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The Radio 3 Boards > The Music Boards > The Opera House > La Traviata live from Zurich Central Station
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Author Topic: La Traviata live from Zurich Central Station  (Read 140 times)
perfect wagnerite
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« on: 18:30:16, 01-10-2008 »
I've just got back from a trip to France, where I happened to catch this event on TV last night - on the ARTE channel, so it would have been available across Europe:

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/wire/sns-ap-eu-switzerland-opera-in-the-station,0,2649248.story

I was wondering whether any of our members on the mainland caught it too, and what they thought.  I only saw about half of it (from the party scene to the end) but I thought it was a fascinating experience; the audience of passing commuters appeared to love it, and there were frequent shots of the engrossed audience.  It was inevitably a conventional approach to the work but it used the space of one of Europe's grandest stations very effectively.  It was particularly interesting to see the chorus melt into the audience - sitting at tables in the station bars for example - when they weren't needed, adding a real sense of a community event.

Eva Mei was Violetta - a bit shrill but a totally committed performance - and the Alfredo was an excellent tenor I hadn't encountered before, Vittorio Grigolo, with the chorus and orchestra of the Zurich Opera.

A couple of images:





I struggle to imagine such an event in a London terminus.
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
David_Underdown
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« Reply #1 on: 12:06:22, 02-10-2008 »
Quote from: perfect wagnerite on 18:30:16, 01-10-2008


I struggle to imagine such an event in a London terminus.

Well I've taken part in an amateur Messiah at Marylebone, and I think there have been a couple of "flash mob" type things.
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David
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« Reply #2 on: 12:26:36, 02-10-2008 »
Yeah, there was "Flashmob - The Opera" a few years back. Not really Verdi, though!  Wink
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #3 on: 12:41:21, 02-10-2008 »
Ah, I missed that.  I'm a bit surprised that the station authorities were willing to allow it ("You're not bringing that soprano in 'ere, mate.  Health and safety.  I don't make the rules ..."), while the Zurich event was obviously a big, meticulously planned event, broadcast across Europe (but not the UK  Sad).  Isn't this sort of thing what BBC4 is for?

I loved it.  I thought it did a wonderful job of breaking down many of the perceptions that opera is elitist and inaccessible, and the setting and the presence of the audience in the thick of the action were a large part of this.
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
Lord Byron
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« Reply #4 on: 12:44:25, 02-10-2008 »
cheap set Smiley
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #5 on: 12:49:43, 02-10-2008 »
"I'm sorry, Miss, I don't care if it is a Brindisi - "Consumption Of Alcohol or Being In Possession Of Open Containers of Alcoholic Drinks On A Railway Station Is An Offence Under the Bylaws" and I am taking you and your friend Miss Flora into custody.  You are not obliged to say anything, but any arias you sing may be taken down and used in evidence against you."
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #6 on: 12:59:50, 02-10-2008 »
Quote from: Reiner Torheit on 12:49:43, 02-10-2008
"Consumption Of Alcohol or Being In Possession Of Open Containers of Alcoholic Drinks On A Railway Station Is An Offence Under the Bylaws"
I don't think it is in Zürich, fortunately. They also have some tremendous sausages at said station although not quite up to the standards of the Sternengrill not very far away whose Massenvernichtungssenf is a thing of great beauty. Anyway, those sausages could come in hand-y should there be a Caruso-Melba Bohème in the offing.  Wink

(They also have an Occitane shop in said station. Just in case that might be useful information to anyone.)
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