patrikpen: An Engrossing Idea 10 August

giovedì 22 settembre 2016

An Engrossing Idea 10 August

An Engrossing Idea

GIUSEPPE PENNISI visits the
Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro for an
original and moving 'La Donna del Lago'

The thirty seventh edition of the Rossini Opera Festival (ROF) was inaugurated in Pesaro on 8 August 2016 with La Donna del Lago ('TheLady of the Lake'). I was in the audience. La Donna del Lago, on a librettoby Andrea Leone Tottola based on Walter Scott's novel, deals with in-fighting between Scottish clans and the attempts of King James Stuart V (Juan Diego Flórez) to reconcile them. The 'lady of the lake' is Elena (Salome Jicia), daughter of the chieftain of one of the clans; her fatherwants her to be married with one of his best fighters, Rodrigo (Micheal Spyres), but she is in love with a member of the opposite clan, Malcom (Varduhi Abrahamyan).

Francisco Brito as Bertram, Michael Spyres as Rodrigo, Salome Jicia as Elena, Marko Mimica as Duglas and Varduhi Abrahamyan as Malcom in 'La Donna del Lago' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2016 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution

Disguised as a hunter, King James meets Elena on the shore of the lake where she usually goes to reflect about herself and her country's problems. He falls in love with her. They have a short but intense affair. In the end he pardons the rebellious clan and facilitates her wedding with Malcom. Normally, the plot is presented in a holographic Scotland in the fourteenth century.

The conductor (Michele Mariotti) and the stage director (Damiano Michelietto) have worked on an engrossing idea. The action takes place in an old house in bad shape in the eighteenth century; the lake can be imagined through the windows. Elena and Malcom have been married for some fifty or even sixty years. All the characters of the plot are dead; on their living room table there is a photo, a portrait of King James. Elena brings flowers to the photo portrait which irritates Malcom. As the memoryof the events leading to their marriage unfolds, Malcom reconciles with Elena; eventually, together they offer flowers to the memory of the King. Two actors (Giusi Merli and Alessandro Baldinotti) are the old Elena and Malcom; they always remain on stage. The staging is both original and moving.

Mariotti offered a marvelous reading of the score; he conducted theorchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, where he is principalconductor and he has a strong feeling from the musicians. The chorus, also from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, was directed by Andrea Faidutti. Mariotti and the orchestra worked extremely well on the tints and colors and showed how this opera is, with Guillaume Tell, one of Rossini's works leaning toward Romanticism. If he had not retired at the age of thirty seven, his composing would have neither followed the French grand opera nor the Italian melodrama: rather his path would have been that ofGerman romantic opera (Marschner, Weber) before Wagnerian musicdrama.

Giusi Merli as the elderly Elena, Salome Jicia as Elena and Juan Diego Flórez as King James in 'La Donna del Lago' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2016 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution

The singers were excellent. The opera gave Juan Diego Flórez and Michael Spyres the opportunity to show, respectively, the high Cs of the former and the texture of the latter. The real surprises were the youngSalome Jicia and Varduhi Abrahamyan. Virtually unknown, they excited the audience with their abilities, postures of voice and coloratura. I think they will go far.

Salome Jicia as Elena, Michael Spyres as Rodrigo and Giusi Merli as the elderly Elena in 'La Donna del Lago' at the Rossini Opera Festival. Photo © 2016 Studio Amati Bacciardi. Click on the image for higher resolution

The production is a joint venture with the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège. I trust it will be seen in many other theatres and towns.