Intense and Moving
Opera at the Salzburg Summer Festival
impresses GIUSEPPE PENNISI
During the week I spent in Salzburg, I had the opportunity to see three of the nine operas on
the program. I had already seen the production of Der Rosenkavalier last
year (Rosenkavalier at War, 12
August 2014). I wasn't ready for a third new
production of Fidelio in
the last six months, and the other titles were programmed in the second part of
the Festival. Thus, in addition to Die Eroberung von Mexico by
Wolfang Rihm (Meeting between civilizations?, 8
August 2015), I heard and saw two operas fitting thestandard repertory: on 2 August Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and
on 3 August, Bellini's Norma. The former was a brand new production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and was
meant to conclude the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy
started three years ago (and reviewed in M&V). The latter is not a new production but a revival, in great demand by the audience, of a production which had its debut at the Whitsun Festival in 2013, which was awarded the International Opera Prize in
2013 and is in a 'sold out' Haus für Mozart for the fourth time. Its success is
such that the production will travel to other theatres next season.
Let's start with Le
Nozze. Sven-Eric Bechtolf has not handled the trilogy as a whole. Don Giovanni was
staged in a nowadays deluxe hotel (with reference to the French politician
Dominique Strauss Kahn's
well known adventures). Così fan tutte in
an eighteenth century postcard Naples, andLe Nozze in an Upstairs, Downstairs mansion at
the beginning of
thetwentieth century. Also, whilst the first two operas were conducted by
Christoph Eschenbach, for Le Nozze Dan Ettinger was invited to hold thebaton. The Wiener Philharmoniker and
the Wiener Staatsopernchor were as professional as
ever. Incidentally, next year the three operas will be offered again but each
of them will have a different conductor. The setshad two levels in the first three acts and in the forth act, the garden
was an airy greenhouse with two smaller plant rooms (where the protagonistsof La Folle Journée could hide).
 A scene from Mozart's 'Le Nozze di Figaro' at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2015 Ruth Walz. Click on the image for higher resolution |
The cast was
stunning, especially Luca Pisaroni who
depicted a tormented Count; he must betray his wife because
this is required by the 'social norms'
for his status, but he is in love with
the Countess (Anett
Fritsch) and he is quite happy to be re-conquered by her. The Figaro (Adam
Plachetka) and Susanna (Martina
Jankova) couple is perfect and
quite sweet. The Marcellina (Ann Murray) and Bartolo (Carlos Chausson) are as funny as
they should be. Margarita Gritskova is a splendidCherubino. There were open stage applause after
the main numbers, and ten minutes of ovations at the end.
 Martina Janková as Susanna, Luca Pisaroni as Count Almaviva and Anett Fritsch as Countess Almaviva, in Mozart's 'Le Nozze di Figaro' at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2015 Ruth Walz. Click on the image for higher resolution |
A few words on Norma.
Cecilia Bartoli has a special role in Salzburg. She has been both the General
Manager and the Artistic Director of
the Whitsun Festival since 2012, an assignment extended to 2020 due to her tremendous success. She
works on a team with Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier as stage directors, Christian Fenouillat
as set designer, Agostino Cavalca as costume designer,
Christophe Forey as lighting specialist,
Konrad Kuhn as dramaturge as well as Giovanni Antonini as conductor with the
'La Scintilla' orchestra playing instruments with
a sound as
close as possible to that of the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of thenineteenth century. It's
a very cohesive group.
 Cecilia Bartoli as Norma and John Osborn as Pollione in Bellini's 'Norma' at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2015 Hans Jörg Michel. Click on the image for higher resolution |
This is not the first time that Norma is not placed at the time of the Romanconquest of Gallia. (I saw a production where it was staged in Tibet
underChinese occupation.)
Also it is not the first time that Norma has been set during Nazism or during
the French Resistance movement, as chosen for Salzburg. Last year (Light of Hope, 23 June
2014) I reported fromPalermo on
one of these productions that
had originated in Stuttgart in2002.
 Rebeca Olvera as Adalgisa and Cecilia Bartoli in the title role of Bellini's 'Norma' at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2015 Hans Jörg Michel. Click on the image for higher resolution |
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