Fairytales often speak directly to our unconscious, revealing drives and truths that are not always apparent to our conscious selves. It is therefore not surprising that many tales are replicated across countries and cultures, even if the characters and details vary. The Slavic fable of Rusalka, for example, has counterparts with the French Melusine, Germanic Nixie and numerous others, including, most famously, Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid.” Although Rusalka is a simple story of a water nymph who relinquishes the power of speech so that she can become human to be with a prince with whom she has fallen in love, her motivations lie deep within the unconscious, taking in sexual awakening, resentment and a desire to return to an innocent state, and it was these aspects of the narrative that the director, David Radok, wished to explore.

A Journey Into the Unconscious

Although it is not a unique nor a particularly profound reading, Radok’s presentation, for which he also designed the scenery, was hugely successful. Not only did he capture the full dramatic and emotional dimensions of the work, but his ability to convey the drama within the context of Rusalka’s unconscious motivations was expertly rendered and allowed the audience to fully engage with his interpretation.

Act one opened to a stage that blended a large room in a house with windows and doors in a watery blue-grey colour with wooden walkways and reeds as would be found in a marshy area, and that stretched from inside the room to the outside world. This was Rusalka’s world; it was secure and safe, in which the walls represented the borders between the known and unknown, between innocence and knowledge. Rusalka, like many a teenager, was desperate to open the doors, to leave the secure and safe world behind, and to explore what else exists; the prince provided the impetus that awakened her sexual desires and thus set her on the path. Unfortunately, that door opens in only one direction; innocence is not something that can ever be regained.

Act two takes her into a world of luxury and frivolity, of betrayal and lust. It is a complex world of suffering, illusion and disappointment. Radok’s staging was brilliantly conceived to create the impression of wealth through chandeliers and the façade of a mansion and an outdoor area dedicated to dancing. He also ensured that Rusalka’s disillusionment was clearly portrayed through her detached meanderings between the dancers and attempts to find a way out through the dense undergrowth that surrounded the dancing area.

Act three finds her back in her original room, but everything has changed. The roof is leaking, and the plants are dying; everything looks to be in a state of decay. No longer human, but neither a nymph, she allows her resentment for the outside world to grow and retreats into her watery world, shuts the doors, and closes the shutters on the windows, but it is not innocence that she finds, only isolation.

It was a reading that fitted sympathetically with the surface fairytale narrative, with each complementing the other to provide a layered and satisfying staging. Radok also ensured that the visual presentation was sensitively developed to draw out the dramatic significance of the events and to manage the tensions. The costume designer, Zuzana Ježková, created a series of costumes that set the characters in the Victorian period, detailed to reflect the characters’ natures. The Water Goblin appeared slimy and unkempt in old blue and grey coloured garments, while the three wood sprites were in greeny blue, light shifts. Jezibaba’s blue and grey costume gave her the appearance of a matron or nanny figure. All appeared as if water was their natural habitat. The Prince and Princess, on the other hand, definitely came from the civilized human world and were dressed as wealthy Victorians of high status. It was the costumes of the chorus for the ballroom scene that really stood out. They were all attired in black with top hats, including the women, which gave them a sinister appearance; they were certainly not benign, nor did they act in a manner sympathetic towards Rusalka. The two worlds, the human and nonhuman, were visually clearly divided. Rusalka’s changing costumes reflected her movement between the two worlds but always in a way that ensured she appeared different from those around her.

Ivanović Oversees a Musically Engaging Performance

It was also a reading that complemented the score perfectly, which the conductor Marko Ivanović sensitively brought to life with the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno. The pace and dynamic contrasts were carefully judged to support the onstage drama, if on occasions slightly understated, while the dance episodes were lively and graceful. It was also a reading that caught the beauty of the score.

Soprano Jana Šrejma Kačírková produced an emotionally compelling performance in the role of Rusalka. As the young and innocent water nymph, she was headstrong, rebellious, and yearning for love that she convincingly captured with a vocally expressive presentation, which she convincingly transformed into an insecure, bewildered and downtrodden young woman, before finally returning to the watery depths, hollowed out by her experience with humans.

