Cape Town Opera’s “Porgy and Bess” created an extraordinary cultural confluence in its Chinese premiere at the Poly Theatre. Closing the 27th Beijing Music Festival on 12 October 2024, this production brings together 39 singers and 75 musicians as Gershwin’s South Carolina masterpiece, reimagined through South African artistry, finds new resonance on the Beijing stage.

It arrives at a moment when cultural dialogue between China and Africa is more vital than ever. Festival director Zou Shuang envisions this centerpiece performance as more than just an artistic showcase- it becomes a living bridge where Chinese audiences discover the rhythms and spiritual depths of South African artistry while honoring the work’s timeless power. Director Noa Naamat’s staging softens the opera’s raw portrayal of race, drugs and social struggles, opting instead for a visual poetry of minimalist sets and vibrant costumes. Dynamic lighting shapes this gentler vision, crafting intimate moments that let the performance’s emotional depth shine through.

Under Kazem Abdullah’s direction, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra doesn’t merely accompany but actively shapes the drama. Their reading of Gershwin’s score reveals both its classical refinement and vernacular vitality. The orchestra paints a sonic landscape that feels at once authentic and revelatory: from the opening notes, their nuanced interplay brings the world of port loaders, fishermen, street vendors, and beggars to vivid life. The strings excel in atmospheric passages and maintain clarity through rhythmically complex passages, with especially moving performance in the spirituals. Though occasional clarity issues emerge in softer passages, woodwinds demonstrate exceptional agility during “Clara, Clara.” The brass section’s jazz inflections prove especially effective in the hurricane’s approaching fury and Crown’s menacing scenes.

Illuminating Vocal Performances

The vocal performances illuminate both individual journeys and communal bonds. Otto Maidi’s Porgy moves fluidly between heroic strength and touching vulnerability, his resonant bass-baritone wielding consonants like weapons in moments of determination while revealing delicate sensitivity in passages of tenderness. “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’” becomes both a personal declaration and a universal statement of resilience.

Nonhlanhla Yende brings vocal ambition to Bess, particularly in “Porgy I’s Your Woman Now,” where her powerful high notes declare both strength and yearning for freedom. Yet, in tracing her path between independence and dependence, her dramatic transitions often lack definition, leaving pivotal moments without their full emotional impact.

From this central relationship, the drama expands through a rich supporting cast. Siphamandla Moyake’s Clara opens with a hauntingly layered “Summertime.” Her voice floats beautifully between bluesy inflections and operatic lines, capturing both struggle and hope of Catfish Row.

Pumza Mxinwa’s Serena delivers a heart-wrenching “My Man’s Gone Now.” Her grief touches something universal in all of us. The night’s biggest surprise comes from Mandisinde Mbuyazwe’s Crown and Siphamandla Moyake’s Sporting Life.

Mandisinde’s Crown radiates dangerous charisma with his rough-edged sound, and his command of descending bass lines is particularly impressive. As Sporting Life, Siphamandla brings perfect wit to “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” his jazz-infused phrasing making every note both question and entertain. He skillfully undercuts the community’s religious certainties while keeping Gershwin’s delicious sense of humor intact. Together, these characterizations vividly reveal the ever-present temptations and dangers facing the community.

Embodying the bittersweet rhythms of life in Catfish Row, the chorus becomes the beating heart of this production. Their voices navigate complex passages with precision while never losing their essential humanity. Whether in the Six Simultaneous Prayers during the hurricane scene or celebrating the tender union of Bess and Porgy, the ensemble transcends mere technical excellence to achieve genuine authenticity, infusing each phrase with a spirit that is uniquely their own—powerful enough to make the world grow small.

Inspiring & Community-Building Production

Each production of “Porgy and Bess” carries its own distinct aesthetic and cultural identity. In an era where cultural discourse often seems trapped between extremes, this Chinese premiere reveals something profound about music’s community-building power. The singing here creates a Catfish Row that transcends its specific setting, where spirituals and blues, gospel fervor and operatic refinement coalesce into something universal.

