BERG’s LULU

November 9 – 19, 2016
at English National Opera, London

TICKETS & DETAILS at ENO.org

[From ENO.org]
Beautiful. Damaged. Seductive. Lethal. Lulu’s whoever you want her to be.

Everyone falls victim to her fascinating beauty and irresistible magnetism. But it would be too simple to see her as a dangerous and amoral seductress. Maybe Lulu herself is really the victim? Even before she meets someone more deadly than she is.

With a highly emotional and intensely expressive score, Lulu is one of the seminal operas of the twentieth century. Berg’s gritty exploration of sexual desire comes to ENO in unforgettable staging from celebrated artist and director William Kentridge.

Conductor Mark Wigglesworth returns to ENO to conduct this major event of ENO’s season. Brenda Rae makes her company debut as Berg’s femme fatale, alongside a cast including Sarah Connolly, Willard White and ENO Harewood Artist Nicky Spence.

‘Music, theatre and visual art… at the highest calibre’
The Guardian

‘Visually stunning and searing’
New York Times

Creative Team:

Mark Wigglesworth, Conductor
William Kentridge, Director
Luc De Wit, Co–director
Sabine Theunissen, Set Designer
Greta Goiris, Costume Designer
Urs Schönebaum, Lighting Designer
Catherine Meyburgh, Video Designer
Kim Gunning, Video Operator
Richard Stokes, Translator

Cast:

Brenda Rae, Lulu
Sarah Connolly, Countess Geschwitz
Michael Colvin, Painter/Second Client
James Morris, Dr Schön/Jack the Ripper
Nicky Spence, Alwa
Willard White, Schigolch
David Soar, Animal Tamer/Athlete
Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Prince/Manservant/Marquis
Clare Presland, Schoolboy/Dresser/Waiter
Graeme Danby, Theatre Manager/Banker
Sarah Labiner, Fifteen-year-old Girl
Rebecca de Pont Davies, Girl’s Mother
Sarah Champion, Female Artist
Geoffrey Dolton, Journalist
Joanna Dudley, Solo Performer
Andrea Fabi, Solo Performer

from operadeparis.fr: ABOUT | TICKETS

Palais Garnier – from 20 May to 12 June 2016
New show

“Where am I? Is it day? I don’t know what to say. Are these hands mine? How I long to know who I am!”
– Lear, Partie II, scène 6

Berlioz wrote nothing more than an overture to Shakespeare’s King Lear. Debussy went no further than the first two numbers of the incidental music he had agreed to write for André Antoine’s production of the play. Verdi, who procrastinated endlessly over this “vast and tortuous” tragedy that had haunted him since 1843, confessed towards the end of his life that the scene where Lear finds himself on the moor had terrified him. Hoping to do justice to the role “less out of theatrical ambition” than because he had long “believed that the various levels of the inner and outer drama could be adapted and effectively expressed in music”, the great German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau appealed to Benjamin Britten before turning to the German composer, Aribert Reimann.

At first hesitant, the latter finally set to work. After repeatedly reading the play, the work eventually took root and he stored away the music in “a sort of drawer somewhere in [his] head”.
A commission from the Munich Staatsoper in 1975 triggered the actual composition. “Rarely has anyone depicted so convincingly – except perhaps Alban Berg in Wozzeck – the fact that a man’s solitude is due to his own incapacity to see those around him”, wrote the first performer of this major 20th century opera composed at his initiative. This new production by Calixto Bieito marks the first revival of the work at the Paris Opera since its French premiere in 1982.

Michael was proud to sing with his alma mater St. Michael’s Choir School in their Anniversary Concert celebrating 50 years of Christmas concerts at Massey Hall this past weekend (Dec 5/6, 2015)! He sang O Holy Night with the massed choir of students, and also sang with the alumni choir. Jordan De Souza, another illustrious alumni of the school, was guest conductor.

From TCDSB.org:

ST. MICHAEL’S CHOIR SCHOOL CELEBRATES 50 YEARS AT MASSEY HALL
A Toronto Christmas tradition

St. Michael Choir School’s Golden Jubilee at Massey Hall will showcase the school’s signature excellence in artistic performance, and will welcome special guests, including distinguished alumni Michael Colvin and Jordan De Souza, along with Lori Gemmel, True North Brass, and the SMCSAA Jubilee Choir. The concerts take place Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, December 6 at 3 p.m. at Massey Hall. Tickets can be purchased by calling 416-872-4255 or visiting the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office. To buy tickets online, visit www.masseyhall.com.

Take part in our Christmas tradition and let us become a part of yours. Let heaven and nature sing as you join us in celebrating  glorious years at Massey Hall.

