ANDREA CHENIER - LONDON
Opera
Verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano,
set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica,
and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan.
The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet André Chénier (1762–1794).
Performance
Royal Opera House London
May 24th 2019
May 28th 2019
May 31th 2019
June 03th 2019
June 06th 2019
June 09th 2019
Cast
Roberto Alagna | Andrea Chenier
Sondra Radvanovsky | Maddalena di Coigny
Dimitri Platanias | Carlo Gérard
Rosalind Plowright | Comtesse de Coigny
Christine Rice | Bersi
Elena Zilio | Madelon
Stephen Gadd | Pietro Fléville
Germán E Alcántara | Dumas
Aled Hall | L'Abbé, un poète
Carlo Bosi | L'Incroyable, un espion
David Stout | Roucher
Jeremy White | Schmidt
Adrian Clarke | Mathieu "Populus", un sans culotte
David McVicar | Production
Daniel Oren | Conductor
Orchestre et Choeurs "Royal Opéra House of London"
Review
Bachtrack - Mark Pullinger - May 5th, 2019
❝Roberto Alagna brings up his century at the Royal Opera in #AndreaChénier revival: golden and open-hearted singing, ringing top notes, passionate stage presence, a true poet❞
EXCERPT: “In cricketing terms, Roberto Alagna would be raising his bat triumphantly towards the Covent Garden pavilion. This opening night of Andrea Chénier chalked up the French-Sicilian tenor’s century, his hundredth performance with The Royal Opera. It was in 1992 that Alagna made his house debut in La bohème, shortly followed by an ardent Roméo, where I remember him vaulting the Capulet gates with ease. He's sung many great roles in that time, including a fine Faust, a sensitive Don José and his charming bumpkin of a Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore alongside Aleksandra Kurzak, who later became his wife. Alagna’s stage presence endears him to audiences and his singing is as golden and open-hearted as ever, with ringing top notes that rarely feel pushed. Chénier’s Act 1 Improvviso was exactly as passionate as it should be while his poem “Come un bel dì di maggio”, written as he awaits the guillotine in the last act, was heart-stopping. Alagna's Chénier is a true poet."
Toute la Culture - Paul Fourier - May 22th, 2019
❝The miracle of a best-in-class duo: Roberto Alagna and Sondra Radvanovsky transcend Giordano's opera with outstanding vocal qualities and obvious connivance. A very great Roberto Alagna❞
EXCERPT (from French): "Roberto Alagna is triumphant in London. As soon as he appears, the tenor literally illuminates the stage. Indisputably, this veristic role is, today, made for him and does not cause him the first sign of difficulty. The opening aria is a true lesson of singing: solar tone, multiple nuances, perfect control of the top range, dramatic commitment. As soon as from the prelude, the poet vibrates strongly in this hell of tenor which will not stop to amaze us, touching our heart in each of his interventions.This sun-drenched instrument gives the character a passion that would make him immortal if he was not promised to punishment. Roberto is great but, moreover, today, Alagna is very great. [...] It seems impossible to miss this incredible couple, so seldom reunited, one and the other are at the top of their art. "
Seen and Head - Jim Pritchard - May 22th, 2019
❝ Roberto Alagna’s voice gained a burnished heroic quality while retaining the emotive Italianate sound and ringing top notes. He embodies a suitably romantic figure for Chenier ❞
EXCERPT: “ Roberto Alagna and Sondra RadvanovskyTranscend Criticism in Giordano’s Overwrought Andrea Chénier. […] Roberto Alagna was celebrating his 100th Royal Opera performance since his debut in 1992 as Rodolfo in La bohème. He is one of the world’s leading tenors and this return to Covent Garden is something to be celebrated indeed. Of course his voice is different to when I first heard him in the 1990s, and although it is gaining a burnished heroic quality it has retained the emotive Italianate sound and ringing top notes for the breath of roles he sings. Alagna also cuts a suitably romantic figure before Madame Guillotine’s own unkindest cut of all! It is not a surprise that the first Chénier was Giuseppe Borgatti who became a leading Italian Wagner tenor because the role needs the voice of a Siegfried particularly when having to sing ‘Vicino a te s’acqueta’ at the end with a soprano who – like Brünnhilde in Siegfried – has been offstage more than on it!”
