Opera streaming

[cahn]

Everyone knows the Met and other opera companies are streaming opera free right now, right?

Tonight the Met is streaming Eugene Onegin, so everyone should watch it and then report back to me :)

(In two weeks the Met will be streaming their Don Carlo. Just Saying :P )

Comments

[zdenka]

I did! :D

[cahn]

:D Did you see the Trovatore or the Traviata? I missed them that night but I have Met on Demand at present and I'm currently (slowly) watching the Trovatore. Hvorostovsky hasn't shown up yet but Anna Netrebko has, and wowowowow she is amazing.

[zdenka]

I had time to watch most of the Trovatore before they took it down. Performers very good, a few direction things that annoyed me, set ugly. C'mon, they're the Met! They have the budget to make that ridiculous staircase at least look like a stone staircase instead of a concrete staircase.

/has strong feelings about staircases, apparently

[kore]

Scenery definitely matters in opera! (I grew up in Santa Fe and that Opera definitely made some....um, choices in the eighties.)

[cahn]

lolololol! Staircases are important, I guess!

I'll ask you about the direction things when I've watched a little more (I'm not very far in at all yet)

I am in love with everything about the Onegin, I hope you get a chance to watch some of it :D

[alcanis_ivennil]

I have that Onegin on my computer :D Oh, it's so beautiful. One of the most magical opera stagings I have ever seen.

Also, Dima and Renée are simply radiant.

[cahn]

yessss Dima and Renee are just everything. And the staging is wonderful, especially considering it is basically a box! (Vienna, please learn from Carsen!)

[alcanis_ivennil]

Vienna stagings... I just watched the 2018 Boccanegra which is still the damn Stein production and it's still as eclectic and ugly as ever. I spent half the liveblog bitching about the costumes.

Why is Fiesco dressed like a Jedi? Why does Paolo wear the same orange thing for 25 years (and also does't age at all)? Why is everyone into sash belts? Why are all the costumes oversized and ill-fitting? Oh, and the random curtain covering half the stage at various points. And the extremely ominous crystal chalice. Sitting ominously on a table.

[cahn]

hahahahaha so true

and yet the Boccanegra isn't even that bad compared to the Don Carlo! Why is Rodrigo wearing a pirate costume and why does he only have one outfit (doesn't change to something nicer in the auto-da-fe). Why!

[kore]

I missed EVERY Met broadcast so far somehow (they're at a bad time for me and gone so fast), but Eugene Onegin!!

[cahn]

Yeah, I've missed them all too as they are also at a bad time for me. Finally I said heck with it and revived my Met on Demand subscription, lol. So I'm slowly watching through the Trovatore and Anna Netrebko! my heart!

But this Eugene Onegin is really just amazing, the singers and the staging are all just so moving and gorgeous -- I found it on youtube many years ago (of course it is no longer there) and promptly bought it on DVD, I loved it that much. I hope you get a chance to watch at least some of it!

[kore]

Hell, if I miss it I might just look for a used DVD! I don't have enough operas on DVD anyway.

They are being really generous but at the same time I wish they would have an "encore performance" the day after maybe a little earlier, in the afternoon. OTOH I know I'm being completely greedy, and also I have a lot of those Magic Flute UTU videos you blogged about ON REPEAT throughout the day. Fortunately my husband likes the opera. He is looking a little skeptical about the Wagner Marathon starting at the Met next week tho.

Anyway, RENEE FLEMING. I know it makes me a basic opera fan or whatever but I don't care, I just adore her. I can feel my blood pressure drop about 10 points listening to her Casta Diva: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg4L5tcxFcA (Altho Jesus I forgot how nasty opera fans are on UTU. And are they all Callas stans? I love her too, but really!)

[cahn]

yay Magic Flute!! :D

RENEE FLEMING IS THE BEST
Like, her voice is gorgeous AND she is super musical AND she can act like no one's business AND she's physically beautiful too. What more could you really ask for??

