Settling down to reflect great subtlety, a shimmering Aida opens at Dubai Opera

“Is that the one with the elephants?”, asked a colleague after I said I was off to see Verdi’s Aida at Dubai Opera. As far as I knew, there’d be no elephants but I guaranteed that having - amongst other strengths - a great exponent in the title role, Aida would be remembered for much more than an accompanying circus. That it did, with luxury casting in a shimmering production from Polish National Opera and directed with well-resolved sophistication by Roberto Laganà Manoli.

Act 2, Aida, Polish National Opera Production

American soprano Latonia Moore studded the evening with a powerhouse performance on Wednesday’s opening night in a role she has sung widely and gives stunning breath to. Moore’s vocal heft, dramatic colour and crystal diction all combined in a thoughtful and alluring account of the captured Ethiopian princess as the conflict between love and duty unfolded in the doomed love triangle with the Egyptian military commander Radamès (Rudy Park) and the pharaoh’s daughter Amneris (Anna Lubańska). There’s much to encapsulate in Aida’s interactions with her superior, lover and father but Moore makes each one a genuine and compelling expression of the slave-princess's circumstances.

As a trio of singers who could effortlessly turn on the volume, Act 1, however, was characterised more by a ferocity than subtlety of voice. They did eventually settle, Moore more quickly so. By story’s airless end, within an impressive stylised pyramid as Aida and Radamès walk rearwards in embrace (a clever touch that avoided clumsy lolling death throes), it was easy to shower plaudits on all.

As a robust soldierly Radamès, Park plied through the music with an impressive burning fervour, completely absorbing in the middle and lower domain, though on occasion, a little overextended at the top. There’s little private time Radamès and Aida enjoy but Park and Moore created a formidable pair. The lovers' Act 3 scene outside the Temple of Isis, where Aida had waited to meet with Radamès, was bathed in a moving and richly concocted and thrillingly sung emotive rendezvous.

Most striking below the highest notes, and as much able to sing out with purity and suppleness of tone, Lubańska’s dark, luscious and meaty mezzo-soprano made Amneris a force to be reckoned with. As Aida’s rival, Lubańska’s snaky Amneris isn’t all fire and fury and she could suppress the volume and add remarkable depth of soul when needed. One of the night’s many highlights included Lubańska and Moore’s Act 2 encounter as Amneris draws a confession from Aida that she is in love with Radamès in "Fu la sorte dell'armi a' tuoi funesta". With the incensed Amneris standing tall against a grief-stricken Aida on her knees, power and pity were augmented superbly.

We don’t meet Aida’s father, the King of Ethiopia, until he is brought before the Egyptian people as a prisoner of war well into Act 2. Despite looking like a few years could be added to his makeup, from the first moments Mikołaj Zalasiński made his appearance as Amonasro, his warm, fluid and burnished baritone gushed forth with masterful ease in a near faultless, intelligently crafted depiction of an astute and commanding leader.

Gravelly bass Grzegorz Szostak, as the implacable High Priest Ramfis, tended to sing with more directness without lifting textures from his words. A the other bass, a notably warmer one, Łukasz Konieczny gave polished authority as the King of Egypt. In smaller roles, Jeannette Bożałek brought clear angelic radiance to her offstage Voice of the High Priestess and Adam Zdunikowski administered his notes solidly as the Messenger. For all its rich Verdian chorus work, the Polish National Opera Chorus, particularly the men - even more so the deep resonant purring basses - sang with huge appeal, in excellently balanced parts and wonderful evenness.

Threaded with its triumphant magisterial splendour and dreamy orchestral delicacies, Maestro Patrick Fournillier’s sensitive conducting - showing great care in allowing the singers to rise radiantly above the music - shaped a soundscape of beauty and coherency. At his service, the Polish National Opera Orchestra suffered a handful of opening night jitters that began with unsettling wheezing string playing in the overture but, overall, smoothness and crispness reigned.

Act 4, Aida, Polish National Opera Production

Under Laganà Manoli’s direction, the work’s juxtaposition of intimacy, conflict and pageantry were given eye-catching theatricality as part of the story’s ancient Egyptian setting. Responsible also for the sumptuous sets and costume designs, Laganà Manoli’s overarching control of the stage resulted in a multitude of memorable tableaux, including a tremendous grand spectacle for the Act 2 Triumphal Chorus and Grand March and the act’s finale as Radamès earns Amneris’ hand in marriage. For this, with no elephants or a live animal of any sort, he was assisted by Emil Wesolowski’s atmospheric choreography for an agile troupe of dancers featuring both angular and arabesque forms.

