Les Contes d’Hoffmann à La Monnaie : quand Warlikowski tourne en rond

By Patrice Lieberman, 16 December 2019

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“Alain Altinoglu apporte la flamme qui fait souvent défaut sur le plateau”

Reviewed at La Monnaie | De Munt: Grand Hall, Brussels on 12 December 2019

Offenbach, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)

La Monnaie | De Munt

Alain Altinoglu, Conductor

Krzysztof Warlikowski, Director

Małgorzata Szczęśniak, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Enea Scala, Hoffmann

Nicole Chevalier, Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta, Stella

Michèle Losier, Nicklausse, The Muse

Gábor Bretz, Lindorf, Coppélius, Miracle, Dapertutto

Loïc Félix, Andrès, Cochenille, Frantz, Pitichinaccio

Sir Willard White, Crespel, Luther

Yoann Dubruque, Hermann, Peter Schlémil

François Piolino, Nathanaël, Spalanzani

Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo, Voice of Antonia's Mother

Felice Ross, Lighting Designer

Denis Guéguin, Video

La Monnaie Chorus

La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra

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Thaddeus Strassberger’s Brussels debut presents Berlioz's opera semiseria with plenty of good music but far more visual noise.

***11

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Eleanor Knight, 22nd March

A marathon double bill using music from Verdi's early operas largely falls flat in Brussels.

**111

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*****

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****1

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Patrice Lieberman

Pratiquant le piano (puis l’alto) dès l’enfance, Patrice Lieberman - après un passage par le Conservatoire d’Anvers - combine sa passion pour la musique, les langues et la littérature en étudiant la musicologie et la philologie slave à l’Université Libre de Bruxelles, avant de se perfectionner aux universités de Pennsylvanie et Yale. Après avoir été pendant près de vingt ans critique au défunt hebdomadaire anglophone bruxellois The Bulletin, il collabore depuis 2014 à Crescendo Magazine (crescendo-magazine.be). Il a également régulièrement signé des notes de programme et des traductions pour différentes organisations culturelles, dont le Festival de Flandre et l’Orchestre national de Belgique.