Simon Biazeck

Operatic tenor, song, composition, ancient music & musicology and sometime table dancer at the Royal Opera House.

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

17:12 from Victoria station to Rochester - the heating is on in the second carriage from the ticket barriers!
@Se_Railway

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

Check out this Linktree! - https://t.co/gnOaZlChAZ

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@Se_Railway The guard on the 17:12 from Victoria to Ramsgate seems to think otherwise. Who’s correct?

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@CburyCathedral No sound on the stream of Evensong.

[French & Saunders @FrenchnSaunders]

@Dawn_French

‘Becoming Victoria Wood’
Tonight 9pm on UK Gold!

#frenchandsaunders #dawnfrench #jennifersaunders #livinglegends #comedygoddesses #icons #doubleact #funnywomen #doubleact #victoriawood

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@larkingrumple ... no interval.

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@larkingrumple 2hrs 20 minutes

[Rod Andrews @rod21198]

@implausibleblog Liz Truss is a traitorous wretch, Johnson stuffed the BBC hierarchy with Conservative affiliates and she cheered. Now she sides with Trump in an obvious attempt to wreak retribution for the BBC being honest about her appalling record as PM.

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@Se_Railway how many carriages does the 8:05 from Rochester to London Victoria have?

[Stephen Pollard @stephenpollard]

I’ve dealt elsewhere with the controversy over Anna Netrebko’s appearance at @rbo_org as Tosca. https://t.co/Pbkj4Eybbs

As for the performance at last night’s opening: it was one of the greatest Toscas I’ve ever seen. Netrebko was peerless. She seems to be at the height of her powers now. The voice is familiar, of course. But hearing her live is something else. There is an intensity and a softness to every note she sings, and she commands the stage entirely. You can’t take your eyes off her.

That’s quite something given the brilliance of her fellow leads. I hadn’t heard the young British tenor Freddie De Tommaso live before. Boy, is he special. There is a proper Italianate ping to his voice and it’s secure and beautiful. His final act duet with Netrebko was spellbinding.

As for Gerard Finley: his is the Scarpia of nightmares, and in the best possible way. The voice is as pure and mellifluous as ever, but this stood out for his acting, as a truly evil blend of cold bureaucratic menace.

That’s a product of the production. I sometimes despair when every production has to be updated or ‘say’ something new beyond what the composer and librettist had in mind. But Oliver Mears’ new production was genuinely original whilst being entirely true to the essence of the opera. In Act 1, it seemed we were in Italy as the Mussolini era was drawing to a close. To be honest, the setting was almost irrelevant, so magical was Netrebko.

But it came into its own in the final two acts. Scarpia’s bare, spartan office was more like some sort of 1970s South American or communist dictatorship, and the confrontation between him and Tosca was as riveting as any single act I’ve ever seen. Both were flawless both vocally and dramatically.

Act 3 was gut wrenching, set in the torture chamber where we heard Cavaradossi in Act 2, off Scarpia’s office. The nonchalance of the executioners, the cleaner’s prosaic sweeping up of the blood and the sense of death closing in were brilliantly captured by the production.

In his debut as music director Jakub Hrůša brought out vibrant swagger from the orchestra. I’m used to Pappano’s more lyrical approach, but this worked well and carries promise for his tenure.

I wonder how the production will survive revivals without such stellar performances. But that’s for another day. For now, beg, borrow or steal a ticket, as they say.

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@Se_Railway which train from Rochester to LDN VIC. will be the first - the delayed 14:06 or the delayed 14:38? Station staff say it's the fomerr; your app says the latter. Any wisdom?

[Elliott Franks @elliottfranks]

Times 5* review The Royal Opera's Tosca at The Royal Opera House Anna Netrebko as Floria Tosca, Gerald Finley as Baron Scarpia & Freddie De Tommaso as Mario Cavaradossi. The splendour of Rome. The devastation of war. Puccini’s operatic thriller returns in an epic new production.

[Elliott Franks @elliottfranks]

The Times News in Pictures - The Royal Opera's Tosca opens at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden https://t.co/VUoxEQ0piS - Gerald Finley as Baron Scarpia & chorus - The splendour of Rome. The devastation of war. Puccini’s operatic thriller returns in an epic new production.

[Elliott Franks @elliottfranks]

P3 The Times 5* review for The Royal Opera's Tosca at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden Russian Soprano Anna Netrebko as Floria Tosca & Gerald Finley as Baron Scarpia - The splendour of Rome. The devastation of war. Puccini’s operatic thriller returns in an epic new production.

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@italyheaven Which bit is set in 1800? (I am in it.)

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@Se_Railway alighted at Longfield.

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@Se_Railway 15:10 from Victoria to Dover Priory. Clown smoking on the second to last carriage. Guard?!

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

NEW EDITION! 'Ecce iste venit' by Costanzo Festa. Some reconstruction was required due to corrosion and bleed-through in the MS source, but it's a very fine setting nevertheless! https://t.co/Nc7MpK1dWe

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

The Dove Descending Breaks the Air - Download Sheet Music PDF file https://t.co/cWwJR6a7Zu via @scoreexchange

[Simon Biazeck @SimonBiazeck]

@Se_Railway 12:40 from Victoria to Rochester on platform 5 - any chance of air conditioning on the middle carriages?