To the Barbican yesterday to see Les Arts Florissants perform Dido and Aeneas in the Barbican Hall. The performance was based on a staged version, but we saw a reduced but no less impressive version with no sets and a simplified lighting plot.
I was lucky enough to attend the rehearsal before hand, where it was fascinating watching Christie and his performers fitting the performance to the new space. All were impressive both in rehearsal and in performance. It is always amazing to watch the transformation that comes over a cast between rehearsal and performance, the magic of live theatre. For musical director who seems to keep to a minimum what he does in a performance, Christie proved to be highly articulate and keenly aware of all the details which he required, from orchestral articulation through to lighting and the pronunciation of awkward English vowels.
My full review of the performance will appear in the next few days.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Hugo Wolf Goethe Lieder, part 1 ; Louise Alder, Fflur Wyn, Katarina Karneus, Rowan Hellier, Adrian Thompson, Roderick Williams, Neal Davie... -
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Ensemble OrQuesta at Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre (Photo: Julian Guidera) Mozart: Don Giovanni ; Marcio da Sil... -
Back in the late 1990s one of the origins for ideas for new musical works was the moment during mass when I tuned the homily out and my mind... -
Maurice Greene (1696 - 1755) is one of that generation of English composers who grew up in Handel's shadow. Handel, a composer who se... -
Ilona Domnich as Stella - Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann , English Touring Opera, © Richard Hubert Smith Offenbach The Tal... -
John Andrews at recording sessions for his disc of Sullivan songs When conductor John Andrews and I met up for a chat recently, it was the ... -
Elena Xanthoudakis, John-Colyn Gyeantey - Donizetti Pia de'Tolomei - English Touring Opera - photo Jane Hobson Donizetti Pia de... -
Jeffery Babb In music, as in many other subjects, an inspiring teacher can make the world of a difference to the way children, and adult... -
Opera North is taking its acclaimed concert staging of the Ring Cycle on tour in 2016 and will be performing two cycles in Leeds Town Hall... -
Handel: Serse - Paula Murrihy, Louise Alder - Academy of Ancient Music, the Barbican (Photo: Mark Allan) Handel: Serse; Paula Murrihy, Loui...
Hello! I work at the Barbican and was lucky enough to see this fantastic performance! I did not want it to end. Glad you also enjoyed it - I look forward to reading the rest of your review (once it is up - I'll add a link to it in our discussions section of our Barbican Classical Music facebook group if that is ok?)
ReplyDeleteMy full review is up on the Music and Vision web site here:-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2009/10/dido.htm