A vivid and tantalising Il viaggio a Reims at Opera di Roma from director Damiano Michieletto

Art and opera afford all sorts of ways to look at ourselves, our world and our history. In one of the many vivid and tantalising tableaux in director Damiano Michieletto's new production of Il viaggio a Reims, the subjects of a series of familiar paintings hanging in a modern gallery come to life splendidly, parading through the space observing and silently commenting on the others that hang around them - a Van Gogh self-portrait, Magritte's apple-nosed "The Son of Man", Botero's "Melancholia", Goya's "The Duchess of Alba" among them, as well as a Keith Haring dancing man.

The way in which Michieletto both transposes the story of Rossini's staged rarity and turns it inside out is reminiscent of what radical art critic John Berger once stated, "I can't tell you what art does and how it does it, but I know that often art has judged the judges". Known for his own insightful and unconventional style, Michieletto's inspired way of seeing has art even judging itself in this new coproduction first seen at Dutch National Opera last year and completing its current run at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

Il viaggio a Reims, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

The kind of musical merry-go-round of marvellous melodies that characterise Rossini scores are in full bloom in this punchy work composed for the coronation of the French king, Charles X, and which many of the greatest singers were assembled for, including the esteemed Giuditta Pasta. Rossini's vitality and wit is brought to a story that documents the coronation itself in a near three-hour dramma giocoso about a menagerie of characters on their way to Rheims for the festivities.

In Michieletto's twist, the Golden Lily spa hotel, at which the travellers stop on route, becomes the Golden Lilium Gallery, a white-walled and down-lit modernist exhibition space that fills the stage as part of Paolo Fantin's crisp designs. Characters either reside in the real world, a picture world or, what generates much comic interplay, both. For all this, Carla Teti's meticulous costumes and Alessandro Carletti's evocative lighting create a wondrously captivating effect.

If Michieletto is saying anything during the course of this slowly cooking surreal world, apart from giving his audience a crack at Berger's ways of seeing, it's perhaps that the world we look at in art can be transformational, that art does mimic life and, as he majestically presents it, vice-versa. It seems a far cry from Charles X's big day but Michieletto ingeniously brings into the picture François Gérard's 1825 painting, "The coronation of Charles X”, to be unveiled at the exhibition opening. In what leads to a spectacle-rich conclusion, characters that appear to have stepped out of one painting (something of an unappreciated and tired Classical Roman-set historical Enlightenment work) over the course of the day, take their place to recreate Gérard's painting in a magnificent tableau vivant that subsequently morphs into the 'real' (photo image) of the work.

Il viaggio a Reims, Teatro dell'opera do Roma

Getting there wasn't so straightforward for the uninitiated with so many attention-seeking characters making their entrance (how can they not be while dazzling with the score's flamboyant and devilishly difficult vocal writing), not as Rossini originals and, often illogically, at odds with Luigi Balocchi's libretto which does, at least, get some revision.

For this final performance, some of the lead roles were taken by the second cast who stepped into their parts with aplomb. Other roles were filled with a young batch of developing singers who, for the most part, meet the demands but whose vocal enthusiasm at times obstructed the underlying heart of their music.

Madame Cortese, who soprano Valentina Varriale sung with lovely embroidered elegance and ample richness, is the gallery curator, a stylish, bespectacled and hard-nailed sort who is preparing for the exhibition opening. Smooth and oaky bass-baritone Nicola Ulivieri distinguished himself superbly as Don Profondo, scholar and lover of antiquities in the original, here a learned fine art auctioneer. Soprano Adriana Ferfecka shone honourably as Corinna, a coy art student, opening up with delightfully sweet lyricism and taking it away in her radiantly secure final extended aria.

After an unremarkable start to the busy preparations at Madame Cortese's gallery, the purity and agility of Maria Aleida's honeyed soprano was the first to impress as Countess Folleville, the fashionable, bonneted young widow. Rossini's Lord Sidney, is a restoration technician who falls in love with the woman in the painting he is working on and was depicted with a refined and mellowed romantic sensibility by bass Adrian Sâmpetrean. An excellent display also came from suave-voiced baritone Davide Giangregorio as the check-shirted, hard-hatted foreman, Antonio, and Cecilia Molinari's rich, dark and exquisite Melibea.

Characterful bass Bruno De Simone, singing the role of Barone di Trombonok as a dishevelled history painting subject, becomes the dignified archbishop in the final tableaux. Not so fulfilling were the tenors on the night but Cristian Collia acquitted himself admirably as Zefirino and Juan Francisco Gatell developed nicely with his warmth and luminosity as Belfiore.

A well-prepared large chorus of cleaners, white overalled exhibition labourers and gallery staff worked the music and stage with great appeal. What emanated from the pit under conductor Stefano Montanari, however, despite the fine musicianship on show and eloquence of style, failed to consistently deliver Rossini's inimitable effervescence.

