Light and Shade
✮✮✮✮ Tchikovsky's Iolanta / Stravinsky's Perséphone Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix en Provence Peter Sellars | Teodor Currentzis Tchaikovsky's opera Iolanta is based on a story by Danish poet Hendrik Hertz. Iolanta lives a well-protected life with her servants, but she is not happy. Her father, the King René, wants to keep the fact that she is blind a secret from her. It is forbidden, on pain of strict punishment, to speak to her about colour and light. That, however, is exa
Scenes Before Marriage
✮✮✮ 1/2 Ana Sokolović's Svadba Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix en Provence Ted Huffman & Zack Winokur | Dáirine Ní Mheadhra The Serbian-born Canadian composer Ana Sokolović’s opera Svadba was first performed in concert in Toronto in 2011. It went on to win the country’s prestigious performing arts award, the Dora Mavor Moore, for Outstanding New Opera before embarking on a national tour. It has since received the American première at Opera Philadelphia. Earlier this year, Alexan
Art and Education - Hand in Hand
✮✮✮✮ Jonathan Dove's The Monster in the Maze Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix en Provence Marie-Ève Signeyrole | Simon Rattle The idea of creating an opera with singers of all ages, from children to adults, with young instrumentalists side by side with professional orchestral musicians, was an educational idea of "the Simons", Sir Simon Rattle and Simon Halsey. Composer Jonathan Dove and librettist Alasdair Middleton were collaborators selected for the task, and the Berlin Philh
All the Perfumes of Araby
✮ Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix en Provence Martin Kušej | Jérémie Rhorer The entire stage is one vast bed. Tytania sleeps in it, Puck bounces on it, Oberon struts proudly over the covers. The sky is a midnight blue, both on the stage and above it. Robert Carsen's 1991 production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a piece of history. It was the young director's first international big break, and gave the Festival a fresh new take
Fifty Shades of Handel
✮✮✮ Handel's Alcina Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix en Provence Katie Mitchell | Andrea Marcon Alcina is not keen on free love. She prefers to treat her former lovers with chemicals and put them through a kind of baggage control machine which spits them out as stuffed animals. When she is not busy with taxidermy, Alcina and her sidekick Morgana like to dabble in erotic games and bondage with their future ornaments. For her new production in the Grand Théâtre de Provence, Katie