What emerges is a performance both precisely crafted and deeply spontaneous, where formal excellence meets raw emotional truths. Through the alchemy of these voices, whether raised in spiritual ecstasy or touched with blues tinged sorrow, the stage transforms into a living community. Here, black operatic voices soar with jazz-like freedom, creating a neighborhood that exists simultaneously in South Carolina, Johannesburg, and Beijing, yet speaks to us all.

The post Cape Town Opera 2024 Review: Porgy and Bess appeared first on OperaWire.

They go together like cookies and milk…like bacon and eggs…like Adam and Eve!

Nooooooo! Not “Cav” and “Pag,” as the fans insist on calling the operas, but Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak!

The golden couple, currently on at the Royal Opera House in “Cavalleria Rusticana,” consolidated their positions as world class artists here with spellbinding performances from start to finish.

That’s not to say that the veritable, verismo duo of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” aren’t still the perfect blend that they have always been ever since conjoining at the Met in 1893. In fact, Damiano Michieletto’s production, now in its third revival directed here by Noa Naamat, makes the entwining ever more tangible, almost becoming a viable whole. Not only do Nedda and Silvio, the architects of the tragedy in “Pagliacci” get to ignite their passions in “Cavalleria Rusticana,” but one of the chief architects of the Cavalleria tragedy, Santuzza, gets to appear in one of the most poignant and emotional scenes of the whole evening in “Pagliacci,” where she reconciles with Mamma Lucia, the grief-stricken mother of her dead beau, Turiddu.

These operas were written over two years apart, but served to pioneer the verismo or realist movement in Italian opera, often depicting the struggles and drama of common people. And in these offerings, drama is in abundance.

Brillian ‘Cavalleria’

In “Cavalleria,” Santuzza loves Turiddu, who loves Lola, who doesn’t, (seemingly), love her husband Alfio, who definitely doesn’t love Lola once Santuzza informs him of his wife’s infidelity and who exacts revenge on Turridu by shooting him.

In the case of Pagliacci, Canio, Tonio and Silvio ALL love Nedda, who only loves Silvio even though she’s married to the obsessively jealous Canio, whilst having to perpetually fight off the lecherous Tonio, the latter informing Canio of his wife’s indulgences with Silvio resulting in Canio murdering both Silvio and Nedda.

There’s clearly something in the water in this small, Sicilian village where love really DOES hurt, and where “crimes of passion” are, seemingly, an endemic. Paolo Fantin’s revolving set depicts well, this frugal, if not impoverished Italian backdrop, set somewhere in the mid to third quarter 20^th century. Dating it with any precision is difficult. The costume and austere ambiance suggest early post war but Alfio’s car appears to be way more contemporary.

The curtain rises to reveal Turridu’s prone corpse whilst the entire cast are gathered, watching; frozen as if waxworks, before coming to life and carrying off the unfortunate in a raised, supine position with arms outstretched. This powerful opening sets the scene for the whole opera which perpetually simmers with brooding intensity.

This is a huge paradox because Mascagni created, by far, the most superior music; a beautiful, evocative score, resplendent with quintessential, lilting Italianate melodies.

The role of the spurned lover, Santuzza, is played here by Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak. In her LAST appearance in this role at the Roya Opera House in 2022, she also ended up singing the role of Nedda in “Pagliacci.” On this occasion, she reserved all of her majesty for the one role; and on this appearance, it’s hard to imagine it being bettered. Her voice, movements and countenance positively oozed the angst, rage, and heartbreak of the spurned mistress. She has made an amazing transition from coloratura to dramatic soprano, displaying a complete palette of wonderful colors in all registers. Her passionate entreaties to her lover, Turridu, in their duet “Ah! Lo vedi, che hati tu detto?” were genuinely heart rending and as already indicated, her brief moment in the second opera, “Pagliacci,” where she remains silent, desperately reaching out to the mother of her lost love, Turridu, to be united in their grief, was the most emotive act of the entire evening.

One doesn’t know whether the fact that Alagna and Kurzak are married in real life adds to their chemistry here, but there is unequivocal dynamism of the highest order which just reinforces the authenticity of their on-stage relationship.

