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Today's Guardian reports - 'The whirlwind romance of French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni is set to reach the operatic stage. The highlight of English National Opera's 2009/10 season is the newly commissioned A Dangerous Liaison with a libretto based on the French best-selling book Carla and Nicolas: Chronicle Of A Dangerous Liaison by Chris Laffaille and Paul-Eric Blanrue and music by Damon Albarn.
Singing the lead roles in the production scheduled to open in September 2009 are Michael Ball and Charlotte Church. The new opera is a joint production with the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and New York City Opera and will also be broadcast on BBC4 TV. ENO chief executive Loretta Tomasi said "This exciting new opera follows on from our critically acclaimed productions of Kismet and Aida and underlines our commitment to engage with new audiences".'
Read more about Carla Bruni's musical connections here
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In June last year contributor Antoine Leboyer wrote here about the trivialisation of music at Paris' venerable Théâtre du Châtelet with these prophetic words - 'There are no real operas save, perhaps, a rarity by Roussel which looks more like a vehicle for Bollywood director Sanjay Bhansali. Maybe this reflects the new director’s vision for classical music, but, for Parisian audiences, Le Châtelet is becoming the temple of crossover and mass-market entertainment'.
Andrew Clements' review of the Roussel rarity, Padmâvatî, in today's Guardian confirms that Antoine's prediction was spot on - 'A director of real flair and imagination might breathe life into the piece. But the Châtelet production has been handed over to an all-Indian team led by Mumbai film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who has simply come up with a series of inert tableaux, to which some coarse acting and risible choreography adds nothing at all. It is just Bollywood camp, and even the on-stage presence of a horse, an elephant and a young tiger (the python promised in the cast list sadly did not materialise) as well as some very dodgy moustaches is not enough compensation'.
Now read about Aida with no clothes.
Image credit AFP - Miguel Medina. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'Mark Weil (left), who has died aged 55 after being stabbed on his way home from a rehearsal, was the founder and director of the first independent theatre in the Soviet Union - the Ilkhom, in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. To this day, the Ilkhom remains the only venue for original, uncensored drama in a country where freedom of expression is severely limited. An extraordinary man, he created an artistic space in which people could ask questions and explore their experience...
Mark was attacked on his way home from the dress rehearsal of Aeschylus's tragedy, the Oresteia. It was to have been a triumphal start of a new season, in the bleakest times, and he was thrilled by the production and its exploration of revenge and the rule of law. He is survived by his wife Tatyana and daughters, Julia and Aleksandra. His death has not been reported in Uzbekistan.'
From the obituary in today's Guardian.
The Ilkhom website says:
Master Mark Weil died around 2:00 am on September 7, 2007.
His last words were: «I'm opening a new season tomorrow, no matter what happens…»
Photo credit Tempsreel. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
The new circus opera Monkey: Journey to the West, with music by Damon Albarn, gets a good review in today's Observer. The review is headed opera, but the reviewer is the paper's pop music critic, Kitty Empire. After its Manchester premiere the production moves to Le Châtelet in Paris, where Antoine Leboyer recently lamented the virtual disappearance of classical music. We live in interesting times...
Good that the Observer sent an open minded critic to Manchester, shame the Guardian wasn't that smart at Aldeburgh .
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As France moves into Nicolas Sarkozy's new Presidency here is an exclusive report from Paris by Antoine Leboyer on the worrying changes at a historic music venue:
If we are to be offended by the appearance of West End star Michael Ball for one evening at the BBC Proms, what should we say about the virtual disappearance of classical music from Paris’ historic Le Châtelet? Built in the second half of the 19th century, Le Châtelet used to be a venue that presented all types of music, from operas, ballet, and operettas to classical music concerts. Mahler conducted there and the theatre hosted several seasons of the Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes.
Le Châtelet then focused on light music and operettas until the 1980s when the City of Paris administration ran it as a “competitor” to the Paris Opera. The theatre was run by Stéphane Lissner before he moved to the Aix Festival, the Wiener Festwochen and then La Scala, and by Jean-Pierre Brossman after his time at the Lyon Opera. Very quickly, thanks to these directors, Le Châtelet became internationally recognised as a place of excellence.
Long-lasting relations with ensembles, orchestras, conductors, directors and soloists were established. Le Châtelet was the place where John Eliot Gardiner came every year to perform Mozart, Gluck, Verdi, and he found ideal working conditions there for his complete Berlioz Troyens (header image). For this occasion, national TV even broadcast live a Sunday performance. Ensembles like the Philharmonia Orchestra held long residencies, and performed concerts while still having the time to rehearse operas. This allowed Christoph von Dohnányi to stage many ambitious Strauss works. The Peter Sellars – Kent Nagano team came to premiere works by John Adams (El Nino above) and Kaija Saariaho (L'Amour de loin below), and foreign opera houses including the Berlin Staatsoper under Barenboim and the Kirov under Gergiev stayed for long residencies.
More importantly for French audiences, Le Châtelet became a showcase for regional opera houses from Lyon, Toulouse and other cities to present their best works each year. The programmes had classical music at their core, but found space for other genres.