Lofty relief-cut golden and marble pillars framed the stage with two full-width flights of steps that allow ample scope for the large contingent of performers in all their intricately-robed exotic splendour. With hues of opalescent blue and aqua, two raised plinths - providing a focus for solo singing and that could be joined as one - as well as full-height imposing relief-cut golden doors that, when closed, aided more intimate moments, satisfied expectations of the monumental. Further depth was created when the rear wall opened and became a canvas for various projections, including a view out to the pyramids in an overall dazzling but dreamy effect.

Although the popularity of Aida is likely the result of its incorporation and marketability of spectacle, when the stars align in a production that searches the story’s human factors, conservatively approached or not, the effect is ever more overwhelming. In this instance, Laganà Manoli’s scheme succeeds all sides.


Aida 
Polish National Opera Production
Dubai Opera
Until 17th February



Production Photos: Teatr Wielki

An accomplished Tristan and Isolde makes its mark from an increasingly ambitious Melbourne Opera: Herald Sun Review

Published in print in Melbourne's Herald Sun in edited form, 8th February, 2018


The determination and ambitiousness that percolates within an increasingly confident Melbourne Opera came in the form of a musically secure, vocally accomplished and exciting production of Tristan and Isolde at the Palais Theatre Monday night. Apart from a minor technical hitch that saw temporary loss of surtitles and background projections, not even the disastrous cancellation of Friday night’s opening (due to an indisposed Isolde) impeded the quality of professionalism on display.

Lee Abrahmsen as Isolde and Neal Cooper as Tristan

Following successful productions of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, this gargantuan three-act work that explores love’s transcendental and intoxicating potency was an unequivocal achievement and one that positions the company high on a national level.

Blurring rationality and reason and tension between love and death, Wagner takes us to a space with music and drama in which plot gives way to mood and where the cogs of psychological states are surveyed in a story drawn from the medieval tale of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Isolde.

Directed with overall appealing clarity by Suzanne Chaundy, the work is imbued with intelligently conceived symbolic features that demarcate each act despite missing the potential to mine the fervency of the Act 2's central love duet. And though designs feature various beautiful stage pictures (sets Greg Carroll with digital artists Yandell Walton and Keith Deverell) incorporating Lucy Wilkins’ eclectic costumes and Lucy Birkinshaw’s evocative lighting, the execution doesn’t appear fully resolved.

In a career-defining performance, soprano Lee Abrahmsen exhibited an ever-burning radiance both in voice and presence as Isolde, convincingly navigating Isolde’s complex emotional paths and doing so with a markedly penetrating top and robust middle range. The blazing colour and expression Abrahmsen gave as she awaits Tristan to join her in concealed bliss in Act 2 continued the startling trajectory she set up in a hugely demanding and fine first act.

Sarah Sweeting, Steven Gallop, Neal Cooper and Lee Abrahmsen

As her Tristan, Englishman Neal Cooper was superb in utilising his heated and muscular-voiced tenor and well-calibrated acting to great effect, sharing an effectual chemistry with Isolde and supplying Act 3 with searing emotion as he longs for Isolde and yearns for death.

Regular soloists at Melbourne Opera and a strong male chorus provided sizable support. Sarah Sweeting’s dark-hued and intuitive Brangäne, Michael Lampard’s loyal Kurwenal and Jason Wasley’s suspicious-eyed Melot all slotted in with solid depictions of character and Steven Gallop’s sympathetic King Marke was excellent.

But bringing in the expert Wagnerian and English conductor Anthony Negus was what paid off most impressively with a ravishing account of Wagner’s sublime score, particularly its thrilling crescendos, and played with meticulous sensitivity by the near-90 assembled musicians of Melbourne Opera Orchestra.


Tristan and Isolde
Melbourne Opera
Palais Theatre
Until 7th February 2018
Robert Blackwood Hall, 10th February

3.5 stars

Production Photos: Robin Halls

An inventive and powerful re-imagining of Heggie and Scheer's Moby-Dick at Utah Opera

As well as celebrating its 40th season, much attention has fallen on Utah Opera recently as its new production of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer’s 2011 operatic work, Moby-Dick, took to the stage. Based on Herman Melville’s far-reaching 1851 novel - not entirely well-received at the time but going on to become one of literature’s classic tales - Moby-Dick is a thematically fertile work that Heggie and Scheer generously capture in their compellingly interpreted opera.

