2015

The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London

It's the Holidays... Let it snow!

A Ballet in Two Acts

Filmed at the Royal Opera House on 11 December 2015

Music Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky

Scenario Marius Petipa and Peter Wright

after E.T.A. Hoffmann’s short story Nussknacker und Mausekönig

Choreography Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov

First performance Imperial Mariinski Theatre, Saint Petersburg, December 17, 1892

Conductor Barry Boris Gruzin

Designer Julia Trevelyan Oman

Lighting Designer Mark Henderson

Staging Christopher Carr

Ballet

1975

studios of the Swedish Film Institute

A film by Ingmar Bergman

Bergman first saw the opera in Stockholm as a boy of 12, and it obviously lingered in his imagination for the rest of his life. Reviewers have seen echoes of the opera in a couple of his earlier films. When he decided to make a film of the opera in the mid-1970s, he attempted, so far as possible, to reconstruct his experience as a boy, seeing the opera in the old Stockholm opera house.

So the film is not a film only of the opera, but also of the experience of watching the opera. During the playing of the overture, the camera ignores the orchestra and focuses on the individual faces, one by one, of members of the audience, many of them young people. Also, at times, he shows us a bit of what was going on behind stage while the singers were out before the audience.

Opera

2021

The Royal Opera House

Rigoletto is the court jester to the Duke of Mantua. They were both cursed by Count Monterone when the Duke seduced the Count’s daughter with Rigoletto’s encouragement. The curse comes to full fruition after the womanizing Duke sets his sights on Rigoletto’s daughter, Gilda, and Rigoletto finds himself powerless to protect her.

Antonio Pappano conducts a truly outstanding cast. The Guardian calls Carlos Álvarez “utterly compelling” as Rigoletto and Lisette Oropesa “a matchless Gilda.” In the pit, Pappano “lets the score unfold with measured intensity and sensual, yet baleful, beauty.”

Opera

2016

Royal Opera House

The Hammock Dunes Club’s third short summer season of ballet screenings continues with Giselle, which stars Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov. According to The Guardian, they “are technically thrilling; she, at her finest moments, can combine an absolute mastery of the choreography, with the illusion that she’s dancing it for the first time.” But this production, by Peter Wright, gives the rest of the cast plenty of opportunity to shine dramatically, technically, and artistically, too.

Ballet

2006

The Royal Opera House

This performance of The Sleeping Beauty stars two of the greatest ballerinas of the first quarter of the 21st century. According to The Times (of London), “Alina Cojocaru’s Aurora is the ballet’s radiant centerpiece: charming, in control and filled with a palpable delight in every pretty step,” while The Guardian calls Marianela Nuñez “radiantly assured” as the Lilac Fairy.

Ballet

2006

Royal Opera House

An opera in four acts
Composer: Georges Bizet
Libretto: Henri Meihac and Ludovic Halévy, after the novel by Prosper Mérimée
Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Director: Francesca Zambello

The Guardian calls Anna Caterina Antonacci (Carmen) and Jonas Kaufmann (Don José) part of that “rare breed of superb singers who can act with subtlety and passion.” We’ll go out on a limb (in the company of many others far more expert) and say that the artistry and chemistry of Antonacci and Kaufmann make this by far the best video recording of Carmen.

Carmen is one of the most popular operas of all time. Find out more about one of its most famous arias ( L'amour est un oiseau rebel or the Habanera) by clicking on this link to NPR's Aria Code.

Opera

2016

Glyndebourne Festival

It was the bard himself who invented the structure and character types of romantic comedies. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s Beatrice and Benedick may trade insults and taunts but are really in love. Hector Berlioz turned their story into a comic opera, and director Laurent Pelly brings it to the Glyndebourne stage as a “stylish, smartly directed show,” of which “the star is undoubtedly Stéphanie d’Oustrac as a wily, fiery Béatrice. The French mezzo ... has a distinctive, rich voice and holds the stage,” according to Opera Magazine. “D’Oustrac and Appleby generate a considerable sexual charge together and are gorgeous in their arias,” notes The Guardian.

Opera

2015

Royal Opera House

According to The Arts Desk, Karol Szymanowski’s Król Roger “is that rarest of things, a real and original masterpiece whose worth has been unaccountably undervalued,” and The Guardian calls this production “a triumph for the artistic partnership” of director Kaspar Holton and conductor Antonio Pappano. Palermo’s absolute monarch, King Roger, finds his kingdom and himself, thrown into turmoil by the arrival of the charismatic Shepherd who advocates unconstrained hedonism. The score is amazing with its “infinite textural and emotional subtleties beneath the glittering surface,” given full justice by Pappano’s conducting, according to The Standard. All are welcome. The program will begin promptly at 4 p.m. in the Board Room; there will be one 15-minute intermission; and it will end at 6 p.m.

Opera

2015

Royal Opera House

Damiano Michieletto’s production of opera’s best known double bill, known affectionately by fans as Cav and Pag, interweaves the two great one-act verismo operas, with characters from Pagliacci making cameo appearances in Cavalleria rusticana and vice versa. These are full-throated melodramas, full of simmering passion and threats of violence. To be sure, both operas end in murder, but the stories are set to ravishing scores and the singing is superb. The brilliant Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and an international cast of stars, including Eva-Maria Westbroek, Aneksandrs Antonenko, Dimitri Platanias, and Carmen Giannattasio.

All are welcome. The program will begin promptly at 4 p.m. in the Board Room; there will be one 15-minute intermission; and it will end at 6:45 p.m.

