Time, November 25, 2008: Difference between revisions
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Once again, the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris has given French opera critics a case of the vapors — but this time, two British new wave pop stars are at the center of the uproar. Since Jean-Luc Choplin became director in 2006, the historic opera house's repertoire of classic opera has increasingly taken a back seat to newer, bolder commissions in a bid to make the Chatelet stage a true crossroads for the arts. From a Bollywood-style remake of the 1923 opera-ballet Padmavati, to a stage mutation of the sci-fi horror film The Fly, the Chatelet has had opera purists hyperventilating as it seeks to tear down walls between genres. | Once again, the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris has given French opera critics a case of the vapors — but this time, two British new wave pop stars are at the center of the uproar. Since Jean-Luc Choplin became director in 2006, the historic opera house's repertoire of classic opera has increasingly taken a back seat to newer, bolder commissions in a bid to make the Chatelet stage a true crossroads for the arts. From a Bollywood-style remake of the 1923 opera-ballet Padmavati, to a stage mutation of the sci-fi horror film The Fly, the Chatelet has had opera purists hyperventilating as it seeks to tear down walls between genres. | ||
But perhaps the Chatelet's most ambitious and controversial gambit yet was to transform veteran rockers | But perhaps the Chatelet's most ambitious and controversial gambit yet was to transform veteran rockers Sting and Elvis Costello into opera stars... kind of. As Sting qualified it during a ''Time'' interview with the two musicians, "Well, no one is going to offer Elvis and I parts in Tosca, right?" Costello added, "Except 'Spear-Bearer' maybe." (See pictures of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2009 Nominees.) | ||
Indeed, the opera ''Welcome To The Voice'', which premiered Nov. 20, doesn't demand feats of coloratura of the pair. Rather, they lend their rock timbres to improbable duets with such brilliant sopranos as | Indeed, the opera ''Welcome To The Voice'', which premiered Nov. 20, doesn't demand feats of coloratura of the pair. Rather, they lend their rock timbres to improbable duets with such brilliant sopranos as Sylvia Schwartz to "hopefully make harmony," as Sting says. | ||
The work is the fruit of a genuine romance between the opera's composer, longtime Costello keyboardist | The work is the fruit of a genuine romance between the opera's composer, longtime Costello keyboardist Steve Nieve, and the writer and psychoanalyst Muriel Teodori, who wrote the Franco-English libretto. First released as a Deutsche Grammophon recording in 2007, the opera recounts the story of Greek immigrant steelworker Dionysos (played by a bearded Sting), who falls in love with an opera diva, much to the consternation of his blue-collar buddies. His stalker-like obsession nearly gets him incarcerated by the police commissioner (a hulking, black-robed Costello), but with a little supernatural intervention by the ghosts of operas past, all ends well. | ||
The title of the opera refers to the transcendent and reconciliatory power of the human voice, whether scared or profane. However, in the ears of critics at the French dailies, the experiment has proved to be less than pitch-perfect. [[Le Figaro, November 12, 2008|Le Figaro]], for example, declared Welcome to the Voice "rock and opera's wedding gone wrong," slipping into "platitudes." Meanwhile, the daily Liberation, criticized the libretto's "naivete." | The title of the opera refers to the transcendent and reconciliatory power of the human voice, whether scared or profane. However, in the ears of critics at the French dailies, the experiment has proved to be less than pitch-perfect. [[Le Figaro, November 12, 2008|Le Figaro]], for example, declared Welcome to the Voice "rock and opera's wedding gone wrong," slipping into "platitudes." Meanwhile, the daily Liberation, criticized the libretto's "naivete." | ||
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{{Bibliography notes}} | {{Bibliography notes}} | ||
{{Bibliography next | |||
|prev = Time, July 24, 2006 | |||
|next = Time, November 8, 2010 | |||
}} | |||
'''Time, November 25, 2008 | '''Time, November 25, 2008 | ||
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[[Jeffrey T. Iverson ]] reviews ''[[Welcome To The Voice]]'' | [[Jeffrey T. Iverson]] reviews ''[[Welcome To The Voice]]'', Thursday-Tuesday, [[Concert 2008-11-20 Paris|November 20]]-[[Concert 2008-11-25 Paris|25, 2008]], Chatelet Theatre, Paris, France. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[ | [[image:2008-11-20 El Diario Vasco photo.jpg|380px]] | ||
<small>Marie-Noelle Rober</small> | <br><small>Marie-Noelle Rober.</small> | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Latest revision as of 04:28, 10 December 2021
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External links
[[Category:2008 concert reviews