Germany Verdi, Il trovatore: Soloists, Chorus, Extra-Chorus of Staatstheater Braunschweig, Staatsorchester Braunschweig / Srba Dinić (conductor). Burgplatz, Braunschweig, 1.9.2024. (DM-D)
Production:
Director – Jan Essinger
Stage design – Marc Weeger
Costume design – Natasha Maraval
Choreographer – Emma Woods
Dramaturgy – Björn Sneela
Chorus directors – Georg Menskes, Johanna Motter
Cast:
Count di Luna – Dmitry Lavrov
Leonora – Cristiana Oliveira
Azucena – Nora Sourouzian
Manrico – Diego Godoy
Ferrando – Rainer Mesecke
Ines – Milda Tubelyté
Ruiz – Sunguk Choi
Old Man – Vladimir Miakotine
Messenger – Andreas Sebastian Mulink
Azucena’s mother – Stefanie Graeber
Azucena’s son – Arno Inan
For more than two decades by, Staatstheater Braunschweig has made use of the impressive scenery of the city square, surrounded by a castle, a grand minster and several equally elaborate city mansions, by setting up an outdoor arena for the presentation of around twenty performances of a tailor-made production of an opera, operetta or musical. This year’s choice was Il trovatore.
The production notes emphasise the production’s awareness that the workers singing the anvil chorus, the characters around Manrico and Azucena, were associated by Verdi with ‘gypsies’. The production team point out that they share the German Central Association of Sinti and Roma’s concern about the derogatory and racist connotations of the concept. Hence, in their work and the German surtitles, they refer to the members of that group as ‘gitano’, the term used by Roma in Spain to refer to themselves.
Marc Weeger designed a set on a number of round, oval and square wooden platforms, which shifted in relation to each other and to the narrow passageways separating them. The round elements revolved in their own right. This arrangement allowed for scenes to be blocked so as to be suitable for the presentation in arena style, well visible from all sides. Natasha Maraval’s costumes invoked generic Middle Ages through the chorus, Count di Luna and Ferrando, while Leonora and Ines wore more contemporary dresses, in striking green and yellow, while Azucena was in conventional black. Jan Essinger’s staging brought out the core of the characters’ deep emotional turmoil, thus avoiding stereotyping and melodrama – quite an achievement, given the origins of the opera and its plot. The production introduced Azucena’s mother and son as silent commentators on the plot, a black figure with red make-up around her eyes, and a figure all in white, respectively – both invoking Japanese classical theatre.
The orchestra was placed under a roof of plastic sheeting beyond one section of the stage, with the conductor, Srba Dinić, emerging from the wings, walking some way across the stage and then down a few steps to orchestra level. When focusing exclusively on the orchestra, he remained nearly invisible to the audience; however, when he needed to interact with chorus or soloists on stage, he emerged a little from the orchestra ‘pit’. Under Dinić’s baton, the orchestra engaged well with the score, providing equally rousing solo passages as well as subtle accompaniment to the singing. The production’s sound system enriched the experience with a good balance of natural and amplified sound.
To allow for the twenty performances on a daily schedule, with matinee and evening performances on some days, the main roles of Luna, Leonora, Azucena and Manrico had three alternating singers, Ferrando and Ines two, with only the singers cast as Ruiz, the Old Man and the Messenger singing all performances.
Dmitry Lavrov presented a noble and emotionally driven Count di Luna, i.e., a complex character rather than a stereotypical, one-dimensional villain. This interpretation of the character was expressed not only in the acting, but by emphasising the beauty of the music written for him. Lavrov was able to sustain this interpretation with precise intonation, a strong sense of the rhythms characteristic of Verdi’s music, and a steely projection of the voice. Diego Godoy as Manrico came across first and foremost as sturdy both in his acting and his voice. He produced a broad sound, demonstrating a high level of musicality, copious amounts of energy and a solid technique. As the voice develops further, Godoy will find more time to allow it to float without as much obvious effort as was needed now; such development will also allow beauty of tone, which shone through that current effort in wonderful moments, to extend to the entire performance.
Cristiana Oliveira was delightful as Leonora. Her voice was richly resonant across the registers, with ringing top notes and transitions between registers effortless and smooth. She was equally at ease with more gentle, youthfully light-hearted material and emotionally intense moments, while also convincing with her engaging acting. Nora Sourouzian as Azucena provided a strong and believable contrast to Leonora, enriching her character with both intense acting and deeply felt, emotionally moving singing. Her voice was well-rounded overall, with powerful high notes supported by a rich lower register. Milda Tubelyté was ideally suited to the character of Ines, as an initially playful and later concerned friend to Leonora. Her voice was appropriately agile and flexible. Rainer Mesecke provided strong support as a sonorous Ferrando, who launched the performance with the rhythms typical of Verdi in the introductory narration. Sunguk Choi sounded fresh and promising as Ruiz. The chorus and extra chorus, directed by Georg Menskes and Johanna Motter, delivered their many numbers with much enthusiasm and impressive unison of singing.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
That’s very strange you didn’t hear the serious problems of pitch of at least two singers in that production and you find they sing very well? Strange.
Answering for S&H and not Daniel: you do not name the singers and – more importantly – whether you heard them on the same night or at another performance.