| Visually remarkable but ultimately lacking in depth by Sarah Noble | |
| Bizet: Carmen Opera Australia Sydney Opera House 24 January 2008 | |
| It's an unconventional start to an otherwise hypertraditional production. Zambello's Carmen bursts with local colour, brilliant detail and the odd surprise: a half-naked village girl, a real live donkey, flamenco dancers and a show-stealing black horse for Escamillo. She has succeeded in breathing vibrant new life into an opera which can easily become cliché. However that vibrancy, which depends largely on production values, only goes so far. With an occasional exception, the opera contains a set of performances which, while engaging enough, could nevertheless come from any less visually imaginative production.. The new life which Zambello has brought doesn't stretch beyond the gorgeous surface, and the result is an attractive but ultimately slightly shallow Carmen. That said, Kirstin Chávez makes a mightily alluring Carmen, an intelligent portrayal which neither descends to outright sluttishness nor exaggerates the character's unconventional virtues. Hers is a voice full of the requisite Bohemian fire and earthy sex appeal, a velvety mezzo in the same black and scarlet tones as her costumes, and she is disarmingly at ease in the role. As Don José, Rosario La Spina displays improving musical sensitivity, his tendency to shout pleasingly curbed in favour of a subtler approach. Some high passages are still pushed too hard but overall his singing here indicates reassuring artistic progress. Unfortunately, his Don José sounds romantic but doesn't particularly look it, his stilted behaviour towards both Carmen and Micaela showing little evidence of devotion or passion for either. Sarah Crane brings sweet, ringing tone to the innocent Micaela, though she's slightly too soubrettish for the role; Micaela is young, but she has a grave, mature soul which is better reflected by a fuller lyric voice. She's best in her early ensemble scenes; later, her "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" is touching and pretty, but rather mercilessly exposed. Baritone Michael Todd Simpson is the suave toréador Escamillo, bringing a slender but elegant voice to the part, though he's done no favours by the theatre's poor acoustics. His is an understated Escamillo; at times this appeals but ultimately it makes him slightly difficult to accept as the local celebrity and dashing thief of Carmen's heart. | |
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The Opera Australia chorus is characterful and enthusiastic in the opera's many crowd scenes, taking well-deserved pleasure in the famous Toréador Song. The boys of the remarkably small chorus of urchins (only nine or ten) are likewise a credit to the company. The score of Carmen is one of the best known in the repertory. To maintain interest it needs a conductor who can maintain a lively pace without riding roughshod over the detail. Opera Australia has lavished one of the finest conductors in its stable - Music Director Richard Hickox - upon the piece, and he more or less manages this feat. He starts the overture almost the very second he reaches the podium, and continues to conduct a Carmen at once exciting and familiarly jolly - no shocking turns of orchestral phrase, but no slipping into autopilot either. However, on opening night there was quite a tug of war between Hickox and Chávez regarding tempi, particularly in her Habanera - the only blot on an otherwise smoulderingly beautiful rendition. The issue eventually seemed to resolve itself, though it was difficult to tell who was bent to whose will. Carmen has been an audience favourite for a very long time. Productions such as Zambello's ensure it will remain so for years to come, revitalising the opera's beloved aspects without challenging the assumptions which underlie that adored status. Nevertheless this is a visually remarkable Carmen ultimately let down by dramatic superficiality and thus, while impressive, is never genuinely exceptional. Zambello's Carmen preaches to the choir, offering an array of delights guaranteed to please those who adore the opera already, but likely to leave hungry those in search of psychological depth or a dash of revolution. | |
| Text © Sarah Noble Photos © Branco Gaica |
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Carmen - SOH - Jan 24, 2008
Francesca Zambello's production of Bizet's Carmen, which premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2006 and opened in Sydney on Thursday evening, opens with a striking, Goya-esque tableau of a handcuffed and bloodied Don José - the imprisoned murderer of Carmen. He's led roughly offstage and the opera follows as José's flashback. 
Carmen's cohorts Frasquita and Mercédès are sung by soprano Amy Wilkinson and mezzo Sian Pendry respectively, both current members of Young Artists programme. They sing with spirit and style; Pendry in particular shows real promise, displaying the sturdy, colourful voice of a Carmen in the making. Andrew Moran shows impressive vocal command as Moralès, while Shane Lowrencev makes an amusingly lecherous Zuniga. Luke Gabbedy and Graeme Macfarlane are the smugglers Dancaïro and Remendado, at their rascally best in the ensemble "Nous avons en tête une affaire". 
