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A Rollicking Romp – Opera South East

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Manor Barn, Bexhill, 22nd September 2019

Opera South East had something of a whirlwind weekend with three concerts on successive days in very disparate venues. They came to a highly successful end at the Manor Barn, packed to standing-room-only by a capacity audience, enhanced by German exchange visitors. Quite what they must have made of Gilbert’s lyrics is another matter, but the continuing relevance of his satire on English society is not in doubt.

The programme brought us an overview of all the major G&S works and included excerpts at the end from Utopia Ltd – a fine a cappella chorus – and a somewhat unusual drinking song from The Grand Duke. Before that, the many solo items gave a chance for a wide range of singers to demonstrate their vocal prowess and there were particularly impressive contributions from David Woloszko as both Judge and Mikado, Gary Marriott as Frederick and Marco, Ruth Parsons as Mabel and Maya Godlonton-White as Yum-Yum. Karen McInally, who had organised the semi-staging of the event, chilled us as the Fairy Queen but delighted with the praise for free booze! Oscar Smith introduced each of the selections and made his own fine contribution with the Nightmare Song from Iolanthe, and an Oscar Wilde would-be from Patience.

Kenneth Roberts directed from the keyboard at the back of the hall, managing to keep his often disparate forces well in check even when they were moving swiftly between the rows of chairs and dancing.

Opera South East return with Amahl and the Night Visitors in November and The Mikado will follow next April.

Sussex Concert Orchestra

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St Peter’s Church, Bexhill, 22nd September 2019

Sussex Concert Orchestra presented a matinee of Baroque works at St Peter’s under their regular conductor Kenneth Roberts. Opening with William Boyce’s early First Symphony they moved rapidly on to Handel’s Organ Concerto in F major more familiarly known as the Cuckoo and the Nightingale. Organist Anthony Wilson provided clean high registration for the Allegro with its bird song, and a more profound tone for the melancholic central fugue.

The orchestra was then joined by Hastings Bach Choir for two brief but effective movements from Bach cantatas before the afternoon concluded with Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto. This proved to be the highlight of the day with its fine balance of solo instruments and superb playing from Andy Gill’s high, bright piccolo trumpet and the warmth of Thomas Pickering’s recorder.

 

Merry Opera: The Pirates of Penzance

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Opus Theatre, Saturday 21st September 2019

In was inevitable that the town famed for its pirates should attract the joyous romp which is Merry Opera’s approach to The Pirates of Penzance. I doubt if in the last fifty years I have ever experienced – including early Doyle Carte and the more recent ENO productions – a presentation so hugely enjoyable and yet amazingly faithful to the original. The comedy, and the many laughs along the way, derives entirely from Gilbert’s text. There are no additional gags to try to make it more relevant. There are no knowing nods towards modernity. Yet the premise of the story still makes as much, or as little, sense as it did then. At the heart of the tale is the question of DUTY, a fact made absolutely clear by the placard which is held up every time the word is mentioned. I need not draw any close contemporary political parallels to state that the concept of duty is just as problematic today as it was then.

At the heart of the approach are two salient ideas. The text is spoken with great clarity and in Queen’s English – a refreshing change for those of us of a certain age – and the choreography is wild and ever present. The pirates can’t quite forget that they are all noblemen who have gone wrong and thus tend to overplay their hands as blood-curdling rebels. Christopher Faulkner’s Samuel is particularly impressive here with a large amount of extraneous arghs and ers. Ashley Mercer’s Pirate King is somewhat more civilized and in many ways seems the most level headed of the crew. Gareth Edmunds’ Frederick displays a charming naivety of manner as well an heroic tenor voice. This is superbly matched by Rosie Lomas’ Mabel for whom the Donizetti-like coloratura has no terrors. Her Poor wandering one was everything bel-canto could desire. Phil Whilcox’ Major General gave us a good humoured old cove with the lighting articulation in the patter song worthy of the best of Rossini. By contrast Matthew Quirk’s lugubrious Sergeant of Police was warm and almost cuddly.