Synopsis – Cavalleria rusticana

The backstory: Turridu has recently returned from military service. Before he left, he and Lola were lovers, but Lola married Alfio, a travelling salesman, while he was gone. For solace and revenge, Turridu seduced Santuzza, which made Lola jealous enough to rekindle her affair with Turridu, prompting Turridu to abandon the pregnant Santuzza.

Damiano Michieletto’s production of Cavalleria rusticana is set in a village Sicily in the 1980s. Towards the end of the Prelude, the curtains open, revealing a flash-forward: It is the evening of Easter Sunday, and Turridu lies dead outside his mother’s bakery. From off-stage we hear his voice singing of Lola and the dangerous love he felt for her. The Prelude and flash-forward end with Turridu’s body being borne away.

The clock is reset to early on Easter morning. Santuzza arrives at Turridu’s mother’s looking for Turridu. His mother, Lucia, tells her that he has gone to another town to get wine, but Santuzza has learned that he returned the previous night. Alfio interrupts them and mentions in passing that he saw Turridu near the house he shares with his wife Lola early that morning when he returned from a business trip. The villagers gather for the Easter morning service, but Santuzza considers herself a sinner and doesn’t enter the church. Turridu arrives, and Santuzza berates him for abandoning her for Lola.

Lola arrives, flirts with Turridu, mocks Santuzza, and goes into the church. Santuzza begs Turridu to return to her, but he rejects her. Alfio returns, looking for Lola, and the humiliated Santuzza blurts out to him the fact that Turridu and Lola are having an affair.

Following the Intermezzo (during which Nedda and Silvio from Pagliacci make cameo appearances), Turridu invites the villagers to drink with him. The women leave, and Alfio challenges Turridu to a dual, and Turridu responds by biting his ear, a local tradition indicating that it is to be a fight to the death. Turridu goes to see Lucia before meeting Alfio to ask her to be a mother to Santuzza if he should fail to return. As Lucia and the others wait, a voice calls out that Turridu has been killed.

Synopsis – Pagliacci

Damiano Michieletto sets his production of Pagliacci in the same village and time as Cavalleria rusticana. Tonio, one of the actors, opens the opera as the stock character, Prologue. He tells the audience that the drama is about real people.

A troupe of travelling actors arrives in the village. The leader of the troupe, Canio, warns the villagers and his actor-colleagues that, while he is happy to play the fool on stage, he will not other men making advances to his wife, Nedda, in real life. Then, he goes with the villagers in search of a drink. Left behind, Nedda is unnerved by her husband’s jealousy. Tonio returns and expresses his love for her, but she laughs. He grabs her, but she strikes him. He pretends to leave, but instead conceals himself within listening distance.

Silvio, one of the villagers, arrives. He and Nedda have become lovers, and he does not want to lose her when the troupe leaves the next day. So, he asks her to elope with him after the evening’s performance. She agrees. Bent on revenge, Tonio fetches Canio from the tavern. The latter arrives in time to hear Nedda and Silvio planning their tryst, but Silvio manages to escape before the other men can discover his identity.

Beppe announces that the audience are arriving for the show. As Canio dresses for the performance, he laments that he must play the clown when his heart is breaking. During the Intermezzo, Lucia and Santuzza meet in a scene promising redemption.
The play begins. Pagliaccio, played by Canio, accuses Colombina, played by Nedda, of adultery and demands to know the name of her lover. Following the script, Nedda as Colombina, replies that it is Arlecchino. Canio is furious and stops acting, whereupon Nedda stops acting, too, and swears that she will never tell. Canio kills her. Silvio runs onto the stage and attacks him, but Canio kills Silvio, too. Tonio announces that “La commedia è finita!!” (“The comedy is finished!”)

Opera

2018

Royal Opera House

Since the Club’s calendar is normally so full during the festive season, this is the first time we have been able to schedule an opera or ballet screening between Thanksgiving and New Year. Given that, the choice was obvious. It has to be The Nutcracker, which concludes our series within a series of three works inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s short stories.

This performance stars the incomparable Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov in Peter Wright’s enchanting interpretation of the timeless classic.

All are welcome. The program will begin promptly at 4 p.m. in the Board Room. There will be one intermission, and it will end at 6:15 p.m.

Ballet

2013

The Royal Opera House

Turandot, Puccini’s ice princess, is regarded by experts as one of the most difficult roles he wrote, not just because of the relentless demands on the high end of a dramatic soprano’s range but also because the character is so vehement. Unlike Beethoven’s Leonore, Turandot has no time for occasional lyrical introspection. During this first quarter of the twenty-first century, Californian Lise Lindstrom has made the role her signature, performing it at the Metropolitan Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Australia, La Scala, De Nederlandse Opera, Les Chorégies d’Orange, and Arena di Verona. As The Guardian observed, in this production filmed live at the Royal Opera House in September 2013, “Lise Lindstrom seizes attention with the first notes of In Questa Reggia and then never lets go.” Their critic goes on to say that Marco Berti, as Calef, “matches Lindstrom note for note: in their hands the riddle scene becomes a battle of the larynxes, in which victory is evenly and thrillingly shared.”

The opera will run from 4:00 to 6:30 pm in the Boardroom with two 10-minute intermissions.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the October 2023 Dunescape comes out. Dinner reservations may be made at the same time by calling 445-0747.

