“Gloire à DiDonato”: Les Troyens in Strasbourg

By Mark Pullinger, 18 April 2017

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“DiDonato... is a great tragedienne”

Reviewed at Palais de la Musique et des Congrès, salle Érasme, Strasbourg on 17 April 2017

Berlioz, Les Troyens (The Trojans) (Concert performance)

John Nelson, Conductor

Michael Spyres, Énée

Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Cassandre, Ghost of Cassandre

Hanna Hipp, Anna

Marianne Crebassa, Ascagne

Joyce DiDonato, Didon

Stéphane Degout, Chorèbe, Ghost of Chorèbe

Nicolas Courjal, Narbal

Agnieszka Sławińska, Hecuba

Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Helenus, Hylas

Cyrille Dubois, Iopas

Jean Teitgen, Mercure, Ghost of Hector

Philippe Sly, Panthée

Bertrand Grunewald, Priam

Chœur de l'Opéra national du Rhin

Chœur de l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg

Badischer Staatsopernchor Karlsruhe

Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg

Chiaroscuro extinguished: a self-indulgent Poppea in Copenhagen

Mengguang Huang, 26th April

Christoph Marthaler’s staging of Monteverdi’s Poppea for the Royal Danish Opera is a study in boredom.

**111

Romeo Castellucci directs a new Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 26th April

The Italian director makes his long-awaited Italian operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in a production which perfectly mirrors Debussy’s most enigmatic creation.

****1

Lepage’s Bluebeard and Erwartung pairing remains compelling theatre

John Gilks, 25th April

Some 30 years after its first appearance, Robert Lepage’s double bill of Duke Bluebeards Castle and Erwartung is still strikingly effective and very modern-looking music theatre.

*****

Wretches like us: the LPO’s concert Wozzeck cuts to the quick

Peter Quantrill, 25th April

Beautifully prepared singing and playing brings out the tender side to Berg's modernist classic as part of the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival.

****1

Trojan’s Carousel: a magical night of dreams come true in Prague

Frank Kuznik, 23rd April

A vintage opera at the National Theatre offers charming adventures for children and musical sophistication for adults.

*****

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

“Gloire à DiDonato”: Les Troyens takes Strasbourg by storm