Johan Reuter bass baritone; Marjorie Owens, sop.; Franz-Josef Selig, bass; Christopher Ventris, ten.; Miles Mykkanen, ten.; Rosie Aldridge, mezzo. Johannes Debus, cond.; COC Orchestra and Chorus. Four Seasons Centre, October 7, 2022
After three Pandemic-ridden seasons of cancelled and truncated performances, the Canadian Opera Company opened its 2022-23 season — hopefully a full one, COVID Gods willing — with a revival of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. This striking production by Christopher Alden with sets by Allen Moyer originally premiered in 1996. It was an unorthodox take on the Wagner opera, and as a result it received a decidedly mixed reaction at the time.
In three subsequent revivals (2000, 2010, and now 2022), the production has undergone various subtle changes. The white-faced makeup and the prison inmate-like uniform for Dutchman, portrayed by Richard Paul Fink in 1996, disappeared. In fact, the overall concentration camp-like trappings have been toned down. What has remained unchanged is the unit set which fills up the whole stage, a double-raked wooden box, with openings to allow for entry and exits.
With a decidedly Expressionist portrait of the Dutchman prominently displayed even before the curtain rises, the production has a dark, sinister atmosphere. Even the “fun” scenes have a rather macabre feel to the proceedings. While the immovable unit set makes scene changes less than ideal and will likely confuse those unfamiliar with the story, the enclosed sides of the set force the voices forward into the auditorium, making all the singers sounding huge.
For me, the chief pleasure of Dutchman is the magnificent score. This revival has a special meaning, as this opera happened to be conductor Johannes Debus’s first assignment as the newly minted COC Music Director back in 2010. I can’t pretend to remember what his conducting was like 12 years ago, except to say that the intervening dozen years undoubtedly has contributed to his artistic growth. On Friday, he led the COC forces in a beautifully paced reading of the score, with just the right mix of power, beauty, lyricism, and nuance. The sound coming out of the pit was exceptional. It was a performance to savour.
For those unfamiliar with the story, here’s a quick synopsis. The seafaring Dutchman is condemned to sail the seven seas for all eternity, only allowed to go ashore one day every seven years in search of a woman who will redeem him by offering her unconditional love – talk about a patriarchal Romanticist concept of redemption! The Dutchman rewards Daland, a sea captain, with untold riches in exchange for the hand of his daughter Senta in marriage. But the jealous Erik, who’s in love with Senta, spoils everything and Senta ends up sacrificing herself for the Dutchman’s redemption.
The COC has assembled a fine ensemble for the occasion. Four of them are making welcome returns to the Company. Danish bass-baritone Johan Reuter, Wotan in Die Walküre (2015), offered a sympathetic Dutchman and sang with a rich, sturdy tone. American soprano Marjorie Owens, Turandot in 2019, impressed with her big, focused spinto sound, powerful top and vocal stamina, albeit with a more pronounced flutter than I remembered. Kudos to American tenor Miles Mykkanen, last heard in The Nightingale and Other Short Fables (2018), as a wonderful Steuermann. German bass Franz-Josef Selig, King Marke in the 2013 Tristan und Isolde, sang Daland with a huge, imposing bass, some incipient unsteadiness to his tone notwithstanding.
The two remaining cast members are new to the COC. British mezzo Rosie Aldridge made an auspicious debut as Mary. Her performance was fine enough, and it didn’t need some of the silly emoting duties assigned to her character — why in the world would Mary be holding the Dutchman portrait in what appeared to be a mad dance?
The second debutant was British tenor Christopher Ventris, whom I first heard as Clemente in Hans Werner Henze’s Venus und Adonis in Santa Fe way back in 2000. His beautiful lyric tenor has held up well in the intervening 22 years, now with added dramatic heft. It was rumoured that he was originally engaged to sing Parsifal, his signature role. It has been indefinitely postponed, in its place is this Dutchman. Ventris made the most of the thankless role of Erik, made even more unsympathetic in this production as he shoots Senta dead.
Wagner gave the chorus of The Flying Dutchman some of the most stunning music to sing, and the success of this work hinges as much on the chorus as on the principals and the orchestra. A massive shout-out to the COC Chorus for a truly great performance, more remarkable given the reduced rehearsal time due to a rumoured COVID scare.
A curious quirk: there was an unexpected intermission, “unexpected” since the program indicated none. Right before the Dutchman-Senta duet, the music stopped, the stage went black, and the curtain came down. For a fleeting moment, I thought it was another medical emergency, like the one in La Traviata last May. Apparently, a late decision was made to add an intermission, perhaps to help the COVID-weary audience deal with sitting in close quarters for long stretches. It strikes me as unnecessary, but then given opera audiences are of a certain age, I am sure some of them appreciated a washroom break.
As I was sitting there with the incredible Wagner score washing over me, I couldn’t help but think how wonderful it was to be back, and to hear great music live and in person again. Whether you are a devout Wagnerite or simply a music lover, this revival of The Flying Dutchman is well worth experiencing. Six more performances, on October 9, 13, 15, 19, 21, and 23.
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