In director Kristine McIntyre’s hands, it has been raised with affecting force, mild instructiveness and expressive clout. It’s the work’s first reimagining since it premiered at Dallas Opera in 2010 - then Adelaide in 2011 where I witnessed its grand swell of artistic power - and, in this reincarnation, stands as a glorious achievement for Utah Opera.

Roger Honeywell as Captain Ahab, Moby-Dick

An opera in which no romance plays out as part of its story, at its core is the idea of distorted perceptions and blind-sighted obsession, brought on by a vengeance that leads to an increased inability to act with either rationality or humanity. That alone indirectly gives the work much resonance in contemporary times in a free country perceived to be under the authority of misjudged and arrogant administration. When we perceive our own times, much can be attributed to the awful consequences of ill-suited individuals in power. Then again, that has always been.

Commander of the whaling ship Pequod, Captain Ahab sails on a mission to murder Moby-Dick, the legendary Goliathan white whale that severed his leg on a previous expedition. After persisting in his maniacal bubble for month on end, both Ahab’s small whaleboat and the Pequod, an outstanding but sometimes sticky microcosm of cultural diversity, are struck and destroyed by the whale in a tragedy that points to irresponsible mass-murder of his crew as a result of ugly determination.

The integrity of Melville’s evocative, seductive and inventive style shines in Scheer’s text, guided by Heggie’s varietal and accomplished orchestral score that contains the dramatic, emotive, sensuous and mystic elements residing within it.

Conductor Joseph Mechavich’s especially sympathetic, caressing and noble handling of the score left no doubt that Heggie’s work has the potential to find a prominent place in the repertoire. If the reading demanded more, it would be in extracting the full brunt of waves of tumultuous sound that impact the musical landscape. It wasn’t as if the resources weren’t available. The 70-plus musicians of the Utah Symphony Orchestra at his disposal had the expertise and played superbly throughout its two acts.

Roger Honeywell, Musa Ngqungwana and Joshua Dennis

What is evident and achieved in McIntyre’s concept is a smart and clear-sighted effectiveness that elucidates the psychological aspect. Her vision is bolstered by designer Erhard Rom’s marvellous singular diagrammatic set of navigational maps and astronomical charts that wrap around and contextualise man in his universe, made all the more striking by Marcus Dilliard’s illustrative and detailed lighting. Rom imaginatively defines the Pequod by its main mast that provides a lookout and perch for a handful of poignantly performed arias and duets and a cutout whaleboat that swivels about as a vulnerable element on the sea. Jessica Jahn’s rigorously researched costumes both unite and individualise one and all in their roles and wear the grime of labour and time.

Importantly, the performance was sung with enormous strength and understanding in a work that heightens the complexity of drawn characters. In a commanding multifaceted portrayal, Roger Honeywell’s hugely buttressed tenor and dramatic application perfectly suited the obsessed Captain Ahab as he deteriorated into maniacal doom. Ahab is a demanding sing of seeming Wagnerian proportion and Honeywell effortlessly lasted the distance all the way to the final encounter with Moby-Dick’s huge menacing eye while embodying a captivating villain-hero ambiguity.

Honeywell was joined by all-round talented principals, including charismatic baritone David Adam Moore’s rational and austere first mate Starbuck, challenger to Ahab’s decisions and confronted with the moral predicament that comes as he points a gun at the unaware Ahab. Warm and honeyed tenor Joshua Dennis brings an endearing sensitivity to Greenhorn and poignantly closes the opera, as the novel begins, with “Call me Ishmael”.

Joshua Dennis as Greenhorn and Musa Ngqungwana as Queequeg 

Another formidable presence is broad cavernous bass-baritone Musa Ngqungwana’s empathetic Queequeg who brought many significant and touching moments - particularly alongside Dennis in their developing mateship - as did soprano Jasmine Habersham who impressed to no end when she sailed high above the crew in divine voice as young Pip. The happy-go-lucky second mate Stub and third mate Flask were characterfully created by rich baritone Craig Irvin and penetrating tenor Joseph Gaines respectively, with the sturdy and authoritative bass-baritone Jesús Vicente Murillo also impressing as a fitting Captain Gardiner.

They were surrounded by a hearty-voiced 30-strong chorus of seamen who brought great individuality and dynamism to their parts. Amongst them blended four athletic dancers who added well-considered choreographed muscularity to the picture.

