Brian Dickie

Garsington's Don

© Johan Persson

Jonathon McGovern a charismatic Don Giovanni at Garsington

I hugely enjoyed Don Giovanni at Garsington last night. Jonathan McGovern in the title role and David Ireland as his long suffering Leporello were a perfect match, Michael Boyd's production making perfect sense bringing clarity to their relationship. And this clarity informed Boyd's production throughout, something that is important to a theatre director which so often eludes so many of their purely operatic brethren.  But while this was a great evening of theatre the musical pleasures remained dominant - Prima la musica, dopo le parole - the old argument!  We had that last year with Capriccio and don't need to pursue the matter further!

© Johan Persson

Finale Act 1 - the great escape!

The male cast was completed by the most elegant young Mozartian of the day, Trystan Llyr Griffiths, the imposing young bass Thomas Faulkner as Masetto, and the hugely experienced and imposing Paul Whelan as Commendatore. Sky Ingram was a splendidly angry Donna Elvira - most impressive, Camila Titinger a deeply traumatised Donna Anna, and Mireille Asselin a convincingly defiant Zerlina.  It was a wonderfully prepared and well balanced cast delivering top notch music making under the increasingly authoritative Douglas Boyd - who is also Garsington's Artistic Director.

This was not your everyday Don Giovanni production - much much more interesting than that.

Yet another week of Neue Stimmen gone!

The days go zooming by and it is 5 days since I left Madrid after an afternoon of auditions which yielded one exciting qualifier for the finals plus some strong candidates for the wait list which we will be reviewing in depth after the Munich auditions which are June 11-12.  Meanwhile we have Dublin next week, there has been two days of auditions in Bologna conducted by Evamaria Wieser, and Evamaria is in Riga next week where we have done very well indeed in past years.  In the USA next week Alexander Neef will hear the candidates who have applied to sing in Santa Fe.  Following Munich Evamaria will take in Moscow and Vienna and that will be that for Europe.  South Africa comes in July and China and Japan in September......

This week we did London at the Royal Opera House - the longest list ever here so we spread it over two days.  And there was some good pickings.  At this stage we are still setting the bench mark quite high so as ever there were more waitlisters than qualifiers.  But there four of the latter which is a very fruitful outcome indeed........

Meanwhile there was some actual opera - last Friday evening in the Teatro Real a Hauptprobe of Christof Loy's very beautiful and interesting new production of one of my top favourites Richard Strauss's Capriccio. It seems that Swedish sopranos have a particular affinity with the role of the Countess.  Elisabeth Soderstrom was glorious in the role at Glyndebourne in 1963, and then again in the 1970s. Miah Persson was stunning in the part last year at Garsington - and now Madrid has the huge treat of the magical Malin Byström - just wonderful, and well worth a special trip to Madrid just for this!  It is a co-production with Zurich and Gothenburg so maybe you can catch it there in due course.

And now I have an orgy of opera this week, with Garsington's 30th anniversary season opening last night with a delicious production by Paul Curran of Smetana's Bartered Bride.  Tonight is the opening of Don Giovanni and on Sunday I am at Glyndebourne for Berlioz's Damnation de Faust.

There was wonderful singing from the four main Bartered Bride principals and a terrifically strong cast overall, not to mention the remarkable Garsington Chorus and the acrobats and jugglers! Natalia Romaniw and Brenden Gunnell as the young lovers were immaculate vocally, thrilling indeed.  And Stuart Jackson and Joshua Bloom each gave rounded and splendidly sung comic performances as Vasek and Kecal. And there was the additional luxury of the Philharmonia Orchestra in the pit playing immaculately and idiomatically for Jac van Steen.  A joyous evening indeed.

And when you go to Garsington this year do not forget to pick up the 2019 edition of the Garsington mug, designed as in most previous recent years since 2013, by my talented nephew Zeb Helm!  This year's will make it six - a very nice collection to have!

Hectic week

Since I arrived in Amsterdam last Friday I feel as though I have been sprinting non stop and by the time I got home briefly on Tuesday just before midnight I was thinking "there has to be a better way"!  Well there is - I am now in Madrid for some well earned leisure. The auditions are this afternoon and we will be done in time for me to go to the Capriccio Pre Dress at the Teatro Real, followed by a late Spanish dinner.  And yesterday evening some refreshment at sun down with Justin Way, a much loved colleague from Chicago days, and a pillar now of the Teatro Real. Madrid is deliciously warm - 28C which is around 83F. 

