Aix 2010: Pygmalion (2)

Last night we --the lucky subscribers to Mezzo-TV-- could see, live from Aix en Provence, Pygmalion by Rameau, a dance-opera brilliantly staged by  Trisha Brown. The story of a sculptor who falls in love with his creation and begs the goddess to bring her [sculpture] to life, is told by means of modern dancing, involving lots of clever and interestingly constructed topology and fancy positions by both the dancers AND the singers. The orchestra  Les Arts Florissants was marvelous and its boss, maestro  William Christie, simply has this music in his veins. You never feel it as monotonous or flat. It lives!

 Ed Lyon with dancers from The Trisha Brown Dance Company

The singers... aaah the singers: to me Ed Lyon is in the world of tenors what Anja Harteros is in the world of sopranos right now -- can't do wrong. That musicality, that command, sheer beauty of his voice and that diction -- you can't hear that every decade. Sophie Karthäuser and  Emmanuelle de Negri were both wonderful as ever, but the surprise came from Karolina Blixt who we obviously didn't know, as this was her first important international appearance. Her superb scenic presence is backed by a healthy mezzo voice -- with a dark timbre wonderfully fitting  Phaedra [she actually excelled in the first part of the evening, i.e. in Hippolytus and Aricia] One more brilliant Swedish (mezzo)-soprano: what do they feed them with over there? :)


This show practically closes Aix-en-Provence 2010, which I will certainly never forget, mostly because of that Don Giovanni (I'm still hung up on it! ;) ). A huge shoutout to the director of the festival Bernard Foccroulle for providing such a great quality level of the orchestra, conductors, singers AND for a delightful mixture of brilliant directors! I'd remind you that we already the program of Aix-en-Provence 2011.

3 more pics behind...

 Ed Lyon and Emmanuelle de Negri

 Karoline Blixt

Sophie Karthäuser