The actual main character of this production of Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi was the rain. As soon as the director lifted his baton under the tent where now the Monnaie is located, there was a light drizzling noise. A delicate crescendo brought it to mezzoforte, and between the first duet and the end of act II it changed in dynamics between forte and fortissimo.
Both Banco and Macbeth lacked subtlety in their first duet. Whether this was due to the rain and a louder singing was not entirely clear. Also, the whole duet sounded like an emerging and immersing from and into the sound of rain. By the time Lady Macbeth had to sing the entrance aria the rain allowed to hear only the higher part of the melody: “Vieni! t’affretta… … … … … …. … … … … L’audace impresa… … … …” It was all a bit surreal.
I am not very sure whether I liked the direction. Everything is set in a hotel in the 40s (approx). The rooms, the hall hall, the kitchen, everything is certainly pleasant to watch. What lacks is a proper direction of the singers. The chorus “Chi osó mandarvi a noi?” reminded me of Vizioli’s setting of Don Pasquale and the Witches’ introduction were models and men in drag dancing a (not too) extravagant dance. I probably missed the point as I left at the interval.
Muzikale leiding-Paolo Carignani, regie-Olivier Fredj, Grafisch art director-Jean Lecointre, Scenografie-Olivier Fredj, Gaspard Pinta, Massimo Troncanetti
Kostuums-Fréderic Llinares, Belichting-David Debrinay, Choreografie-Dominique Boivin, Macbeth-Scott Hendricks, Banco-Carlo Colombara, Lady Macbeth-Béatrice Uria Monzon
Dama di Lady Macbeth-Janny Zomer, Macduff-Andrew Richards, Malcolm-Julian Hubbard, Medico, Servo, Araldo-Justin Hopkins, Sicario-Gerard Lavalle, 15/09/2016
What a pity that il Turco in Italia was such a disappointment this year. Davide Livermore, director of several operas in Pesaro for several years now, transports the opera into a Fellinian movie. Similarly L’Italiana in Algeri of last year was transported into the 60’s, where Livermore had to be careful on keeping the decade’s style. Differently, in Il turco in Italia, by sticking to the fellinian idea, he transforms the Turco-characters into Fellini-characters, adds several characters from the movies and has to match all the different characters among each other and with the libretto. And this sometimes leads to a boring confusion and forced situations that annoy on the long run. The set is beautiful, as are the costumes designed by Gianluca Falaschi. Musically the things don’t enthuse either. Speranza Scapucci does her best to underline the details of the score but directed the singers and orchestra without vivacity. Completely! Erwin Schrott as Selim is more interested in the setting than looking to sing in Rossini’s style…another disappointment. 
Rene Barbera has all the notes but leaves a bit cold. Olga Peretyatko, who is gorgeous on stage, could have been a good Fiorilla but she does not convince in the first act, let alone in her big aria Squallida veste bruna, which she finishes (badly) with big effort (partially excused by a note she issued saying that this was due to an allergy). Excellent, on the other hand, Pietro Spagnoli and Nicola Alaimo, who, except for an amazingly clear diction, vital for a comic opera, and the only two main characters that care pronouncing properly, understand how to sing Rossini, but alone cannot save the show from a sense of averageness.
Ciro in Babilonia was given with a set, also by Davide Livermore, conceived for the ROF in 2012. The setting is created around the slient movie theme, with spectators in liberty style, projected intertitles, simplistic acting with emphasized body language and facial expression, and intentionally unrefined projections. it is a very clever direction which is easy to follow and extremely pleasant to watch. Musically Jader Benjamini gives a dramatic though airy and light imprint to this score of the young Rossini and accompanies the singers well. It would be very interesting to hear him in a more mature Rossini. The big star is Ewa Podles. The voice has still an amazing range, I am always impressed to hear both the almost manly-deep and the almost soprano-like high notes in one single voice. Podles is expressive and a very good actress and impersonates not only a Persian prince but a loving father and husband. 
This is singing with a capital S and shows that Podles has, with over 60 years, still many strings in her bow and she received the ovation she deserved. Siragusa is always quite good with his luminous timbre, fluency in the colorature and attentive to diction. Petty Yende was a nice surprise. The quick florid passages were not as articulated, but she showed a good control in the extreme high register and was overall convining in the Rossinian style. A bigger attention to intonation would have completed her interpretation.
