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Silvia Luraghi's Letters from Milan 2004 January
A revival of La traviata opened the season at the Teatro Regio di Parma. Violetta Valéry was Mariella Devia, whose agile soprano was especially fitting for the first act, which she mastered with flawless technique. Especially in the third act, one missed some involvement in the interpretation. At her side, Luca Canonici was a completely inadequate Alfredo. The once promising tenor displayed problems throughout the range which prevented him from being at ease on stage. On January 4, Giorgio Germont was Renato Bruson, who brought down the house with his moving rendition of 'Di Provenza'. The production, by Giuseppe Bertolucci, was first seen in Parma in 2001, and was revived without major changes. The orchestra was conducted with a rather heavy hand by Renato Palumbo.
As its second production at the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, the Fondazione Toscanini presented a staged version of Verdi's Messa da Requiem. The singers stood in front of a blue screen, hiding the chorus, which was illuminated when singing. The screen also served to create various effects meant to represent various moments of the Requiem. The four soloists were soprano Doina Dimitriu, mezzo Daniela Barcellona, tenor Aquiles Machado, and bass Giovanni Battista Parodi. They all sang with commitment and complied with what director Pier'Alli called his vision of the Requiem: the individual's struggle to accept death. The orchestra of the Fondazione Toscanini was given a very personal reading of Verdi's score by Mstislav Rostropovich, using unconventional dynamics. The house was full, and the performance very successful; it was repeated a week later in the Duomo in Parma.
A revival of Turandot at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi caused a stir among the audience and the chorus, when tenor Marcello Giordani confused his lines on opening night. After Turandot's second question, Giordani wrongly repeated the answer 'la speranza', instead of correctly answering 'il sangue'. Half of the chorus followed the tenor, while the other half sang the correct lines. (Fortunately Turandot proved more merciful than with the preceding suitors, and the opera ended as expected). On the second night things went more smoothly, and Giordani did sing all the text correctly. Still he was not completely satisfactory as Calaf. His lyric tenor lacks the volume and the power required by the demanding role, as was especially evident in the duet with Turandot. In 'Nessun dorma', Giordani used an almost spoken lower range.
Turandot was Andrea Gruber, who gave an impressive rendition of the ruthless princess, singing with an aggressive attitude, perfect intonation and secure top notes. Hei-Kyung Hong was a touching Liù, but displayed a generic fraseggio, and at some moments one had the impression that she just sang syllables, rather than whole phrases. Roberto De Candia, Gregory Bonfatti, and Carlo Bosi were delightful as Ping, Pang and Pong. The cast was completed by Orlin Anastassov as Timur and Renato Cazzaniga as the emperor. The production, which premiered at La Scala in 1999, was directed by Keita Asari. It featured big settings, reproducing a rather conventional China, and ugly costumes. Carlo Rizzi conducted the orchestra without leaving any memorable impression. The version chosen was the traditional one, with the abridged Alfano ending.
Presented as one of the season's highlights, the new production of Werther at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, featuring superstar Andrea Bocelli in the title role turned out to be a partial flop. Heard live on stage in an opera production, Bocelli's voice displays all its limits, most notably that it is perhaps perfect for pop songs, but certainly unfit for opera. The middle register is pleasant, but the singer cannot project; the voice becomes thinner in the upper range and sounds empty at the top. The defective breathing technique does not allow the tenor to support long phrases, with the consequence that the volumes and the dynamics do not depend on an expressive choice, but only on what his voice allows (or forces) him to do. Fortunately, the rest of the cast was rather good: Charlotte was the Russian mezzo Julia Gertseva, in her role debut. The young singer will certainly have the opportunity to work more in depth on the vocal interpretation, but for a debut her performance was more than satisfactory. Particularly charming was Magali Léger as Charlotte's younger sister Sophie. Natale De Carolis as Albert and Giorgio Giuseppini as the mayor adequately completed the cast. The production was directed by Liliana Cavani, with scenes by Dante Ferretti and costumes by Gabriella Pescucci. The action had been moved to the 1930s in a bourgeois setting. The result was a depiction of everyday life, as in the beautiful second act, in which Werther met Albert and Charlotte in the village square. Scenes and costumes were very beautiful and the stage directions extremely accurate; even the extras acted convincingly.
In the pit, Yves Abel conducted the orchestra showing a deep understanding of the score, generally supporting the singers effectively. The Teatro Comunale, usually packed, was far from being sold out, and some members of the audience reportedly had complaints at the opening. Indeed, the production would have been perfect, if it were not for Bocelli in the title role, but the title role is rather important in Werther! © Silvia Luraghi, 1 February 2004 February
A project to build a new theater in Reggio Emilia, now called the Teatro Valli, started in 1851 when the century-old Teatro di Cittadella was destroyed by a fire. The new theater was finished in 1857 and opened on April 21, with the opera Vittor Pisani by the Reggio Emilia composer Achille Peri. The main facade of the theater stands on a stone basement, and it is divided into a lower part (the front porch) and an upper one, topped by 14 statues (14 more are placed on the sides and on the balconies) by sculptors Ilario Belotti and Attilio Rabaglia. They were restored in 1999. In 1980, the theater was named after the actor Romolo Valli.
