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| A strong cast of singers and a sparse but stylish staging for Poulenc's opera about Carmelite nuns from London Production 2014 |
When I told her it would be Dialogues des Carmélites she asked me who wrote the opera.
That question stumped me, even though I have seen it before.
So I have been out on the internet, doing my homework finding out the composer, the story line, the opera singers, the characters in the drama, honing up my skills on saying the name of the conductor, the Canadian and Met Musical Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, harder to spell than to say. This is a “modern masterpiece of faith and martyrdom. Isabel Leonard is the young Blanche de La Force, opposite Met legend Karita Mattila, as the First Prioress. Sung in French with English subtitles.”
Well, that answers many of my questions but I am going to make a few more notes in my journal, notes that I shall return to as the day for the opera draws closer.
Just an FYI. Two other shows are pending, ones I will miss for I will be in BC by then. But for those of you in Calgary, don’t miss
All about Eve – National Theatre Live May 18
Bolshoi Ballet: Carmen Suite / Petrushka May 18
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake May 16
And now off to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogues_of_the_Carmelites for me.
And I have already read this article on the conductor:
http://time.com/5581710/yannick-nezet-seguin-met-opera/
MetOpera has 3 delicious videos that are fun to watch at their link. I also went out and found a link to "Veni Creaor Spiritius" another old melody that is used in the show. Well, time to stop having all of this fun.
I do love the opera. Saturday, May 11th 9am our time. I had better get planning for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me. If it is 9 your time, it will be 10 my time, but I should just double check and see. Do go out to the Met link and listen to their 3 videos out there. The one where the nuns are walking to their death and you can just hear the swish of the guillotine in the music? Oh boy, is that going to be chilling on the big screen.
ReplyDeleteOh, about loving the opera. I am glad you do. I can't find very many friends who say that. I am always offering to have someone meet me at the opera. It has never happened. A person doesn't have to know anything about the opera. It is possible to just go there, settle in to a chair and then have the music and the sight just paint something on your soul that is just for you. Opera is that simple if someone can just relax and let it happen for 3 hours.
ReplyDeletei have my ticket already purchased!
ReplyDelete