Rosemary Clifford’s Ruth may have, unconventionally, actually looked younger than her 47 years but the accent and slightly raunchy approach were absolutely appropriate.

The clarity of diction from Major Stanley’s daughters was impeccable and the other pirates/lords swaggered with aplomb.

The instrumental arrangement for solo violin, wind and piano by Gabriel Chernick was impressively effective and, within the confines of a close acoustic, more than sufficient to represent Sullivan’s often basic harmonies. Pianist Alexander Maynard, violin Eloise Macdonald and wind player Georgina van Hien did a sterling job and often added surreptitiously to the humour of the evening.

A return to Hastings from Merry Opera can’t come too soon.

Benyounes Quartet

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West Hill Community Festival, Hastings, Friday 20th September 2019

The acoustic in Emmanuel church is ideal for strings and made the perfect venue for this opening concert in the West Hill Community Festival. While none of the works could be said to be familiar to a wide audience they proved to make up a very well balanced programme and one which highlighted the introspection of the composers in the deeply felt slow movement in all three cases.

The Benyounes Quartet opened with Haydn’s Quartet Op76 No1. This late work looks longingly towards Schubert in its overt romanticism and brings a sombre tone to the final movement before ending on a more positive note.

Mendelssohn’s Op12 No1 Quartet opens with an intense but flowing cantabile before the profound beauty of the slow movement. There are hints of sturm und drang in the later movements which the quartet found with great subtlety.

After the interval we heard Debussy’s G minor Quartet. This is an equally troubled work, but the quartet – who have recently recorded it – were able to bring out the nuances in its development, again being particularly moving in the slow third movement.

As if to compensate for the intense emotional turmoil of much of the music, the encore – an Idyll by Frank Bridge – proved charming and relaxing.

The church was packed for this free concert, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the festival continues across the weekend with a large range of events, centred on the church and across the West Hill.

 

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet

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Marlowe Theatre Canterbury

Well this is Matthew Bourne so you arrive expecting nothing remotely conventional or “traditional” (whatever that means) and you’re right. This riveting show is a ravishing dance piece with the plot of Romeo and Juliet so radically and freely reworked that I doubt Shakespeare himself would recognise it. And it matters not a jot. It’s fresh, original and utterly compelling.

We’re in the Verona Institute in the near future – some sort of care facility for people with mental health problems maybe but more like a prison with officers, bars, keys and locks. Residents (inmates?) are dressed in simple white clothes and of course there isn’t an en pointe shoe or a pair of tights in sight. There are no pointless leaps just because one/some of the male dancers can do spectacular ones either. Instead we get a great deal of muscular ensemble dancing either bare foot or in plimsoll-like footwear. I have no idea how Bourne thinks of these visually vibrant, but often quite simple choral/corps de ballet movements (such as shifting forwards in relentless rhythm) and makes them feel completely fresh.

The other hero of this show is Prokofiev’s score – unusually for Bourne it’s played live in the pit with passion and panache by a nineteen piece band conducted from piano and harmonium by Dan Jackson. It’s extraordinary music. Every single note packs a powerful narrative and Bourne matches it with action so perfectly that within two minutes of curtain up you’ve forgotten that this ballet has ever been done in any other way. It will be a long time before I forget the death of Tybalt (a thuggish guard: Dan Wright) presented here as an act of group throttling, the strap tightened with each of Prokofiev’s dramatic fortissimo minor chords. It’s drama at its spikiest.

Of course every dancer in this company is good. They wouldn’t have been cast in this production if they weren’t. Paris Fitzpatrick and Cordelia Braithwaite as the titular pair of star crossed lovers earn a special mention however. As individuals, often troubled, anxious or cross, they present believable characters, As a pair, in what is effectively their marriage consummation pas-de-deux, they roll over each other and use a series of very ingenious wrap round movements which fit the music perfectly. It’s a skilfully enacted symbolic representation of their physical union and I found it deeply moving.