I had read, recently from other reviews, that Alagna’s instrument was on the wane and showing signs of its age, but that suggestion was absolutely refuted here. From the opening “O Lola ch’ai di latti la cammisa,” ode to his true love Lola, where he sings with wonderful legato, flourishes and trills, to his combative duets with Santuzza, “Tu qui, Santuzza?” he displays a tenor of steely power and resonance. His trademark colors and phrasing are in abundance. His “Mamma, quel vino è generoso” to his mother was superb. Moreover, he is a hugely underestimated actor. His challenging scorn and impulsiveness when his rival and nemesis Alfio refuses his invitation to drink with him, and he aggressively empties his glass at Alfio’s feet, is a genuine flinch moment. Alagna has a true gift of fully immersing and embodying the characteristics of his role. In a recent interview with OperaWire, he said: “I still feel the same thrill for singing like at the beginning. I have an unaltered desire to always try to do better and better; To study; To try to reach out and find other possibilities. I am like this. I am an eternal student.”
It is clear, on this showing, that his philosophy has held him in good stead.

The role of Lola was sung by American soprano Rachael Wilson, making her Royal Opera House debut. Suitably sultry and coquettish, she sings with a splendid, polished mezzo of variegated colors, particularly a pleasing, dark timbre in the lower register, and one may have left wanting to hear more of this voice.

Mamma Lucia is performed by Elena Zilio who sings with a remarkable clarity and beauty that utterly belies her 82 years; a true phenomenon who enhances every scene with her magical acting presence, and who deserved every plaudit she received at the curtain call. She possesses unique gifts by way of painting wonderful scenes and emotions with mere gestures and facial expressions.

Greek Baritone Dimitri Platanias performs in BOTH operas here, firstly as the cuckold Alfio, where he gets to display much menace. His horror on discovering his wife’s infidelity was almost palpable. His presence and intonations in “A voi tutti, salute,” where he rejects Turridu’s offer of a drink and elects to duel, were utterly convincing and chilling. Although unseen, he gets to conclude this opera by shooting his rival, the loud shot preceding a villager’s scream, before Turridu staggers and falls on the spot where we first discovered him at curtain rise.

A “Cavalleria” of this quality is a hard act to follow but be followed it must. And the performers were up for the challenge.

A Hard Act to Follow

Platanias, after a quick costume change, now gets the privilege, (after having brought the curtain down on one performance), of getting to raise the curtain in “Pagliacci,” in the guise of Tonio, a member of a traveling troupe, or commedia dell’arte. In the famous prologue, “Si puo signore signori!,” he gets to explain that actors have real feelings too, and that the show we’re about to witness is about real people. This amiable and endearing trait is at great odds, however, to Tonio’s real persona when it quickly transpires that he is a licentious abuser, hell-bent on molesting the object of his desires, Nedda, the wife of the troupe owner, Canio. When he is humiliatingly rejected, he is gifted the opportunity for revenge when he discovers that Nedda has actually promised to elope with Silvio. In a complete reversal of his role in “Cavalleria,” Platanias now becomes the harbinger, rather than the recipient of bad news. This necessitates him bringing Canio to witness his wife’s indiscretions, where she is discovered in the arms of her lover, who flees before being identified. When Nedda refuses to name her paramour, Canio’s incandescent rage is interrupted by the announcement that the “show” is about to start.

Whereas in “Cav,” he was simply menacing and broody, Platanias’s character here drips malevolence and insalubrity. Notwithstanding, he was vocally secure in both operas, notably more so in “Pagliacci,” where he employed his opulent baritone to great effect, performing an accomplished and commanding prologue, a tad quiet in the middle but stentorian in the upper register, and resorting to a pleasing sotto voce that served to highlight his wickedness in his scenes with Nedda. It always amazed me that Tonio, such a lecherous, lascivious lout, should be given such self-deprecating, soulful lines to sing, as evidenced by his entreaty for Nedda’s affections in his recitative, “So ben che difforme,” that almost make one sympathize with him.

