Rise and Shine! ROH Friends Booking 4th March 2014

Last week The Royal Opera announced a rude awakening for Friends who want to nab those choice tickets.  They have moved the opening of the summer season booking on 4th March from a reasonable and sedate 10.00am to a mind-boggling 8.00am!  Not so bad I suppose if you have no need to earn a crust and get into work or have some lackey do the booking for you.  But for a lot of London and outer-London based Friends 8am is prime commuting time.  And in my case that means being stuck on a train, usually standing up and with no hint of a wi-fi signal.  What with that and the ROH's recommendation that I log in to the computer in good time, basically means I have to drag myself out of bed at around 5.30 to ensure I'm at my desk, logged in and ready to go by 8.00 am,  

Is it worth it?  Let's have a look.

La Boheme - Puccini

The revered and much loved John Copley production starts its final run before being retired for good. There are 11 performances and two casts to choose from.  First cast offers the delights of  Anna Netrebko gracing London with a rare visit....possibly.  I wouldn't lay odds on her actually turning up as the role of Mimi doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of her current repertoire of Lady Macbeth, Leonora (Trovatore), Manon Lescaut, and Anna Bolena.   She last sang Mimi around two years ago so there's every chance she will....and equally every chance she won't.  However her colleagues are not to be sniffed at with Joseph Calleja as Rodolfo and Jennifer Rowley making her much anticipated (by me) ROH debut as Musetta.

The second cast is actually my preferred - especially if I could do a bit of swapping around.  Lianna Haroutounian, who made a big impression here as Elisabetta in Don Carlo and Helene in Les Vespres siciliennes, sings Mimi, Piotr Beczala is Rodolfo.  For the final performance Placido Domingo takes up the conductors baton - very apt as he was this production's very first Rodolfo.  Tears will be shed!

Don Giovanni - Mozart

Kasper Holten's production of Don Giovanni makes a speedy return to the stage with a brand new cast.  Can't say that I'm overly keen to reacquaint myself with this production as I found it misogynistic and hard to take. However the cast assembled for this revival is very good indeed. Christopher Maltman is the Don, while Alex Esposito returns as his sidekick Leporello. Albina Shagimuratova, Dorothea Roschmann and Julia Lezhneva are Anna, Elvira and Zerlina while Rolando Villazon essays Don Ottavio - sharing the role with the fantastic Michele Angelini.  Alain Altinoglu conducts what should be a musically fabulous revival - if only the production were better.

Guillaume Tell - Rossini

Finally a new production! Damiano Michieletto makes his Royal Opera House debut with Rossini's opera - the one with the famous overture! Antonio Pappano will conduct a strong cast with Gerald Finley in the title role, Malin Bystrom as Mathilde and American tenor John Osborne as Arnold.  One to watch!

Falstaff - Verdi

Verdi's final opera makes a welcome return in Robert Carsen's very amiable production, updated to the 1950's.  The updating doesn't really work but doesn't really jar either so definitely worth seeing if you haven't seen it before.  Casting is fine without being star-driven - but then its not that sort of opera. Ambrogio Maestri returns as the corpulent knight,  Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta is Alice Ford (replacing a previously announced Marina Poplavskya) and Roland Wood (who I enjoyed as Roucher in Andrea Chenier) is Ford.

And that's it for opera performances for the 2014/15 season. There are a couple of extras to round off the season.  The Jette Parker Young Artists have their 'end of term' concert on 18th July which will include excerpts from Simon Boccanegra, Adriana Lecouvreur, Les pecheurs des perles, Romeo et Juliette and others.

While on 19th July Placido Domingo's Operalia competition comes to London for the first time.  A great chance to do spot possible stars of the future.

So that's it!  But what does next season hold?  No one quite knows - or at least they're not telling.  A season announcement is not expected until early April so until then why not visit the Future Royal Opera Wiki to keep abreast of matters - or even add some inside information!

I'll leave you with my bit of wishful thinking for next season:

A Fright at the Opera! Ballo in Maschera 2nd January 2015

Copyright Catherine Ashmore

Oh dear!  I had hoped that my first opera excursion of 2015 would be something to inspire and kick the year off in fine style!  Despite the dark rumblings of discontent following the first (and subsequent) nights, I hoped that inspiration and a Christmas miracle might have intervened.  Alas, and sad to say, it has not.

Un Ballo in Maschera (to give the opera its full title) is fabulous middle-period Verdi and full of wonderful if tricky arias, duets and ensembles.  Verdi's original version was set in Sweden with the story portraying King Gustav III's assassination at a masked ball,  Of course, the censors would not allow this on stage and so he was forced to change both character and location - Gustavo eventually became Riccardo the Governor of Boston.  In this latest production however, all is a bit more vague.  While the Boston version names are retained, the location appears to be some Ruritanian middle-European location prior to World War 1 - none of which really has any impact on the story telling.

I really have nothing positive at all to say about the physical production and direction on display. The sets and costumes looked cheap and old-fashioned, the choreography dismal and singer-direction non-existant.  My initial tweeted reaction was to use the word inept.  Today I would add amateurish - except that would be an insult to some fine amateur performances I have seen.

There was conversely too much action in places and yet not enough in others.  Focus was constantly pulled from the lead singers by distracting stage business going on around them.  The overture was of course staged - to no real effect.  More annoyingly there was a side-show with Amelia's little boy constantly in and out of bed and Oscar (the page) having a bit of hanky-panky with the maid - all while the lead singers attempted to focus audience attention - and failed for the most part.  It really looked as though the director Katherine Thoma, had concentrated her attention on the peripheries and totally abandoned any attempt to direct the lead singers.

