. Photo: Guergana Damianova.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe production\u2019s acting and singing were very good. Michael Fabiano\u2019s Hoffmann showed great timing, though as the evening progressed he seemed to tire. Laurent Naouri sang all the villains\u2014Lindorf, Copp\u00e9lius, Dapertutto, and Dr. Miracle\u2014and was appropriately despicable. Olympia\u2019s short, spectacular, and demanding role was well-handled by Jody Devos. She took the Doll Song (\u201cLes oiseaux dans la charmille\u201d) at a slightly slower tempo than usual\u2014to good effect. Vernonique Gens, one of the world\u2019s great sopranos, seemed miscast as Giuletta but sang her small part gorgeously, while Ailyn P\u00e9rez\u2019s dying Antonia was passionate and heartfelt. The great performance of the evening was by the opera\u2019s true hero, Nicklausse the muse. Ga\u00eblle Arquez was in great voice, and her Act II<\/small> aria \u201cNon, c\u2019est une artiste,\u201d that touching homage to musical art, was rapturous. Sir Mark Elder kept an excellent balance among orchestra, soloists, and Jos\u00e9 Luis Basso\u2019s impeccably trained chorus and propelled things along with his crisp and sprightly conducting.<\/p>\n
Time passed very quickly during this performance, and the audience\u2019s rapt engagement clearly showed that this was a Hoffman<\/i> worth seeing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On <\/i>Les Contes d\u2019Hoffman at the Op\u00e9ra Bastille.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1388,"featured_media":116288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[472],"tags":[2271,637,1680,712,812],"dispatch-city":[],"acf":{"participants":{"simple_value_formatted":"","value_formatted":null,"value":null,"field":{"ID":0,"key":"field_65fb0bff29d65","label":"Participants","name":"participants","aria-label":"","prefix":"acf","type":"user","value":null,"menu_order":0,"instructions":"","required":0,"id":"","class":"","conditional_logic":0,"parent":"group_651c53615a3f7","wrapper":{"width":"","class":"","id":""},"role":"","return_format":"object","multiple":1,"allow_null":0,"bidirectional":0,"bidirectional_target":[],"_name":"participants","_valid":1}},"featured_image_credits":{"simple_value_formatted":"Jodie Devos in <\/i>Les Contes d\u2019Hoffman at the Op\u00e9ra Bastille. 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