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Archive for February, 2010

Ivor’s blog

Sunday 28th February, 2010

Tamerlano Blog 13 (28 Feb 2010)

No rest day for us, as we must make Act 3 stage and orchestra rehearsal. At least it is an evening rehearsal and it feels strange to be in a relatively empty ROH on a Sunday evening. After all one week ago the house was heaving with glitterati for the BAFTA ceremony. We are not completely alone: William Christie – doyen of baroque conductors and much-beloved-certainly by me in Handel – is visiting our rehearsal, as is Jory Vinikour, a distinguished harpsichordist. He plays for ‘Les Musiciens du Louvre’ and on occasion also for me with the Freiburger Barockorchester. Act 3...

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Ivor’s blog

Saturday 27th February, 2010

Tamerlano Blog 12 (27 Feb 2010)

We are now settled into a mini-routine of Stage and orchestra rehearsals beginning at 11.00am. This start time gives the stage technical crew time of effect for the change of set from the previous night’s show. We go back to the beginning of Act 2 and I make a run-through with only a few stops for musical matters that are best fixed there and then. This Act contains what I believe is the longest recitative in all of Handel including Tamerlano’s attempted humiliation of Bajazet and Asteria’s eventual emergence as the true heroic character of the opera. The three Ariettas sung...

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Events

Friday 26th February, 2010

5 March: Ivor conducts Tamerlano at the Royal Opera House

George Frideric Handel, Tamerlano 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20 March 2010 Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Ivor Bolton - Conductor Christianne Stotijn - Tamerlano Sara Mingardo - Andronico Kurt Streit - Bajazet Christine Schäfer - Asteria Renata Pokupic - Irene Vito Priante - Leone Graham Vick - Director Richard Hudson - Designer Matthew Richardson - Lighting designer Ron Howell -...

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News

Friday 26th February, 2010

Ivor Bolton blogs from the Royal Opera House

Currently in rehearsals for Handel's Tamerlano at the Royal Opera House, Ivor does not intend to keep this exciting experience to himself... Following up on his acclaimed 2009 Salzburg Festival blog, Ivor joins the blogging community once again. On the official Royal Opera House blog he gives an insider account of the Tamerlano rehearsals and the progression of the production process. Visit http://blog.roh.org.uk/?cat=62 to plunge into the life at the Royal Opera House and to learn more about Handel's great opera and the work with the Tamerlano cast and the Orchestra of the Age of...

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Ivor’s blog

Thursday 25th February, 2010

Tamerlano Blog 11 (25 Feb 2010)

Now on stage working though Act 3 with Principals and continuo team in the pit. Stage-management are really well-prepared and Emily (senior stage-manager on this show has her team working like a well-oiled machine. Graham (Vick) is impressive and well ahead of the game so that artistic detail is still being worked on and the rehearsal doesn’t degenerate into a technical one as is so often the case. After lunch we have a Sitzprobe (musical rehearsal with orchestra and singers but without staging). These rehearsals are the first point of contact between orchestra and cast and there is a good...

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Ivor’s blog

Wednesday 24th February, 2010

Tamerlano Blog 10 (24 Feb 2010)

1st Stage and Orchestra.  This is the moment where everything comes together; cast, orchestra and staging. Even though we are a relatively small orchestra, we have not so much space in the ROH pit due to  having to fit in two harpsichords, an organ, two chitarrones. A further element  is the ‘health and safety’ net which is legally immoveable and effectively renders a huge area of space unuseable with pit settings above a certain height. (All baroque pieces for example). We work through the 1st Act. Kurt Streit (now singing all performances of ‘Bajazet’ due to Domingo’s cancellation) is remarkable-...

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Ivor’s blog

Monday 22nd February, 2010

Tamerlano Blog 9 (22 Feb 2010)

Orchestra reading rehearsals with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment. (Linbury Theatre). This terrific ensemble (Britain’s 1st self-governing period-instrument orchestra) appears regularly at ROH. This is my third show with them at the Garden. We work fast and attack details straight away. Alison Bury is a dynamic leader and Tony Robson a plangent and feisty 1st oboe! The viola group is particularly strong and characterful, having remained remarkably stable since the early days of the orchestra. Annette Isserlis, Jan Schlapp, Martin Kelly and Nick Logie make a formidable team. For me it’s great to reconnect with Nick-who with me built...

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Ivor’s blog

Sunday 21st February, 2010

Tamerlano Blog 8 (21 Feb 2010)

11.00am- Salzburg Grosses Festspielhaus Brahms’ 2nd Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony- the former magnificently played by Emanuel Ax and the orchestra is my Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra. It is thrilling to conduct this piece with this masterful pianist, who delivers the extreme technical difficulties of this piece with a chamber-music like intimacy. My orchestra is on great form. We had a scare just before the concert when our 1st trumpet has succumbed to the ‘flu. Fortunately our other principal trumpet steps in and also at almost no notice agrees to play natural trumpet in the Beethoven. The whole ensemble is on...

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Ivor’s blog

Wednesday 17th February, 2010

Tamerlano Blog 7 (17 Feb 2010)

The day is spent working through a lot of Asteria’s scenes with Christine Schäfer. The end of the opera is becoming more fluent and I organise some decorations for the Duets in Act 2 and 3. Then I head for Heathrow and eventually Salzburg for Sunday’s Matinee concert with my wonderful Mozarteum Orchestra in the Grosses Festspielhaus. Emanuel Ax will play Brahm’s 2nd Piano Concerto and the concert ends with Beethoven 5. I spend the night in my Munich apartment and will take the train over to Salzburg early...

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Ivor’s blog

Tuesday 16th February, 2010

Tamerlano Blog 6 (16 Feb 2010)

The day starts with an interview followed by a long production call covering a lot of the elaborate recitatives in preparation for the evening’s continuo call. For this call we are joined for the first time by our continuo group from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The excellent Rob Howarth (harpsichord), who has played for me extensively in Salzburg, Munich, Florence, Paris, Amsterdam and numerous other places over the last ten years, is partnered by Dai Miller and Bill Carter on archlute and chitarrone. Jonathan Manson is a fluent cellist and Chi-Chi Nwanoku (well known not only...

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