Poor attendances and late replacements at Edinburgh Festival
UncategorizedOur man in the stalls reports:
Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony faced large swathes of empty seats. The attendance at Guglielmo Tell was slightly increased but still very far from full. Four principals were replaced at short notice without explanation. Seats are available at all prices for Gergiev’s Les Troyens with another unexplained replacement – Mlada Khudoley (pictured) for Ekaterina Gubanova.
Has there ever been a time when Bernstein’s “Kaddish” symphony didn’t face huge swathes of empty seats?
Our performance of Bernstein Kaddish Symphony in Moscow, Russian Premiere
on the 11. of September 2011, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary
of September Eleven was oversold ….Frenetically received .
Thomas Sanderling
This is Peter Gelb’s fault, obviously, but I can’t quite make out how.
Turin’s William Tell looks pretty full in their photos on Facebook, especially the photo taken from the back of the stage looking directly into the auditorium. Sorry if this spoils a good story.
happy for Mlada Khudoley. I worked in Kishinev conservatory with her conductor grandfather and her late father was a fine pianist.
Soldout in Moscow for Kadish symphony is only Jewish nationalistc support and nobody care what a poor music it is.i
Mlada Khudoley is a superb singer. She led a knockout quartet of soloists – also featuring the astonishing Georgian tenor, Mikhail Vekua – in Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass at the Proms in London, just recently. I’m sure she will deliver in spades. And she has a British visa – which is a handy asset in the current wretched political climate. I’m not sure what has befallen Gubanova, but I hope she bounces back quickly. It’s really not so abnormal that one member of an opera cast goes down with something unexpectedly. This is why we have covers, after all.
The changes to the Guglielmo Tell cast were announced in advance by email and were on the Festival website. The singers in Edinburgh were those from the performances in Turin, so we were hardly short-changed. And with Angela Meade as Matilde the audience were among the first in the UK to hear what I think will come to be seen as one of the great voices of our age.
The Kaddish was not a sell out but there was a good sized audience who gave us 15 minute standing ovation!
Mr. Lebrecht, the images that correspond with two of your current posts are cropped in such a way that, when scanning the headlines, one sees cleavage – nothing more, nothing less. Might you knock it off, especially since the full image is available?
I saw a beautiful face and a stunning costume. I failed to notice any cleavage, that is, until I read your comment. It is clearly all in your own mind.
attendance at william tell was pretty good. and it was a really superb performance!
There are stunning reviews of the William Tell in the Guardian and on Arts Desk…
And in ‘The Scotsman’ This reviewer gets it absolutely spot on, in my view.
Seems Gergiev’s The Trojans was not nearly as successful. Reviews I have seen have been average to poor.