P. I. Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame – Gran Teatre del Liceu

Obsessive in gambling and in love, the soldier Hermann is the protagonist of Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, based on a story by Pushkin. He is smitten with the aristocratic Lisa and fixated on learning the winning secret of ‘the three cards’ from her grandmother, the Countess, played by iconic contralto Ewa Podles. This opulent production from Barcelona’s Liceu captures St Petersburg in the era of Catherine the Great, while the house’s Music Director Michael Boden conducts a large and impressive cast.

[Didyk] cuts a fine figure on stage: tall, blond, physically agile, he sings the role of the poor lunatic gambler well. His voice is laser-like in focus and has the familiar Slavic edge…Ataneli’s Tomsky is a fine interpretation, his bright voice standing up well…[Podles] is in full control of her considerable resources, the voice booming when it must and scaled back for her lovely ballad — International Record Review, September 2011