All in all, Michieletto's production worked its magic but knowing who is who in Rossini's menagerie and who they are represented as in Michieletto's interpretation takes a little getting used to.


Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Until 24th June.


Production Photos: Yasuko Kageyama

Pinchgut Opera's visually succulent, musically beaming and conceptually clever Baroque Triple Bill

In the 15 years since Sydney's Pinchgut Opera have been successfully building its reputation in bringing rarely performed 18th century operatic works to the stage, the challenges might not have been greater than those faced in staging a triple bill, their latest new production that opened on Thursday night.

Lauren Zolezzi as Cupid and Richard Anderson as Anacréon

Taking two mid-18th century French actes-de-ballet or single act ballet-operas by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Anacréon and Pigmalion, and sandwiching between them a popular intermezzo in its day, Leonardo Vinci's Erighetta e Don Chilone, Artistic Director and conductor Erin Helyard's attempt to capture the spirit of that "...hothouse atmosphere of Paris in the 1750s", goes far in perhaps questioning the merits or not of an Enlightenment debate. From my perspective, the heat was somewhat lacking. Nonetheless, it's a visually succulent and musically beaming exposition of long-forgotten works that focus on the universal theme of love and its accompanying ungraspable quirks, of wine, art and self in an evening, including interval, that ends in under 140 minutes.

Director Crystal Manich's clever concept to unite the three disparate works in contemporary times - one that includes lots of period costume dress-ups - gets off to a clear enough start. Beginning with Anacréon, the action unfolds in preparation for a Gala du Musée - as Alicia Clements' handsome and classically inspired set design informs us - with a cast of gallery-related characters crisscrossing and coming together, often in neatly choreographed tableaux, over the course of a day that ends in a joyous pairing of lovers in Pigmalion. It's a bold and creative move that, while solving the City Recital Hall's limitations in dealing with complex theatrical stagings by relying on its single set construct, adds complexity to the otherwise straightforward nature of each individual work. Without prior knowledge of Manich's restructuring and alignment of the characters, the goings on could be difficult to decipher. On the other hand, together as a whole, they do leave one memorable taste behind. Studying the program notes was beneficial, as was the informative pre-opera talk.

Taryn Fiebig as Erighetta and Richard Anderson as Don Chilone

Billed as "a riotous evening of fabulous French opera", it was only the milked cheekiness in Vinci's Italian intermezzo that came anywhere near the riotous. Melanie Liertz's rich mix of punchy costumes and Matthew Marshall's evocative lighting changes made a dazzling good show but, apart from its few highlights, a dreamy-like Anacréon lumbered along despite the swift comings and goings in the gallery and the poetry of Pigmalion rarely transformed into theatrical magic - perhaps more to do with the esoteric nature of the libretti.

Amongst what seems a truckload of interesting museum pieces and lavish party props that move in and out, its Lauren Zolezzi, as Cupid, who lit up the stage with both unbound youthful energy and supple-voiced charm. Taking her bright, delicately filigreed and assured soprano to stepladder heights, Zolezzi's tomboyish Cupid was the star of the night in which love itself triumphs. She's also the daughter of the wealthy gallery donor, played by Richard Anderson in the pivotal title role as the self-important Anacréon, marginally undone by breathing inconsistencies, but coming to confident bass vocal life, farts and all, in the play-within-a-play as the hypochondriacal Don Chilone.

Plush soprano Taryn Fiebig is the other standout, demonstrating her well-honed versatility in both the serious, as the Priestess of Bacchus in Anacréon and The Statue in Pigmalion, and the comic, as the cheekily conniving Erighetta in Vinci's intermezzo. She's the stiff and stylish Academic and the donor's ex-wife, who the bartender has his eye on. This bartender, Agathocle in Anacréon, is also a sculptor and presents his figurative masterwork to the gallery, no doubt bearing semblance to the Academic under its period costumed depiction.

Lauren Zolezzi, Taryn Fiebig and Samuel Boden as Pigmalion

With a warm and lyrically attractive tenor, Samuel Boden served up a convincing Agathocle but, as the sculptor Pigmalion, passion and determination headed a tad wayward, as did projection, before his more compelling slow and tender encounter with the living statue. In his vocal armoury is an effortlessness in phrased ornamentations and they leave their mark indelibly.

Soprano Morgan Balfour sang with clarity and beauty as Pigmalion's rejected lover and gallery cleaner, Céphise, and Allegra Giagu elegantly took the floor as the donor's wife Lycoris. They were joined by a retinue of fine, clarion vocals from an ensemble of gallery staff (Alistair Cooper-Golec, Julian Curtis, Heather Fletcher and Mariya Tkachenko), a florist (Clara Solly-Slade) and security guard (Owen Little).