Kačírková possesses a secure, resonant voice, which she uses with considerable skill to present emotional states, in which her pleading with her father and then with Jezibaba were particularly well developed as she coated her voice with longing and desire overlaid with an insistent determination to get her own way. There is also a pleasing energy in the voice so that even when singing in a more subdued manner, you could sense a restless spirit ready to explode at any minute. Her ability to move the voice freely enabled her to capture Rusalka’s disoriented state in acts two and three as she moved her voice flexibly across the range, with neatly placed accents and dynamic contrasts that expertly caught her pain and grief. It was, therefore, slightly disappointing that her rendition of the showpiece aria, “Song of the Moon,” did not really take flight; it was pleasant enough, and she allowed her emotions to strengthen as the aria progressed, but overall, it was too understated to convince.

Tenor Peter Berger made an excellent impression as the Prince, whom he played as a weak-willed and frivolous character, totally at the mercy of his fast-changing passions. Even as an old man, when he returns to Rusalka, full of remorse, to ask her forgiveness, he readily accepts her kiss that he knows will kill him. It appeared as the easy way out rather than an expression of deep love, despite his passionate pleading. Vocally, it was a role that seemed to suit him almost perfectly. He possesses a voice with a passionate, sweet-sounding tone that moves securely and with agility across the range, allowing for a lyrically strong performance, which he delivered with confidence and emotional force.

Vodnik, the water goblin, was given an engaging yet not wholly sympathetic reading by bass Jan Štáva. He was suitably anxious about and supportive of his daughter Rusalka but was abusive and sexually aggressive towards the wood spirits. His singing had a determined, even fierce, quality that gave him an imposing demeanour. Although certainly not lacking in beauty, his crafting of the vocal line was focused on promoting the meaning of the text, which he furnished with emotional honesty.

Soprano Eliška Gattringerová was thoroughly dislikable as the Foreign Princess. She was cynical, vicious and served only her own interests. Her voice had a harsh, strident edge, which she used forcefully and energetically to assert her will over both the Prince and Rusalka, whom she treated as an inferior.

Mezzo-soprano Václava Krejčí portrayed the witch, Jezibaba, as hard, unforgiving and cold, and treated Rusalka with total contempt. She possesses an agile, secure voice over which she exhibits excellent control, which she used to create a compelling vocal portrayal that captured her vicious and opportunistic nature. Her forceful response to Rusalka’s pleading in Act three was expertly rendered as she spat out her lines full of bile, which also showed off its nuanced colouring.

No attempt was made by Radok to hide the fact that the three wood spirits were based on Wagner’s Rheinmaidens; if anything, it appeared he wished to draw attention to the fact. With their greeny-blue costumes that evoked connections with the watery depths and their playfully cruel taunting of the Water Goblin, one could so easily have mistaken it for the opening scene of “Das Rheingold.” Played by soprano Doubravka Novotná, and contraltos Ivana Pavlu and Monika Jägerová, they acted their parts as a group, yet each managed to maintain an individual identity.

Baritone Tadeáš Hoza gave a solid performance as the Hunter.

The choir of the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre, under the direction of Pavel Koñárek, produced an energetic and beautifully sung performance, played out the dance routines wonderfully, and acted out their Act two roles convincingly to create an oppressive, even threatening presence.

Overall, it was a high-quality presentation, for which Radok must take a large share of the credit. It was an imaginative and dramatically convincing reading, which in no way is meant to belittle the contribution made by the orchestra or the singers, who all gave strong performances and made it the most successful of the four operas I reviewed at this year’s festival.

The post Janáček Brno Festival 2024 Review: Rusalka appeared first on OperaWire.

Max Cenčić has a long-established reputation as a sensitive and technically brilliant virtuoso countertenor. However, over the past six or seven years, he has also become increasingly known for his skills as a stage director owing to a string of stunning productions, such as Hasse’s “Siroe,” which he toured in 2017. In 2020, he was appointed as the first artistic director of the newly formed Bayreuth Baroque Festival, which he opened with a spectacular presentation of Popora’s “Carlo il Calvo,” followed in 2022 with a dazzling staging of Vinci’s “Alessandro nell’Indie.”

For this season’s festival, he opted for a production of a Händel rarity, “Flavio, Re de’ Longobardi.” Unsurprisingly, the audience was expecting another thrilling presentation, and it was not to be disappointed!

Cenčić’s Insights Underpin His Brilliant Staging

Premiered at the King’s Theatre in London in 1723, “Flavio, Re de’ Longobardi,” written to a libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, was to be Händel’s fourth full-length opera for London’s Royal Academy of Music and ran for eight performances, which then, apart from four further performances in 1732, disappeared from the stage until the late 20^th century. Even today, it remains one of Händel’s lesser-known operas. Possibly, it is its mixture of tragedy, amorous intrigues and comic episodes that has deterred theaters from staging it. Whether or not that is the case, it certainly did not deter Cenčić, who engaged fully with the opera’s tragic elements, such as the onstage murder of Lotario, while at the same time seamlessly integrating the comedy into the drama in a believable manner by promoting the stereotypical images we have of absolute monarchs as demanding, egoistic and even childlike, who exist in a luxurious environment, totally removed from reality.

