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Per Bäckström's Letters from Stockholm March 2004
The Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, known in Swedish as the Kungliga Operan, dates back to the period of Gustaf III in the 18th century, but now resides in a house inaugurated in 1898. It has a comparatively narrow stage, designed to enable continuity with an earlier house. There is no side stage, so every change of built scenery has to be made on stage, sometimes prolonging the intervals. The theatre has a repertoire system with alternating operas, sharing the house with ballet. The same orchestra, Kungliga Hovkapellet, is used for both opera and ballet, though the latter sometimes uses recorded music.
During February and March, the opera house offered L’elisir d’amore, The Makropulos Affair (Vec Makropulos), Otello, La bohème, Tristan und Isolde and Der fliegende Holländer. The Makropulos Affair was a new production last season, directed by Knut Hendriksen with scenery by Isabella Bywater and sung in Swedish. It was set in the beginning of the last century, with walls made of archive shelves. There was one alteration to the story: Act II takes place immediately after the performance in which Emilia Marty has starred, not the day after, perhaps a reasonable change?
The revival had almost the same cast as last year, the one change being Anders Bergström as the machinist. The excellent soprano Gitta-Maria Sjöberg, a member of Det Kongelige Teater (Royal Theatre) in Copenhagen, was Elena Macropoulos/Emilia Marty. Freelance tenor Göran Eliasson was a good Albert Gregor. The three other tenor parts were done by house singers Ulrik Quale as Vitek, Klas Hedlund as Janek and Magnus Kyhle as Hauk-Schendorf. They left nothing to be desired, both singing and acting very well. Elin Carlsson, a student from the University College of Opera, sang Krista last year and was welcomed back. She clearly has a bright future. The two house baritones Per-Arne Wahlgren and Tord Wallström were very good as Jaroslav Prus and the lawyer Kolonaty. Leif Segerstam conducted.
Otello was a revival of a production by Johannes Schaaf, first given in 1998. Johan Molander was in charge of the revival. The setting appeared to be a modern naval base with military personnel wearing contemporary uniforms. In Act I the set was a dark quay, with a large gun and three oil barrels, and a gangway lowered for Otello to disembark. Act II was in some kind of a hospital where Desdemona was occupied together with nurses and some young people were being de-loused! Act III was in a ruined temple decorated with white graffiti. In Act IV Desdemona prayed to a tall, rather modern, work of art, representing the Virgin Mary.
Conductor Christian Badea worked well with the singers, all of them from the house. Lars Cleveman sang Otello and managed quite well, though his low tones sometimes tended to be weak. Sara Olsson as Desdemona tended to be just a little bit flat but often beautiful, especially during the last act. Johan Edholm had enough volume for Jago, but with inadequate legato. Katarina was fine as Emilia while Magnus Kyhle as Cassio sometimes struggled audibly with the upper tessitura, though less so after the first night. Carl Unander Scharin, Lennart Forsén and Per-Arne Wahlgren were adequate as Roderigo, Lodovico and Montano. The high standard of the choir was once again obvious and the Kungliga Hovkapellet played very well under Badea.
L’elisir d’amore had its premiere in December last year. Jonathan Miller chose to set it in the 1950s in the American south - at Adina’s Diner. Isabella Bywater’s scenery was inspired by Edward Hopper’s paintings and was very beautiful. There were several gags, with a rock version of 'Io son ricco et tu sei bella' which Dulcamara and Adina sang with microphones. Having set the opera in the days of Elvis, this may be a logical way to do it.
La bohème was first produced in 2001 by Wilhelm Carlsson, with scenery and lighting by Lars Östbergh and costumes by Annsofi Nyberg. This was an updated version, with the first and last act taking place in a glass-roofed attic. The guard in Act II marched into the dress circle, quite an effect! Act III took place outside an ugly building difficult to classify, perhaps an abandoned factory.
The premiere of a new Tristan und Isolde was on March 13. A beautiful and simple production, this was by Hans-Peter Lehmann, once an assistant of Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner in Bayreuth. The excellent lighting was by Linus Fellbom, who achieved much through the use of colours. Set and costume design was by Olaf Zombeck. The costumes were vaguely reminiscent of medieval times. Act I took place in front of a big steel construction resembling the back of a ship. In Act II the steel construction is raised to become a roof high above the stage, which is surrounded by a curtain of white strings. In Act III there were two steel towers and a wall which was raised at the end as a background for Isolde.
