I'm still in Paris, awaiting the first performance of Kaija Saariaho's opera Adriana Mater. The premiere was to have taken place at the Opéra de la Bastille last Thursday night, but, as Charles Downey reported at ionarts, a strike in support of part-time performing-arts workers forced a last-minute cancellation. If tonight's performance is cancelled too, I'll have to move on, but I intend to write about Saariaho anyway, damnit. I've gleaned some sense of the new piece from the score, and I can also comment on the riveting new DVD of her first opera, L'Amour de loin. [Update: Saariaho was heard, and she triumphed.] Another nationwide strike, unrelated to the action against the Opéra, has been called for tomorrow. From the barricades of the eternal revolution I salute you.
Through the marvel of digital sound, I am listening in my Paris hotel room to last week's LA Philharmonic concerts, now on iTunes. Mark Swed has the Minimalist Jukebox report; more at The Standing Room, Paul Bailey, and Sequenza21.
