Jammin' with the flying piano man

                                                                                                                            photo Irish Examiner
There are not too many pubs that can boast a real live piano player but the Hi B in Cork has a resident pianist on Weds and Thurs who has a rather long commute to work.You can read about Francis, the Bavarian in this article from the Irish Examiner

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/flying-piano-prof-goes-the-distance-215641.html

I was delighted to be invited to play with Francis on Thursday 7th Feb, We played a selection of popular repertoire Waltzes, tangos. rhumbas  Beatles , French chansons /Great fun / !

Clarendon Chorale with Ronan McDonagh

Just off Grafton St

Dublin was a hive of musical activity last weekend and we enjoyed the beginning  of an incredible Schubert odyssey  and the festive fun of an  annual youth orchestra extravaganza at the NCH.  Not too far away from the salubrious spaces of the National  Concert Hall, some of the finest  musical exponents in the land  were hidden away in lofts where without the  applause and the standing ovations they literally pulled out all the stops to give their audience a 'swell' musical experience. I refer of course to that modest but supreme band of musicians who play not only with their hearts and hands but also with their feet--the organists .

 The unimposing entrance to St Theresa's Church is tucked away on a laneway off Grafton St  and here, composer, Ronan McDonagh, one of the most pre-eminent  of this band of organists has been musical director for more than two decades. I went along on the last Sunday before Lent to hear his carefully chosen blend  of plainchant, Renaissance polyphony  and Classical and contemporary Irish settings . You can see  McDonagh conduct his own composition heard on Sunday 'Come Adore This Wondrous Presence in the video below.

Programme 5th Sunday  St Theresa's 

It was good to see the words of the opening hymn Christ Be Near at Either Hand  printed in the Mass leaflet to encourage congregational involvement  The emphasis on plainchant continued to the end with a recessional Salve Regina.The choir consisted of a dozen or so highly proficient voices with Mary O Sullivan a clear and lovely  soloist in Mozart's Laudate Dominum . Clearly  the choir succeeded in the mission statement on the church  website ' From the outset the choir has sought' to fulfil its liturgical function in the fullest way possible.' McDonagh as  director  manages to be innovative and yet preserve a solid sense of  a solemn and rich classical tradition. In his own  work he combines elements that draw on sacred and native Irish elements  that seems to resonate particularly well with Irish congregations.  His airs A Iosa Mhic Mhuire and Suile an Choilm are favourites in my sacred  repertoire and never fail to evoke a response.

PS

I missed the opening as I stopped to chat (as Gaeilge ) to Seosamhín who was a very cheerful sight on a very rainy morning. Undeterred by the inclement weather, she offered a hymn to the elements on her accordion 'neath an umbrella bearing the slogan I Love Ireland.  Go hiontach - Maith thú Seoisamhin.!

enjoyed playing Suile an Choilm by Ronan McDonagh with #Ennis Cathedral organist today strong melody excellent arrangement #Clare
— Cathy Desmond (@fidleir) January 13, 2013

** I realise on reviewing the year highlights that I omitted to acknowledge that the choir at St Theresa's is conducted by Grainne Gormley.    post amended 11 Jan 2014
Post amended  

18th IAYO Festival at NCH

There was not just one but two  sold out houses for the annual festival devoted to young musicians held at the National Concert Hall on Saturday. The full list of participants can be found on this link to the iayo website iayo.ie/festivals  Here is the post festival update from the website.

'This year’s festival proved to be a resounding success, with all of the orchestras performing fantastically in both the afternoon and evening concerts. There was a great atmosphere throughout the whole day and it was an accurate representation of the vibrancy and enthusiasm of youth orchestras in Ireland.

A special word of congratulations must be given to Donegal Youth Orchestra for their Youth Orchestra Achievement Award, Julianstown Youth Orchestra for their Orchestra Development Award and John O’Brien for receiving the Agnes O’Kane Award. Coole Music also deserve congratulations for their special commendation on the night and we wish them the very best of luck on their tour to Sweden this week.'
 You can hear my interview my interview with one of the recipients of the Achievement Awards below.