Nina Stemme as Isolde sang beautifully rather than powerfully, with a quick vibrato that made the voice shimmer. Martina Dike as Brangäne once again showed herself to be an outstanding new dramatic mezzo. Gunnar Lundberg makes a youthful, lyric Kurwenal. Two singers shared Tristan: Wolfgang Millgram and Thomas Sunnegårdh, both good but not great. Leif Segerstam conducted the Kungliga Hovkapellet, which played very well. The solo for English horn in Act III was extremely beautiful while the later, happier solo was played on a wood trumpet, an unusual but beautiful sound.
Der fliegende Holländer was revived on March 31. The production by Folke Abenius dates from from 1988, with scenery and costume by Bozena Johansson-Unéus and lighting by Hans-Åke Sjöquist. The first and last act took place on a darkened stage in which representative details were spotlit. Daland’s ship was hinted at by some rigging, while the Dutch ship was indicated by a red sail with a figurehead under the bowsprit. Enigmatically, in Act III when Daland’s crew had roused the Dutch, some gentleman in white tie and tails entered. Four soldiers and an officer followed them and fired their guns. Perhaps a reference to the uprising in Dresden in 1849 in which Wagner participated?
The house debut of Annalena Persson as Senta was keenly anticipated. She has an impressive if not very warm voice, and will sing Isolde here next autumn. The veteran Robert Hale was the Dutch captain, still singing well. Daland was Lennart Forsén. Marianne Eklöf was a fine Mary. Stefan Dahlberg sang Erik, adequately, though he has quite a narrow voice. The choir, trained by Christina Hörnell och Folke Alin sang well on the whole, except during Act II. There were complaints about Klaus Weise's conducting lacking sufficient nuance.
The second biggest city in Sweden, Gothenburg, has its own opera company (Göteborgs Operan) based in a beautiful house, not yet 10 years old. The company is much older, having started in a 19th-century theatre in another part of the city. Gothenburg has more of a stagione system than Stockholm. It usually does one opera at a time, alternating with a musical and ballet, though later this spring they will have both La forza del destino and Don Giovanni running simultaneously.
© Per Bäckström, 1 April 2004 July 2004
The Gothenburg Opera presented a new production of Verdi’s La forza del destino on 3 April. The director Knut Hendriksen chose to update it a little, treating it like grand opera and including a ballet. The scenery and costumes by Camilla Björnvad, and lighting by Jesper Kongshaug, were beautiful, especially in the battle scenes. However the church service, where Padre Guardiano blesses Leonora, was overdone and some called it kitsch.
Alessandra Rezza, as Leonora, has a powerful voice, beautiful throughout the whole register, though probably more suited to verismo than bel canto, but her fine singing was let down by less than graceful movement. Mario Carrara, as Alvaro, was excellent too, with some reservations concerning his top notes. Mats Persson may not be sufficiently 'italianate' in style but he sang and acted very well as Don Carlo. Mats Almgren was (as usual!) woolly and guttural, but had sufficient authority to make a good Padre Guardiano. Ulrika Tenstam was a fine Preziosilla. All the smaller roles were well done, including Palle Hansen as a funny Fra Melitone, veteran Sten Wahlund as Marchese di Calatrava and Anders Lorentzon in the short role as a surgeon. Pier Giorgio Morandi is an excellent conductor and the orchestra played very well.
The present house of the Copenhagen Royal Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater) - the Danish national institution for opera, ballet and drama - dates from 1874. It is beautiful, but only has 1,334 seats and is often sold out far in advance.
There was also a revival of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger in the same house in May. This was a production from 1996 by Francesca Zambello, with scenery by Alison Chitty, 19th-century costumes by Carrie Bayliss, lighting by Alan Burrett and choreography by Lise La Cour and Ann Kolvig. The scenery consisted of four open wooden towers, three stories high, with staircases inside, which could be moved quickly, and combined in different ways. For the riot scene they were filled with people and cushions, and quickly moved forward to create chaos. Props and furniture were brought in as needed for different scenes. In Act I, Beckmesser was (unusually) positioned up in one of the towers when Walter made his attempt to become a Meistersinger. He held a knife instead of a piece of chalk, and ripped a piece of cloth apart while repeatedly interrupting Walter. Despite this the final scene captured the necessary anticipated grandeur of the work.