The whole outfit supposedly has the capability to pack into two sea containers, therefore making it an easy task mounting in other houses the production has been co-produced with, and beyond. Next up, in March, Moby-Dick will be presented by Pittsburgh Opera with Opera San José, Chicago Opera Theatre and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu also on the itinerary - a powerful work that has the ability to not only nourish a seasoned opera goer’s passion but, in its dramatic accessibility, also attract a newcomer’s attention. Thankfully, there are opportunities ahead to promote it.


Moby-Dick
Utah Opera
Capitol Theatre, Salt Lake City
Until 28th January, 2018.


Production Photos: courtesy of Utah Opera

Jonathan Miller's comeback contemporary hammed-up Così fan tutte revs up at Seattle Opera

Mozart and da Ponte’s La scuola degli amanti or The School for Lovers, the subtitle of the two-act opera buffa, Così fan tutte (1790), never fails to add a little playful but oft-unpalatable sting to the subject of love and courtship. Its story of fidelity put to the test is easily unchained from any locked-in historical setting but, guided by its blissful music that builds circumstance with emotive beauty and vitality, the key to its success lies in its ability to balance the comic with the poignant.

Tuomas Katajala, Ginger and Marina Costa-Jackson and Craig Verm

There’s much to chew over in Seattle Opera’s vibrantly portrayed revival of director and designer Jonathan Miller’s production - premiered in 1995 at Covent Garden and previously seen in Seattle in 2006 - this time by director Harry Fehr in his company debut. It’s funny, and it should be, it’s daring, contemporary, sung with appealing character and hammed-up to the hilt. Fehr keeps the plot buzzing forward with bags of antics that his agile opening night cast did a strong show of, though precariously so, as it wasn't consistently transferred in attentiveness to ensemble singing.

Having been re-staged in many European and American opera houses, it even has the look of re-mountable ease. Once it gets underway, it gives neither high sophistication to nor a specific placing that the few props - a pile of cushions no end of free-falling takes place on, a mirror and a few period chairs and settee - couldn’t have achieved in front of an expansive off-white curtain as the first scene begins with. It’s in associate designer Cynthia Savage’s clever use of costumes that the contemporary, seamed with lashings of irky stereotypical flavour, is projected.

Marina Costa-Jackson and Ginger Costa-Jackson 

Adding to that, Johnathan Dean’s English captions are given a modern breath and tweaked with city-specific references to rev up the local audience. Born in Seattle, Starbucks gets a high recommendation as Despina steals a taste and mention of the hip neighbourhood of Ballard inspires the disguises to come.

As pupils in this school for lovers, the high-heeled glamour that sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella present is less than skin deep. They’re not particularly tasteful as they pursue life with their self-conscious, self-confident picture of celebrity fashioning. That makes a reasonable premise for not recognising their lovers in disguise, portrayed by two rather bumbling simps, Ferrando and Guglielmo, who come across rather more like skanky cashed-up bogans than hip.

Two pairs of lovers alternate through the season run. On opening night, sisters in real life, Marina Costa-Jackson and Ginger Costa-Jackson provide the panache and cheek that characterise Fiordiligi and Dorabella’s non-stop deployment of highly honed feminine ammunition. Both sopranos sing with richness and depth, Marina in luscious creamy tones, Ginger in darker tinted threads - and the two blend deliciously. Marina reels in one of the most vocally satisfying highlights with Act 1’s "Come scoglio" but an even more melting moment comes with deep canyons of heart in Act 2’s "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona".

As their lovers, Craig Verm is a muscular-voiced Ferrando who displays an easy soldierly brawniness in charismatic baritone form and tenor Tuomas Katajala gives warm lyricism and heated vibrato to Ferrando. In ensemble singing, however, the gents fared less agreeably with Katajala often roughing up the voice at the top and Verm sometimes lost in the distant soundscape.

Tuomas Katajala, Kevin Burdette and Craig Verm

Adroit and nimble bass Kevin Burdette’s precious Don Alfonso is somewhat the detention master, dressed like an undertaker and smugly orchestrating the plot that forces the wager with his two friends that their lovers won’t remain faithful. Despina the housemaid - PA in this case to the two vain sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella - is the well-experienced teacher. That role, often portrayed with insistence and tomboyishness is in good comic hands with pliant soprano Laura Tatulescu.