Turandot, an opera in three acts and five scenes
Music: Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), completed by Franco Alfano
Libretto: Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni after Carlo Gozzi
First performance: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, April 25, 1926

Cast and creatives:

Lise Lindstrom (Princess Turandot)
Marco Berti (Calef, the “unknown prince”)
Eri Nakamura (Liù)
Raymond Aceto (Timur)
Dionysios Sourbis (Ping)
David Butt Philip (Pang)
Doug Jones (Pong)
Alasdair Elliott (Emperor Altoum)
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Henrik Nánási, Conductor

Director: Andrei Serban
Revival Director: Andrew Sinclair
Designs: Sally Jacobs
Lighting Design: F. Mitchell Dana
Choreography: Kate Flatt

To see wikipedia.org's article on Turandot, which includes a synopsis, click here.

To hear Aria Code's episode on Nessun Dorma from Turandot, click here.

Opera

1951

Film by Powell and Pressburger

Get ready for a spectacle unique in the history of the Hammock Dunes Club Opera! Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s film of the comic opera The Tales of Hoffmann holds a very special place in the history of film, as these reviews reveal:

“Truly unlike anything I’d ever seen before! Every element transfixed me!”
Martin Scorsese

“The pinnacle of cinematic art! [It combines] music, dance, and cinema into a captivating whole in lush Technicolor…the phantasmagorical quality of this intoxicating fantasy also evokes the magic-lantern projections that brought phantoms and demons to life in the darkness before the invention of motion pictures.”
Kristin M. Jones, Wall Street Journal

“A dream for lovers of pure spectacle! One of the most visually sumptuous films ever shot… resplendent in primary colors and crammed with the painterly backdrops and sly camera tricks that were Powell’s stock-in-trade. Comes close to genius as a shock of pure cinema.”
Time Out [New York]

Although the film was shot in 1951, don’t expect a grainy artifact. We will be showing the 2015 high-resolution (4K) restoration produced by Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation, The British Film Institute, and Studiocanal from the original three-strip Technicolor negative.

The film will run from 4:00 to 6:30 pm in the Boardroom with one 15-minute intermission.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the August 2023 Dunescape comes out. Dinner reservations may be made at the same time by calling 445-0747.

The Tales of Hoffmann, a fantasy opera with ballet in three acts with prologue and epilogue.

Music: Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
English libretto by Dennis Arundell, translated from the French text by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann: Der Sandmann, Rath Krespel, and Das verlorene Spiegelbild
Music director: Sir Thomas Beecham
Choreography: Frederick Ashton

Cast and creatives:

Robert Rounseville (Hoffmann)
Pamela Brown (Nicklaus)
Moira Shearer (Stella/Olympia)
Frederick Ashton (Kleinzach/Cochenille)
Robert Helpmann (Coppelius/Dapertutto/Dr. Miracle)
Ludmilla Tchérina (Giulietta)
Ann Ayers (Antonia)

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
To see The British Film Institute’s full synopsis of the 1951 film of The Tales of Hoffmann click here.

Opera

2019

The Royal Opera House

Coppélia is considered to be one of the greatest comic ballets of all time, and the Financial Times sums up this revival of Coppélia as having “a simple story, a ravishing score, storybook sets by Osbert Lancaster and a feast of dancing.”

The ballet will run from 4:00 to 6:15 pm in the Boardroom with two 10-minute intermissions.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the July 2023 Dunescape comes out. Dinner reservations may be made at the same time by calling 445-0747.

Coppélia, a comic ballet in three acts
Music: Léo Delibes (1836-1891)
Scenario: Charles Nuitter (1828-1899) and Arthur Saint-Léon (1821-1870), after E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann.
First performance: Théâtre Impérial l’Opéra, Paris on May 25, 1870

Cast and creatives:

Marianela Nuñez (Swanilda)
Vadim Muntigirov (Franz)
Gary Avis (Dr. Coppélius)
Ashley Dean (Coppélia)
Christopher Saunders (The Burgomaster)
Erico Montes (The Innkeeper)

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Barry Wordsworth, Conductor

Choreography and Production: Ninette de Valois, after Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti
Designer: Osbert Lancaster

To see wikipedia.org's article on Coppélia, which includes a synopsis, click here.

Ballet

2020

The Royal Opera House

There is no question that Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème is one of the best loved operas in the musical canon, but there were many questions when the Royal Opera House decided to retire John Copley's beloved production after 41 years. Fortunately, Richard Jones answered them all positively, in collaboration with The Royal Opera and a wonderful cast. But we should probably say casts, because in the short time since this production's debut on September 11, 2017, multiple casts have filled the Royal Opera House, including the original cast, which we screened at the Hammock Dunes Club on October 10, 2019. Now, we can enjoy another cast, which includes Operalia winner Sonya Yoncheva.

The opera will run from 4:00 to 6:30 pm in the Boardroom with one 15 minute intermission.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the April 2023 Dunescape comes out. Dinner reservations may be placed 10 days in advance.

La bohème, an opera in four acts
Music: Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa (1847-1906) and Luigi Illica (1857-1919)
First performance: Teatro Regio, Turin on February 1, 1896

Cast and creatives:

Charles Castronovo (Rudolfo)
Sonya Yoncheva (Mimì)
Andrzej Flilonczyk (Marcello)
Simona Mihai (Musetta)
Gyula Nagy (Schaunard)
Peter Kellner (Colline)
Jeremy White (Benoît)

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Emmanuel Villaume Conductor

The Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Director/Producer: Richard Jones

To see wikipedia.org's, article on La Bohème, which includes a synopsis, click here.

To hear Aria Code's episode on Che gelida manina from La Bohème, click here.

