Wexford shows Edinburgh how to do it: 3 operas in 3 nights
‘Zoraida di Granata’, by Gaetano Donizetti - 27/10/23
‘La Ciociara’, by Marco Tutino - 28/10/23
‘L’Aube Rouge’, by Camille Erlanger - 29/10/23
As the Edinburgh Music Review pointed out at the launch of the Edinburgh Festival programme in March, this was the first year in the history of the Edinburgh Festival since 1947 when there were no staged operas as part of the main festival. We reflected that a festival born out of opera in the post-war period, which and had put on many great opera performances over the years, had totally failed this year to put on a staged opera. In contrast the Wexford Opera Festival in the Republic of Ireland has for the past 70 years put on 3 staged operas of an international quality every year, plus others in concert performances. To quote their programme “75 events over 15 days,” all on a fraction of the budget of the Edinburgh Festival. I think I found the answer this year at Wexford when talking to a woman at one of the daily lunchtime recitals; she told me she was one of 525 volunteers who worked for the Wexford Festival and that there were only half a dozen full-time staff. I contrast this with the Edinburgh Festival which has a very large full-time staff during the festival. Maybe Nicola Benedetti, in her attempt to take the Festival into the community, should, like Wexford, take the community into the Festival! Of course Wexford is very different from Edinburgh; it is a small town of 20,000 people very proud of their opera festival and it shows.
Wexford have built their international reputation by bringing long neglected operas back into the limelight and often featuring young singers on the way up. Of course it doesn’t always work; on my last visit to Wexford seven years ago I saw an awful production of ‘Medea’, directed by the famous actress Fiona Shaw. Medea was seen exercising on a rowing machine in a gym! However the night was saved by the casting of Lise Davidsen, the then little known Norwegian soprano and she was superb. Seven years on Lise Davidsen is one of the leading sopranos in the world. The joke at Wexford is that sometimes there is a good reason that operas have been neglected for a long time; it’s because they aren’t very good! The other joke is that with three staged operas at Wexford two will be good and one will be not so good and so it proved this year. The early Donizetti opera ‘Zoraida di Granata’ was well received, as was the very new opera by Marco Tutino ‘La Ciociara’ (first performed in 2015 in San Francisco and performed here in Wexford in a new version). Sadly ‘L’Aube Rouge’, composed by Camille Erlanger in 1911, was not so well received although there were some good things in it. So ‘two out of three’ isn’t a bad result: I was in Vienna recently and saw three bad productions in three nights!
The Artistic Director of the Wexford Festival, Rosetta Cucchi, chose a theme for this year’s festival of ‘Women and War’. When she chose it, some years ago, she couldn’t have predicted how topically relevant it would be today. All three of the operas exemplify this theme and the updating of the first opera we saw ‘Zoraida di Granata’ from 15th century Granada to 20th century Sarajevo made it even more visually relevant. It is a very early work by Donizetti, composed in 1824 and really his first big success. Director Bruno Ravello didn’t want to get involved with Moorish politics in 15th century Granada so updated it to war-torn Sarajevo during the Balkan conflict, although of course there was also a religious dimension in that war. The sets by Gary McCann suggested a shattered castle and provided a good backdrop to the great music of Donizetti played very well by the Wexford Festival Orchestra conducted by Diego Ceretta. This was a Donizetti opera I had never heard before but was full of wonderful music and I certainly intend to watch it again soon on YouTube, where RTE have made it available for all to see! The plot features the familiar operatic themes of two men fighting for our heroine Zoraida, excellently sung by Claudia Boyle an Irish soprano who deserves to become an international star. Her lover Abenamet, sung quite decently, although at times with more of a ‘can belto’ than a ‘bel canto’ voice by Matteo Mezzaro. Villain of the piece, King Almuzir, was very powerfully sung by tenor, Konu Kim. The chorus were also excellent and Wexford can be proud of this revival; the audience certainly loved it.
The second opera we saw was ‘La Ciociara’ (Two Women); this is a very recent creation by composer Marco Tutino, first performed in 2015, based on a novel by Alberto Moravia (1958) and the film by Vittorio De Sica starring Sophia Loren (1960). It is set during the war in 1943 and involves a mother Cesira and her daughter Rosetta as they flee from war and are raped and rescued. The music of this opera although bang up to date had echoes of Puccini with some fine arias. Indeed I think this is one of the finest modern operas since ‘Peter Grimes’ and deserves a regular place in the repertoire. Cesira, the mother, was wonderfully sung and acted by the Israeli soprano, Na’ama Goldman, and her daughter Rosetta well sung by Irish soprano Jade Phoenix. Their main tormentor Giovanni, a local fascist, was well played by David Cecconi, and their love interest, Michele, was nicely sung by Leonardo Caimi. The Wexford Festival Orchestra were very well conducted by Francesco Cillufo and the sets and film background worked well (although I’m not sure we needed the ‘film director’, presumably Vittorio De Sica on the stage throughout).
Our final opera sadly wasn’t so successful. It was ‘L’Aube Rouge’ (Red Dawn), an opera composed by Camille Erlanger and first performed in Paris in 1911. It was set in pre-revolutionary Russia and Paris around 1900. It is a tragic love story between the student, Serge, one of a band of Nihilist revolutionaries in St Petersburg and Olga, the liberal-minded daughter of brutal reactionary General Lovarov. There is a deep chasm between these two groups, and Olga for all her good intentions is forced to flee from her bourgeoise family and escape with Serge to Paris, where they live happily together in modest circumstances. Like many upper class Russians of the time the Lovarov retinue also had a base in Paris, and tensions follow them. These are brought to a head when Serge draws the fateful lot to take part in a suicidal assassination of a visiting Russian prince, a task he discharges after much conflict and anguish. The opera’s rather cavalier approach to terrorism and assassination did not sit well with many in the Wexford audience, and despite some strengths in the production, the audience response was reserved. There was some nice music and decent singing, but the plot was simplistic and included a very silly ballet scene in the final Act, with dancing gypsies who didn’t seem to have any relevance to the plot (but then Paris always likes ballet in its operas!) The outstanding performance was from the soprano Andreea Soare as Olga. Her revolutionary student Serge was sung by Andrew Morstein, who on this night wasn’t so impressive, his voice at times seeming underpowered, which is strange since he gave a very good lunchtime recital the day before where the voice sounded very powerful; maybe he gave too much at the recital! There was also a very fine performance as their loyal revolutionary friend, Kouraguine, sung by the excellent Georgian bass, Giorgi Manoshvili. Christopher Manien conducted the music as well as possible. I won’t worry if I don’t hear it again, but then again two out of three isn’t too bad!
