Carmen as therapy in Aix

By Mark Pullinger, 05 July 2017

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“All of Seville was in the pit under the watchful eye of Pablo Heras-Casado”

Reviewed at Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence on 4 July 2017

Bizet, Carmen

Pablo Heras-Casado, Conductor

Dmitri Tcherniakov, Director, Set Designer

Elena Zaytseva, Costume Designer

Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Carmen

Michael Fabiano, Don José

Michael Todd Simpson, Escamillo

Elsa Dreisig, Micaëla

Gabrielle Philiponet, Frasquita

Virginie Verrez, Mercédès

Christian Helmer, Zuniga

Pierre Doyen, Moralès

Guillaume Andrieux, Le Dancaïre

Mathias Vidal, Le Remendado

Gleb Filshtinsky, Lighting Designer

Ensemble Aedes

Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône

Orchestre de Paris

Stikhina and Clayton shine in DNO's uneven Maid of Orleans

Eleanor Knight, 15th November

Director Dmitri Tcherniakov and a talented cast do everything to make Tchaikovsky’s opera work in Amsterdam, but problematic elements persist.

***11

Tcherniakov’s bold reading of Rusalka opens the season in Naples

Lorenzo Fiorito, 20th November

Dmitri Tcherniakov’s staging of Rusalka in Naples has a starkly modern visual style which occasionally dilutes the story’s emotional impact.

***11

Experiment Rheingold: Tcherniakov’s new Ring at the Staatsoper Berlin

Alexandra Richter, 2nd October

Thielemann and Tcherniakov forge a new Ring at the Berlin Staatsoper and raise great cheer.

****1

Tcherniakov's new Freischütz a brilliant piece of theater in Munich

Ako Imamura, 13th February

Dmitri Tcherniakov updates the "German Romantic Opera" into a modern-day thriller with interesting twists in a musically splendid performance in Munich.

*****

On the plague of eternal life: a new Makropulos Affair in Zurich

Sarah Batschelet, 22nd September

To outwit death and attain immortality is a dream as old as human history. But isn’t it precisely the finite nature of life that makes it so precious?

***11

Listen with Mother: Tsar Saltan as autism parable at La Monnaie

Mark Pullinger, 16th June

Dmitri Tcherniakov's staging turns Rimsky-Korsakov's opera into storytelling for an autistic boy, but does he deliver a fairy tale ending?

*****

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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.

Carmen as therapy: Tcherniakov challenges clichés but is stumped in Aix