Opera

2020

The Royal Opera House

Fidelio is an opera in two acts composed by Ludwig van Beethoven to a German libretto by Joseph Sonnleithner, Stephan von Breuning, and Georg Friedrich Treitschke, after Jean-Nicolas Bouilly's French libretto Léonore ou l'amour conjugal. The original premier was on November 20, 1805 in the Theater an der Wien, Vienna. The final version opened on May 23, 1814 at the Kärntnertortheater, Vienna.

This screening of Fidelio will run from 4:00 to 6:30 pm in the Boardroom on March 16, 2023. There will be one 10 minute intermission.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the March 2023 Dunescape comes out. Dinner reservations may be placed 10 days in advance.
This new production sold out within 24 hours, largely due to the draw of Lise Davidson, who has created a sensation in the opera world since winning Plácido Domingo's annual Operalia competition in 2015.

To see wikipedia.org's article on Fidelio, which includes a synopsis, click here.

Opera

2009

The Royal Opera House

The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) is a comic opera in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini, after Beaumarchais's play Le barbier de Séville. It was first performed on February 20, 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome. It is a "prequel" to Mozart and Da Ponte's The Marriage of Figaro, which was also based on a play by Beaumarchais.

This 2009 revival "boasts the most extraordinary cast to be heard in the piece for some time," according to The Guardian. The singers (Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Pietro Spagnoli, Allesandro Corbelli, and Ferruccio Furlanetto) aren't the only extraordinary talent. Joining them in the pit is Antonio Pappano, one of the greatest conductors, of whom The Guardian wrote, "There is thoughtfulness as well as brilliance in Pappano's conducting, which gives us greater emotional resonance than usual in this work without diluting the abrasive comedy."

Since the first Act of this production of The Barber of Seville lasts 102 minutes, and the second act lasts 75 minutes, we are showing Act I on January 25, 2023 and Act II on February 16, 2023. There will also be time to see a short one-act opera on February 16, 2023: Maurice Ravel's L'heure espagnole.

This screening of Act II will run from 4:00 to 5:20 pm in the Boardroom on February 16, 2023. There will be an intermission before we begin the screening of L'heure espagnole from 5:35 to 6:30 pm.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom for Act II of The Barber of Seville and L'heure espagnole as soon as the February 2023 Dunescape comes out. Dinner can be reserved 10 days in advance.

To see wikipedia.org's article on The Barber of Seville, which includes a synopsis, click here.

Opera

2012

Glyndebourne

L'heure espagnole is a one-act opera composed by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on Franc-Nohain's 1904 play of the same name. It was first performed on May 19, 1911 at the Opéra-Comique. It is the perfect fusion of French farce and refined music. As theartsdesk.com observed, Laurent "Pelly’s direction is straightforward, alert, musical, timed to perfection, just sufficiently overstated, intensely witty. It had the audience in stitches and, by the end, bubbling with pleasure. And musically the performance is a model of idiomatic sparkle, conducted with sublime precision by Kazushi Ono, and tossed off without a tremor by the London Philharmonic Orchestra."

This screening of Act II The Barber of Seville will run from 4:00 to 5:20 pm in the Boardroom on February 16, 2023. There will be an intermission before we begin the screening of L'heure espagnole from 5:35 to 6:30 pm.

To see wikipedia.org's article on L'heure espagnole, which includes a synopsis, click here.

Opera

2009

The Royal Opera House

The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) is a comic opera in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini, after Beaumarchais's play Le barbier de Séville. It was first performed on February 20, 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome.

This 2009 revival "boasts the most extraordinary cast to be heard in the piece for some time," according to The Guardian. The singers (Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Pietro Spagnoli, Allesandro Corbelli, and Ferruccio Furlanetto) aren't the only extraordinary talent. Joining them in the pit is Antonio Pappano, one of the greatest conductors, of whom The Guardian wrote, "There is thoughtfulness as well as brilliance in Pappano's conducting, which gives us greater emotional resonance than usual in this work without diluting the abrasive comedy."

This recording captures one of the performances affectionately known as The Wheelchair Barbers. Joyce DiDonato slipped and broke her femur on opening night and had to use a wheelchair for most of the run, including for this live recording.

This screening of Act I will run from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in the Boardroom on January 25, 2023. There will be one 15 minute intermission between Act I's two scenes. We will screen Act II on February 16, 2023.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the January 2023 Dunescape comes out. Dinner can be reserved 10 days in advance.

To see wikipedia.org's article on The Barber of Seville, which includes a synopsis, click here.

To hear Aria Code's episode on Una voce poco fa, Rosina's first aria in The Barber of Seville, click here.

Opera

2018

La Scala, Milan

Orphée et Euridici is an opera in three acts composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck to a French libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline. It was first performed on August 2, 1774 at the Paris Opera.

The most dazzling star of this performance is Juan Diego Flórez. "Flórez burns up the stage, vocally and dramatically. His voice is Orphic: supple, strong, many-hued and profoundly expressive; his inner turmoil is gripping," according to BBC Music Magazine.

This screening will run from 4:00 to 6:30 pm in the Boardroom. There will be one 15 minute intermission.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the November 2022 Dunescape comes out. Dinner can be reserved 10 days in advance.

To see wikipedia.org's article on Orphée et Euridici, which includes a synopsis, click here.

Opera

2013

The Royal Opera House

Nabucco is an opera in four acts composed by Giuseppi Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera. It was first performed on March 9, 1842 at La Scala and was an immediate success.

The Guardian's reviewer found that "it is the arrival of Domingo in the title role that inevitably gives these performances special allure," adding that Domingo's "ringing, dark tone emphasizes the flawed but heroic character of the Babylonian king."

