Where did you put my hat, dear?
OperaA domestic moment as Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak rehearse Fedora in Geneva.
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Whoever does the casting nowadays is clueless about opera. Fedora with a soubrette singer? Crazy indeed
You obviously have not heard Ms Kurzak lately. Get out….live a little.
Yes, she sang Tosca at the Met for heaven’s sake.
What a bias! Aleksandra Kurzak is an excellent singer-actress, with ever deepening experience in the veristic repertoire. She is one of the best current Toscas, also excellent Santuzza and Nedda. In June 2024 she made her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in another veristic role – as Adriana Lecouvreur and gave a remarkable performance. So this talk of “soubrette” is completely out of line.
When I was a Young Artis in Zürich 1983, I was in the cast with Agnes Baltsa and Mirella Freni. What amazing singing.
Opera directors need to stop constantly staging singers to be thrown to the floor in “dramatic” moments, and then rolling around for fifteen minutes. It’s dull, trite, sophomoric, and eye rollingly amateur. No one falls to the floor and rolls around. Please stop. It’s about as bad as costuming everyone in jack boots and long black trench coats to evoke a vaguely fascist era. Annoying and embarrassing.
Oh, that was a rehearsal photo? I really need to read the captions more carefully…
If that was to happen, my 30 year career in Germany would never have happened. I don’t believe it will stop.
The character, Fedora Romazoff, has just poisoned herself, has spasms and is dying. Do you think she should just stand still on stage? No, some opera directors have done far worse than you write.