My highlights  were the musical fairytale Rapunzal from Budding Bows Chamber Orchestra from Waterford under director Deirdre Scanlon. Deirdre organised the first youth orchestra of which I was a member and I can still remember the excitement. although it is a very long time ago. Composer Brian Irvine was in the house to hear his work performed by the Julianstown Youth Orchestra with a striking vocal performance by Ferdia Walsh Peelo.  There were many Cork accents in the foyer as supporters of the County Cork School of Music Orchestra arrived in large numbers to see Michael Cummins direct the impressive orchestra. There was a folk influence in the selection from a merger between Young Dublin Symphonia and orchestras from Denmark and Norway but time also for.  a tango Jealousy .  Sean Rocks brought his acting talents to the podium in his updated narration of Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra ; perfect programming for the event with the accomplished symphony orchestra from The Royal Irish Academy.  Liz Nolan compered both concerts and had her work cut out with some of her young interviewees. Below are a few of the voices heard  in the foyer on the day . Well done to Artistic Director, Carol Daly , Allin Gray and team for a memorable and gala event  which no doubt will form happy memories for all fortunate to participate.

Co Cork School of Music Symphony Orchestra with the President

Venue Notes
The National Concert Hall is a great venue for a festive occasion and lends itself to people congregating post show to meet and greet. I was amazed at the efficiency  with which the hall was cleared following the evening event. . The show finished at 10.40 and not much later than 11pm staff were poised with keys and preparing to lock up..  In the balcony we rather enjoyed the mime show as  ushers collaborated to locate transgressors of  the No Camera Rule.  While I think this is proper order, an announcement clearly stating the policy at the start of each half. might help reduce infringements

PS Adding this photo of renowned Canadian pedagogue, Joanne Martin who I met at the evening concert

listen to ‘Amy Sarah’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Vincent Kennedy’ on Audioboo

Poetry and Emotion: Schubert Reise Begins in Dublin

Anticipation  was in the  air in Earlsfort Terrace on Sunday.There was clapping and cheering and a jazz quartet to serenade the English rugby team as they trooped out of the Conrad Hotel to board their team bus for the journey to Ballsbridge for their Six Nations  clash.  Across the road in the National Concert Hall, Conor Biggs was warming up for  the first Irish leg of an audacious musical odyssey in which he plans to perform all 600 or so of Schubert's songs, even the girls' ones  in a series of 35 recitals repeated in four locations over a ten year period, a feat never before attempted by any singer. 

Biggs, accompanied by  pianist Michael Stas began his Schubertreise with the song cycle Die Schone Mullerin in the Kevin Barry Room of the NCH just as the ball was being thrown in at the Aviva Stadium. And what an emotional roller coaster the first part of this journey was. The bass baritone seemed totally consumed by the spirits of the four protagonists of the songs and  his musical recounting of the tragic tale of the young miller starting out in cheerful optimism and ending in despair and tragedy  had an intensity that compelled your attention at every moment of the hour long recital.  There were no tickly coughs in this audience. The texts of Muller's poems were provided with translations in decent sized complimentary programmes  The concert closed with the a solo piano transcription by Liszt beautifully played by Stas acting as a  sort of  musical decompression before the audience repaired to the foyer to meet the performers. 

Biggs has lots of interesting observations about the whole business of lieder singing and Schubert's songs on his artsong blog . This from a post on 'Poetic Imagination' is revealing of his approach

 'On the recital platform, theatre and poetry are indivisible: the singer must act with his or her voice alone, just as he would if reading a straight poem. And the key to vocal acting is poetic imagination.' 



There is plenty on the nitty gritty process of learning the repertoire and memorising that is very interesting.

