Brian Dickie

Blog back!

Battersea Park from my "room with a view" - 9 am February 28 2018

My blog has been interrupted by a technical glitch preventing me from posting it.  And my indolence used this as an excuse for not writing it.  It now appears to be working again anyway.....

Actually I have had a pretty idle time since I returned from my excellent nine days in Turkey.  But their have been two non domestic/social/family highlights - a recital last week by the ever youthful Joan Rodgers at the V and A, the last recital in the National Opera Studio's lunchtime series there, and the dress rehearsal yesterday morning of the also ever youthful Robert Carsen's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Coliseum yesterday morning.

For me, any recital with Schumann taking up the lion's share of the programme is likely to give me intense pleasure, as the frisson induced by the heart rending beauty of Schumann's melodic genius takes me to a form of "ground zero".  And we had a double dose of that with the Liszt transcription of Widmung splendidly played by Simon Phillippo, preceding Joan Rodgers singing it as the opening song of her first group. And so we proceeded with more Schumann interspersed with readings by David Sulkin, the NOS's Director of Artistic Development, of The Last Rose of Summer and Tennyson's Maud.  And we finished with a group of six Hugo Wolf.  This was as civilised and satisfying an hour as anyone could conceive!

© Patrick Berger

Lawrence Zazzo (Oberon) and Mitros Yerolemou (Puck) in Robert Carsen's A Midsummer Night's Dream - Aix 2015

I was at the first performance in Aix-en-Provence of Robert Carsen's Dream production back in 1991, as I had been of that other ageless production of this magical piece, Peter Hall's at Glyndebourne ten years before.  They both have life in them yet as was recently proved at Glyndebourne, and yesterday morning at the Coliseum.  I will say no more about it - it opens tomorrow and promises to be another feather in the cap of ENO's winter season.  It makes a huge difference to have the original director present for these productions - so it was a professional as well as a personal treat to see Robert, and his designer Michael Levine, at the rehearsal yesterday.  They are old friends and colleagues going back four decades......so many happy memories.

I have been hibernating in the extreme relative cold of London these last days.  Of course, relative to my old home towns of Toronto and Chicago, this is nothing!

Finals!

And so we have got to the end of this wonderful competition in Izmir with the finals in the University division on Wednesday and the Young Professionals (up to the age of 33) last night. And that was really night - we got back to the hotel at 1 am!

On Wednesday the three winners were the splendid natural performer soprano Seray Pinar in her third year of undergraduate study who won with impressive performances of Leila in Bizet's Pêcheurs des Perles and an aria from Donizetti's Betly.  She was the runaway winner but the baritone Alper Ünlütürk was not so far behind with Mozart's Figaro Act 4 aria and a robust and ear catching Turkish song.  And third was a seductive counter tenor who is also a serving soldier in the Turkish army.  That by itself is a winning combination! He gave us Scherza infida from Ariodante and Reynaldo Hahn's ravishing Si mes vers avaient des ailes. That was a lovely choice and he did it justice.

I am greatly impressed by the level generally this year, a good step up from 2016 and a most encouraging sign that young Turkish singers are making a strong impression.  This could be a fertile hunting ground for opera studios looking for exceptional talent to develop.

Yesterday morning we went on an expedition to the old town and naturally took in the bazaar where fruit and nuts and spices are available for silly prices (low) - so we all went shopping!  

However the meat of the day was the gala final yesterday evening in the fine concert hall.  You should be able to see it on this recording of the live stream. I hope that the link works - we shall see!

Our outstanding winner by a significant margin was the 24 year old soprano from Izmir, Ceren Gamze Düskün - a singer to watch, and you can do so in that live stream at approximately 36 minutes in Mimi Act 3 aria, and 1 hour 7 minutes in for Lady Macbeth.  But if you have time do try to listen to the whole evening, best on a decent sized computer screen or TV.

Second place went to a baritone of great confidence and maturity Mehmet Ali Tutar, and third to a tenor Berk Dalkiliç who greatly impressed both as Cavaradossi and Lensky.  That is a voice - a rare young tenor indeed.

It was a strong field and the non winners might easily have won in earlier years. Notable for me was the charming young soprano from Istanbul, just 25, Ekin Su Paker.  She is still sorting out her repertoire, but at her best, in a well chosen piece, she can be outstanding.  See if you can identify her in the live stream!

All in all this has been an extremely rewarding week, some marvellous singing, remarkable hospitality from the team led by the veritable "queen" of Izmir Aytül Büyüksaraç.  She is the moving and ruling spirit of this competition, a superb hostess and a force of nature!!  We all love her.

