Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Victorian Opera's Voyage to the Moon: Herald Sun review

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Sunday, February 14, 2016

Melbourne Opera's The Abduction from the Seraglio: Herald Sun review

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Welcome to the marvellous mayhem in Opera Australia's The Barber of Seville in Sydney

The Bartolo residence in Opera Australia's The Barber of Seville
In Opera Australia's 21-year old and much revived production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville from director Elijah Moshinsky, the centrepiece is an intricate two-story cross-sectioned dwelling and its surgery, reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts Style. It's warm and inviting, sometimes dark and noisy, but very much eccentric - qualities that also saturate the work from start to finish in the hands of its distinctive characters and outstanding cast.

Inspired but not weighed down by the 1920s silent film era and early "talkies", it's plump with wonderful trickery, including a playful nod to the crowded cabin scene in the Marx Brothers movie A Night at the Opera (1935). Here in Moshinsky's version, law enforcers barge into the Bartolo home and end up crammed into its tiny surgery before spilling out into a heap. Welcome to the mayhem.

Rossini whipped up opera's most famous comedy in a matter of weeks for its premiere at Rome's Teatro Argentina in 1816. Moshinsky adds madcap antics and non-stop crisscrossing movement, making the work feel natural in this state of mayhem. Here, it centres on Dr Bartolo, not as a distinguished medical practitioner, but reimagined as a mad quack.

It's a production full of detail, excitement and action that at times flickers to achieve on stage what an old film reel reveals on screen. That the total effect is so successfully realised by an obviously well-rehearsed and quick-footed cast is a sign of the uncompromising demands of revival director Hugh Halliday.

Anna Dowsley as Rosina and Paolo Bordogna as Figaro
And what a treat to see an entire cast so at ease in their roles, so able to push the boundaries and sing with individuality and splendour in diction-sure Italian!

Paolo Bordogna is a performance enhancing drug as the to-be-richer-wanting Figaro, crafty and ever ready to help carry the plot forward for a price. Bordogna makes a grand entrance from a theatre side door and sings Figaro's incomparably popular aria, "Largo al factotum" (given its own fore-stage barber show in front of a barber-stripe drop), with all the exhilaration and power one could hope for. Doused with comedic prowess and agile in voice, Bordogna is an enigmatic performer and brings synergy of voice, expression and behaviour with ease to his Figaro.

Mezzo-soprano Anna Dowsley breeezes through her role debut as an unchained, lithe and lusciously voiced Rosina while effortlessly ploughing through her music with confidence and vitality. Smart and charming and in love with who she believes is the student Lindoro, but entrapped by Doctor Bartolo (her guardian/soon-to-become husband if the old fool has his way), Dowsley sings the text with emphatic beauty and gives endearing animated strength to her Rosina.

The dandyish Count Almaviva is performed with flair and warm vocal likability by American tenor Kenneth Tarver. Tarver comically navigates his disguise as the student Lindoro in the form of solider and music teacher to get into Bartolo's house to see Rosina, and listening to him do so is impressive to the ear. A fluid legato and gentle ornamentation lend a deep sincerity to his character and, apart from the top feeling it was on occasion reaching its limits, a well-supported and highly expressive voice is on display.

Samuel Dundas as Don Basilio and Warwick Fyfe as Doctor Bartolo
At home with comedic madness, Warwick Fyfe as Doctor Bartolo and David Parkin as his scheming accomplice Don Basilio are dastardly delightful, each showing off a rollicking good pitter-patter song paced with precision. Helping herself unseen to the gin, Jane Ede wafts about as Bartolo's nurse Berta and sings her with rich and firm appeal.

Samuel Dundas sports a fine dusky-toned bass as Almaviva's servant and bandmaster Fiorello, then reappears as Bartolos's zombie-like butler Ambrogio, then later as the wiry and cloaked Notary. And a regiment of uniformed law-enforcers are clumsily well-timed and in sound voice courtesy of the men of the Opera Australia Chorus, even when they fall in a heap.

Amongst the well-oiled slapstick shenanigans upstairs and down in the Bartolo household, conductor Andrea Molino brings the mastery of Rossini's melodious energy and allows it to penetrate and float in fabulous form. Only once did the pit outpace the voice, during Dr Bartolo's first lightning pitter-patter song. Maestro Molino mixed the tempi with enormous appeal and his soloists all obligingly shaped their vocal delivery to match. All the while, a unified Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra performed at their exquisite best.

