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(Lithuanian National Opera Website):
(Lithuanian Ballet Theatre Website)
(Estonian National Opera Website)
(Staatsoper unter den linden, Berlin Website)
(Hungarian National Opera, Budapest Website)
Professor Josephine Reiter
May 12 – 22, 2005
Opera and Ballet are alive and well in the Baltic capitals, Berlin, and Budapest, this spring. Given their rich performance tradition, the Berlin Staatsoper unter den Linden and the Hungarian National Opera continue to feature the masterworks of the German and Italian opera repertory and Russian ballet in interesting productions. Although the Metropolitan Opera Lincoln Center has double the number of seats, it is still possible to get tickets to these eastern European venues at reasonable cost. Moreover the wide appeal opera and ballet to both young and old audiences in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as Germany and Hungary, is impressive. Curtain times are earlier by an hour or an hour and a half.
UN BALLO IN MASCHERE [KAUKIŲ BALUS]
A MASKED BALL
Lithuanian National Opera, Vilnius
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto: Somma
Conductor: Martynas Staškus
Cast:
Count Riccardo: Vytautas Kurnickas
Renato: Vytaitas Juozapaitis
Amelia: Irena Milkevičiütė
Ulrica: Ligita Račkauskaitė
Oscar: Irena Zelenkauskaitė
This was a first-rate production set not in Verdi’s 17th-century time-frame but with 19th-century costumes and sets and very dramatic lighting. The orchestra under Martynas Staškus was excellent; the chorus could move on stage with ease while making a full sound; and the ensembles were beautiful. The strongest singers on the stage were the baritone Vytaitas Juozapaitis (Renato) and soprano Irena Milkevičiütė (Amelia).
The opera house appears to be half the size of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. The performance began at 6:00 p.m. and with two intermissions was over at 9:30 p.m. Hence, the earlier hour attracted an audience, made up of young children, their parents and elders, as well as young adults.
SWAN LAKE [Guilbių Ežeras]
Lithuanian Ballet Theatre, Vilnius
Friday, May 13, 2005
Music: Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Conductor: Vytautas Viržoni
Cast:
Odette, Odile: Olga Konošenko
Prince Siegfriedas: Aurimas Paulauskas
Rothbart: Aurelijus Daraškevičius
Jester: Valerijus Fadejevas
Pas de trios: Kristina Kanišauskaitė, Rūta Kudžmaitė, Nerijus Juška
The National Ballet performed in the opera house the following evening. The choreography was by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, in a renewed version by Konstantin Sergejev. This was a beautiful and very traditional production of one of the great ballets in the entire repertoire. The prima ballerina Olga Konošenko was superb: disciplined, moving with ease and control, and with such feeling. This is classical romantic ballet at its best. It continues to engage audiences no matter how many times they may have experienced it. The program booklet was mainly in two languages: Lithuanian and Russian, with a few pages in English for the tourists. Again the audience was made up of people of many ages; and the curtain was at 6:00 p.m.
Both orchestral conductors were young men, who paced these very familiar works of Verdi and Tchaikovsky with intelligence and style.
THE BRIGHT STREAM [Gaišais Strauts]
Latvian National Ballet, Riga
Saturday, May 14, 2005
http://www.opera.lt/DesktopDefault.aspx?alias=www.opera.lt/English
Music: Dmitry Shostakovich
Conductor: Normunds ...nē
Cast:
Zina: Baiba Kokina
Pjotrs: Pāvels Vasiļčenko
Balerina: Jūlija Gurviča
Baletdejotājs: Aleksejs Avečkins
Gaļina: Jekaterina Novikova
Akordeonists: Intars Kleinhofs
Atpūtniece: Dace Lapiņa
Atpūtnieks: Tālis Sils
The Bright Stream is a comic ballet in two acts, based on a libretto by Adrian Piotrovsky and Fiodor Lopukhov, with choreography by Alexei Ratmansky. This was a refreshing production: satiric music, superb comedic dancers, and a responsive orchestra under the baton of Normunds ...nē. Set in the 1930’s this bright, lively ballet was banned by Stalin in 1935. The Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra will premiere this dynamic work at the Metropolitan Opera House Lincoln Center in late July. It is pure pleasure—a delight to both children and adults.
TOSCA
Estonian National Opera, Tallinn
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Music: Giacomo Puccini
Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Conductor: Arvo Volmer
Cast:
Floria Tosca: Oksana Dyka
Mario Cavaradossi: Algirdas Janutas
Baron Scarpia: Sergei Leiferkus
This was a wonderful production of Puccini’s gripping music drama based on Sardou’s melodrama La Tosca. Puccini combines the best of Verdi and Wagner with splendid melodies and colorful orchestration with leitmotifs [e.g. Scarpia’s violence, Tosca’s jealousy, Cavaradossi’s love] permeating the opera. The sets were both old and new in that the 19th-century period setting appeared to be wrapped in a modern scaffolding. Arno Volmer’s pacing was effective and the orchestra made a gorgeous sound. Two of the three singers—Tosca and Scarpia—were very strong. Oksana Dyka, the Ukrainian soprano, is a true lirico spinto, i.e, she has deep low notes and moves into her silken upper register with such ease. Both she and the big, bad baritone Sergei Leiferkus can act.
The Estonian National Opera House shares the same square with the Concert Hall. It reminds a United States visitor of the baseball/football stadium complexes in Kansas City or Pittsburgh. Moreover, it is evidence of the popularity of opera, ballet, and classical concert music, in the proud Baltic state of Estonia.
TANNHÄUSER
Staatsoper unter den linden, Berlin
Friday, May 20, 2005
Music and Libretto: Richard Wagner
Conductor: Dan Ettinger
Cast:
Tannhäuser: Robert Gambil
Venus/Elisabeth: Angela Denoke
Wolfram von Eschenbach: Roman Trekel
Hermann, Landgraf: Kwangchul Youn
Walter von der Vogelweide: Burkhard Fritz
The Berlin State Opera unter den linden is a major international opera house. This production was grand. The sets were modern; and the singers were excellent. German soprano Angela Denoke, who debuted at the Metropolitan Opera this past season as the Marchallin in ROSENKAVALIER, sang the duel roles of the seductive Venus and the pure Elisabeth in the Berlin Tannhäuser. Equally impressive were baritone Roman Trekel (Wolfram) and the Korean bass Kwangchul Youn (Landgraf), who sang the same role this past season at the Met. The opera chorus. so important in any production of this particular opera, sang with beauty, feeling, and power. Tannhäuser is a very accessible German romantic opera. It was a pleasure to hear Wagner’s music drama in such a fine venue with a stellar cast.
OTELLO
Hungarian National Opera, Budapest
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto: Arrigo Boito
Conductor: Lukás Ervin
Cast:
Otello: Bándi János
Desdemona: Cserna Ildikó
Iago: Perencz Béla
The Hungarian National Opera’s Otello was uneven. Baritone Perencz Béla (Iago) was the strongest singer on the stage. He moved effortlessly and exploited a range of color with his voice to match the mood of the scene. Bandi János, singing the demanding tenor role of Otello, appeared to gain confidence after the opening scene with its wild high-note entrance for the victorious Moor. The orchestra and chorus under Maestro Ervin’s baton are first-rate. Both the rich costumes and beautiful sets created a realistic context for Verdi’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s tale via Boito’s libretto.
The Hungarian National Opera House in Budapest is reminiscent of the Vienna Staatsoper in the grand 19th-century style with sweeping staircases and public space encasing a superb hall acoustically inside. This is also an opera house steeped in tradition. Gustav Mahler and Georg Solti served as music directors here early in their respective conducting careers.
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