Kjeld Christoffersen sang and acted well as Sachs. Guido Paevatalu was a funny, well-sung Beckmesser. Johnny van Hal was acceptable as Walther von Stoltzing. Gert Henning-Jensen, as David, sang, acted and danced very well, with a lovely youthful vigour. Gitta-Marie Sjöberg was a wonderful Eva and Randi Stene a good Magdalene. Christian Christiansen sounded a bit old as Pogner, but for Eva’s father that is no great problem - he had the necessary authority. The orchestra and choir sounded very good, with Dietfried Bernet as conductor.
In Stockholm during May and June, the Royal Swedish Opera revived Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, (Prodana novesta), in a Swedish translation by Karin Mossdal and Lasse Zilliacus. A fine production by Hilda Hellwig (albeit with some silly ideas!), this had scenery by Jan Lundberg, costumes by Ann-Margret Fyregård, lighting by Torkel Blomkvist and choreography by Pierre de Olivo. The production was set at the time when the composer's country was ruled by the Communists (and dominated by the Soviet Union), an update from the original when the Czechs were governed by Austria. There was nothing wrong about this. The folk culture elements were depicted as part of the May 1st celebrations, performed by the community choir and a dance ensemble (students from Stockholm Ballet School). In the third act, students from Gävle Cirkusgymnasium did circus tricks.
It is 350 years since Christina (Kristina), the daughter of Gustavus II Adolphus (Gustaf II Adolf ), abdicated as Queen of Sweden, converted to Catholicism and moved to Rome. Hence the idea to revive the opera Christina, by Hans Gefors, in May and June. This is set to a libretto by the composer and Lars Forssell, based on the latter’s play Christina Alexandra. The opera had its successful premiere in 1986. It is well composed: not a play drowned in uninteresting music, but a real opera, with arias and great chorus scenes, even arias accompanied solely by chorus. It's a kaleidoscopic work with grand scenes followed by more intimate ones, 27 in all. Kathrine Hysing designed the scenery - similar sets for both Act 1, in Stockholm and Act 2, in Rome, outside Naples and at Fontainebleau - and 450 costumes. The lighting, by Hans-Åke Sjöquist, created the different locations. Choreography was by the Baroque ballet expert Regina Beck-Friis. The production was originally by Göran Järvefelt, but directed this year by Johan Molander.
The loveliest singing came from Karl-Magnus Fredriksson, who has recently been appointed Hovartist, the Swedish equivalent of Kammersänger. His role is called Den okände (the 'unknown') and first appears when Christina has fallen ill after having seen Carl Gustaf, her cousin and future successor as king (well interpreted by Lars-Erik Jonsson), have violent sex with a lady in waiting. This makes Christina decide never to allow herself to be taken by a man. The 'unknown' introduces imagination, poetry and love to Christina’s frozen castle.
The Drottningholm Court Theatre (Drottningholms Slottsteater), was used in the summers of 1777 to 1791 by Gustaf III but abandoned soon after his death and forgotten. It was re-discovered in 1921 and remains an authentic 18th-century theatre, though now with electric lights designed to give the effect of candles. The auditorium has 32 narrow rows with a total of 465 seats, all of them with good sight lines, on rather uncomfortable benches. The machinery is old, but enables quick scene changes.
The Royal Swedish Opera gives a production every year at Drottningholm. This June they chose to do Kastrater, an opera by Miklós Maros, to a libretto by Lasse Zilliacus, based on a libretto by Sven Delblanc. In this work the orchestra mostly play mood-setting music, while the singing alternates between recitative and aria-like numbers. It was given a fine production by the Royal Swedish Opera’s resident director Ann-Margret Pettersson, with choreography by Ivo Cramér, scenery by Lennart Mörk and lighting by Hans-Åke Sjöquist. Joakim Unander conducted.
