Salzburg loses Franz
NewsMessage from the Festival:
With great regret, Franz Welser-Most must withdraw from conducting Macbeth due to acute orthopaedic issues which require him to undergo medical treatment. However, he remains confident that he will be able to conduct his concerts at the Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic on 20 and 21 August.
The Salzburg Festival is extremely grateful to Philippe Jordan for stepping in at short notice and conducting this year’s new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski.
Somehow Jordan was shown the door at the Staatsoper; how good he is fullfilling his contract and is around, contrary to what happend regarding the Viennes Symphony Orchestra.
Neither is a great Verdian.
you are right though enough younger Italians around who could have improved the already mediocre cast -(miscast) – Salzburg this summer goes very non Italian – same with Falstaff
Thanks God…..No cheap “italianita” effects from second rate italian routine opera conductors….Muti ,Pappano,Chailly,Noseda,Luisi..yes….!They are fantastic,really taking Verdi´s scores serious…The rest? Give me Franz or Philippe any day.I thought FWM´s concert version of Othello in Cleveland was fantastic.
Maybe you didn’t hear the Cleveland Orchestra broadcast of Otello, led by FWM. If only the singers had been on the same level as the conducting and orchestra; performance…
I heard it…Yes ,the singers were a mixed bag…The conducting,orchestra and chorus were fantastic.
Agreed. His Otello in Cleveland was pretty lousy (great orchestra though!) as an opera conductor, in general, I don’t find him to be in sync with his singers – lots of early entrances, not really catching breaths. Strange.
I’ve often wondered whether all that standing takes a toll on the feet and backs of conductors!!
Many suffered from debillitating back pain – top of the list Bernstein, Previn, HvK
No matter who conducts: sinks and bidets are the core assets of every Warlikowski production.
Not “every” production (were none in Munich’s Tristan and Isolde, which I saw two years ago) but very often indeed. And this comes from the bathroom obsession of his regular collaborator, set designer Malgorzata Szczesniak. She talked about it in an interview, saying that for her the bathroom is the most important room in the apartment and she is obsessed with bathrooms. But, sinks or not, her sets and costumes are aesthetically pleasing, she doesn’t dress the lady singers in godawful schmatte like some. And Warlikowski is very good with directing his actors-singers which is, ultimately, the most important thing and he is liked by them.