Our juror Rosemary Joshua left this morning but Ed Berkeley and I have a leisurely tourist day before leaving tomorrow, me to London and Ed home to New York.  They have been great colleagues and we have had a lot of fun, as well as stimulating and thoughtful debate.  I will miss their company. 

 

A day at Pergamon

The Theatre at Pergamon - 2 pm Tuesday 13 February 2018

We jury members had a magical day at Pergamon yesterday, in glorious sunshine. The kindness and generosity of the organisers of the Izmir competition know no bounds.  And as if by magic the rain and cloud of the previous four days gave way to sunshine.  It was paradise.

The temple of Trajan at Pergamon - Tuesday 13 February 2018

Our perfect day was rounded off with more superb Izmir hospitality - a most delicious dinner at the Adabeyi Restaurant on Eiffel's Konak Pier - an obligatory destination for any of you visiting this splendid city of Izmir. And so our happy little group walked back to our hotel along the waterfront at around 10 pm.

This evening we have the finals of the University section - lots of nervous young people no doubt.  Oh dear!

 

Back in Izmir

A morning walk along the Izmir harbour front - Monday February 12

It is a huge pleasure to be back in Izmir for the Young Singers competition which is getting an increasing profile with an outstanding entry from all over Turkey.  I was here two years ago when I had that great experience of Izmir hospitality.  This year we have in addition a stronger field and the last four days has been an exhausting and exhaustive examination culmination with a long day of semi-finals yesterday.  

We have two sections - those still in university or conservatory, and a larger group of young professionals already in the "market place" - including some who are members of the excellent company here in Izmir. We have reduced these to five for the finals of the University category tomorrow evening, and six for the professionals who have a gala final with orchestra on Thursday.

Meanwhile we the jury are going on an expedition to Pergamon today.  I am delighted to be in the company of Ed Berkeley and Rosemary Joshua, great colleagues who add so much wisdom and experience to the process.

It is a sunny morning - a perfect day for our trip!

48 hours in Lisbon

© Bruno Simao

Nadja Michael in the title role Elektra Lisbon February 2018

I arrived in Lisbon on Sunday afternoon and made my way to the Cultural Centre in Bélem, a fifteen minute trip from Lisbon's city centre.  The large concert hall there is home to one production a year from the São Carlos Opera, always a semi staged concert performance given that this is a concert hall rather than an opera house!  However, Nicola Raab did a remarkable job in persuading us that this was not the case with a brave and ingenious production whose powerful effect, aided by the superb orchestra playing under Leo Hussain and the shattering score of Richard Strauss, brought the audience to its feet.

In the title role was the unique stage animal Nadja Michael. Commitment of that kind comes rarely enough.  Alison Oakes as Chrysothemis, Lioba Braun as Clytemnestra, and James Rutherford's Orestes yielded little to her; and it was good to see and hear the excellent Portuguese tenor Marco Alves dos Santos making his mark as Aegisthus.

São Carlos Opera 3:30 pm Monday February 5 2018

It was two delightful days of sunshine in Lisbon replacing the cold of London.  However I am back to face that this evening! This will be only for a day before I fly to Izmir on Thursday - fun coming up!

Glass cleans up

Photo: Tristram Kenton/ENO

Toby Spence and ENO Chorus

Philip Glass divides us all perhaps but there is no denying the mesmerising effect on the listener of Satyagraha, nor the impact pf Phlim McDermott's stunning production, revived this week at the London Coliseum for a third outing.  And it appears to be sold out which is an excellent state of affairs.  We sold out Akhnaten in Chicago all those years ago - its always good to have money in the bank as I know only too well!

Toby Spence is new to the leading role of Ghandi, and he is a more than worthy successor to the remarkable Alan Oke who was there last time. His acute intelligence and gorgeously burnished sound provide the evening with a huge additional pleasure, and he is surrounded by a first rate cast and the exceptional ENO Chorus.  If you can get a ticket, go to it - but be prepared to get into the "zone"! And prepare yourself well with the excellent notes available on the ENO website.  Perversely, you may think, there are no surtitles for this, one of the rare examples of an ENO production not in English!

Photo: Tristram Kenton/ENO

Thursday was a big day because in addition to Satyagraha I was at the moving performance by Matthew Rose and Tom Poster of Winterreise at the V and A at lunchtime. Matthew is deeply inside this cycle after a good few years of increasingly insightful performances.  So that was a totally absorbing 70 minutes which took us to another place........and to another place (of a different kind) again yesterday - that I could not manage!

I am off to Lisbon tomorrow morning quite early, for three days, then on Thursday to Izmir for nine.  So good stuff coming up!