Daily Archives: 5 May, 2016

ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA ANNOUNCES 2016/17 SEASON

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At a Press Conference this morning, ENO announced its new season and the changes it will be making over the next few years. It has been a rough time for the Company over the last year but things really do seem to have turned a corner, even if there are still a significant number of problems – not least the on-going financial concerns which have led to a change of focus. This however should be all for the good as it is spreading the work of the Company outside of central London and aiming to bring in ever wider audiences while clearly focused on classical opera.

Daniel Kramer

Daniel Kramer spoke with real enthusiasm of his new post which he takes up on 1 August and the skills he will bring to the Company – skills already in evidence from his easy capacity to enthuse his audience and to praise the quality of those working with him.

There will be a particular focus this year on the work of Jonathan Miller’s whose iconic production of Rigoletto will return to the Coliseum in addition to his Mikado. Let us hope that this leads to a revival of his fine La boheme given the poor reception of the most recent version.

ENO Rigoletto

Season highlights include:

  • ENO’s Composer-in-Residence, Ryan Wigglesworth, conducts the World Premiere of his first opera The Winter’s Tale, with actor Rory Kinnear making his directorial debut
  • The European Premiere of Charlie Parker’s YARDBIRD, a jazz-infused chamber opera by Daniel Schnyder that tells the story of the great bebop pioneer, starring Lawrence Brownlee in the title role. Ron Daniels directs YARDBIRD at Hackney Empire – the first opera to be performed as part of a long-term collaboration with Hackney Empire and Opera Philadelphia
  • World-renowned artist and director William Kentridge directs a new production of Berg’s Lulu, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth
  • Olivier Award-winning director Richard Jones returns to ENO to direct a new production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, with Christopher Purves in the title role
  • ENO takes Jonathan Miller’s popular production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado to the Opera House at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool
  • A new partnership with the Southbank Centre. In summer 2017, ENO will present a concert hall performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius
  • ENO celebrates the work of director Jonathan Miller with a special evening marking well over 1,000 performances of his work over a 38-year period
  • Revivals include Jonathan Miller’s Rigoletto, Mike Leigh’s The Pirates of Penzance, Christopher Alden’s Olivier Award-winning production of Handel’s Partenope, Catherine Malfitano’s Tosca and Penny Woolcock’s The Pearl Fishers
  • ENO announces a new partnership with Silent Opera, supporting young British director Daisy Evans

Philharmonia Orchestra

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Marlowe Theatre Canterbury, 4 May 2016

The structure of this concert reminded me of a water hole on an African safari. First came Mozart, light footed like a gazelle, then Beethoven arrived, giraffe like, with elegance, panache and beauty, then finally we got Elgar – colossal, like an elephant but with all the delicacy and sensitivity of a highly intelligent animal.

To this, Edward Gardner, assisted by the Marlowe Theatre’s acoustic which is surprisingly good for a dual purpose performing space, found unusual clarity in the music. With second violins facing the firsts, and cellos and violas tucked between them, the balance worked beautifully especially in the light semi quaver passages in the overture to The Magic Flute, although I have reservations about hearing Mozart overtures in concerts. They always leave me aching for curtain up and the rest of the opera.

 

Martin Helmchen played Beethoven’s second piano concerto with intensity but without gratuitous flamboyance, although his left foot seems to have an independent life of its own, shaking and tapping. He packed plenty of brio into the fortissimo development passages in the allegro and played the adagio with much gentle eloquence. The triplets, which tumble playfully over the brass and woodwind interjections, were especially fine in the adagio. So was the control with which Helmchen and Gardner bounced, attacca, out of the adagio into a spirited account of the rondo which tripped away with plenty of verve and wit.

The busy, awkward opening of Elgar’s second symphony came off fairly well although I have a feeling that had this been a rehearsal they might have done it again. High spots included the richly melodious string work in the larghetto, incisive “conversations” between sections in the rondo and the sustained drama of the final chords as they die away at the end of the final movement. Gardner resisted the urge to milk Elgar’s favourite instruction “noblimente” too much and although it was a rendering with plenty of heart it was also crisp and clearly defined.

Two more general points strike me. First, the Marlowe’s playing space is large enough for a classical orchestra plus piano but only just. It’s a tight squeeze in some sections and when the orchestra was augmented with the extra brass, woodwind and percussion for the Elgar and the 20th century it took really careful stage management. Second, did Gardner forget his outfit and have to pop into Canterbury to buy a cheap off-the-peg suit in the afternoon? He really looked very odd in a dark suit which didn’t fit properly when everyone else, even the soloist, was in tails.

Susan Elkin