The Seattle Opera Orchestra played with taut expertise, beginning with the effervescent overture with particularly fine and filigreed detail emanating from the woodwind players. Conductor Paul Daniel - in his debut at a Seattle Opera - put the score elegantly on show for the ear but greater room for more pounce and adrenaline could have served to compliment the vitality on stage.

After the damage is done, with Don Alfonso winning his bet, the forgiveness that Mozart’s Così fan tutte bestows doesn’t clearly translate into a joyful reunion of the lovers in this contemporary adaptation. It seems to work well despite the foursome garnering little sympathy in their lesson - in this school, the penalty for self-obsession and shallowness is a little more harsh. The solos were superb enough. I only wish a little more attention was given to the brilliance of Mozart’s divine ensembles.


Così fan tutte
Seattle Opera
McCaw Hall
Until 27th February, 2018.

Production Photos: Tuffer and Philip Newton

The 3rd Annual OperaChaser Awards and Commendations

- 2017 -

Revealed via Twitter @OperaChaser on 27th December 2017 commencing at 5pm

Dromana, Victoria.

Award for Outstanding Production, Melbourne (Independent): Lohengrin, Melbourne Opera

Photo: Robin Halls

Every night of the year, opera takes to the stage and impresses its musical, vocal and emotive force on audiences anywhere from Adelaide to Zurich and Reykjavik to Cape Town, from mega-cities to rural outposts, stages big and small. Annual global audience number the tens of millions and people continue to be drawn to its artistic mystique on both sides of the curtain.

This year I was drawn to 70 diverse opera productions in 14 cities across 4 continents and I'm proud of the exceptional work and standards I see from companies large and small, together with the innovative ways I see from those that strive to connect with a wider audience. Opera is alive and will forever remain so.

The 3rd Annual OperaChaser Awards and Commendations are an opportunity to reflect on the year and are dedicated to all who have contributed in sharing their artistic and creative pursuits by nourishing their audiences with immeasurable and lasting enjoyment.

Thank you to all involved in creating the ephemeral beauty of opera in performance. Again, there is no little ceremony, no trophy and no prize, but I sincerely hope that these awards bring a little pleasure to the deserved artists who bring excellence to the art of opera and all who continue to dig deep into their artistic, dramatic and creative energies.

2017 OperaChaser Awards, Melbourne 

From 30 productions

Outstanding Production
Cavalleria Rusitcana and Pagliacci, Opera Australia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/two-cleverly-threaded-and-ardently-sung.html

Outstanding Production - Independent
Lohengrin, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/08/melbourne-operas-lohengrin-radiates.html

Outstanding Opera in Concert
La Sonnambula, Victorian Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/an-evening-of-superlative-bel-canto.html

Innovative Opera Company
BK Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/a-voyeuristic-edge-frames-bk-operas.html

Outstanding Director
Matthew Lutton
Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets, Victorian Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/09/thoughtfully-realised-and-eerily.html

Outstanding Director - Independent
Tyran Parke
The Coronation of Poppea, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/07/an-edgy-intelligent-and-dramatically.html

Outstanding Conductor 
Phoebe Briggs
The Sleeping Beauty, Victorian Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/03/victorian-opera-gives-respighis.html

Outstanding Conductor - Independent
David Kram
Lohengrin, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/08/melbourne-operas-lohengrin-radiates.html

Outstanding Male in a Lead Role
Diego Torre
Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci, Opera Australia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/two-cleverly-threaded-and-ardently-sung.html

Outstanding Male in a Lead Role - Independent
Marius Vlad
Title role, Lohengrin, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/08/melbourne-operas-lohengrin-radiates.html

Outstanding Female in a Lead Role
Rinat Shaham
Title role, Carmen, Opera Australia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/opera-australias-dazzling-and-dramatic.html

Outstanding Female in a Lead Role - Independent
Helena Dix
Elizabeth I, Roberto Devereux, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/11/from-melbourne-opera-intellectual-and.html

Outstanding Male in a Supporting Role
Samuel Dundas
Silvio, Pagliacci, Opera Australia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/two-cleverly-threaded-and-ardently-sung.html

Outstanding Male in a Supporting Role - Independent
Phillip Calcagno
Earl, Roberto Devereux, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/11/from-melbourne-opera-intellectual-and.html

Outstanding Female in a Supporting Role
Stacey Alleaume
Micaëla, Carmen, Opera Australia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/opera-australias-dazzling-and-dramatic.html

Outstanding Female in a Supporting Role - Independent
Caroline Vercoe
Ottavia, The Coronation of Poppea, Lyric Opera of Melbourne
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/07/an-edgy-intelligent-and-dramatically.html

