Anna Netrebko: Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott, Ramón Vargas - Royal Albert Hall, London 6. Jun 2012

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott, Ramón Vargas - Royal Albert Hall, London 6. Jun 2012

Royal Albert Hall, London 6. Jun 2012

Anna Netrebko, soprano
Erwin Schrott, bass-baritone
Ramón Vargas, tenor

Claudio Vandelli, conductor
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Philharmonia Chorus

REPORTS
Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott and Ramón Vargas - Royal Albert Hall, London 6. June 2012
By Herbert

The Royal Albert Hall is my new favourite concert hall - I was stunned and overwhelmed when I entered the audience hall. It is all red and gold as in the Royal Opera House, but the RAH is much bigger and has seats for 7000 people plus 2500 standing. One feels like entering St Peter's cathedral in Rome! The concert was more or less sold out, although Jonas Kaufmann had cancelled due to illness. Ramón Vargas stepped in, an he did a good job, although his voice is not as powerful as Kaufmann's. Vargas is a very modest person, and he was relieved and obviously really happy because of the applause he got. A fine guy!

Anna and Erwin sang the same programme as in Berliner Waldbühne last year together with Jonas. Anna began with the very challenging aria "Ecco! Io son l'umile ancella" from Adriana Lecouvreur - and I would love to hear her sing the complete opera soon! Another highlight, although quite different, was her "Heia in den Bergen" from the operetta Die Csardasfürstin. She danced on stage with "flying skirts" and burst with temperament, which brought the house down.

Erwin sang some of his famous opera arias as well as some tangos - and at curtain calls there was a scene which touched everybody in the audience: He got the usual bouquet of flowers and handed it down to a little girl in the first row, who was speechless when he climbed down to her and kissed her on her cheek.

For encores, Anna sang "O mio babbino caro" - intentionally away from the microphone, to show that her voice nevertheless could fill the hall completely. Erwin added "Rojotango", and Ramón Vargas finished with "Granada". Then Erwin announced a "world permiere" - a song called "Home", written especially for their three voices. Beautiful!

Special thanks also to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Claudio Vandelli) and the Philharmonia Chorus! Superb musicians!

A large crowd was waiting at the stage door, but after 45 minutes somebody of the staff announced that the artists had already left the building. Anyway, it was a spectacular night in a spectacular concert hall!

VIDEOCLIPS
Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott at the Royal Albert Hall, London 6. Jun 2012

Curtain calls

PHOTOS