The Stage - George Hall - May 21th, 2019
❝Thrilling singing, Roberto Alagna sounds on top form, commands a strong tone and legato line ❞
❝Thrilling singing hits the dramatic heights - Roberto Alagna marks 100 performances at Covent Garden as the volatile, doomed poet in the title role: now in his mid-50s, he sounds on top form, and his big numbers go down a storm ❞
The Standard - Barry Millington - May 2019
❝Passions suitably stirred in Giordano’s verismo opera – As the French revolutionary poet and making his 100th Royal Opera appearance, Roberto Alagna commands a strong tone and legato line. ❞ Barry Millington for The Standard
Opera Magazine - Ditlev Rindom - August 2019
❝On his finest form, Roberto Alagna offers ringing top notes, an irresistible sense of abandon, a gorgeously burnished lower register, a strong legato line, a crisp diction … masterfully done❞
EXCERPT: “Mc Vicar‘s production offers no radical insights, it‘s true, but it delivers a perfectly functional framework for compelling performances. Roberto Alagna celebrated his 100th appearance at Covent Garden with this run. On June 3, he was on his finest form as Chénier: he offered an unfailing (and irresistible) sense of abandon, still sounding like a bona fide star. „Un dì all‘azzurro spazio“ was Alagna at his best, his gorgeously burnished lower register matched by ringing top notes, a strong legato line tied to crisp diction. Later scenes found him mining a rich seam of pathos and rage, mournful in the Act 2 duet with Maddalena, fierce in the Act 3 courtroom scene; „Come un bel dì di maggio“ was masterfully done. With the orchestra on solid form, and much world-class singing on stage, this Chénier needed no special pleading.“
BroadwayWorld - Gary Nailor - May 21th, 2019
❝Perfect singing, outstanding acting – Five stars❞
EXCERPT: “Roberto Alagna is our eponymous hero, a man who stands off to the side as the aristos dance their silly gavotte with the revolution literally on their doorstep. Alagna's singing is as perfect as one would expect of a man making his 100th appearance in this house, "Un dì, all'azzurro spazio" one of those showstoppers, but it's his acting that stands out in a role that demands it. We see why he turns against the excesses of The Terror - it's the same man as showed such disdain for excesses of wealth - and we see his commitment to love as the only, indeed inevitable, salvation, the only thing worthy of excess.”
Forumopera.com - Michel Pennetier - April 27th -, 2019
❝ Roberto Alagna, a Chénier of anthology: dazzling form, almost supernatural quality of the vocal projection, technique at its peak, impressive squillo, purity of the voice with a still golden tone, finely nuanced and full of varied colors, over and over ❞
EXCERPT (translated from French): "Wide-Format Voices. The fully renewed cast brings together two real vocal monsters. In a dazzling form, Roberto Alagna is a Chénier of anthology. We are first struck by the quality of the vocal projection, almost supernatural. Combined with a technique at its peak, the tenor’s squillo literally roots us to our chair. Beyond this almost physical pleasure, we appreciate an admirable mastery of the phrasing, the purity of a voice with a still golden tone, an artistry of the old-style singing (in the positive sense), finely nuanced and full of varied colors over and over. [...] Dramatically, Alagna’s Chénier is an ideal compromise between the two opposite aspects of the character. He is at once a brave combative [man], oblivious to danger, but also the poet, with a last aria, "Come un bel di’ di maggio” with a great deal of subtle shades, and a first "Si , fui soldato" which brings out the hopes and frustrations of the young man. [...] With such artists, such a high-standard evening is well worth the trip to London. "
Gallery
01/02/2020
Retour aux articles de la catégorie 2019 -