We had a really good day in Amsterdam last Saturday - rich pickings indeed with two qualifiers and no less than seven really excellent young people on the waiting list which we will be diving into after the Munich auditions which are on June 11 and 12. We were delighted to  find one candidate out of nowhere - it is usually the case that at least the names of the best ones are familiar to us.  So it is is always a treat to have a Eureka moment - they are few and far between and wonderful!

Our long day in Amsterdam ended with a dinner with our hosts at the Dutch National Opera, Sophie de Lindt and Rosemary Joshua, at the lovely and excellent Plantage Restaurant (seen above).  Delicious in all respects and a great opportunity to celebrate Sophie's first season as the director of the DNO. She is on the Neue Stimmen finals jury so we are looking forward to seeing her in the peace and quiet of Gütersloh for a whole week in October!

Next stop was Frankfurt where we took in a performance of Rodelinda and a recital by Cecelia Hall in addition to two very intensive days of auditions. 

Claus Guth's very beautiful production of Rodelinda originated in Madrid - and it was a pleasure to hear and see Lucy Crowe on top form as well as two former successful Neue Stimmen finalists, Jakub Józef Orliński  and Božidar Smiljanić making distinguished contributions to a great evening of Handel singing.  

Following the auditions on Monday Cecelia Hall gave a delicious short recital of Mahler and Schoenberg songs, followed by a ravishing performance of Les nuits d'été.  How wonderfully Cecelia has blossomed as an artist since I first heard her as an undergraduate at De Paul all those years ago, then in Juilliard, and then in the title role in COT's Teseo back in 2012. She has some great assignments coming up in Frankfurt where she is currently singing Marguerite in their Damnation de Faust.  If you are in Frankfurt in the coming year you may well be lucky!!

Of course the main purpose of my Frankfurt visit was the auditions - and the great pleasure was being with Bernd Loebe, director of the Frankfurt Opera, and a formidable companion on the audition panel.  His track record of hiring remarkable young singers before anyone else is second to none. We found some finalists but I am not sure that there were any of those Eureka moments that I always hope for!

And so on Tuesday I returned to London arriving home in Battersea just before midnight. A day off, then yesterday to Madrid. 

Our auditions today are in the Teatro Real, seen here yesterday evening, as every evening, with lots of people around in the warmth at the end of the day.  I am so happy to be in this wonderful city again!

 

Onward to Amsterdam.......

The two days in Berlin yielded some finalists, as expected.  Nevertheless it was a little disappointing.  But this year we are in Frankfurt for the first time - on Monday and Tuesday coming up and a good many of the best will be auditioning there.  Meanwhile in Gothenburg on Thursday there were a couple of terrific sopranos but unavoidably at theirs stage we have to wait to see what the soprano picture looks like by the time we have finished with Amsterdam and Frankfurt.  And there should also be rich pickings in Munich and Vienna in June.

Today we have an excellent list in Amsterdam where we are hosted by the Dutch National Opera whose new director is Sophie de Lint who is also on our jury for the finals in Gütersloh in October.  We are looking forward to seeing her, as well as Rosemary Joshua who is director of the Opera Studio at DNO, also Damià Carbonell Nicolau who is the new Head of Artistic affairs.  This is a great team!

View from the Gothenburg Opera House!

In Gothenberg it was a treat to see a revival of Stephen Langridge's production of Le nozze di Figaro, with splendid designs by George Souglides.  The standout in a largely Swedish cast was the Cherubino, the Norwegian Adrian Angelico. And Rory McDonald presided in the pit with the formidable combination of energy and precision.  

Walking along Herengracht 8:30 pm Friday May 17 2019

Yesterday evening Ines Koring, Sophie Joyce and I, after a quick cocktail with Rosy Joshua, enjoyed a really excellent and relaxed dinner in the terrific Restaurant Harmsen. It is in  Utrechtsestraat half a block from Herengracht, and you can buy unique boots from a store in the same block, as well as other stuff not available legally in London.  But don't try to bring it home!

Now for a long day of auditions.  It looks promising!

Berlin

Off I am now on a quick tour over the next ten days - starting in Berlin yesterday and today with auditions at the Staatsoper.  We have two heavy days from 10 am to 8 pm with eight singers an hour if they all show up. Yesterday just 54 made it to the audition - it was tough!  And I guess today will be the same.

I have joined two other colleagues, Evamaria Wieser and Sophie Joyce, so I am able to share the stress of listening to more than 100 singers over the two days.  Berlin ought to yield four or five finalists and produced soprano winners in 2007 (Marina Rebeka) and 2015 (Elsa Dreisig).  So we look forward to great quality here.  After day 1 we seem to be on target. 

