La bohème at the Royal Opera House

Recently went to see Puccini’s opera in London’s Covent Garden. 

Olga Kulchynska as Mimi, Stefan Pop as Rodolfo.

It was part of Richard Jones’s successful production.

I loved the performance and enjoyed the chemistry. Actors and actresses were excellent. Olga Kulchynska as Mimi, Stefan Pop as Rodolfo, Mikhail Timoshenko as Marcello and Simona Mihai as Musetta.

For me, Act 1 had its most beautiful introductory arias of Rodolfo and Mimi and their love duet.

For days afterwards, I’ve been listening to “Che gelida manina” & “O soave fanciulla” online. 

The passion and beauty goes straight to the heart.

What a blast.

✲✲✲

Rear entrance of the ROH.

Everyone taking their seats.

The main crew.

Tosca at Royal Opera House

I’ve just returned home from seeing Tosca at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. 

It was a wonderful cathartic opera, and it was terrific.

A thriller with a shock ending.

The first act of Tosca was the best act. Music incredible and it ended with so much tension. My hair was stood on end as the curtains closed. 

This opera is all about tension and than grief or lost love.

Natalya Romaniw, as Floria Tosca, performed exquisitely. Her singing of the “visse d’arte” aria was just divine. She poured out her heart in that performance, and made me feel like I was floating.

While SeokJong Baek - as Tosca’s idealistic painter, Cavaradossi - captures his protagonist’s despair and melancholy quite beautifully leading to the heart-wrenching climax in “e lucevan le stelle”. I love the fact that Baek feels every word he sings, giving the character a depth of emotion, was wonderful

A special shout-out to the Welsh baritone Sir Bryn Terfel. Outstanding singing and acting. His sudden appearance at the top of the steps gave me chills.

The music. Puccini reigns. Music was in my blood. What a composer. I was excited to read about Eun Sun Kim as the new conductor.

Rating: 5 ★★★★★

With my friend Karen during intermission. 😊

Covent Garden in the background.

La Traviata at the Royal Opera House

Went to see La Traviata on Monday evening with my darling at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden

I think I had seen Richard Eyre’s production last year. Not sure. But, in recent months, I've been binging on YouTube's version with Netrebko, Hampson and Villazon. 

Now, days later, I'm still humming the opening score, it's just so wonderful and heavenly. We were sat at the balcony lower slips just over the orchestra which was a perfect location to save money and also enjoy the music roaring beneath us. My favourite aria is "dite alla giovine" (and I've been listening to Hampson's rendition the past few weeks); so I was able to close my eyes and really feel transported.

The performances were quite memorable and stirring. Kristina Mkhitaryan was very moving with the emotional and physical anguish of Violetta, and her singing was stunning. Liparit Avetisyan as Alfredo was the sensitive soul whose anguish is also quite moving; and I found some of his interaction with Christoph Pohl (as Giorgio) a bit strained. It's hard to 'dislike' your father without infantilising the character at times and the acting can feel a bit contrived. Nevertheless, Christoph gives us some rich-voiced anguish and passion.

In the pit, conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson and the orchestra are excellent and keep the thumping momentum going, although at times, it did feel as though the singers were having to compete with the orchestra where the music was perhaps a bit too powerful.