Hera Hysang-Park (Despina) gives a few wooing techniques to soldiers Huw Montague Rendall (Guglielmo) – left) and Josh Lovell (Ferrando) | Photo: Andrew Perry

Mozart - Così Fan Tutte

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It says a lot that the highlight of the EIF opera offering this year was an inspired concert/semi-staged performance. The talents put together for Mozart and Da Ponte’s timeless opera buffa Così Fan Tutte was a match made in heaven. 

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and chorus powered by their exuberant principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev explored the fickleness of relationships with humour and panache. Vocally the blend was superb with soprano Golda Schultz (Fiordiligi) initially paired with baritone Huw Montague Rendall (Guglielmo) while mezzo Angela Brower as her sister Dorabella and tenor Josh Lovell (Ferrando) played the other couple. The swapping of partners was seamless and touching as Fiordiligi fought to resist temptation unlike the more adventurous Dorabella. Guglielmo’s smugness was short-lived as Fiordiligi eventually caved in to her desires. But their arch manipulators - the outstanding Christopher Maltman as the devious philosopher Don Alfonso and delightful Hera Hyesang Park as the worldy wise chamber maid Despina – had the lion’s share of the laughs.

Emelyanychev, conducting from the fortepiano – providing a more mellow accompaniment than the usual harpsichord – was also complicit in funny asides with the characters. His direction of the orchestra, singers and chorus was magnificent. From the start of the crisp and brisk overture he elicited a perfectly balanced sound from the musicians who played a winning combination of modern and period instruments.

With performances as thrilling and captivating as this, the concert opera is giving fully staged productions a run for their money.

Serebrennikov’s upstairs downstairs set was effective if somewhat cluttered and full of distracting action at times.| Photo: Jess Shurte

Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro

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By contrast Kirill Serebrennikov’s approach in his production of The Marriage of Figaro for Komische Oper Berlin was cluttered with irritating distractions that were exhausting to watch. Fortunately, this did not eclipse the sublime music at the heart of Mozart and De Ponte’s comic opera along with the brilliant performances from the ensemble of singers. They were ably supported in the pit by conductor James Gaffigan and the orchestra who delivered the divine score with aplomb - playful bite of the strings caught the ear throughout.

Heading the outstanding cast was Penny Sofroniadou as Susanna, making the Count (Hubert Zapiór) dance to her tune with help from fiancé Figaro (Peter Kellner) and Cherubina (Patricia Nolz), usually a trouser role. Instead Serebrennikov gives her an alter ego, the deaf non-verbal Cherubino (Georgy Kudrenko), one of four additional acting characters who added little of value to the storyline.

With a spacious contemporary art gallery sitting on top of a smaller dingy basement area, Serebrennikov set up the class divisions nicely. Some of his other ideas, which piled up as the production went on, were intrusive and disturbing. Several of the moving arias, such as when the Countess (Verity Wingate) asks love to give her some comfort in Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro, didn’t get room to breathe as other noisy scenarios took place elsewhere.

In the final scenes the bling level was off the scale for the art opening while the basement looked like a junk yard. For some reason, out of the blue, a young man emerged, knife in hand, climbed upstairs and stabbed several women. Mindless violence has no place on an opera stage no matter how much directors, usually male, might argue the right to challenge and shock.

Kitty Whately (Jocasta) refuses to hear the truth, insisting the oracle always lies | Photo: Jess Shurte

Stravinsky - Oedipus Rex

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There was a chance for people to experience opera up close in Scottish Opera’s promenade performance of Igor Stravinsky and Jean-Cocteau’s neo-classical take on Sophocles’s tragedy Oedipus Rex in the grand gallery of Scotland’s national museum.

Low walkways for the performers framed the orchestra and multi-faceted community chorus who had much to do, including singing in Latin. Scattered throughout the audience they sang confidently and moved throughout the space as they engaged, and even danced, with the people around them. There were also numerous gods strolling among us in fantastical costumes by designer Anna Orton.

Director Roxanna Haines, co-ordinated variable forces well to frame the main action with this Greek classic told from the point of view of the Speaker (Wendy Seager), the museum’s cleaner. Summarising the story (in English), she also managed to dust down the cloak of Oedipus as if he were a fusty relic and wheeled Jocasta off on a rubbish cart after she’d hanged herself.

The singers all had big voices which was just as well, given the voluminous acoustics and their wide placements often at opposite ends of the staging or up on a balcony, with conductor Stuart Stratford keeping them and the orchestra on track. There were solid performances all round from Shengzhi Ren (Oedipus) - initially lauded for slaying the sphinx, he sticks pins in his eyes when he realises he has killed his father and married his mother. Kitty Whately (Jocasta) sang with the haughty grandeur of a queen and they were ably supported by Roland Wood (Creon), Callum Thorpe (Tiresias), Emyr Wyn Jones (Messenger) and Seumas Begg (Shepherd).

eif.co.uk