On February 15, the Teatro Valli hosted the opening of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, a co-production with the Teatro Regio di Parma and the Teatro Comunale di Modena. Particularly distinguished in the vocal cast were Davide Damiani, a very good Prince Tarquinius, Peter Savidge as Collatinus, and especially Sonia Dorigo as female chorus and Gabriella Sborgi as Bianca. On a slightly lower level, Annie Vavrille was a moving Lucretia, but lacking power in the lower range, while Jeremy Oveden as male chorus produced too limited a volume of sound. The cast was completed by George Mosley as Junius and Ruth Rosique as Lucia.
The 12 instrumentalists of the Icarus Ensemble were led by British conductor Jonathan Webb; their performance was outstanding. The production, by Daniele Abbado, was also very effective. The stage was surrounded by a framework that made it suitable for a chamber opera such as this. The simple sets were enriched by projections, that mostly accompanied and commented on the words of the male and female chorus, directly inspired by the tragic events that world war two had brought about at the time of composition of the opera. The house was full, and all performers enjoyed a considerable success.
La Scala presented a double bill of Zemlinsky's Eine florentinische Tragödie and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. The unusual pairing was explained by the fact that both operas were set in Florence, but any other possible similarity stopped there. Zemlinsky's little-known opera tells the story of a rich Florentine merchant, Simone, who finds his wife alone with the son of the Prince of Florence, Guido Bardi. Simone pretends not to understand what has been going on during his absence, and tries to sell some of his merchandise to Guido. The atmosphere becomes more and more violent, until Guido tries to leave, but Simone kills him in a duel. Then Simone turns to his wife with the intention of killing her too, but on seeing each other they understand that their bond is much stronger than they thought, and they fall into one another's arms.
The performance featured a fine vocal cast, with Robert Brubaker as Guido Bardi and the impressive Simone of James Johnson. As his attractive wife Bianca, Nadja Michael was perfect from the acting point of view, but her singing was disappointing. The production by Andreas Homoki, with scenes and costumes by Wolfgang Gussmann, came from the Komische Oper of Berlin. The only sets were formed out of an enormous number of big white boxes, that built a wall, surrounding the characters as a prison. The singers wore modern clothes, thus indicating that the topic of the opera was adultery in itself, rather than a particular story set in a particular time.
In the second part of the evening, Gianni Schicchi provided a sharp contrast to Zemlinsky’s cruel play. In the title role, Leo Nucci easily dominated the cast, singing and acting with great humor. Among the other singers, Inva Mula was a flawless Lauretta and Giuseppe Filianoti, as her boyfriend Rinuccio, displayed a beautiful ringing top. Both singers sounded and looked youthful and passionate in their attempt to make the most of the situation. All singers in supporting roles delivered from the point of view of acting; singing, however, was uneven and none left a memorable vocal impression. The production directed by Lluis Pasqual, with scenes by Ezio Frigerio and costumes by Franca Squarciapino, set the action in the late 1800s, when, as at the original time of the story (the end of the Middle Ages), people that did not belong to the aristocracy were becoming the leading social group in the cities.
The 2004 season of the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome opened with a world premiere: Ottorino Respighi’s Marie Victoire. This opera, commissioned by Sonzogno and composed in French on a play by Edmond Giraud that was first produced in 1911, has never been performed before. There were various reasons. In the first place, the outbreak of the war prevented it from having its premiere in France, originally scheduled for 1914; even the Italian version, which was prepared immediately by Forzano, was not performed because Respighi was in the process of changing publisher (he moved from Sonzogno to Ricordi). Later on, the composer himself never really wanted the opera produced, because he was not content with the music. Now Gianluigi Gelmetti, artistic director of the Opera di Roma, and an advocate of early 20th century Italian opera, has succeeded in producing it. March
In his second appearance with the La Scala company this season, Riccardo Muti conducted a beautiful revival of Poulenc's Les dialogues des Carmélites at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi. This involving opera is strongly associated with this company, who gave it its world premiere (in Italian) in 1957. Robert Carsen’s production was first seen at La Scala in 2000, and transferred easily to the bigger stage of the Arcimboldi. Though minimal, the staging doesn’t try anything clever, instead respecting the composer’s original concept; it seemed to suit this cast, whose truthful acting made for a very moving atmosphere.
The production featured a very interesting cast led by Laura Aikin, deeply moving as a delicate but strong Constance, with a technically accomplished, beautifully shaded voice. As Blanche, Dagmar Schellenberger was also convincing, though her range of vocal color was more limited. In her belated debut with the company, Anja Silja was a powerful Mme de Croissy, while Gwynne Geyer was an authoritative Mme Lidoine.
The Teatro Regio in Turin staged a 20th-century rarity, Prokofiev's The Duenna (Obrucheniye v monastyre). Though composed during the Second World War, the opera was not premiered until 1946. Inspired by a 1775 comedy by Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, translated into Russian by Prokofiev's wife Mira Mendelson, the work’s ‘number’ form recalls 18th-century Italian opera. It is a comedy of errors set in Seville (Spain was a favorite 'exotic' setting for playwrights and composers in the 18th and early 19th century) and concerns a rich merchant, Don Gerolamo, who tries to convince his daughter Luisa to marry another rich man instead of her chosen suitor, the impoverished Don Antonio. Luisa switches clothes with her nurse, who weds Gerolamo in Luisa’s place, while Luisa of course marries her lover, and her brother, Don Ferdinando, marries Luisa's friend, Laura. The production and high-quality vocal cast came as a package from St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater, led by the Kirov Opera’s principal guest conductor, Gianandrea Noseda. Sopranos Irina Mataeva and Tatiana Pavlovskaya were suitably youthful as Luisa and Laura, while Alexander Gergalov was a noble Don Ferdinando and Nikolaj Gassiev a very convincing Gerolamo. Evgeny Akimov was a dedicated Antonio and the two buffo roles, Mendosa and the nurse (the 'Duenna' of the title) were sung to exhilarating effect by Sergej Alexashkin and Nadezhda Vassilieva.
