Bizet - Carmen

Opera-comique in 4 acts by Georges Bizet, libretto by Henri Meilhac & Ludovic Halévy after Prosper Mérimée

Conductor : Gianandrea Noseda - Director : Andreas Homoki

Opernhaus Zürich, April 10th 2024

Carmen (Marina Viotti), Don José (Saimir Pirgu), Escamillo (Łukasz Goliński) & Micaëla (Natalia Tanasii) - Picture: Monika Rittershaus / Opernhaus Zürich

Should you go?

No. If you've seen it before, you've seen better, if you haven't, you deserve a better Carmen and that's not hard to find.

Why?

Gianandrea Noseda and Andreas Homoki did a great job with Wagner's Ring cycle in the last seasons, but somehow they stumble on the easier, less sophisticated Carmen.

Noseda conducts too fast and smothers the score (for some parts, "butchers" is even more appropriate), like he tried to make Bizet's Carmen sound like Lehar's Merry Widow. The cast does an adequate job but apart from Saimir Pirgu who impresses as Don José, no sparks to speak of.

Homoki's direction is at the beginning rudderless and off-topic (is it a play within a play? is it a riff on #metoo? or is Carmen a dominatrix?), then bland and boring. The set, pretentiously claimed to evoke the original set design of the creation, signs Homoki's return to bland, dull, dark, featureless stages.

Despite this uninspired and confused take on his work, Carmen remains Carmen and is still not unpleasant, which is to the credit of Bizet's genius, but damn, what an utterly bland mess they made of his work!

Swann

Mozart - The Abduction from the Seraglio

The Abduction from the Seraglio - Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Gottlieb Stefanie (1782)

Direction : Maxim Emelyanychev - Production : David Hermann

Opernhaus Zürich, November 11th 2016

Konstanze (Olga Peretyatko) & Bassa Selim (Sam Louwyck) - Picture: T + T Fotografie / Tanja Dorendorf

Should you go?

No, I left at the break, save yourself the trouble and money.

Why?

Musically below par, the production is a confused mess, with David Hermann piling up devices instead of providing coherent directions to the soloists.

Swann

What to see and what not to see in the 16/17 season ?

One can see a lot of different things at the Opernhaus next season, with close to 40 different ballets and operas on the program, and quite a few concerts too. Roughly a third of these are new productions, a quite impressive figure, but most of the season is made of revivals. Which means we had the occasion to see a few of these already, and forge an opinion. So here are a few subjective tips about the revivals in the upcoming season.

Must see

Giacomo Puccini – La Bohème

Direction: Giampaolo Bisanti

Production: Ole Anders Tandberg

Trailer

Why? A brillant, masterful production by Ole Anders Tandberg. It works on all levels. A production as good as that does not come often, don't miss it! Hopefully the new cast will be as good as the original cast last year. I'll probably get tickets to see it again regardless.

Mimi (Guagun Yu) & Rodolfo (Michael Fabiano)

Picture : Judith Schlosser 

Why not?

Verdi - Macbeth

Direction: Gianandrea Noseda

Production: Barrie Kosky

Trailer

Why? Barrie Kosky offers an interesting take on Macbeth with a production that is however a bit limited scenically.

Lady Macbeth (Tatiana Serjan) & Macbeth (Markus Brück)
Picture: Monika Rittershaus - Opernhaus Zürich

Erm...

Bellini - I Puritani

Direction: Enrique Mazzola

Production: Andreas Homoki

Trailer

Why? An unimaginative production. It's not bad but of limited value and not really worth the price of the ticket. Also boring.

Arturo (Lawrence Brownlee), Elvira (Pretty Yende) & Ricardo (George Petean)
Picture: Judith Schlosser - Opernhaus Zürich

Avoid

Tchaïkovski - Swan Lake (Schwanensee)

Choregraphy: Petipa / Ivanov / Ratmansky

Direction: Rossen Milanov / Pavel Baleff

Trailer

Why? Alexei Ratmansky's reconstruction of the original choregraphy, now 120 years old, is an interesting work of historical research. Sadly, it only highlights how much ballet has advanced since, and how boring it was in the old days, even with great performers. Lazy performance from the orchestra. Don't believe the hype.

Odette (Viktorina Kapitonova) & Siegfried (Alexander Jones)
Picture: Carlos Quezada

See you in September!

Swann