Roberto Alagna

MAITRES D’ŒUVRE

Direction musicale : Enrique Mazzola

Mise en scène : Vera Nemirova

Décors : Jens Kilian

Costumes : Marie-Thérèse Jossen

Chorégraphe : Bharti Ramdhoni

Vidéo : Marcus Richardt

DISTRIBUTION

Don Pedro : Seth Carico

Don Diego : Andrew Harris

Ines : Nino Machaidze

Vasco da Gama : Roberto Alagna

Don Alvar : Clemens Bieber

Inquisitor : Dong-Hwan Lee

Nelusco : Markus Brück

Selica : Sophie Koch

The High-priest : Albert Pesendorfer

Anna : Irene Roberts

Orchestre et Chœur : der Deutschen Oper Berlin

VASCO DA GAMA (24/10/2015) | "Meyerbeer's score is quite delicious, both in terms of melodic invention as well as in terms of orchestration, rich and subtle. Superb performance from Roberto Alagna, particularly in good shape. We don't know what to admire the most, his stylistic instinct or the generosity of his performance." (parisbroadway.com, from French)

VASCO DA GAMA (24/10/2015) | "La partition de Meyerbeer est tout à fait délicieuse, à la fois sur le plan de l’invention mélodique que du point de vue de l’orchestration, riche et subtile. Superbe prestation de Roberto Alagna, particulièrement en forme. On ne sait qu’admirer le plus, de son instinct stylistique ou de la générosité de sa prestation." (parisbroadway.com)

VASCO DA GAMA (10/04/2015) | REVIEW by Jesse Simon for Mundoclasico (10/27/2015) | "Lyrical, forceful, impressive performance, vocal presence"

EXCERPT: "There was plenty of grand singing. Meyerbeer, who would have written for the best singers of his era, created arias, duets and ensembles that placed the vocal abilities of the performers directly in the spotlight, and the evening’s singers were, for the most part, happy to comply with the composer’s demands. Roberto Alagna was apparently suffering from a cold, but it had little effect on his ability to sculpt arias that were lyrical, forceful and punctuated by some of Meyerbeer’s heartiest sustained notes. The fourth act, especially – which featured an impressive performance of the imperialist ‘Pays merveilleux … O, paradis’, followed by a magnificent love duet with Sélika – was sustained almost entirely through Mr Alagna’s vocal presence."

VASCO DA GAMA (10/24/2015) | REVIEW by Claudio Poloni for Concertonet | "Roberto Alagna brilliantly on course "

EXCERPT (from French):"Indisposed for the opening night, Roberto Alagna offered in the title role a magnificent performance during the last show. Passionate actor deeply committed in his character, brilliant tone, well-controlled voice over the entire range of his tessitura, brazen top notes and above all impeccable diction making surtitles superfluous: the French tenor confirmed with distinction that, at this stage of his career, he has good reason for exploring a whole and largely unknown segment of the french operatic repertoire. We are already looking forward to hearing him in his muche anticipated role taking as Eleazar in La Juive in Munich on next summer."

REVIEWS | VASCO DA GAMA (10/04/2015) | "Robust tenor, ardent tone and sex-appeal"

Excerpts:

> "Vasco under full sail in Berlin - As Vasco, Roberto Alagna chose to carry on despite a cold, his robust tenor only slightly dampened as he filled the house with ardent tone." (Rebecca Schmid | Classical Voice North America)

> "Roberto Alagna in the title role is doing his best to bring a bit of tenor vocal and sex appeal to the task. [...] Alagna was suffering from a cold – for which he apologised before the start. His career has taken some interesting and admirable turns latterly, of which this was another good example. For the second time this year (the other occasion was the Paris premiere of Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus) in May – the tenor has put himself at the service of a neglected French opera that deserves to be given a good shot at making its case. All credit to him for that. And all credit to the Deutsche Oper for giving the work its chance." ( Martin Kettle | The Guardian)

REVIEWS | VASCO DA GAMA (04/10/2015) | Before hearing about the amazing 2nd performance, here are summarized some feedbacks about Vasco's opening performance at the Deutsche Oper Berlin

> "Paradise regained: Vasco da Gama sets sail in style at Deutsche Oper. Alagna, pleading a cold, was in huge voice, pushing his tenor far more than was needed on occasion. He was at his honeyed best in duet with Sophie Koch’s gorgeously sung Sélika in their Act IV flower bed of machineel blossom. » (Mark Pullinger | Bachtrack)

> "With Roberto Alagna, it is a purely idiomatic Vasco in the French singing style who appeared on stage, declaiming the text very clearly and forcefully. And: with heart and charisma, despite the announced indisposition due to a cold. "(Kevin Klarke | Klassik.com)

> "Star tenor Roberto Alagna (Vasco) was announced as suffering from a cold, but he valiantly put forward the role [...] Huge cheers for a gigantic production" (Andre Sokolowski | Kultura-Extra)

> "Roberto Alagna, announced with a cold, owns bright/radiant skills in the medium-range making wonders for this role of Vasco " (Georg Kasch | Berliner Morgenpost)

> "The evening began with an announcement: the star of the evening, tenor Roberto Alagna was suffering the effects of influenza infection, but was nevertheless ready to sing the demanding role despite all. During the first three acts, he took the role very valiantly, and has proved to be truly impressive with a properly sustained medium-range and a powerful vocal constitution. His indisposition was barely noticeable in the fourth act, in the tricky aria "O doux climat". (Kaspar Sannemann | Oper-Aktuell)

> "Roberto Alagna was announced indisposed before curtain time, due to a cold. Five hours later,we had our answers: [...] Alagna knows admirably how to manage his means. He coughs occasionally to clear his throat, but we can enjoy the usual softness and brilliant in his voice. A voice which, when needed, radiates unforced with a great ease and effortless - almost until the end, when precisely in the famous aria "Pays merveilleux" his energy declines slightly. "

> "Singers of this production are successfully meeting the high demands of this work, especially the four main protagonists: Roberto Alagna - although annonced sick – truly masters the title-role as a hero torn between ambition and love "(Zena Ida aubris | Opernnetz.de)

> "Star tenor Roberto Alagna as the title role was announced indisposed, but finally, he deployed a so huge vocal artillery, that one would have thought it was a Vasco composed by Leoncavallo" (Münchner Merkur)

> "Star tenor Roberto Alagna really impressed as the title role - despite his cold - with a captivating and, though less nuanced, a shiny and colorful tone: like a charismatic Che Guevara." (Julia Spinola | Neuer Zürcher Zeitung)

> "Roberto Alagna is the title-role in every respect. Whether they have to let him act as a kind of Che Guevara mixture is certainly a matter of taste. But his tenor leaves nothing to be desired. Indeed he convinced with a brilliant top range and great force and power in the intermediate passages." (Thomas Molke | www.omm.de)

> "Vasco under full sail in Berlin - As Vasco, Roberto Alagna chose to carry on despite a cold, his robust tenor only slightly dampened as he filled the house with ardent tone." (Rebecca Schmid | Classical Voice North America)