La donna del lago was, in my eyes, the most refined of Mariotti s conductions so far. From the first bars of the introduction it is clear that he pays much care to the details of the score, giving much attention to soli’s and accompaniment, uncovering the sounds of gurgling water, “morning dawns”, etc. etc. His tempi are perfect, dynamic and swift, without indulging in superfluous oversentimentality, still tender and warm where required, with an incredible play of rubati and attention to details as rarely heard. It is true what one says about Florez and the coloratura that it is less fluid, but what is lost in flexibility is gained in the search of softness and phrasing, colours and accents. Unmatched. Michael Spyres interprets the extremely difficult role of Ridrigo, cockily shooting high and baritonal notes and leaping over the pentagram as if there was no tomorrow. 
Very good also Salome Jica in the role of Elena, good coloratura and good range. Varduhi Abrahamyan is very good, though lacks, in my eye, these Podles-like fullness in the lowest part of the range. Very good also the minor parts. Michieletto sets the action as flashback. The opera begins with Malcolm and Elena living together in old age, with Elena thinking with regret to the times she met the king. And Michieletto shows what Tottola and Rossini only hint at, a loving relationship between the two, so the whole direction centres around a love that could have been and is (maybe) still there. In the world of subject matter experts a well known theory but Michieletto makes it visible with the attention to details and coherence that is his trademark.
I believe it is always a good idea to have students of a music academy perform on an official stage, for at least two reasons: the students get the feeling of a formal public, and the public usually gets to hear operas that are rarely performed. In Aachen the music academy of Cologne performed Le toreador by Adolphe Adam and L’heure espanol by Ravel.
The cast of L’heure espagnole was equally good. The witty plot was very well sung by all cast members where I especially enjoyed Panagiota Sofroniadou and Fabio Lesuisse as Concepcion and Ramiro. All singers were also very good actors
The theatre was only half full, I guess due to a disorderly organization, change of name half way through, relative little public attention and little communication on ticket sales. But the location is extremely suitable for an opera production, one has a cosy sense of intimate informality. Eric Gobin puts 3 doors on the stage and very few props but it works. The musical part was somewhat uneven. David Miller’s direction is flat and monotone and the lack of colours and variations spread to the singers as well, with few exceptions. From the singers Keith Tillotson as Bartolo acted over the top and sang with poor intonation, while Christine Schmidt as Marcellina had a wobbly-ish voice, but was overall acceptable. Pauline Claes and Gianna Cañete Gallo were convincing as Cherubino and Barbarina. Cécile Lastchenko as Susanna and Laura Telly Cambier as Countess sang well but with a horrendous, really horrendous pronunciation. Laurent Kubla and Shadi Torbey on the other hand were very good. (Except for the few unprecise colorature in the Count’s aria) they both had an extreme clear pronunciation, beautiful voice (which was perfect for the size of the theatre) and great singing. Both were truly enjoable (and Shadi Torbey was even announced sick). Good all other roles and the lovely girls of the choir. The royal Chambre Orchestra of Wallonia played well.
I don’t feel this Idomeneo had any particular faults so maybe I just was in a particularly scrupulous mood. I found Roberto Saccà throaty, Renata Pokupic gasping for air every couple of seconds with not even a hint of a legato, Serena Farmocchia missing the vocal gravity for Elettra, and the direction at times a bit silly. Furthermore the opera had quite lengthy recitatives and I couldn’t understand almost anything. Singers without a proper pronunciation are, in my eyes, not complete, even the phrasing comes across a very approximate when words are not taken care of. On the other hand I appreciated the direction’s narrative clarity, the diction of Roberto Saccà (the only one), Ana Quintans sweet timbre and beautiful singing. I also enjoyed the swift and crisp sound of the orchestra, prepared by Paul McCreesh and on this evening directed by Benjamin Bayl. Everything considered a good performance though not fully convincing.
