Sabine Devieilhe impresses in Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol

Olivier Py directed a production of Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in 2023 and a live recording was made for CD.  The Nightingale is sung by soprano Sabine Devieilhe and she is very good indeed.  She has pretty much the perfect voice for this role with its coloratura sections and very high tessitura.  Her voice sounds suitably sweet all the way up and her coloratura is very precise.  She’s very well backed up by an all French cast featuring the excellent tenor Cyrille Dubois as the Fisherman and the unmistakable Laurent Naouri as the Chamberlain.  Jean-Sébastien Bou also impresses as a suitably tremulous Emperor and there’s a nice cameo from Chantal Santon Jeffery as the Cook.  The minor roles are all well sung and French diction is notably good across the board. Continue reading

Almaviva’s gangster gang

Martin Kušej’s production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at Salzburg in 2023 came 20 years after he had last directed a Mozart opera at Salzburg.  My reviews (and follow up pieces) of his productions of Don Giovanni (2002, revived 2006) and La clemenza di Tito (2002) are probably two of the most commented on on this blog.  So I’m interested to see where this goes.

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