Your Opera recordings/Events of 2007

[yashin]

What are your best moments at the Opera or best recording from 2007?

[yashin]

On cd i would suggest the Jacobs Don Giovanni.  What are other peoples opinion on this recording?

On DVD without doubt is Handel's Giulio Cesare from Copenhagen with Andreas Scholl. The Kabuki inspired Die Frau ohne Schatten is also great.

[knight66]

On CD, a live Don Giovanni from Karajan on Orfeo. It is lively and full of drama. On DVD, Gergev conducting Il Viaggio A Reims, wonderful fun.

Mike

[JoshLilly]

Karajan conducting in 2007? That's a man that won't quit.

[The new erato]

I don't do a lot of opera, but so far: Hindemiths Cardillac with Nagano on DVD, and the Amsterdam/Janssons Lady Macbeth, also on DVD.

[knight66]

Karajan conducting in 2007? That's a man that won't quit.

You know  that he is almost 100, don't you.

Mike

[Wendell_E]

I can't keep up with which recordings came out (or I first heard) in a particular year.  Live, the New Orleans Opera's Il Trittico has been the best. 

[zamyrabyrd]

A comment about Prokofiev's "War and Peace" that may be less expensive on DVD rather than CD prompted me to search up a replacement for my miserable tape of Monteverdi's "Orfeo". Any suggestions?

ZB

[Anne]

2007 has been a good year.  First I discovered Rene Jacobs accidentally and 2 new (to me) composers Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Haydn's The Seasons.  I also discovered Haydn's Creation with Karajan.

Next was Gluck's Orfeo and Eurydice(Janet Baker on DVD - wonderful!), Alceste, Armida.
I read that Iphigenie en Tauride was his masterpiece; don't know how true that is.  I have the Minkowski CD's but still need to learn it yet.

Following that was Rubinstein's The Demon.  I had never known that this opera existed; I had 2 other versions but the best was from Opera d'Oro.  I used one of the other versions to get a libretto.

Next was Szyamsky's King Roger.  Am still learning that one.

I discovered Smetana's Dalibor and Hubicka (The Kiss).  Still can't get enough of these 2.  Every time I listen, I hear something new.

Die Tote Stadt by Korngold.  Am still working on this one.

The last one was Rossini's Stabat Mater on Naxos.  That version was better that the 2 others I had from big-name labels. 

The biggest event was going to a Met High Definition performance yesterday of Romeo et Juliette which was beamed by satelite to over 600 ($78,000 per cameras) to theaters across the world.  This includes 14 countries.  The first performance was sold out on Saturday and yesterday's had the seats 3/4 filled.

At the box office there was a sign that La Boheme on April 5 was already sold out.  Thank goodness I have already bought tickets for my son and myself for Tristan und Isolde on March 22.  I don't know why he chose that opera.  The owners of the theater are so overjoyed with the success. 

I have more info for them - La Scala is doing the same thing.  I think because I was on the Met mailing list, I received an email from La Scala wanting me to attend their operas.  They said they saw how successful the Met was and wanted to do the same thing.  100+ people are clamoring for season tickets with designated seating.  The Met has set ticket prices at $22 adults, $20 for seniors, $15 for young people.

[Guarnerius]

For me, the best Opera (EMI) recording during the year 2007 is absolutely Amroise Thomas Hamlet, starring with Natalie Dessay as Ophélie. Actually she had recorded the work already earlier in France and guess I like that even more than the version made in Barcelona Teatro del Liceu. But still, Natalie is the same superb herself whatever she is recording. Already looking forward when the earlier production will be published on DVD.

[bhodges]

Favorite live opera event of 2007: Janáček's Jenůfa at the Met, with Karita Mattila and Anja Silja.  Runner-up: Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Renée Fleming.

Favorite opera DVD of 2007: Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk from the Netherlands Opera.  (Actually released in 2006 I believe.)

--Bruce

[zamyrabyrd]

But still, Natalie is the same superb herself whatever she is recording. Already looking forward when the earlier production will be published on DVD.

Yikes, a vision of horror with Dessay shredding her wedding veil and the music of Donizetti in the last act of Lucia was recently broadcast on TV. Give me Sutherland and/or Callas ANY DAY. She was a screechy Manon as well.
At least, it is historically incorrect to sing bel canto roles in the style of verismo. (High notes are not supposed to be blasted out.) Vocal troubles may be just around the corner if she keeps this up.

ZB

[gmstudio]

The biggest event was going to a Met High Definition performance yesterday of Romeo et Juliette which was beamed by satelite to over 600 ($78,000 per cameras) to theaters across the world.  This includes 14 countries.  The first performance was sold out on Saturday and yesterday's had the seats 3/4 filled.

At the box office there was a sign that La Boheme on April 5 was already sold out.  Thank goodness I have already bought tickets for my son and myself for Tristan und Isolde on March 22.  I don't know why he chose that opera.  The owners of the theater are so overjoyed with the success. 

I have more info for them - La Scala is doing the same thing.  I think because I was on the Met mailing list, I received an email from La Scala wanting me to attend their operas.  They said they saw how successful the Met was and wanted to do the same thing.  100+ people are clamoring for season tickets with designated seating.  The Met has set ticket prices at $22 adults, $20 for seniors, $15 for young people.

Without a doubt, the new Hi-Def broadcasts were certainly the highlights of 2007, and, yes, 2008 promises to be even bigger. Here in Cleveland, 7 theaters sold out of R&J this past weekend, and most opened 2 theaters per location. I'm eagerly looking forward to the La Scala broadcasts. There's only one location (!) here in town for those...

[bhodges]

I'm going to several of these in the spring.  Just got tickets for the Peter Grimes broadcast on March 15.

--Bruce

[Wendell_E]

I enjoyed Roméo et Juliette (not one of my favorites) more than I thought possible.  I'm especially looking forward to that Grimes.  Last year, the closest theatre to me (Gulfport, MS, about 70 miles from home) carried only the "reruns" of Puritani and The Last Emperor.  There were only five people in the theatre for each performance, so I guess they decided not to carry the rest.  I went to the "rerun" of Roméo and there were about a dozen there for that.  I wonder how many were at the "live" one?  I hope the don't drop them again.

Back on topic, I'll add that Roméo to my  "best of 2007" list.

[Hector]

'Mathilde di Shabran' which was not out of my player or off my iPod for weeks.

Testaments Bayreuth 'Gotterdamerung.' Is there a performance on disc better than this? Tremendous.

Which, neatly, brings me to Terfel as Wotan at the ROH!

Finally, as if I didn't know, or, at least, suspect already that 'Thais' is a wonderful opera despite the rudeness of the London critics when it received a semi-staged performance earlier this year. Yah-boo, sucks to them, I say. Go out and get the Renee Fleming recording and hear her seducing the socks off Thomas Hampson!

Oh, I almost forgot, we are to get the ROH 'La Fille du Regiment' on BBC4 at the end of the month. Set your PVRs and see if it is Dessay that steals the show or not.

[MishaK]

Doctor Atomic at the Lyric Opera. Which reminds me I still have to finish writing that review.

[bhodges]

Just found Marc Geelhoed's review of Doctor Atomic for the Financial Times, here.

--Bruce

[MishaK]

I forgot to mention. My review is up as well now.

[bhodges]

I forgot to mention. My review is up as well now.

O Mensch, a very thoughtful review, very beautifully written.  Makes me really wish I'd been there, not to mention musing about someone in New York staging it.  (Maybe it's on Mortier's radar for NY City Opera.)

I'm also a huge fan of Gerald Finley, who has one of the great voices around these days, and does lots of unusual repertoire.

--Bruce