Category Archives: Opera

Arcana at the opera: The Bartered Bride @ Garsington Opera

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The Bartered Bride (Prodaná nevěsta) (1866)
Comic opera in Three Acts – music by Bedřich Smetana; Libretto by Karel Sabina
Sung in Czech with English surtitles.

Mařenka – Pumeza Matshikiza (soprano), Jeník – Oliver Johnston (tenor), Kecal – David Ireland (bass), Vašek – John Findon (tenor), Ludmila – Yvonne Howard (soprano), Krušina – William Dazeley (baritone), Mícha – John Savournin (bass), Háta – Louise Winter (mezzo-soprano), Ringmaster – Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts (tenor), Esmeralda – Isabelle Peters (soprano)

Rosie Purdie (director), Kevin Knight (designer), Howard Hudson (lighting), Darren Royston (choreographer)

Circus Troupe, Garsington Opera Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra / Jac van Steen

Garsington Opera, Wormsley
Friday 30 June 2023

review by Richard Whitehouse Photos by (c) Alice Pennefather

Smetana may have played down its status in the context of his output, but The Bartered Bride remains the foundation of Czech opera and is much the most performed work stemming from that tradition, making this revival of Garsington Opera’s 2019 production the more welcome.

Rosie Purdie’s direction accorded wholly with Paul Curran’s original conception, transferring the scenario to a 1950s Britain where class restrictions and petty-mindedness were as much a given as in Bohemia a century before, yet the socio-political facet seemed as astutely handled as the cultural trappings of that first teenage generation were underlined without detriment to what was played out on stage. Kevin Knight’s designs clarified this setting most effectively, and Howard Hudson’s lighting was vivid without ever being garish. Most especially, Darren Royston’s choreography afforded communal togetherness during the crowd scenes while also ensuring that the circus troupe’s routines at the beginning of the third act came alive without any sense of their being a mere ‘add on’ to this production, and hence of the opera as a whole.

The casting could hardly have been bettered. Among the most wide-ranging role of any 19th-century opera, Mařenka was superbly taken by Pumeza Matshikiza (above) who conveyed pathos and real integrity of character to substantialize those comic capers unfolding on stage in what was an assumption to savour. Not comparable musically, that of Jeník is a notable role that Oliver Johnston rendered with verve and audible eloquence – such that his ostensibly hard-headed decisions could only be the outcome of an essentially sincere as well as selfless motivation.

Notwithstanding that the secondary roles provide relatively little in terms of characterization, John Findon drew a degree of sympathy for the hapless Vašek, William Dazeley and Yvonne Howard were well matched as the warmly uncomprehending Kružina and Lumilla, while the scheming couple of Mícha and Háta saw a suitable response from John Savournin and Louise Winter, abetted in this respect by David Ireland’s roguish Kecal. Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts was magnetic as the Ringmaster, and Isabelle Peters provided an entrancing cameo as Esmerelda.

The latter characters are part of a Circus Troupe that, fronted by Jennifer Robinson, brought the stage to life just after the dinner interval. Elsewhere, the hard-working Garsington Opera Chorus offered a reminder this is an opera second to none in terms of its choral contribution, while the Philharmonia sounded in its collective element under the assured direction of Jac van Steen, familiar in the UK through his extensive work with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Ulster Orchestra. In particular, the overture and set-pieces in each act had the requisite vigour and effervescence as has made them at least as familiar in the concert hall, and it remains a testament both to Smetana’s immersion in and understanding of his native music that only the ‘Furiant’ at the start of the second act derives from a traditional source.

The Bartered Bride has enjoyed numerous UK productions during recent decades – among which, this Garsington revival can rank with the finest in terms of musical immediacy and visual allure. Those not able to see it four years ago should certainly do so this time around.

