Anna Netrebko had announced first in an interview published in 2008 in the french magazine Opera, that she would sing the role of Desdemona in Verdi's "Otello" conducted by Daniel Barenboim at the Teatro alla Scala in Milano. She even commented that they had not found yet the Otello for those performances.
Later on I met Anna Netrebko in Wien after the premiere of "Lucia di Lammermoor" on 14. March 2009. Walking on Kartnerstrasse after the performance, some italians asked her if she will go to La Scala. She said yes. When they asked her what she would sing there, I was expecting she would say "Otello", but to my surprise, she said that she would sing the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor".
A few weeks later, I met Erwin Schrott in front of Anna Netreko's dressing room at the Royal Opera House after the performance of Donizetti's "I Capuleti e I Montecchi" on 11. April 2009. He also said that Anna would sing Lucia at la Scala.
Milano based blogger Opera Chic posted today that Scala GM Stephane Lissner had indicated last year in a newspaper interview that the rumor about Anna singing Lucia at La Scala was true.
But plans change and Opera Chic reports today that Anna Netrebko will open the 2011-2012 season at the Teatro alla Scala, Milano, singing the role of Donna Anna in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" with Erwin Schrott in the title role. The performance will be directed by Robert Carsen and conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
Anna Netrebko made her role debut as Donna Anna in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg, on 18. May 2002.
On 27. July 2002, Anna Netrebko sang the role of Donna Anna at the premiere of "Don Giovanni" at the Salzburger Festspiele, with Thomas Hampson in the title role, Michael Schade as Don Ottavio, Melanie Diener as Donna Elvira, Nicola Ulivieri as Leporello, replacing Ildebrando D'Arcangelo who was ill for the premiere, Magdalena Kozena as Zerlina, Luca Pisaroni as Masetto, and Kurt Moll as Il Commendatore. Martin Kusej was the stage director and Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducted the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor and Wiener Philharmoniker. It was a run of highly succesful outstanding performances, being the first huge success of Anna Netrebko at the Salzburger Festspiele.
Anna Netrebko sang again the same role in the same production of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Salzburger Festspiele in 2003. Thomas Hampson was once again Don Giovanni, Christoph Strehl was Don Ottavio, Melanie Diener was once again Donna Elvira, Ildebrando d’Arcangelo was once again Leporello, Isabel Bayrakdarian was Zerlina, Luca Pisaroni was once again Masetto, and Kurt Moll was Il Commendatore. The conductor was also once again Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Anna Netrebko made her role debut as Donna Anna at the Royal Opera House on 12. September 2003, with Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni, Ian Bostridge as Don Ottavio, Nuccia Focile as Donna Elvira, Erwin Schrott as Leporello, Rosemary Joshua as Zerlina, Darren Jeffery as Masetto, and Robert Lloyd as Il Commendatore. Francesca Zambello was the stage director and Antonio Pappano conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
Anna Netrebko made her role debut as Donna Anna at the Wiener Staatsoper on 6. February 2004, with Michael Volle making his role debut at the opera house as Don Giovanni, Rainer Trost as Don Ottavio, Soile Isokoski as Donna Elvira, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo as Leporello, Sophie Koch as Zerlina, In-Sung Sim as Masetto, and Mikhail Kazakov making his opera house debut as Komtur. Roberto de Simone was the stage director and Seiji Ozawa conducted the Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper.
The fisrt time that Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott were together on stage as Donna Anna and Don Giovanni, respectively, was in a Met tour to Japan at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center of Kobe on 11. Jun 2006. Matthew Polenzani was Don Ottavio, Melanie Diener was Donna Elvira, René Pape was Leporello, Magdalena Kozena was Zerlina, Jonathan Lemalu was Masetto, and Sergei Koptchak was Il Commendatore. Marthe Keller was the stage director and Andrew Davis conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House.
Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott were together again on the stage as Donna Anna and Don Giovanni, respectively, at the Royal Opera House on 15. June 2007. Michael Schade was Don Ottavio, Ana María Martínez was Donna Elvira, Kyle Ketelsen was Leporello, Sarah Fox was Zerlina, Matthew Rose was Masetto and Reinhard Hagen was Il Commendatore. Francesca Zambello was the stage director and Ivor Bolton conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
Anna Netrebko sang again the role of Donna Anna twice at the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg on 8. July 2007 and 30. November 2007.
