Roberto Alagna

Programm

Georges Bizet - L'Arlesienne (Intermezzo)

Alessandro stradella - Pieta Signore

César Franck - Panis Angelicus

Hector Berlioz - L'enfance du Christ "la Sainte Famille"

Rosamunde - Entracte n°3 -  Ave Maria 

Jules Massenet - Le Cid - Ah tout est bien fini... Ô souverain.. Ô Juge...

Richard Wagner - Lohengrin 

Prélude de l'Acte 1

Nun sei Bedankt 

In Fernem Land

Mein Lieber Schwann

Bis : 

Franz Schubert - L'Ave Maria 

Roberto Alagna - Notre père 

Performance

Festival de Saint Denis

Jeudi 10 juin 2021

Cast

Roberto Alagna - Ténor

Orchestre National d'Île de France

Direction musicale - David Gimenez

Press Review 

France Info - Lorenzo Ciavarini Azzi 

"The tenor Roberto Alagna, in communion with the audience of the Basilica, succeeds in making his entry into the history of the Saint-Denis Festival with a moving musical evening. With the prayers sung with eyes closed with a surprising operatic emphasis and the sacred songs, he radiates a pleasant serenity and completes the audience with Schubert's Ave Maria, both solar and visibly moved. The bravos and cheers rained down. The second half was more operatic. The aria from the Cid, with its masterful crescendo, touches the audience. The arias of Lohengrin are moving, with powerful lows and moving highs. A generous singer to whom the audience returns the favour, giving him a long standing ovation". 

"Have mercy Lord, on my suffering", says the text: painful contrition sung with closed eyes by the tenor and surprisingly operatic emphasis. [...] The prayers and other sacred songs follow one another. Superb "pauper, servus et humilis" (the poor, the servant, the little one) from César Franck's famous 'Panis Angelicu's, in Latin but pronounced "in the Italian way". Berlioz's religious (but not liturgical) work 'Le repos de la Sainte Famille' (from L'enfance du Christ) exudes a pleasant serenity. Finally, the hit 'Ave Maria' by Schubert captures the audience: Alagna, both sunny and visibly moved. The 'bravos' and 'hurrahs' rained down.

The second half of the concert offered more opera: a French hit this time, the aria 'Ah tout est bien fini... Ô Souverain, ô juge ô père', from Massenet's 'Cid', touched the audience, especially with its very controlled final crescendo. And a novelty, Roberto Alagna sings Wagner for the first time in France. Arias from Lohengrin, the opera he performed in its entirety in Berlin last winter. After the heartbreaking prelude, which is carried brilliantly by the orchestra, Alagna shakes things up in 'Nun sei bedankt', or 'In Fernem Land' in a language where he is not spontaneously expected. His low notes are powerful and his high notes moving in 'Mein Lieber Schwann'.

Alagna is a generous singer and the audience gives him a standing ovation for many minutes. But the 11 p.m. curfew forced him to speed up the pace and the encore: an 'Ave Maria' by Gounod, which he sang with a smile on his face, and a surprise, a very sober 'Our Father' of his own composition, which he sang a cappella. The emotion is at its peak. The tenor will have made a successful entry into the history of the Festival, which is now starting its 52nd edition, and his comeback at home in Seine Saint-Denis.

Roberto Alagna starts the Saint-Denis Festival in style
 

The tenor lit up the Basilica on this opening night in a concert that included sacred arias, French opera and Lohengrin.

Toute la Culture - Paul Fourier - 11 juin 2021

The tenor lit up the Basilica on this opening night in a concert that included sacred arias, French opera and Lohengrin.

It has been a long time since we have seen Roberto Alagna 'in real life', on a stage. Like all artists, he has been away from the public (especially in France) and has had to deal with cancellations and changes in a programme that was nevertheless promising. To find him at the Saint-Denis Festival, where he was invited for the first time, was therefore an event that no one (and especially not his numerous and well organised fans) wanted to miss. All the more so as, despite the de rigueur distancing - and the small technical problems - with the postponement of the curfew, the evening returned to normal hours and the good weather allowed everyone to enjoy the terraces while waiting for the concert.

The programme of this one was rather curiously constructed
Of course, the concern not to play the same old songs was commendable in itself, but starting this festive show with the suite from Bizet's L'Arlésienne, which does not really inspire enthusiasm and good humour, was a strange idea. Similarly, the third intermission of Schubert's Rosamunde in the middle of the evening seemed slightly incongruous (and a little long).
A good half of the vocal part was devoted to sacred arias and those who are fond of this repertoire, especially in a Basilica as steeped in history as that of Saint-Denis, had excellent reasons to be... ecstatic. Indeed, Roberto Alagna is a fervent defender and ardent interpreter of this repertoire and what he delivered was of great beauty, notably César Franck's Panis Angelicus and Schubert's Ave Maria.
In the same vein, but this time in French, the tenor tackled an extract from Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ ('Le repos de la Sainte-Famille') and one was reminded of what a prodigious actor he is, not only in the history of French singing, but especially of Berlioz, whose prosody is so perfectly suited to his voice.
He then went on to enchant audiences with another fetish role, Massenet's Le Cid, with 'Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père'. To listen to Alagna in his own language, this heir and moderniser of the tradition of the great French tenors, is, more than ever, to witness the obvious.

Lohengrin, the challenge
But here came a part that probably summed up his greatest challenge of the year (and one of the most important of his career): Lohengrin, which he performed in its entirety this winter without an audience at the Berlin Staatsoper. For this, Roberto Alagna worked hard, as usual, to give his best, even in a repertoire that was, for the time being, totally foreign to him.
The prelude to Act I is played first, under the sensitive baton of David Gimenez, who leads the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France very high up - in particular his violin section, which is so much in demand for this score - and manages to bring the necessary breath and emphasis to this music.
One feels the tenor a little tense at the beginning of "Nun sei bedankt", obliged to mobilise his strength to get back into this very particular repertoire (and so far from his comfort zone) then, little by little, keeping a certain gravity, he relaxes, finds his marks in "In Fernem Land" and "Mein Lieber Schwann". His Lohengrin is both luminous and human. It is the image of this generous artist, who goes forward, does not shy away from danger and is always in search of progress.

It was modest, free of pressure, smiling, but almost apologising for not being able to give more encores because of the curfew, that he ended the concert with a piece of his own (musical) composition, the Notre-Père. The artist was radiant to be in front of his audience and the latter was still in love. A beautiful reunion in short!

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