At the Teatro Municipale in Piacenza, the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini presented a new production of Rigoletto this month. This was the first opera staging by Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio, a native of Piacenza, so the focus was not really on the vocal cast. Alberto Gazale played the title role with as much commitment he could, but was not really equal to its vocal demands; he had to force his voice which often compromised his intonation. On the other hand, Gladys Rossi as Gilda had all the notes but made little attempt at dramatic interpretation. Tenor David Miller, seen in Milan last summer in West Side Story (and in New York, as one of the Rodolfos in the Broadway Bohème) should really stick to musicals: even the light role of the Duke presented problems or him, causing him to scream his way through most of the music; he had a hard time with the rather critical audience. Bass Riccardo Zanellato was a good Sparafucile, while the role of his sister Maddalena was taken by Rossana Rinaldi.
Given the hype from the press, one could have expected more from Bellocchio’s production. The director updated the action to the 1950s; locals in the audience easily recognized parts of their hometown in the sets of the second and third acts. Piacenza, on the Po river, is similar in many ways to Mantua, so the setting was effective; there was little incongruity in the updating, as most of the plot is not period-specific. Rather, the problem was in the lack of stage direction: apparently the film director, confronted with the fact that opera singers are not primarily actors, did not make the effort to make the most of their abilities, and they appeared to have been left to fend for themselves. The symptoms of the problem ranged from overacting, as in the case of Gazale, to not acting at all, as in the case of Rossi. The orchestra of the Fondazione Toscanini was conducted by Gunter Neuhold, providing no particular insight.
Handel's Orlando, a rarity in Italy, was shown this month at the Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia. Orlando is an opera seria in three acts; it is the story of Orlando's descent into love-induced madness, and final return to heroic deeds, after he accepts that the object of his affections, Angelica, is happy with her lover Medoro. The simple-minded Dorinda, who is hopelessly in love with Medoro, accepts her destiny more easily, while the magician Zoroastro watches the events from above. Robert Carsen’s staging was a co-production with Vlaamse Opera, the Festival of Aix-en-Provence and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. It featured simple geometric sets, with the stage crossed by a stream to convey the pastoral setting and, when lighting effects were applied, to represent Orlando’s fantasies. In a typical Baroque special effect, it turned into fire in the last act. If not vocally convincing, the cast was visually more than adequate - all singers were young and dramatically committed. The baroque ensemble Accademia Bizantina was skilfully conducted by Ottavio Dantone. © Silvia Luraghi, 3 April 2004 April
Simon Boccanegra returned to its original location this month when the Teatro Carlo Felice staged it in Genoa. In the title role, Roberto Frontali gave a profound rendering of the Genoese hero, portraying the inner development of the man between youth and maturity. Frontali's baritone, smooth and even in all registers, has the right color for Verdi, and is supported by a secure technique. Roberto Scandiuzzi, soon to sing his 200th Fiesco, is perhaps the best exponent of the role today: he knows its every detail and is still able to add something to his interpretation each time. Micaela Carosi’s Amelia was less convincing: she had the right vocal volume and a secure top, but displayed some problems in the middle and lower registers which affected her interpretation. Things got worse with Alberto Cupido, whose Adorno was problematic; judging by the way he forced his voice, the role evidently put him under some strain. He suffered a mild fainting fit during the council scene but immediately recovered and was able to continue. Finally, the young baritone Gabriele Viviani was a very good Paolo.
The production, a revival from 1992, was directed by Pier'Alli. The sets represented the city of Genoa in the 13th century, evoked by projections and transparencies. The impressive council scene featured a giant reproduction of the medieval city on a transparency behind Boccanegra’s seat; for the final curse on Paolo, the chorus were placed in front of the stage on a lower level, bringing them closer to the audience. Conductor Nicola Luisotti led the orchestra with sensitivity to the action and a very interesting choice of tempi, whilst the chorus, usually not the Teatro Carlo Felice’s strongest asset, sounded unusually well-prepared and contributed strongly to the successful performance.
At its 1833 premiere in Venice featuring legendary soprano Giuditta Pasta, Vincenzo Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda was a fiasco. It has never truly recovered; despite the composer’s insistence that the piece ranked among his more famous and successful ones, it remains outside the standard repertory. The demanding title role requires a true bel canto specialist, capable of providing a musical and dramatic center to the opera. The Teatro degli Arcimboldi had Mariella Devia, making her debut in a role that gave her the opportunity to display her technical refinement. Devia displays controlled sound and perfect intonation throughout the range; however, theatrically she remains detached, failing to convey the sense of tragedy that characterizes Beatrice. As Beatrice's treacherous husband Filippo, baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore displayed some breath problems and failed to make a distinctive impression. As Orombello, tenor José Bros sang with a pleasantly idiomatic timbre. Finally, Maria Pia Piscitelli was an unimpressive Agnese. The production by Pier'Alli was a revival, originally staged at La Scala in 1993; the abstract sets suggested a medieval setting with few details, contrasting with the lavish costumes. As for the stage direction, one mostly had the feeling that the singers were left to their own devices, resulting in a shortage of drama. The orchestra was conducted without any great insight by Renato Palumbo.