From MasseyHall.com:

A Toronto Christmas Tradition for 50 years

Massey Hall’s longest-running repeat performers return this year for the 50th anniversary of their beloved Christmas concerts on December 5th and 6th. Hear the choristers of Bond Street as their voices swell in the singing of Christmas favourites old and new, as well as the great choral masterworks of such composers as Palestrina, Bruckner, Schubert and Bach.

Founded in 1937 with the purpose of providing sacred music for services at St. Michael’s Cathedral in downtown Toronto, St. Michael’s Choir School is a centre for musical and academic excellence. Each student admitted to the Choir School is trained in vocal, technical and instrumental music, and sings in at least one of the school’s choirs. The concert features the music of boys from Grade 3 to Grade 12. This year, make St. Michael’s Choir School at Massey Hall a part of your Toronto Christmas tradition.

Michael makes his Netherlands debut with Dutch National Opera this fall as L’Aumônier in Robert Carson’s acclaimed production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. Fellow Canadian Adrianne Pieczonka sings the New Prioress.

Performances: Nov 7 – 29, 2015

From Dutch Opera website www.operaballet.nl :

MOST SUCCESSFUL DNO PRODUCTION RETURNS TO THE NETHERLANDS

Following performances received with ovations, Robert Carsen’s production of  Francis Poulenc’s moving opera Dialogues des Carmélites is returning to Dutch National Opera. Dialogues has been presented in thirteen countries, making it one of the company’s top productions. In Dialogues des Carmélites, composer Francis Poulenc brings together religion and revolution. The story is based on historical events.

Musical Director – Stéphane Denève
Stage Director -Robert Carsen
Decor – Michael Levine
Costumes – Falk Bauer
Lighting design – Jean Kalman
Choreography – Philippe Giraudeau
Dramaturgy – Ian Burton

Chorus – Chorus of Dutch National Opera
Rehearsals – Ching-Lien Wu

Le Marquis de la Force – Jean-François Lapointe
Blanche – Sally Matthews
Le Chevalier – Stanislas de Barbeyrac
L’Aumônier du Carmel – Michael Colvin
Geôlier – Jean-Luc Ballestra
Madame de Croissy – Doris Soffel
Madame Lidoine – Adrianne Pieczonka
Mère Marie – Michelle Breedt
Soeur Constance de Saint Denis – Sabine Devieilhe
Mère Jeanne – Virpi Räisänen
Soeur Mathilde – Wilke te Brummelstroete
Officier – Roger Smeets
1er Commissaire – Mark Omvlee
2ième Commissaire – Harry Teeuwen
Thierry – Michael Wilmering
M. Javelinot – Sander Heutinck

For tickets visit www.operaballet.nl/en/opera/2015-2016/show/dialogues-des-carmelites

Michael Colvin as Rodolphe and Eric Halfvarson as Melcthal in rehearsal for Guillaume Tell, The Royal Opera – June 2015

Michael Colvin will make his Covent Garden – Royal Opera House mainstage debut this June-July in the role of Rodolphe in Rossini’s GUILLAUME TELL, alongside fellow Canadian Gerald Finley in the title role!

Guillaume Tell is one of six operatic productions conducted by Anotonio Pappano this season at the ROH, as Covent Garden celebrates the work of the illustrious conductor.

From the Royal Opera House website:

Guillaume Tell had its premiere in 1829, when Gioachino Rossini was 37. He wouldn’t write another opera in the remaining 39 years of his life. Rossini’s letters suggest he knew Guillaume Tell would be his farewell to opera – an idea that seems to be confirmed by the magnificent music he was inspired to produce. The score – harmonically daring and fiercely difficult for the singers – has an opulent architectural grandeur, heightened with vivid evocations of the soaring Swiss landscape and an incisive dramatic interpretation of Schiller’s heroic play.

Credits
Music – Gioachino Rossini
Libretto – Etienne de Jouy, Hippolyte Bis
Director – Damiano Michieletto
Set designs – Paolo Fantin
Costume designs – Carla Teti
Lighting design – Alessandro Carletti

Performers
Conductor – Antonio Pappano
Guillaume Tell – Gerald Finley
Arnold Melcthal – John Osborn
Mathilde – Malin Byström
Walter Furst – Alexander Vinogradov
Jemmy – Sofia Fomina
Hedwige – Enkelejda Shkosa
Gesler – Nicolas Courjal
Melcthal – Eric Halfvarson
Rodolphe – Michael Colvin
Leuthold – Samuel Dale Johnson
Ruodi – Mikeldi Atxalandabaso
Royal Opera Chorus
Concert Master – Sergey Levitin
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Tickets & Details