Placido Domingo, Artistic Director of LA Opera, has announced the new 2008 season, which includes RHEINGOLD and WALKURE directed by Achim Freyer as the first elements in a new RING cycle. Other highlights include a premiere of THE FLY by Howard Shore - to be directed by David Cronenberg! - and a TRITTICO in which Woody Allen will stage GIANNI SCHICCHI (but not the other two operas).
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080108/ap_en_mu/la_opera_seasonMuch as I admire Woody Allen, he's biting off a big chunk with Schicchi - the ensembles in the piece are fiendishly difficult. On the other hand, Allen is a musician, if not a classical musician, so maybe he can bring it off? There's even a vague connection, as Zero Mostel - with whom Allen starred in "The Front" - once played Schicchi too.
I have to admit I'm far from impressed from Achim Freyer's recent work - his MAGIC FLUTE here in Moscow two years ago set a low-water-mark for half-thought-out, half-baked ideas, and has been widely hated by both critics and audiences alike. In fact it was so very awful that the Bolshoi Theatre cancelled his contract to stage TRAVIATA once they saw FLUTE. The idea of a whole Ring Cycle from him strikes me as the deepest of folly, but luckily there is little chance this Ring will get very near me geographically
Does anyone know anything about Howard Shore?
