Thursday, May 19, 2005

Productions at the Metropolitan Opera

This is a random selection from Opera News:

February 2004

Rigoletto with Juan Pons. The lighting is dark. The sets and costumes appear to be late Renaissance.

The Queen of Spades with Placido Domingo and Galina Gorchakova. The lighting is dark. The costumes look a little like George Washington.

Three works by Stravinsky, including Oedipus Rex. Modern productions of modern operas don’t count.

L’Italiana in Algieri with Jennifer Larmore. Light, bright sets and lighting, around the Civil War era.

March 2005

Il Barbieri di Siviglia with Katarina Karneus. This could pass for contemporary—1820ish.

Don Carlo with Galina Gorchakova again. More dark lighting with late Renaissance costumes.

Cavalleria Rusticana. Peasants with more dark lighting.

Der Rosenkavalier with Susan Graham as Octavian, in Maria Teresa’s Austria.

You’re getting the idea. It’s all very somber and conservative. The pagans in 2005’s Samson et Dalila look a little odd, but the jews are traditionally dressed. This is a long way from Eurotrash.

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