On 8. July 2007, Yevgeny Ulanov was Don Giovanni, Dmitri Voropaev was Don Ottavio, Tatiana Pavlovskaya was Donna Elvira, Ilya Bannik was Leporello, Irina Mataeva was Zerlina, Vadim Kravets was Masetto, and Gennady Bezzubenkov was Il Commendatore. Johannes Schaaf was the stage director and Valery Gergiev conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater.
On 30. November 2007, Ildar Abdrazakov made his role debut as Don Giovanni at the Mariinsky Theater, Daniil Shtoda was Don Ottavio, Tatiana Pavlovskaya was Donna Elvira, Nikolai Kamensky was Leporello, Yekaterina Solovieva was Zerlina, Yuri Vorobiev was Masetto, and Fyodor Kuznetsov was Il Commendatore. Johannes Schaaf was the stage director and Tugan Sokhiev conducted the Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater.
Update -- Erwin Schrott said in an interview that it was not true that he is going to sing the title role of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at la Scala di Milano with Anna. On the other hand, the company Live dabei Tours is already announcing that Anna will sing the title role of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" in December 2011 at la Scala di Milano. Theerefore, we believe that our initial information (see above) was right and we expect that Anna Netrebko will sing the title role of of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" in December 2011 at the opening of the season of the Teatro alla Scala di Milano.
Wow! How long I've been waiting for something like this! After having seen Erwin live in Munchen and Anna live in Wien its time to see them sharing one and the same stage, singing together! Any ideas how to successfully get tickets for La Scala's production?
ReplyDeleteFANTASTIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anna retourn to Mozart!!! this is a great news !!!
ReplyDeleteciao!!!
Amazing that those news come just the day after I posted about her past performances at la Scala ;))
ReplyDeleteI would actually be interested in seeing this. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteI remember "Don Giovanni" at Covent Garden in July 2007 - with Erwin Schrott and Anna Netrebko; it was one of the most fascinating productions of this opera I have ever seen. So let's hope that this "revival" at La Scala comes true!
ReplyDeleteI was alo at one of the performances of Don Giovanni at the ROH, on 25. June 2007, with Anna and Erwin and it was an outstanding performance with a great cast.
ReplyDeleteBeing Barenboim involved conducting the performances at la Scala, maybe Pape sings Leporello...
Wow, That will be great! I would love to attend. Carlos, keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteThis return to Anna is long overdue. This is a great role for Anna and Erwin has really developed his role as the Don as well.
ReplyDeleteI was at Salzburg in both 2002 and 2003 and, by an incredible piece of luck in Tokyo in 2006 as well and all runs were superb with the 2003 seeing the female leads in particular in phenomenal form an the Tokyo performances being possible the best Don G and on the the greatest performances I've seen. Donna Anna can be a problematic role but Anna made it more interesting than many other singers and was vocally and dramatically more convincing than even Fleming. Erwin was very good but actually the weakest of the 2006 cast but his interpretation developed very nicely by the time of his Met performances in 2008. This should be great.
I've mentioned this before but it is very unfortunate that some of these haven't been preserved, or at least as of yet released on DVD. There is audio from the premiere in 2002.
Marcillac,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your interesting comments about those performances. How lucky you has been!!! I have been looking for a recording of the Met Japan Tour for years, but without success.
Unfortunately, I did not attend either any of the fabulous Salzburg performances in 2002 and 2003, but as you said, at least the premiere of Salzburg in 2002 was broadcast live. I have been listening many times to this recording and it was superb.
I was lucky enough to attend one of the ROH performances with Anna and Erwin at the ROH in 2007. It was also a fantatsic performance. At that time I had never heard about Erwin and, despite the fact that they were already a couple with Anna, it was not known. The first impressions I got about Erwin were from someone who had attended one of the performances just before the one I would attend. And they were very good. People started to talk about this Don Giovanni. I confirmed those impressions after the show.
This was also a perfoemance that I will never forget as, I have mentioned before, after the performance Anna, Erwin, Jeffrey, Salvatore and several other friends, in fact, went to Bertorelli and so I did, being seated at the table next to them, thanks to the kindness of the waiter. Erwin ordered some sweet wine at the end of teh dinner and he invited also to me asking the waiter to give me a glass of sweet wine and some cookies. A gentleman! The whole evening was unforgettable!
In a recent interview Erwin Schrott said this was not true...
ReplyDelete