Herbert
Last night Anna Netrebko sang her first Lady Macbeth ever (worldwide!) at the Opera Festival in Munich.
Together with Simon Keenlyside (Macbeth), Joseph Calleja (what a luxury for the comparatively small role as Macduff!) and Ildar Abdrazakov (Banco) she was the star of the evening and enjoyed a very big success.
One may discuss the production by Martin Kusej. To me the first part was very static, whereas in the second part masses of people crowded the stage, sometimes in underwear, sometimes in uniform, sometimes naked - and the costumes are at least not a stroke of genius by a dress designer.
The same can be said about Anna's red-blonde wig. But you can forget all this when you see Lady Macbeth acting together with her husband or when you listen to Anna's vocal eruptions which brought the house down.
Having heard her now in Il Trovatore, in Manon Lescaut and in Macbeth, I can't believe that she once sang the roles of Adina in Elisir d'amore or Amina in La Sonnambula. What an impressive and unbelievable development of her voice! Her acting, too, is very convincing - as far as the production allows it. Whether she has to balance and sing (!) on a giant chandelier or to walk (in high heels) across a large field of white skulls - she is "the lady".
Standing ovations and many curtain calls for Anna and the whole cast and for conductor Paolo Carignani.
The next and already last performance will be on Tuesday. And then let's look forward to the new Macbeth at the Met in September/October - hopefully director Adrian Noble and his production team will offer a more inspired view of this powerful story than Kusej does.
Some official photos can be seen here.