Yeah, I dunno about the Wagner marathon. In principle I'm all for it but in practice there's just no way. I might just do my usual thing of just watching Walkure, at least :)

[nineveh_uk]

I wish they would have an "encore performance" the day after maybe a little earlier, in the afternoon

Don't you have it available for 24 hours? Here (UK) it seems that it starts at the time scheduled, and then can be watched online for 24 hours afterwards. In the, the start time is to late for the evening of broadcast (about 7:30 = 11:30) so I'll be watching Onegin tonight.

[kore]

OMG wait, I was missing it is available for 20 HOURS after that. I thought it was one and done! (My concentration is shot to shit these days.) My husband may wind up getting a morning dose of opera since he's such an early fucking bird, LOL. (He is one of those people who wakes up at six without an alarm.)

[cahn]

Yaaaay! I was about to say!

(doesn't help me all that much right now but I have my subscription so that's OK!)

[genarti]

Yes! I've seen very little opera previously (Carmen at the Montreal Opera and, uh, Nixon in China at the Met) but one of my very good friends is a big opera buff, so we've been group-watching opera with a few other friends. I saw La Fille du régiment and, today, Eugene Onegin (minus about 20 minutes at the beginning because I had a schedule conflict).

[cahn]

Oooooh, so what did you think?

Group-watching opera sounds like SO much fun. I have been able to coordinate watching with zdenka a couple of times and a couple of times have had realtime Reactions at alcanis_ivennil, which have been great fun, but these days with the kids my schedule is so fragmented that I can only watch things five minutes at a time, alas. One day I'll be able to do this socially with other people again :)

[kore]

OMG, I used to group watch Bollywood movies with two dear friends of mine. Opera group watching sounds even better!

[cahn]

When my schedule becomes less totally fragmented (possibly years from now, gaaaaah) LET'S DO IT

[shewhostaples]

And me without any broadband.

[cahn]

I'm sorry! Is this moving-woes? I hope you are able to get it soon! (And not just because of opera, that sounds difficult in general in this Age of the Cloud.)

[iberiandoctor]

I'm hoping to join this discussion when I'm not falling asleep, but the Netrebko/Hvorostovsky Il Trovatore was everything, and that first moment when the Count steps onto the stage, and this ABSOLUTELY THUNDEROUS applause rises, and you can see how the audience reaction really moves Hvorostovsky, and he visibly has to take a moment to collect himself, and then he steadies himself and starts to sing (Tace la notte), and, just, ;;;;;_______;;;;;

[cahn]

ahhhhhh I have now watched to that point (I'm about halfway through) and it's tremendous! <3 I didn't realize until looking it up that this was his first night back after his brain tumor <33 (the first time, anyway ;;;;_____;;;;;)

This whole cast is amaaaaazing. Hvorostovsky and Netrebko are of course everything, and I have been totally surprised by Yonghoon Lee, who I'm really digging, and you know I must really like him since I rarely have a good word to say about tenors :D I could totally see how Leonora would fall for him! I mean, it helps that he's very nice-looking :D but I also am really liking his voice!

[iberiandoctor]

I KNOW, right? I actually put my hand on my chest and sobbed out loud (it was very emotional, okay? And I was already super antsy from working from home). It was glorious, and how courageous was he ;;;___________;;;

So I deliberately did not say anything about Yonghoon Lee just to see if you would, but as you might have suspected I ADORE. Such physicality, such an expressive tenor, and, yes, super hot; there was quite a bit of open-necked shirt costuming there XD

I haven;t been gripped by the Wagners this week (though of course Bryn Terfel <3) but am very excited for upcoming Keenlyside Don Carlo! I will report back!

ETA: The Bayerische Staatsoper has a very ... interesting surrealistic staging of Il Trovatore, with Harteros and Kaufmann (and shirtless dudes with animal masks on!) It's proving quite a watch thus far! https://operlive.de/trovatore/