Here’s what’s coming up next month as best I know.
The production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale recorded at the 2024 Donizetti Festival in Bergamo is lively colourful and, generally, well done. Amélie Niermayer’s production is essentially contemporary with a heavy emphasis on class difference between the relatively upscale Pasquale clan and the Malatestas who are shown as some sort of Italian equivalent of “Essex man”. Doctor Malatesta has tattoos and wears a heavy gold chain and when we first see Norina she’s in braids, a T shirt, fishnets and also sports tattoos. Her taste doesn’t improve much after the “wedding”. In contrast, Ernesto is more stylish and less of a dweeb than in other productions I’ve seen.
Stephen Langridge’s production of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux recorded at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo in 2024 is heavy on death symbolism. The general look of the sets is fairly abstract with a sort of light box with a gallery and a few bright red elements; the throne, the Nottinghams’ bed and so on, but there are skulls and other memento mori everywhere. Costuming is sort of operatic Tudor but Elisabetta’s dress is a print that includes skulls and she’s doubled by a human size, identically dressed, Death puppet. As seems to be the fashion, much of the time only the front of the stage is lit leaving characters lurking in the gloom upstage.
Zoraida di Granata is an early serious opera by Donizetti. It’s set in Muslim controlled Granada in 1480. The city is under siege by the Spanish and the usurper Almuzir is in control and wants to marry Zoraida, daughter of the former king, but she’s in love with Abenamet, leader of the aristocratic and warlike Abencerrages. Almuzir makes Abenamet commander in chief of his army and entrusts him with a sacred flag. If he returns victorious and with the flag he gets Zoraida but if he loses the flag he’ll be executed as a traitor. Naturally Almuzir has arranged for his sidekick, Ali, to betray the flag to the Spanish. The victorious hero is going to be executed but Zoraida promises to marry Almuzir if he spares Abenamet. Then the lovers meet secretly and after the statutory rowing about Zoraida betraying him Abumet exits. But Ali has overheard the conversation and gets Zoraida sentenced to death for treason. Only a knight showing up to defend her in trial by combat can save her (that again!). Of course it’s Abenamet in disguise and he beats Ali who fesses up. The clan want to kill Almuzir and Ali but Abenamet forgives them and in return gets the girl.
So Thursday lunchtime I went to see Karoline Podolak and Wesley Harrison supported by Mattia Senesi and Brian Cho in the RBA. It was a “schmaltzy” programme (Wesley’s description not mine!). The whole thing consisted of arias and duets from La Traviata, The Barber of Seville and Don Pasquale with a bit of Lehar and a final Prayer chucked in.
It was the sort of rep that if it came up on University Challenge any opera goer would be hitting the buzzer in under two seconds! And it’s all lovely of course. It was beautifully sung by two beautiful people with two excellent pianists. They sing beautifully separately and wonderfully together and Karoline’s coloratura is spectacular. It’s rep that fits them like a glove at this stage of their careers and I’m not going to bore you with a blow by blow account. It was unalloyed, undemanding enjoyment made all the better by being in the RBA on a sunny day!
Photo credfit: Karen E. Reeves.
Back in 2013 I reviewed a 2009 DVD from La Scala of Donizetti’s Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali and I was not impressed. However, having read several rave reviews for last year’s production at the Wexford Opera Festival currently being streamed on the Opera Vision channel on Youtube I decided toi check it out. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s still very silly but Orpha Phelan’s production with an excellent cast is actually amusing enough to carry two hours of video and was probably even more fun in the theatre.
Today’s noon hour concert at Metropolitan United Church featured soprano McKenzie Warriner and pianist Christine Bae. Ellita Gagner was also scheduled to sing but, unfortunately, she was not able to do so due to illness. So we got a hastily reorganised programme.
Wednesday lunchtime saw the members of the COC’s Ensemble Studio kick of the free concert series season in the RBA. It was good. Pianists Brian Cho and Mattia Senesi started off in fine style with a four hands version of the overture to The Barber of Seville and then it was on to the singing.
Lucie de Lammermoor is Donizetti’s reworking of his Scottish opera for a smaller, non-subsidised Paris theatre. It’s not just a translation. Some scenes are rearranged and minor characters are pruned leaving only six in the cast plus chorus. Donizetti also incorporated what had become performance practice in Italy, substituting an aria from Rosmonda d’Inghilterra; “Que n’avons nous des ailes”, for “Regnava del silencio”. Otherwise the plot is much the same.
I am not a huge fan of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore which has some pretty music but a rather feeble plot, even by bel canto comedy standards. I was enchanted though by the recently released recording of the 2023 Royal Opera House production.
operaramblings 