Sexual shenanigans, political skulduggery, black humour: Handel’s Agrippina has all the ingredients for a racy Barrie Kosky production. Agrippina was the wife of the emperor Claudius, and mother, by a previous marriage, to Nero. The story has been told for decades that intimate Baroque operas will vanish in the vast Met. Agrippina. Skittish Met board members fearing a reprise of the Public Theater’s incendiary depiction of a President Trump-like Julius Caesar being stabbed in a 2017 Shakespeare staging need not fear. Flirtations and fragile alliances, lies, betrayals, schemes and the ever-present promise of sex – Love Island may be back on our screens next week, but it has nothing on Handel's Agrippina. English. Librettist. Agrippina. Kosky’s setting may be modern but he resists the temptation to … And yes, I’ve heard of Mozart. This Agrippina jostles for top place among the opera’s complete recordings. 2015 year in review: Opera. So this new, international production of Handel’s early opera Agrippina, is an important event.. And though the convoluted plot of Roman back-stabbing requires concentration, it certainly is an opportunity for some world-class singing. No, its not opening night at The Met, nor … Review: Agrippina 10:09, 3rd October 2019. Agrippina, the Handel opera now premiering on the Metropolitan Opera’s stage, may have been written as a satire on the politics of its own time, but in the hands of producer Sir David McVicar, … Sung In. Yes, he died more than 250 years ago, but at the Met he seems more vital than ever. It’s begging to be enjoyed with a bag of popcorn — or with a martini packing some of the work’s frosty heat. Seeing history from Agrippina’s … Review: The Met Opera Is Handel’s House in ‘Agrippina’. The Metropolitan Opera celebrated the opening of Handel's Agrippina February 6, marking the company's first production of one of the oldest works to hit its stage. Welcome to the Met, AGRIPPINA: It's about time. He knows how to guide the company’s orchestral forces in a style that’s not its standard repertory, and the result is an appealing paradox: both beefy and lithe. In Boston Lyric Opera's production of Agrippina, Kathleen Kim elevates the role of Poppea. Murky corridors of power... Joyce DiDonato (Agrippina) and Andrea Mastroni (Pallante) in Agrippina at the Royal Opera House. “But of course,” he added, gesturing back toward the 3,800-seat theater, “it’s way too big.”. ‘The ambitious are bound by no laws,” we are told in Agrippina, Handel’s brilliantly ambiguous comedy about political manipulation and chicanery, first performed in Venice in 1709, and widely regarded as the masterpiece of his Italian period, though he never revived it after he settled in London in 1712. Agrippina. Her obstacles — sometimes co-opted as pawns — include the beautiful Poppea; the noble, lovelorn general Otho; and a couple of bumbling courtiers. But it’s irresistible in its intelligence — and in the shamelessness it depicts with such clear yet understanding eyes. Through March 7 at the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center; 212-362-6000, metopera.org. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/arts/music/met-opera-agrippina-review.html into a deliciously bleak vision of our time, the Public Theater’s incendiary depiction. It may sound trivial to start with the costumes for Barrie Kosky's production, but these expressions of personality are deeply woven into the production's thinking, and other characters overlook these power dresses at their peril. The textures have the glinting clarity of a Baroque ensemble, but also a richness that fills the huge house. 4 / 5 stars . Joyce DiDonato's Agrippina is a tour de force of vocalism in Barrie Kosky’s frenetic production of Handel’s dark ... 2011 in Review: Opera. However, I will look again at this structure to see to what extent some compromise with the Opera … (The genre isn’t known for dark comedy.) Composed for the 1709–10 Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of … Glimmerglass Opera had a particularly strong season. Ms. Hallenberg makes the most … Agrippina, Royal Opera House, review: Joyce DiDonato triumphs in Barrie Kosky's vivid but heartless production 4. 4.8 out of 5. Thespis (opera) is the nearest we have at present to an opera featured article, and the structure used in Agrippina closely follows this. Joyce DiDonato is matchless in the title role, most other cast members likewise outstrip rivals and their vocal qualities are ideal for their dramatis personae.Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev repeatedly hits the sweet spot in his tempos, dynamics and realisations, the score aiming to mirror Handel’s lost original. Under pressure, the top of her voice can grow pinched and strident. Ms. Rae with another of Poppea’s suitors, Claudio (Matthew Rose). Written in haste and patched up with material drawn from existing works, Agrippina is Handel’s earliest complete surviving opera, first performed in Venice in 1707, five years before … Handel and his librettist, Vincent Grimani, knew that certain stories are timeless--like corruption … Ransacking his own works — and the works of others — for melodies, he created an exuberant yet sensitive score, the characters slowing to express their true feelings before exploding once more into dazzling coloratura bursts of deception and double-dealing. We were promised Agrippina as House of Cards, full of intrigue and political machinations, yet Barrie Kosky plays his joker frequently in a staging which borders on farce.On an austere set, he vividly brings Handel’s characters to life – sometimes as caricatures – as Agrippina schemes to manoeuvre her son, Nerone, to the throne. “‘Agrippina’ is a dark comedy about the corrupt leaders of ancient Rome, who lie and manipulate in their quest to stay in power,’’ Mr. Gelb said. Forget ‘less is more’. This “Agrippina” — yanked from ancient Rome into a deliciously bleak vision of our time, played with electric vividness, and starring a guns-blazing Joyce DiDonato — should put to rest, once and for all, the notion that Handel belongs at the Met less than Verdi, Puccini or Wagner. And, of course, Handel. There was forward motion even in arias of slow loveliness; the dialogue crackled. Joyce DiDonato. You don’t want to look; you can’t look away. Met titles In. Agrippina @ Barbican Hall, London 31 May 2019. by Sam Smith published: 3 Jun 2019 in Opera and Classical Reviews. The Coliseum, 1 March 2007 . As so often in Handel, power and desire are inextricably linked, and the narrative is a complex web of multiple deceptions as Agrippina seeks to exploit the private sexual configurations among those around her. Even in the early 1700s, this was recognized as a work with contemporary reverberations. The opera charts her attempts to secure the imperial succession for her son in opposition to the weak-willed Claudio, whose choice has fallen on the morally upright Otho. Agrippina’s would-be lovers, macho Pallante (Andrea Mastroni) and shy Narciso (Eric Jurenas), though at times marvellously funny, flap and fuss too much. But her voice is otherwise narrow and sometimes nearly inaudible. Three centuries on, “Agrippina” remains bracing in its bitterness, with few glimmers of hope or virtue in the cynical darkness. In another debut, the countertenor Nicholas Tamagna was a brightly insinuating Narcissus (Narciso); the bass Matthew Rose was a convincingly bluff Claudius (Claudio). (Opera in Review) By Citroh, Paula. But the audience at the premiere in Venice, for what turned out to be the first big hit of Handel’s career, would have known that the satire was directed at Grimani’s political enemies, including the pope, just as much as at the amorality of the ancients. Agrippina was the wife of the emperor Claudius, and mother, by a previous marriage, to Nero. Without being too blatant, this “Agrippina” does get at the emotional climate of a disruptive era, the clenched-jaw feeling you may well get as you wait for the New York Times app to load on your phone. Opera and Classical Reviews. Through March 7 at the Metropolitan Opera… Yes, he died more than 250 years ago, but at the Met he seems more vital than ever. Twenty years later — with the production’s arrival at the Met, the addition of smartphones for onstage selfies and the relaxation of some aggressive late-’90s shoulder pads — the figures brought to mind by this tale of decadence and self-enrichment have inevitably changed. Yes, he died more than 250 years ago, but at the Met he seems more vital than ever. Agrippina – Handel. Opera review: Agrippina at Royal Opera House. Read preview. Her final moment in the staging, wondering where her venality has finally brought her, shows her hilariously and poignantly unwilling to return to the annals of history — that is, to die. Pensieri, Voi Mi Tormentate, when the mask drops to reveal lacerating self-doubt, has tragic intensity. ... Find The Metropolitan Opera on Instagram (opens new window) Find The Metropolitan Opera … Link/Page Citation Glimmerglass Opera had a particularly strong season. Her highest notes pop