Creative designs are as busy as the comings and goings. Michael Yeargan's set designs evoke Seville via the terrace houses of Sydney's Paddington and the palm trees of Los Angeles but it never feels that you're not in the libretto-described streets of Seville. Howard Harrison's lighting design is as lively as the action and parallels it wonderfully and Dona Granata's enhanced period costumes add to the vividness. The creative flair comes quick and introducing Doctor Bartolo and Rosina as minutely scaled mechanical figures well before we see them in the flesh gets some good hearty laughing going on early. And that's what the show is ultimately aiming for without ever compromising the music.

Opera Australia's The Barber of Seville has it all and gives it generously. With an equally radiant cast, it may very well do so for years to come.


Production photographs: Keith Saunders

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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Finely cast and musically tender but why another new production of The Pearlfishers from Opera Australia?

Pavol Breslik (Nadir) and the Opera Australia Chorus
Opening night of Opera Australia's new production of Bizet's The Pearlfishers saw a disappointing attendance at the Sydney Opera House last Friday evening. Frankly, I wouldn't have thought that Opera Australia either needed a new production of The Pearlfishers or present it quite so soon. Director Ann-Margret Pettersson's dreamy and sensitive production, which premiered in 2000, was last seen in 2011 and still had a few solid breaths in it for some future revival.

On the other hand, New York's Metropolitan Opera (which presents more than 20 productions a year) has only just greeted the work with open arms after an absence from the stage of 100 years which also seems incredulous. Widely recognised as much for its striking, mellifluous music and one of opera's most loved duets, as for its dramatic failings, it continues to be one of the repertoire's curious works that rarely seem to shed any further light on its characters. If/when it does, it is often inconsequential.

Bizet was just shy of his 25th birthday at the time of the opera's premiere in Paris in 1863 and would have been well aware of the criticisms. Part of the problem lies in the thinly veneered characters, overuse of a chorus that provides little dramatic propulsion and a final scene that has befuddled many an interpreter. Bizet could hardly be blamed for the shortfalls that plague Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré's libretto, but let praise be bestowed for his ability and attempt at turning a pudding into a soufflé. Regardless, it has held onto repertoire status as an exotic, escapist journey.

José Carbó as Zurga
Opera Australia's new production by director Michael Gow at least heads in the right direction in building a greater sense of depth to the principal character roles, but in the end it's still the musical and vocal quality together with exotic visual stimulation that ultimately keeps the work breathing. It is blessed by a superb cast and a performance underscored by conductor Guillaume Tourniaire's refined and tender interpretation. On opening night, with unhurried tempi, Tourniaire drew elegance from the fine musicianship of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, supporting his soloists attentively and allowing the Australian Opera Chorus to ring magnificently.

No longer fishermen friends, Nadir and Zurga appear as European colonialists and, together with the thuggish Nourabar (who 'steals' the role from a voiceless wandering geriatric high priest), are entrenched at home in their exotic 19th century Ceylonese setting. It doesn't come without flaws and it adds complications to the village politics, but it does give foreground to the main characters.

Slovakian tenor Pavol Breslik gives Nadir adventure-seeking spontaneity and sprightly romantic charm. One of Europe's more adept performers and charismatic singers, Breslik made the long-haul trip to Australia to take the role but doesn't get the chance to exhibit the full extent of his capabilities. Nonetheless, Breslik's signature exuberance and youthful, clear and wholesome tenor were impressive as was the sympathetic and reflective power of the Act I's pensive aria "À cette voix...Je crois entendre encore".

Seeming to control the local pearl industry from behind a desk, Australian baritone José Carbó stood aloft as the fuzzy-bearded Zurga with an unflinchingly fine performance. A voice burnished, resonant and firmly planted, Carbó gave meaning and expressivity to every line in his vow of faithfulness to his friendship with Nadir over their rivalry for the same woman. Carbó's gripping rendition of Act III's aria, "L'orage est calmé...O Nadir, tendre ami de mon jeune âge", in which he sings of remorse for ordering the deaths of Leila and Nadir for having broken their vows, was a performance highlight in which his internal turmoil was deeply felt.

Ekaterina Siurina (Leila) and Pavol Breslik (Nadir)
Leila herself, seems more punished than welcomed as the virgin priestess to which Russian soprano Ekaterina Siurina brought an intensity to the role not often seen. Even concealed under a veil she emits no behavioural joy in her sacrifice to Brahma - passion was flickering and she would emerge defiant while following her heart in her allegiance of love for Nadir. Ekaterina's supple, multi-layered tonal colours and delightfully fluid coloratura gave breadth to her Leila, making her attractiveness to the spirited Nadir entirely convincing.

