This May 2010 production of Massenet's 1910 opera "Don Quichotte" marked the opera's centenary and also Jose Van Dam's operatic farewell at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels. It is beautiful in every way--vocally, scenically, sonically, and visually--and a worthy record of Van Dam's farewell. Van Dam is just shy of 70 in this production, but you would never guess it from his singing or stage movements--a consummate artist. His is a noble portrayal and deeply moving. The Act V death scene is a model of beautiful singing and acting.
Ghiaurov, Freni, and Bumbry were great voices in their time, and they are still effective here -- good enough musicians to put over the quite heavy vocal and expressive demands of their roles.
It truly is an historic performance. Domingo looking and singing like a god pouring out golden tones; Renato Bruson sounds, like the sublime Verdian Baritone that he was at that time; Nicolai Ghiaurov proves again that he was one of the greatest "Verdi Basses"; Mirella Freni shows that there was more to her than just being Mimi and Susannah-in fact I can remember reading that at the time of the premiere of this production that there were fist fights (not unusual in La Scala's gallery) between Mirella's many fans--between those fans that just wanting her to continue singing the light lyric repertoire that they were use to her singing and those that felt she should and could sing the lyric-spinto repertoire which, of course, she proved that,indeed, she could (She's still singing more than twenty years later).
The season kicks off with Boitos resplendent retelling of Goethes Faust, a monumental work of 'choral grandeur and melodic richness' (The New York Times) in one of the most impressive productions ever seen at the War Memorial Opera House.
For those with any interest in Vivaldi's operas Orlando Furioso is essential viewing, being a 1989 San Francisco Opera revival by Pier Luigi Pizzi of his own 1979 production which was largely responsible for beginning modern interest in Vivaldi's stage work.
More movie trailers, teasers, and clips from Don Quichotte:
(K)ein Tag wie jeder andere - Don Quichotte feiert Geburtstag - Trailer
Es ist der 70. Geburtstag des Don Quichotte. Sancho Panza hat ein großes Fest organisiert. Die letzten Vorbereitungen werden getroffen. Dann kommen die ...
DON QUICHOTTE - Le Bolchoï au cinéma (Bande-annonce)
Partez à l'aventure avec DON QUICHOTTE en direct du Ballet du Bolchoï dans les cinémas dimanche 10 avril à 17h ! *Infos et réservations ...
Popular movie trailers from 2010
These some of the most viewed trailers for movies released in 2010:
Aimee Dent had to grow up fast. She is raising her little brother all on her own. But her life is changed forever when she meets a teenage boy who gives her a taste of what it's like to be a kid again.
When Juli meets Bryce in the second grade, she knows it's true love. After spending six years trying to convince Bryce the same, she's ready to give up - until he starts to reconsider.
A hotel room in the center of Rome serves as the setting for Alba and Natasha, two sexy and recently acquainted women, to have a physical adventure that touches their very souls.
The film follows five senior athletes along their biggest challenge - maturity. As all of them are between 80 and 100 years old it is a race against time and personal degeneration.
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark faces pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military.
In 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg begins work on a new concept that eventually turns into the global social network known as Facebook.
Feisty teenager Rapunzel, who has long and magical hair, wants to go and see sky lanterns on her eighteenth birthday, but she's bound to a tower by her overprotective mother.
Comments
Have you watched Don Quichotte yet? What did you think about it?
