A long road to nowhere for Igor at the Bastille

By Mark Pullinger, 01 December 2019

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“the Polovtsian Dances pulsated with an energy that rightly brought the house down”

Reviewed at Opéra national de Paris: Opéra Bastille, Paris on 1 December 2019

Borodin, Prince Igor

Opéra national de Paris

Philippe Jordan, Conductor

Barrie Kosky, Director

Rufus Didwiszus, Set Designer

Klaus Bruns, Costume Designer

Ildar Abdrazakov, Igor Svyatoslavich, Prince of Novgorod-Seversky

Elena Stikhina, Yaroslavna

Pavel Černoch, Vladimir Igorevich

Dmitry Ulyanov, Galitsky

Dimitry Ivashchenko, Konchak

Anita Rachvelishvili, Konchakovna

Vasily Efimov, Ovlur

Adam Palka, Skula

Andrei Popov, Yeroshka

Irina Kopylova, A Polovtsian maiden

Marina Haller, Yaroslavna's nurse

Chœurs de l'Opéra national de Paris

Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris

Franck Evin, Lighting Designer

Otto Pichler, Choreography

Pomp meets ping-pong: Nixon in China lands again in Paris

David Karlin, 14th March

Excellent vocal acting from Thomas Hampson, Renée Fleming, Xiaomeng Zhang and a magnificent orchestral performance conducted by Kent Nagano can't make Valentina Carrasco's production fully grip.

***11

Thomas Adès’ high-flying Exterminating Angel in Paris

Erwan Gentric, 29th February

The French premiere of the British composer's opera will be the undisputed high point of the Grande Boutique's season: a perfect confluence of music, staging and cast.

*****

Shock and awe in Paris with Bernstein's A Quiet Place

David Karlin, 9th March

In the expert hands of both director Warlikowski and conductor Kent Nagano, the sequel to Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti proves to be even darker and more dramatic.

*****

Les Indes galantes: with Alarcón, Rameau conquers the Bastille

Philippe Ramin, 28th September

The new production of Les Indes galantes at Opéra Bastille is exceptional, from the vocal cast to the choreography by Bintou Dembélé. But the stand-out performance of the evening comes from conductor Leonardo Garcia Alarcón.

*****

Don Giovanni according to Ivo van Hove: a puritan despite himself?

Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut, 16th June

Don Giovanni returns to the Palais Garnier. The production by Ivo van Hove lacks energy but is wonderfully served by a cast of great young talents.

***11

Carthage carnage: Tcherniakov's Trojans flops at the Bastille

Mark Pullinger, 25th January

Tcherniakov reduces Berlioz' epic to little more than Circle Time therapy, a poor way to mark the composer's anniversary year.

**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.