Birthday Cakes: Paris in February

A selection of events (classical music and opera) to see in Paris - February 2011.

Salle Pleyel

Wed 2: Orchestre de Paris and Alexandra Soumm (violin) perform Tchaikovsky, Glazunov followed by ODP's take on the 6th by Shostakovich
Sat 5: Staatskapelle Berlin with his awesomeness Daniel Barenboim: Bartok's piano concerto No.1 (with Yefim Bronfman!), and the Tchaikovsky's 5th
Sun 6: same performers: Bartok's piano concerto No.2, and the Tchaikovsky's 6th
Wed 9 and Thu 10: Orchestre de Paris with its chorus will join Matthias Goerne and Chen Reiss in the all-Fauré program
Fri 11: Die Schöpfung by Haydn, performed by Le Concert Spirituel conducted by Hervé Niquet. Soloists: Sandrine Piau, Topi Lehtipuu, Andrew Foster-Williams
Sat 12: Orchestre National de France conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner will play Petrushka. First part - La Mort de Cléopâtre by Berlioz with Anna Caterina Antonacci
Mon 14: The world's best orchestra [Royal Concertgebouw] with the world's best conductor [Mariss Jansons] together with one of the best pianists today [Leif Ove Andsnes] - Need I say more?! (Ah if only the program was a bit more exciting...)
Wed 23, Thu 2: Always great fun to see performing, Boris Berezovsky, will toy with compositions by Bartok and Ravel. Plus: Orchestre de Paris with Josep Pons conducting
Fri 25: Pierre-Laurent Aimard will play the Ravel's concerto for the left hand, and the Wake of Birds by Messiaen. Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under the baton of Myung-Whun Chung will add La Valse by Ravel and two pieces by Dukas
Mon 28: Dvorak night by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and maestro Riccardo Chailly. In the first part Leonidas Kavakos

Théatre des Champs-Elysées

Tue 1: András Schiff for a piano recital (all Schubert)
Wed 2: Renaud Capuçon (violin) and Frank Braley (piano) - Beethoven's sonatas
Thu 3: David Zinman will conduct Orchestre National de France and Thomas Zehetmair (violin) in an all Mozrat program, in addition to the Strauss' Zarathustra
Mon 7: Recital by Magdalena Kozená called Love Letters
Tue 8: The Seasons by Haydn, with Camilla Tilling, Werner Güra, and Roderick Williams. Maestro Olari Elts will conduct Ensemble orchestral de Paris
Sat 12: Patrick Cohën-Akenine will conduct Les Folies Françoises for a concert performance of Teseo by Handel. Cast: Max Emanuel Cencic, Mary-Ellen Nesi, Emmanuelle de Negri, Xavier Sabata, Ana Quintans Clizia, and Damien Guillon
Sun 13: Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Tugan Sokhiev will accompany David Fray in an all-Beethoven concert. Call me jaded but may I say we've had enough of Beethoven's 7th! It's the 5th time in 2 months!
Sun 20: Misha Maïsky and Martha Argerich together with the Luzern Symphonic Orchestra and conducted by Neeme Järvi, to perform an interesting program which will be topped by the Symphony No.9 by Shostakovich
Mon 21 and Wed 23: Fidelio in concert. Cast: Melanie Diener, Jorma Silvasti, Matthias Goerne, Kurt Rydl, Sophie Karthäuser, Werner Güra, and Bálint Szabó. Orchestre National de France will be conducted (?) by Kurt Masur

Théâtre du Châtelet

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France lead by Esa-Pekka Salonen, in a series of 11 concerts, will celebrate the nordic and contemprary music by Salonen, Grieg, Rautavaara, Tormis, Hillborg, Ligeti, Lutoslawski... Check out the dates & program here

Opéra national de Paris - Opéra Bastille

Tue 1, Fri 4, Mon 7, Thu 10, Mon 14: Madame Butterfly (revival) [dir-Robert Wilson, cnd-Maurizio Benini, Cast: Micaela Carosi, Enkalejda Shkosa, Anna Wall, James Valenti, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Scott Wilde, Carlo Bosi, Vladimir Kapshuk]
Thu 3, Sun 6, Wed 9, Sat 12, Wed 16, Sat 19, Mon 21: Francesca da Rimini (new production at ONP) [dir- Giancarlo del Monaco, cnd-Daniel Oren, Cast: Roberto Alagna, William Joyner, Wojtek Smilek, Svetla Vassileva, Maria Virginia Savastano, George Ganidze, Louise Callinan, Manuela Bisceglie, Andrea Hill, Cornelia Oncioiu, Carol Garcia, Alexandre Kravets, Yuri Kissin, Alexandre Duhamel] -- more verismo for your ears only (I'm crossing this one out!)

Opéra national de Paris - Opéra Garnier

Tue 1, Fri 4, Mon 7, Thu 10, Sat 12, Mon 14, Thu 17: Giulio Cesare (TRUE NEW PRODUCTION) [dir-Laurent Pelly, cnd-Emmanuelle Haïm, Cast: Natalie Dessay, Isabel Leonard, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Christophe Dumaux, Nathan Berg, Dominique Visse, Aimery Lefèvre ]

Opéra Comique

Tue 1, Thu 3: Betrothal in a Monastery NEW PRODUCTION [dir-Martin Duncan, cnd-Tugan Sokhiev, Cast: Garry Magee, Anastasia Kaligina, Larissa Diadkova, Brian Galliford...]

Cité de la Musique

Fri 11: Ensemble intercontemporain conducted by Ludovic Morlot to perform music by Julian Anderson, Elliot Carter and Kaija Saariaho. Leigh Melrose will sing, and Jeanne-Marie Conquer - violin
Sat 12: Old music by Monteverdi and his "contemporaries": Ensemble Musicatreize conducted by Roland Hayrabedian and several soloists
Tue 15: The Fairy Queen (yay!) with Ed Lyon et al. New London Consort & Philip Pickett
Wed 16: The Boston Camerata and a group of singers with assorted program of American songs (cycle The American Dream)
Thu 24: A Dream Balad - musical/visual spectacle
Fri 25: Ensemble intercontemporain conducted by François-Xavier Roth: music by Adams, Hackbarth, and Reich
Sat 26: June Anderson and the Chorus Accentus: recital - songs by Glass, Copland, Ives, Barber, and Bernstein

Musée d'Orsay

Tue 1: piano recital by Charles Owen (Schumann, Fauré, Ravel)
Tue 8: piano recital by François Dumont (Debussy, Liszt, Ravel)
Thu 10: Simon Keenlyside - English songs recital (Macolm Martineau on piano)

Théâtre Athénée

Thu 10, Fri 11, Sat 12, Sun 13: La voix humaine and La dame de Monte Carlo [dir- Vincent Vitoz, cnd- ?] with Stéphanie d'Oustrac

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Paris sky is quite spectacular when there is Sun to make your cold days beautiful (even when it's chilly). See these 2 pics I took the other day [with only 2 minutes between them!]