United Kingdom Mozart, Die Zauberflöte: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor). Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 22.12 2022. (CC)
Production:
Director – David McVicar
Revival Director – Angelo Smimmo
Designer – John Macfarlane
Lighting – Paul Constable
Movement Director – Leah Hausman
Cast:
Tamino – Filipe Manu
Pamina – Anna Prohaska
First Lady – Alexandra Lowe
Second Lady – Gabrielė Kupšytė
Third Lady – Kseniia Nikolaieva
Papageno – Gyula Orendt
Papagena – Sarah Dufresne
Queen of the Night – Aigul Khismatullina
Monostatos – Brenton Ryan
First Child – Emily Barton
Second Child – Kaelan O’Sullivan
Third Child – Toby Yates
Speaker of the Temple – Oliver Zwarg
Sarastro – Brindley Sherratt
First Priest – Nicholas Sharratt
Second Priest – Donald Maxwell
First Armoured Man – Egor Zhuravskii
Second Armoured Man – Thomas D. Hopkinson
David McVicar’s manufacturing of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) could be very a lot a identified amount: in 2019, Leo Hussein carried out a relatively lacklustre account; again in 2013 it was Julia Jones conducting a merely marvellous forged together with Simon Keenlyside, Sophie Bevan and Albina Shagimuratova; in 2017, Jones returned to conduct once more, this time with Roderick Williams as probably the most memorable Papagenos of recent occasions.
It is worth it wanting again on these, as regardless of some star turns, this was a relatively disappointing lunchtime Magic Flute (kick-off was 12 midday). Maxim Emelyanychev, who impressed along with his group Il Pomo d’Oro on the Barbican in Joyce DiDonato’s challenge Eden, was maybe slightly shocking in not discovering the brightness on this opera. Magic Flute is a balancing act for each producer and conductor; one on stage, there’s loads of fantasy there; on one other, there’s the Freemasonic ingredient, carefully linked to Isis (in her pronouncedly lunar side) but additionally to the initiatory facets of the so-called secret societies (Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, Ordo Templi Orientis and so forth). In McVicar’s manufacturing, there’s a lesser emphasis on the latter (the initiatory trials have been actually spectacular in, for instance, Simon McBurney’s English National Opera manufacturing – undermined maybe by its slapstick: evaluate right here). And because the revivals pile up (and possibly one thing to do with the timing) it turns into more and more troublesome to not equate the actor-operated serpent of the opening scene with Chinese New Year.
All of which factors in direction of the impossibility of the right staging for Magic Flute; so maybe we’re left with the singers and conductor. Anna Prohaska as Pamina needed to be the massive draw right here. Her voice is fabulous, it must be mentioned, however there was simply the sensation that every one was not effectively in Act I; little shock that there was an announcement that Prohaska was coming down with a chilly simply pre-Act II and so our indulgence was craved. Her efficiency of the very important line ‘Tamino mein’ was maybe lower than it may have been, actually as compared with Sandrine Piau in Gstaad final Summer (Les Talens Lyriques below Christophe Rousset), who made this a soul-melting second.
While Filipe Manu was a suitable Tamino, effectively sung all through, it was maybe Aigul Khismatullina’s Queen of the Night (one in every of three queens for this run) that was the true star. This position will not be all in regards to the excessive notes (though they have been completely positioned); each emotion was brilliantly conveyed, as was the queen’s energy. If Gyula Orendt’s Papageno was a contact missing in a personality, Sarah Dufresne’s Papagena was a beam of comedic mild (a part of me actually needs to see what Rowan Pierce will make of this position although – her flip begins on January 9).
Wonderful to listen to Brindley Sherratt as a clever Sarastro (he shares the position with René Pape, no much less); Brenton Ryan was a powerful Monostatos (little bit of a cartoon character on this manufacturing, so good since he made probably the most of it) whereas, of the three girls, it was Kseniia Nikolaieva’s plummy Third Lady that made the strongest impression by a way.
With the three child-spirits (Emily Barton, Kaelan O’Sullivan, Toby Yates) and the ‘Men in Armour’ because the Royal Opera House programme has them (Egor Zhuravskii, Thomas D. Hopkinson) there was energy in depth to this efficiency however a contact extra magic to this Magic Flute wouldn’t have gone amiss…
Colin Clarke