Giulio Cesare at The Met
Eschenbach conducts Wagner & Dvořák

David et Jonathas at BAM

David-et-jonathas-2013* Notes * 
William Christie and Les Arts Florissants are currently performing Charpentier's David et Jonathas at BAM. The production is from Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and is directed by Andreas Homoki of Opernhaus Zürich. The set consists of wooden walls that can shift and move along two Cartesian axes. The blond wood used for walls and furniture has a clean simplicity. The lighting design likewise is elegant. The costumes reflected the updated setting of the Mediterranean in the 1930s or thereabouts.

The singing was pleasant enough. The chorus sounded harmonious. Dominque Visse certainly sounded unnatural as La Pythonisse, and seemed to relish his role. Neal Davies raged as Saul. Ana Quintans made for a clear-toned Jonathas and Pascal Charbonneau sang David with vibrancy.

Best of all was the ensemble itself. Under the direction of William Christie, Les Arts Florissants sounded wonderfully sprightly. The precision of the playing did not suffer from the lively beauty of the performance.

* Tattling * 
The three people in Row N Seats 35 through 39 on the orchestra level were monstrously ill-behaved. First of all, they were in the wrong seats and had to be asked to move over. Then the three talked aloud, despite being hushed by more than one person. One of them had some sort of noisy and possibly unhygienic habit, another one fell asleep and snored.

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