On paper the cast certainly appeared to have the vocal goods, although in my pre-season round up I did express doubts about their dramatic abilities.  Joseph Calleja, Liudmyla Monastyrska and Dmitri Hvorostovsky are very fine singers - great actors they are not.  Casting all three in the same production is unfortunate as even one great acting performance might have enlivened the evening. But it was not to be and unfortunately they received no help at all from the director.  They were all at their best when left alone singing solo arias and the audience rewarded those efforts appropriately.

Joseph Calleja is a fine tenor but his vibrato heavy voice is an acquired taste and I haven't really acquired it.  I don't think he's quite got the measure of this particular role but that may come in time and with better direction may well be a success.  I don't think pairing him with uber-dramatic soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska particularly helped his cause.  She has a magnificent voice it has to be said, although I did feel at times that her lowest notes were completely disconnected from the rest of her voice.  I've now seen her in three roles including a previous Lady Macbeth and Abigaille and unfortunately I've seen no dramatic engagement on any of those occasions. She faired slightly better here it has to be said but only slightly.  Hvorostovsky is pretty much a known quantity at this stage in his career and there were no surprises pleasant or unpleasant.   

Real dramatic engagement and some vocal allure was provided by both Serena Gamberoni as Oscar and Marianne Cornetti as Ulrica the fortune teller.  The conspirators as played by Anatoli Sivko and Jihoon Kim were also well within their roles dramatically and vocally.

Daniel Oren in the pit managed to suck the life out of what should be music of sparkling wit and hidden depths.  Combined with the directorial ineptitude of Katherine Thoma this Ballo really had no chance at all.

The Devil Rides Out - Faust, Royal Opera, 4th April 2014

I've probably said this before but I don't normally do first nights.   I like to see the production and singers once everything is 'bedded in' as it were.  However, Since this particular first night fell on a Friday, and was one of the few dates I could actually get to see Faust, I brushed aside any hesitation and booked.

Of course, when I originally booked for this opera, Anna Netrebko was scheduled to sing Marguerite - something I looked forward too as I've not managed to catch this diva live before.  Alas, I (and countless others) were to be disappointed when she pulled out citing role incompatibility. I tend to agree with her assessment, however the late timing of this announcement left something to be desired.  A replacement was hastily arranged and luckily for us, Sonya Yoncheva, a young soprano making a name for herself,  shuffled her hectic diary and agreed to step in.

The rest of the cast was not to be sniffed at either; Joseph Calleja as Faust, Simon Keenlyside as Valentine and last but infinitely not least, Bryn Terfel as Mephistopheles.  With such a cast, you can understand why this was a highly anticipated event for the Royal Opera.

Okay, another confession.  Before this performance I'd never seen Faust on the stage before!  Yes, I know.  It seems totally shocking even to me.  Faust is one of those opera that is almost compulsory it seems - or at least to me.  Don't get me wrong, its not like I don't know the music, but somehow actually attending a live performance had seemed like something I could do another day - I didn't feel any strong compulsion to investigate the opera further.  However with this cast I really couldn't resist.

In the title role, acclaimed tenor Joseph Calleja delivered the goods with some lovely heartfelt singing and an especially good 'Salut, demeure chaste et pure.'  However, I want to like the voice more than I actually do.  I recognise it as an impressive voice but I don't love it - possibly the distinctive vibrato which marks him out from his peers is slightly too much for my personal taste.  But as I say, his is an important voice but just not one that personally appeals.  His acting is limited but on this occasion he threw himself into the action without necessarily revealing any particular insights.

Sonya Yoncheva I have encounterd twice before; once in a Domingo Operalia concert (she was a previous winner) and the next time as Musetta in La Boheme.  As Marguerite, she finally came into her own at Covent Garden.  The voice is distinctive, secure, lovely and lyrical - ideal for this role.  If her trills in the Jewel Song were a little approximate then no matter - she made up for it with a finely characterised portrayal which tugged at the heartstrings in the finale.

I like Simon Keenlyside.  A lot.  I think he is a very fine singer and actor.  However, I'm not entirely sure why he is singing Valentine.  Nostaglia?  Because there just doesn't seem enough for him to do here in comparison to the rest of the cast.  Yes his aria was nicely sung and yes he also had a very good death scene - but is that enough when there are so many other roles he could be doing? Given the stellar company in which he found himself, I also found his voice less immediately 'distinctive' than Yoncheva, Calleja and Terfel.

As yes, Terfel.  Possibly my main reason for booking to see this opera.  I have a bit of a bass-baritone thing going on at the moment and I was keen to see Bryn away from his usual diet of Wotan, Scarpia and Falstaff.

I was not disappointed.  He strides through this production like the devilish operatic colossus he is! He dominates every scene that he appears in - with force of presence and cannily managed vocal resources. According to some comments he is not as good as in younger days.  I have no idea as I never really heard him sing when he was younger, so I have nothing to compare him to.  To me he was the very embodiment of the Devil himself - probably one of the best operatic actors on the stage today.

I've not spend much time on David McVicar's production but I enjoyed it very much.  I've seen people (me included) describing it as a 'show'.  And that's exactly what it is.  There is so much going on, so many scene and costume changes, that it sometimes resembles a Broadway or West End show.  But that's not a criticism at all and this would probably be an ideal starter for the operatic novice.

Having said all of this, I now find myself wondering if I really want to see this again - I have a ticket for another performance.  This is more a reflection on the opera itself, than any criticism of the performers.  Even with such a cast, I'm not sure that seeing Faust again would give me any added insights.  Then again, the chance to see Bryn in action might just sway me!

Photographs courtesy of the Royal Opera House