It was the first time I have been at a recital in this room upstairs in the venue and I thought it worked very well for this  event and had a much better acoustic than the John Field Room. There were  many noted composers and musicians in the audience including  Raymond Deane, Padraig O Cuinnegain and Professor Gerard Gillen. The audience lingered a while in the foyer to meet the performers. The journey continues with another recital next Sunday.

The duo plan to finish their reise in ten years with the song cycle  Winterreise.  I hope to be there and I was glad to be  in the Hall for the start of this amazing journey. Wishing them both well in their brave endeavour.


Venue Notes NCH 
I arrived early and was surprised to find the foyer very quiet . The Terrace Restaurant was closed and the foyer coffee bar didn't open until 2.35 for coffee and what were delightfully described as 'mini pastries'  perhaps in an effort to manage expectations of larger confections. But  if you were of an impulsive nature and rolled up expecting to be able to snaffle a pastry or two, you were out of luck for such treats were only available for patrons with the foresight to pre book,  which created a ripple of bemused disgruntlement. Mind you should I be so fortunate to be so prescient, I  should want to enjoy them for longer than the twenty minutes or so allowed by the timetable. 

Barbershop Bootcamp at Harmony Row

4 was a magic number in a week in which have  I heard some remarkable musical quartets. The Vogler Quartet amazed me  in Cork  with their perfect string blend. In Ennis it was harmonies of the vocal acapella variety that beguiled me for a while when I dropped in to the annual boot camp of the Irish Association of Barbershop Singers held at Colaiste Muire on the aptly named, Harmony Row. We heard a selection of quartets and choruses from around the country at a Saturday night concert.  Our favourites were British Barbershop Champions, IQ.  A lovely blend of close harmonies delivered with humour and panache. Have a listen to them in the video below. Youngsters , Twelve Plus One, (or  12+1) were warmly received. by their more senior colleagues for their chilling rendition of The Sound of Silence. 

 A rough headcount of participants indicated that the female of the species, Warbler Acapella, predominated at the event.  Perhaps the gentlemen are saving themselves for the  IABS annual convention in Waterford from 4-6 October. You can read my report of  The 2010 convention here  Expect to spot warblers of indigenous and non native variety with group titles  showing a strong penchant for musicals  puns. Should be fun!

Vogler Quartet with Blumina in Cork

German Boy Band: The Vogler Quartet

   Dvorak : Piano Quintet in A Major Op.81 

I was just in time to catch the last item of the Vogler Quartet's concert at the Curtis Auditorium in Cork on Thursday,  a Dvorak piano quintet  with pianist Elisaveta Blumina. 
But this  work made for one of those memorable evenings that made you feel glad to be there to hear it. and believe   for these moments at least, that  the very best thing in the musical world is a string quartet. Better still, one augmented by a piano. 
So what was the wow factor in this performance  for it most certainly was a wow?  That these fellas can play is a given at this level. Rather it was the blend of sound that seemed as near perfect as I have heard and  the youthful enthusiasm  and apparent delight  they took in their task as they exchanged smiles at sunny moments in the work, The German ensemble have a slightly tousled boyish air about them and hard to believe that they are playing together for nearly three decades.  The group anchor an annual music festival in Sligo on May Bank Holiday and have had some interesting collaborations and I include a video on one below.
The hall was packed to near capacity with a pleasant mix of age groups. There were many musicians in the audience with  members of the teaching staff and their students well represented  at the evening hosted by the Cork Orchestral Society.  

In one of those strange coincidences, the name Vogler cropped in conversation later in the Hi B Bar where Francis from Munich was tickling the ivories, Vogler's Jazz Club being a great jazz spot in Bavarian capital. He  plays from Wednesday to Saturday evenings in the Hi B but more on Francis in a  future post. 

