Ivars Taurins conducts Artists of The Glenn Gould School Vocal Program and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in George Frideric Handel’s Alcina.
Royal Conservatory of Music: Handel’s Alcina with Leon Major (Director) and Ivars Taurins (conductor) at Koerner Hall; Wed. March 16.
Handel’s Alcina premiered in April 1735, making this piece some 281 years old. After a revival three years after its premiere, it was forgotten, languishing on the shelf unperformed until nearly two hundred years later, in the 1920’s. Then it was up to Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland to bring it out of obscurity, first at La Fenice and the Dallas Opera in 1960 and later at Covent Garden. It was at Venice where her performance was so captivating that fans dubbed her La Stupenda, such was the power of Dame Joan and the magic of this magnificent score.
We seem to be in a bit of a golden age when it comes to this opera. There have been several notable revivals, such as Renee Fleming at the Chicago Lyric and Paris Opera nearly twenty years ago and more recently by Joyce DiDonato in concert at Carnegie and the Barbican Centre. Patricia Petibon also sang it at Aix en Provence, and Anja Harteros in Vienna. Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin recorded Morgana for Alan Curtis on the Archiv label, and sang her first Alcina in Madrid last fall. Almost all of these were Regieoper productions. The only purely period production I am aware of was Opera Atelier’s two seasons ago starring Meghan Lindsay, Allyson McHardy, Wallis Giunta, Mireille Asselin and Kresimir Spicer.
The vocal writing in Alcina is spectacular to be sure. True devotees would say even the story is wonderful, although I find that a stretch. But then I confess I’m soap-opera challenged, and this piece is as soapy as any, albeit couched in history and gravitas. It’s not easy to keep the story straight – even Italian verismo potboilers don’t seem to be as seething with sex and violence as this Handel. For plot details, go to wikipedia.org.
When it was announced that the Glenn Gould School was putting on Alcina, it made one sit up and take notice, given the daunting demands this opera places on the singers. Ivars Taurins, long the choral director of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, would make his staged operatic conducting debut. Many of us have experienced his Sing Along Messiah every Christmas. Also newsworthy was the engagement of veteran stage director Leon Major, who at 83 has had immense experience but apparently not this piece. If tonight’s performance was any indication, the RCM’s audacious gamble paid off handsomely.
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For two hours forty-five minutes, the small but attentive audience – I spotted many singers, teachers and loyal opera fans – was treated to a enjoyable performance. The set was bare-bones to be sure – this is a student performance after all, and Koerner Hall is not an opera house and has no orchestra pit. With just a few archways, platforms, lamp stands, a few chairs, etc. enhanced by judicious lighting, Leon Major and the creative team managed to make it functional and dramatically effective, no easy task. This opera has seven principals, but there were many more on stage, masked, acting as silent supernumeraries, a very effective solution.
For me, the chief pleasure of the evening was the singing. All the principals had young, freshly beautiful, well-trained voices, full of energy and enthusiasm. While not everything was note-perfect all the time – yes, there were some smudged coloratura runs, maybe a strained top note here and there or a passage straying off pitch, but overall it was as fine a young artist performance as one could expect of this daunting score. Top vocal honours went to soprano Meghan Jamieson in the title role. She commanded the stage powerfully and un-self-consciously in her long scena, “Ah! Mio cor! Schernito sei”, very impressive singing, beautifully supported by Taurins and the orchestra. Also very fine were the two mezzo-sopranos – Christina Campsall (Ruggiero) and Lillian Brooks (Bradamante). From my vantage point in the auditorium, they looked amazingly alike, almost like twins! If Ruggiero hadn’t been in tie and jacket, I would have trouble telling them apart. Their low mezzo timbres are also similar, with Brooks (Bradamante) perhaps slightly more lyric in sound. Campsall sang a lovely “Verdi prati”, one of the best-known pieces in this opera. Lyric soprano Irina Medvedeva was a sex-crazed, almost over-the-top Morgana, offering a nice “Credete al mio dolore.” As Oronte, tenor Asitha Tennekoon showed off his nice plangent sound.
The RCM Orchestra played very well under Ivars Taurins, who conducted with verve, sensitivity and well-judged tempi. One would never have guessed that this was Taurins’ staged opera conducting debut. The strings were fine, the brass too, despite the heavy workout they were subjected to! There were some cuts, understandable since a complete Alcina makes for a very long evening. There was no chorus which proved to be problematic. Without chorus and no dancers, the ending became very abrupt. These quibbles aside, it was a very enjoyable evening.
Alcina repeats March 18, at 7:30 p.m. Details found here.
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