As Nourabad, Daniel Sumegi almost makes believe his relationship to Leila is one of an unforgivingly stern father, growling and chastising with unrelenting guttural bass, but it is never obviously apparent who this heavyweight really is.

Sadly, it's hard not to forget Act I's deadpan direction, ordinary design and stark lighting. On a flat stage, an incongruous armchair sits in front of a small shrine within a walled courtyard and a lurid tin-foil sea glitters in the background. Robert Kemp's set and costume designs, however, are far more pleasing in Acts II and III's grand ornate temple confines and Zurga's colonial shuttered study sporting wall-mounted taxidermic kill. Together with Matt Scott's more thoughtfully considered and evocative lighting design (under which the tin-foil sea glittered magically) greater visual success arrived. Gow's direction of his principal artists burst forth with visceral strength but the Opera Australia Chorus seemed forgotten. Suffering from an overall inertness, they often appeared clumsily characterless in their saffron sarongs despite their glorious, impassioned singing.

Standing out from the crowd, I also wanted to forget the two near-naked men making an appearance as processional guardians when Leila made her first entrance, but then they returned as staged fighters in dance and combat in front of a bloodthirsty crowd in Act III. The reference they make to Nadir and Zurga in the first place as admirers, then as jealous rivals, was unmistakeable but unnecessary. And what of the opera's best known Act I aria ,"Au fond du temple saint"? Breslik and Carbó, lost in their own gazes and then coming together as one, dutifully impressed with the power of music and their vow of faithfulness.

In the end, however, the characters get a little more bang and the music shines once again, but the production squeezes out other inconsistencies which make you wonder whether it's all worth the resources which could have better been put to more deserving causes.


Production photographs: Keith Saunders
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Friday, January 15, 2016

Dusapin's Passion at Sydney Festival intoxicates but challenges

Sydney Festival and Sydney Chamber Opera's collaboration in bringing the Australian premiere of Passion is both instructive in introducing French composer Pascal Dusapin's intoxicating music to local audiences and courageous in programming such a contemplative and dynamic yet challenging work.

Dusapin's passionate interest in Monteverdi's composition has resulted in a mesmerising 90-minute work, more music-poetry than chamber opera, inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus, having its premiere at the 2008 Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

Elise Caluwaerts as Lei and Wiard Witholt as Lui
Orpheus journeys into the underworld to bring back his dead wife Eurydice but, knowing how it will end, she is unwilling to make the ascent. Mise-en-espace/director Pierre Audi has created a spare, trepidatious setting consisting of a stage strewn with angular glass shards, an evocative symbolic world of fragility and danger and aided by Nicholas Rayment's lighting design which touches the music with great sensitivity. Under revival director Miranda Lakerveld, the production was first seen at the 2009 Holland Festival.

Audi's picture perfectly pairs with a sense of anxiety, urgency and doubt that pervades the work as Dusapin's music sweeps the air with broad strokes and time-altering qualities. Within it, tension and harmony are completely at one across its 10 parts. Remarkably, it is a music that seems to breathe in and out in long musical breaths with deliciously haunting, highly expressive and overarching strength.

A short rehearsal period belies the polished artistry that emanated from the stage. Musically, artistic director of Sydney Chamber Opera Jack Symonds exposed Dusapin's music with detailed, relaxed and expansive beauty and his 16 local musicians consistently held the music high in prominence. Long and laconic orchestral passages grease the score in which even the dulcet metallic plink of a music clock is shaped from a percussion-less music.

Wiard Witholt as Lui and Elise Caluwaerts as Lei
Soloists Elise Caluwaerts and Wiard Witholt make a deep impression in their Australian debut in enacting the doomed journey with role-immersive power as simply Lei (She) and Lui (Him). The vocal line is complex, varied and highly textured which Caluwaerts and Witholt imbue with intensity and pathos. Together the young duo unfailingly take audience attention by turning out a formidable, unlaboured and engaging performance despite the challenges that arise from Dusapin's and Rita de Letteriis's poetically weighty and cloudy English-surtitled Italian libretto. No amount of reference to the Sun bore much light on the two mythical lovers' journey, leaving a disconnection between word-vocal-music and a feeling of intellectual over-indulgence that spoiled an otherwise compelling performance.

Caluwaerts's lithely form as Lei is matched with a pliant, glowing and plush soprano that swells from a solid lower register to reach a dizzying, glassy knife-edge force. Witholt exudes an equally strong stage presence with an imposing stature and a robust baritone armoured in protective warmth and resonance.