Roll Over O'Beethoven

Rod Goodall  narrator in Music for Galway's Beethoven: Genius, Passion & the Irish Connection

Osiris Trio
Charlotte Riedijk, soprano
Rebecca Capova, piano
Robin Tritschler, tenor
Rod Goodall, narrator 

Music for Galway presented an impressive  pool of international artists in a weekend of celebration of the life and works of Beethoven. But It wasn't the promise of 'Genius' or 'Passion' that had me  bound  for the last event  titled 'The Pulse of an Irishman' at the Town Hall Theatre. Nothing out of the ordinary there as concert programmes go  but rather the words Beethoven and Irish on the same line of the mini festival's title, Beethoven : Genius, Passion &the Irish Connection .  Not something you see too often.

The afternoon concert opened with some chamber music. Rebecca Cápóva delivered Eleven Bagatelles Opus 119 with precision and verve and  we heard a fine rendition of the  Ghost Trio played by the Osiris Piano Trio from the Netherlands.  So far , so continental. The Irish connection came after the interval in the form of a set of songs and a dramatic reading of Beethoven's letters in translations by a local Galway academic, Emily Anderson  Although Thomas Moore is generally accepted to have been the major player in bringing  Irish songs to a world wide audience, I was surprised to learn that the Teutonic titan  had a significant part in improving our cultural image in 19th century Europe when he accepted a commission to arrange  a collection of Irish airs from George Thomson, of the Scottish Board of Encouragement of the Arts. In a talk  'Beethoven and Ireland' , given to Radio Eirinn in 1947 John Hennig reports that it was actually poet Robbie Burns, one of a dozen poets engaged to provide lyrics, who pointed out that many of the melodies were in fact Irish and persuaded Thomson they would be more 'saleable' marketed as such .   A sum of £100 was agreed for Beethoven to extend his work on a set of Scottish airs and duly  in 1814 'A Select Collection of Irish Airs for the Voice united to characteristic English Poetry written for this work with Symphonies and Accompaniments for the pianoforte, violin and violoncello composed by Beethoven' was published in Edinburgh.  Beethoven must have seen a European market for them as Hennig tells us  he reserved the European publishing rights for himself. Although Beethoven requested the words so he could 'effect the correct expression' but he did not have them to hand when composing the accompaniments which seems extraordinary ..

            Och! I have you not heard, Pat, of many a joke

That's made by the wits 'gainst your own country folk;
They may talk of our bulls, but it must be confest,

That, of all the bullmakers, John Bull is the best.

Robin Tritschler

Judging by the ten songs we heard on Sunday afternoon, it seems 'The Pulse of an Irishman' as any  showband musician will tell you beats most often  in triple time.Some of the melodies were  familiar from settings by Moore and popular folk songs . The melody for  Oh My Dear Dermot was  that of Moore's Avenging and Bright  and  the lively tune of  Bhios La PortLairge turns up  unexpectedly in He Promises Me at Parting. The humour and rhythm of English Bull reminded me of  a Percy French   or even Gilbert & Sullivan number, the genteel drawing room lyrics playful and at times sentimental.  The vocal delivery of soprano Patricia Reidijk (looking splendid in red taffeta)   didn't quite match the frivolity of the lyrics of the opening  Elfin Fairies  and she was at her best in the more wistful numbers.  BBC New Generation Artist, Robin Tritschler's style seemed effortless and nicely understated , no more so than on No More My Mary. Like  delicious sweets I felt a twinge of regret when the song set  was all unwrapped  and felt I could have enjoyed a few more which is not exactly the emotion I felt  when I last got to the end of the 9th Symphony. What sets the songs  apart from the Moore arrangements are the elegant and sophisticated violin and cello lines. It seems the complexity of the arrangements was the subject of some argument between the composer and commissioner but Thomson seems to have been very happy with the collaboration and had this to say in the preface

'If Carolan the Irish Bard would raise his head and hear his own melodies sung with Beethoven's accompaniments,  he would idolise the artist who could produce such exquisitely coloured and highly finished pictures  This is flattering to the melodies of Ireland and will be received no less favourably '  

The proceedings opened with a presentation of a commissioned sculpture by John Behan to the outgoing artistic director of Music for Galway, composer Jane O Leary for her dedication over 32 years to the society. There are not many artistic communities who claim have such  continuity in their stewardship. Pianist Finghin Collins is to take over as new artistic director and we wish him well in the role.