This screening will run from 4:00 to 6:35 pm in the Boardroom. There will be one 15 minute intermission.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the October 2022 Dunescape comes out. Dinner can be reserved 10 days in advance.

To see wikipedia.org's, article on Nabucco, which includes a synopsis, click here.

To hear Aria Code's episode on Va pensiero, one of the most famous pieces of Italian opera music, click here.

Opera

2018

The Royal Opera House

Liam Scarlett's triumphant 2018 production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is based, like most productions, on the staging by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in 1895. Reimagining this core work of the Royal Ballet's repertoire was a daunting task, but the critics agree that Scarlett nailed it.

The ballet will run from 4:00 to 6:45 pm in the Boardroom with two 10 minute intermissions.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the September 2022 Dunescape comes out. Please also reserve for dinner if you would like to stay.

Swan Lake, a ballet in four acts
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Choreography: Liam Scarlett, after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Additional choreography: Frederick Ashton (The Neapolitan Dance in Act III)
First performance of this production: The Royal Opera House on May 17, 2018
Premier of the ballet: The Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, on March 4, 1877

Cast and creatives:

Marianela Nuñez (Odette/Odile)
Vadim Muntagirov (Prince Siegfried)
Elizabeth McGorian (The Queen)
Bennet Gartside (Von Rothbart)
Alexander Campbell (Benno)
Kristen McNally (Lady Capulet)
Akane Takada and Francesca Hayward (Prince Siegfried's younger sisters)

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Koen Kessels, Conductor

Designer: John Macfarlane

To see wikipedia.org's, article Swan Lake, which includes a synopsis, click here.

Ballet

2020

On location at Etyek, Hungary

Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet with a score by Sergei Prokofiev is undoubtedly one of the best known, and best loved, ballets ever created. This version is particularly thrilling, since it was filmed on location in Etyek, Hungary, decorated to look like Renaissance Verona.

The ballet will run from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in the Boardroom with one 15 minute intermission.

You can book your seat in the Boardroom as soon as the August 2022 Dunescape comes out. Dinner can be reserved 10 days in advance.

Romeo and Juliet, a ballet in three acts
Music: Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Choreography: Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992)
First performance: The Royal Opera House on February 9, 1965

Cast and creatives:

William Bracewell (Romeo)
Francesca Hayward (Juliet)
Matthew Ball (Tybalt)
Marcelino Sambé (Mercutio)
James Hay (Benvolio)
Kristen McNally (Lady Capulet)
Christopher Saunders (Lord Capulet)

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Koen Kessels, Conductor

Director: Michael Nunn
Director of Photography: William Trevitt
Original Costume Design: Nicolas Georgiadis (1923-2001)

To see wikipedia.org's article on MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet click here.

Ballet

2010

Teatro Regio di Parma

Un giorno di regno, ossia Il finto Stanislao (King for a Day, or The False Stanislas) is an operatic melodramma giocoso (literally, a dramatic opera with jokes) in two acts by Giuseppe Verdi with an Italian libretto written by Felice Romani.

Giuseppe Verdi wrote more than 25 operas, of which only two are comedies. Un giorno di regno, written in 1840, was his second opera, and Falstaff, which premiered in 1893, was the last of his operas. So, these two comedies neatly bookend his long career.

During his lifetime, Verdi suffered occasional failures, but in 1901, the year of his death, Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians described him as “one of the greatest and most popular opera composers of the nineteenth century.” Today, no one would disagree.

The premiere of Un giorno di regno at La Scala on September 5, 1840, was admittedly one of Verdi’s failures. With hindsight, there were two main reasons for this. Bartolomeo Merelli, the manager of La Scala, insisted on using a cast he had assembled for an opera seria (a serious opera), and they had no experience of doing comedy. The other reason is that it was considered “old-fashioned”. Nowadays, this seems like a very bizarre criticism, since there is an expanding interest throughout the world in the entire history of opera of which about half pre-dates Un giorno di regno! If Un giorno di regno is passé, what about Mozart?

To be sure, contractual obligations and personal matters meant that Verdi wrote his second opera in haste. He lost his daughter in 1838, his son in 1839, and his wife in 1840. Even so, Verdi is already pushing the boundaries of convention in exciting and interesting ways here.

We can’t be certain, but the bad experience with the premiere of Un giorno di regno may have advanced the rest of Verdi’s career by liberating him sooner from established conventions. In any case, his very next opera, Nebucco, is a masterpiece with significant innovations, such as in the use of the chorus. Also, as Verdi became more successful, he used his artistic capital to gain more control over the productions of his operas.

Click here for Wikipedia's synopsis of Un giorno di regno.

Opera

2010

Opéra National de Paris

Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet with a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on the German novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe.

Massenet wrote more than thirty operas, of which Werther, Manon, Thaïs, and Cendrillon (Cinderella) are now the most frequently performed. Of them, Massenet regarded Werther as a particularly important work. He began drafting it in 1880, and on 25 September 1880 wrote to his friend and fellow composer, Paul Lascombe, calling Werther, "that very special work [which] is meant above all to satisfy me."

The opera received its premiere in 1892, and this production was created at the Royal Opera House in 2004 by the French director Benoît Jacquot, who is best known for directing films, including A Single Girl. He described his directing process: "When I make a film, for me the whole thing stems from the actors who are going to inhabit it. I followed the same principle when I created this production of Werther: the aim of all the gestures, placing and blocking, momentum, repose, sets, costumes and lighting was to give the singers the sort of presence that makes it impossible not to believe what they are expressing, just as they truly believe what they are singing."