Six vocalists, three female (Jane Sheldon, Ellen Hooper and Anna Fraser) and three male (Andrew Goodwin, Mitchell Riley, Simon Lobelson) sit in line, mid-stage behind the field of fractured glass in front of the orchestra. Referred to as The Others, they contribute a fascinating soundscape that builds depth and atmosphere by imitating various sounds of nature. But the point at which trying to figure out meaning in the poetry became exhausting and it disappointingly affected the pleasure of simply basking in the journey.


Production photographs: Jamie Williams
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Saturday, December 26, 2015

The Inaugural 2015 OperaChaser Awards and Commendations



The Inaugural 2015 OperaChaser Awards and Commendations


Award for Outstanding Production, The Rabbits, Opera Australia,
Barking Gecko and Melbourne Festival
photo credit: Jon Green


As 2015 draws to a close, it's time to extend my thanks to all involved in creating the ephemeral beauty of opera in performance and give mention to those who have contributed in sharing their artistic pursuits by nourishing their audiences with immeasurable and lasting enjoyment.

In compiling the inaugural OperaChaser Awards and Commendations, the joy of reminiscing on a year loaded with more than 70 fully staged productions at home in Melbourne and around the world is a privilege I don't take for granted. There is no ceremony, no trophy and no prize, but I sincerely hope that these awards bring a little pleasure to the deserved artists who brought excellence to the art of opera and all who continue to dig deep into their artistic, dramatic and creative energies.


2015 OperaChaser Melbourne Awards
From 18 productions and 5 concert performances*


Production
The Rabbits: Opera Australia, Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Melbourne Festival
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/opera-review-the-rabbits-melbourne-festival/news-story/313a4454c392a97045e0884e2358f8b3

Concert Performance
I Puritani: Victorian Opera
featuring Jessica Pratt, Celso Albelo and conductor Richard Mills
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/blessed-in-bel-canto-heaven-at.html

 Innovative Opera Company
Victorian Opera
http://www.victorianopera.com.au/


Luke Leonard
The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, Gertrude Opera (Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival)

Male in a Supporting Role
Shane Lowrencev
as Leporello, Don Giovanni, Opera Australia
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/opera-review-don-giovanni-opera-australia-arts-centre-melbourne/news-story/3fd4d8cd03b3bc351639f54d5fa912e1

Steven Gallop
as Caspar, Der Freischütz, Melbourne Opera
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/opera-review-der-freischutz/news-story/0a48c00a731f7a4cb69944f0521279eb

Female in a Supporting Role
Jane Ede
as Countess Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro, Opera Australia
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/opera-review-the-marriage-of-figaro-opera-australia-arts-centre-melbourne/news-story/230360424873014a155844aafea9371c

Milijana Nikolic
as Princess Eboli, Don Carlos, Opera Australia
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/opera-review-don-carlos-opera-australia-arts-centre-melbourne/news-story/ac1740433a4f1bbdc1f9740bdd604a3d

 Conductor 

Ensemble
Set Design
Robert Jones
Costume Design
Gabriela Tylesova
The Rabbits, Opera Australia, Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Melbourne Festival
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/opera-review-the-rabbits-melbourne-festival/news-story/313a4454c392a97045e0884e2358f8b3

Lighting Design

* I was not in attendance at Victorian Opera's new production of The Flying Dutchman. 



2015 OperaChaser Australian Commendations
From 9 productions seen in Brisbane and Sydney.


Production
Bajazet, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney
Male in a Lead Role
Christopher Lowrey
as Gernando, Faramondo Göttingen International Handel Festival production, Brisbane Baroque
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/handels-faramondo-pulsated-at-brisbane.html?m=1

Female in a Lead Role
Latonia Moore
as Aida, Aida, Handa and Opera Australia 
Conductor
Erin Helyard



2015 OperaChaser International Commendations
From 45 productions seen in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Madrid, Munich, New York, San Francisco, St Louis, Stuttgart, Vienna and Washington.


Production

Innovative Opera Company
The Dallas Opera
http://dallasopera.org/

Director
Calixto Bieto
Jenůfa, Stuttgart Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/bietos-industrially-fluorescent-jenufa.html?showComment=1428839684791

Male in a Lead Role
Pavol Breslik
as Nemorino, L'elisir d'amore, Zurich Opera

 Female in a Lead Role 
Olga Kulchynska
as Giulietta, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Zurich Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/an-immersive-real-time-i-capuleti-e-i.html

 Conductor
Evelino Pidò
Rigoletto, Vienna State Opera
https://bachtrack.com/review-rigoletto-audi-meoni-siurina-vienna-june-2015

I'd also like to thank everyone who makes the front of house experience memorable so there's one more commendation I'd like to share.

Outstanding Usher
Hector at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.