Everything from Baroque to wonderful Offenbach operettas was given equal prominence, and the team of Marc Minkowsi and Laurent Pelly did wonders for the "Mozart des Champs-Elysées" (which to the French means Offenbach - his La Grand-Duchesse de Gérolstein is below). Jazz and non-classical singers were also invited, and, between operas, the hall was used for recitals and orchestral concerts.
Many halls offer cheap seats but these are often are of poor quality. Le Châtelet offered a wide range of ticket prices, and although the affordable seats were high up they offered satisfactory sound and sight-lines. The theatre became the most egalitarian venue for classical music in Paris, attracting audiences of all ages and from all backgrounds that would not have came to the more elitist Salle Pleyel and Theatre des Champs-Elysées.
All of this has gone. Le Châtelet is now in the second year under a new director, Jean-Luc Choplin, who is repositioning the theatre as a venue for light entertainment. To everyone’s surprise, his main production last year was Francis Lopez’s musical the Singer of Mexico, an insipid outdated operetta. Core programmes (not counting the two seasons of “Sunday Morning concerts” and the “Piano 4 étoiles” series which are hosted by, but not run by, Le Châtelet) included some classical music with Renée Fleming in Thais, a new work from French composer Pascal Dusapin and a staged Bach Passion with Emmanuelle Haïm and Robert Wilson. Given the need to book artists long in advance, it is safe to assume that these performances were planned by Brossman before he left. Orchestral concerts and recitals were almost non-existent, and, for the first time, amplification was used for non-operatic productions.
Many regular patrons were surprised, and assumed that the programmes were due to the transition of management. Choplin however made some controversial statements which seemed to reflect his personal tastes, praising the patience of French audiences who had to contend with “Germanic-like directors, and productions overburdened with meaning”. (For the interview in French follow this link.)
The 2007-8 season leaves no doubt about the future. Le Châtelet will now major one musicals with West Side Story being performed no less than 50 times, and there will be a Zarzuela and popular works from China and Africa. It is no longer Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler being played at orchestral concerts, but film music from Lord of the Rings. A few singers such as Felicity Lott and Simon Keenlyside are listed next to crooners who made their careers in the 70s.
There are no real operas save, perhaps, a rarity by Roussel which looks more like a vehicle for Bollywood director Sanjay Bhansali. Maybe this reflects the new director’s vision for classical music, but, for Parisian audiences, Le Châtelet is becoming the temple of crossover and mass-market entertainment. For years, the theatre’s directors held an open conference to present the forthcoming season. In keeping with his management style Choplin has decided to stop this tradition.
There is nothing basically wrong with performing popular works, and there must be room for all tastes. Where Parisian concert-goers are taking issue however, is that the music Le Châtelet is focussing on is already being performed at many other venues in Paris, as well as on mainstream TV, whereas classical music is having to fight for its existence. Le Châtelet was the venue where audiences went to enjoy quality classical music like the production of Korngold's Die tote Stadt below. But sadly that is no longer the case.
Now read Antoine Leboyer on French orchestras
Production shots from Le Châtelet, most by M.N. Roberts who does such an excellent job of documenting the house's fine productions, in descending order are Berlioz Les Troyens, John Adams' El Nino, Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de loin, Offenbach's La Grand-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Schoenberg's Erwartung , and Erich Korngold's Die tote Stadt . Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
My article reporting Claudio Abbado’s negative views on French orchestras certainly generated a lot of attention, including a response from Parisian Antoine Leboyer which corrected the myth that Abbado hadn’t actually conducted a French orchestra. Too much attention is given to British and American orchestras here On An Overgrown Path and elsewhere, and I was delighted when Antoine offered to give an inside view on the musical health of the French capital. So here is a guest blog from Paris with the truth about those French orchestras that Claudio Abbado and Daniel Harding love to hate:
Let us put things in perspective with a few words on French orchestras. Abbado may not have had the best of experiences, and he may still not find it perfect today but things are improving. Paris has many orchestras (I do not know those outside Paris well, and cannot comment on them; I do have regards for the Lyon Orchestra which played some great concerts when David Robertson was their music director):
Paris has a number of orchestras. The best known are L’Orchestre de Paris whose music director Christoph Eschenbach (below) also conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra, 
and L’Orchestre National de Radio-France whose music director Kurt Masur also works with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. There is also the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France whose music director Myung Whun Chung used to conduct the San Cecilia in Rome (I assume you can see the pattern there ...), and L’Orchestre de l'Opéra de Paris. The opera orchestra has had no music director since Hughes Gall retired as the Opéra's General Director and Gerard Mortier took over. James Conlon was music director and has not been replaced, more about this later.
Then, you have the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Paris's ECO, their music director is John Nelson, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, music director Susanna Malkki (yes, French orchestras can be conducted by a woman). Also there are venerable teams such as the Orchestre Colonne or Orchestre Lamoureux which I am sorry to describe as Saturday afternoon orchestras.
