Anna Netrebko made her very much awaited debut as Violetta at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden on 14. January 2008, with Jonas Kaufmann as Alfredo and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Giorgio Germont. The performance was conducted by Maurizio Benini.Press Reviews
"Anna Netrebko, now acclaimed as the global - or, why be cautious, intergalactic - operatic superstar of the 21st century, gave an electrifying performance as the consumptive heroine Violetta", "Netrebko moves us to a new sublime level of emotional involvement. Tears even before the end of Act I? The auditorium was awash"
Be seduced by a superstar, Fiona Maddocks, Evening Standard, 15. January 2008
"Shaken, stirred, and still quivering at the knees, I’m an altered man", "I expected effortlessly commanding top notes and peachy tone, but not the wonderfully subtle variations in colour and phrasing. And the way she turns her final aria from deathbed murmur to fierce, fatalistic cry of pride and defiance is mesmerising"
La Traviata, Richard Morrison, The Times, 15. January 2008
"The five stars belong to Anna Netrebko", "Netrebko is, in a word, sensational"
La Traviata, Royal Opera House, London, Edward Seckerson, The Independent, 16. January 2008
"the singer's realistic portrayal of Violetta's consumption from the first act to the last is surely unrivalled amongst the divas of recent years", "this was still a memorable revival, thanks to Netrebko's unmissable and stunning Violetta"
Anna Netrebko sings Violetta in La Traviata at Covent Garden, Dominic McHugh, MusicalCriticism.com
"Yet she also could stoke her dramatic fire when she wanted, and her fiery cry of ``morir si giovine'' (``to die so young'') in her death scene was heartbreaking", "Fight -- you'll have to -- to get tickets, which have now officially sold out for this cast"
Sell the Ferrari for tickets to "Traviata", Warwick Thompson, Bloomberg.com, 16. January 2008
"Here is a true singing actress, blessed with a gloriously rich, luxurious soprano, and also with completely convincing dramatic powers", "Her Violetta approached death in the most convincing and captivating manner, spluttering, flailing and collapsing, every move truthful and fully integrated into the committed characterisation"
Anna Netrebko starts in Verdi's La Traviata, Dave Paxton, MusicOMH.com
"Once in a generation a prima donna takes ownership of a role in a way none of her peers can do. Anna Netrebko has achieved this as Violetta", "She simply is the Violetta for our age"
The Violetta for our time, Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 15. January 2008
"Truly great performances of Verdi's La Traviata come along once in a generation, and this astonishing revival of Richard Eyre's 1994 Royal Opera production may well go down in history as one of the defining operatic experiences of our times", "Netrebko's voice often blazes with warmth and opulence, though she also deploys throttled pianissimos to convey both the ravages of disease and the agonies of uncertainty"
La Traviata, Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 16. January 2008
La Traviata: Ecstasy greets a rising star, Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph.co.uk, 16. January 2008
"Fue tal la grandeza, la perfección, la intensidad de la energía aquella noche, que cuando terminó el primer acto pasaron varios minutos antes de que pudiera articular palabra", "En el instante en que comenzó a cantar me dí cuenta de que aquello no tenía nada que ver con todo lo que había escuchado hasta ahora"
Una diosa junto al Támesis, El rincón de Papagena, La Verbena, 19. January 2008
"On Monday, her predestined chance came when she sang in the Royal Opera's revival of La traviata, and no one who was there will ever forget it", "At that moment she was simply the most excitingly reckless, scorchingly charismatic opera singer in the world, and she had just given the finest performance anyone could remember in one of the most demanding roles in the repertory",
A Violeta to die for, Peter Conrad, The Observer, 20. January 2008
"it's worth fighting for a ticket for this Covent Garden revival just to see Anna Netrebko"
La Traviata, Royal Opera House, London, Anna Picard, The Independent, 20. January 2008
La Traviata, Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 20. January 2008
Photos, ArenaPal
Photos, The Opera Critic
Bloomberg also has a fine review of the performance.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=atUHpLtXG4EY&refer=muse
Will you be able to see any of these performances?
Let me try the link again:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=20601088&sid=atUHpLtXG4EY&refer=muse
Thanks for the reference! The title says everything ;) I will add the link to the post.
ReplyDeleteBTW 2 visitors who were at this performance left very touching comments on the post related to the BBC broadcasting of La Traviata (this post was not yet published).
I will attend the performance on 26. January.
For those who read spanish I strongly reccommend to read the review written in the blog of Papagena given below. Really moving.
ReplyDeletehttp://llevamealaverbena.blogspot.com/2008/01/una-diosa-junto-al-tmesis.html
Another review in spanish by the same author at the forum below
ReplyDeletehttp://www.unanocheenlaopera.com/viewtopic.php?t=7826
Gracias! Los leí. Fantástico!
ReplyDeleteThere are still more reviews coming out from the Weekend papers in London.
The Observer:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/
story/0,,2243581,00.html
and The Independent on Sunday:
http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/
reviews/article3353730.ece
A couple other things you might want to keep an eye out for is that I have heard that Anna is recording a new CD in March in Prague.
Also, she's scheduled for a 'La Boheme' on February 29th at Mariinsky.
I am glad you have enjoyed those reviews as much as I did. Thanks a lot for your contributions on new reviews and info about Anna. I have included both articles at the main post and I have updated the database performances to include the cast of La Bohème in St. Petersburg on 29. Feb 2008. I do not have up to now so much news about this recording in Prague. I will keep an eye on. Thanks again.
ReplyDelete