A happy anniversary for Rossini Opera Festival 2024
by Dr. Kyriakos Loukakos, music critic – honorary president of the Hellenic Drama and Music Critics’ Union (established 1928)
The 45th Rossini Opera Festival found Pesaro being Italy’s official cultural capital, a title well deserved and decidedly linked to its being the birthplace of Gioacchino Rossini, a figure instrumental for the great musical heritage of this historic Adriatic resort. During the almost half a century of its existence ROF and its extensions, the Rossini Foundation and the Accademia Rossiniana «Alberto Zedda», have contributed immeasurably not only to the belated recognition of Rossini’s multifaceted greatness as a composer but also to the formation of an inestimable series of critical editions and to the reinstatement of a vocal Belcanto school that has been thankfully infecting for decades the vocal standards and stylistic awareness of global singing. This has largely to be credited to the long standing Mariotti regime that formed these invaluable institutions and led to their leadership by great cognoscenti of the genre such as Sovrintendente Ernesto Palacio (my ears and soul still resound my late friend’s bass Nicola Zaccaria fond references to him as a colleague) and, of course, artistic director Juan Diego Flórez, Palacio’s lifelong pupil and torch bearer of this resurrected tradition.
The special, celebratory circumstances of this year’s Festival enriched the programming with two more revivals, the scenic one of Pier-Luigi Pizzi’s already iconic 2018 production of «Il Barbiere di Siviglia» and the conclusive all-star concert performance of «Il Viaggio a Reims», which we managed to lose due to a silly date miscalculation. Nevertheless, our sojourn in Pesaro was merrily initiated by this same dramma giocoso in the indestructible 2001 «Festival Giovane» production by Emilio Sagi, revived by Matteo Anselmi, and populated as always with gifted and well-schooled students of the Accademia divided in two casts (for the August 16th and 19th matinee performances) and alternating protagonist and comprimario parts. The summer character of the scenery, costumes and lighting (how beautiful the passage of time from twilight to the evening atmosphere in act 2) retains its freshness, yet we could endorse the proposal of introducing some slight but distinct national accessory for the act 2 festin that could remind and strengthen the common European identity of the different nationals in times that the European idea seems to be irresponsibly waning.
Under the excellent, detailed and alert, baton of Milan-born conductor Davide Levi, and retaining the character of the performance (we attended the August 19th one) as a student one, we foremost and invariably enjoyed the general standard of well-schooled, uniformly fluent endorsement of the Belcanto singing on the part of even the tiniest tenor part, imbued with noble phrasing, generally clear articulation and a vivid, naturally youthful stage presence of the participants. As some years ago with the case of his predecessor Xaber Anduaga in the part of the narcissistic and amorous French Chevalier Belfiore, Cuban tenor Bryan Lopez Gonzales robbed the stage not only with the sonorous opulence and the luminous, tender quality of his timbre, but also by his daring exposure of a barely covered athletic body which he used for demanding on-stage gymnastics, a welcome contradiction to a certain political correctness of our times, which attempts, in the name of equality, to ban from stage human beauty and nudity as an important element of scenic seduction, an option hardly tolerable by ancient Greek, non-complex mentality standards. His tenor colleague, Marcelo Solis, missed, as il Conte di Libenskof, the required freedom of attack in the vocal leaps towards his extremely high singing. Among other men we excel Giuseppe de Luca (what a demanding homonymity!) as a dignified Don Prudenzio and Gonghao Zhang’s handsomely articulated Barone di Trombonok, but we retain reservations about the bass department, namely Aleksei Makshantsev’s Don Profondo, who has still to develop his technique and character in cleanly articulated quick singing in respect to his demanding act 2 aria, and his counterpart Francesco Leone’s Lord Sidney, still in his evolution to a vocal identity as a true bass. Ringing top notes, fluent coloratura and a charming stage presence graced Marina Fita Monfort’s Contessa di Folleville, soprano Victoriia Shamanska proved a vocally sturdy yet lyrical poetess Corinna, Kilara Ishida’s Madama Cortese and Yiqian Heng’s Marchesa Melibea, while agile, yet seemed still in want of further vocal maturity. All-in-all though, a real feat, especially for singers grown up speaking non-European languages, and an as ever exhilarating operatic experience of an indisputable masterpiece.
Overdue revival for Bianca e Falliero
The student performance of Il Viaggio a Reims marked our first opportunity to get acquainted with the emblematic Palafestival, the legendary first venue of the Festival, fully renovated after many years of closure and renamed to Auditorio Scavolini. In spite of its indisputable service, we have never really warmed to the Adriatic (later Vitrifrigo) Arena and to the obligatory excursion to the town outskirts. So, we welcome the prospect of a ROF 2025 limited to this refurbished stage, the Teatro Rossini and -hopefully- the Pedrotti auditorium as well.