Friday, January 18, 2008
Cenerentola - SOH - Jan 18, 2008
| Capturing the magic of La Cenerentola by Sarah Noble | |
| Rossini: La Cenerentola Opera Australia Sydney Opera House 18 January 2008 | |
| Instead, the story is recast to better fit comic opera conventions. Cenerentola/Angelina resembles a less frivolous Rosina, a strong-willed young woman, oppressed by circumstances, but convinced that she can triumph - her opening aria, the simple canzone "Una volta c'era un rè", tells of a king in search of a wife who chose innocence and goodness over pomp and beauty. The accidentally abandoned glass slipper is replaced by a bracelet (one of a pair) which Angelina herself gives to the man she loves, thus taking control of her own destiny. Fairytales from Perrault to Disney abound in truly terrifying evil stepmothers, but Cenerentola has instead a bumbling buffo basso stepfather (ironically named Don Magnifico); her stepsisters are silly, conceited girls but never menacing. Replacing the fairy godmother as deus ex machina is the prince's wise old tutor Alidoro - whose name, literally "wings of gold", acknowledges his magical origins - who oversees a typically opera buffa series of disguises and swapped identities. The Prince (Don Ramiro) switches places with his valet (Dandini). The pure-heared Cenerentola falls for the penniless valet; while the disguised Dandini easily exposes the heartless vanity of the sisters. The fairies, spells and enchanted flora and fauna might be gone, but thanks to Rossini's ever inventive (even if in places self-plagiarised) and sprightly score, and a truly lovely rendering by Opera Australia, the magic is not. Directed by Michael Hampe, with sets and costumes by Reinhard Heinrich, the production finds other ways to bewitch - the stepsisters' preposterously lavish frocks, storybook sets and best of all, a frenzied dash through the storm by a horse and carriage in Gothic silhouette, a coup de théâtre which drew much laughter and applause from the audience. Plenty of magic, too, in the evening's performances. Dominica Matthews, a 2007 Young Artist now taking on her first lead role with the company, is a winning Cenerentola, determined but sweet. Blessed with both a full, fascinating lower register and a bright (if occasionally edgy) top - not to particular brand of agility which Rossini's operas demand - she tackles the role's vocal challenges with verve and clear-voiced beauty, and mostly emerges triumphant. At this early stage of her career, she mightn't yet be prima donna enough to carry the whole show herself; but she certainly shows signs of blossoming into just such a talent. | |
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If there's a show-stealer in this Cenerentola, it's Joshua Bloom's Dandini. Bloom has already won a Green Room Award for his portrayal of the role, and it's hardly surprising - he's irresistibly, outrageously hilarious, especially when camping it up in Act II to disconcert Don Magnifico. He matches comic brilliance with vocal splendour, an opulent and flexible baritone. David Thelander is disappointingly underpowered as Alidoro; he has some attractive passages but lacks the commanding vocal and physical presence which his role as puppeteer requires. Richard Alexander fares somewhat better as Don Magnifico, but is ultimately too generic, missing the role's abundant opportunities for hilarity. The two stepsisters - one hesitates to call them "ugly" as both look and sound rather pretty - make no such mistake. Taryn Fiebig is a deliciously bright-toned Clorinda, showcasing her none-too-shabby ballet skills in the opening scene, and is well matched by Jacqueline Dark's ebullient mezzo as Tisbe. The men of the Opera Australia chorus are superb as the royal entourage, their singing crisp and precise and their synchronised fawning highly amusing. Maestro Brad Cohen draws a mostly cohesive, idiomatic performance from the AOBO, skilfully balancing overbubbling wit with a strong sense of line and elegance and deftly supporting the singers. Rossini's La Cenerentola mightn't be a fairytale in the strictest sense, but there's little doubt of its power to enchant, and with this smart production and a generally impressive cast, Opera Australia goes a long way toward capturing that magic. | |
| Text © Sarah Noble Photos © Branco Gaica |
It's Cinderella, but not as we know it. Rossini's La Cenerentola retains the basic story - the downtrodden and virtuous cinder-girl who enchants a prince and transcends her nasty stepfamily - but excises its supernatural aspects. No transfigured rodents, no pumpkin, no glass slipper and no fairy godmother. 
Don Ramiro is sung by Kanen Breen, one of Opera Australia's more unusual artists - a lyric tenor whose greatest asset is not his voice (appealing but rarely distinctive and occasionally worryingly constricted) but his prodigious gift for physical comedy. With his matinée idol features, he could be the illegitimate operatic offspring of Buster Keaton and Ivor Novello. He certainly makes a wonderfully funny Prince; but the fact remains that it's Prince Charming whom Cinderella falls for, not Prince Great Sense of Humour, and his characterisation, both physical and vocal, could have done with a touch more suavity.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Cenerentola - SOH - Jan 14, 2008
La Cenerentola
In some respects it is surprising that Rossini's La Cenerentola continues to be performed at all by major opera companies: the survival of this pantomime work is a testament to opera's fidelity to its bel canto roots and its determination never to be taken entirely seriously as an art form.
When Rossini wrote it in 1817, it was a manifestation of popular escapism from the grimness of post-Napoleonic regimes, and he weaves together unreconstructed enlightenment ideals about clemency and virtuous rulers which were an anachronism in their time and whose contemporary relevance is doubly questionable. It remains an expensive version of the children's fairy story (without pumpkin and slippers) primarily watched by adults who feel it would be a perfect introduction for children if only they could be captured at that crucial point between fidgetiness and rebellion. Few can, but hope springs eternal.
This production gives a young team valuable opportunities in major roles. As Angelina (Cinderella), Dominica Matthews is a promising coloratura mezzo soprano who, in the simple arias of Act I, had warmth without wobble and, in the virtuosic closing show-stopper, Nacqui All'Affanno, had agility and focus throughout the demanding two-octave-plus range over which Rossini asks his singer to skate. Sometimes, there is an element of caution which slightly inhibits the nuance and shaping behind each phrase and occasionally gives an impression of inflexibility but this is a creditable role debut.
Kanen Breen, as the handsome prince, has a penetrating edge to his voice, well suited to comedy, as though he sang everything with a light chuckle, giving his Act II aria Si, Ritrovarla Io Guiro effective precision. In some respects his voice and Matthews's didn't blend at all in the love duet of Act I, though this imparted its own comic charm, like a bean-pole wooing a homely maid.
Taryn Fiebig, as the stepsister Clorinda, had true Rossinian lightness and colour, while Jacqueline Dark (Tisbe) brought warmth to ensembles. Under conductor Brad Cohen, those ensembles were not always together, although the choice of tempos was generally apt.
One recent press advertisement for a children's pantomime proclaimed the educational value of repetitive learning and Rossini's sequences certainly provide plenty of opportunities for that, and perhaps a little more scope for variety and sharply pointed phrasing in the orchestral playing than was exploited here.