In a flashback scene in Act II, Farinelli sings 'Che faró senza Eurydice', trying to improve it (in his view) by adding fioritura and variations. However he is whistled off the stage. Maros treats the well known tune in an interesting way, having it develop into chaos. At the back of the stage there is a large picture of the Drottningholm theatre, where Orfeo has indeed been often performed.
© Per Bäckström, 1 July 2004 December 2004
The Royal Swedish Opera’s new Tosca production had its premiere on September 11. The production was by Knut Hendriksen, with scenery by Björn Brusewitz, costumes by Ann-Mari Anttila and lighting by Hans-Åke Sjöquist. It was set in its designated time and place, Rome around 1800, but contained some original ideas. For example when the sacristan re-entered at the end of Act 1 he had obviously been beaten; probably because Scarpia wanted to be sure he doesn’t know more than he has told, and we could also see the portrait Cavaradossi is painting from behind.
There were many fine details in the scenery by Björn Brusewitz. The iron gates cast sinuous shadows in the first act. Giant maps of Rome, in black and white, adorned the walls in Scarpia’s office, with the torture chamber visible below. There were church cupolas in the last act seen against a starry blue sky and the dawn was visible. All this was wonderfully lit by Hans-Åke Sjöquist. Christian Badea conducted splendidly.
As Tosca, Lena Nordin alternated with Doina Dimitriu. Lena Nordin has sung mostly bel canto repertoire in the past, including a good Norma, and now demonstrates she can be a fine Tosca. Doina Dimitriu has a bigger voice, but also less flexible. She was especially good in the more dramatic moments. Of the two Cavaradossi, Theodore Green sang very beautifully while César Hernández had more power for the dramatic moments, so it was wise to pair Nordin with Green and Dimitriu with Hernández.
I heard Johan Edholm as Scarpia. Edholm does not have a good legato but this is of less importance singing Scarpia, than some Verdi parts. His volume was an asset, for example in ‘Un tal baccano in chiesa’. He made an interesting, credibly dangerous Scarpia. The small parts were well done, Ola Eliasson and Jesper Taube alternating as Angelotti, Ketil Hugaas and Magnus Lindén as the sacristan, Niklas Björling as Spoletta and Per-Arne Wahlgren and John Erik Eleby as Sciarrone.
Sport & Fritid (Sports & Leisure), is a new opera composed for the Royal Swedish Opera by Thomas Jennefelt with a libretto by Niklas Rådström. The title was probably inspired by Eric Satie’s ‘Sports et divertissements’, as it includes a cross country skier called Erik, a silent part. It had its premiere on December 11. Apart from the first scene, which is set in an office with a kind of slow motion ballet with people carrying notebook computers and cell phones, the rest of the opera takes place among sportsmen and women, with sport as a metaphor for life. The athletes are not realistic. They may exist only in the troubled mind of the lyric soprano heroine Laura. She is hit on her head by a football. A baritone football player tells her that the ball represent her life. She must do something with it. He reappears several times, usually with a bass baritone slow-motion runner, and a mezzo soprano high jumper (inspired by the Swedish athlete Kajsa Bergkvist whose body language is imitated). An important part is played by a tenor would-be participant, who is somehow blocked from realizing his wishes. One of the strongest scenes in the opera is an interview by a parodied sports journalist of the would-be participant. There is also a high dramatic coloratura soprano referee who sings about the importance of rules.
For this production, directed by Åsa Melldahl, with scenery by Bengt Gomér, costumes by Annsofi Nyberg, choreography by Irene Hultman and lighting by Miriam Helleday, the Royal Swedish Opera covered the orchestra pit, and extended the stage forwards. For the second act, the orchestra were on top of the stage above the pit, with the singers below. This seems inspired by the Folkoperan, the other opera house in Stockholm. Folkoperan like to have close contact between the audience and the singers, so there is no pit and the orchestra is placed elsewhere.
Much of the music is minimalistic, inspired by Steve Reich, but there are also lyrical scenes and some lovely choral music, inspired by Ingvar Lidholm. Jennefelt has sung in Eric Ericsson’s Kammarkören (The Chamber Choir) performances of Handel and Monteverdi under Nicolaus Harnoncourt, and this experience has been an inspiration.