Conveniently situated near the city centre, the modern building of the Auditorio Scavolini retains the humane size of a believably 19th century opera venue that permits a direct savouring of the scenic action and of the artists themselves, as well as a proportionate aural relation between stage and orchestra pit. This was aptly proven by this same evening’s revival of the inauguration opera of this season, the 1819 «Bianca e Falliero», initially successful at the Teatro alla Scala, marking a whole of 39 performances, but subsequently neglected till ROF’s revivals of the late past century. The opera takes place in 17th century Venice during Serenissima’s war with Spain and combines the efforts of the Venetian nobleman Contareno to force his daughter Bianca into marrying the well-to-do Capellio, in favour to the poor hero Falliero with whom the young lady is already involved. Inspired by a determination that recalls the paternal concept of Friedrich von Schiller’s «Kabale und Liebe» and abusing a war law, Contareno accuses his daughter’s lover as a traitor to the Council of Three and it is only through Bianca’s courage to appear before the Council and Capellio’s benevolent complacency that the implacable father cedes to the upheaval of the cruel law and is ultimately convinced to accept a marriage «that nature dictates».
The opera forms the last collaboration of Rossini with renowned librettist Felice Romani and its new airing, in an updated neo-conservative production by Jean-Louis Grinda, though not revelatory, at least did not deviate attention from the sublime music, in spite of some redundant and ultimately unclear symbolism, such as the mute and blind lady of the high society that annoyingly becomes the shadow of young Bianca.
Which brings us to the exceptional cast that served the composer’s fluid musical inspiration and the fiendishly difficult florid singing he requires from the main characters of the work. One is constantly astonished with the inventiveness, melodic and formal, of the only 27-years-old composer within the strict boundaries of a specific compositional pattern. Arias superbly interweaving the virtuosic with the expressive element, ravishing duets of sincerely dreamy, visionary quality, a show-stopper of a crucial quartet, for each character to contemplate and realize the turning point of the drama to its ambivalently happy ending. All these are linked by pieces of «recitative», enhanced by the addition of cello (Jacopo Muratori) and double bass (Matteo Magigrana) to the fortepiano of the seasoned Andrea Severi. The evening marked a well-deserved triumph for the Australian diva Jessica Pratt, a true stage heiress of her comparably dashing compatriot Marjorie Lawrence, a hugely underrated and under-recorded artist, a charismatic figure on stage, a true mistress of both the lyrical and the florid vein of Rossini, indomitable in her stratospheric wanderings, soulful where needed, with an all-round radiant, positive, smiling quality. Her luminous voice combined marvelously with Aya Wakizono’s Falliero en travestie, another supreme feat of constantly demanding, even exasperating singing, doubly laudable for clarity of text enunciation, even if one missed a more ponderous lower range in this role of quasi superhuman demands. As the despicable Contareno, tenor Dmitry Korchak excelled his already acclaimed best self with credibly enraged and enacted coloratura, while emerging and very promising Georgian bass Giorgi Manoshvili left his mark as a Capellio of imposing stage presence and balsamic tone quality. The enthusiastic Coro del Teatro Ventidio Basso (chorus master Giovanni Farina) and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai were unobtrusively yet idiomatically led by the experienced Roberto Abbado, a seasoned Rossinian of exceptional affinity with the Master’s scores.
Musically revelatory Ermione at the Vitrifrigo Arena
It was a subtle programmatic coup to juxtapose Bianca e Falliero, Rossini’s 4th 1819 opera, not only with its immediate predecessor, La Donna del Lago, the modified final rondo of which served also as the final scene to the former work, but also with Ermione, an equally 1819 «azione tragica» based on Jean Racine’s Andromaque, which initially met with critical and popular disapproval, since it managed only 3 performances at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli that had commissioned it. We have to admit that the opera had not managed to find its way to our heart through the audition of recordings, even when populated by legendary names. In this respect and even considering important reservations regarding the spectacle, its recent revival proved an ear opener for Rossini’s creative audacity, his brilliant musical ideas and masterings, while making us wonder whether the Pesarese composer knew Luigi Cherubini’s Médée that presents structural and declamatory similarities with the more recent opera.
A monomaniac pursue of unrequited and vengeful royal love and a conclusion that presents doubts about the eponymous heroine’s mental stability is hard to stage. Even so, we are convinced that a production with a scenery of archaic sparseness and simplicity, without staircases on stage, but with an ancient notion of costumes and focus on atmospheric lighting, eschewing superfluous persons, instances and behaviours -because unforeseen by both librettist Leone Tottola and Rossini-, would be likely to achieve more public appeal than the one earned by the transposed in time and purposefully degenerate one by Johannes Erath, definitely not assisted by the irrelevant scenery of Heike Scheele and the grotesque costumes by Jorge Jara. We firmly believe that methods such as Verfremdung (alienation) and Dekonstruktion (deconstruction) should not affect stage productions such as this one, that should serve the purpose of reinstating neglected masterpieces to the public appeal, especially if the composer (and what a composer!) firmly believed that his work was ahead of its time and would only see the light of day after his Death!
