It seems that this will become a tradition! After Julie Fuchs cancelled last year at the last minute, replaced by the talented Rosa Feola, this year and two days before the concert, it is Sonya Yoncheva’s turn to cancel the two performances of the Orchestre de Suisse Romande’s New Year’s concert (one at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, and one at the Théâtre de Beaulieu in Lausanne). But what a surprise it was when I saw that the replacement was Juliana Grigoryan! I, who had wanted to listen to her for a while, had the opportunity to hear her in several Italian repertoires such as Donizetti, Puccini or Verdi, and she even tried her hand at the French repertoire with Carmen! Playing on her charms and her body to interpret this aria so well known to the public, an enchantment!
Opposite Juliana Grigoryan was the renowned confirmed tenor Dmitry Korchak, it had been a while since I had heard him since La Cenerentola which opened the 2023 season of the Paris Opera! One of the organizers came to tell us before the concert that he too was ill… BUT! That he still wanted to sing to please us. Judging from his performance last night, I can tell you that many tenors on earth would like to be sick like him because his voice was still remarkable!
And then as usual, thanks to Jonathan Nott, a conductor who is always so precise, always so sensational, and always so accurate in his way of making the musicians play, with a special mention to Léonard Frey-Maibach, first cellist who really gave it his all last night!
I noticed two small things that I missed for this evening, first of all an encore or a final aria would have been really welcome (a tradition in New Year’s concerts across Europe), and then also a little decoration or some small festive flowers on stage, the atmosphere was really sad, especially for a New Year’s concert.
Credit photo : Magali Dougados
PROGRAM
Gioacchino Rossini
Guillaume Tell, Overture
Otello, Rodrigo’s Aria, Act 2, ‘Che ascolto ! …Ah ! come mai non senti pieta’
Antonín Dvorák
Rusalka, Ode à la lune pour soprano op.114
Giacomo Puccini
Gianni Schicchi, Air de Lauretta ‘O mio babbino caro…’
Gaetano Donizetti
La Fille du Régiment, Tonio’s cavatina, ‘À mes amis…Pour mon âme’
Vincenzo Bellini
Norma, Norma’s cavatina, Act 1, ‘Casta diva’
Giacomo Puccini
Madama Butterfly, Intermezzo to Act 3
Madama Butterfly, Cio Cio San’s Aria, Act 2, ‘Un bel di vedremo…’
Georges Bizet
Les Pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers), Nadir’s Recitative and Romance ‘À cette voix… Je crois entendre encore’
Giuseppe Verdi
La Traviata, Prelude to Act 1
La Traviata, Alfredo and Violetta’s Duet, Act 3, ‘Parigi o cara’
La Traviata, Alfredo and Violetta’s Duet (Brindisi), Act 1, ‘Libiamo, ne lieti calici’
Georges Bizet
Carmen, habanera, Act 1 No. 4, Carmen’s Aria ‘L’amour est un oiseau rebelle…’
Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto, Duke’s Aria ‘La Donna è mobile’
Gaetano Donizetti
Don Pasquale, Norina and Ernesto’s Duet, Act 3, ‘Tornami a dir che m’ami’