To Jane O Leary
'Thank you for your artistic vision, inspiration and dedication to Music for Galway' 

Who we met : Pianist Jan Cap had travelled from Cork to support his daughter Rebecca.. We met Pádhraig Campbell,  environmental campaigner in the very spacious and elegant cafe space upstairs. Cellist Adrian Mantu updated me on the Con Tempo's next engagement in Headford on Thurs. I had a chat with Robin Tritschler who spoke about the exciting  opportunities to perform unusual repertoire that were coming his way by virtue of being a BBC New Generation Artist.  Britten's Illuminations and  a teenage work Quatre Chansons Francaises are in the pipeline. We met  board member Ludmilla Snigireva  and Executive Officer, Anna Lardi Fogarty of the MfG committee who was clearly delighted with the weekend and  busy wrapping up the formalities and bidding adieu to the the festival goers in the foyer. We liked  the  afternoon time slot making it possible to travel to and from Galway by bus during daylight hours. 

.@fidleir got paid a lot more for those songs than @royalphilsoc gave me for me Ninth Symphony ;-)
— Beethoven Bust (@Beethoven_Bust) January 30, 2013

Curtain Call Artists with Director Jane O Leary

Elfin Fairies
No more, my Mary
Judy, lovely, matchless creature

They bid me slight my Dermot dear (duet
 Oh! would I were but that sweet linnet (duet)
English Bulls 
Oh Who My Dear Dermot 
He promised me at parting (duet)
The Hero May Perish 
By the Side of the Shannon 

Related Articles 'Listen to This' Author at Galway Arts Festival

Castle Proms at 6MB Winter Music Weekend

The Voice Squad in Great Hall photo Mark Graham

'It's like being on Grafton Street ' said Phil Callery of The Voice Squad in the
medieval Great Hall in Bunratty Castle during their set as part of the annual Winter Music Weekend .  It


might seem like a strange comparison but there was indeed an element of indoor busking  as young and old,  weekend day trippers, sight seeing tourists and music lovers promenaded through the lofty dimly lit, medieval  hall  at times invading the performers space during their set on a pale wintry afternoon  The three man acapella group, seemed unperturbed and are happily reformed with all the original members after a  break of some years, their distinctive pure blend of voices still sounding as rich and satisfying as the creamiest caramelised rice pudding.  I spoke to Gerry Cullen following the gig about the resurgence of singing clubs. Aficionados present included Mr Year of Festivals, Mark Graham and photographer Christy McNamara They were followed by Two Time Polka, a six piece spicy,  cajun stew of a line up, featuring mandolin and accordion /concertina. This was a rare opportunity to hear them without the thick varnish of amplification giving altogether a more delicate auditory experience.   Some of the vocal introductions  of both groups were lost in the large space but it was a price worth paying if only for Ray  Barron's wistful rendition of Across the Universe on mandolin. Sometimes less is more.

photo Mark Graham 

This was, I believe, the second year that the Folk Park and castle were used as part of the annual Shannonside Winter Music Weekend hosted by the Sixmilebridge Folk Club and it seems a perfect synergy with a confluence of performing spaces of varying degrees of size, accessibility and comfort. I found it easier to stay in one venue  and didn't venture beyond the castle but musicians I spoke to reported that they enjoyed playing in The Barn.   There was a resonance with my own  past as it was my first visit back to the Hall where I performed  myself in my first summer job. I was accompanied by my daughter, she now the age I was then when I sat  in a long gúna waiting as the harpist began the tortuous process of tuning up. Those corkscrew staircases didn't seem so quite narrow back then.