Richard Alexander created a fine character role, vocally and dramatically, out of the pompous baron, Don Magnifico.
With fly-in sets and silhouetted shadow plays, this production by Michael Hampe (direction), Reinhard Heinrich (design) and Nigel Levings builds on the artificialities of pantomime and, as a way to give your children expensive tastes, it is certainly recommended.
Monday, January 7, 2008
La Boheme - SOH - Jan 7, 2008
Kwon creates a precious beauty
The Paris of Simon Phillips's production of Puccini's La Boheme is not the sort of Paris you imagine; though, with its cheap accommodation, bad wiring and grimy car parks, it is possibly the one you will get, at least on a modern budget.
His bohemians are generation Y males, who use laptops, do drugs and leave the toilet seat up and, although some of the transposition of 19th-century deprivations to contemporary ones are contrived (burning a print-out of your latest play for warmth doesn't have quite the devil-may-care abandon of burning a handwritten text), the attempt is generally amusing.
However, this is not really the point. As the writer Carl Dahlhaus pointed out, Paris is as much the heroine of Boheme as Mimi. You have to love them both. You have to feel that in the intoxication of the Cafe Momus, that, for a brief moment, the problems of the world and the problems of your love life are inextricably fused and equally solvable. Loving is easy to do in the case of Hye Seoung Kwon's Mimi, who is becoming Opera Australia's patron saint of dying waifs.
But Phillips and the designer, Stephen Curtis, have replaced Paris with an anonymous modern city space overtaken by what Milan Kundera has called the Age of Total Ugliness.
Kwon's voice is still on the small side for this role, but the purity of sound and vowel creates a precious beauty, which sat very well with her fragile characterisation, and she was able to rise to great strength in Act III. In fact it was Acts III and IV that redeemed this performance after a first half that lacked both dramatic and musical passion (despite the efforts of a splendid breakdancer just before the curtain).
As Rodolfo, Aldo Di Toro didn't quite sustain the long lines of the great duet at the end of Act I, with a slight tendency to let the tension out of the voice between phrases, despite an undeniably attractive lightness in all parts of his range.
But in the last two acts, things became both musically and dramatically galvanised and Phillips should be congratulated for finding a way of setting Puccini's difficult final close plausibly without losing impact.
The gen Y males, though uncouth, are splendid, Jose Carbo powerful and suave as Marcello, Jud Arthur, as the dreadlocked drug-dealing philosopher Colline, soberly renunciatory in the Act IV coat song, and Warwick Fyfe intense as the burning-eyed musician Schaunard. Amelia Farrugia's Musetta was vocally bright and involving in the second and final acts, although cluttered direction deprived her vocally fine Quando M'en Vo Soletta in Act II of seductiveness, pushing it towards meretricious parody, to which John Bolton Wood (Benoit and Alcindoro) was a willing fall guy.
The conductor, Giovanni Reggioli, allowed musical lines to float with an instinctive ear for dramatic pace and the result from the orchestra was well-shaped and rewarding despite occasional weaknesses, particularly in the woodwind.
Friday, January 4, 2008
La Bohème - SOH - 4 January 2008
| Contemporary, but comfortable and suitably tragic by Sarah Noble | |
| Puccini: La bohème Opera Australia Sydney Opera House 4 January 2008 | |
| Within his contemporary frame, though, Phillips does little to court controversy. Having recontextualised the action, he more or less lets it be, and the core theme of the opera - the blossoming of love and friendship in conditions of extreme poverty - is left unmeddled with. Other than their clothes and lodgings, there's little about Rodolfo's and Mimi's behaviour and interaction that reflects the modern setting, though Marcello's and Musetta's tempestuous relationship is slightly more twenty-first century. The poet Rodolfo is sung with silky legato and bright, compact tone by tenor Aldo Di Toro. His is an appealingly understated performance, responding well to the lyrical expansiveness of the score but resisting melodramatic vocal gestures. This occasionally means he's swallowed up in the orchestra, but when his own musical climaxes arrive, such as at Mimi's death, the contrast is all the more powerful. Hye Seoung Kwon brings a pretty, girlish (if at times too vibrato-laden) sound and sweet stage presence to Mimi, but both voice and characterisation lack depth; this will no doubt come as Kwon, whose career is still in relative infancy, has time to settle into the role and put her own stamp upon it. There was stagey affection but little palpable chemistry between the couple, though this may simply have been down to opening night jitters. | |
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Jud Arthur is a sonorous yet playful Colline, touching in his brief aria, a farewell to his treasured overcoat. Warwick Fyfe's Schaunard suffered initially from rather muddy diction and breathy delivery but shortly blossomed into a winning and humorous performance. John Bolton Wood brings every ounce of his buffo basso expertise to bear in his two brilliant cameos, as the grouchy landlord Benoit and then as Musetta's baffled sugar-daddy, Alcindoro. The Opera Australia chorus is in typically excellent form, adding real energy and fun to the Act II crowd scene. Maestro Giovanni Reggioli leads the AOBO through a sprightly and atmospheric rendering of Puccini's score. Rodolfo and Mimi might be an iconic couple, but La bohème is in its essence an ensemble piece. Opera Australia has put together an cast who work well together, a combination of old hands and relative debutantes. Set against the backdrop of Simon Phillips' affectionate modernisation, this La bohème while not madly passionate, is nevertheless heartwarming and quietly tragic. This is a contemporary but comfortable La bohème; and whether that's a blessing or a bit of a disappointment depends entirely on your point of view. | |
| Text © Sarah Noble Photos © Branco Gaica |
Updating operas isn't necessarily a risky business; there are ways of playing it safe. Simon Phillips' production of Puccini's La bohème, which opened Opera Australia's 2008 season, does just this. The sets and costumes are recognisably, and at times even surprisingly, modern-day - Rodolfo writes his poem on a laptop, the crowd around Café Momus includes a breakdancer in gold lurex, and the reunion of Mimi and Rodolfo takes place amid dumpsters and wheelie bins. 