In December, the Royal Swedish Opera began a revival of their excellent Il barbiere di Siviglia with the 77th performance of this production, now 6 years old. It is by the house director Knut Hendriksen, with scenery and costumes by Per A Jonsson and lighting by Ronny Andersson.
The scenery, is beautiful, with a clever combination of hanging drops and built scenery. These can be changed fast, which is ideal in a theatre that does not have wings. In the beginning there is no drop at the back of the stage. It gradually changes from very dark to light blue to show the dawn. The musicians playing for Almaviva are first seen as silhouettes, a fine effect. In the end the drops are lifted one after another to finish with an empty stage.
Die Frau ohne Schatten was premiered at the Gothenburg Opera on September 12. Like the other Richard Strauss operas given earlier, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier, the production was by Yannis Houvardas, with brilliant scenery by Lars-Åke Thessman, clever lighting by Torkel Blomkvist and costumes by Karin Erskine. Everything takes place in or near an ordinary family house on a revolving stage. The front wall could be lifted to reveal the interior. The ordinariness of the house made the strange things that happened seem even stranger, which was good. Outside there is a dense, wild forest. The falcon is sung by a countertenor, Tobias Nilsson, dressed in black, with movements suggesting a bird. When Barak and his wife search for each other in the third act they climb the stairs numerous times, exit through a door at the top of it and re-enter at the foot. The opera ends with about 50 small children, dressed in vests and rubber boots, entering the stage.
Olaf Henzold conducted the Gothenburg Opera Orchestra which played well. Barak’s wife was sung by Irma Mellergaard, who previously also sang Elektra successfully. She tends to sing a little flat but this is easy to forgive because of her dramatic intensity. Gunnel Bohman was a great empress. Her top notes especially were wonderful. Ulrika Tenstam also sang very beautifully as the nurse, as did Jon Ketilson as the emperor and Mats Persson as Barak. The smaller parts were also very well cast, especially Mia Karlsson as the guardian of the threshold and Anders Lorrentzon as the spirit messenger.
The Copenhagen Royal Theatre is creating a new Ring. Die Walküre was premiered in April 2003 and revived on November 17, and Das Rheingold had its premiere in December 2003. While these two parts were given in the old house at Kongens Nytorv, Siegfried will have its premiere on May 7 in the new house that opens next January. The complete Ring will be seen there in 2006. The producer is the opera’s manager Kasper Bech Holten, while the scenery is designed by Steffen Aarfing and Marie i Dali, lighting by Jesper Kongshaug. Michael Schönwandt conducts Det Kongelige Kapel.
Gitta-Maria Sjöberg sang beautifully in her debut as Sieglinde as did Stig Fogh Andersen as Siegmund. James Johnson was an interesting Wotan, and Randi Stene an impressively aggressive Fricka. Stephen Milling is a wonderful bass so it was a pleasure to hear his Hunding. Irene Theorin, who has previously sung Sieglinde, was new as Brünnhilde. She had both power and warmth. This Ring is set neither in our time nor in Wagner’s, but somewhere in between. The first act takes place in a modern house with a table laid for Hunding and Siegmund’s dinner. The first part of the second act is in Wotan’s big office (or factory?) with is a raised bridge in the middle. The second part takes place outside, as does the third act, perhaps on a roof. In the last scene the space where Brünnhilde is put to sleep is surrounded by fire.
© Per Bäckström, 3 January 2005 May 2005
A double bill of new productions of two operas by Ravel, L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilèges, was first performed at the Royal Swedish Opera in March. Both were conducted by Jacques Delacote with a fine sense of detail.
There were two casts: Anne Sofie von Otter and Marie-Ange Todorovitch as Concepcion, Carl Unander-Scharin and Tomasz Zagorski as Gonzalve, Magnus Kyhle and Lars Magnusson as Torquemada, Johan Edholm and Gunnar Lundberg as Ramiro, and Ketil Hugaas and John Erik Eleby as Don Inigo Gomez. Von Otter impressed with her intelligent interpretation while Todorovitch was more naturally sensuous. Edholm was excellent in both singing and acting, as was Hugaas.