The narrative centers on the court of Flavio and his flippant desire to seduce Teodata, the daughter of his advisor, Ugone. In doing so, he unleashes a train of events that leads to Ugone’s son, Guido, killing his own father-in-law, Lotario. Not that Flavio is particularly bothered by all this, but he does realize that by giving up his quest to seduce Teodata and by allowing her to marry Vitige, as well as by pardoning Guido, he will be seen as a benevolent monarch, thus allowing the opera to conclude with the required lieto fine.

Although Flavio acts as the driver behind the events, his overall role is relatively minor. It is the lovers, Guido and Emilia, who are given the showcase arias and dominate the stage. Cenčić, however, through his clever direction, ensured that Flavio’s position as king was elevated so that he became the fulcrum around which everything rotated. Clearly, taking his inspiration from Louis XIV and Versailles, Flavio’s every move became a public spectacle, a grandiose statement of his authority and absolute power, and a part of the ceremonial fabric of the state. Even having sex with his queen became a public event, whose conclusion was met with a round of applause from the court. This also had the effect of magnifying the comic possibilities of the role, allowing Cenčić to develop many scenes that left the audience chuckling and laughing out loud.

One of the factors that makes Cenčić’s productions so successful is his ability to craft a meaningful context for the narrative. Minor characters, for example, who may only be mentioned in the libretto but have no actual lines, are filled out and interact with the principal singers. Flavio’s queen is clearly a significant part of the court, but is only referred to; there is no part written for the character. Cenčić introduces her, along with her ladies-in-waiting and a dwarf companion, no doubt as a reference to the Spanish court, whom he provides with distinct characters and high-profile behavior. The narrative thereby becomes successfully embedded within the wider and more believable context of court life.

The simple yet effective sets, designed by Helmut Stürmer, consisted of six panels that could be rearranged to suggest different rooms within the 17^th or 18^th century palace. They were added to with chandeliers that were lowered from above, a few chairs and a large four-poster bed that was wheeled on and off for the ceremonial sex scenes. The three-act opera is comprised of 31 scenes, and the position of the panels was altered for almost every scene, which could have seriously disrupted the dramatic flow, but for Cenčić’s imaginative solution: for each change, a wigged man of importance would walk onto the stage, bang his staff on the floor, at which point the stage hands, dressed as servants, would enter and make the necessary changes. This was accompanied by a short orchestral interlude. The wigged man would then leave the stage, and the drama would recommence. It was also a device that emphasized the artificial construction of the court itself.

Corina Gramosteanu’s colorful, traditional costume designs were sensitively created to capture the period and affluence of the court, while also successfully helping to define the characters.

Lezhneva Leads A First-Rate Cast

The stellar cast, in which each role was wonderfully parted, was led by Max Cenčić himself in the role of Giulio and soprano Julia Lezhneva in the role of Emilia.

Of course, it was Lezhneva who caught the attention, and rightly so. She possesses an extraordinarily beautiful voice with a fabulous technique. As the emotionally battered Emilia, who suffers the trauma of having her lover, Guido, kill her father, upon whom she then feels the need to seek vengeance, she was able to display her excellent interpretative abilities to the fullest. In her aria “Amante stravagante,” which brings the first act to an end, she voiced her confusion about Guido’s behavior with a brilliant vocal display that moved between lines crafted with delicate and detailed embellishments to stunning passages of coloratura in which she moved the voice with untroubled ease.

She also brought the second act to a close, this time with the beautifully rendered aria “Ma chi punir desio?” in which the expressive sensitivity of her singing perfectly captured her heartfelt pain. However, it was the aria “Da te parto, ma concedi,” for which she produced a bravura performance, that really showed off her voice in the most spectacular fashion. The energy and emotion that she was able to imbue in her singing verged on the hysterical as she moved the voice with such passion through fabulously crafted coloraturas. It was, of course, not just her arias that impressed; her recitatives were also powerfully expressed, no more so than in the scene in which she confronts Guido, who offers her his life. The mixture of anger and pain, love and confusion, were all convincingly compressed into this single exchange.