In any case, the performance of August 20th rose to a musical revindication of the composer’s oracle. In Anastasia Bartoli the title role was granted a charismatic interpreter, serving a tessitura tailored to Ms. Rossini-to-be agility, the great Isabella Collbran, vocally fearsome and fearless, with a welcome touch of wildness and a stage presence that would benefit even further without the scenic obstacles of the production, especially in the extended Medea-like final scene. Confined to an old lady’s conservative dress and wig, Victoria Yarovaya’s Andromaca did her declamatory best to invest the character with dignified strength. Juan Diego Flórez admirably remains a top exponent of bel canto school and offered an insolent vocal line as well as scenic generosity as Oreste, not outshone even by Bartoli’s larger than life vocal presence during their delectable duets. Having followed Enea Scala since his first appearances in ROF, we were pleasantly amazed by his vocal and scenic prowess in the fiendishly difficult demands of King Pirro’s role, a tribute to his own laudable efforts and the Festival’s caring handling of its artists. Credits amount also to Antonio Mandrillo’s Pilade, Michael Mofidian’s Fenicio and the soloists of the minor parts as well as the Coro del Teatro Ventidio Basso and its master Giovanni Farina. The evening proved a triumph for conductor Michele Mariotti, who handled the score with innate understanding, unobtrusive verve and sense of the work’s climactic points, leading a tip toe reading by the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, who openly enjoyed their performing under his baton.
Welcome returns of superb stagings
The following evening of Wednesday, August 21st , we were moved to return to the atmosphere and the dimensions of Pesaro’s Teatro Rossini for the last occasion of this year’s ROF, in order to attend anew the beautiful, humorous and unpretentious production of Rossini’s dramma giocoso «L’ Equivoco Stravagante» by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, with amusing scenery by Christian Fenouillat (the cow painting on the wall of Gamberotto’s mansion has already become emblematic), the fittingly conservative costumes of Agostino Cavalca and the lighting of Christophe Forey. It is significant of Rossini’s open-mindedness that he exploits the comical situation of the female protagonist’s denunciation by her initially eager fiancée to the military as a deserter, in order to pose a social problem of the time, namely boys’ castration in order to retain their beautiful singing voices!
The performance was led with exhilarating fluency and wit by young and rising Michelle Spotti leading a cast without weak links and headed by the globally referential performance of yet another ROF darling, baritone Nicola Alaimo. As wealthy farmer Gamberotto he excelled in passages of swift singing of absolute clarity and provided an uncommonly genuine comic vein, valuable in this sequence of major and minor misunderstandings. By his side, Russian mezzo-soprano Maria Barakova presented a sturdy and cunning Ernestina, his culture-obsessed daughter, smart enough though to pave the way to the true love of poor Ermanno, melodiously sung by lyric tenor Pietro Adaíni, in preference to her wealthy suitor Buralicchio, vividly impersonated and smoothly sang by young Spanish baritone Carles Pachòn, yet another alumnus of the Accademia Rossiniana.
Last but not least, the return of Pier Luigi Pizzi’s late and wise production of the ubiquitous «Il Barbiere di Siviglia» ascertained itself as a marvelous re-reading of the text with illuminating results, as we already mentioned after its first airing at the ROF (see under the link https://www.criticscorner.gr/en/rossini-opera-festival-2018-towards-known-and-unknown-regions/ ) and we don’t change a word after this new revival of which we attended the last of 3 airings, namely the August 22nd one, as before at the Vitrifrigo Arena, but with a totally new cast.
Although young American tenor Jack Swanson lacks the ballet dancer’s figure of his Russian predecessor Maxim Mironov, he presents a well-built, youthfully impetuous and handsome Conte di Almaviva. Even without eschewing the special vocal appeal of superstar Juan Diego Flórez on stage, he possesses a well-schooled voice, clear diction, easy coloratura and well supported tone even in the most extreme demands of the thankfully reinstated «Cessa di più resistere», so we were amazed at the somewhat subdued applause he received from the audience. By his side and presenting a more sophisticated character than Davide Luciano of 2018, Polish baritone Andrzej Filonczyk enacted an exceptionally charming barber, suitable to serve higher society members, with mellifluously sonorous baritone projection, quicksilver stage movement and more than enough Mediterranean flair in his interaction with the good looking, extremely vivid and vocally powerful Rosina of Russian mezzo Maria Kataeva, a definite improvement over the character’s former incarnation by Aya Wakizono.
Veteran Michele Pertusi’s Don Basilio not only possessed a stage personality of Chaliapin stature but was also cast from strength, with a powerful yet smooth and well projected voice to the room that made his «La calunnia» a genuine show-stopper. He was well differentiated to the experienced baritone Carlo Lepore as Don Bartolo, with superbly pointed text enunciation (admirable in all the swift passages of «A un dottor» and elsewhere) and no unnecessary exaggerations to caricature this interesting character. Soprano Patricia Biccirè reinstated the tessitura of the role, contributing cleanly to the high notes of act 1 finale, but was clearly no much for Elena Zilio’s characterful memory in her delectable act 2 aria. Armando De Ceccon’s mute but characterful Ambrogio seemed to be better integrated to the production, but baritone William Corrò’s Fiorello seemed sadly less pronounced this time, due perhaps to unfortunate directorial second thoughts. Lorenzo Passerini led a deliciously fleet footed performance presiding over an engaged Coro del Teatro Ventidio Basso and the well-prepared Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini. All-in-all, a high-spirited conclusion!
