Eine Wagner-Film Komplimente des Metropolitan Oper

For more information about locations to catch the film, as well as the story about the making of the piece, click here.

BAM Turns Orchestra Pit Into Swimming Pool For Stravinsky

Originally a Canadian Opera production, the set allows singers to be submerged. (Photo: Michael Cooper)

"If the director is Robert Lepage, he'll flood the orchestra pit with 12,000 gallons of water and send his performers wading in waist deep. For The Nightingale and Other Short Fables, opening tomorrow at BAM, Lepage's production company has installed what looks like an above-ground swimming pool inside the Howard Gilman Opera House. The notion of performing half-submerged is nothing new -- in fact, Lepage says, it's based on the art of Vietnamese water puppetry. The Canadian director and his designer, Michael Curry (The Lion King), studied the 1,000-year-old craft while devising the staging for this tale of a Chinese emperor and his pet songbird, based on the Hans Christian Andersen story." [Source] As previously mentioned, the production will feature Simone Osborne.

Lorin Maazel Bids Adiós To Spain With "1984"

Preparations are under way in Valencia for the El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía production of Lorin Maazel's 1984. The performances mark the final concerts for the maestro whose contract ends this season. The opera was originally commissioned by August Everding at the Bavarian State Opera in 1999. Unfortunately he passed away and the premiere of the work was delayed until 2005 when it opened at the Royal Opera House - Covent Garden. The opera was revived in 2008 for La Scala in Milan and is available on DVD from Decca. Based on George Orwell's Nineteen Eight-Four, the

Maestro (and Composer) Maazel

opera libretto is by J.D. McClatchy and Thomas Meehan. The production is directed by Robert Lepage. Opening night will be February 23 with additional performances on March 1, 4 and 6. Complete cast list is after the jump. [Source, Source, Source]

Robert Lapage Discusses His Stage Craft

(Photo: Julie Perreault)

Q: How do you fit opera into that? Is opera more challenging?

A: Opera disciplines me, dramaturgically. The fact that I’ve now abandoned any attempt at staging a text that I’ve already written, and am just concentrating on writing stuff for developing or improvising, and opera’s exactly the opposite of doing that kind of creation.

53-year old stage director Robert Lapage sits down for an interview to discuss his work with plays, dance, opera and the circus. The article hearkens back to the days of his early success with The Dragon’s Trilogy in 1985 through his recent production of Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera in the fall of 2010. One of the great joys in the conversation is his collaboration with ballet star  Sylvie Guillem and choreographer Russell Maliphant in his Kabuki-inspired production Eonnagata for which Lepage was also a performer. [Source]

A video of Eonnagata is after the jump.