Outstanding Ensemble
The Sleeping Beauty, Victorian Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/03/victorian-opera-gives-respighis.html

Outstanding Ensemble - Independent
HMS Pinafore, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-handsome-spit-and-polished-hms.html

Outstanding Set Design
Steffen Arfing
King Roger, Opera Australia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/opera-australias-psychologically.html

Outstanding Set Design - Independent
Dann Barber
The Coronation of Poppea, Lyric Opera of Melbourne
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/07/an-edgy-intelligent-and-dramatically.html

Outstanding Costume Design
Carla Teti
Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Opera Australia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/two-cleverly-threaded-and-ardently-sung.html

Outstanding Costume Design - Independent
Lucy Wilkins
Lohengrin, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/08/melbourne-operas-lohengrin-radiates.html

Outstanding Lighting Design
Jon Clark
King Roger, Opera Australia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/05/opera-australias-psychologically.html

Outstanding Lighting Design - Independent
Lucy Birkinshaw
Roberto Devereux, Melbourne Opera
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/11/from-melbourne-opera-intellectual-and.html

Commendation for Outstanding Production, Australia: Cavalleria Rusitcana and Pagliacci, Opera Australia

Photo: Keith Saunders

2017 OperaChaser Commendations, Australia

From 10 productions seen in Sydney and Coolangatta.

Outstanding Production
Cavalleria Rusticana and Paglacci, Opera Australia, Sydney
^ https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-cavalleria-rusticana-pagliacci-opera-australia/

Outstanding Opera in Concert
Parsifal, Opera Australia, Sydney
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/08/when-world-class-is-ordained_11.html

Outstanding Director
Damiano Michieletto
Cavalleria Rusticana and Paglacci, Opera Australia, Sydney
^ https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-cavalleria-rusticana-pagliacci-opera-australia/

Outstanding Conductor
Erin Helyard
Anacréon and Pigmalion, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/the-quandary-in-pinchgut-operas.html

Outstanding Male in a Lead Role
Michael Honeyman
Title role, King Roger, Opera Australia, Sydney
^ https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-king-roger-opera-australia-sydney-festival/

Outstanding Female in a Lead Role
Ermonela Jaho
Violetta, La Traviata, Opera Australia, Sydney
^ http://35.201.18.166/reviews/review-la-traviata-opera-australia-3/

Outstanding Male in a Supporting Role
Kanen Breen
Arnalta, The Coronation of Poppea, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/a-strong-and-committed-cast-but.html

Outstanding Female in a Supporting Role
Lauren Zolezzi
Cupid, Anacrèon and Pigmalion, Pinchgut Opera, Sydney
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/the-quandary-in-pinchgut-operas.html

Outstanding Set Design
Paolo Fantin
Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Opera Australia, Sydney
^ https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-cavalleria-rusticana-pagliacci-opera-australia/

Outstanding Costume design
Tim Chappel
Two Weddings, One Bride, Opera Australia, Sydney
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/a-yesteryear-romp-in-operetta-where.html

Outstanding Lighting Design
David Walter
Aida, Opera Australia, Coolangatta Beach
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/on-coolangatta-sands-verdis-aida-is.html

Special Award for New Australian Work
Melba, Hayes Theatre, Sydney
^ https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-melba-hayes-theatre-co/

Commendation for Outstanding Production, International: Die Frau ohne Schatten, Staatsoper, Berlin

Photo: Hans Jörg Michel

2017 OperaChaser Commendations, International

From 30 productions seen in 14 cities: Beijing, Singapore, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Cardiff, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Bologna, Rome, Turin and Dubai.

Outstanding Production
Die Frau ohne Schatten
Staatsoper, Berlin
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/staatsoper-berlins-vocally-exquisite.html
Outstanding Director
Penny Woolcock
The Pearl Fishers, LA Opera, Los Angeles
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/10/director-penny-woolcocks-brilliantly.html

Outstanding Conductor
Zubin Mehta
Die Frau ohne Schatten, Staatsoper, Berlin
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/staatsoper-berlins-vocally-exquisite.html

Outstanding Male in a Lead Role
Ildar Abdrazakov
Title role, Prins Igor, Ductch National Opera, Amsterdam
^ https://bachtrack.com/review-prince-igor-tcherniakov-kochanovsky-abdrazakov-dyka-dutch-national-opera-february-2017