Chemistry aplenty, however, came from the opera's other couple, the fiery, on-again off-again pairing of Marcello and Musetta. José Carbo is in towering form as the former, his rich, expressive baritone dominating his every scene and easily filling the house. Amelia Farrugia brings wit, humanity and sparkling tone to Musetta.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Juditha Triumphans - Pinchgut - Dec 8, 2007
| Pinchgut Opera presents Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans Sung in Latin with English surtitles Venue: City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney Written by Eliza Eggler |
| Saturday, 08 December 2007 |
 ‘Judith was left alone in the tent, with Holofernes stretched out on the bed, for he was overcome with wine … she went up to the post at the end of the bed, above Holofernes’ head, and took down his sword that hung there. She came close to the bed and took hold of the hair of his head, and said: ‘Give me strength this day, O Lord God of Israel!’ And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and severed his head from his body.’ The Book of Judith 13:9Italy 1617, a red haired Italian priest by the name of Antonio Vivaldi is commissioned by his employer at the Ospedale della Pieta to write an oratorio in celebration of Venice’s victory over the Turks. He takes as his subject matter the biblical story of Judith, a story that draws parallels to a Venice under threat from Turkish invasion; as a result, ‘Juditha Triumphans’ is born. Australia 2007, Pinchgut Opera presents this little-known work at the City Recital Hall in Sydney for four performances only and draws it’s own parallels between the biblical story and contemporary political struggles. Religious persecution, military domination and the clash of cultures are themes that resonate strongly today. By creating a hybrid world of modernity and antiquity, director Mark Gaal has created an extremely relevant piece of theatre. Who would have thought this possible with a 400 year old oratorio sung in Latin! ‘Juditha Triumphans’ is full of the most glorious vocal and orchestral music and conductor Attilio Cremonesi (also a Venetian) lovingly coaxes the very best from his musicians and singers. The Orchestra of the Antipodes is situated in front of the stage allowing the audience to feel closer to the music making process and to marvel at the curious array of early music instruments; the chalumeau (predecessor of the clarinet) and the theorbo (a variation of the lute) are particularly interesting. The singers perform on a very small stage consisting of some stairs, scaffolding and various props, and despite the lack of space, the stage convincingly transforms itself into the enemy camp of the Assyrians, the town of Bethulia, and Holofernes’ tent where Judith beheads the Assyrian general. Sally-Anne Russell sings the title role of Judith and I can’t praise her enough. Not only does she have a glorious voice, she is also a convincing actress. Her voice is capable of beautiful legato and pianissimo singing as well as more dramatic tones, and on several occasions you could have heard a pin drop, so mesmerizing was she. Her performance of ‘Veni, Veni me sequere fida’, which also features Craig Hill on the soprano chalumeau, is a highlight of the evening. The culmination of Judith’s emotional journey in the oratorio occurs when she beheads Holofernes and Miss Russell's portrayal of this struggle is thrilling. Red light floods the stage as Judith decapitates her admirer and the oppressor of her people, blood splashing across her dress; the effect is chilling and realistic and is the most effective murder scene I have witnessed in an opera. Counter tenor David Walker (Holofernes) has a beautiful warm voice and his performance on opening night, although somewhat tentative at first, became more confident as the evening progressed. Although he is the evildoer of the piece, he presents a not completely inhuman character and this works well as it makes Judith’s struggle with her grim task easier to believe. Fiona Campbell who plays Vagaus (Holofernes’ aide) is also a singer of outstanding ability and her performance of ‘Umbrae carae’ is incredibly beautiful. This is soon followed by the aria ‘Armatae face’ which she sings after discovering the beheading of Holofernes. Although the aria is full of difficult coloratura, Miss Campbell performs with ease and apparent lack of concern for the obvious technical difficulties; the audience was rightly impressed and showed their appreciation with a generous round of applause. Sara Macliver sings Abra, Judith’s companion, and Renae Martin, Ozias. Both of these singers perform with confidence and vocal beauty. Juditha Triumphans is not an oratorio that provides extensive opportunities for the chorus. However, the six choruses that do appear in ‘Juditha Triumphans’ are sung by Cantillation with their usual ease and glorious lightness of tone. Pinchgut Opera’s performance of ‘Juditha Triumphans’ is a splendid opportunity to see and hear a rare work performed by wonderful musicians and singers. If you appreciate beautiful singing then this is definitely for you. Don’t miss out though because unfortunately there are only three performances left and I dare say that ‘Juditha Triumphans’ won’t be performed again in Sydney for some time to come. Pictured - Sally-Anne Russell. Photo - Bridget Elliot |
Monday, December 3, 2007
Alcina - State Theatre, Melbourne - December 3, 2007
Alcina
Handel's opera is a fairy tale about a sorceress, Alcina (Rachelle Durkin), who casts a spell on all who come within her ambit and when she tires of these lovers she transforms them into animals or statues. The opera was designed to combine long displays of da capo singing to show off vocal techniques, spectacular stage effects suited to the sorceress's magical interventions, and tangled plots so complicated that they would make daytime soap operas look straightforward.
Director Justin Way and designers Andrew Hays and Kimm Kovac have devised a fixed set: an ornamental baroque frame encrusted with Alcina's victims. It is as exciting as a visit to the British Museum and places a heavy hand on the live action, which seems too in danger of being petrified.