For information on further performances, visit the Garsington Opera website. Click on the artist names for more information on Pumeza Matshikiza, Oliver Johnston, Jac van Steen, Philharmonia Orchestra and stage director Rosie Purdie

Arcana at the opera: Hansel and Gretel @ Opera Holland Park (Young Artists Performance)

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Hansel and Gretel (1893)
Opera in Three Acts – music by Engelbert Humperdinck; Libretto by Adelheid Wette
Sung in German with English surtitles. Orchestral reduction by Tony Burke

Hansel – Shakira Tsindos (mezzo-soprano), Gretel – Emily Christine Loftus (soprano), Peter – Edward Kim (baritone), Gertrud – Madeline Boreham (mezzo-soprano), The Gingerbread Witch – Ella de Jongh (mezzo-soprano), The Sandman – Claudia Haussmann (soprano), The Dew Fairy – Eleanor Broomfield (soprano)

Bence Kalo (director), Avishka Edrisinghe (repetiteur), Lily Wieland (deputy stage manager)

Opera Holland Park Chorus, Choir of Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, City of London Sinfonia / Charlotte Corderoy

Holland Park, London
Friday 16 June 2023

review by Richard Whitehouse Photos by (c) Ali Wright

Performances by The Young Artists have been a welcome feature of Opera Holland Park this past decade – none more so than this staging of Hansel and Gretel, Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera with its ‘rites of passage’ scenario ideally suited to singers at the outset of their careers.

An object lesson in less is more, Bence Kalo’s astute direction worked convincingly through conveying the essence of the siblings’ nocturnal journey – maybe more imagined then real, as was implied by the overture’s becoming a pantomime where a host of comedic and woodland characters assumed the spotlight. Neither was the subsequent element of danger played down, with the confrontation with the Witch taking on ominous overtones as cut across the farce and so made the latter’s demise then the freeing of her victims the more affecting in consequence.

The eponymous figures were as well matched vocally as visually. Shakira Tsindos proved a Hansel likable for all his (sic) gaucheness and gullibility – projecting the character with flair and immediacy, if marginally overdoing the slapstick in the third act. Emily Christina Loftus was a Gretel near ideal in her unforced eloquence, all the while exuding an awareness of the ‘outside world’ as made her the dramatic and musical focus during their sylvan wonderings. As an empathetic portrayal, it could hardly have been bettered technically or interpretively.

Absent throughout much of the opera, the roles of the parents are none the less crucial to its dramatic trajectory. Edward Kim was adept in channelling the warmth and guilelessness of Peter with no risk of sentimentality, making him a dependable figure whatever his failings. Madeline Boreham was forceful but never mean-spirited as Gertrud, her overt exasperation leavened by the anguish through which she lamented her family’s poverty, and recognizing the degree to which Humperdinck humanizes her character compared to the Grimm original.

The remaining roles were ably taken – not least the Witch of Ella de Jongh, who brought off the vocal as well as scenic change from pantomime dame to small-time dictator with aplomb. Claudia Haussmann was magnetic though a little edgy in tone as the Sandman, while Eleanor Broomfield conveyed real enchantment without unnecessary whimsy as the Dew Fairy. The choral contribution had the requisite poise and finesse, not least in those evocative moments when the shades of children vanished into the witch’s domain emerged out of the tonal ether.

The orchestra (City of London Sinfonia in its familiar summer guise) was its usual dependable self, the scaled-down complement of strings not lacking for presence situated at the centre of the platform. It helped that Charlotte Corderoy (above) was so evidently attuned to this score, pacing the unfolding drama with subtlety and purpose, while drawing instrumental felicities aplenty from such as the animated prelude and magical ‘dream-pantomime’ which frame the second act. In its mingled pathos and effervescence, the closing scene provided a fitting denouement.

A victim of its own success for much of the 130 years since its premiere, Hansel and Gretel remains an opera not just for Christmas and not just for children: a work in which innocence and experience are meaningfully conjoined, as was confirmed by this admirable production.

For information on further performances, visit the Opera Holland Park website – and you can meet the OHP Young Artists here. Click on the names for more information on Bence Kalo and Charlotte Corderoy

Easter-themed music part 2 – Haydn: ‘The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross’ (orchestral version)

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