Maestro Massimo Zanetti
Concept, stage design and stage direction
José Cura
Current direction
Victoria Bomann-Larsen
MIMÌ
Elsa Dreisig
AUGUST STRINDBERG/RUDOLFO
Stefan Pop
EDVARD MUNCH/MARCELLO
John Chest
TULLA LARSEN/MUSETTA
Lina Johnson
EDVARD GRIEG/SCHAUNARD
Magnus Berg
SØREN KIERKEGAARD/COLLINE
Petri Lindroos
BENOIT & ALCINDORO
Ola Marius Ryan
JULBOCKEN/PARPIGNOL
Arnstein Morken
TRONDHEIM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR(S)
I spent a day in Stavanger observing and documenting noted composer and conductor Péter Eötvös working with a selected number of participants from the Norwegian conductor’s program (Dirigentløftet/Talent Norge/Sparebankstiftelsen).
Maestro Eötvös was this season’s Composer in Residence of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, also conducting his own works.
Here are a few impressions from their last workshop day.
A few images from the performance of the Christmas Oratorio by J.S. Bach at the Nidaros Cathedral. Due to the ongoing corona-situation, the whole setup of the orchestra and choir was different and movement was restricted, but I kind of like the framing and “peering through”-feeling those challenges presented.
Leif Ove Andsnes preparing an all Mozart-program with the musicians of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera in October 2020.
It is an absolute joy to stand “ringside” and hear the results of that intensive listening process and the subsequent interaction between the soloist and the orchestra. A journey of discovery that never ends.
From behind the scenes and closed doors when COVID-19 stopped us all in our tracks.
Digital concert productions, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera. May 2020.
I had one piece off in last week’s concert programme, so I took the opportunity to make some test shots with my current camera setup. I found myself almost instantly limited by a few factors, such as a combination of access and focal range, but in the end I’m quite pleased by the results that these limitations yielded.
For this kind of scenarios I’m currently shooting with a Sony A7RIII and lenses ranging from 24 to 400mm. I’m primarily a prime lens shooter (whenever I can). I find that prime lenses give the subject more character, and subsequently me more artistic opportunities to express that character. One is of course limited to a fixed focal range, but as seen in these images I think that with a little ingenuity that is rather a creative opportunity rather than exclusively a crippling limitation.
Most of the images seen here were captured with a Sigma Art 135mm-lens for the Sony FE-mount system, either in full frame or in crop sensor format to gain a little more reach. To be as unobtrusive as possible, not disturbing the rehearsal process, I positioned myself quite far back on stage and mostly out of sight. This meant that I couldn’t get the usual close ups of the conductor, but ended up doing sort of “environmental action portraits” instead. This resulted in a combination of a cinematic(ish) view of the stage along with the subject separation and compression that you get using a telephoto lens.
I chose to incorporate light reflections of a grand piano and a Wagner tuba to hopefully create some depth and definition to the images. The edit is also centred around the main subject, making her mental and visual connection with the musicians of the orchestra as apparent as possible.
You probably know by now that I absolutely love my Leica cameras, but i have to admit that the Sony system really shines in this kind of scenario. Great dynamic range and autofocus capabilities are pretty essential for shooting in dim/contrasty locations with this much movement. I would love to try the Sony A9ii with the behemoth 400mm f2.8 at some point, that should be pretty amazing for this kind of stuff.
But for now: “Practice, practice, practice..”
Ole
There is no doubt a lot of seriousness and focus involved in making music together at a high level, but every once in a while you capture a bit of off the cuff comedy.
Ole
The punchline from the famous joke “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” couldn’t be more true for a musician. The time spent on stage, performing for the audience in the evening, is only the tip of the iceberg. Finding time and a place to practice and to focus on the task at hand is crucial, whether it is in a Seoul hotel room, on stage at the venue or in a dimly lit backstage corridor.
Ole