In order to alleviate this effect, Way creates a back projection that plays games with perspective. At one stage we seem to be staring down at Gericault's Raft of the Medusa from above, all squirming naked bodies. At other times a black-clad chorus of demons crawls across music scores and newspapers like ants at a picnic. This device makes the set visually busy but nothing dramatic is happening, and apparently sensing this the director throws one idea after another at the screen to avoid dullness only to see it immediately discarded.
There is no magic in the concept, and sensuality - which is the opera's central concern - has as much chance on this set as a cup of tea at the Windsor acting as an aphrodisiac.
That leaves the music. There are beautiful arias in the score, many of them elegiac laments for unrequited or betrayed love. Orchestra Victoria produces some exquisite support, particularly among the solo accompaniments, but I thought that conductor Antony Walker's tempo often took the music at a walking pace that disadvantaged the singers' slower phrasing.
As Bradamante, a girl who disguises herself as a man to rescue her brother Ruggiero, Alexandra Sherman doesn't seem comfortable in the pants role. It is a difficult part to sing, requiring distinct changes of style to imply the transfer of gender, but her timbre was challenged by her lower chest notes. Catherine Carby showed vocal dash and she caught the right nobility of tone as Ruggiero overcomes bewitchment in the name of a higher love.
The performance of the evening was Durkin's Alcina. She sang the difficult coloratura with vocal panache and good articulation, although the characterisation lacked shade and her attempts to be seductive were as ephemeral as a butterfly.
Of the other principals the singing is good but not great - and Handel's operas, in many cases creaking antiques, require memorable singing. This is a cast that brings freshness and youth with crisp techniques but a lack of depth in interpretation that creates few thrills in spite of the multiple trills.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Les pêcheurs de perles - Opera Australia
Bringing back a sense of spectacle
Tenor Kanen Breen was busy last week. On Wednesday he played three distinctly different comic roles in Opera Australia's Tales of Hoffmann. And on Friday night he sang the role of Nadir, the hero of The Pearlfishers, an exhausting lyric tenor role that includes the duet In the depths of the temple, with his friend and mentor Zurga (Lucas de Jong).
This was a free performance, enthusiastically received by more than 12,000 people. Breen has a steely but sure sound and sang with intense poetic feeling.
The opera was voted last year by ABC listeners as their most operatic work. It is performed more often in Australia than in any other country and it is easy to see why.
While Nadir and Zurga harbour a secret passion for the Brahmin priestess Leila (Hye Seoung Kwon), they are also blood brothers and Zurga's feelings for Nadir - even in betrayal - are clearly more than platonic. This is an opera about betrayed mateship.
I initially thought that Hye Seoung Kwon's Leila was sweet but reedy. But I was wrong. She was mastering being miked. Her performance revealed an exquisite and fragile artistry, underlining beautiful articulation and intelligent phrasing.
There are anomalies in staging a full production in the Music Bowl. Ann-Margret Pettersson's original production reworks the traditional libretto. In her interpretation, Zurga becomes a French administrator in India and notions of colonial power are introduced into the fairytale. But outdoors, such complexities are largely lost because of the distance from the stage. Matters are further complicated by subtitled screens on either end of the Bowl.
The effect is screen versus stage, image versus music, drama versus spectacle. You can't do subtle stage effects or explore complex interpretations.
Nevertheless, it was the perfect Melbourne celebration of the cosmopolitan and the popular. Orchestra Victoria played with lyrical passion under Emmanuel Joel-Hornak and the full moon drifted above, right on cue.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Don Giovanni - State Theatre, November 16, 2007
Tahu Rhodes irresistible as the Don
Teddy Tahu Rhodes in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Taryn Fiebig as Zerlina in the Opera Australia production.
Photo: Branco Gaica
DON GIOVANNI
Mozart, Opera Australia, State Theatre,
November 14 - December 14.
Running time: 180 minutes with one interval.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera describes itself as a comic drama.
There are delightful opera buffo moments such as the scene when the Don (Teddy Tahu Rhodes) persuades his put-upon servant, Leporello (John Pringle), to swap identities so that he can seduce the maid of Donna Elvira (Fiona Janes). But even here the action slips into cruel deception as the Don takes the opportunity to half-beat his rival for the sexual favours of Zerlina (Tiffany Speight) to death. Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, were creating something more subtle than a night's entertainment.
The drama splits neatly into two halves. Act One presents the Don as a philanderer who leaves in his wake a trail of dumped lovers. Nothing and no one can stop his erotic trajectory. Like a jungle predator Tahu Rhodes' seducer sniffs the flesh of the women to whom he is attracted. His persistent sexual urge suggests he is a vampire of the senses. In Act Two this production appropriately transforms him into a flower-crowned incarnation of Dionysius, god of intoxication and illusion. Erotic frenzy blurs reality so identities are destabilised. His vengeful victims owe him a vote of thanks because the Don brings passion and meaning in the form of revenge to their dull conformity.
The original set of director Goran Jarvefelt and designer Carl Friedrich Oberle is austere to the point of minimalism, a neo-classical hall, which also serves as a street. The empty space places the emphasis squarely on dramatic interpretation and its limits are pushed beyond redemption in the finale.
The supporting cast is perfectly adequate. Kate Ladner's Donna Anna has a fresh lyric soprano and is good at dramatising the circumstances of her rape but the role requires a much bigger dramatic voice. Janes sings Donna Elvira tastefully but brings no sense of anger or unrequited passion. In the thankless role of Don Ottavio, Jaewoo Kim is sweet and flaccid when compared with the Don's vitality. At the end of a distinguished career John Pringle has reached that level where artistry papers over fault lines in the upper register.
These characters are dragged in the slipstream of Tahu Rhodes' Don Giovanni. Resplendent in Errol Flynn costume and black wig, Tahu Rhodes affects a swarthy swagger that is matched by a thrilling dark baritone, which can bury its power sotto voce in scenes of seduction. He brilliantly underlines the various facets of the character and at the climax when confronted by his nemesis, the Commendatore (Jud Arthur), he attains titanic defiance.
