Today : world première of 'Shirine' by Thierry Escaich in Lyon

 

Today, the Opéra de Lyon presents the world première of Shirine, an opera in 12 scenes composed by French composer Thierry Escaich, with a libretto by Tahiq Rahimi after Khosrow va Chirin by the 12th century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi.

It is the composer's third opera after Claude (Lyon, March 27, 2013) and Point d'orgue (Paris, March 5, 2021).

An Armenian princess, very modern in her outlook and a figure of empowerment, falls head over heels in love with Khosrow, and it is this story of impossible love, with all its twists and turns, that is recounted in this world première. (reproduced from the Opéra de Lyon website)

The cast includes soprano Jeanne Gérard (Shirine), tenor Julien Behr (Khosrow), baritone Jean-Sébastien Bou (Chapour), tenor Stephen Mills (Chiroya), countertenor Théophile Alexandre (Nakissa) and mezzo Majdouline Zerari (Chamira). Franck Ollu conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra de Lyon. Richard Brunel directs. The performance should last 1hour and 45 minutes. No interval.

The required orchestra is the following :

- 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons ;

- 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba ;

- timpani, percussions (2 performers), piano, harp ;

- 1 nai pan flute, 1 duduk, 1 qanun.

The score is published by Billaudot.

New DVDs : 'Claude' by Thierry Escaich (BelAir) and 'Lear' by Aribert Reimann (ArtHaus)

Two contemporary operas have been recently released on DVD : Claude by Thierry Escaich, first performed in Lyon in May 2013 (BelAir Classiques) and Lear by Aribert Reimann (first performed in Munich in July 1978, ArtHaus Musik).

Both DVDs unfortunately present the same ridiculous defect : the main menu is not silent. Therefore, you hear repeatedly a short excerpt of the opera while you stay on the title page. Worse, when you have watched the whole performance, including applause, bows and final credits and patiently waited for the very end of the recording, you are immediately brought back to the noisy title menu, and that is very unfortunate. There is absolutely no reason to have any music there. Imagine a few bars of the coming act being played through loudspeakers to call the audience back to their seats after an interval, or the most famous tune being broadcast in the theater when the audience leaves. Nonsense !

The opening credits of the French opera are already accompanied by music. Considering there is no image of the conductor or the audience before the performance, it is quite impossible to know whether this music is the prelude of the opera, or just a bright idea of the editor.
The seconday menus (chapters, subtitles and bonus) are silent. Subtitles are available in English and French.
There are about 6 minutes of closing images, after the final note is played : applause, bows, with credits starting before the conductor appears on stage, followed by the director. But the composer remains out of sight.
On the other hand, the composer has been recorded in a discussion with librettist Robert Badinter (who was Minister of Justice when death penalty was abolished in France) and television interviewer Anne Sinclair. Strangely enough, the clock doesn't work during the bonus, which is supposed to last about 26 minutes.

The beginning of the Lear recording is much better : opening credits with audience noises, then orchestra tuning. There are no applause at the start, and the staging begins before the music. The opening credits are followed by the silent entrance of all the characters. It lasts almost 6 minutes. We have to wait for the end of Act I to see the conductor. There are more than 8 minutes of applauses and closing credits at the end : first the singers bow all together, then one by one in turn, followed by the chorus joined by the chorus master, the conductor (she shakes hand with the prompter !), then the composer who takes every singer in his arms. The closing credits start only after that, when all artists are bowing together. Then, as in the Claude DVD, the title menu reappears immediately, with its accompanying music. Too bad !
The oddity about this recording is the position of the last track titled "End credits" in the brochure. It starts 6 minutes after the end of the music, when the composer appears on stage. It would have made more sense to have it start at the beginning of the applause. It has been recorded in May 2014, more than two years after the première of the production, so the director isn't there.

