Our 2008/9 season in Brussels ended with Nozze de Figaro and our Stein fortepiano.  Following a quick transport, it is now being used in Aix en Provence and the production of Idomeneo. Meanwhile our larger “Dulcken” 6 octave instrument is being used in the other Mozart opera, The Magic Flute. It is unusual to feature a keyboard instrument in “The Flute”, but in this production from Brussels it is used to great effect and follows the practise in Mozarts day when we suppose he would have improvised interludes at appropriate moments on the piano.   This is staged in the new Grand Theatre de Provence. Idomeneo is presented in the famous Archeveche Palais. This is an open air auditorium and in the right conditions a magical place to view an opera. Good accoustic and blissfully cool in the late evening. For tuning however it poses some problems due to falling temperatures and rising humidity during performances. I have to say that after 27 years, (yes, I was shocked too!) I have managed to pre-empt the worst effects of this, but of course I cannot change the laws of physics  (as Scotty used to say) and I have had to learn to smile in the face of adversity.

In Salzburg we have a large collection of instruments in place to serve what is to be a busy festival. It is worth checking their site for details.  The opening video is one of the best I have seen!   I will add to this post as the festival progresses.

Last night’s official opening of the 2009 Festwochen was set (as usual) against the backdrop of the famous Rathaus. It is remarkable that only 24 hours before, the city had been shaken by an earth tremor (4.5.) centered only 55 miles to the south.

This production has now moved to the sister theatres operated by Opera du Rhin, Mulhouse and Colmar. The last performance scheduled in Strasbourg had to be moved out of the city owing to a NATO meeting. It is quite extraordinary to report that the city and a large area of surrounding country, including an area in nearby Germany, were effectively

With just over a week before the premier, orchestral rehearsals have moved to the theatre. The pit is just big enough for the orchestra and the huge array of percussion instruments. Our Concert Harpsichord and Regal are working well. Avid readers of my posts (as if!) will remember that the Regal is new

The Nederlands has long been famous for its instrument makers. Following in this tradition are two friends of mine, Jan Kalsbeek and Henk Klop. Jan has made three Giusti instruments for us and on his excellent website you will find a wealth of information about him and

We are looking forward to this touring production soon to arrive in Luxembourg. We are supplying two French style instruments, one of them made by Jan Kalsbeek. I will be talking to him in Zutphen this week and hope to have an interview ready by Sunday. In the same visit to Holland, I will be collecting the new Regal for Le Grand Macabre (see recent post) and will talk to the organ and harpsichord maker Henk Klop.

There is a saying in England, ‘You wait for a bus for half an hour and then three come at once’. So to see two different productions in Europe of Cavalli’s La Calisto in performance at the same time could be viewed as an unnecessary clash for the public and artists alike. On the other hand,

The Herbert Wernicke production of Cavalli’s La Calisto was first performed in Brussels in 1993. It was one of many productions introduced by the then new director Bernard Foccroulle that would make Brussels a mecca for early opera fans. It is worth noting that in London at the Royal Opera

View from Hoboken Ferry

During 2007 I had the opportunity to work in New York. The Brussels production of The Magic Flute was performed in Brooklyn. I looked after the fortepiano and did some sightseeing. One of the highlights was hearing the wonderful choir at St Thomas’s, Fifth Ave.

It was good to escape the cold & damp of a British spring and work in the extraordinary surroundings of the Emirates Palace Hotel. The concert hall is discreetly housed in a wing of this vast edifice. Our Ducornet Grimaldi was air freighted out via Paris but managed to get lost on the return journey, surviving a short period at Heathrow before a tearful return to Paris!!