L'enfant et les sortilèges was sung in Swedish to a translation by Agneta Myreberg. Ole Anders Tandberg both directed and designed the scenery, showing once again his capacity at handling the supernatural. Costume design was by Maria Geber and light design was again by Erik Berglund.
This opera about a naughty child interacting with inanimate objects and animals has a large cast. Except for the child, well portrayed by Susann Végh and Linda Tuvås, all the others singers doubled (or tripled) up on their parts. The standard of performance was high, so it’s difficult to single anyone out, but special praise should go to Niklas Björling Rygert as the frog. He was also also the school master and the boxing teapot. He shared these roles with Ulrik Qvale, who was a little more appropriately aggressive as the teapot. Marianne Eklöf portrayed the mother, a Chinese teacup and the dragonfly. The tall Lars Arvidsson was very funny as the armchair, dancing with Agneta Lundgren’s easychair. Per-Arne Wahlgren was a memorable cat. Kristina Hansson and Marianne Hellgren Staykov sang the coloratura of the fire with accomplishment. Henriikka Gröndahl and Hilde Leidland were both moving as the princess, as was Agneta Lundgren as the wounded squirrel. Lena Hoel was excellent as the shepherdess and the bat.
The production was inventive rather than literal. For example the teapot was transformed in a boxer to sing ‘I punch your nose, I box you’ brandishing teapots as gloves. The work was also performed four times as a solo work for families with children. (The run continues into June.)
Gunnel Bohman, who was a great Empress in Gothenburg last year, continued to show how well Strauss suits her. Anders Larsson was her brother. Klas Hedlund as Flamand and Ola Eliasson as Olivier were very fine and of the right age. Ketil Hugaas once again impressed, this time as La Roche. Marianne Eklöf was Clairon and Magnus Kyhle was a memorable Taupe. As the Italian singers, Jeanette Bjurling and Jonas Degerfeldt did a fine job with the difficult music. Anders Bergström was the Major-domo. Christian Badea conducted.
In February there was a revival of Don Carlo, a beautiful production by Friedrich Meyer-Oertel with set, costume and light design by Maren Christensen, basically set in the time of Philip II, with scenery made up mostly of hanging drops with a few pieces of furniture and other props, and in the scenes with Carlo Quinto, a grand tomb. It was sung in Italian.
In the beginning of the auto-da-fè scene there were a number of big puppets, each one handled by a group. The puppets represented the king and queen, the grand inquisitor and some others, and there was fighting between the groups. At the end of the scene a platform with crucifixes and a skeleton behind was moved forward. The heavenly voice did not come from above but from a nun and the opera ended with Don Carlo committing suicide to avoid capture.
The five act version was used, including both the scene in the beginning of Act III with Elisabeth and Eboli switching clothes and the uprising after Posa’s death, but no ballet. There was only one interval and the first part of the opera lasted two hours. It was a long evening but good to have so much of the opera performed.
Jaakko Ryhänen was Philip II in all of the 10 performances - a fine example of a excellent Finnish bass. Badri Maisuradze sang Don Carlo in the first seven performances and Tomas Lind undertook the last three. Maisuradze has a very good voice but didn’t act very well, while Lind was a little less secure vocally, but acted much better. Jesper Taube has developed into a very fine baritone and was a lyric, youthful Rodrigo. Hans-Peter König was a good Grand Inquisitor. Lennart Forsén shared the monk/Carlo Quinto with Björn Blomqvist but also sang the inquisitor a few times. On March 30 he performed both roles.
Hillevi Martinpelto sang Elisabeth in the first performances and Lena Nordin in the last ones. Neither of them is a genuine Verdi soprano and while Martinpelto has a bigger voice, Nordin was more exciting on stage. Martina Dike may be the Royal Swedish Opera’s best mezzo now and was a great Eboli, even if she had to struggle with the topmost notes. Susann Végh was a nice Tebaldo. Marie Alexis did probably the best sung ‘voice from above’ this production has seen . Carl Unander-Scharin was stylish as both the herald and Count Lerma. The unfortunate production of Don Giovanni, by Stein Winge, with set and costume design by Tine Schwab and light design by Franck Evin, was revived in April, perhaps because the title part was a good role for Peter Mattei. He fulfilled all expectations, delivering a youthful, seductive daredevil. Together with Ketil Hugaas as Leporello, Klas Hedlund as Don Ottavio, Hillevi Martinpelto as Donna Anna, Sara Olsson as Donna Elvira, Jeanette Bjurling as Zerlina, D’Arcy Bleiker as Masetto and Lennart Forsén as Commendatore he diverted attention away from the production and made it easier to endure. Fine conducting by Gérard Korsten also helped.
