Tag Archives: Les Contes D’Hoffmann
The Tales of Hoffmann in HD – 2015
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st January 2015Offenbach’s masterpiece was telecast for the second time by the Met in its HD series. The first broadcast was December 19, 2009 with Joseph Calleja in the title role. This afternoon Vittorio Grigolo had the lead part. Bart Sher’s production was modified from its earlier incarnation, mostly for the better. The lights were turned on this…
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Hoffmann’s Epilogue
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th December 2009As promised, here are five different versions of the conclusion of Offenbach’s Les Contes D’Hoffmann. They are presented in chronological order. The first is taken from the 1948 recording of the opera under Andre Cluytens. Hoffmann Epilogue – Cluytens Jobin. This is a French production and my favorite. The Hoffmann was the French-Canadian tenor Raoul…
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Rachele Gilmore Makes Remarkable Met Debut
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd December 2009In the grand tradition of a star is born and the show must go on young American soprano Rachele Gilmore made an unscheduled debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera tonight as Olympia in Offenbach’s Les Contes Hoffman. She was given only three hour’s notice that Kathleen Kim was ill and that she was up. She…
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Tales of Hoffmann in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th December 2009Bart Sher’s new production of Offenbach’s masterpiece was broadcast today (December 19, 2009) in HD. Sher’s mounting of Rossini’s Barber a couple seasons back was very successful. This time around wasn’t as fortunate. His problem was that everything was almost invisible. His scenes were dark, darker, and darkest. When you could see what was going…
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