Outstanding Female in a Lead Role
Stephanie Blythe
Title role, Tancredi, Opera Philadelphia, Philadelphia
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/radiant-bel-canto-display-revives-rarer_17.html

Outstanding Male in a Supporting Role
Maurizio Muraro
Dr Bartolo, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Metropolitan Opera, New York
^ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/arts/music/il-barbiere-di-siviglia-metropolitan-opera.html

Outstanding Female in a Supporting Role
Agneta Eichenholz
Isabella of France, Edward II, Deutche Oper, Berlin
http://operachaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/a-haunting-edgy-and-strongly-sung.html

Outstanding Set Design
Christian Schmidt
Rigoletto, Opéra National de Paris, Paris
^ https://www.operawarhorses.com/2016/05/07/review-a-rigoletto-surprise-in-paris-ludovic-tezier-subs-in-title-role-in-claus-guths-production-with-fabiano-peretyatko-luisotti-may-5-2016/

Outstanding Costume Design
Elena Zaitseva
Prins Igor, Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam
^ https://bachtrack.com/review-prince-igor-tcherniakov-kochanovsky-abdrazakov-dyka-dutch-national-opera-february-2017

Outstanding Lighting Design
Ulrich Niepel
Götterdämmerung, Deutche Oper, Berlin
http://operachaser.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-fantastic-dark-world-expires-with.html


Once again, thank you to all!


^ links to reviews not penned by myself

The meditative and joyous shine effectively in Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's Messiah: Herald Sun Review

Widely known and performed the world over, Handel's magnificent Messiah (though originally intended to be performed at Easter), has become synonymous with Christmas. Religiously inclined or not, the Messiah symbolises love and its timelessness continues to inform modern society with its voice of hope.

On Saturday evening, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra generously shared the work's affirmative essence, sung to scriptural text arranged by Charles Jennens and given an incisive and graceful interpretation under conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini. Eschewing any hint of pomposity, the meditative and joyous emerged effectively from the comforting regimental punctuated rhythms and underlying exuberance that characterised the musicianship of the near 50 players. Overall, a greater sense of musical breathing and elasticity was achieved in parts two and three.

Embedded is that great swell of glory in the "Hallelujah" chorus that closes the second part. And it soared divinely. As the champions of the stage, numbering 60 and expertly prepared by Warren Trevelyan-Jones, the MSO Chorus impressed with their dexterity and interconnectivity, the sopranos particularly shining with crystal cut class. What was otherwise given an all-important focus on clear diction overall, a light rawness at times, however, came from the male chorus.

Amongst the four strong soloists who added weight to the score's operatic signature, despite variability in projection, two thrilling highlights of the night included the strident and authoritative opening from muscular and youthful-voiced British tenor Ed Lyon with "Ev'ry valley" and an enriched and profoundly affecting "He was despised" from the brooding and velvety mezzo-soprano Joslyn Rechter. Lyon especially appeared assured and consistent throughout, the later "Thou shalt break them" delivered with suave soldierly urgency.

Starry bright soprano Sara Macliver put to eerily appropriate use her porcelain-fine top range in "Rejoice greatly" and Italian bass Salvo Vitale brought rich and succulent vigour to his "Thus saith the Lord" but rather let sag the regality and depth of “The trumpet shall sound”.

Just to add, without pointing the finger, soloists looking fully engaged with the moment when not singing assist greatly in creating a more visually satisfying experience. A small quibble because by the time the chorus sang the mighty closing “Worthy is the Lamb” and final tidal "Amen" the ebullience etched itself majestically, making an approaching Christmas so much more potent than all the tinsel and baubles decorating the city.


Messiah
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
9th & 10th December
3.5 stars

A strong and committed cast but Pinchgut Opera's reimagined The Coronation of Poppea misses its potential.

Making opera contemporarily relevant is at the forefront of pretty much any opera company today wishing to promote and vivify the art form. More easily able than many, Claudio Monteverdi's final opera, The Coronation of Poppea - premiered some 375 years ago - remains acutely relevant today and survives as a potent example of drama that simmers, boils, confronts and intrigues in its story of lust for power, sexual obsessions and ruthless dominance. In Pinchgut Opera's new production directed by Mark Gaal, wonderfully sung and boldly conceived as it is, attempts to reimagine the story's ancient Rome setting in a modern day context don't, however, always pay off so convincingly.