The musical part was very good in this Mitridate given by the Monnaie/De Munt in the tent of Tour and Taxis. Of course the problems of the venue are always the same: the cooling system (which either did not work. properly or it was turned On too late, either way it was far too hot) is too loud, one can hear the street and air traffic and the size of the venue is far too big for a Mozart opera. Smaller voices are therefore greatly disadvantaged, as it was the case for David Hansen, who already has a weak lower register, but his voice is also quite small, making it very difficult to compete with the orchestra in a regular theatre (and Rousset certainly does not cover voices), let alone under the circumstance of the Monnaie’s tent. Slightly better Yves Saelens as Arbate with an understandable Italian but an unrefined phrasing. Aspasia and Sifare, the loving couple, sing well, but Sifare’s coloratura is flattened, his Italian non-understandable. The small role of Marzio is sung by Sergey Romanovsky. Overall he sings his only aria very well with a beautiful and full voice, although lightening his voice a bit more would have made his coloratura more fluid. Mitridate is Michael Spyres and in this very difficult role that requires all the skills from rapid notes to jumps and a variety of affections he is almost exceptional. Absolutely extraordinary I find Simona Saturova as Ismene. Her intonation, her support of the voice, her breath regulation, her coloratura, all perfectly studied, a voice with a beautiful timbre, equal on top as in the lower register, and never forced. All singers are supported with perfect musicality by Christophe Rousset.
The music Conservatory Antwerp presented a reworked version of Hänsel und Gretel by Humperdinck. The opera lasted exactly 1 1/2 hours and was arranged for 12 instruments (violin, viola, celle, soprano and alto sax, harp, piano and percussion). The director was Stany Crets, a Flemish actor, director and writer, who sees the fairy tale as a nightmare/psychological horror story. The plot is set in skid row: pallets, oil barrels, a few mattresses on the floor and tires represent the impoverished district. Hänsel has some sort of physical challenge and is wheeled around in a wheelchair by Gretel, dirty from working hard. Hänsel and Gretel are children of marginalized people. The mother drinks, and maltreats them before she sends them into the wood. Her suicide attempted with a gun shot in her mouth to escape the misery of life is interrupted by the arrival of the father. The father’s arrival with his uplifting optimism is pure sarcasm in a world without hope, where drug addiction and booze dominate life. The drunk, violent father stumbles and falls, sniffs cocaine, knocks his wife about and rapes her. Act two sees the children in the woods and one can hear screams of tortured and abused children. The Dew Fairy and the Sleep Fairy’s only task is to lure the children to the witch’s house by drugging them with pills and syringes. There is no witch but rather a sadistic couple which share the witch’s dialogue. Being in Belgium one thinks immediately of Marc Doutroux and Michelle Martin, the couple who sexually abused and tortured 6 children in the 90s. And in fact the scenes of sex and violence follow one another with Hänsel and Gretel tied to a “bed”, violently hit and sexually abused (even with a broomstick). When the children finally kill their tormentors, the meeting with the parents does not give the sense of relief that it gives in the traditional story. Relief that is partially lifted only when the children throw their parents into the fire, with which the story ends. The interpretation in a dark key was interesting but the director chooses they easy way out by continually shocking with physical and sexual violence. This becomes monotonous and boring as it is the single only idea the whole story is based on.
Musically the evening was more interesting. The arranged orchestra was adequate although the saxophone (or the arrangement) sometimes gave it a kurt Weill-sound. But the voices were well accompanied. Some of the voices were a bit coarse, with many harsh edges, especially in the top notes and when the acting required a more “realistic” feel. But some of them are very promising. Personally I loved Lisa Newill-Smith as Gretel (who had also an good German pronunciation) and enjoyed the “female witch” Lisa Willems. All in all an interesting evening. I hope the conservatory will repeat this experience, although I would much prefer an original orchestration and an easier opera that wouldn’t strain the voices too much.![IMG_5272[1]](https://ilgiardinodiarmidablog.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/img_52721-e1461316996369.jpg?w=300&h=145)
Regie-Stany Crets, Conductors-Mart Aus en Jaume-Blai Santonja Espinos (Act 1 and 2), Stijn Paredis (Act 3), Instrumentation-Jasper Charlet, Ewa Demianiuk, Vigdis Elst, Eduardo Bemelmans, Bianca Bongers, Liesbeth Decrock, Fábio Tiago Carneiro Videira, Tom Collier, Bram Rooses, Scenografie-Hugo Moens, Kostuums-Cleo Foole en Cisse Royens, studenten Kostuumontwerp van de Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Hänsel-Laure-Catherine Beyers, Gretel-Lisa Newill-Smith, Vater-Lars Corijn, Mutter-Astrid Joos, Knusperhexen-Lisa Willems, Mathis van Cleynenbreugel, Sandmännchen-Sara-Anne Rousseau, Taumännchen-Isabelle Storms, Viool-David Bester, Altviool-Pablo Corcoles Ramos, Veerle-Demey, Cello-Beatriz Laborda Gonzalez, Saxofoon-Eduardo Bemelmans, Dries Meerts, Harp-Marjolein Vernimmen, Piano-Polina Bogdanova, Robert Van Heek, Percussie-Sander Van der Kloot, Benjamin Verstraete, Maarten Warson (performance of 21/04/16)
Yes, not Puccini, not Massenet. By Auber is this Manon Lescaut, altogether set on a lighter note by the simplified libretto by Scribe and by Auber’s sparkling melodies. Meyebeer attended the premiere at the Opera Comique and wrote about it…”full of freshness and invention, melodious and witty…the opera gave me much pleasure”. By the way the opera’s first Manon was Marie Cabel, a Belgian soprano and Manon Lescaut was played in Liège as early as February 1875.
