Don Giovanni Lives
Ryan Brown, Conductor and Artistic Director
Mozart live from La Scala
nature with a wry and comic intelligence that played beautifully off Mattei’s multiBy Judy Gelman Myers faceted characterization. And Netrebko, who opened the Met as Anna Bolena, plainStaged performance or $25, low-heeled New Yorkers got to ly deserves her reputation as the season’s Didier Rousselet, director by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny attend the opening night of La Scala’s hottest soprano. Her “Or sai chi l’onore” Thursday, January 26, 2012 2011–12 season, with its new pro- brought tears to the eyes. 7:30 p.m. Robert Carsen’s highly controversial conduction of Don Giovanni (Anna Netrebko Tickets $65/$45/$25 as Donna Anna, Peter Mattei as the Don, tributions as director should not be overRose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall Bryn Terfel as Leporello, Daniel Barenboim looked. Of the three operas that Mozart and Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center Lorenzo da Ponte wrote conducting). Emerging New York City together—The Marriage Pictures, distributor of Aside from a rich, of Figaro, Don Giovanni, “alternative” (read “nonOpera Lafayette Box Office Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office Broadway at 60th street, ground floor; Mon- Sat 10-6, Sun 12-6 (202) 546-9332 Hollywood”) content like naturally beautiful and Cosi Fan Tutte—the CenterCharge (212) 721-6500 operalafayette.org (on sale now) last two are ambiguous opera, classic films and voice, Peter Mattei jalc.org (on sale December 26) enough to have been indie premiers, broadwas able to convey staged with alternative cast Don Giovanni live the same innate endings. Carsen goes via satellite to Big Apple one step further: He’s theaters, including Symsweetness that an alternate endphony Space and BAM. Detail, Modified made him a brilliant staged French-fold card, ing and a different beginThe satellite transmisca. 1935. Private CityArts NY. collection. Papageno at the ning. This Don Giovanni sion was not without its glitches, mostly minor Met, a quality that commences with Donna www.cityartsnyc.com Anna and an unmasked interruptions at the softened the All images and artwork must be CMYK. Don Giovanni rolling beginning, with a major 79 Madison Ave., 16th repulsive side of around a big bed, mak- Do not use compression on images. breakdown only minutes NY, NY 20016 before the end. The sound Don Giovanni’s manic ing it clear that Donna Make Acrobat 4.0 compatible. 212-268-8600 Anna consents to the Please do not insert pictures into Word was much smaller than need to conquer. Don’s advances while documents if they can be sent sepathe production deserved, 1/6 Page 4.917” x 3. knowing exactly whom and viewers familiar with rately. the Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcasts she’s consenting to (both ambiguous in Acceptable file formats under 4 MB: were disappointed with the camerawork da Ponte’s libretto). This lays the ground Please make sure to e for Carsen’s ultimate deviation from the TIFF or EPS. coming out of La Scala. sales representative in Still, it was a fabulous night at the opera. original: While everyone else is moralizing Do not use LZW compression. production@manhatta Aside from a rich, naturally beautiful about Giovanni’s bad behavior, the Don DON’T voice, Mattei was able to convey the same returns from hell to drag them down after Minimum picture resolution: 170 dpi MISSinclude Please the ad ! innate sweetness that made him a brilliant him, as if saying that while he might have Minimum text resolution: 300 dpi On view in the Focus Gallery through December 31, 2011:run date in the subjec Papageno at the Met, a quality that soft- been a libertine, they’re just plain hypothe body of the email ened the repulsive side of Don Giovanni’s crites, equally damned. (Many thanks to Dr. Lloyd Gelman for his manic need to conquer. Terfel, the Met’s information, should th Wotan this season, limned Leporello’s buffo insightful observations.) the ad materials.
Modern World Premiere
F
American Christmas Cards, 1900–1960
Faust Continued from page 8 cracked horrifically. There is almost nothing more discomforting than to hear a tenor, or a French horn, crack. But Kaufmann’s error was brave: If you’re going to crack, do it in a good cause, such as that difficult diminuendo. Marguerite was Marina Poplavskaya, the Russian siren. I mean no disrespect to Ms. Poplavskaya when I suggest that she does racy and sultry better than chaste and pure. Moreover, her Slavic sound, with its duskiness, does not quite suit Marguerite. But she is a wonderful singing actress, not
without vocal chops: She brought off the Jewel Song with panache. “I’ll do my best not to bore anyone,” says Mephistopheles. René Pape never could. The voice may show a little wear, but the charisma is immense, and he pretty much stole the show. Just before the curtain rose following an intermission, a man in the audience started shouting, “Occupy Wall Street! Occupy Wall Street!” Some of the patrons cheered him on, saying, “Yeah, yeah!” Others booed. After a while, the man was shushed or evicted. He was more polite than the antiIsrael shouters in London: They shout at the Jerusalem Quartet or the Israel Philharmonic as the music is playing. This fellow did his shouting before the music began.
Also on view:
Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones in the Main Gallery through April 15, 2012
Hours Tues–Sun, 11 am to 5 pm Thursday, 11 am to 8 pm The Gallery will be closed on December 24th, 25th, and January 1st and will close at 5 pm on Thursday, December 29th. The Bard Graduate Center Gallery is located at 18 West 86th Street For more information visit bgc.bard.edu
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