If outdoor opera is magical, then outdoor operetta lakeside is utterly enchanting. Der Vogelhändler (Carl Zeller) at Mörbisch – a cast of thousands, a spectacle extraordinaire, lavish costumes, lavish scenery and a plot so complicated that I’m not even going…
Del20th August 2017
Stone quarry, giant chandelier, stage-set, mostly red. Verdi’s Rigoletto. Breath-taking. There’s something magical about opera al fresco – unless, of course, it’s raining. Red symbolises “passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure” (colormatters.com). And Rigoletto has it all. But…
Del13th August 2017
Today’s choice is a rather obvious one, for which I make no apology, as we need to finish the year on a high. For the ultimate New Year jollity, there is nothing to beat Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. As my one…
Del31st December 2016
A notable omission from the opera play-list, so far, is Gounod, but that’s being rectified as we speak with the addition of Maria Callas singing Je veux vivre dans ce rêvre qui m’enivre. The aria is from Romeo et Juliette.…
Del30th December 2016
Or at the side of the holy church, as temples didn’t feature on our morning perambulation, whereas a church is easy to find as you’re never far away from one in Vienna. Today’s choices are two magnificent pieces from La…
Del29th December 2016
Today we’re off to the underworld, which means we can add four tracks to the playlist thus filling in some of those gaps. Jacopo Peri (1581 – 1633) was an Italian, who wrote the first opera ever, so he definitely…
Del28th December 2016
An endlessly intoxicating night of ecstasy eh? The night is still young … I’ve chosen Nuit d’ivresse d'extase infinie for today’s track on the opera playlist because it is simply exquisite. This version sung by Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto…
Del27th December 2016
Boxing Day and that British tradition - the meet of the hunt. I have no idea where we are in terms of the legislation on this, as there are so many loopholes, exceptions and workarounds, as well as artificial trails…
Del26th December 2016