In the role of Guido, Cenčić took the opportunity to show off his wonderful singing and splendid acting skills. Propelled into a situation in which he was forced to fight a duel with Lotario, Emilia’s father, he managed to maintain the impression of a man of upstanding character, loyal to both his own father and to Emilia. His recitatives were expertly developed to bring out their full dramatic meaning, and his arias were executed with emotional strength and sensitivity.

It was the aria “Rompo I lacci, e fango I dardi” that probably made the most immediate impression, in which he produced a flamboyant reading full of audacious leaps and intricate ornamentations, while his dizzying coloratura in the da capo section was breathtaking. However, a good case could easily be made for his moving Act three aria, “Amor, nel mio penar,” which he sung with such sensitive and deep expressivity.

Vitige is caught in the desperate situation of having to counsel Flavio about his feelings for Teodata, the woman who just happens to be his secret lover. Forced to hide his jealousy, the situation gets a lot worse before finally reaching its happy conclusion. The role fell to countertenor Yuriy Mynenko, who created a compelling reading in which he successfully moved from suppressing his feelings when in front of the king to voicing his fears, frustrations and passions when given the opportunity. It was an emotional rollercoaster, in which his arias gave him ample opportunity to display his talents, no more so than in “Sirti, scogli, tempeste, procelle,” in which he captured Vitige’s pain perfectly as he imbued his voice with passion and intensity, inflected the line with colorful and emotional emphases, and used ornamentations cleverly to depict his strong feelings.

Contralto Monika Jägerová produced a strong, energetic performance in the role of Teodata. From her opening exchanges and duet, “Ricordati mio ben,” with Vitige, she showed off the the warm, dark colors of her palette, which sat beautifully alongside Mynenko’s bright countertenor and successfully heightened the expressivity of her singing. It is also a versatile voice, which she employed sensitively to craft delicate embellishments, dynamic contrasts and subtly placed emphases, which she displayed to good effect in her Act three aria, “Che colpa è la mia,” in which she convincingly turned on Cupid for causing her so much pain.

The countertenor Rémy Brès-Feuillet produced a strongly defined portrait of the debauched and egotistical King Flavio, in which he displayed real skill in playing up the comedy in the role. He was suitably overbearing, dismissive and socially unaware and floated confidently through the scenes without any concern for his effects on those around him. His formal undressing when getting ready for bed was wonderfully amusing as he cast his underwear into the hands of his servants, while his passing over of a full, stinking chamber pot was revoltingly funny. By contrast, his singing was elegant, sensitive and beautifully fashioned, with pleasing ornamentations, a versatile coloratura and delicate phrasing.

Tenor Fabio Trümpy was cast in the role of Ugone. Singing with a pleasing tone and clarity of expression, he created a nicely drawn portrait of a victim who feels betrayed by his daughter, mistreated by Lotario, and at the mercy of the king’s whims. Both his arias and recitatives were expressively rendered. However, it was the aria “Fato tiranno e crudo” that stood out: not only was it well-sung, but he also gave his daughter a good thrashing for abusing his trust, which was nicely integrated into his anger and perfectly in time with the music.

Bass-baritone Sreten Manojlović created a compelling picture of Lotario as strong-willed, determinedly ambitious and courageous, traits that were ultimately led to his onstage death at the hands of Guido. For the most part, he sang with an expressive urgency, and in the aria “Se a te vissi fedele,” he gave voice to his rage at Ugone, which could be clearly heard in his angry coloratura.

The actress Filippa Kaye, cast as the Court Lady, sang a pleasing little ditty for the court’s entertainment.

“Flavio, Re de’ Longobardi” is one of Händel’s more lightly scored operas, written for strings and continuo, along with the sparing use of woodwinds. And although there are passages of dramatic intensity that emerge with substantial force, the overall sense is one of understatement, refinement and even irony. The musical director, Benjamin Bayl, leading the Concerto Köln, responded sensitively to Händel’s intentions, producing a clear, graceful and delicately detailed reading that was always sensitive to the drama, especially in capturing the work’s dramatic darker moments.

This production of “Flavio, Re de’ Longobardi” must go down as another triumph for the fledgling Bayreuth Baroque Festival. Although the undoubted star was the outstanding Lezhneva, most of the credit for the success must go to Cenčić, who, yet again, managed to create a compelling piece of theatre, one that drew in the audience and was able to keep them entranced for the entire evening.

The post Bayreuth Baroque Festival 2023 Review: Flavio, Re De’ Longobardi appeared first on OperaWire.