Two Time Polka  photo Mark  Graham 

Saturday night in the pub venues in Sixmilebridge is not for the faint hearted and even though I was looking forward to hearing both bands on the bill,  I  beat an early retreat from the Mill Bar as American band Special Consensus were tuning up.  At ten o clock the venue was thronged  making any movement very difficult. Although two bands were advertised for 9.30, the first scheduled band did not take to the stage 'til almost 11pm, (a  raucous duo were belting out folk covers in the interim) by which time the consensus among  my party was that the degree of discomfort  was too great to stay any longer and we bailed out.  One of the problems was that although The Mill is a large space, with the placement of the stage right at the back, a large proportion of the audience have a restricted view of the performers. Being Saturday night, the pub was full of people who naturally want to chat and it did not make for  good listening . Although this was a write off in  gig going experiences, I enjoyed one of the best bluegrass gigs of last year at the same venue last month. You can read about it here . Driving home Niall Toner with his finger on the musical pulse echoed the live experience on the airwaves playing Special Consensus just as they were starting their set in Clare and followed up with a track from The Voice Squad.

Gypsy Rebel Rabble in Cellar Bunratty Castle photo M Graham 

Special Consensus are currently on an extensive tour  dates here and the Voice Squad play in Kinvara on January 26th

Related Posts
 La Savoy at Sixmilebridge WMW 2012

Sliabh Notes at WMW 2011

Clare Poets Gather at Glór

The first monthly gathering of the Clare  Three-Legged Stool poetry group met at the Glor arts centre in Ennis . You can hear the chairman talk about the group in Audioboo below. I went along and enjoyed the many different voices reading from their work. Guest poet, Mike Douse was a wonderful reader of his own work.  He opened with a set of poems in a style of iconic poets including Kipling, Yeats and Shakespeare. Peter Kay played musical interludes on keyboard and there were a variety of voices heard at the open mike section. I met artist Francis Bailey who tells me that she is working on some large canvases for a forthcoming exhibition in a Limerick cathedral.

Here is a link to a report of the proceedings on the group's own site http://clarepoets.com/blog/last-saturdays-reading-in-glor/

listen to ‘Patrick Stack talks about the Three-Legged Stool Poets in Co Clare, Ireland ’ on Audioboo

Verdi Nights at Bavarian State Opera

Thanks for watching #Turandot! Our next streamings will be THE #NUTCRACKER on Dec 13 and Verdi's #RIGOLETTO on Dec 30: staatsoper.de/tv
— BayerischeStaatsoper (@bay_staatsoper) November 25, 2012

Rigoletto Chorus with onstage brass band 

Vassallo front Dean Power right

The weather in  Munich was unseasonably mild and sunny  where I enjoyed a Verdi splurge at the State Opera House at two quite different productions in  the composer's 200th anniversary year . The cameras  were in place on Sunday night for the free live transmission of the performance of Rigoletto via the world wide web, a very welcome development. Nothing though can beat the live experience and although the house was sold out for weeks for this much anticipated new production,  I went along 'on spec' to see could I find a seat on the night. There was no returns queue but about an hour and a quarter before curtain up, about a dozen or so punters appeared in the gloaming and hovered on the front steps near the Maximillian Strasse end, doing a little circle  dance around each other to see who was buying and selling, the more seasoned punters  holding up signs declaring 'suche karte'. When at  last one of the huge doors ( the second door in  for future reference)  opened to admit opera goers, I made a bee line for the Abendkasse and soon after, I was on my way to a seat underneath the ceiling with a birds eye view of the fabulous retractable chandelier.

Post Show Analysis

The singing  was superb. Baritone  Franco Vassallo imbued the title role with great pathos. Star tenor Joseph Calleja lived up to expectations and soprano Patricia Petibon  glided  angelically around the upper register. Clarecastle tenor,  Dean Power  had a notable stage  presence  in the role of courtier Borsa Matteo.  Even at a distance, a sense of verve and dynamism emanated from the lively dancing baton of musical director, the ubiquitous Marco Amiliato .  