At the Auditorium of the Orchestra Verdi in Milan musical director Riccardo Chailly conducted Verdi's Requiem. Among the four principals, bass Carlo Colombara was perhaps the one who best conformed to the style of the Requiem, while mezzo Maria Josè Montiel gave a deep and moving contribution, but had some problems with the lower range. Soprano Luba Orgonasova has a somewhat sharp voice, with lack of vibrato in the upper register, and sounded less involved than the other singers. Tenor Luca Canonici did his best, which unfortunately at this stage in his career is not enough for this music. Chailly gave an involved reading of the score, supported by the orchestra which proved perfectly at home with Verdi's sound, despite having little experience of the composer. The chorus, prepared by Romano Gandolfi, was perfectly integrated with the orchestra, and sounded impressive, especially in the Dies Irae. As usual when Chailly conducts here, the auditorium was packed, and the audience enthusuastic.
The Teatro Comunale in Bologna scored an enormous success staging a new production of Gaetano Donizetti's La fille du régiment, with a perfect cast, featuring tenor Juan Diego Florez at his best. It was clear from the start that the evening would be dominated by vocal magic, and indeed when Florez sang the renowned aria ‘Ah mes amis’ the audience broke into an ovation that ended only when the singer agreed to encore it. Florez also proved very good at portraying a timid and naive Tonio, whose only concern is to please Marie. He had a perfect partner in Eva Mei, a lively Marie, secure in all registers and with beautiful coloratura, deserving her share of the applause. Bruno Praticò was an amusing Sulpice, while Anne Vavrille, though a convincing actress, was less than vocally satisfactory.
Back to the Teatro degli Arcimboldi for another production: Richard Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, an opera which requires a big personality in the title role and a conductor who can amalgamate pit and stage with a compelling effect. Unfortunately, these elements were missing from the Milan production. In the title role, Finnish bass Juha Uusitalo sang correctly, if without a huge volume of voice; the problem was that he lacked charisma and came across rather like an uninvolved bystander.
The Concorso Internazionale Voci Verdiane Città di Busseto is now in its 44th season, having contributed to the career of such internationally renowned singers as Jaime Aragall, Vincenzo La Scola, Angeles Gulin, Aprile Millo, Daniela Mazzuccato, Deborah Voigt, Giorgio Zancanaro, Vladimir Chernov, Mariana Pentcheva, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Simone Alaimo, and, last year, Adriana Damato. As in 2003, the president of the jury was tenor José Carreras, himself a winner of the competition in 1971, accompanied by Ioan Holender of the Vienna State Opera, Bernd Loebe of Frankfurt Oper, Gianni Tangucci, of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Cristina Ferrari, Director of casting for the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, Celsa Tamayo, from the Teatro Real in Madrid, and Piero Rattalino, of the Teatro Bellini di Catania. Fifteen finalists, selected from 104 entrants, gave their recital at the Teatro Verdi this month, accompanied by the orchestra of the Fondazione Toscanini under David Gimenez. © Silvia Luraghi, 2 May 2004 May
La Scala’s recent revival of Falstaff was the company’s only Verdi opera in the current season. The title role was taken by young Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri, a favorite of Maestro Muti, who, in spite of his young age, already has considerable experience in the role. This has enabled him to deepen his interpretation, but his voice sounded worryingly tired for so young a singer. Milanese soprano Barbara Frittoli, also experienced as Alice, displayed her usual vocal beauty and perfect control. Natale de Carolis, Frittoli's real-life husband, sang a ‘correct’ Ford, although his vocal resources remain limited.
Bernadette Manca di Nissa was a disappointment as Mistress Quickly: the mezzo lacked profundity in the lower register, and was not able to impress as she should with her 'Reverenza'. The other 'merry wife' was Nino Surguladze, a good if rather colorless Meg. Laura Giordano was a cheerful Nannetta, and displayed a secure high range in her third act aria. Giuseppe Filianoti’s voice is now perhaps a little on the heavy side for Fenton. The cast was completed by Gregory Bonfatti as Doctor Caius, Patrizio Saudelli as Bardolph, and Enrico Iori as Pistol.
The Verdi Festival opened in Parma on May 5 with a new production of Simon Boccanegra. Carlo Guelfi gave an authoritative account of the title role, showing Simon to be deeply troubled by his personal struggle. He was particularly effective in the council chamber scene, and was moving at the end. Roberto Scandiuzzi was as ever a perfect Fiesco, in spite of the awkward costumes he had to wear in the third act. Amelia/Maria was Daniela Dessì. The soprano, one of the best of her generation for Puccini and verismo, has a timbre that does not sound completely appropriate for Verdi. Even so, she negotiated her role convincingly. As her partner Gabriele Adorno, Fabio Armiliato was of a lesser standard: the tenor, who has a smallish lyric voice, sang everything correctly, but lacks the means to do justice to the role.
The production by Hugo De Ana featured grandiose settings that could as well have been designed for Don Carlos or Trovatore or another dozen of Verdi operas, and contained no hint of the sea, so powerfully present in Verdi's music. The singers appeared to be sticking rigidly to the confines of the stage directions, so the relationships between the characters seemed stiff. The orchestra was conducted by Bruno Bartoletti, who gave an interesting reading of the score.
The Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago, which will officially open in July, staged a centenary production of Madama Butterfly on May 28. The open-air theater is located just across a small piazza from Puccini's villa on the lake shore, which makes it quite a chilly venue at this time of year. The Fondazione Puccini appropriately commissioned Florence-based designer Regina Schrecker to produce a special blanket for sale at the festival shop, which proved a popular buy for most audience members.
The production was directed by Stefano Monti, with good attention to detail, and the sets were designed by renowned sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, as part of the project 'Scolpire l'opera', started by the Fondazione Festival Pucciniano in 2000. They featured a desert setting, in which the singers came out of small underground burrows. The costumes were designed by Guillermo Mariotto of the Maison Gattinoni, whose idea was that all characters should represent insects: Cio-cio-san was obviously a butterfly, Pinkerton a scorpion, Sharpless a cricket, and so on. Plácido Domingo conducted with commitment, but could not do much about the bad acoustics of the theater and the poor quality of the orchestra. The production will not be shown again during the Festival, which will revert to the previous production of the same opera, but will travel to Japan in September.
Last year the Orchestra Verdi of Milan started including concert performances of opera in their regular season, and set out on a three year project to perform Puccini's Trittico. Last year the orchestra performed Il tabarro, this year was the turn of Suor Angelica. The seldom-performed one-act opera, for women's voices, is demanding for all concerned, especially for the soprano in the title role. The hapless nun was sung on this occasion by Chiara Taigi, who had some problems at the top and a limited lower range, but was dramatically impressive: the middle register is warm and rich in harmonics, and her deep commitment left the audience breathless. As the pitiless Zia Principessa, Annamaria Chiuri failed to convince, displaying an unevenly-colored mezzo with breaks between registers and breath-control problems. All other singers were up to their roles, in particular Enkelejda Shkosa as the Badessa, but also Diana Bertini, Anna Luce Menichetti, Nicoletta Zanini, and Scilla Cristiano; and to a lesser extent, Lydia Easley and Suzuki Kaoru. The role of the chorus in this opera is vital: the women of the chorus of the Orchestra Verdi, instructed by Romano Gandolfi, were well-focused and beautifully nuanced; the children’s chorus I Piccoli Musici also gave a strong contribution. The performance featured the Milan premiere of the rarely performed 'aria dei fiori', eliminated in 1919 and never restored, in spite of Puccini's wishes to the contrary. Riccardo Chailly's reading of Puccini's score highlighted the composer's development towards a more modern style, open to 20th century harmonies, as Chailly made especially clear in the opening duet of the two Suore cercatrici. The atmosphere grew emotional during the duet between Angelica and the Zia Principessa, and reached a high peak with Angelica's exclamation 'Sorella di mia madre, voi siete inesorabile!'. The performance was extremely successful, and the audience responded enthusiastically to both the singers and the conductor. © Silvia Luraghi, 3 June 2004 June
The final event at the Verdi Festival in Parma was Giuseppe Verdi's 11th opera Il corsaro, premiered in Trieste in 1848. Verdi based the opera on a libretto by Piave after a poem by Byron, which had already inspired other operas, including another of the same name written by Giovanni Pacini in 1831. Because Il corsaro is perhaps Verdi's least known opera, and it is often regarded as his least inspired, the organizers of the Verdi Festival appropriately thought of framing the performances with a series of complementary events, including a concert performance of selections from Pacini's homonymous opera and a two day symposium devoted to Verdi’s opera and its literary source.
Il corsaro, like other early Verdi operas, is heavy on the voices, and needs to be sung in bel canto style (in order to avoid shouting) by singers with large ranges and very secure upper registers. In Parma the role of Corrado (the corsair of the title) was sung by Zvetan Michailov, who had all the notes but forced his voice and lacked technical refinement. The opera features two soprano roles: a lyric one, that of Corrado's lover Medora, and a dramatic one, the role of Gulnara, a concubine of Seid who is also in love with Corrado. The former was Michela Sburlati, a singer who appears on the evidence of the problems she encountered in mastering even this small and, on the whole, rather light role, to need to do some urgent work on her voice. Gulnara, on the other hand, requires a Lady Macbeth voice: the young soprano Adriana Damato had substantial command of the killer score, but at moments sounded as if she had reached her limits. Perhaps, given her age, the singer should wait before tackling other heavy roles. The star of the evening was Renato Bruson as the Turkish Selim: in perfect vocal shape and with his customary sense of style, he showed how even a comparatively small and uninteresting role can become exciting if sung in the right way.
The production, directed by Lamberto Puggelli, was shared with the Carlo Felice Theater of Genoa where it will be seen again next season. The set designs were by Marco Capuana with costumes by Vera Marzot. It set the action on the deck of a ship, changing the atmosphere by moving the side sets and using contrasting lights - somber colors for the ship of the corsairs, and red and orange for the harem. The orchestra was conducted by Renato Palumbo, who, on the assumption that ‘there are no minor Verdi works’, gave an interesting reading of the score paying special attention to the instrumental parts and creating some beautiful effects - particularly in the prelude, which featured a clarinet solo.
The concert performance of scenes from Pacini's Il corsaro took place in the Casa della Musica on June 12. In the event virtually the whole opera was covered, except for the parts sung by the chorus. Pacini's score is influenced by Rossini's serious operas: the role of Corrado is written for a mezzo, while Selim is a high tenor role with far greater importance than in Verdi's opera. The cast of young and very well prepared singers included Annarita Gemmabella (Corrado), Katarina Nicolic (Medora), Samuele Simoncini (Seid), and Serena Daolio (Gulnara). They were accompanied at the piano by Raffaele Cortesi, while Stefano Rabaglia conducted.