Fourny’s setting starts from a university library (!), part of which is seen throughout. The clothings are 17-18th century and all move well on stage. Cyril Englebert supports the singers well but when the orchestra is alone I would have wished a bit more sparkle and more rubato as the musical language comes over metronomic. Sumi Jo needed most of the conductor’s support. Her voice has lost almost all glitter and sparkle which the role requires. Sumi Jo has to walk on eggs to reach all the right notes. She certainly does, and her singing is still very elegant, but this Manon is a bit unexciting. Wiard Withold on the other hand surprises with a beautiful warm timbre and excellent singing, which make the couplets and the duet of Act 2 the most interesting part of the evening. A singer with potential is also Enrico Casari with bold top notes. All other singers sang also very well.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the production a lot. the conductors Jeremy Rohrer and Samuel Jean are excellent in depicting all the different atmospheres, they are forceful and lively, supple and gentle. The director Richard Brunel creates one fixed setting which is a bit cold to be Sicily, nevertheless it changes its aspect thanks to various props being moved around. The characters are very well directed, single ones ore whole masses move on stage with simplicity and naturalness. To all that Brunel added a few lovely ideas such as Héro slowly hovering in on her wedding chorus, just to mention one.
After a very interesting and varied 2015/16 opera season I hoped in a change of course, in an innovative and original new season. In a newly renovated opera house. Instead, the renovations, which were supposed to be finished by the end of the current season, will protract until the second title of the new season. But from December, the direction hopes, the opera house will be reopened. The program on the other hand is not new, not original, not imaginative, it’s a déjà vu, deja entendu, dozens of times. I am not pretending Portogallo, Graun, van Maldere or other forgetten (though still very valid and worthwile) composers, I am not even pretending more familiar names such as Boildieau, Haydn, Adam, Glinka, Vivaldi. But what is wrong with an Esclarmonde, a Siége de Corinthe, a Roberto Devereux, a Robert le Diable. But a Wagner, a Verdi, a Puccini and a Strauss… (and not the most original ones either): Do they still have something to say? Macbeth was even given only recently at the Munt. Matsukaze as well.
The more interesting operas in Brussels are the Golden Cockerel, Lucio Silla, Pénélope (Faure) and Il ritorno di Ulisse. Half of these are given in concert version!! And again, of the 11 productions, more than half are compostions of the 20th century. And AGAIN, no classical dance is offered!! Thank God there is Ghent (where we can hear Rossini, Halevy, Mussorgski, Tchaikovsky) Liège (which dares to give Auber, lesser known Rossini, Wolf-Ferrari, Ponchielli…), Lille (a staged Vivaldi, this year) which are not very far and which offer quite varied seasons… Well, usually… In the next season we are flooded with Verdi and Puccini there as well: 3 Verdi and 2 Puccini, as if nothing would draw people to the opear. Otello and Don Giovanni are planned for Liege, were given in Gent and Brussels this year and last year, respectively. Die Zauberflöte next year in Gent, was given this year in Liege. And so on…Disappointed is only one of the words that suggests itself.
Oh, by the way. What happened to La muette de Portici? Co-produced with the Opéra Comique in 2011, it was supposed to be staged also in Brussels. Only… ‘It isn’t the right time,’ said Peter De Caluwe, ‘because it would raise the question of whether or not we need Belgium’. I think this is utter nonsense. The creation of Belgium following its staging in 1830 is a lovely story to tell your grandchildren but an opera was never and will never be able to split or unify a country. So: when are we gonna hear it?