Samson Agrippina News I Missed

[lennygoran]

I missed this news but maybe it was mentioned here and I just forgot about it? Regards, Len

PS-I'm only quoting the parts that most interested me.


"Gelb said he also canceled a planned 2018-19 modern-dress production of Camille Saint-Saens' "Samson et Dalila" by Italian director Damiano Michieletto, which opened in Paris last fall, and replaced it with a new staging by Darko Tresniak of Hartford Stage. Michieletto had Samson cut off his own hair and Dalila destroy the temple.

"Michieletto is a very talented director, however, this production of 'Samson' just didn't click with the Parisian public," Gelb said.

Gelb also said the Met is considering a new future production of Verdi's "Don Carlos" in the original French, which the company has never presented.

McVicar said he will return to the Met in a future season for the company premiere of Handel's "Agrippina" starring DiDonato. He thinks baroque works can be presented successfully at the Met despite its 4,000-person capacity.

"The Metropolitan Opera is basically too large a house for most opera. That's a fact," he said. "We all appreciate that. It's a product of its time of the '60s and a sort of very American sense of what opera should be and the kind of place which opera should be presented."

https://www.usnews.com/news/new-york/ar ... istic-sets

[jbuck919]

Agrippina? That's why we had something called the City Opera, even though what was then called the New York State Theater was already too big for something like that. (Apologies to the ghost of Julius Rudel.) Years ago, when I was still living there, Baltimore closed its small and cramped opera house, which would actually have been perfect for something like a Handel opera. Still, they could not have made any money on it. Several years ago when I saw Die Walküre at the Met I had an additional ticket to Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice the next day. It is apparently a well-known production and I enjoyed it, but the house was only about 1/3 full, when it was packed for the Wagner. There is no venue for these things in NYC, or scarcely in the US. Some of them belong in something resembling the Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth, but where would you put such a thing in the US unless you had a Rockefeller subsidizing it? _

[lennygoran]

I`ll be at the Agrippina if it takes place and isn't updated. Len

[jbuck919]

I`ll be at the Agrippina if it takes place and isn't updated. Len

Maybe you want to review I Claudius before you go. There were two women named Agrippina, one noble, the other evil. I assume the opera is about the latter.

[maestrob]

Agrippina? That's why we had something called the City Opera, even though what was then called the New York State Theater was already too big for something like that. (Apologies to the ghost of Julius Rudel.) Years ago, when I was still living there, Baltimore closed its small and cramped opera house, which would actually have been perfect for something like a Handel opera. Still, they could not have made any money on it. Several years ago when I saw Die Walküre at the Met I had an additional ticket to Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice the next day. It is apparently a well-known production and I enjoyed it, but the house was only about 1/3 full, when it was packed for the Wagner. There is no venue for these things in NYC, or scarcely in the US. Some of them belong in something resembling the Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth, but where would you put such a thing in the US unless you had a Rockefeller subsidizing it? _

The Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice was done for Placido Domingo, who in 2010 was still a star tenor. I have it on DVD (recorded from the telecast), and it's quite excellent, IMHO.

NYCO has been doing smaller productions successfully in various venues around the city. I'm sure they could find an appropriate venue for a Handel opera, but right now they don't have a single star singer for such a production to sell the house.

[lennygoran]

I`ll be at the Agrippina if it takes place and isn't updated. Len

Maybe you want to review I Claudius before you go. There were two women named Agrippina, one noble, the other evil. I assume the opera is about the latter.

John what a series that was! Len