Roberto Alagna

Roberto Alagna

CONCERT - PUCCINI IN LOVE - Paris

Programm 

 

- Tosca - Mario, Mario !... Son Qui (duo Tosca - Cavaradossi)

- Tosca - Vissi d'Arte (Tosca)

- Tosca - Recondita Armonia (Cavaradossi)

 

- Suor Angelica - Intermezzo par l'orchestre

 

- Manon Lescaut - Tu, tu amore tu.. (Manon Lescaut - Des Grieux)

- Manon Lescaut - Intermezzo par l'orchestre

 

- Madama Butterfly - Vogliate mi bene (Cio cio San - Pinkerton)

- Madama Butterfly - Intermezzo par l'orchestre

- Madama Buttrfly - un bel di vedremo (Cio Cio San) 

 

- Le Villi - Intermezzo par l'orchestre

- La Fanciulla del West - Ch'ella mi creda (Dick Johnson)

- La Faciulla del West - Minie que dolce nome (Minie - Dick Johnson)

 

BIS

 

- Gianni Schicchi - O mio Babbino caro (Lauretta)

- Tosca - E Lucevan le Stelle (Cavaradossi)

- La Bohème - O soave fanciulla (Mimi - Rodolfo)

 

 

Performance

 

Théâtre des Champs Elysées 

Novembre 6th 2018

 

 

Cast 

 

Aleksandra kurzak - Soprano

Roberto Alagna - Ténor

 

Orchestre Lamoureux

conductor : Emmanuel Plasson 

 

 

Press Review

 Ôlyrix - Frederique Epin - 11/07/2018

 
"A concentrate of exaltation. Alagna in a dazzling vocal form, luminous and powerful voice, perfect top notes, depth and roundness of tone, total commitment" 
 
" Partners on stage as in life, Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak sing their love through a choice of arias and duets by Puccini at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in a production Les Grandes Voix - Les Grands Solistes, which follows the release of the album Puccini in love:
 
Thus some famous couples succeed one another on stage: Tosca and Cavaradossi, Manon and Des Grieux, Butterfly and Pinkerton but also less known couples like Minnie and Johnson from La Fanciulla del West. Alternating duets, arias and orchestral interludes, this recital recreates a new opera that could be entitled: "Couples’ love story". Because it is well their love that the two artists celebrate through these excerpts, paroxysms of emotion and passion. They marry their voices and their musicality, and, not shrinking away from the difficulty of the selected pieces, transform this succession of hits into a concentrate of exaltation, for the greater happiness of the audience.
 
Partner for this recital (in the album the two singers are accompanied by the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra directed by Riccardo Frizza), the Orchestre Lamoureux conducted by Emmanuel Plasson accompanies the two artists in a coherent overall sound ( the beautiful solo of the viola in the Intermezzo of Manon Lescaut is to be praised, the ugly gong in the duo of Madame Butterfly to be forgotten). However, the orchestra sometimes lacks nuance, and sometimes covers the singers.
 
Roberto Alagna appears in a dazzling vocal form and delivers moments of exceptional emotion. His voice resonates, luminous and powerful, when he declares his love in "Recondita armonia" the first aria from Tosca. But it is also for his total and sincere commitment that Alagna is remarkable and that the public gave him a wholehearted ovation after the Johnson’s aria "Ch'ella mi creda", excerpt from La Fanciulla del West. His flawless top notes combine with a depth and a roundness of tone and a well sustained phrasing. He thrilled the audience by performing "E lucevan le stelle", aria of Cavaradossi in Tosca. Receiving the applause of the public with a big smile, he will not stop to greet the conductor and put his partner forward.
 
Warmly applauded as well, soprano Aleksandra Kurzak continues to surprise in a growing repertoire. Gone are the Queens of the night or the Olympia, there she is addressing the great tragedians of the Bel Canto and verist repertoire (she just triumphed in Traviata at the Paris Opera, including with her husband). The accurate and centered emission allows her to begin "Vissi d'arte" on a “fil di voce”. The role of Butterfly requires a sustained medium, which she anchors in darker sounds, rich in bass harmonics, a wide variety of nuances and dramatic commitment. 
 
The great complicity of the couple is as visual (there is not a duo that they don’t end up hand in hand, eyes in the eyes) as audible. Their voices found themselves in a beautiful balance, and the dramatic force induced by the music of Puccini suits them both. In the second part, the magic really takes place with the duo of love between the candid Butterfly and the ardent Pinkerton. The soprano responds to the irresistible calls of the tenor "Vieni, vieni" with sumptuous high-pitched piano and “fil di voce” sounds that she makes infinitely last.
 
