Burning bright: superb Trovatore ignites the Bastille

By Mark Pullinger, 01 February 2016

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“If Leonora had heard this declaration of love, surely she would have dumped Manrico!”

Reviewed at Opéra national de Paris: Opéra Bastille, Paris on 31 January 2016

Verdi, Il trovatore

Opéra national de Paris

Daniele Callegari, Conductor

Àlex Ollé, Director

Alfons Flores, Set Designer

Lluc Castells, Costume Designer

Ludovic Tézier, Il conte di Luna

Anna Netrebko, Leonora

Ekaterina Semenchuk, Azucena

Marcelo Álvarez, Manrico

Roberto Tagliavini, Ferrando

Marion Lebègue, Ines

Oleksiy Palchykov, Ruiz

Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris

Chœurs de l'Opéra national de Paris

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Mark Pullinger, 1st December

Barrie Kosky's makes a limited impact in his debut at Opéra de Paris, apart from an hallucinogenic Polovtsian Dances.

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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.

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Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut, 16th June

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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.

Burning bright: a vocally superb Trovatore ignites the Bastille