Reviewed by James
Karas
The Aix-en-Provence Festival
has achieved a double triumph in its productions of two one-act operas. They
are Peter Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Igor Stravinsky’s Persephone.
Both operas are directed by Peter Sellars and his idiosyncratic approach which
can range from the bizarre to the brilliant is in this instant, well, simply
brilliant. Sellars and Set Designer George Tsypin and Lighting Director James
F. Ingalls have found points of similarity between the very different works and
the productions and performances are outstanding.
Iolanta (Ekaterina
Scherbachenko) is a blind princess who is kept ignorant of her sightlessness. She lives in the
forest and her father King Rene (Dimitry Ulyanov) threatens with death anyone
who will disclose to Iolanta that she is blind. A knight named Vaudémont (Arnold Rutkowski) arrives with his friend Robert (Maxim Aniskin)
and falls in love with the princess. Robert was betrothed to Iolanta in
childhood but he is in love with someone else. Dr. Ibn-Hakia (Willard White)
cures her of her blindness and the fairy tale ends happily.
Russian soprano
Scherbachenko sings a marvelously moving and affecting Iolanta. She and tenor Rutkowski
sing some gorgeous arias. Ulyanov has a powerful bass voice and made a very
strong and assertive king. Jamaican baritone White has been around the block
many times but he holds his own with an expressive performance.
Major credit for the
production is due to Sellars. The set consists of little more than four
doorways with some decorative figures on top. Lighting is of great importance.
Iolanta lives in darkness and there is very little movement. The change in
lighting emphasizes the darkness and stillness of her world. We see shadows and
silhouettes. The costumes are almost entirely black.
At the end all is
resolved and the chorus sings a capella
a sublime hymn to the Holy Trinity. This is followed by a rousing Gloria to
bring the opera to a glorious end.
Sellars uses the
same set for Persephone but with different lighting and effects. The opera
is based on a poem by Andre Gide and tells the story of the abduction of the
daughter of the goddess Demeter by Pluto, the god of the underworld.
The opera is part
recitation, part singing and part ballet. Eumolpus, the son of Poseidon and
founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries, recites part of the story from Homer about
the abduction of Persephone. He is an old man leaning on a white stick and
tells/sings the story, we can assume, like a Homeric bard. American tenor Paul
Groves does well in the role.
Actress Dominique
Blanc plays the role of Persephone with considerable dramatic effect. The rest
of the opera is performed by a Cambodian dance group called Amrita Performing
Arts. Sathya Sam dances Persephone, Sodhachivy Chumvan dances Demeter, Chan
Sithyka Khon is Pluton and Narim Nam takes on the roles of Mercury, Demophon
and Triptolemos. They dance in classic Cambodian style with economical but
expressive movements.
The opera has three
tableaux: The Abduction of Persephone, Persephone in Hades and the Rebirth of
Persephone.
Teodor Currentzis conducted the orchestra and chorus
of the Opéra national de Lyon in exceptional performances of Tchaikovsky’s and
Stravinsky’s music.
Sellars created
these productions for the Teatro Real de Madrid in 2012 and one can only
applaud the Aix Festival for reprising them. Is anyone listening in Toronto?
From Hades to
Cambodia, from medieval Europe to 19th century Russia, not to
mention 1930’s Paris and recent Madrid – all those disparate elements gathered
in Aix-en-Provence for a hymn of praise and glory and a great night at the
opera.
______
IOLANTA by Peter Tchaikovsky and PERSEPHONE by Igor Stravinsky opened
on July 5 and will be performed five times until July 19, 2015 at the Grand Théâtre
de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France. http://festival-aix.com/
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