^^^ WOW, our 1000th post

With regard to Sky Arts 2, I don't know the answer but Sky Arts was the only thing I missed when I dropped sky so if they are cutting back on the Arts then it looks even more like I made the right choice!

Just watching Cardiff Singer on BBC FOUR. I have to say that no one has set me alight in part 3.

Hopefully we'll pick up the feed from this ROH performance:

Guillaume Tell

5 July 2015

Just realised I'll be away...

Booing at a nude scene, I understand... well, well.

Best avoided by all accounts...lousy production anyway.

BP Big Screen of Don Giovanni today 3rd July. Whether there are any feeds available we have yet to find out!

Regards to all,

Next Saturday (11th) France 3 will be showing Carmen from the Choregies d'Orange, with Kate Aldrich and Jonas Kaufmann, almost live. I say 'almost' because the programme starts at 22:20 French time, and the performance will begin around 9:45. They usually do that so that they can fast-forward past the interval, and also have the chance to substitute some or all of the recording from the previous Wednesday if the weather shortens or cancels the performance. That might mean there could be some feeds around on Wednesday 8th as well.

Hopefully the weather will be OK on the 8th, since I'll be in the audience

William Tell showing up on THOR 0.8W at 11466 V

Later tonight, 23.50 to 03.10 BST on France 2, Handel's Ariodante recorded 14th July 2014 - I think it's the Aix-en-Provence one.

Today, Fri 10th on Arte, Alcina, 20.45 - 00.00. Billed as being "almost live" from Aix-en-Provence.

Well, we really enjoyed the evening, but unfortunately the mistral picked that evening to rise, it stayed dry & bright, but was windy, and cold by the end. Kaufmann was fantastic, but I was a little disappointed by Kate Aldritch's Carmen. She had trouble singing against the wind, unless she was facing us she lacked volume, especially in the lower notes. The staging was interesting, not very Spanish - all based on a giant pack of cards. I think I've seen better.

I haven't watched the recording of Saturday's performance yet, to see how the mistral-free evening went.

Thanks for the various early warnings of events. Aix: I caught a bit of Alcina which was great. I also found a feed of Midsummer Nights Dream (Britten) with my neighbours Trinity Boys Choir. Now then, Carmen... er, I didn't like it. I didn't feel it was how I expect Carman to be; didn't like the playing card sets; etc - so I lost interest.
I hope I'm not teaching granny to suck eggs, but I found this website (new to me):

http://fomalhaut.over-blog.org/2015/...t-musique.html

which lists a great deal of future broadcast music, much of it interesting.
For anyone with wider definitions of opera, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is listed on FR3 at 0030 on 2nd August.

Thanks, that website is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Did you notice "Le Concert de Paris" tonight (14th) on France 2 19.56 - 22.40 BST? Performers include DiDonato and Terfel.

The concert is followed by Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and then from 01.15 - 03.25 there's a 2011 "La Traviata" from Venice.

Yes, thanks. Enjoyed the fireworks too! Just recording the Dream then off to bed and will let Traviata look after itself. Hard disks are great. Menu on my box shows "Eng" as a subtitle option but only French showing up on screen. Domage.

I noticed the English subtitles option that didn't work too!

I put a lot of the programmes onto DVDs that I pass on for friends to enjoy. I've evolved a set up in my bedroom (where the "old" kit from my main television goes when I upgrade), so that I can record directly onto the DVD recorder's HDD. Saves a lot of downloading from one HDD to another. (Can't imagine why my friends call me a "gadget person"!)

You're not alone, the director didn't get an especially warm reception, and I noticed that the final bows were very truncated for the TV broadcast. There was certainly very little that was Spanish about the set, he seemed to have based it all around that one scene where the women are telling fortunes with the Tarot cards.

I've seen better operas at Orange (Aida, Hoffmann), but still, we did enjoy Jonas Kaufmann's performance.

Glad you enjoyed him. Marginally better atmosphere than a sofa in Croydon, I bet.

8000 more people, but the sofa with a glass of wine wouldn't have been too bad, I imagine. I just had water.

Odeonplus has now been re-named as Odeon event cinema

www.odeon.co.uk/eventcinema

and now lists all the currently booked 'events', operas, plays ballet,concerts etc for the coming months. Some good stuff to look forward to!
The Met season starts on Oct 3 with Il Trovatore.

https://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/

Fingers crossed Hvorostovsky will make a full recovery and be able to take his place in "Il Trovatore". I just heard yesterday that he's been diagnosed with a brain tumour.

That is terrible news. I am sure we all wish him a full and speedy recovery. All the very best Dmitri !

Carmen from the Orange Festival on 3Sat tonight at 7.15pm with Jonas Kaufmann!

Thanks for the heads up, that'll be great news for anyone who can't get Atlantic Bird and missed out when it was on France 3.

I'm sitting here thrilled to bits at the moment as I went online when the general booking opened at the Munich Opera this morning and managed to get a front row stalls seat (albeit well off to the side) for "Madama Butterfly" in September. I'll get to hear Joseph Calleja live!! As someone who virtually vanishes when she sits down, the thought of having a clear view is also exciting. It rarely happens.

La Boheme

19E
NDR
Klassik Open Air

Tonight (18-7-15),9.15PM (BST)

I see that Dmitri has opted for treatment in London and is currently being assessed at the Royal Marsden Hospital

He seems to be taking a very positive attitude, according to his website he's only cancelled performances for August so far.

Changing the subject, if anyone's interested, the Gala Opera Concert at Hannover, which took place the evening before "La Bohème is now online here.

https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/Zauberh...rngala128.html

Quite a bit coming up. All times are BST

On Arte

Later tonight La Clemenza di Tito 23.35 - 0200 Apparently it's a French production from 2014.

21st July Patricia Petibon (a French singer) singing Baroque 04.00 - 04.45

On 3Sat

24th July Turandot 20.15 - 22.40 (Live from Bregenz)

25th July Die Csardasfürstin 09.55 - 11.30 A film from 1951, not the one with Netrebko!

25th July Der Rosenkavalier 19.15 - 22.55 (From last year's Salzburg Festival.)