassioned revival with those singers, which opened Saturday evening, confirms that there is no reason for this radiant opera not to be a repertory staple.”</p> <p>Thursday, March 25 – Strauss’s <strong><em>Elektra</em></strong> <em>STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!</em></p> <p>Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; starring Nina Stemme, Adrianne Pieczonka, Waltraud Meier, Burkhard Ulrich and Eric Owens. This Patrice Chéreau production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on April 20th, August 31st and November 26th.</p> <p>Richard Strauss’s <em>Elektra</em> had its world premiere in Dresden in 1909. The libretto was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and was based on his 1903 drama of the same name.</p> <p>For a one-act opera, <em>Elektra</em> has a tangled web of intrigue at its core. Simply put, Elektra is enraged by the murder of her father, King Agamemnon. Elektra’s mother, Klytämnestra, convinced her lover, Aegisth, to kill her husband. Once Elektra finds out, she is out for nothing short of total revenge and enlists her brother, Orest, to kill their mother.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe loading="lazy" title="Elektra: Recognition Scene (Nina Stemme)" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jFzZMoX7rok?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p>When <em>Elektra</em> was first presented, critics were deeply divided. Perhaps none more so than Ernest Newman, then London’s most important former music critic and playwright George Bernard Shaw. Newman found the opera abhorrent. Shaw fiercely defended it. Their argument about the merits of Strauss’s opera were published in a series of letters in The Nation<em>.</em></p> <p>Of this production, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The New York Times</span>‘ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/arts/music/review-elektra-at-the-met-does-full-justice-to-strausss-masterpiece.html?searchResultPosition=3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anthony Tommasini</a> said,</p> <p>“…nothing prepared me for the seething intensity, psychological insight and sheer theatrical inventiveness of this production on Thursday night, conducted by the brilliant Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mr. Chéreau’s partner in this venture from the start. A superb cast is headed by the smoldering soprano Nina Stemme in the title role.”</p> <p>Friday, March 26 – Mozart’s <strong><em>Idomeneo</em></strong> <em>FIRST SHOWING</em></p> <p>Conducted by James Levine; starring Hildegard Behrens, Ileana Cotrubas, Frederica von Stade, Luciano Pavarotti and John Alexander. This Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production is from the 1982-1983 season. </p> <p>Mozart’s opera had its world premiere in 1781 in Munich and has a libretto by Giambattista Varesco. </p> <p><em>Idomeneo</em> tells the story of Idomeneus, the King of Crete, who in order to survive at sea promises Poseidon he will kill the first man he sees upon being rescued. His son, Idamante, learns that his father is in serious danger and fears he has perished. Mourning his father at the beach, he is overjoyed to see that he has survived. But in doing so becomes the first man his father sees. That’s when the story gets good!</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe loading="lazy" title="Idomeneo - Mozart - Act III. Mad Scene" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MQpgIuUxXb4?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p>This production marked the first time in the Met’s history that the opera was performed there. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/15/arts/met-opera-idomeneo.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Donal Henahan</a>, writing for the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span>, was glad they finally got around to it:</p> <p>“At any rate, the staging, however bizzarre at times, did not overpower the singers, who caught the powerful emotions that run beneath the surface of this Mozart score. Miss von Stade, a mezzosoprano in a part that originally was meant for castrato and later was given to a tenor, made a marvelously convincing young prince. Miss Cotrubas made an instant impression with her first aria, ‘Padre, germani, addio,’ and never let the side down thereafter. Miss Behrens flung herself into the villainous role of Elettra with vocal and dramatic abandon, actually stealing the last act from under Mr. Pavarotti’s nose. When she collapsed in a rage at the end and had to be carried off the stage, one could almost believe she had thrown a real fit.”</p> <p>Saturday, March 27 – Mozart’s <strong><em>Don Giovanni</em></strong> <em>FIRST SHOWING</em></p> <p>Conducted by James Levine; starring Renée Fleming, Solveig Kringelborn, Hei-Kyung Hong, Paul Groves, Bryn Terfel, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Sergei Koptchak. This revival of the 1990 Franco Zeffirelli production is from the 2000-2001 season. </p> <p>The legend of Don Juan inspired this opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte. <em>Don Giovanni</em> had its world premiere in 1787 in Prague.</p> <p>Don Giovanni loves women. All women. Early in the opera he tries fleeing Donna Anna. In doing so her father, the Commendatore, awakens and challenges him to a duel. Giovanni kills the Commendatore – an event that will ultimately lead to his own descent into hell.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe loading="lazy" title=""Notte e giorno faticar" - Ferruccio Furlanetto" width="696" height="522" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vni0_BtzLKs?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p><br><br><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/26/nyregion/music-review-terfel-as-don-giovanni-opens-met-opera-season.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bernard Holland</a>, writing for the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span>, raved about all the performances, but singled out Terfel’s approach to the title character:</p> <p>“Mr. Terfel comes to the Don with his own powerful if somewhat repugnant point of view. If the production is about period elegance, the character itself achieves a modern mean-spiritedness. Endearing naughtiness is replaced with outright sadism. This is a coldly obsessive figure for whom rape and murder is not offhand but committed with pleasure. On the other hand, this not very nice man sings like an angel. The articulation was wonderful, and Mr. Terfel commands such a depth of color that his ”La ci darem la mano” could soar out into the hall even at half voice. Volume does not necessarily conquer the Met’s bigness. Quality and focus have a better chance.”</p> <p>Sunday, March 28 – Wagner’s <strong><em>Der Fliegende Holländer</em></strong></p> <p>Conducted by Valery Gergiev; starring Anja Kampe, Mihoko Fujimura, Sergey Skorokhodov, David Portillo, Evgeny Nikitin and Franz-Josef Selig. This François Girard production is from the 2019-2020 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on January 29th.</p> <p>Richard Wagner’s opera, commonly billed by its English-language name, <em>The Flying Dutchman</em>, had its world premiere in Dresden in 1843. Wagner wrote the libretto and based it on <em>The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski</em> (<em>Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski</em>) by Henrich Heine.</p> <p><em>Der Fliegende Holländer </em>tells the story of a Dutch sea captain who claims he can sail safely anywhere in the world. The devil, hearing his boasting, condemned him to never die and to forever sail until he finds a woman willing to offer him eternal love. He can only leave the sea once every seven years. When he encounters Senta, he has found the woman that will end his curse. But she already has a fiancé. Whose love will win out?</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe loading="lazy" title="Der Fliegende Holländer: Excerpts" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5VfPK-0VV0o?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div></figure> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/arts/music/flying-dutchman-met-opera-review.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anthony Tommasini</a>, writing in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span>, was not thrilled by this production. He did, however, single out Kampe’s performance. </p> <p>“The soprano Anja Kampe, a leading Wagner soprano in Europe, made her belated Met debut as Senta; it’s good to finally have her here. Her singing was plush and warm, with lyrical sheen in tender phrases and steely intensity when Senta’s obsession takes hold. Despite some strained top notes, she was a standout.”</p> <p>That’s it for Week 54 at the Met. Next week it’s all about being torn between two lovers as Love Triangles are the theme. Enjoy the week and enjoy the operas!</p> <p>Photo: Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming in <em>Don Giovanni</em> (Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)</p> <p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/22/myths-and-legends-week-54-at-the-met/">Myths and Legends: Week 54 at the Met</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/22/myths-and-legends-week-54-at-the-met/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>