Opéra National de Paris | Pelléas et Mélisande | Opera Canada
Denise Wendel-Poray
Opéra National de Paris
Opéra-Comique
Les Fêtes d’Hébé “A knack for mirroring contemporary events”
Opéra-Comique | Les Fêtes d’Hébé | Opera Canada
Opéra National de Paris
Don Giovanni John Relyea is “electrifying”
In Denise Wendel-Poray’s words: “Relyea‘s final entrance as the Commendatore is electrifying…his massive stature, charismatic presence, and sonorous voice, looming through the penumbra to deliver the final and fatal blow.”
Festival D’Aix-en-Provence
Così fan tutte “Russell Braun is a consummate actor and an artist who continues to astound with his range of roles”
Mozart's Così fan tutte is emblematic of the Festival d'Aix en Provence. It's the opera that opened the festival in 1948 and has been one of the most frequently performed over the 75 years of the festival. It has also received the most prestigious treatment, with the...
Spring 2023 Print Issue Letter from Milan
Denise Wendel-Poray travels to La Scala in Milan where it’s all about opera, power, and politics. This text was originally published in the Spring 2023 print version of Opera Canada magazine.
Opéra National de Paris Ariodante Robert Carsen is “a master of the surprise ending”
With more than three decades in the field, Robert Carsen is celebrated in Europe and America alike for his intelligently conceived and stunning productions, and— as his new Ariodante shows—he is also a master of the surprise ending. Is it purely serendipitous that the...
Opéra Comique Carmen “the top-notch children’s chorus from the Maîtrise Populaire de l’Opéra Comique is an absolute highlight”
German director Andreas Homoki's new staging of Carmen brings the world's most-performed opera back to its roots at the Opéra Comique, where it was premiered in 1897, using the actual backstage with Gustave Eiffel's seven iron doors and brick wall as the main backdrop...
Opéra National de Paris Peter Grimes “perhaps one of the best opera productions of the last decade”
Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, directed by Deborah Warner at the Paris Opera this season, was perhaps one of the best opera productions of the last decade. Contributing to this was the phenomenal alignment of major stars from Warner to the Canadian stage designer...
Paris Opera The Marriage of Figaro “a true gem”
Paris Opera's production of The Marriage of Figaro by English director and video artist Netia Jones is a true gem and loses none of its brilliance as new singing stars take on the different roles. The cast I heard for the final and sold-out performance on December 28...
Paris Opera Tosca Gerald Finley: “magnificent tone and varied nuance, endowing his character with more interiority and complexity than I’ve ever seen in this role”
Pierre Audi's production of Tosca, which premiered in 2014, has become a staple of the Paris Opera repertoire; and rightly so, it's a classic beauty. Puccini made his lyric tragedy site and time specific, and Audi respects this. We are in Rome in 1800 during the...
Royal Opera House Alcina Emily D’Angelo’s “art is unequaled in ‘Verdi Prati'”
Handel's 1735 opera Alcina is one of the most popular baroque operas in the repertoire and is featured somewhere around Europe or England every year, either in a festival or an opera house. The last decade has seen: Katie Mitchel's darkly satirical, Shades of...
Opéra Comique Armide “All critics seem to agree upon one thing at least: Véronique Gens is unsurpassable as Armide.”
Purists apparently have some bones to pick with this new production of Armide, judging from the various and contradictory criticism in the French press, but for me, the essential elements were united to make for a very satisfactory performance, to say the least. First...