This performance was filmed at the Opéra National de Paris in January 2010. Jonas Kaufmann plays Werther, and Sophie Koch is Charlotte. As the New York Times noted, "To be a great Werther, a tenor must somehow be charismatic yet detached, vocally impassioned yet ethereal. Mr. Kaufmann is ideal in the role." They add that Sophie Koch "brings a plush, strong voice and aching vulnerability to Charlotte."

Click here for Wikipedia's synopsis of Werther.

Click here for the Aria Code podcast about the "Letter Aria" from Act III of Werther.

Opera

2013

The Metropolitan Opera

Maria Stuarda (Mary Stuart) is a tragedia lyrica (tragic opera) in two acts, composed by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich von Schiller's play Maria Stuart.

The story is based very loosely on the lives of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her cousin Elizabeth I. Although it is true that Elizabeth condemned Mary to death, the opera also contains scenes that have no basis in fact. Schiller invented a meeting between Mary and Elizabeth that never happened, and Bardari and Donizetti concocted the love triangle.

Recorded live at The Metropolitan Opera on January 19, 2013, the New York Times called the performance "musically splendid and intensely dramatic."

Click here for wikipedia.org's synopsis.

Opera

2009

Glyndebourne Festival

L'elisir d'amore is a comic opera in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti.

Synopsis:

Young and poor, Nemorino is passionately in love with Adina, a beautiful local landowner, but Adina is indifferent. Nemorino overhears Adina reading the story of Tristan and Isolda to some of her workers. The famous medieval tragedy about an adulterous affair triggered by a love potion convinces Nemorino that a love potion is just the thing to help him win Adina’s affection.

The self-important Sergeant Belcore arrives in town and begins courting Adina in front of everyone.

The next arrival is the traveling quack, Dr. Dulcamara. Nemorino naively asks him if he has any of Isolda’s love potion. Dulcamara seizes this opening and sells Nemorino a bottle of “elixir”, which is just inexpensive red wine, for all the cash in Nemorino’s possession. To give himself time to get away, Dulcamara tells Nemorino that the elixir needs 24 hours to work after ingestion. Nemorino believes him, drinks the bottle hastily, and looks forward to enjoying the full effect the next day. Naturally, the real effect of the wine is felt much sooner. Nemorino is tipsy when he encounters Adina shortly thereafter. His Dutch courage, combined with total confidence in the elixir’s ability to make Adina fall in love with him the following day, allows him to pretend to be indifferent to her - for now. This feigned indifference annoys Adina, and she decides to teach Nemorino a lesson by pretending to accept Belcore’s proposal of marriage. Nemorino panics, finds Dulcamara, and begs him for a faster-acting potion. Dulcamara refuses, since Nemorino has no more money.

Belcore encounters Nemorino looking depressed and asks why. Nemorino explains that he needs cash without disclosing that he needs it to buy more love potion. Belcore suggests that he join the army, since he would get a signing bonus immediately. Nemorino agrees. He loves Adina so much that winning her for just a day before deployment would be worth it.

Meanwhile, Giannetta gossips with some of the women of the village. Unbeknown to Nemorino and Adina, Nemorino’s uncle has just died, leaving a large fortune to his nephew. Upon hearing this news, the ladies swarm to Nemorino, which reinforces his belief in the efficacy of the elixir. Adina sees Nemorino surrounded by women and asks Dulcamara for an explanation. Dulcamara explains that Nemorino joined the army in order to get money to buy more of the elixir, since he was so desperately in love with an unnamed beauty. Adina realizes the unnamed beauty is she and further realizes that she loves Nemorino. Still unaware of Nemorino’s inheritance, she purchases back his military contract from Sergeant Belcore.

Opera

2017

Royal Opera House

The opera begins with the geisha Cio-Cio-San agreeing to marry an American naval officer, B.F. Pinkerton. For her, it is a marriage of love, but Pinkerton intends it to be a temporary arrangement while he's stationed in Japan.

Madama Butterfly is one of the best loved and most performed operas, and this exceptionally fine cast and production are stunning.

Opera

2015

The Royal Opera House

Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier is based loosely on the life of the French poet Andrea Chénier, who was executed on the orders of Robespierre for his satirical poems about the French Revolution.

Andrea Chénier
An historical opera in four acts
Composer: Umberto Giordano (1867 - 1948)
Libretto: Luigi Illica (1857 - 1919)
First performance of the opera: March 28, 1896 at La Scala, Milan
Synopsis: Synopsis

Cast and Creative Team:

Jonas Kauffmann, Andrea Chénier
Eva-Maria Westbroek, Maddalena di Coigny
Željko Lučić, Carlo Gérard

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Antonio Pappano, Conductor
The Royal Opera Chorus

David McVicar, Director

Opera

2013

The Metropolitan Opera House

Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff is the last of his 26 operas and one of his only two comedies. This joint production of The Metropolitan Opera, The Royal Opera, The Canadian Opera Company and the Dutch National Opera features visually arresting sets evoking the 1950s and the perfect casting of Ambrogio Maestri, who is 6'5", as the larger-than-life Sir John Falstaff (a.k.a. the fat knight).

Falstaff
A comic opera in three acts, based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)
Libretto: Arrigo Boito (1842-1918)
First performance of the opera: February 9, 1893 at La Scala, Milan
Synopsis: Synopsis

Cast and Creative Team:

Ambrogio Maestri, Sir John Falstaff
Franco Vassallo, Ford
Angela Meade , Mrs. Alice Ford
Lisette Oropesa, Nannetta
Jennifer Johnson Cano, Mrs. Meg Page
Stephanie Blythe, Mistress Quickly

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
James Levine, conductor

The Metropolitan Opera Chorus

Robert Carsen, Director/Producer

Opera

2019

The Royal Opera House

Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata is one of the most popular operas in the repertoire, and this is one of the finest recordings ever made of a live performance. The Express described it thus: “…as perfect a Traviata as anyone could hope for…” Please join us to see why.