Susan Elkin

ENO: Orpheus in the Underworld

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Orpheus in the Underworld
Jacques Offenbach (1819 – 1880)
Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy, after classical mythology. Freely adapted from the original French by Emma Rice and Tom Morris.
 
Conductor, Sian Edwards (Valentina Peleggi, Nov 21, 26, 28)
Director, Emma Rice

 

Emma Rice makes her opera debut for English National Opera’s Orpheus Series

Opens Saturday 5 October at 7.30pm (12 performances)

Emma Rice brings her wit and charm to English National Opera’s new season, with her operatic debut: an adaptation of Offenbach’s riotous operetta Orpheus in the Underworld (1858).

Emma Rice’s productions sparkle with theatrical spectacle and vivacious humour, whilst never shying away from the deeper meanings and emotions. The Artistic Director of Wise Children, formerly of Shakespeare’s Globe and Kneehigh, this is Rice’s first opera.

The production forms part of ENO’s Orpheus Series, a reimagining of four operas exploring the Orpheus myth in autumn 2019. Each is interpreted by four directors from diverse theatrical disciplines, all in sets by renowned designer Lizzie Clachan.

Emma Rice comments: “Music has always been a huge part of my life and my work. The chance to work on one of the greatest stories of all time with this heart-stopping music pulsing through its veins was one I couldn’t refuse! Intoxicating, seductive, funny and heart-breaking, Orpheus in the Underworld fills and fulfils my dreams. In rehearsals, when I hear 55 amazing musicians singing some of the most thrilling music I have ever heard, I have to pinch myself! Poignant, prescient and romantic to its bones, this promises to be a treat for the heart, mind and soul.”

Orpheus in the Underworld begins with tragedy. A young couple’s marriage is overwhelmed by grief and, seeking comfort, Eurydice is fooled into taking Pluto, ruler of the Underworld, as her lover. When she suddenly dies and is transported to a hedonistic, party filled Underworld, her estranged husband Orpheus resolves to try and bring her back. To achieve the impossible he will need the help of the glamorous, conceited but rather bored gods. Little does he know that the gods have plans of their own for Eurydice…

Originally composed as a parody of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice which had premiered nearly a century before, Offenbach’s operetta poked fun at the characters of ancient myths. An immediate box office success, the score’s high-energy ‘Galop Infernal’ was adopted by cabaret shows, immortalising it in popular culture as the soundtrack to the ‘can-can’ dance. Emma Rice’s adaptation brings the story up to date with a chilling reflection on the high-spirited hedonism that Offenbach originally staged. This production sees the glitzy world of cabaret veiling a seedy, rotten Underworld; where objectified Eurydice is at the mercy of male desire.

Tenor Ed Lyon sings Orpheus. Trained at St John’s College Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio, he has appeared internationally, with a wide repertoire that ranges from baroque to contemporary.

Established ENO star Mary Bevan returns in the role of Eurydice. Having joined ENO’s Harewood Artist programme in 2011, Mary has gone on to sing many roles at ENO and internationally. Praised for her ‘dramatic wit and vocal control’ (Opera), she is a winner of the UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in Music.

Baritone Lucia Lucas makes her ENO debut as Public Opinion. California born and Germany based, Lucia recently made history in the title role of Tulsa Opera’s Don Giovanni, where she became the first transgender woman to perform a principle role on the operatic stage in the United States.

Bass-baritone Sir Willard White trained at the Jamaican School of Music and the Juilliard School in New York. Since his operatic debut with the New York City Opera in 1974, he has sung regularly at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and at the Glyndebourne, Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg festivals. He will be singing the role of Jupiter, with Robert Haywood taking over on November 21, 26 and 28.

