This recording from Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu captures all the vocal sparks and dazzle generated by the two phenomenal singers, Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez. With his airy, effortless high notes and perfect command of rapid-fire Rossinian parlando, the charismatic Flórez (who also stars in Unitel’s recording of Donizetti’s ‘La fille du régiment’) once again proves that he was born to sing Rossini.
Bregenz Festival – Lake Stage Opera Box
“Stage director Graham Vick and set designer Paul Brown conjure up an “open-air spectacle of superlatives” (Die Zeit about Aida) “A gigantic set with iconic qulities – a masterly achievment“ (Die Welt about Andrea Chénier) “David Pountney finds stunning answers to the everlasting questions surrounding ‘The Magic Flute’.” (Der Tagesspiegel about Die Zauberflöte) „A bit of Hollywood in Bregenz: Melodies for the millions, impressively staged grand opera.“(ZDF heute journal about Turandot) „… Kasper Holten’s production of Carmen on Es Devlin’s extraordinary set was a knockout. …“ (The Telegraph)
Die Zauberflöte
What begins like a fairy-tale turns into a whimsical fantasy halfway between magic farce and Masonic mysticism: The Magic Flute links a love story with the great questions of the Enlightenment, juxtaposes bird-catcher charm with queenly vengeance, and bewitches the listener with music that mixes cheerful melodies, lovers’ arias, show-stopping coloraturas and mysterious chorales. W. A. Mozart’s opera premiered in 1791 and is one of the most often performed operas in the world. The production on the Bregenz Festival lake stage impresses the audience with a fantastic setting framed by three dog-dragons, each of them more than twenty meters in height. “David Pounty finds stunning answers to the everlasting questions surrounding ‘The Magic Flute’. (Tagesspiegel); “The ‘play on the lake’ in Bregenz takes the audience into a fantasy world.” Salzburger Nachrichten