Best of all was the music, with the always reliable warmth and sumptuousness of sound of Pinchgut Opera's Orchestra of the Antipodes in top form, performing with verve and passion to a now clearly devoted audience. They have a totally committed and exciting interpreter of music in their midst to thank for that, in conductor Erin Helyard, who was equally as animated and expert on harpsichord.

At the end of the evening, despite how marvellous it looked, how lovely it sounded and how clever the concept was, I didn't feel particularly enthralled by the total product and perhaps needed to taste something a little less spiced and a little more meaty. But at its centre was a perfectly plump and delicious treat.


Pinchgut Opera
City Recital Hall, Sydney
Until 20th June.

Production Photos: Courtesy of Pinchgut Opera

The Australian Ballet's inventive and captivating Nutcracker – The Story of Clara: Australian Arts Review

Published online at Australian Arts Review 4th June, 2017.

http://artsreview.com.au/nutcracker-the-story-of-clara-2/


It’s 25 years since Graeme Murphy’s inventive reimagining of The Nutcracker for The Australian Ballet premiered in Melbourne and, after Friday night’s opening for its fourth revival, it’s sure to captivate a new audience with its plethora of evocative scenes, comic Aussie touches and in bringing substance to the fascinating background story of ballet in Australia.

Retold as Nutcracker – The Story of Clara, Tchaikovsky’s glorious score remains intact, transposed convincingly on a reverse telling of Clara’s life – an ageing Russian ballet dancer who had danced around the world for the Ballets Russes before settling in Melbourne. For all its entrenched European foundations, the work is transformed with a moving and close-at-hand relevance that speaks of our resilient and deeply affected immigrants.

It’s 1950s suburban Australia, a Hills Hoist in the grassed backyard where the footy is kicked and far from the tumultuous revolutionary past that Clara had fled. From Clara’s humble post-war home where she entertains her gregarious veteran ballet friends with vodka, cake and entertaining dance, to the battlefields where her soldier-lover is shot, from the ballet school to the world stages, imperial balls and her arrival amongst the happy-go-lucky Aussie sailors, Kristian Fredrikson’s stylish set and costume designs serve the story wondrously without overpowering the clarity of characterisation.

Much use is made of projected black and white film footage that races across a scrim and, while adding energetic fire and adrenaline on the one hand, at times it camouflages the dance on the other – especially frustrating as Bolshevik Rats scurry and attack in battle in near darkness. Nonetheless, Murphy and Fredrikson’s concept shines through powerfully.

Precision wasn’t always achieved in the cleverly structured and dynamic formations, but what stands out in Murphy’s eclectic choreographic hand is the lean towards sensitivity, boldness and beauty in the portrayal of individuals, pairs and ensembles, over gratuitous showy athleticism. In this, the dancers delivered amply.

Ai-Gul Gaisina, who joined The Australian Ballet in 1973, dances Clara the elder with inviting gestural tenderness before she falls unwell and exhausted, taken over in her dream by the effortlessly graceful Leanne Stoymenov as the passionate and headstrong, career-building Clara. Stoymenov’s magnetic presence, expressed heart and fluid technique come in one binding force that brings Clara’s past to riveting life, all the while sharing the limelight generously. Among her highlights are two beautiful pas de deux – one full of romantic fortitude with the impressive Kevin Jackson as her dashing Beloved Officer, the other in accomplished grandeur alongside the equally imposing Jarryd Madden as the handsome ‘Nutcracker’ Prince.

Jessica Stratton-Smith deserves much credit too for her sparkling performance as the young Clara and who features in one of the most delightful scenes – at the ballet school of St Petersburg’s Imperial Conservatoire amongst a budding group of dedicated youngins before a clever transformation via the studio mirrors takes her to adulthood.

There were moments when I thought that Murphy could have got away with anything because Tchaikovsky draws you into his intoxicating rhythms and melodies so easily. Orchestra Victoria showed expert musicianship and stamina in the pit. At their lead, conductor Nicolette Fraillon seemed to interpret the score with overly tender-heartedness that occasionally failed to materialise into dramatic richness – a reading, uncharacteristically, not particularly Russian in flavour – but still in control of foregrounding Tchaikovsky’s brilliance.

Murphy’s Nutcracker – The Story of Clara is ballet as meaningful theatre and soulful dance as a vehicle for storytelling without words, created in a way that gives the impression of having spoken its conversations over its entirety. That’s about as close as you can get to feeling completely absorbed in the art of ballet. Let it shine for the next generation.

Nutcracker – The Story of Clara
State Theatre – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne
Season continues to 10 June 2017
Bookings: www.artscentremelbourne.com.au

For more information, visit: www.australianballet.com.au for details.

Image: Jarryd Madden and Leanne Stojmenov feature in Nutcracker – The Story of Clara – photo by Jeff Busby

Review: Paul Selar

Jarryd Madden and Leanne Stojmenov - photo Jeff Busby