Saturday March 30, 2024
Fidelio
Review

Fidelio

August 1 2009

FIDELIO Opera Australia, Sydney Opera House, 30 July-29 August 2009; www.sydneyoperahouse.com

FATE dealt this production of Fidelio a curious hand well before the curtain went up on opening night. First, Lisa Gasteen withdrew, nursing a persistent neck injury; rising star Nicole Youl was drafted in to take over. But by production week she was in the grip of Sydney winter plague and another ascendant singer, Elizabeth Stannard, was drafted in her stead. It wasn't that simple however, finding a third singer to take on a role such as Fidelio would tax the resources of most companies; no wonder general manager Adrian Collette is greyer with each passing flu season.

The Stannard story in this context is remarkable: although she has covered the role – in Canada – she has not performed it. As if that were not enough, she has been in Melbourne singing Ariadne (auf Naxos) and could not even come to Sydney until Tuesday. She was at the general rehearsal on Wednesday, and after a nervous, tight-throated, first ten minutes on Thursday evening, she sang and acted the role as if it were hers and did not put a foot or note wrong all evening. Talk about drama. And courage.

Beethoven’s only opera is a rare treat of glorious music, sumptuous intertwining solo voices and choral set pieces that make the ears tingle and the heart soar. Conductor Jonathan Darlington took the overture at a stately and subdued pace but things warmed up as the handsome young turnkey Jacquino (Stephen Smith) and his boss's daughter Marzelline (Lorina Gore) flirt over her pile of laundry. Marzelline's dad, the avuncular gaoler Rocco (Conal Coad) is all for it until he realises there is a better catch on the horizon: Fidelio. And Marzelline is very keen on the newcomer.

Fidelio/Leonore, of course, is in disguise and has come to the prison to find her husband Florestan (Julian Gavin pictured here). He, poor wretch, has been imprisoned and is under threat of death by the evil Don Pizarro (Peter Coleman-Wright). Rocco isn't a bad sort and Fidelio persuades him to allow the prisoners into the yard for a glimpse of sunshine, and also to allow her to venture into the depths in search of Florestan.

The story isn't really the point, although it's noteworthy for its rare happy ending: no soprano was harmed in the making of this opera. But it's the music and voices that people come for and they're not let down on this occasion. The chorus of prisoners is spine-tingling; Julian Gavin is rare and precious talent in these days of middling voices and, in the absence of Lisa Gasteen, Peter Coleman-Wright is the true international voice in this cast. Conal Coad is an OA fixture whose acting and vocal ability continue to serve the company wonderfully well and these two last, in particular anchor the performance for the less experienced and younger singers.

Warwick Fyfe (Don Fernando), Martin Buckingham (First Prisoner) and Andrew Jones (Second Prisoner) are equally solid and excellent while Lorina Gore shines in her most prominent role with the company to date.

Fidelio

And as if Nicole Youl's misfortune were not enough to contend with, the singers also had some rogue electronics going off on them at odd intervals. The low buzzing hum from the back of the auditorium was one thing, but when onstage voices suddenly crackled into amplified life it was downright disconcerting (and that's from the audience's point of view, for the performers it must have been quite unnerving).

There was some interval muttering about singers being miked and what was the world coming to? But the answer was much simpler and more logical: "Due to a malfunction in the sound desk at the Sydney Opera House, a test microphone, installed upstage by the ABC for a future broadcast, was activated and routed through the auditorium. The Sydney Opera House has apologised for this error.

"Opera Australia does not amplify its singers and this was an unfortunate error on the opening night."

All that aside, it was wonderful to hear Beethoven's marvellous music again and heartening to hear so many decent up-and-coming voices in the depths of a flu-ridden Sydney winter.

 

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