La traviata, an opera in three acts
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Libretto: Francesco Maria Piave (1810-1876)
First performance: Teatro La Fenice, Venice on March 6, 1853
Synopsis

This performance was recorded live at The Royal Opera House, London, in 2019.

Cast and creative team:

Ermonela Jaho (Violetta Valéry)
Charles Castronovo (Alfredo Germont)
Plácido Domingo (Giorgio Germont)

Orchestra of The Royal Opera House
Antonello Manacorda, conductor

Royal Opera Chorus

Richard Eyre Director/Producer

Opera

2006

The Royal Opera House

The 2019/20 Hammock Dunes Club Opera Season will test drive an innovation: splitting the screening of a longer opera over two months, so that we can see an opera which is too long for our normal format of two and a half hours on one night. We'll be trying this with the 2006 Royal Opera production of The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) in January and February 2020 for a couple of reasons: most Club members are in residence those two months, and this performance definitely deserves to be seen. The BBC pointed to "…so accomplished a cast, in which Gerald Finley's Count, Miah Persson's Susanna and Rinat Shaham's Cherubino stand out as ideal."

The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro)
A comic opera in four acts
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838)
First performance: Burgtheater, Vienna on May 1, 1786
Synopsis

Recorded live at The Royal Opera House, February, 2006

Cast and Creative Team:

Erwin Schrott (Figaro)
Miah Persson (Susanna)
Gerald Finley (The Count)
Dorothea Röschmann (The Countess)
Rinat Shaham (Cherubino)

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Antonio Pappano, conductor

David McVicar, Director/Producer

Opera

2006

The Royal Opera House

The 2019/20 Hammock Dunes Club Opera Season will test drive an innovation: splitting the screening of a longer opera over two months, so that we can see an opera which is too long for our normal format of two and a half hours on one night. We'll be trying this with the 2006 Royal Opera production of The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) in January and February 2020 for a couple of reasons: most Club members are in residence those two months, and this performance definitely deserves to be seen. The BBC pointed to "…so accomplished a cast, in which Gerald Finley's Count, Miah Persson's Susanna and Rinat Shaham's Cherubino stand out as ideal."

The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro)
A comic opera in four acts
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838)
First performance: Burgtheater, Vienna on May 1, 1786
Synopsis

Recorded live at The Royal Opera House, February, 2006

Cast and Creative Team:

Erwin Schrott (Figaro)
Miah Persson (Susanna)
Gerald Finley (The Count)
Dorothea Röschmann (The Countess)
Rinat Shaham (Cherubino)

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Antonio Pappano, conductor

David McVicar, Director/Producer

Opera

2011

The Metropolitan Opera House

Bel canto is all about the beauty of the singing, or, as Willi Apel defined it in the Harvard Dictionary of Music, bel canto is "the Italian vocal technique of the 18th century, with its emphasis on beauty of sound and brilliancy of performance." This 2011 production from The Metropolitan Opera is musical beauty cubed, since its lead singers, Juan Diego Flórez, Diana Damrau, and Joyce DiDonato, are three of greatest bel canto stars of our, or any other, time. Most experts believe Le comte Ory isn't performed more, because it is so fiendishly difficult for the singers, but the three leads make it look and sound positively easy.

Le comte Ory
A comic opera in two acts
Composer: Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Libretto: Eugène Scribe (1791-1861) and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson (1790-1859)
First performance: Opéra de Paris on August 29, 1828
Synopsis

This performance was recorded live at The Metropolitan Opera on April 9, 2011

Cast and Creative Team:
June Diego Flórez, Le comte Ory
Diana Damrau, La comtesse Adèle
Joyce DiDonato, Isolier
Stéphane Dégoût, Raimbaud

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Maurizio Benini, conductor

Bartlett Sher, director/producer

Opera

2017

The Royal Opera House

There is no question that Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème is one of the best loved operas in the musical canon, but there were many questions when the Royal Opera House decided to retire John Copley's beloved production after 41 years. Fortunately, Richard Jones answered them all positively, in collaboration with the conductor, Antonio Pappano, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, and a wonderful cast. But we should probably say casts, because in the short time since this production's debut on September 11, 2017, an incredible seven casts have filled the Royal Opera House, including the original cast, which made this recording live on September 25, September 29, and October 3, 2017.

La bohème, an opera in four acts
Music: Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa (1847-1906) and Luigi Illica (1857-1919)
First performance: Teatro Regio, Turin on February 1, 1896
Synopsis


Cast and creatives:

Michael Fabiano (Rudolfo)
Nicole Car (Mimì)
Mariusz Kwiecień (Marcello)
Simona Mihai (Musetta)
Florian Sempey (Schaunard)
Luca Tittolo (Colline)
Jeremy White (Benoît)

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Antonio Pappano, Director

The Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Director/Producer: Richard Jones

Opera

2007

The Royal Opera House

Gaetano Donizetti's comic opera, La Fille du régiment was first performed on February 11, 1840. This production, directed by Laurent Pelly, was first performed on January 11, 2007 at the Royal Opera House in London, but has also been performed at the co-producers: the Metropolitan Opera and the Wiener Staatsoper.