While the singing did not disappoint, the production lacked a certain theatricality.  The huge 100+  male cast and chorus in cream linen mounted on a tiered steps looked like a photo shoot  for  an M&S summer suit collection. Nor did the Duke look very menacing dressed more  for an autumnal day of gardening  than a spot of philandering in cosy beige cardigan and matching track suit bottoms. One can't help wondering did the Maltese tenor raise an eyebrow when he was handed a flowery dressing gown for his tryst with blue jean clad Gilda. (You knew the Duke had had his wicked way when Gilda appeared in the next scene in the same robe).  An antique wheelchair was assassin  Sparafucile's (Dimitry Ivashchenko) prop to convey his victims to the the next world. Sit in for a spin and you were doomed. Nothing in the lighting or staging  made you shiver at  the sinister  elements of the plot. A gigantic prancing horse made a brief appearance and looked impressive but it's relevance  was lost on me 

The opera house has such  splendid glittering  halls for promenading about  that  I was almost  sorry there was only one interval each evening, There was great style, lots of family groups and quite a few drindel dresses and the dress code was relatively formal. On our way out I noticed a gathering of  patrons  for a Q&A  with a representative of the team.  I  would love to be able  report the nuance of the debate but even without a grasp of German, one could guess by the tone and body language that these were somewhat disgruntled patrons. My source, a seasoned punter whom I met  on the steps earlier. told  me that the general tenor of the discussion was that although very musical, it had been a concert performance and not  quite living up to the hype and expectation of a generous six week rehearsal schedule. 

Aida was altogether a more theatrical affair although a similarly nuetral  palette of black, cream and white prevailed with  a smattering of gold for royalty.  The on stage trumpets looked and sounded splendid Sandra Radvonosky as Aida was impressive and I liked the Finnish bass, Mika Kares as Ramfis.  Robert Dean Smith as Radames sounded grand but didn't quite have the look of a battle honed warrior despite the costume. The battle scene was brief and  a little perfunctory and the choreography of the dance elements was in a  modern dance  style that jarred a little with a traditional look and feel to the production

Look at those shoes!

Programme Cover
Aida 

 While top price stalls tickets are over €100, I purchased a standing room  ticket online for  €11.50 which is incredible value by any reckoning. But addicted now to the  element of chance and the thrill in picking up a last hour ticket on the steps, I sold my ticket and traded up to  the relative comfort of a seat in the second balcony. I  had a fairly restricted view but for the price of little more than a cinema ticket at €14 one couldn't feel too hard done by. What did baffle me were the choice of photos in the background programme notes. Where I expected maybe a montage of great artists or historic figures of the past, instead there were rather grungy photos of bare torsoed young males that looked more like  adverts for a brand of jeans or underwear than images for a premier  opera house production. 

Set Aida Staatsoper 

The dates for the next free live screenings are below.. I will be linking up my laptop to the telly for these dates and if it won't be the same at least I can put my feet up and  switch on the English subtitles







Scene photos from Staatsoper website www.staatsoper.de   Related posts A Night at the Bavarian State Opera 2010

Live Opera Broadcasts to an Armchair near You

Aida Cast

Conductor Paolo Carignani 
staging Christof Nel 
Conceptual consulting Martina Jochem 
stage Jens Kilian 
Costumes Ilse Welter Fox 
Choreographic work Valenti Rocamora i Torà 
light winter Olaf 
Choir Sören Eckhoff 
dramaturgy Olaf A. Schmitt. 

Amneris Anna Smirnova 
Aida Sondra Radvanovsky 
Radames Robert Dean Smith 
Ramfis Mika Kares 
Amonasro Michael Volle 
The King Goran Jurić 

March 9, 2013
Leoš Janáček
Jenůfa

April 20, 2013
Richard Wagner
Der fliegende Holländer

May 11, 2013
Giuseppe Verdi
Macbeth

June 1, 2013
Terence Kohler
Helden

July 2013
Stream from the Munich Opera Festival
To be announced