The summer season at the Arena di Verona opened on June 19 with a new Zeffirelli production of Madama Butterfly. The title role was taken by Fiorenza Cedolins, one of the most highly-acclaimed Italian sopranos of her generation, noted for her verismo interpretations. On opening night, Cedolins sang with deep commitment, and, in spite of some imperfect sounds in her lower range and limited theatrical skills, she was a touching Cio-Cio-San - acting is not so important on the Arena’s wide stage. Pinkerton was Marcello Giordani, clearly not in top shape, but still on the whole satisfactory. Juan Pons was an idiomatic Sharpless, and the comprimario roles were all covered well.
Butterfly is perhaps not the most suitable title for the Arena. Franco Zeffirelli, who was directing the opera for the first time, used enormous sets featuring Cio-Cio-San's house, and, with the help of choreographer Michiko Taguchi, filled the stage with extras in a distracting way (at times it was not easy to understand who was doing what). The costumes were by Emi Wada, who won an Academy Award for her work on Kurosawa's film Ran. Daniel Oren conducted the orchestra of the Arena di Verona while the chorus was prepared by Marco Faelli. The Arena was almost sold out, and the performance was a success in spite of uncertain weather conditions: fortunately the rain held off until the performance was over.
The beginning of June brought an array of complicated changes for La Scala, due to mass withdrawal of principal singers from the casts of both Carmen and Fedora. Olga Borodina had been signed up for Carmen two years ago, when she appeared with the company in Samson et Dalila, and as she rarely sings in Italy, her appearance was eagerly anticipated. However she canceled on arrival in Milan a week before the opening, when she discovered that Carmen was to be performed in the version with dialogue, which she claimed not to have sanctioned. Clifton Forbis, the intended Don José, had canceled earlier for personal reasons, and Patricia Racette, the scheduled Micäela, also pulled out. To crown the disaster, the company was forced to cancel the opening performance because of a strike.
Fedora, which opened a few days later, was another problem: following the recent death of her husband Nicolai Ghiaurov earlier this month, Mirella Freni, who was scheduled to sing the title role, withdrew from the opera. Plácido Domingo canceled a couple of days before the opening, allegedly for health problems (apparently lasting ones, since the performances were scheduled over a two-week period). The company had a second cast which was already scheduled to sing a couple of performances, but were not deemed fit to take over the whole run.
Since December 2002, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, one of Italy's most important symphony orchestras, has performed in the new auditorium of the Parco della Musica, the work of architect Renzo Piano. The orchestra’s annual schedules have traditionally included at least one operatic concert performance, but in recent years opera has come to occupy an increasingly significant proportion of the season: next season opens with a concert performance of Idomeneo, with Salome and Carmen to follow. Among the last concerts of the current season, permanent conductor Myung-Whun Chung conducted Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, with mezzo Anna Larsson, replacing an indisposed Waltraud Meier, and tenor Thomas Moser. Both singers were outstandingly suited to Mahler's score; Larsson's lush mezzo filled the theater and combined perfectly with Moser's ringing tenor. Myung-Whun Chung conducted with care and insight, beautifully shading the orchestral part, with which the voices blended perfectly.
© Silvia Luraghi, 30 June 2004 July
Always one of Verona’s most popular operas, Aida was shown again this month in the Zeffirelli production that premiered in 2002. In the title role, Michaela Carosi was impressive, with a voice and stage presence equal to the wide open space. Her Aida is a strong character, dominating Radames from the very beginning, and never subjugated in the confrontation with Amneris. Salvatore Licitra’s beautiful tenor was an asset to the role of Radames, though there were some intonation problems at the top and his breathing technique appears to have deteriorated. His dramatic interpretation, too, remains generic. Larissa Diadkova was vocally strong as Amneris, but seemed less at home in her role than her colleagues. The powerful-voiced Ambrogio Maestri did not disappoint as Amonasro, although he sounded somewhat tired (not surprising, considering the recent demands of his schedule).
The Fondazione Toscanini puts on an annual summer season in various open air venues. This year’s ambitious programme included Ernani, a work that requires powerful voices, in the beautiful medieval village of Vigoleno, just in front of the donjon.
Vladimir Stoyanov was an impressive, elegant Don Carlo, giving a more rounded interpretation than the rest of the cast. As Silva, young bass Orlin Anastassov showed that he has the right material for the heavier Verdi roles. The very simple set, made up of sliding panels, could also rely on the beautiful natural setting offered by the surrounding walls and towers. Riccardo Canessa provided little direction, leaving the impression that the singers didn’t know what to do with themselves. The Orchestra of the Fondazione Toscanini was conducted by Gunter Neuhold, who failed to supply the vivacity required by Verdi's early works.
Micha van Hoeck staged an impressive new production of Macbeth at the Ravenna Festival, inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s famous ‘Japanese Macbeth’ film of 1957, Throne of Blood. It can be seen again next season at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna.
Set designer Edoardo Sanchi staged the action in an empty black space, covered by a semi-reflective black panel, and (aided by Daniele Naldi’s lighting) filled the empty stage with intriguing hints of danger and mystery. Male principals and chorus members were dressed as samurai fighters, with beautiful costumes by Marella Ferrera. The singers absorbed themselves completely in van Hoeck’s vision of the opera.
