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Opera

Il Viaggio a Reims (Opera Australia) ★★★★

by •
ABR Arts • 27 May 2019
Opera

Il Viaggio a Reims (Opera Australia) ★★★★

by •
ABR Arts • 27 May 2019

On 24 May 2019, an excited Melbourne audience witnessed a night of spectacular entertainment and magnificent music in the Australian première of Rossini’s 1825 opera Il Viaggio a Reims, exuberantly reimagined by Damiano Michieletto.

Il Viaggio is an opera with multiple backstories. It was Rossini’s first commission when the superstar of early-nineteenth-century Italian opera took up his new job managing the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. This occasional work marked the coronation of conservative ultra-royalist Charles X, brother of the unfortunate Louis XVI. Charles chose to revive ancient French traditions and to have his reign consecrated in Reims, while in Paris his staff commissioned operas to glorify the virtues of church and monarchy, facing down the turbulent politics of the day.

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Elizabeth Kertesz

Elizabeth Kertesz is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. She is co-author, with Michael Christoforidis, of Carmen and the Staging of Spain: Recasting Bizet’s Opera in the Belle Époque (Oxford University Press, 2018).

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Elizabeth Kertesz

Elizabeth Kertesz is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. She is co-author, with Michael Christoforidis, of Carmen and the Staging of Spain: Recasting Bizet’s Opera in the Belle Époque (Oxford University Press, 2018).

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Comments (3)

  • A very poor review. Four singers are mentioned. The rest were apparently not worth the reviewer's nod, even though they included Teddy Tahu Rhodes as a marvellous Lord Sidney, Julie-Lee Goodwin as the Cruella De Vill-esque Madame Cortese, and the wonderful new Indian-Australian tenor (and winner of the International Rossini Competition), Shanul Sharma as Conte Libenskof, singing a role that few tenors nowadays can tackle. Apparently Kertesz thinks the first four are interesting, the rest not. Instead she flounces her historical knowledge and disregards the actual wonders of the performance.
    Posted by Phyllis Henderson
    31 May 2019
  • Dear Juande,
    Thank you for your message and congratulations again on your performance in Il Viaggio. I wish you all the best with the remaining performances and hope you enjoy your stay in Melbourne. We look forward to hearing you perform here again.
    Saludos,
    Elizabeth
    Posted by Elizabeth Kertesz
    28 May 2019
  • Hello, this is Juan de Dios Mateos. I played the part of Belfiore in Rossini's 'Il Viaggio a Reims'. I just want to thank you for these kind words in Elizabeth Kertesz's review. It's a big pleasure for me to be here performing for the first time, and I am glad if you liked it. I promise I'll keep giving my best.
    Warmest regards,
    Juande
    Posted by Juan de Dios Mateos
    27 May 2019

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