The all-star cast is completed by Alan Oke singing John Styx while ENO Harewood Artists Alex Otterburn and Idunnu Münch are Pluto and Diana. Anne-Marie Owens is Juno, whilst Keel Watson takes the role of Mars and Judith Howarth sings Venus. Ellie Laugharne completes this host of operatic talent as Cupid.

Former ENO Music Director Sian Edwards takes the conductor’s baton, with current Mackerras Fellow Valentina Peleggi supporting for three performances in November.

The set is designed by Lizzie Clachan and the costumes are by Lez Brotherston. Choreography is by Etta Murfitt, Lighting design is by Malcolm Rippeth and Sound Design by Simon Baker.

Emma Rice and Tom Morris have freely adapted the piece from the original French.

Orpheus in the Underworld opens Saturday 5 October at 7:30pm at the London Coliseum for 12 performances: Oct 5, 11, 23, 30 & Nov 1, 8, 12, 21, 26 at 19.30. Oct 19 at 14.00. Oct 26 at 13.45. Nov 28 at 19.00

Tickets start from £10 (plus booking fee)*

*£2.25 booking fee applies to online and telephone bookings

LOCAL COMPOSER, POLO PIATTI, TO HAVE WORLD-PREMIERE IN USA

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It is quite unusual for a living composer based in the UK to have one of his major works world-premiered in the USA. But this is the plan for Hastings-based composer Polo Piatti’s ‘Bohemian Concerto’ for piano and orchestra. The concerto will be performed at the prestigious Sandler Centre for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach in October 2019. Piatti’s work was first discovered by international renowned concert pianist Thomas Pandolfi, who then set things in motion to perform it with the spectacular Symphonicity Orchestra, conducted by maestro Daniel W. Boothe. Piatti’s ‘Bohemian Concerto’ is a very romantic work that requires not only virtuosity of the pianist, but also a great deal of sensitivity in order to extract all the subtleties, emotions, vigour and passion encapsulated in the work.

 

Regarding the intriguing title of the work, Polo Piatti explains: “This concerto is all about the Bohemian life of an artist, a life full of ups and downs, of ecstatic highs and devastating lows, of constant hopes and broken dreams, near misses and silver linings. The work goes from happiness to pain and from desperation to success, describing an artistic life lived to the full and without safety nets.”

Piatti has written, produced and arranged music extensively, mostly for the concert hall, theatre and film. Born in Argentina, he embarked on an international career as a concert pianist at an early age. He completed further studies in Paris and Berlin, moving later to work and perform in London. He has lived in Hastings for over twelve years where he founded and is the Artistic Director of the prestigious ‘International Composers Festival’ and the ‘Hastings Sinfonia Orchestra’. In 2017 he opened the Opus Theatre, a 700 seater concert hall in Hastings, with the intention of offering world class performances that are accessible to everyone. Further world-premieres in 2020 include his multi-faith oratorio ‘Libera Nos’ with the renowned London Mozart Players in conjunction with the Hastings Sinfonia Orchestra and his ‘Christmas Concerto’ for guitar and orchestra. Most recently he has been commissioned to write a concerto for violoncello and orchestra. Piatti is a member of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain.

English National Opera kicks off 19/20 season with Wayne McGregor’s interpretation of the Orpheus myth

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Orpheus and Eurydice

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 – 1787)
Libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline. Version by Hector Berlioz.
 
Conductor, Harry Bicket
Director, Wayne McGregor

Opens Tuesday 1 October at 19:30 (8 performances)

English National Opera kicks off the 19/20 season with Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice (1762). The oldest of ENO’s Orpheus Series, it is directed by Wayne McGregor CBE in his ENO directorial debut.

Following a prestigious career in contemporary international dance, resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet and double Olivier Award-winner Wayne McGregor CBE presents a dance led ENO directorial debut with Orpheus and Eurydice. He previously collaborated with ENO on the choreography of Salome in 2005 and this summer for ENO’s production of Noyes’s Fludde in which he choreographed the Raven and Dove Dance.