The opera was given in the 1874 Paris edition, which has a ballet in the third act. This could have relaxed some of the tension, but van Hoeck is renowned for his work with dancers, and the ballet was a big success. The Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna was conducted with care by Daniele Gatti, and together with the Bologna chorus (prepared by Marcel Seminar) they made ‘Patria oppressa’ the highlight of the evening.
© Silvia Luraghi, 4 August 2004 August
The Fondazione Arturo Toscanini closed its summer season with a new production of Verdi’s La forza del destino in Busseto. Due to the ongoing renovation of the usual venue, Villa Pallavicini, the performance was hosted by the nearby church of S. Maria degli Angeli, in a large open space near the side of the main building.
The production was directed by Paolo Panizza, who also designed the sets. The production was clearly done with one eye on the budget: the simple, abstract sets moved vertically to create different settings. The director made good use of the venue, particularly in the second act, when at the beginning of the aria 'La vergine degli angeli' the lights were lit inside the church, creating a beautiful effect. The orchestra of the Fondazione Toscanini was conducted by Julian Kovachev, who stepped in at the last moment to replace David Gimenez and had a hard time keeping a hold on the ensemble.
The Arena di Verona season continued with revivals of Il trovatore and Rigoletto. The cast of Trovatore included tenor Francisco Casanova, who gave a bold attack to the role of Manrico, singing with squillo and proving a good choice of casting for the Arena. At his side, Dimitra Theodossiou was a good Leonora, and Larissa Diadkova an impressive Azucena. Roberto Servile as Conte di Luna sang elegantly and tastefully, while bass Riccardo Zanellato was an idiomatic Ferrando. The orchestra was conducted by Pier Giorgio Morandi. The Zeffirelli production, which premiered in 2001, featured gigantic sets consisting of enormous suits of armor at the sides of the stage and a tower in the center. The dances from the Paris version were included but moved to the second act (they should be in the third, just after the soldiers’ chorus). Manrico came on stage on a horse in the second act, and extras abounded in every scene. The performances seemed successful but were far from being sold out, with entire sections of seating empty.
Rigoletto opened on August 14 and again, as with Trovatore, one got the impression that attendance has dropped dramatically this year, considering that the seating appeared to be half-empty even on a Saturday night in mid-August. Veteran Leo Nucci in the title role was a great Rigoletto with a wide range of vocal shading, able to convey even subtle distinctions of color in the big open space. Elena Mosuc’s Gilda had some problems at the top which gave her a hard time at the end of her second-act aria. Tenor Aquiles Machado ought to be perfect casting for the Duke of Mantua, but he was ill at ease in the Arena and seemed compelled to force his voice, resulting in some uncontrolled and nasal sounds especially in the final act. Bass Franco de Grandis as Sparafucile and mezzo Rossana Rinaldi as Maddalena left no memorable impression. The orchestra was conducted by Vjekoslav Sutej, who, on the whole, did a satisfactory job. Ivo Vinco’s production provided a traditional setting with little imagination.
Announced a year ago as the most important event in the Arena this summer, the concert La corona di pietra (The Stone Crown), featuring tenor Plácido Domingo and, I quote, ‘Musical contributions from the amphitheaters of Pola (Croatia), Ephesus (Turkey), Palmira (Syria), Leptis Magna (Libya), El Djem (Tunisia), Tarragona (Spain) and Arles (France)’ proved to be something of a flop when the public interrupted the third filmed part with furious booing.
The second filmed part, featuring the State Symphony Orchestra of Smirne (Izmir) with the folk and traditional corps de ballet from the University of Smirne, clearly did not meet with the audience's favor. Following Domingo’s touching ‘O Souverain’ from Massenet´s Le Cid, the third film stretch, featuring a traditional Syrian dance by the Enana Folk Group from Damascus, was interrupted by thousands of people booing. The audience calmed down only when Domingo, along with soprano Sylvie Valayre and bass Franco De Grandis, returned to sing the final concertato from Norma. © Silvia Luraghi, 24 August 2004 September
In a tradition begun only last year, the Festival Settimane Musicali di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore presented a semi-staged version of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. The orchestra was placed on stage with a performance area in front, and was conducted by the Festival’s artistic director, Gianandrea Noseda, who from time to time turned to show his sympathy for the young lovers.
The Teatro Comunale in Florence, which recently changed its name to Teatro del Maggio Musicale, was first to open the new season with a beautiful production of Modest Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina. Shostakovich’s orchestration was used, except for Mussorgsky’s uncompleted ending which was performed as the composer left it.
© Silvia Luraghi, 5 October 2004 October
The Fondazione Toscanini mounted a new production of Nabucco in Piacenza in September, which opened the season in Modena a few weeks later with Alberto Gazale in the title role. This young baritone, who received the Zenatello award last summer in Verona for his Nabucco, has a nice voice and is very keen on interpretation, but he sometimes sounds stretched by his beloved heavy Verdi roles: it would be interesting to hear him in some belcanto roles which might give his voice a bit of a rest.
A singer who certainly has the right vocal weight and temperament for this opera is Susan Neves, who sang Abigaille. Her voice is huge and perfectly tuned at the top; she has the ability to convey tension and her interpretation is always focused. The Zaccaria was Paata Burchuladze, who stood in for Carlo Colombara having already sung the role in Piacenza. A veteran of this score, Burchuladze certainly knows what he is doing, but his voice has begun to sound tired, with precarious intonation and a lack of focus. Nazareno Antinori as Ismaele was not especially impressive. Nino Surguladze did her best as Fenena, but brought no particular insight into the role; she sings elegantly, but the dramatic repertoire does not seem to suit her well.
