Angelika KirchschlagerFinally I was able to see my favourite classical singer, the mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager live in concert. Finally, because when I had hoped to see her in an opera in February she had cancelled a few days before the performance...
Anyway, this time she sang songs by Berlioz from his work Les nuits d'été and the orchestra (the Chamber Orchestra Basel, which she was accompanied by) played sections of works by Carl Maria von Weber, Jean Sibelius and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, which were all based on Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The theatre was almost sold out and after an instrumental intro, Angelika came on stage. The first thing I noticed were her almost 10cm high heels – a kind of shoes which is really only suitable for the stage and not for every day. ;) But she actually needed them for the elegant black velvet full-length dress which she wore.
Before she started singing, she gave a sly smile to the audience and made the whole theatre smile and you could really hear the noise. After this nice beginning, she sang seven songs which were all in French (after poems by French poet Théophile Gautier). She seemed very confident – only once she coughed before she started a song and I was a little worried that she might have caught a cold...
And after the performance I went to the stage door and queued up in a long line of fans – of which I was actually almost the youngest. The average age of the people there was rather about fifty-five... ;)
Finally Angelika Kirchschlager came out of the stage door and, as I had expected, she proved to be the total opposite of the cliché of the aloof and snobbish opera diva. She was friendly and easygoing, talked to people and stayed until everyone had their stuff (CDs, photos,...) signed. And after I had overcome my instant speechlessness when she appeared at the stage door, and had managed to talk to her a little, she also kindly agreed to have her photo taken with me.
Angelika smiles:
(pic taken by me)
Anyway, this time she sang songs by Berlioz from his work Les nuits d'été and the orchestra (the Chamber Orchestra Basel, which she was accompanied by) played sections of works by Carl Maria von Weber, Jean Sibelius and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, which were all based on Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The theatre was almost sold out and after an instrumental intro, Angelika came on stage. The first thing I noticed were her almost 10cm high heels – a kind of shoes which is really only suitable for the stage and not for every day. ;) But she actually needed them for the elegant black velvet full-length dress which she wore.
Before she started singing, she gave a sly smile to the audience and made the whole theatre smile and you could really hear the noise. After this nice beginning, she sang seven songs which were all in French (after poems by French poet Théophile Gautier). She seemed very confident – only once she coughed before she started a song and I was a little worried that she might have caught a cold...
And after the performance I went to the stage door and queued up in a long line of fans – of which I was actually almost the youngest. The average age of the people there was rather about fifty-five... ;)
Finally Angelika Kirchschlager came out of the stage door and, as I had expected, she proved to be the total opposite of the cliché of the aloof and snobbish opera diva. She was friendly and easygoing, talked to people and stayed until everyone had their stuff (CDs, photos,...) signed. And after I had overcome my instant speechlessness when she appeared at the stage door, and had managed to talk to her a little, she also kindly agreed to have her photo taken with me.
Angelika smiles:
(pic taken by me)