As a rule, French musicians are better as individuals than ensemble, largely because there is no school tradition in the strings section in the way that you have in say the German speaking countries. This means strings playing is often very sloppy (to be fair, I have the same concerns with English orchestras), and orchestral playing lack distinctive color (unlike German, Austrian, Russian, Dutch and most American orchestras). The French are individualists this is part of the culture, as confirmed by Richter's comments on the Paris Orchestra in Monsaingeon's book. But some outstanding musicians do still come out of French music schools, conductors and instrumentalists.
But to make things more difficult, no very difficult, Paris lacks the good concert halls which are so important to create good ensemble. At the time Abbado conducted the Orchestre de Paris, they were playing in the Palais des Congres. This hall is now used by musicals like Cats, and fortissimi were near impossible. The orchestra then moved to Salle Pleyel which has better acoustics although it is a noisy hall with many limitations. The Salle Pleyel turned private as part of the Credit Lyonnais Financial debacle. The owners had a disagreement with their resident orchestras (I do not have the details), and the hall was closed for repairs and will reopen this season. All Parisian music lovers are anxiously waiting to hear how the new Hall will sound. From a musical standpoint, the number one problem with the acoustics at Pleyel is that the strings are often drowned by the winds. In these conditions how can balance be achieved and Orchestra learn to improve their sounds ? The Orchestre de Paris has played for the last years in the gloomy Théatre Mogador, better known for Elvis musicals (again), and they rehearse in another one. I went to hear Boulez conducts a Janacek program there and the hall acoustics just could not handle it. The players' patience is just miraculous and they have my full sympathy. In a good hall and with a conductor they like, they can have genuine moments of greatness.
There are three other halls. One is the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, known as the place where Stravinsky's Rite was created. It has been refurnished from memory around ‘88 and has lost much of its reverberation. I remember a Vienna Philharmonic concert where James Levine stepped in at the last minute to replace Carlo Maria Giulini. They had not rehearsed in the hall because of the changes and often the mighty Viennese strings were short of bow. This hall is where the French National Radio play their best I think. 
Another one is the Théatre du Chatelet, which is a great place. But there are two problems for orchestras. First the hall has a strong focus on Operas and Ballets so there are few slots for Orchestras. Secondly JL Brossman, who was the manager has retired, and he has been replaced by a new administrator who has lost the whole concert season to Pleyel. The last hall is the Cité de la Musique, which has Boulez's support, and is a really good although small venue. But the real difficulty is that it is at the periphery of Paris and going there is a journey - Boulez (above) once arrived late because of bad traffic! There are talks of building a new large concert hall there; I will believe it when I see it ...
Unfortunately the Paris Opéra is another major problem. The state of the place after the Liebermann era was a disaster (administrators came and go; strikes were the norm, no music director, ...). Volumes have been written on the Bastille and government's mismanagement and fussy interventionism (people forgot that Barenboim was ready to become their musical director; the government appointed administrator did not wanted to relinquish artistic decisions to Barenboim and got him sacked; Yes, French bureaucrats fired a conductor who right after was signed up in Chicago and Berlin and who could become the first conductor to receive a Nobel Peace Prize ... ) At the time the joke was that the difference between the Titanic and the Paris Opéra was that there was an orchestra on board of the Titanic ...
The Bastille is a hall that allows for several productions to be staged and rehearsed simultaneously, unlike the old Palais Garnier. The previous management of Gall and Conlon deserves high praise for rebuilding what was an artistic and money-losing wreck into a strong Opera House with good versatile programs and strong productions. The new administator Gérard Mortier has recognised the good work of the previous team, and has made two major changes. He has not appointed one music director but has asked his friends to come regularly, "friends" being Gergiev, Salonen, Nagano, Dohnanhyi and Cambreling, and he has made some acoustic changes to the Hall (which is too big) and in particular has raised the orchestra pit so that better balance could be achieved. The bass-cellos section, which could be simply inaudible, is now better balanced. So far, the results show significant progress and hope.
At the time Abbado conducted French orchestras the situation was not good. There were frequent strikes among musicians, and the concert halls were terrible. The situation is now more stable, genuine progress is taking place now although it is yet an unfinished journey. What I would like to see is a long term strategy to give French Orchestras a stable working environment by. 
This would mean having long-term contracts between orchestras and halls where they can play and rehearse. Young conductors would be encouraged to stay for the long-term and build ensemble playing. If the French really want to develop French conductors there is a great generation of conductors in their forties who are doing great things outside France. I know several of them who have families and would like a stable place where they could raise their kids. They include Pascal Rophé who is taking over the Orchestra in Liege, and Philippe Auguin, who was an assistant to Karajan and Solti and who conducts regularly at the Met, Covent Garden and la Scala, not to mention the Louis Langrée and Bertrand de Billy (photo above) ... they are all so active outside of France. And, of course, we also need to ask the politicians not to interfere.Antoine Leboyer writes at Concertonet.com where he has just published a review in French of 'The Toughest Show on Earth', Joseph Volpe's account of his years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
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