Armando Noguera and Aris Agiris alternate as Belcore
La Monnaie in Brussels has adapted Damiano Michieletto's sexy version of Donizetti's The elixir of love that was produced at the Palau de les Arts Reina and Teatro Real to a setting at Cirque Royal in Belgian capital. The production, which we've covered extensively, also has set designs by Paolo Fantin and costumes by Silvia Aymonino (which are often limited to bathing suits).
Armando Noguera and Aris Agiris are alternating the role of Belcore, who has to change out of his pants and into swim trunks on stage (all done discreetly behind a beach towel). Olga Peretyatko and Anne-Catherine Gille rotate as Adina, Dmitry Korchak and Antonio Poli alternate as Nemorino and Riccardo Novaro and Simon Orfila switch nights as Dr. Dulcamara.
The "villagers" in La Monnaie's Elixir of Love
In this production, Adina is a sexy landlady of a Mediterranean beach bar, the lovelorn Nemorino is a deckchair attendant, Belcore is a coastguard captain, Dulcamara sells baggies and wonder drinks from a jeep and the villagers are now half-dressed sun-worshippers partying on the beach.
Performances run through September 18th and tickets are available online.
We've been following the meteoric career of German barihunk Dominik Köninger since he started blowing away judges at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition last year. Although he's been performing on stages since 2004, when he made his operatic debut at the Ludwigsburger Schloßfestspiele, his victory in London has made him a hot commodity with opera companies and major conductors.
Köninger sings Beethoven's 'Adelaide' and Korngold's "Du reine Frau aus Licht und Elfenbein" in the finals:
On April 15-16, he joins maestro Christopher Hogwood, the Limburg Cathedral Boys Choir and the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra for performances of Mozart’s version of Handel’s Ode to St. Cecilia.
He will also perform Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at the New National Theatre in Tokyo in a new production by Damiano Michieletto.
We also have some news that's so fresh it hasn't even appeared on the opera company's website. This year, Köninger will join the ensemble of Komische Oper Berlin in Berlin, where he will perform Guglielmo, Il Conte, Orfeo and Orest in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride.