It is a superb performance that stands out from the cast and overcomes the rather benign beat of conductor Imre Pallo.
No woman I know can resist the sex appeal of Tahu Rhodes and this is the perfect role for his dynamic talent.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Don Giovanni - State Theatre, Melbourne - November 14, 2007
Don Giovanni
State Theatre, Melbourne; Opera Australia
Wednesday, November 14, 2007.
Opening Night Performance.
Review by JOSEPHINE GILES.
If Don Giovanni were written today it might look a lot like Californication, but the Don would make David Duchovny’s character look like a wimp. In Spain alone Don Giovanni has racked up 1003 conquests and is still counting...
Don Giovanni is not an opera for the faint hearted, coming in at just over 3 hours, but it contains lots of fabulous music, and has a surprisingly contemporary story. Though this production is flawed in places, it is well worth seeing for the stellar performances of the two major principal males.
As Don Giovanni baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes is outstanding as he makes the role his own. He is opera’s version of the triple threat: he can sing, act and has a great bod – which is just as well, as this particular production has his character appearing in various stages of undress. Tahu Rhodes’s voice is at turns richly menacing or sweetly seductive, and he brings a commanding physicality to his portrayal of the testosterone ruled, morally bankrupt Don.
“As everyone knows, the opera is really about Leporello”, said OA Chief Executive Adrian Collette as he introduced John Pringle at the after party. In this case, he wasn’t joking. John Pringle’s performance of the most put upon servant of the Don is one of the last appearances he will make in opera, as he is soon to retire from the stage. He makes the most of every moment on stage, exploiting the comic potential of the role to the full, and his enjoyment and rapport with Tahu Rhodes lifts the whole show. It is definitely the best Leporello I have ever seen.
The casting of the female principals is less successful, with the exception of Tiffany Speight as Zerlina, who can be relied upon to please in the Mozart subrette roles. As Donna Anna, Kate Ladner was dramatically convincing but, on the night, lacked the vocal stamina that this fiendishly difficult role demands.
The role of Donna Elvira happens to be one of my favourites, and while she is often played as a comical love sick fool, she is in my opinion a good portrait of the sort of madness that can possess a woman when she is obsessed by a charismatic, abusive man. Alternately angry then forgiving, her conflicted feelings are expressed in outbursts with a spiky vocal line that requires a soprano with an exciting top. In this production Fiona Janes’s fine mezzo quality was pleasing, but ultimately incongruous in the opera.
The one tenor role, Don Ottavio, was filled more than ably by Jaewoo Kim. It is a thankless role, as the character fruitlessly tries to capture the attention of the hysterical Anna, but Kim has a beautiful lyric tenor and was almost heroic in the aria Il mio tesoro. And bass Jud Arthurs cuts a fine figure as the Commendatore.
This production of Don Giovanni has been in the OA repertoire for some time, and its age is beginning to show. It contains a number of, to my taste, gratuitous gestures to “sexiness”, but in general maintains a good pace throughout, culminating in a powerful denouement. Opening night was hampered by too many tempo disagreements between the stage and pit, which may well account for some of the uneasiness from the girls, but I trust these problems will be resolved during the run of the season.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Tannhäuser - Sydney Opera House - 16 October 2007
| A peculiarly comic affair by Sandra Bowdler | |
| Wagner: Tannhäuser Opera Australia Sydney Opera House 16 October 2007 | |
| Director Elke Neidhardt is fond of finding the jokes in Wagner, yes, including Parsifal, with synchronised swimming flower maidens in Adelaide in 2001. In this Opera Australia production which dates originally to 1998, the penchant for hilarity might be thought to be carried to excess, although there are many who think Wagner deserves to be ridiculed. If that is the case however why bother with his operas at all? It is one of the problems of performing Wagnerian opera in the post-WW II environment, that to take it too seriously courts cries of Nazi sympathies, yet as operas they are works which must be performed with some concept of their worth to make any sense of them at all. In the present instance, the chorus in Act III, is sung by the returning pilgrims holding jolly plastic bags with I 'love' Roma on them, indicating the frivolous state of religion in the Holy City, and Neidhardt refers to Wagner's "tongue-in-cheek ... treatment of the self-righteous pilgrims" in Act I; but if the pilgrims' repentance is not treated seriously in Act III, why should we care for Tannhäuser's distress at being rejected? On other occasions, the jollity is less jarring. At the conclusion of Act I, the Landgrave and his party appear kitted up in Prussian hunting outfits - Tyrolean hats, plus fours and so on, and indulge in a picnic, with teams of dachshunds escorted onto the stage just before the Act II curtain. But perhaps only a German-born director could really get away with this. In many other respects it is a stunning production, most notably during the overture. Wagner specifies an emerald-green waterfall, and here we have a brilliant effect, created by laser lighting, of an emerald-green surface, both watery and misty, through which figures emerge and sink. These gradually emerge as a variety of characters who would not be out of place in a Berlin cabaret, including a mock nun, a representation of a plastic blow-up sex doll, and an ichthyphallic little old cherub, who emerges (detumescent) in Act II, representing Tannhäuser's continued carnal desires. Venus is a strapping figure in black, trimmed with fur (refer Sacher-Masoch, of course), but poor Tannhäuser suffers under a hideously unflattering orange wig. Elisabeth's outfit is also somewhat peculiar, a red frock one might have imagined more appropriate to Venus, were it not for the inset polka-dotted train; and why does she first appear with a trench coat over this? The minstrels' court is however very effectively rendered, with rows of galleries for the court denizens. There are a number of winged figures which I first took to be Prussian eagles, but they could equally be bats or science-fiction insect creatures, and which perch around the set at different times. It is probably the merest literal-mindedness to expect the Pope's staff to actually burst into green leaves, but gold does not seem to be quite right. Musically, there was much to enjoy, although great vocalism was rather at a premium. Opera Australia's artistic director Richard Hickox is not especially known as a Wagnerian, but he did a sterling job, with orchestral playing following the