ENO’s Orpheus Series reimagines four operas exploring the Orpheus myth in autumn 2019. Each is interpreted by four directors from diverse theatrical disciplines, all in sets by renowned British designer Lizzie Clachan.

Orpheus and Eurydice tells the story of musician Orpheus who, overcome with grief at the death of his beloved wife Eurydice, will go to any lengths to be reunited with her. Descending to the perilous depths of the Underworld, Orpheus must charm its demons with sublime melodies to bring Eurydice back to the land of the living. There’s just one catch: Orpheus must lead his wife out of the Underworld without looking at her; or else she will be lost forever.

Gluck’s 18th century work bridges the Baroque and Classical periods and this production stems from Berlioz’s dedicated reworking of Gluck’s score. Its rich orchestral writing compliments McGregor’s distinct balletic choreography, and 14 dancers from Studio Wayne McGregor perform alongside the three lead operatic voices in an inter-disciplinary merging of dance and opera.

Distinguished mezzo-soprano Alice Coote OBE sings Orpheus, leading the three operatic principles. Renowned for her works across the great stages of the world including the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Paris Opéra, she is best known for her breeches roles, of which she has been described as ‘a modern master’ (Chicago Sun Tribune).

ENO favourite Sarah Tynan returns to sing her first of two Eurydice roles this season, fresh from her triumphant turns as the titles in The Merry Widow and Lucia Di Lammermoor last season, the latter of which she performed ‘with a silvery purity of tone and an exquisite sense of line’ (the Guardian).

The trio of lead voices is completed by Lancashire born ENO Harewood Artist Soraya Mafi singing the role of Love. A fast-rising star soprano, she made her ENO debut as Edith in 2015’s The Pirates of Penzance, going on to sing Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2018.

Notable classical and baroque conductor Harry Bicket, Artistic Director of the English Concert and Music Director at Santa Fe Opera, returns to ENO where he began his career, bringing with him a fine period sensibility.

The set design is by Lizzie Clachan and the costumes are by fashion designer and artist Louise Gray. Lighting is by Olivier Award-winning lighting designer Jon Clark. Ben Cullen-Williams is the production’s video designer, with choreography by Wayne McGregor.

The translation is by Christopher Cowell.

Orpheus and Eurydice opens Tuesday 1 October at 19:30 at the London Coliseum for 8 performances: Oct 1, 10, 17, 24, 31 & Nov 14, 19 at 19:30. Oct 12 at 14:00.

Prom 69

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Few things are musically more uplifting than hearing a fine foreign orchestra playing its own national heritage. The Czech Philharmonic plays with an exceptionally incisive string sound and the technique with which they played Smetana’s The Bartered Bride overture and three dances was stunning: all those delicious rhythms caught with glittering, percussive precision particularly in the third dance. Semyon Bychkov, who beats time quite simply and has his orchestra traditionally seated, certainly knows how to make Czech music sing. It made a delightful concert opener.

It was an inspired programming idea then to change the mood completely with the intensity of the letter scene from Eugene Onegin in the concerto slot. The orchestra played with well balanced operatic excitement from the first note and Russian soprano, Elena Stikhina sang this gloriously melodic scene with rich clarity and plenty of warmth and passion.

After the interval the mood became much more sombre. Shostokovitch’s 65 minute eighth symphony is bleak and emotionally raw and it’s not surprising that it doesn’t get as many outings as say, the fifth or the ninth. I can’t think of any other symphony which has a 30 minute first movement either but it was evocatively played here particularly when it reached the long, plaintive cor anglais solo. I also admired, among other strengths, the quality of the trumpet solo in the third movement and some vibrant viola work along with the strange gurgling flute sound the score requires. For me, though, the hero of the evening was the piccolo player who more than earned his money with prominent – and beautifully played work – in each of the three pieces.

Susan Elkin