SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Verdi, Aïda: Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of the Chisinau National Opera/Nicholae Dohotaru, Hackney Empire, London, 3.5.2009 (J-PJ)

Cast:

Aïda – Elena Dee
Radames – Patrizio Ha
Amneris – Zarui Vardandean
Amonasro – Vladimir Dragos
Ramfis – Valeriu Cojocaru
Pharaoh – Igor Sviridov
The Messenger – Anatol Arcea

Production:

Ellen Kent (director)
Will Bown (set design)


Opera returned to the Hackney Empire in east London with a one-off staging of Verdi’s Aïda. Presented by Ellen Kent Amphitheatre Productions, the production sought to present grand opera on a lavish scale, with a set design based on the monuments of the ancient world. Inevitably, perhaps, reality didn’t quite live up to that promise. The ‘amphitheatre’ set was a simple two-tiered curved affair with supporting classical columns, rather at odds with the opera’s ancient Egyptian theme. Costumes, too, were an uncomfortable mix of fancy dress ‘Egyptian’ (crimped black wigs, sandals and the like), Ottoman turbans and flowing ballet shifts. Indeed, the production would have been much more successful if it had tried to be less self-consciously ‘exotic’, and more truthful to the simplicity of Verdi’s tragedy.

The production was on much firmer ground with the quality of its performances. Elena Dee was a fine voiced and sensitive Aïda. Her singing of ‘O Patria Mia’ was genuinely moving, and her sense of anguish on hearing of the supposed death of Radames was totally convincing. Unfortunately, she lacked sufficient stage presence or acting ability to really carry off the role. Dee had a slightly disappointing partner in Patrizio Ha’s Radames. Solid but rather stiff, his rendition of ‘Celeste Aïda’ almost passed unnoticed. Only in the last two Acts did he seem to grow into the role and  his final duet with Aïda in the bowels of the temple-tomb was one of the production’s finest moments.

Zarui Vardandean was an impressive Amneris with the vocal range and power really to  breathe life into this central character. Her acting skills supported her ability to move from passion to spite and towards a final, peaceful, resignation. Also noteworthy was Vladimir Dragos as Aïda’s father Amonasro. His powerful voice and presence dominated the scenes in which he appeared, and his confrontation with Aïda in Act III was one of the dramatic highlights of the opera.

The soloists received strong support from the chorus, which sang effectively in spite of their fairly small forces. Again, however, weak acting and static stage direction left them looking uncomfortable much of the time. The orchestra of the Chisinau National Opera played well throughout, under the baton of Nicholae Dohotaru. Thumping brass and percussion enlivened the disappointing triumphal scenes on stage, while more delicate string playing supported singing in the more intimate scenes which generally worked best.

John-Pierre Joyce

Note: Producer Ellen Kent  announced recentlythat she   is taking a step back from touring.  She has orchestrated opera tours since 1993 but Ellen believes the time has come to pause the opera and ballet tours after summer 2009 and take her next big step in life to coincide with her 60^th birthday in April. 

Ms Kent  was awarded 12 separate BSIS awards from 1987- 1996, won awards in two consecutive years from SFX (Livenation) for breaking all opera box office records in the history of the Manchester Opera House and was one of the first businesses to gain a grant from the National Lottery.  Her operas have been nominated and received awards for ‘Best Opera’ and ‘Best Contribution to Theatre in Liverpool’ by the Liverpool Daily Post Awards and she has herself been nominated twice as ‘European Women of the Year’. Ed

^{Back to Top                                                    Cumulative Index Page}