Program books for new operas, 2012-2013 season

In the 2012-2013 season, I have managed to acquire the program books for the following new operas :

- Timo Juhani Kyllönen : The Seal, Savonlinna, July 20, 2013
- André Tchaikowsky : The Merchant of Venice, Bregenz, July 18, 2013
- Vasco Mendonça : The House Taken Over, Aix-en-Provence, July 6, 2013 (PDF)
- Mark Adamo : The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, San Francisco, June 19, 2013

 
- D. J. Sparr : Approaching Ali, Washington, June 8, 2013 (PDF)
- Diego Collatti : Die Ballade von El Muerto, Vienna (Festwochen), June 6, 2013
- Matthias Heep : Momo, Stuttgart, June 6, 2013
- David Lang : The Whisper Opera, Chicago (International Contemporary Ensemble), May 31, 2013

 
- Georg Friedrich Haas : Thomas, Schwetzingen, May 24, 2013
- Adam Roberts : Giver of Light, Boston (Guerilla Opera), May 23, 2013
- Cristobal Halffter : Schachnovelle, Kiel, May 18, 2013

 
- Knut Vaage : Khairos, Oslo, May 10, 2013
- Franz Koglmann : Join !, Vienna (Festwochen), May 8, 2013
- Helmut Schmidinger : Lynx, der Luchs, Linz, May 1, 2013 (PDF)
- Anno Schreier : Wunderland, Würzburg, April 18, 2013 (PDF)
- Kamran Ince : The Judgement of Midas, Milwaukee, April 12, 2013
 

 
- Michel van der Aa : Sunken Garden, London (English National Opera at the Barbican), April 12, 2013
- Thierry Escaich : Claude, Lyon, March 27, 2013
- Sidney Corbett : Das grosse Heft, Osnabrück, March 16, 2013

 
- Claire Renard : Orimita, Reims, March 8, 2013 (PDF)
- Michel Fourgon : Lolo Ferrari, Rouen, March 8, 2013
- Helmut Oehring : Sehnsuchtmeer oder vom fliegenden Holländer, Düsseldorf, March 8, 2013
- Benoît Mernier : La Dispute, Brussels, March 5, 2013
 

 
- Christian Jost : Heart Sutra, Taipei, March 2, 2013 (PDF)
- Nolan Gasser : The Secret Garden, San Francisco, March 1, 2013 (PDF)
- Ludger Vollmer : Lola rennt, Regensburg, February 28, 2013 (PDF)
- Alois Bröder : Die Frauen der Toten, Erfurt, February 2, 2013
- Lin Wang : Oh, wie schön ist Panama, Berlin (Deutsche Oper), January 26, 2013
- Priit Pajusaar : The Prince and the Pauper, Tallinn, January 26, 2013
 


- Douglas J. Cuomo : Doubt, St. Paul, January 26, 2013
- Peter Androsch : Spiegelgrund, Vienna (Federal Assembly Chamber of Austrian Parlament), January 25, 2013
- Philip Glass : The Perfect American, Madrid (Teatro Real), January 22, 2013

- Richard Gill : Sleeping Beauty, Melbourne, January 17, 2013
- Cristian Carrara : Oliver Twist, Modena, December 16, 2012
- Hans-Jürgen von Bose : Verkehr mit Gespenstern, Vienna (KammerOper), December 5, 2012

- Oscar Strasnoy : Slutchaï, Bordeaux, November 26, 2012
- Andres Reukauf : Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse, Hagen, November 25, 2012
- Frank Schwemmer : Die Schatzinsel, Zurich, November 17, 2012

  
- Margret Wolf : Refidim Junction, Würzburg, November 10, 2012 (PDF)
- Matthew Harris : The Mark of Cain, Chelsea, November 8, 2012 (PDF)
- Jörg Widmann : Babylon, Munich, October 27, 2012
- Thomas Beimel : Vom guten Ton, Wuppertal, October 21, 2012
- Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini : Der Sandmann, Basel, October 20, 2012

 
- Peter-Jan Wagemans : Andreas weent, Amsterdam, October 20, 2012 (PDF)
- Gareth Williams : The Elephant Angel, Giffnock (Scottish Opera), October 19, 2012
- Jens Michael Müller (Sagardia) : Josefine, Mönchengladbach, October 13, 2012
- Carl Unander-Scharin : The Elephant Man, Umeå , October 6, 2012 (PDF)
- Felix Leuschner : Sprung in die Leere, Gelsenkirchen, October 6, 2012 (PDF)
- Victoria Bond : Mrs. President, Anchorage, October 5, 2012

  
- Olga Neuwirth : American Lulu, Berlin (Komische Oper), September 30, 2012
- Tristan Schulze : Premiere, Vienna (Theater an der Wien), September 26, 2012
- Stefano Gervasoni : Limbus-Limbo, Strasbourg (Musica Festival), September 22, 2012

  
- Elena Kats-Chernine : Orpheus / Odysseus / Poppea, Berlin (Komische Oper), September 16, 2012
- Philippe Fénelon : JJR (Citizen of Geneva), Geneva, September 11, 2012