Nedda is played here by Russian soprano Anna Princeva who sings with inarguable beauty. She has a wonderful, dark hue to her lower register, rising to a shining, ardent top, displaying some beautiful sottos, particularly in her trysts with Silvio, where her romantic duet, is sublime. Her Columbina in the “play” is a spellbinding combination of comedy and genuine suspense.

Her beau, Silvio, played by Polish baritone Andrzej Filończyk cuts a very charismatic line, a confident, sonorous baritone which really comes to life when pleading with Nedda; “Decidi il mio destin.” Alas, it is CANIO who gets to decide his destiny, along with that of his paramour, when in the final act, the troupe’s play intertwines with “reality” where Canio murders not only his wife, but also her lover, Silvio, when he jumps on to the stage to cradle his dying lover.

Turning to the horrified crowd, Tonio announces that the comedy is over.

Superfluous to requirements, given that Leoncavallo gives us very little to laugh at here.

Canary Islands tenor Jorge de León gets to lose grips with reality as the hapless Canio, playing a convincing madman driven crazy by jealousy. His dispatching of his adulterous wife and her lover was quite dramatic, if not slightly perturbing in its realism. Vocally, he has a wonderfully bright tenor, starting a tad cautiously, one might have felt. His line “Ma poi ricordatevi A ventitré ore” seemed a tad thin on the last high note. However, if he was reserving his upper register for one of the most popular tenor arias in opera, “Vesti La Giubba,” then it was worth the wait. Full bodied, bold, orotund, and with a wonderful, pathos-filled “sul tuo amore infranto!”; his anguish was tangible.

Special mention must also go to Spanish tenor Mikeldi Atxalandabaso in the role of Beppe, for a quite elegant and superlative “O Colombina” aria, amongst the finest examples one might have heard; another voice deserving of greater stage time.

The Royal Opera House Chorus were exceptional here, exquisitely harmonious and angelic in “Cavalleria,” particularly during the Easter Hymn, and wonderfully sonorous and comically boisterous throughout “Pagliacci.” Their efforts here cannot be underestimated regarding their massive contribution to the musicality of the occasion.

Again, I see previous reviews lambasting conductor Daniel Oren, some suggesting that his conducting was plodding and lethargic. It is true that, certainly in “Cavalleria,” the tempo at the beginning was slower than is normal, but I felt this immensely enhanced Mascagni’s beautiful score, giving it greater emotional emphasis. This was particularly relevant in the opening scenes where the characters, plot and environment are being introduced. I especially loved the famous “Intermezzo,” where Oren introduced greater sustain on key passages. Certainly, the orchestra produced a most pleasing and melodious cornucopia of beautiful sounds throughout both performances.

“Cav” and “Pag” are universally acknowledged as the ideal beginner operas, a perfect introduction to this wondrous art form. When the performance is as superior as this, I believe it demands attention from opera goers of all persuasions.

The post Royal Opera House 2023-24 Review: ‘Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci’ appeared first on OperaWire.

The performance will be directed by Noa Naamat with conductors James Hendry, Patrick Milne, Thomas Payne, and Edmund Whitehead leading the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

The performance will include sopranos Haegee Lee, Jacquelyn Stucker, and Yaritza Véliz. Mezzo-sopranos Aigul Akhmetshina and Hongni Wu will also appear, as will countertenor Patrick Terry. Among the other male artists are tenors Konu Kim and Thando Mjandana; baritones Germán E. Alcántara, Dominic Sedgwick, and Chuma Sijega; and bass-baritone Michael Mofidian.

The artists will perform music from such operas as “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “Orfeo ed Euridice,” “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” “Rigoletto,” and “Falstaff.”

“I am delighted to once again welcome audiences to our annual Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Performance, featuring 10 international singers, four aspiring conductors, a fabulous female director and two guest Link Artists from South Africa,” stated David Gowland, the Artistic Director of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. “The Summer Performance remains a highlight of the calendar for anyone interested in experiencing the skills of some of the most talented young performers working in opera today. The future for these artists is bright!”

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