I made my way as usual crossing what looks like Alexandria (that is what a young Corean student told me when I took her on one of my opera expedition in Marseilles). I cannot tell, I have never been to Alexendria, but yesterday it perhaps looked more like the Rubbish of Caïro: the rubbish collectors have been on strike for two weeks and it is rather surrealistic to see scattered plastic bags blown by the wind and flowering on bare branches everywhere. Le Vieux Port looked calm and quiet, with the sound of indian flutes being played, a complete change of atmosphere from the top of La Rue d'Aix. The Opera house is just round the corner, and it is always a real pleasure to watch the bands of street musicians on the sea front before going to the 'temple'of music with a capital M
It is also a sign of better weather when they settle on the port again.
The exhilarating fun of voices contest and joyful music made this Viaggo worthwhile.Usually, my neighbours hardly exchange a word, a smile, perhaps only a very discreet sigh, but because of Rossini 's champagne effect we ended up chatting altogether, sharing our fun to watch the small black poodle on a red leash being dragged by the extremely conceited French countess! Then Belragio, trying to seduce Corinna, appeared in 1900th stylish swimming trunks! The chorus was also practising indoors sports,( cycling), while some of the girls were supporting the Lord's love despair, stripping him gently and ravinshingly( he was quite handsome actually). The cast was young and talented and the conductor,Luciano Acocella, who knows the orchestra and this House well,
made it sound really like a musical feast! Rossini loves voices, the sextet was heavenly, the music is all in this light and witty libretto, rather empty, when read only.
The unique mezzo of the cast, the marquess of Melibea had a vibrant and strong voice with beautiful round tops, easy belcanto effects and charming ways of expressing feelings; her duets with Libenskof were very fine, as both have promising voices: I will remember them, Kleopatra Papatheologou and Alexey Kudrya. I noticed how elegant the arias for both mezzo and tenor are in this opera, this is not a frequent musical match and here with the beauty of their voices it was a true success.
The recitatives accompanied by the pianoforte gave a Mozart colouring, which I could also feel in the love courting tunes of the characters. It is great fun to hear Don Profondo describe the sophisticated crowd at the Hotel du lys d'or, and that is even funnier when they all sing in turn their national tunes for the final reception, with the noticeable trumpet which 'laughs' at the back: maybe it expresses on the quiet what Rossini thought of this mascarade,afterall, Charles X was a puppet and this opera is a laugh!
Corinna was gorgeous, vocally and physically,Hye Myung Kang who was Mireille last June, made a fantastic poetess with amazing looks and vocal agility! Another very promising talent! Her white dress, fur and feathers with shining pearls suited her so well!
I waited at the artists entrance to see them as I often do, just trying to see if I could recognise them! It was fun to see how young and easy going they all looked. Hye was the last one to leave, she was so nice talking and smiling to an admirer. Kleopatra was wearing a funny sort of checked cap and Alexey was obviously leaving for another long journey, with his case and bags!
The conductor seemed very friendly with the young singers , this cast has been touring France with Il Viaggio and this was the last stop!
I had a friendly chat with three young actors who sometimes do extras on stage, and they loved this production! So did I!
And the little black poodle with the red leash came out in the arms of a young woman who belongs to the chorus ...I think! At the curtain calls it was in the conductor's arms too!
What happened at the end was real fun: Gelsomino pulled out his cap and underneath he was wearing the O.M white woolen hat!
the cast:
D IRECTION MUSICALE
Luciano Acocella
MISE EN SCÈNE
Nicola Berloffa
ASSISTANT
Fabio Cherstich
D ÉCORS ET COSTUMES
Guia Buzzi
LUMI È RES
Gabriele Clementi
Orchestre et Chœur de l’Opéra de Marseille
Je 11 - Ve 12 Sa 13 à 20h Di 14 à 14h30
Corinna
Gabrielle Philiponet (11, 13) / Hye Myung Kang (12,14)
Comtesse de Foleville
Elena Gorshunova (11,13) / Elisabeth Bailey (12,14)
Madame Cortese
Yun Jung Choi (11,13) / Oxana Shilova (12,14)
Marquise de Melibea
Jose Maria Lo Monaco (11, 13) / Kleopatra Papatheologou (12,14)
Maddalena
Ekaterina Metlova
Delia
Celine Kot
Modestina
Rany Boechat
Chevalier Belfiore
Dominique Moralez (11,13) / James Eliott (12,14)
Comte Libenskof Alexey Kudrya (12, 14)
Lord Sidney
Shadi Torbey (11,13) / Istvan Kovacs (12, 14)
Don Profondo
Marco Di Sapia (11, 13) / Gerardo Garciacano (12, 14)
Baron Trombonok
Marc Labonette (11, 13) / Vladimir Stojanovic (12, 14)
Don Alvaro
Dong Jang (11, 13) / Armando Noguera (12, 14)
Don Prudenzio
Chul Jun Kim (11, 13) / Patrick Bolleire (12, 14)
on Luigino
Jean-Christophe Born
Antonio
Yann Toussaint
Zefirino
Baltazar Zuniga
Gelsomino
Romain Pascal
No comments:
Post a Comment