An international Jury chaired by John Allison, editor-in-chief of Opera Magazine, selected 42 young artists from among 97 who entered the Competition.

The first stage of the competition lasted three days and saw singers present two pieces with piano accompaniment – a world repertoire opera aria from the 18th or 19th century and a 19th, 20th or 21st century Polish song.

The second stage will determine the finalists of the Competition and will see the singers perform two pieces, which the Jury members will choose from the three the soloists have submitted. They will perform an 18th or 19th century opera aria, not performed in the first stage, a 19th, 20th or 21st century opera aria and a 19th or 20th century song from the world repertoire.

Each singer will be accompanied by pianists, one of whom will be awarded with a prize for the best young pianist.

Here is a list of the singers who qualified for Stage 2 of the 11th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition:

1. [4] RAFAEL ALEJANDRO DEL ANGEL GARCIA – MEKSYK/MEXICO tenor
2. [5] DARIJA AUGUŠTAN – CHORWACJA/CROATIA soprano
3. [6] JUSTYNA BLUJ – POLSKA/POLAND soprano
4. [7] ELIZA BOOM – NOWA ZELANDIA/NEW ZEALAND soprano
5. [11] KYU CHOI – KOREA POŁUDNIOWA/SOUTHKOREA baritone
6. [12] LINSEY COPPENS – BELGIA/BELGIUM mezzo-soprano
7. [14] JASMIN DELFS – NIEMCY/GERMANY soprano
8. [15] YIHAN DUAN – USA soprano
9. [16] ARTURO EDUARDO ESPINOSA BRAVO – CHILE bass-baritone
10. [19] INNA FEDORII – UKRAINA/UKRAINE soprano
11. [21] JAKUB FOLTAK – POLSKA/POLAND countertenor
12. [22] GABRIELA GOŁASZEWSKA – POLSKA/POLAND soprano
13. [23] JULIANA GRIGORYAN – ARMENIA soprano
14. [26] GYUNGMIN GWON – KOREA POŁUDNIOWA/SOUTH KOREA baritone
15. [28] SONJA HERRANEN FINLANDIA/FINLAND soprano
16. [30] MONIKA JÄGEROVÁ – CZECHY/CZECHIA contralto
17. [32] NAZARII KACHALA – UKRAINA/UKRAINE tenor
18. [33] PIOTR KALINA – POLSKA/POLAND tenor
19. [34] MINSEOK DAVID KANG – KOREA POŁUDNIOWA/SOUTH KOREA bass
20. [40] VLADA KOIEVA – UKRAINA/UKRAINE soprano
21. [41] MYKHAILO KUSHLYK – UKRAINA/UKRAINE tenor
22. [44] OLEH LEBEDYEV – UKRAINA/UKRAINE baritone
23. [48] MARIANA MAZUR – UKRAINA/UKRAINE soprano
24. [49] SZYMON MECHLIŃSKI – POLSKA/POLAND baritone
25. [50] TIGRAN MELKONYAN – ARMENIA tenor
26. [55] DEAN MURPHY – USA baritone
27. [56] ZUZANNA NALEWAJEK – POLSKA/POLAND mezzo-soprano
28. [62] THEODORE PLATT – WIELKA BRYTANIA/UNITED KINGDOM baritone
29. [63] VALENTINA PLUZHNIKOVA – UKRAINA/UKRAINE mezzo-soprano
30. [68] ANASTASIA POLISHCHUK – UKRAINA/UKRAINE mezzo-soprano
31. [71] SZYMON RACZKOWSKI – POLSKA/POLAND baritone
32. [73] MATTEO IVAN RAŠIĆ – CHORWACJA/CROATIA tenor
33. [74] GABRIEL ROLLINSON – NIEMCY/GERMANY baritone
34. [81] RICHARD TREY SMAGUR – USA tenor
35. [85] JERICA STEKLASA – SŁOWENIA/SLOVENIA soprano
36. [88] JAKUB SZMIDT – POLSKA/POLAND bass
37. [89] VLADYSLAV TLUSHCH – UKRAINA/UKRAINE baritone
38. [92] PAWEŁ TROJAK – POLSKA/POLAND baritone
39. [93] VOLODYMYR TYSHKOV – UKRAINA/UKRAINE bass
40. [99] NOMBULELO YENDE – RPA/SOUTH AFRICA soprano
41. [100] YULIIA ZASIMOVA – UKRAINA/UKRAINE soprano
42. [101] XIAOMENG ZHANG – CHINY/CHINA baritone

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