into the theater. This opera is cast in the form of opera seria generally, but diverges at times, leaving room for short ensembles and ariettes that do not stifle the drama. Agrippina at the Royal Opera House features a parade of gowns worthy of any world-leading fashion week. Agrippina: Opera Arias › Customer reviews; Customer reviews. Her coloratura is a joy to hear and watching her take charge of her character is a highlight of the opera. Welcome to the Met, AGRIPPINA: It's about time. When talk turns to whether the Metropolitan Opera should put on old works — like 1709 old — habits die hard. George Frideric Handel. By Christopher Corwin on February 07, 2020 at 12:36 PM All opera-lovers are encouraged to attend and experience—probably for the first time–a young composer’s vivid first masterpiece which revolves around the all-consuming compulsion for power and sex. Even by her own exacting standards, DiDonato gives one of her finest performances, wonderfully voiced and acted, and keeping us just the right side of empathy throughout. Opera Review ‘Eurydice’ and ‘Agrippina’ Reviews: Voices Lost and Found The myth of Orpheus told with mixed results in Los Angeles; political satire transported to a … That this “Agrippina” was nevertheless a success — indeed, a devilish delight — is because of Mr. Bicket and Mr. McVicar. David McVicar’s production yanks the ancient Roman plot into the present day, with a golden staircase at the center leading to a golden throne. Stream review of Agrippina (George Frideric Handel, Libretto by Vincenzio Grimani) from Met Opera on Demand at Metropolitan Opera House, New York - reviewer: Robert Tanitch The setting is ancient Rome. Joyce DiDonato. Video of the day: Joyce DiDonato and Kate Lindsey on Handel's Agrippina Wednesday, February 26, 2020 Joyce DiDonato and Kate Lindsey spare five precious minutes during the intermission of Handel's Agrippina at the Metropolitan Opera in New York to talk about the opera It’s clever, sharply observed and witty, if occasionally harder edged in tone than Handel intended. By Gregory Moomjy. 22 global ratings. The final opera Handel wrote and produced for his time in Italy, Agrippinais a delicious piece depicting the eponymous character’s machinations to see her son Nero crowned Roman Emperor.Along the way, Agrippina strings along not just one but three lovers, playing them off each other in … Handel was lucky to get, in Vincenzo Grimani’s gleefully wicked text, that rarity in opera history: a libretto with dramatic focus, ambivalent characters and worldly humor. No, its not opening night at The Met, nor is it the Richard Tucker gala. Composer. Perhaps because he was all too aware that its subject, the ruthlessness of power and the legitimacy of rule, would hit raw nerves at a time when the Hanoverian succession to the Stuart dynasty was a matter of huge controversy and debate. Royal Opera House; Linbury theatre, London; Leeds Grand Joyce DiDonato’s stop-at-nothing empress leads a top ensemble cast in Barrie Kosky’s enthralling Agrippina. Bold, snicker-out-loud funny, magnetic and unsettling through its power-struggle convolutions, this production musically and dramatically fills the company’s looming proscenium. My favorite part of every opera season might come as a surprise to you. ★★★★☆No 24-year-old wrote an opera with more ear-tickling musical riches than Handel poured into Agrippina. Italian. Joyce DiDonato, left, in the title role and Kate Lindsey as Nerone in Handel’s “Agrippina” at the Metropolitan Opera. Opera review: Agrippina; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tannhäuser Barrie Kosky’s fine Agrippina is a taut drama of political intrigue and amorous advances Hugh Canning The opera focuses on succession in imperial Rome: Claudius’s consort, Agrippina, maneuvers to get her lout of a son Nero on the throne, and betrays lovers, friends, and subordinates to … REVIEW: Agrippina. Plus dizzying … The ending is unnerving, though Kosky omits a scene in which Juno hastily descends from Olympus to confer blessings on errant humanity below, and replaces it with music from L’Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato. Agrippina . But, according to my knowledge, none of the reviews mentioned the impressive Humphrey Bogart-like stage appearance (as well as the excellent harpsichord playing) of ENO music staff member Stephen Higgins. To sit for hours through parades of static arias and confusing plots stunted would-be ruler hours through parades static! 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