surging rhythms of the work's architecture with disciplined lushness. The Opera Australia chorus was equally excellent, with a rousing Pilgrim's Chorus sung with a seriousness at odds with the directorial conceit. The most gorgeous sounds of the night came from Janice Watson's Elisabeth, her large but warm soprano matching her dramatic involvement. Milijana Nikolic was called in at short notice to replace an ailing Bernadette Cullen for this season; her height and imperious manner are perfect for Venus, as is her equally large and accurate mezzo. The title role was sung by Richard Berkeley-Steele, a seasoned English Wagnerian who nonetheless seemed vocally ill at ease in the first two acts (that wig can't have helped). His intonation and tone seemed to firm up in the last (wigless) act however, and his last soliloquy was lyrical and moving. Jonathan Summers as Wolfram was somewhat lacking in charisma, but he also rose to the vocal occasion in Act III, singing smoothly and with feeling. The Landgrave was sung with resonant authority by bass Daniel Sumegi, always an impressive performer. Wagner operas will no doubt always be a difficult proposition for a modern audience, particularly in Australia which has not had a strong tradition of performing this repertoire. Neidhardt's sublime and triumphant Adelaide Ring cycle did much to raise the Wagnerian stakes in this country, and it is interesting to see one of her earlier conceptions; if it does not match the glories of her Ring, it certainly points the way towards it. | |
| Text © Sandra Bowdler |
Monday, October 15, 2007
Les Contes d'Hoffmann - SOH - 15 October 2007
| Entertaining if not totally compelling by Sandra Bowdler | |
| Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann Opera Australia Sydney Opera House 15 October 2007 | |
| Opera Australia's new production of The Tales of Hoffmann is an enjoyable exploration of the macabre and grotesque aspects of Offenbach's last operatic work, if somewhat at the expense of its romantic side. It provides an excellent vehicle for current star Emma Matthews in (as relentlessly advertised) all four soprano roles, not to mention other cast members in equally diverse parts, particularly John Wegner as Lindorf, Coppélius, Dapertutto and Dr Miracle, veteran Australian baritone John Pringle as Luther, Spalenzani and Crespel, and Kanen Breen as Nathanael, Cochenille, Pittichanaccio and Frantz. Director Stuart Maunder has generated a highly effective if somewhat (by contemporary standards) literal production, although one does wonder about the current OA obsession with mirrors. It opens with a twinkling starry background in which La Muse appears as an exaggeratedly tall figure in tiered skirt with white bodice top, from which she transmogrifies into a trousered Nicklausse. The scene is converted efficiently into an inn with the deployment of tables and the descent of a bank of lights which serves as the back setting of a bar. The Olympia scene is introduced by a revolve, revealing what one can imagine a 19th century mad scientist's laboratory might have looked like, with body parts hanging from hooks (failed experiments? spare parts for continuing creations?). To spark up the faltering doll however a distinctly 20th century defibrillator is pressed into service. A further revolve is used to take us to Giulietta's scene; comment has been made about Maunder's decision to place this before the Antonia episode, which may not have been Offenbach's intention, but both arrangements have dramatic advantages. This is a sumptuous if rather predictable Venetian ball affair, with Giulietta in red languishing in a gondola. After the interval, Antonia's domicile is dominated by a grand piano covered with a shawl. In a stunning coup de théâtre, her mother arises from the centre of the piano, to throw off the shawl and emerge as a dominating baleful figure. A last revolve returns us to the inn, with the final chorus looming from the upper balcony. Richard Hickox conducts Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, with the Opera Australia Chorus, in this repertoire in which all seem to feel comfortably at home. All the well-known set pieces are delivered with flowing and melodic ease, with appropriately dramatic highlights. The soloists are all equal to the task, and some more so. Emma Matthews is predictably brilliant as the doll, Olympia. Both musically and dramatically, Les oiseaux dans la charmille is a perfect fit for her equally sparkling (and note perfect) coloratura and stage presence. It might be suggested that she is indeed just too warm and sparky for a mechanical creation, but of course we are seeing her through Hoffmann's magic spectacles. Her Giulietta was appropriately seductive, but Antonia was a real tour de force (and in this sense justifying the positioning of this scene), evoking empathy for the artist's plight while singing with precision and control. She was ably matched by a charismatic Milijana Nikolic as Antonia's mother, singing demonically but fluently in a rich accurate mezzo. Another mezzo, Pamela Helen Stephen, also scored a success as Hoffmann's Muse and companion Nicklausse. Her more restrained tones and subtle yet commanding presence provided a dignified observer of and commentator on, and finally solution to, Hoffmann's tribulations. Rosario La Spina has the right kind of lyric tenor for Hoffmann, capable of ringing tones as in the legend of Kleinsach. If Hoffmann's struggles are interpreted as the romantic soul finally finding its proper outlet in his artistic creativity, La Spina's interpretation fell somewhat short of this goal, suggesting someone who is a more of a blundering loser, falling victim to one manifestation of wickedness after another. These manifestations were well depicted by John Wegner, a delightfully Mephistophelian figure with commanding resonant tones, even if his intonation wandered a bit, as in Scintille diamant. John Pringle was equally adept at his multiple characterisations, even if his elegant baritone is not quite what it once was. Tenor Kanen Breen is one of the most entertaining and versatile singers in the OA stable, and he made the most of the comic possibilities of his roles. Mention should also be made of the reliable Richard Alexander's Schlemil. The Tales of Hoffmann is, as far as its narrative and sensibilities go, an odd fish for contemporary Australian audiences. After the rapturous applause for Matthew's Olympia aria, the audience seemed rather less engaged; there is, perhaps inevitably, a sense of anticlimax at Hoffmann's final indifference to his erstwhile beloved. This production manages to maintain sufficient momentum to sustain interest to the end, and the company is definitely playing to its artistic strengths, in providing an entertaining if not totally compelling night at the opera. | |
| Text © Sandra Bowdler |
Les Contes d'Hoffmann - Sydney Opera House le 15 octobre 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tannhauser - October 10, 2007
Tannhauser
Richard Berkeley-Steele as Tannhauser.