The ‘concept’ was to set the action in a restaurant kitchen. Winge believes that a contemporary restaurant kitchen resembles the structured class society of the time of Mozart! Be that as it may, but it is still ridiculous to have the whole of the opera set in a kitchen. The costume designer also did her best to make Don Ottavio look obnoxious in an ugly wig. However despite this encumberance Hedlund sang his both arias very beautifully.
There is another opera house in Stockholm called the Folkoperan, housed in a rebuilt cinema containing slightly more than 500 seats. In February they premiered Fedra, an adaptation of Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, to a Swedish text by Mira Bartov. The conductor, Mark Tatlow, cut the work to about two hours and re-orchestrated it, using a synthesizer instead of cembalo. Saxophones were also added while some other instruments were removed. Tatlow‘s idea is that strong colours are needed to replicate the effect that Rameau had on his original audiences. Claes Fellbom, one of the founders of Folkoperan, produced the work in cooperation with the Centre for Opera and Technique, part of the University of Technology.
The action took place on a big catwalk and a high platform above the orchestra, connected by stairs. No scenery was used except projections on the walls, sometimes of prepared images, sometimes of pictures filmed by chorus members with hand cameras. Important plot details were enhanced by images of news bills, of the type used by scandal magazines. The plot was changed so that Thes (Theseus) became a finance magnate and malicious speculator. Aricia (Aricie), vice president, is used as scapegoat and fired. Thes’s wife Fedra unsuccessfully tries to seduce Hip (Hippolyte) and finally drowns herself. Thes is exposed and Aricia is appointed the new CEO, sacrificing her love for Hip.
There were two casts, one of them consisting of students from the University College of Opera. Ulf Lundmark and Andreas Lundmark (not related) played Thes, Katarina Giotas and Ulrika Mjörndal were Fedra, Ulric Björklund and Mats Carlsson were Hip, Agneta Eichenholz and Marie Rosenmir were Aricia, Michael Schmidberger was Pluto, Ulrika Skarby was OneOne (a character made up from a few roles in the original), Henrik Holmberg was Tisifone, and Fredric Hellgren was Arcas. The main difference between the students and their more experienced colleagues was that the latter succeeded better in making the Swedish text appear intelligent.
NorrlandsOperan is situated in the university town of Umeå, in the northern part of Sweden, and has a fine house built a few years ago. This spring they performed Turandot, a production by Matthew Richardson and Patrik Sörling, with designs by Jon Morrell. The production was set in our time, and inspired by television competitions and the like. There were a few Chinese features such as the emperor’s clothes. In the scene with Ping (Thomas Lander), Pang (Staffan Jennehov) and Pong (Jan Nilsson) much use was made of the skulls of decapitated suitors, previously seen marching headless on stage!
Turandot was sung by the new star Erika Sunnegårdh, who made her opera debut last autumn as Turandot and has already got a contract with the Met in New York. She has an excellent, powerful top register and in the riddle scene especially was superb. Patrik Forsman did well as Calaf. Liu was wonderfully performed by young Elisabet Strid. Mikael Axelsson was a moving Timur. For Emperor Altoum, Puccini requires a very old sounding tenor. Kjell Oscarsson is a baritone and unfortunately did not sound old. Lars Martinsson was a powerful mandarin. Conductor Tobias Ringborg led the Norrlandsoperan Choir (well prepared by Tomas Pleje) and the orchestra. The new ending by Berio was used and it was interesting to experience it for the first time on stage. There was a long interlude and during this time couples dressed in simple clothes performed a kind of dance. Finally Turandot and Calaf entered, dressed like the others, and everybody danced out through the audience.
© Per Bäckström, 24 April 2005
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