This recital is a story about a couple but also a (musical) family story: Roberto Alagna pays tribute to the conductor Michel Plasson, father of Emmanuel Plasson whom he says he knew since he was a little boy. And the story does not stop there since in March, the Parisian public will have the opportunity to applaud the couple Otello-Alagna and Desdemona-Kurzak at the Opera Bastille."
 
 

Altamusica.com - Gérard Mannoni - 11/07/2018

 
« Charming couple: beauty of voices, permanent musicality at the highest level. Huge triumph. Splendid. » by Gérard Mannoni for Altamusica.com
 
From French: "Charmed or charming? We do not know how to qualify the couple formed by Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna so much this concert was able to combine the beauty of the voices and a permanent musicality at the highest level. No exhibitionism, but charm, a natural impact and a powerful desire to showcase the music by Puccini to whom the entire program was dedicated. Splendid.
 
Nothing is ever won in these great careers where everything seems like a fairy tale. Two beautiful people, as pleasant to watch as to hear, an international reputation at the highest possible for some time now, but was there no slightly secret question about the ability of Aleksandra Kurzak to venture on the paths of Tosca for example, while she started in roles much lighter and even if she sings La Traviata at the moment at the Paris Opera (with his husband for the last performance)?
 
Regarding Roberto Alagna, no doubt possible. He had to be at home from start to end. And he was, with ease, a facility without ever giving the impression of forcing anything, nor to seek the effect that will trigger the enthusiasm of the audience. The quality of the voice and its natural impact are as well adapted to Mario Cavaradossi as to Pinkerton, Des Grieux or Dick Johnson. The perfection of the vocal emission, the valiance of the top range, the natural emotion that emanates from the tone, the mastery of the phrasing, the intelligence of his way to tackle each character, we were really on the heights of the art of the tenor, putting his skills at the service of a music that he knows how to feel and live better than anyone. Huge triumph, of course, but no one could be more deserving of it.
 
As for his wife, the so beautiful Aleksandra Kurzak, she also immediately set things straight with fragments of Tosca of an exemplary standard. For someone who started in the career singing the Queen of the Night, Gilda, Suzanne and other Blondchen, asserting herself with such authority in Tosca's prayer as in the entrance duet of the opera may have come as a surprise to some people. The tone is beautiful by nature, the voice totally under control in all areas, and a power seemlessly suitable to this repertoire.
 
On the whole range, the sounds radiate with beauty, light and the emotion is there too as in “Un bel di vedremo” from Butterfly. Great moments of beautiful singing throughout this magical concert where the Orchestre Lamoureux conducted by Emmanuel Plasson also honored the symphonic pages of Puccini that punctuated the program. A great operatic evening where never the music was never left on the background and therefore an absolutely successful tribute to Puccini. "
 
 

Le Monde - Marie Aude Roux - 11/07/2018

"Dazzling form, solar charisma, intensity of commitment, a special case ..."
 
EXCERPT (from French): “Mario! Maario!, said Aleksandra Kurzak's sultry voice from behind the scenes. To what Roberto Alagna's vibrant "Son qui" (I'm here) answers, appearing in tail coat on the stage of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on Tuesday, November 6, while the Polish soprano was shining in a black and silver lamé dress. Both performed with complicity one of the most beautiful scenes of jealousy and love of opera, the one that the singer Floria Tosca made to her lover, the painter Mario Caravadossi, in Act I of Tosca [... ].
 
55 year old, the French tenor is in a dazzling form. Hard to believe that he sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, from September 24 to October 20, the harassing title role in Saint-Saëns’s Samson and Dalila, then endorsed in Paris a few days later at the Opera Bastille the Verdian costume of Alfredo, sharing for the last performance on October 26 the triumph that Aleksandra Kurzak - his wife in life and partner on stage - had been collecting since September 29 in the role of Violetta.
 
A silhouette of a young fit man, a face almost unaffected by time, Roberto Alagna remains a special case: his solar charisma and the intensity of his commitment are those that tear from the audience these cries of the heart when the artists are that way called by their given name. The "Roberto! ", which will soon burst out in the room, got in ahead of an "Aleksandra! "launched after the end of the encore and an inspiring" Il mio babbino caro "(Gianni Schicchi), sung with a remarkable color and phrasing mastery. With a steady technique forged on the Bel Canto's fire, and a musicality of exquisite taste, the Kurzak, whose voice has been considerably enriched, now supports the challenge of real lyric roles - her " Un bel di, vedremo " in Butterfly is fantastic – without at the same time losing her ease in a top range as sharp as daggers.”
 
 
 

Gallery

 

 


28/01/2019