Helen Sherman and Jake Arditti

Power struggles, manipulative tactics and corruption exist in all spheres and levels of society but Gaal's interpretation creates an unpalatable friction and raises question marks over Giovanni Busenello's libretto - sung in Italian and surtitled in an eloquent English translation at odds with what is seen on stage.

Monteverdi's work is a sensational account of the Roman emperor Nero’s (Jake Arditti) abuse of position and blind pursuit of love for his mistress Poppea (Helen Sherman). Poppea's ambitions of power aggravate the Empress Ottavia (Natalie Christie Peluso) who is gravely aware of the vulnerable position she is in and who counteracts with a scheme to have Poppea disposed of. Woven through, the goddesses of Fortune, Virtue and Love, vie for supremacy.

Here, a mighty hip and bleached-haired Nero takes on the aura of a teen pop star mixed up in a life of sex, drugs and violence. Surrounded by his hoodlum mates who roam the confines of a stark, often coldly lit, concreted world (sets by Charles Davis and lighting by Ross Graham), it seems a confused take on the work's adaptational potential.

As Nero, Jake Arditti exhibits much colour and lightning flashes of dynamism with his rich and lively countertenor. And there's much happening to excite him in the process. Soon after Nero makes his entrance with a hooker-like, dangerous-looking Poppea, he knocks down a man, who Poppea straddles, then crawls across him seductively to remove his belt from under Poppea's loins. Later, partying and cocaine-fixed after ordering the death of his philosophising adviser Seneca, Nero is pleasurably sucked off by one of his men during which I don't recall what the music was doing. Gaal certainly highlights Nero's salacious pleasures yet Nero doesn't cut the figure of authority as the Roman emperor in the text reads.

Natalie Christie Peluso

The luscious, full-bodied mezzo-soprano of Helen Sherman gives a striking, attractively hued and phrased voice to Poppea. What begins as a grungy windowless world oddly becomes a glitzy fashionable one by end with Poppea making a surprise transformation into what looked like a celebrity model for a pageant coronation. Sherman stepped into the limelight radiantly for the opera's final melting duet with Arditti - "Pur ti miro/Pur ti godo" - in their only tender and restrained encounter without groping each other and, while doing so, paired lusciously in voice. Nero had secured his beauty and Poppea her position, precarious as that would be.

Perhaps if the libretto was completely reworked to reflect the characters portrayed, a more easy coexistence of drama, setting and text would have resulted. In this setting, I was seeing one possibility taking a topical Weinstein-like approach concerning alleged abuse of power and women which life is never short of.

Thankfully, Arditti and Sherman are part of a strong and committed cast that provide the propulsion needed. Smouldering baritone David Greco's vocal heft makes a notably firm standout as Seneca with his inviting and authoritative performance and ornamental touches that waft in precisely placed curls. Excitingly animated tenor Kanen Breen - indisputably shaping up as one of Australia's hottest theatrical talents - struts with towering height, form and delectable knowingness and confidence as a transvestite Arnalta, Poppea's subordinate and confidante.

Natalie Christie Peluso is another solid link as she spectacularly delineates the two widely contrasting roles - the venomous and vengeful Ottavia and more reserved, alarmingly naive Drusilla - to which her dark and expressively charged soprano she employs for Ottavia is brightened and softened as she portrays Drusilla. Countertenor Owen Willetts comfortably conveyed the passions and turns of the swooning Ottone who is in love with Ottavia in leaps of rich and fleshy warmth.

Kanen Breen as Arnalta

In the twin smaller roles as Seneca's friend Famigliari III (likely a little more than a friend) and Tribuno, bass baritone Jeremy Kleeman's resonating and firm vocal presence are an ear-catching luxury, as is Roberta Diamond's delightfully sweet soprano that emanates from her fallen-on-hard-times Amore as she follows love's triumph when least it is deserved and highlighting how love doesn't always behave.

The Orchestra of the Antipodes didn't carry through with the force and conviction of their usual breathtakingly layered textures on opening night. A few misses didn't escape notice, including some late shaky trumpeting, but the several open orchestral passages were consistently realised in top form. Conducting from harpsichord, overall, Artistic Director Erin Helyard's mixed and effective tempi provided ongoing momentum, more so in the second part but I couldn't help but feel that the music often seemed overtaken by an indulgent interpretation that attempts to make the story's relevance feel real but, instead, strangled it in theatrical melange.


The Coronation of Poppea
Pinchgut Opera
City Recital Hall, Sydney
Until 6th December.



Production photos: Brett Boardman