Roberto Alagna

Opera

Performances

Staatsoper Berlin unter der Linden

Sunday  24th of April  2022

Saturday 30th of April 2022 

Saturday 07th of may 2022 

Cast

Press Review

Toute la Culture - Paul Fourier - 05/07/2022

AN OUTSTANDING LOHENGRIN, A TOTAL ACHIEVEMENT, A GREAT MOMENT OF OPERA...

Magnificent and so recognizable voice, science of embodiment, care for the word... 'In fernem Land' of a clarity, a rightness and a disconcerting precision... Ovation from the Berlin audience who "knights" him in this astonishing Wagnerian exercise❞

READ MORE (EXCERPTS, translated from French): « Planets aligned for Lohengrin in Berlin - A total achievement • The Staatsoper presented an outstanding Lohengrin. A powerful direction, Calixto Bieito's symbolic and detailed staging and a stellar cast (Roberto Alagna, Vida Mikneviciute, Irene Theorin, among other performers) have resulted in a great operatic moment. [...] 
Lohengrin is this mysterious stranger who "arrives" in this society sinking into decay. And this stranger is embodied by Roberto Alagna: Roberto the Frenchman or Roberto, the Italian, Roberto as he is... [...] The tenor appears as a modest hero and uses his magnificent and so recognizable voice to deliver his own interpretation; he brings, and adapts to the Wagnerian prosody, his science of embodiment, combining with the care for the word that we know him for; he places the accents in the significant places, notably in these "Elsa!", sometimes tender, sometimes interrogative. Never caught in a failure, he surprises us by his ability to transcend his limits in the challenging third act. His "In fernem Land", an always awaited moment, sounds with a clarity, a rightness and a disconcerting precision.
Finally, he is greeted by a standing ovation showing that the challenge was successful and that the Berlin audience "knights" him in this astonishing Wagnerian exercise. 

Musicainopera.com - LOredana Atzei - 05/07/2022

❝ PERFECTLY AT EASE,  A JEDI KNIGHT …

A lyrical and passionate singing, which is as virile as it is sweet  … German language in his mouth flows softly, enriched with radiant accents …  The voice is wide, never forced, perfectly in tune with full-bodied centres, in an expressive singing rich in half-voices … It always overcomes the orchestral wall and the full chorus… Top notes are bright and long-lasting … The interpretation is intense … ❞

READ MORE (EXCERPTS translated from Italian) : « Roberto Alagna enters the scene with his strong and romantic vision of the hero. In a dark scenario, where everyone is ugly, dirty (in soul) and evil, his Swan Knight is much more than foreigner, he is an alien, so far removed in nobility from the twisted and mentally unstable crowd that surrounds him. A mystical, sacrificial figure with the physical and moral strength of a Jedi Knight. The image of the duel with Friedrich von Telramund, won exclusively by force of thought, is testimony to his superiority over his opponent and is one of the most exhilarating moments of the play. He does not win because he is stronger. He wins because he is 'just'.
The tenor is perfectly at ease in the role of the 'Swan Knight' to which he lends an extraordinary splendour with his lyrical and passionate singing, which is as virile as it is sweet. The German language in his mouth flows softly, enriched with radiant accents. The sound is homogeneous in all registers, the declamato is heroic, the high notes are bright and long-lasting.
The voice always overcomes the orchestral wall and emerges even in the presence of the full chorus. From the moment he enters the stage, the voice is wide, never forced, perfectly in tune with full-bodied centres, in an expressive singing rich in half-voices. The interpretation is intense in both the joy of meeting Elsa and in the pain of betrayal. »

Konzertkritiktikopernkritikberlin.com - Anton Schlatz - 04/30/2022 

❝ VERY IMPRESSIVE...

Roberto Alagna plays well, sings well. Nuances of the tone, expression, phrasing are outstanding, the blending of the vocal registers impressive. His immense musical experience of a life on stage is spellbinding. His German is fine, his art of stage gestures exquisite. ❞ 

READ MORE (EXCERPTS) (translated from German) : « [After 16 months since its premiere without an audience], Roberto Alagna is again the Swan Knight at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. He plays well. He sings well. The timbre nuances, expression and phrasing are outstanding, if you consider that you listen to the mature voice of an almost sixty year old singer. The blending of the vocal registers is impressive. Alagna's German is fine. “Das süße Lied” has the shy magic of the beginning, “In fernem Land” brings together utopian lyricism and chivalrous pathos […]. Very impressive. The man shapes every syllable, every phrase, and I listen spellbound to the immense musical experience of a life on stage. Yes, there is something Italian in this Lohengrin. […] Alagna's art of stage gestures could be described as exquisite without irony. »

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