Lucia di
Lammermoor with Jessica Pratt, Michael Fabiano, Giorgio Caoduro, c. Carlo
Montanaro.
Rigoletto with Dalibor
Jenis, Gainluca Terranova, Irina Lungu, Taras Berezhansky, c. Renato
Palumbo.
Aida with Amber
Wagner, Elena Gabouri, Riccardo Massi, Warwick Fyfe, Roberto Scandiuzzi, c.
Andrea Battistoni.
Dear Colleagues,
I feel very torn having seen three truly
magnificent opera performances while at the same time seeing further evidence
of a company on a path to self-destruction. Each year Opera Australia has contained less opera and
less Australian content under present management. There is no opera at all for three months of
the year (musicals take centre stage) and most of the main opera roles are taken
by foreign-based artists. What a sadness
that so much artistic dollar now goes offshore ... and as a result the company
no longer encourages talented young local singers with the prospect of a career
in opera in Australia.
These things aside for a moment, we were privileged to enjoy the glorious,
full blooded operas with Lucia, Rigoletto and Aida, starting the new winter
season. These include the famous Sextet,
the Quartet and Triumphal March, along with much, much more.
There were many high points …
but two stand-out performances were Jessica Pratt in the Lucia Mad Scene and
Michael Fabiano’s finale of the same opera.
Both were unique demonstrations of the finest renditions of vocal drama
– each a master class. Both had done the
same roles in New York recently, but not together. Ms Pratt omits the act I cadenza which is
sensible but adds a needless if very exciting high F in the scene in her
brother’s studio. The sextet and
cabaletta with chorus are high class vocalism but the mad scene wins all the
gongs in town. Ms Pratt has everyone
spell-bound with her flights, frights and heights. The glass harmonica is replaced by the flute
in a tight and accurate orchestra under Maestro Montanaro.
A libretto I consulted omits
the wonderful Wolf Crag Scene which was sung splendidly by Messrs Caoduro and
Fabiano. The libretto also left out the
scene in act II between Lucia and Raimondo (played here very competently by
Richard Anderson). There are also some
lines after the chorus endings later in the opera which were included in this
very full and fine rendition. I wish I
could say the same of the production which was bland, grey and
uninspiring. There was no fountain! Nor even an oily doily marking the spot.
Leo Nucci had cancelled his
much anticipated Rigoletto, replaced by a very fine Dalibor Jenis from
Bratislava. The new production had also
been cancelled due to funds but was unlikely to match the standard of the
wonderful old Moshinsky / Yeargan set in Mantua’s court portrait gallery in surely
its last outing.
American soprano Amber Wagner
was a mighty Aida with one of the loudest voices I have ever heard (and big,
beautiful vocalism is what we pay
for). The pace-setting new production
uses tall LED panels in place of scenery and props. Yet the production used images more like
Iceland than Egypt. We were regaled with
huge fast moving clouds, bush fires and sea scapes, all rare in Egypt … and
there seemed no impression of Egypt’s torrid heat and blue sky. The towering structures projected were like
Maurits Escher inventions, containing multiple arches. Yet the arch was not invented until
Greco-Roman times. The head-dresses bore
little resemblance to Egypt and some looked more like Meso-American eagle gods
and Doctor Who Cybermen. Some of the hieroglyphs were real (in the tomb
scene) while others might have been a hieratic washing bill. But no matter - the voices were all splendid,
notably local Warwick Fyfe as Amonasro.
His magnificent “Ma tu, Re, tu signore possente” is still humming in my
ear. Ms Gabouri and Mr Massi were
excellent as Amneris and Radames. Even
the relatively small role of Ramfis was taken by top international bass Roberto
Scandiuzzi, adding to the star-studded line-up.
The technicolor panels were
moved incessantly, often for no particular dramatic reason – up down and
sideways, etc. Yet at times the set
change was dramatic and almost instantaneous.
Apparently we will see more operas using such technology, as with the
Met Ring which uses narrow hinged LED panels to great effect. It was surprising to me that there were still
several short pauses in a darkened house between scenes in Aida. The company chose to have only one
intermission which in my view is an insult to composer, patrons, singers and
bar staff alike. On a practical note for
an aging audience it also causes more congestion in the toilets in the single
intermission. Another reflection of the
audience is that the matinee is so heavily booked these days.
So what is to become of the
national opera company now that it has so few resident artists and spends so
much of the year performing musicals? A
successful formula used for over 50 years has been dumped and a repertory
company has been turned into a ‘festival’ company. The present management makes no apologies as
this has been the aim for some years, only now coming to fruition. Even costumes are now made in Thailand. The MEAA cannot defend Australian artists,
wig makers, etc. My question is whether
the ‘new formula’ is sustainable.
Already the opera on the harbour has had to start repeating popular
works and the great majority of theatre performances are of ‘top of the pops’
or ‘ABC’ of opera (Aida, Boheme, Carmen).
When is Sydney going to hear Wagner?
Will we ever hear Trittico, Huguenots, Fidelio, Gioconda, Nabucco or
Fanciulla again?
I for one am grateful that we
still have an opera company at all. But
it cannot claim to be a truly Australian
opera company any longer and may not qualify for government subsidy which would
be a disaster considering already high ticket prices up to $350 per seat.
I will be keeping my
subscription for the time being and remain a supporter if a critical one.
Cheers to all opera lovers
(and thanks for the patience of the normal people out there).
Notes by Andrew Byrne ..
