Russia meets France: Lully’s Phaéton in Versailles

By Laura Servidei, 05 June 2018

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“every one of them showed mastery of the style, perfect intonation and a beautiful colour palette”

Reviewed at Château de Versailles: Royal Opera House, Versailles on 3 June 2018

Lully, Phaéton (Nouvelle production)

Vincent Dumestre, Conductor

Benjamin Lazar, Director

Mathieu Lorry-Dupuy, Set Designer

Alain Blanchot, Costume Designer

Mathias Vidal, Phaéton

Eva Zaïcik, Libie

Victoire Bunel, Théone

Cyril Auvity, Le Soleil, Triton, La Terre

Elizaveta Sveshnikova, Astrée

Lisandro Abadie, Epaphus, Jupiter, Saturn

Aleksandre Egorov, Merops

Lea Trommenschlager, Clymene

Viktor Shapovalov, Protée

musicAeterna Choir

Le Poème Harmonique

Stockhausen rediscovered: Donnerstag aus Licht shines brightly

Chris Garlick, 21st May

The evening left you in no doubt that in Donnerstag aus Licht is more approachable than many would imagine, as well as being a major creative achievement that is crying out to be explored by opera houses.

****1

Egisto in Luxembourg

Fernando Remiro, 7th December

Francesco Cavalli's Egisto is a true feast for the senses in director Benjamin Lazar's conception, realised with conductor Vincent Dumestre at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg.

****1

Le Poème Harmonique at Columbia University

Zerbinetta, 12th September

In his 1995 book Text and Act, the musicologist Richard Taruskin wrote of the historically-informed performance movement, “the very recent concept of historical authenticity is implicitly projected back into historical periods that never knew it.

***11

À Radio France, un Grand Macabre tiré à quatre épingles

Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut, 2nd December

Sous la direction précise et dynamique de François-Xavier Roth, l'unique opéra du compositeur hongrois, proposé dans une nouvelle version française, est servi par une distribution excellente.

****1

Heureuse résurrection à Montpellier : l’Orfeo d'Antonio Sartorio

Irma Foletti, 7th June

La direction de Philippe Jaroussky et la mise en scène de Benjamin Lazar servent magnifiquement une œuvre riche en airs et en péripéties.

****1

L'Actéon de Charpentier cherche son carquois au Châtelet

Philippe Ramin, 18th February

Le drame de Charpentier est saisi en un long plan séquence d'une cinquantaine de minutes. Une narration visuelle très réussie, malheureusement desservie par une réalisation musicale qui manque de sens.

***11

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Laura Servidei

Mathematician, science nerd, translator of popular science books, obsessed opera fan since the teen years. Day job: business analyst in a software house developing systems for the financial industry. Amateur choral singer. Main musical interests: baroque music and Italian opera. Originally from Italy, currently based in Sweden. I make a mean eggplant parmesan.