Once again, thank you to all!
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Monday, December 21, 2015

Coming out to play in extraordinary form, Cats euphoria returns to Melbourne

Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Cats is extraordinary entertainment and a plump song and dance spectacle based on T.S.Elliott's children's poems in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats from 1939. Millions already know that but I'm a little perplexed by the euphoria.

Since the show's premiere in Melbourne in 1985 it returns for the fifth time in an updated revival from London's  Palladium Theatre by director Trevor Nunn and choreographer Gillian Lynne.

Those millions are well familiar with both the show and possibly the book. It has played in cities worldwide since its premiere in London's West End in 1981, cities that I've likely visited. But where have I been? I've never taken myself out of my way nor been taken along to see it. And unless those poems were read to me predating my earliest memories, I've had no contact with the book. I rather feel very much the odd one out, much like the supposed star of the show, Grizzabella, played by Aussie pop icon, Delta Goodrem.

But this sensational Melbourne cast show that everyone's a star in Cats. Every one of the Jellicles Cats gets a voice and a chance to illuminate the audience with their exciting lives on the night of the Jellicles Ball, when their leader and sage, Old Deuteronomy, chooses one amongst them to rise to The Heaviside Layer, to be reborn into a new Jellicles life. Grizzabella, the glamourpuss outcast, is the chosen.

In her musical theatre stage debut, Delta Goodrem makes it look easy being the star of the show. There's little stage time to dilly-dally with, a song and a half to sing and a strut about the stage to look vulnerable, for which the high heels help in that regard. Sadly, the lighting doesn't. But it is Goodrem's gorgeously channeled voice, full of robust warmth and purity, that fires "Memories", a song I only ever associated with a long ago TV advertisement for long distance calling (before the ubiquitous mobile phone added FaceTime). Unashamedly, the poignancy of that commercial cemented a benchmark and Goodrem handled it with power and pride, but more could be milked of the pathos without overworking the vibrato. It didn't matter to a theatre full of fans who went berserk mid-song as her top register revved up and opened marvellously. It didn't matter because there was bucketloads of entertainment on tap to go with it.

Lashings of praise needs to be served to the rest of the cat cast who sport names far cuter and fancier than my old family pet Kitty, dance with astonishing style and gymnastic athleticism, then manage to sing almost as brilliantly while doing so. Associate director and choreographer Joanne Robinson has worked wonders with them.


Christopher Favaloro almost steals the show with precision perfect balletic splendour as the magical Mr Mistoffelees. Matt McFarlane's pulsating warmth of voice and diplomatic aplomb adds spring to Munkustrap. In Puccini-like amorous duet, Josh Piterman as Growltiger and Samantha Morley as Griddlebone elevate the moment in declaring "Abbiamo trovato l'amore" / "We have found love", and I wondered how many in the audience would take themselves off to an opera.

Sarah Kate Landy as Bombalurina and Amy Berrisford as Demeter stir up a stunningly saucy “Macavity" to the point just short of a strip-tease. The melodious and charming-voiced Ross Hannaford darts about full of boyish energy as the lean and likeable Skimbleshanks and Jason Wasley portrayed Old Deuteronomy in commanding style and tempered, charismatic voice. The list of talents goes on.

It's all so exhilarating and the tunes so catchy that, despite the generally fine diction, the verse feels tangled with the choreography, leaving little to ponder before being shoved along to the next scene. I should've read the book!


Though John Napier's single set design and its glowing full-moon backdrop remain static for the entire show, its heap of trash that arcs around and spills from the stage fringe renders a playground of superb monumentality that lends a little purpose to the feline characters within. The kaleidoscopic, kinetic lighting design keeps well-tuned to the dance routines but too much is lost in the low lux levels. Details shine, however, in the beautiful body-suited costumes with furry add-ons, especially when given the chance to see them up-close off-stage as the cats parade in the theatre aisles (where a seat is highly recommended and which services a quick exit).

Musical director Paul White created a musical soundscape as equally comforting and sumptuous as the theatre it fills on opening night. Nothing less than a live orchestra would satisfy me but the voiceover telling us so made it seem like a real privilege - perhaps it was because they were unseen (from my dress circle side seat). And the stereophonic sound quality rang with flawless delivery.

A magical, meow-wow festive finish was followed by a standing ovation. It won't be soon, but I have it in me to see Cats again. Only, in the end, when the poster star is lifted into the fly tower on an oversized tyre, I want to know this little book I was deprived of. I'll be sure to be well-versed in T.S. Elliot's seemingly delightful pussy poems next time.


Production photographs: Hagen Hopkins

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