**** (4 stars)
“Immensely satisfying”
I always look forward to these evenings and, as usual, was not disappointed. Eleven young singers who are currently part of the National Opera Studio offered us an evening’s entertainment which clearly demonstrated why they have been selected to further their studies at the Studio. Accompanied by the Scottish Opera Orchestra, conducted by Stuart Stratford, they wove excerpts from eight different operas into a multi-faceted and strongly contrasting tapestry of emotions.
Humperdinck, Verdi, Massenet, Weber, Mozart, Nicolai, Bologne and Mascagni – what a feast! I knew half the pieces well, have sung in a couple of them, and enjoyed guessing what the others were [too dark to read my programme]… Comedy, tragedy, menace, rapturous newly-found love: this evening had it all, in spades.
One of the joys of the evening was watching the singers tackle different roles and languages. I think the greatest surprise was realising that the slouching, grumpy young Hansel being teased by his sister Gretel had transformed into slinky, sparkly-clad Dorabella in the magnificent sextet from Così – magic indeed from Nancy Holt. Menace was present throughout the evening in the form of Russian baritone Egor Sergeev – tall, slender, swishing around in a black leather coat, and with a voice of power and quality that fitted equally well the threatening Don Carlo [Ernani] and the scheming, world-weary Don Alfonso of Così.
More plotting – somewhat kindlier in nature, I feel – from the Merry Wives of Windsor gave the spotlight to Rachel McLean and Sarah Winn. Interestingly, I didn’t connect Rachel with her earlier performance as Elvira in Ernani. Her Mistress Ford was a world away from the frightened but defiant defender of her bandit lover: full of self-confidence in her own power, most definitely not a victim, but someone who was going thoroughly to enjoy playing tricks on the ageing knight Sir John. Her partner in crime, Sarah Winn, entered with gusto into the plotting – again a huge contrast with her previous appearance as the suddenly love-struck Prince Charmant, rendered virtually speechless by the sudden appearance of his Cendrillon.
Cendrillon herself [Ana-Carmen Balestra] – quiet, gentle and thrilled by the magical situation in which she finds herself – transformed into the volatile and quick-witted maid Despina, willing foil to the scheming Don Alfonso in Così: and then again into the hesitant, questioning Léontine from a piece new to me. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges composed L’amant anonyme to a libretto by Desfontaines-Lavallée which had me guessing Rameau, Lully, or some such French composer. Not having read the synopsis, I couldn’t quite get why our heroine was vacillating so regularly between hope and despair before being persuaded by all and sundry to accept as genuine the protestations of love from tenor Emyr Lloyd Jones, but I thoroughly enjoyed their singing and was very happy that it all worked out well in the end.
Surging romantic passions were well-represented in extracts from Weber’s Der Freischütz and Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz. The former was full of agony and foreboding, the latter with quiet rejoicing which built into ecstatic rhapsody. Both featured soprano Olivia Rose Tringham and tenor Luvo Maranti, who each sang superbly while seeming more relaxed in the joyful realisation of their mutual love than in being fearful about the outcome of the following day’s important huntsmen’s shooting match.
Ceferina Penny was a lively young Gretel, skipping and dancing around the stage and hopping on to a long table at every opportunity. A lesser role as Äanchen in Der Freischütz had her displaying further gymnastic prowess on a ridiculously high ladder the other side of the stage. She and Hansel were also much in evidence throughout the evening, watching the action and leading/ urging the other singers on and off stage.
Two more singers completed our talented cast: soprano Moloko Letsoalo and baritone Aleksander Kaczuk-Jagielnik. Moloko’s Fiodiligi and Aleksander’s Guglielmo had superb voices, but were not well-served in the sextet from Così: the rest of the cast had appeared at the back of the stage and engaged in a repetitive ‘dance’ which upstaged the singers and completely distracted my attention from them – to m,e the only real disappointment of the evening. Moloko’s soprano soared above the ensemble, but had only a tiny part in the Mascagni. Aleksander’s warm baritone was less easy to hear in the sextet, and the other two small parts he played didn’t give him much chance to shine – a great pity.
Overall, though, it was a splendid evening, with the different extracts being cleverly linked, with the cast displaying considerable physical aptitude alongside their superb voices. Some roles and languages were a better fit for some voices and personalities – all were extremely well performed, and augur well for the future of opera both in Scotland and the wider world.
Lust and laughter indeed, but also longing, lamentation, and of course, love: another immensely satisfying evening with Scottish Opera and the National Opera Studio.
Lust & Laughter, National Opera Studio at Scottish Opera, Theatre Royal, Glasgow, RUN ENDED
ScotsGay Arts 