Jim Pritchard

Land of the Midnight Sun’s Oscarshall Palace welcomes Lise Davidsen, opera’s international rising star

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United StatesUnited States Met Stars Live in Concert [4]: Lise Davidsen (soprano) and James Baillieu (piano). Broadcast live in HD (directed by Gary Halvorson) from Oscarshall Palace, Oslo, 29.8.2020. (JPr)

James Baillieu and Lise Davidsen in Oscarshall Palace (c) Hallvard Bræin

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Centenary Bayreuth Ring revisited: a prosaic staging is well-acted, though the singing is variable

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GermanyGermany Wagner, Siegfried: Soloists, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival / Pierre Boulez (conductor). Filmed at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1980 and reviewed on DG Stage on 28.8.2020. (JPr)

Manfred Jung (Siegfried) and Heinz Zednik (Mime)

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100th Salzburg Festival: Garanča’s Wagner is impressive and so is Thielemann and the VPO’s Bruckner

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AustriaAustria 100th Salzburg Festival – Wagner & Bruckner: Elīna Garanča (mezzo-soprano), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Christian Thielemann (conductor). Performance of 22.8.2020 reviewed as an Arte Concert free live stream from the Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg, on 26.8.2020. (JPr)

Elīna Garanča and Christian Thielemann (c) Marco Borrelli

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Forty years on, Patrice Chéreau’s Bayreuth Die Walküre is just an upstairs, downstairs, costume drama

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GermanyGermany Wagner, Die Walküre: Soloists, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival / Pierre Boulez (conductor). Filmed at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1980 and reviewed on DG Stage on 26.8.2020. (JPr)

Patrice Chéreau’s Die Walküre final scene

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Das Rheingold begins another look at Patrice Chéreau’s legendary Centenary Ring

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GermanyGermany Wagner, Das Rheingold: Soloists, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival / Pierre Boulez (conductor). Filmed at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in 1980 and reviewed on DG Stage on 25.8.2020. (JPr)

Patrice Chéreau’s Bayreuth Das Rheingold

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Fine singing and excellent musicianship from Roberto Alagna, Aleksandra Kurzak, and the Vienna Morphing Quintet

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FranceFrance Met Stars Live in Concert [3]: Roberto Alagna (tenor) and Aleksandra Kurzak (soprano), Vienna Morphing Quintet (Yuuki Wong, Lucas Medlam [violins], Tomasz Wabnic [viola/director], Moritz Ebert [cello], Felipe Medina [double bass]), Alexander Wladigeroff (trumpet). Broadcast live in HD (directed by Gary Halvorson) from Le Chateau de la Chevre d’Or, Èze, France, 16.8.2020. (JPr)

Aleksandra Kurzak & Roberto Alagna

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Schenk and Schneider-Siemssen’s Met Parsifal allowed a timeless tale to wend in its way towards redemptive transcendence

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United StatesUnited States Wagner, Parsifal: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of The Metropolitan Opera, New York / James Levine (conductor). Performance of 28.3.1992 reviewed as a Nightly Met Opera Stream in 8.8.2020. (JPr)

Kurt Moll (Gurnemanz), Waltraud Meier (Kundry) & Siegfried Jerusalem (Parsifal)

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Mahler’s Sixth Symphony from Andris Nelsons and the VPO proves a musical metaphor for 2020

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AustriaAustria 100th Salzburg Festival – Mahler: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Andris Nelsons (conductor). Reviewed as an Arte Concert live stream from the Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg, 8.8.2020. (JPr)

Andris Nelsons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra © Marco Borrelli

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