There were as many opera stars in the churches of Gstaad as there was snow on the ski slopes!
Like every year, I love coming to the Gstaad New Year Music Festival, it’s so special to see people I see on the biggest stages in the world in churches of 100/200 people, the organization really goes all out to make the festival accessible and attractive, as proof, this year was the 19th year, and what a year!
This year and among others we can mention Freddie de Tommaso, Elina Garanca, Roda Feola, Jonathan Tetelman, Sonya Yoncheva, Lise Davidsen, Golda Schulz and so more…
The festival started off beautifully and in every sense of the word since it was the beautiful and sparkling Rosa Feola that I had just left in Paris for Rigoletto who delighted our ears by taking up airs from the Italian repertoire among others, and an interpretation of Norma which… truly and without a doubt, will be a great role for Rosa in the years to come, without a doubt!
Then came the turn the next day of the duo Elina Garanca/Jonathan Tetelman… who I say without delay, gave us an extraordinary version of Act 2 of Cavalleria Rusticana (video on the Instagram account Opéra Diary).
What a pleasure to see one of the most prominent tenors of Italian opera and without doubt the best mezzo of the Italian repertoire of the last 10 years, plus Frederic Chaslin at the piano ! My god the duo works on stage, just seeing the complicity of the looks, in the gestures, in the way of playing, in the way of dancing, it is truly extraordinary and I am looking forward to seeing them together in a theater in front of 2000 people in costume to see what it can give!
And to end in style (spoiler alert: one last surprise was waiting for me while writing these lines), the duo who has just finished a world tour of Tosca in Munich, New York, Berlin and so on, is none other than the very very talented and friendly Freddie de Tommaso, who was in the arms of the Norwegian Lise Davidsen.
A breathtaking duo who served us some Italian arias, some German arias, for a recital of one hour flat without a break. Seeing a great Lise Davidsen in a small church, I tell you my friends that it is something to see, I believe that Jesus on his cross himself stood up to applaud at one point (source to be verified).
And then as I said before, the surprise came the next day since Freddie de Tommaso replaced at short notice the baritone André Schuen who was suffering and who canceled at the last moment, and I can tell you that closing the festival with De Tommaso on stage lit partly by candles singing Verdi arias and Neapolitan arias… well I am not ready to forget it and this evening will remain my favorite of the whole festival without a doubt!
He who is also known for his passion for Enrico Caruso and who tells us before starting the tenor’s main aria in the opera La Fanciulla Del West, that he tried on the original Caruso hat that he wore during the creation of this same opera at the Metropolitan in New York… Believe me, on a Saturday night in the snow in a small Swiss village lost in the middle of the mountains, well I wouldn’t have missed it for anything in the world!
Thank you Gstaad, thank you Freddie, thank you Illyria, thank you Elizabeth, thank you the artists, thank you Switzerland… thank you!