Photo: Anthony Johnson
First a note about the birthday boys and girls. Were the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra really to play music that reflected their current situation in the Opera House pit, they would play nothing but Scene III of Wagner's Das Rheingold, where enslaved heavy metalsmiths, excluded from air, light and human comfort, ceaselessly hammer out priceless objects from gold ore.
On this occasion, the 40th anniversary of their founding as the Elizabethan Trust Orchestra in 1967, the ore they were given was an earlier though no less demanding Wagner score, Tannhauser, but the hammering, under Richard Hickox, was more than usually effective, particularly in the smooth, well-tuned woodwind and brass chords of the overture and the energised string playing at the beginning of Act II. No less resplendent was the chorus, who were exhilarating in the pilgrims' chorus at the close. Hickox's tempos were firm but occasionally they could have tolerated more space and flexibility to allow light, shade and detail to emerge more distinctly.
Wagner would have hated Elke Neidhardt's productions for the way they subvert his grandiosity and self-mythologising. I love them and would go further to say that after the unfortunate nazification of Wagner's obnoxious (but in his case not genocidal) anti-semitism, subversion is one of the few honourable routes.
The tour de force of subversion is in the second act where the hall for the song competition is grandly assembled but plagued by marvellous human bats and a sordid cupid representing lust, whose revoltingly comic phallus is strangely resistant to the refractory detumescence that normally afflicts human males unassisted by chemicals.
The opening scene, performed by wonderful, freakily dressed dancers on and through a virtual, laser-generated platform of smoke and air, is a brilliant coup de theatre. But Neidhardt's setting of this scene stressed debauchery over seductive sensuality, which for me was a failing.
Richard Berkeley-Steele's Tannhauser, with flaming red hair and school sports jacket, was, as my companion remarked, reminiscent of one of the more wilful manifestations of Dr Who, and the brilliantly precise edge and clarity that he brought to his singing fleshed this out nicely in musical terms. However, the first moment of truly glorious vocal outpouring came in Act II from Janice Watson as the angelic, forsaken Elizabeth, with a voice of powerful, glowing warmth.
Milijana Nikolic, stepping in at short notice, sang Venus with colour, force and imperiousness. Jonathan Summers was popular as Wolfram von Eschenbach, though I found the sound not quite smooth and suave enough for the famous Song of the Evening Star in Act III. As Hermann, Daniel Sumegi blended vocal power with Neidhardt's delicate lacings of hypocrisy in the characterisation. Wagner would not have been proud. Opera Australia can be.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Tales of Hoffmann - SOH - September 3, 2007
Tales of Hoffmann,
Opera Australia,
Sydney Opera House
OFFENBACH's Tales of Hoffmann is early German Romanticism reflected through late French decadence: a picture of someone taking themselves too seriously by someone who never took anything seriously enough. As Offenbach scholar (and Opera Australia chorus member) Robert Mitchell points out in a program essay, the ill-fated 19th century writer, Hoffmann, represents the spirit of art-for-art's-sake.
Offenbach, on the other hand, represents artifice for artifice's sake and hints that the difference isn't all that great. This energised production nods to both fantasy and opulence but is dominated by arresting cool modernism.
At times this lends an edge to both while elsewhere, the monumentality of Roger Kirk's set - the revolving stage, the imposing diagonal slabs and the cantilevered mirrors (perhaps it is time Opera Australia productions swore off mirrors for a while) - seemed pointless, though in Offenbach, the point is to make everything pointless.
Jules Barbier's libretto adapts three of Hoffmann's stories into a futile Faustian search by Hoffmann as he seeks love from an automaton, a courtesan, and an ailing singer before reconciling himself to poetry and drink. Emma Matthews (pictured) is triumphant in the three heroine - or antiheroine - roles.
She created a parody of her own technical accomplishments as the mechanical Olympia in the Doll Song, soared magnificently as the courtesan Giulietta in the septet of Act II, but was most impressive as Antonia where she sang with the sweeping expressive depth that grows more and more in her singing. She introduces colour and warmth to a phrase and sustains and varies it to give the melody buoyancy and life.
As Hoffmann, Rosario La Spina tamed his stentorian tenor voice to grapple with the sophisticated needs of melodic shape, achieving new-found lyricism in the duets with Antonia in Act III and in the final trio.
John Wegner with widow's peak and vocal incisiveness was demonically forceful in the three Mephist-ophelian roles. It is not that the Devil gets the best tunes but Wegner gives him the most interesting persona.
Pamela Helen Stephen, as the trusted companion, Nicklausse, has the refinement and melodic instincts for the style, retaining stamina to open out wonderfully in the third act.
True to the Paris comic tradition, the work is interspliced with spoken dialogue in which John Pringle, as the inventor, Spalanzani, and the father Crespel, was the most convincing.
The chorus work was vividly impressive, particularly in the surround sound at the end, though not always co-ordinated with the pit.