Synopsis

The most famous aria in the opera is "Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!" for which Donizetti wrote 8 high Cs, and many tenors add a ninth, unwritten one! Aria Code, the critically-acclaimed podcast devoted an episode to Ah! mes Amis.

La Fille du régiment
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto: Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François-Alfred Bayard

This performance was recorded live at the Royal Opera House in January 2007.

Performers and creative team:

Natalie Dessay (Marie)
Juan Diego Flórez (Tonio)
Felicity Palmer (La Marquise de Berkenfeld)
Alessandro Corbelli (Sulpice Pingot)
Dawn French (La Duchesse de Crackentorp)
Bryan Secombe (Un caporal)
Luke Price (Un paysan)
Jean-Pierre Blanchard (Un notaire)

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Bruno Campanella, Conductor

The Royal Opera House Chorus

Laurent Pelly (Director/Producer and Costume Designs)
Chantal Thomas (Set Designs)
Joël Adam (Lighting Designer)
Laura Scozzi (Choreography)

Opera

2017

Festival Arena di Verona

Giuseppe Verdi himself observed that Nabucco is "the opera with which my artistic career really begins."

The libretto relates the tragic story of the Jews at the hands of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (Nabucco, in Italian), and Arnaud Bernard's outdoor production in the Arena di Verona reveals the timelessness of the opera by drawing parallels with the insurrection of 1848 in Milan.

Unusually, the best known piece from the opera is not an aria, but the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves: "Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate" / "Fly, thought, on golden wings"

Nabucco, an opera in four acts
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto: Temistocle Solera (based on an 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornu and the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Daniel)
Synopsis
First performance: March 9, 1842 at La Scala
This production was filmed in August 2017 at the Festival Arena di Verona.

Cast and creative team:

George Gagnidze (Nabucco)
Rubens Pelizzari (Ismaele)
Rafał Siwek (Zaccaria)
Susanna Branchini (Abigaille)
Nino Surguladze (Fenena)
Nicolò Ceriani (Il Gran Sacerdote di Belo)
Paolo Antognetti (Abdallo)
Elena Borin (Anna)

Arena di Verona Orchestra, Chorus and Technical Team
Daniel Oren, conductor

Arnaud Bernard, Director/Producer and Costume Designer
Alessandro Camera, Set Designer

Opera

2013

Glyndebourne Festival

One of the great comic operas, Donizetti's Don Pasquale is hugely entertaining, but Mariame Clément's production for the 2013 Glyndebourne Festival plumbs the complexity of the characters in a way that moves us, too.

Don Pasquale
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto: Giovanni Ruffini
First performance: January 3, 1843 at the Théâtre-Italien, Paris
Synopsis: Wikipedia

This performance was recorded live at the Glyndebourne Opera House on August 6, 2013

Cast and Creative Team:

Alessandro Corbelli (Don Pasquale)
Nikolay Borchev (Dr. Malatesta)
Alek Shrader (Ernesto)
Danielle de Niese (Norina)
James Platt (A Notary)
Anna-Marie Sullivan (Servant)

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Enrique Mazzola, conductor

The Glyndebourne Chorus

Mariame Clément, Director/Producer

Opera

2007

Salzburger Festspiele

Recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele, August 9-10, 2007

Federico Chueca (1846 - 1908): Preludio to El bateo

Federico Moreno Torroba (1891 - 1982): “Amor, vida de mi vida” from La maravilla (Domingo)

Pablo Luna Carné (1879 - 1942): “De España vengo” from El niño judío (Martínez)

Federico Moreno Torroba: “Tienes razón, amigo” from La chulapona (Domingo)

Anonymous: La Petenera: “Tres horas antes del día” from La marchenera (Martínez)

Manuel de Falla (1816 – 1946): Danza ritual del fuego from El amor brujo

Federico Moreno Torroba:“¡Callate, corazón!” from Luisa Fernanda (Martínez, Domingo)

Jose Serrano (1913 - 1941): Romanza: “¿Qué te importa que no venga?” from Los claveles (Martínez)

Reveriano Soutullo Otero (1884 - 1932): “Quiero desterrar de tu pecho el temor” from La del Soto del Parral (Domingo)

Intermission

Jeronimo Gimenez Bellido (1854 - 1923): Interludio from La boda de Luis Alonso, o La noche del encierro

Manuel Penella (1880 - 1939): Habanera Duet: (Todas las mañanitas” from Don Gil de Alcalá (Martínez, Domingo)

Pablo Sorazábal (1897 – 1988): “En un país de fábula” from La tabernera del Puerto (Martínez)

Federico Moreno Torraba: “Luché la fe por el triunfo” from Luisa Fernanda (Domingo)

Manuel de Falla: Jota from El sombrero de tres picos

José Serrano: “Junto al puente de la peña” from La canción de olvido (Domingo)

Ruperto Chapí (1851 - 1909): Las carceleras: “Al pensar en el dueño de mis amores” from Las hijas del Zebedeo (Martínez)

Federico Moreno Torraba: “En mi tierra extremeña” from Luisa Fernanda (Martínez, Domingo)

Encores

Pablo Sorozábal: “No puede ser” from La tabernera del puerto (Domingo)

Ernesto Lecuona (1896 - 1963): “Mulata infeliz, tu vida acabó” from María la O (Martínez)

Manuel Penella: “¡Soleá!” – “¿Me llamabas, Rafaeliyo?” from El gato montés (Domingo, Martínez)

Franz Léhar (1870 - 1948): “Lippen schweigen” from Die lustige Witwe (Domingo, Martínez)

Concert