Download Auckland Opera Forum 2015 Programme 7.30pm, The Raye Freedman

Auckland Opera Forum 2015 Programme
7.30pm, The Raye Freedman Theatre
Epsom Girls Grammar School, Silver Road, Epsom
1. Cosi Fan Tutte
February 10
Mozart’s much-loved opera comes to us from the Salzburg Festival’s acclaimed production by Claus Guth of the three Mozart-Da
Ponte operas. Cosi is well sung, sharply acted and impeccably, if controversially, staged in modern dress. Helen Gaeta used one
act of it in her presentation of different versions of Cosi a year or two ago; now we present the whole opera. The wonderful
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Adam Fischer.
2. L’heure espagnole & L’enfant et les sortileges
March 10
Laurent Pelly’s new production at Glyndebourne of L’enfant is pure delight from beginning to end, and L’heure is witty and
colourful. These two delightful operas by Ravel premiered in 1911 and 1926 respectively. Both these operatic gems are most
beautifully played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Kazushi Ono - the fastidious orchestral textures perfectly
realised, the ebb and flow seamless.
3. Rigoletto
April 14
Recorded in Dresden in 2008, Nikolaus Lehnhoff's production of Rigoletto is a ferocious, if uneven, affair that positions the opera
between religious drama and psychopathology. Lehnhoff roots the tragedy in the dysfunctional relationship between Rigoletto
(Zeljko Lucic) and Gilda (Diana Damrau), rather than in the jester's developing conflict with the Duke (Juan Diego Flórez). Yet he
also takes on board a comment in the text that this world is hell: Gilda's final act of self-sacrifice, played out against a
Michelangelesque backdrop of the day of judgment, acquires ambivalently redemptive, Christ-like overtones. Vocally Lucic and
Damrau have rarely been bettered, while Flórez, cast against his squeaky-clean image, is insidiously sensual as the Duke.
4. Porgy & Bess
May 12
George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess may be the most familiar opera that people don't really know at all. San Francisco Opera's
powerfully sung production offers a chance to correct that. Everyone can hum along with the famous and regularly excerpted
numbers from this massive melodic storehouse - starting with the curtain-raiser Summertime and proceeding through I Got
Plenty o' Nuttin', It Ain't Necessarily So and Bess, You Is My Woman Now, to name just a few. But to experience Porgy as the fullbore theatrical work it was meant to be - a voluminous and meticulously researched musical portrait of an impoverished but
vibrant African-American community on the South Carolina coast - is a rare opportunity. The San Francisco production does full
justice to the musical riches of Gershwin's score.
5. The Makropoulos Affair
June 9
Janacek's The Makropoulos Affair was the opera sensation from the 2011 Salzburg Festival. With Esa-Pekka Salonen and the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and featuring Angela Denoke and the staging of Christoph Marthaler, it received fantastic
reviews from all over the world. "Esa-Pekka Salonen ensures a brilliant reading of Janacek's fascinating score, which both
heightens the opera's suspense and soars with music of passion," one critic wrote.This completes our series of Janacek’s major
operas.
6. Moby Dick
July 14
Jake Heggie's new opera, Moby Dick, premiered in 2010, has proved to be an instant American operatic classic. The production,
from the San Francisco Opera, features state-of-the-art technology (lighting, projections, etc.) to seamlessly move the opera's
scenes deftly and, not infrequently, adding a little "awe" power for the audience. But the show is not about effects but rather
about epic storytelling through music, and the effects and stage designs are simply the platform for an overwhelming operatic
treatment of a classic American tale. One of the stars is our own Jonathan Lemalu.
7. Salome
August 11
This is a modern-dress production from the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, but even without robes, sandals and so on the
presentation effectively gives the work a timeless quality. The modern setting never gets in the way of the narrative. The
atmosphere on stage is almost other-worldly in its mixture of decay and decadence, of Biblical characters and modern lust.
Angela Denoke underscores the intensity not only in her acting but in her approach to the music.
8. Otello (no, not Verdi!)
September 8
Until Verdi wrote his masterpiece towards the end of the nineteenth century, Rossini’s version of Othello was hugely popular. He
plays fast and loose with Shakespeare but Rossini is always worth hearing, and there is some gorgeous music. The entire third act
is justly admired; it somehow awakened both composer and librettist to a sense of true tragedy. Last year ended with a showing
of Verdi’s masterpiece. Now we offer a chance to compare and contrast two operas of the same name but which are quite
different in so many ways. Cecilia Bartoli sings a stunning Desdemona and the rest of the cast are splendid too. It comes to us
from the Zurich Opera.
9. The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh
October 20 (note: Third Tuesday)
The Invisible City of Kitezh, completed in 1905, is a remarkable opera that fuses folklore, mysticism and realism. Its subject is the
story of the advancing Mongol army’s entry to Great Kitezh and the city’s subsequent miraculous survival. Rejecting archaisms
and the more religiously inclined suggestions of his librettist, Rimsky-Korsakov sought to create an opera that “is contemporary
and even fairly advanced”. It is therefore through-composed, hinting at times at Wagnerian procedure, and flooded with the
composer’s rich, apt and brilliant orchestral palette, fully supportive of the powerful vocal writing. “These are murderously
difficult roles, but Tatiana Monogarova is just about the best Fevronia I've seen, vocally clear and sturdy . . . physically beautiful
and a credibly passionate actress. Mikhail Gubsky's Grishka makes a strong impact...[Vedernikov] conjures the score's symphonic
richness . . .” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 ****
10. La Fanciulla Del West
November 10
As the heroine Minnie in Puccini's Wild West opera, Nina Stemme makes every note sound from the heart. She effectively
dispatches both extremes of Minnie's range and, handsomely and warmly, everything in between, while creating a feisty, fullblooded, fully believable girl-woman. Her worthy "Mr. Johnson" is Aleksandrs Antonenko, in fine, shining voice and acting with
winning conviction. John Lundgren is a potent, moving, even sexy Jack Rance. A production from the Royal Swedish Opera
directed by Christopher Loy.
The committee reserves the right to change the programme if necessary. Screenings are on the second Tuesday of each month,
except for October (third Tuesday).