The production was directed and designed by Paolo Panizza. The program notes explained that the sets were intended to have no specific temporal or spatial connections; indeed, they comprised a chaotic mixture of styles, with some moments of real bad taste such as the entrance of Abigaille from above, dressed in black leather. A ballet was inserted at the start of the third act for no obvious reason. The Fondazione Toscanini was conducted very fast by Daniel Oren, though the chorus deserved their ovation after 'Va pensiero' - it was accordingly encored.
The Teatro Regio in Turin opened its new season with a performance of Puccini's La bohème which is certain to remain one of the hits of the year in Italy. Angela Gheorghiu and husband Roberto Alagna appeared together in a staged opera for the first time in an Italian opera house. At the first night an apology was made for Alagna’s slight indisposition; reportedly the audience remained rather cold during the performance and Gheorghiu complained because she felt that there had not been enough applause. At the second performance, the tenor was in splendid form, and brought down the house with a beautiful 'Che gelida manina'. After this, the atmosphere caught fire and the evening resulted in a triumph for both singers.
Alagna and Gheorghiu are ideal casting for this opera and are experienced in its every detail; both singers are also good actors, even though Gheorghiu’s occasional overacting can become annoying. Alongside them, Lucio Gallo as Marcello and Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi as Musetta also sang and acted very well; D'Annunzio Lombardi was especially noteworthy for her nice coloratura in the second act. The same can be said for all singers in the smaller roles – a special mention is owed to Giovanni Battista Parodi, a young yet thoughtful Colline.
Cremona's Teatro Ponchielli staged a production of Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria, by Claudio Monteverdi, which will later be seen in a number of other opera houses in Lombardy and Emilia Romagna. The opera opened the season, having earlier closed the Monteverdi Festival; it is part of a three-year project which started last year with Orfeo, and will continue next year with L'incoronazione di Poppea. Among the numerous singers, mezzo Sonia Prina as Penelope and tenor Furio Zanasi as Ulisse proved especially skilled in the baroque style, but the rest of the cast was uneven.
The production, from Aix-en-Provence, was originally directed by Adrian Noble and revived by Elsa Rooke, with scenes and costumes by Anthony Ward. The sets were abstract and non-specific; at the beginning the gods looked down on Ulisse's ship from a foggy sky, before reappearing in Ulisse's palace to guide the suitors’ arrows to help Ulisse re-conquer his wife. The baroque ensemble Accademia Bizantina was conducted by Ottavio Dantone, who gave an accurate, but colorless reading of the score, leaving the audience with an unpleasant taste of boredom.
At the close of the 2003/04 season, just weeks before the reopening of the old house, La Scala gave a revival of Les contes d'Hoffmann at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi. The role of Hoffmann was taken by young American tenor Brandon Jovanovich, filling in at the last moment for Giuseppe Sabbatini, who was ill. At the second performance, Jovanovich also became unwell during the second act, but came back on stage after an extended intermission and completed his performance with honors. Born in Montana, he has a nicely tuned voice and good looks, but his French diction is heavily accented and the change to the high register sounds somewhat forced. The star of the performance was certainly Sonia Ganassi, in the role of Nicklausse, who thoroughly deserved her applause at the end of 'Vois, sous l'archet frémissant', the often-omitted aria in the Antonia act. Désirée Rancatore was a strong Olympia, at ease with the impervious coloratura; less convincing were Darina Takova as Antonia and especially Beatrice Uria-Monzon, a colorless Giulietta. Michele Pertusi gave, as always, a professional contribution as the three villains, though he seemed miscast. The production, by Alfredo Arias with sets and costumes by Françoise Tournafond, originally premiered at La Scala in 1995. The extravagant sets did not have any reference to the time and place referred to in the libretto, and an array of extras and dancers crowded the stage with movement rather than clarifying the action. The orchestra’s contribution was on the dull side, under the baton of Gary Bertini, who was not having a good night.
The Teatro Regio in Parma will open the 2004/05 season in December with a new production of Gluck’s Alceste, but efforts have until now been concentrated on the second concert of the ‘Buon compleanno Maestro Verdi’ series, which took place on October 10. The five-year project is planned to include scenes and arias from all of Verdi’s operas in chronological order. Following last year’s formula, the opera excerpts were connected by dialogues spoken by two actors, Giancarlo Giannini, who convincingly and movingly played the role of Verdi himself, and Olga Gherardi, whose only role was to ask questions of her partner, and was on the whole superfluous. © Silvia Luraghi, 2 November 2004 November
The second event of the Turin season was Benjamin Britten’s all-male opera Billy Budd, a work which is something of a rarity in Italian theaters (though the present season also sees a production in Genoa). The vocal cast was generally very good: in the title role, baritone Christopher Maltman was able to convey the progression of the young sailor from initial naivety to bitter maturity. Keith Lewis as Captain Vere was perhaps the weakest on stage: he sang with commitment, but the killer top notes in the second act were far from secure. Bass Stephen West was an idiomatic Claggart, while Markus Hollop was especially convincing as the old seaman Dasker. The other singers contributed strongly to the performance, which was skilfully conducted by Christopher Franklin.
In Davide Livermore’s production, Tiziano Santi’s sets were divided into two horizontal parts, the main deck and the cabins. Ensemble scenes mostly took place on the deck, while the lower part was reserved for more intimate moments. The performance was a big success with the audience, who demanded several curtain calls. |