I had a busy last week.  On Thursday I was at the Orange Tree in Richmond for a new play by Zoe Cooper - Out of Water. The Orange Tree is consistently providing top notch theatre at affordable prices in a magical small space.  Richmond is easy to get to whether by train or tube, and the theatre is two minutes walk from the station with a Carluccio and the excellent Bacco next door for refreshment. If you haven't been there give it a try and you will be thrilled - and if has been some time since you were there its good news that it is on top form.

On Saturday morning I was at the piano run of Garsington's new Don Giovanni.  We are in for a treat - I will be back in time for the dress rehearsal on May 26.  Until then..........

And Saturday evening was a visit to the Barbican for the excellent programme by the BBC Symphony.  We had Augusta Read Thomas, Osvaldo Golijov, and John Adams.  It was a treat to see Joana Carneiro in charge of the BBCSO.  She was with us in Chicago for John Adams' Flowering Tree back in 2008 since when her conducting career has blossomed.  She is Principal Conductor of the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra in her home town of Lisbon with a busy calendar throughout Europe as time allows.  In fact she is in Gothenburg this week when I am there after Berlin but my audition schedule and Figaro at the Gothenburg Opera will prevent me being at her concert.

My final report from Berlin may have to wait - there is an early start for Gothenburg tomorrow morning - 7:15!

National Opera Studio's "Devotion and Desire"

NOS Young Artists, pianists and director Emma Jenkins at Regent Hall Wednesday May 8 2019

The National Opera Studio presented a most enjoyable evening at the Regent Hall in Oxford Street yesterday evening. It was an opportunity to showcase the product of the young artists' residency at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff - with a themed programme devised and directed by Emma Jenkins.

It is fascinating to watch the progress of the National Opera Studio artists during the course of their year long stint at the NOS - from the introductory recital programme that I saw back in September at Bob Boas's Mansfield street house through the various other events subsequently, and last night as they draw to the close of their time there.  Each has, it seems to me, come on in leaps and bounds so it is gratifying to see how well this advanced development and training programme is working.

We were treated to Donizetti (Lucia and Anna Bolena), Handel with a splendid Crude furie from JungKwon Jang, Ping Pang and Pong from Turandot with Jake Muffett, Ben Smith, and Adam Temple-Smith showing off their varied skills in singing acting and dancing, an extended sequence from Figaro Act 2 including a charming Voi che sapete from Margo Arsane, and the delicious final duet from Poppea with JungKon Jang a ravishing Nero to Charlie Drummond's beautifully balanced Poppea.

The slightly shorter second half allowed the two baritones Nicholas Mogg and Jake Muffett to show off the huge development in their work in the last eight months - so gratifying.  And I was particularly delighted that the evening ended with a snippet from Shostakovich's Moskva, Cheryomushki, a piece that we did in Chicago to great applause in my last year there 2012.

I am looking forward their contemporary opera program, "Voices of Now", in June at the RADA Studio Theatre.  Do try to get there to hear these exceptional emerging artists.

Another week gone!

Oh how time flies!  It is a week since I got back from my lovely trip to Chicago and I am now going to be off again on Monday for ten days of Neue Stimmen auditions in four cities, starting in Berlin. But more about that as it happens.

Meanwhile I had a tooth extracted, dinner with Tom Graham, and family time with two of my children and three of my grandchildren.  However, there was a huge pleasure on Sunday afternoon at the Wigmore Hall where Irish mezzo Paula Murrihy delighted us with Lieder by Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, and Robert and Clara Schumann - a lovely idea impeccably executed by Paula and Malcolm Martineau.  I first heard Paula when she was an undergraduate at the New England Conservatory.  She was a finalist in Neue Stimmen in 2007 and joined the Frankfurt Opera on a Fest contract.  But she was also with us in Chicago as Annio in Christopher Alden's beautiful production of Tito in 2009.  She is a real star now, a marvellous singer who brought tears to my eyes often enough, particularly in the Schumann - but even more so in her magical unaccompanied performance of an Irish song which she gave us as an encore. A perfect Sunday afternoon interlude indeed.

© Tristram Kenton/Guardian

Bill Pullman, Colin Morgan, Sally Field and Jenna Coleman in Arthur Miller's All My Sons at the Old Vic

Last night I was at a stunning performance of All my Sons at the Old Vic - a play written in 1947 but with some shocking topicality.  All Boeing executives might be advised to attend......There were devastating performances from Bill Pullman and Sally Field, and quite splendid ones from Colin Morgan and Jenna Coleman. After we had composed ourselves after the shattering last 15 minutes there was a rare standing ovation.  A great night in the theatre so do try to beg borrow or steal a ticket.

I have some opera this evening, more theatre tomorrow, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican on Saturday.  Life is far from boring!