Germany Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2024 [2] – Nicola Antonio Porpora’s Ifigenia in Aulide: Soloists, Actors, Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset (conductor). Markgräfliches Opernhaus, Bayreuth, 7.9.2024. (AB)
Production:
Director – Max Emanuel Cenčić
Set designs and Costumes – Giorgina Germanou
Lighting – Romain de Lagarde
Assistant Stage director – Constantina Psoma
Cast
Ifigenia / Diana – Jasmin Delfs
Achille – Maayan Licht
Agamennone – Max Emanuel Cenčić
Clitennestra – Mary-Ellen Nesi
Ulisse – Nicolò Balducci
Calcante – Riccardo Novaro
Barely a week after the last Wagnerians have departed, Baroque music enthusiasts descend on the Franconian town of Bayreuth for the fifth season of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival in the Margravial Opera House with its magnificent original eighteenth century interior. Named ‘Best Opera Festival’ at the OPER! AWARDS 2024 earlier this year, this event now rivals the Wagner Festspiele in terms of artistic and musical quality, attracting many of the world’s leading Baroque singers and musicians as well as an international audience.
At the helm of the festival is Artistic Director and founder Max Emanuel Cenčić, one of the foremost countertenors of his generation. Cenčić has made it his mission to revive Baroque operas that have largely been forgotten since their premieres. This year’s offering was Ifigenia in Aulide, an opera seria by Nicola Antonio Porpora, composed in 1734 for the ‘Opera of the Nobility’ in London, which was a major rival to Handel’s ‘Royal Academy of Music’. Their artistic – and also economic – rivalry ultimately led to both composers’ financial ruin, but in the process, they produced a wealth of extraordinary works that we can enjoy today.
Their distinct compositional styles make comparisons even more fascinating. While Handel is the undisputed master of revealing the emotional depth and psychological motivations of his characters, Porpora pushes the boundaries of vocal virtuosity, fully exploiting the capabilities of the human voice. This is unsurprising given that he was the leading vocal teacher of his time, counting the famous castrato Farinelli among his pupils. His unerring ability to compose for every nuance of the voice is evident throughout Ifigenia in Aulide.
The story closely follows the traditional Greek myth but introduces a twist reflecting eighteenth-century Enlightenment ideals. On their journey to Troy, the Greeks find themselves stranded in Aulis after King Agamemnon kills a stag sacred to the goddess Diana. The winds fail, and Agamemnon’s daughter, Iphigenia, is demanded as a sacrifice. She and her mother, Clytemnestra, are lured to Aulis under the pretence that Iphigenia will marry Achilles. Once they arrive, the real conflict begins: in true Enlightenment fashion, Achilles, having fallen in love with Iphigenia, argues that the gods do not require such a barbaric act and is prepared to kill the high priest Calchas, who insists on the sanctity of the ritual and is supported by the Greek heroes, including Ulysses. Iphigenia, willing to die to resolve the conflict, is ultimately saved by Diana, who values her readiness for self-sacrifice more than the act itself.
As in the previous four years, Cenčić directs the production. While these earlier works were more broadly comic in tone, this year he tackled an opera seria for the first time. His success in doing so speaks to his extraordinary creativity, pulling it off masterfully and convincingly for the fifth year in a row.
The production, though modern in style, evokes a genuinely archaic atmosphere. Giorgina Germanou’s set design is subtle and poetic, with many visually striking moments enhanced by Romain de Lagarde’s beautiful lighting. At the outset, the costumes for the Greek warriors (Myrmidons) made them appear almost naked as they were feasting on the slain stag. Their movements reflected the stylised depictions on ancient Greek vases.
In contrast, the singers, representing priests and royalty, wear grand, elaborate robes. This blend of modernity and antiquity, under Cenčić’s deft direction, never felt static or antiquated; nothing seemed over-posed or over-dramatised, allowing the themes of sacrifice, war, and love to remain vivid and dynamic.
Musically, the evening was a Sängerfest, with Porpora’s score offering a beguiling tapestry of arias, recitatives, and lovely accompagnatos. The singing was superb throughout, and once again, Cenčić’s casting was impeccable. He himself took on the role of Agamemnon, a part that, with its slightly lower tessitura, suited the maturity of his voice perfectly. Before the performance, it was announced that he was suffering from a summer cold and requested leniency from the audience. However, this proved unnecessary, as his performance showed no sign of weakness.
Mary-Ellen Nesi gave a dignified portrayal of Clytemnestra, using her warm voice to convey a mother torn between love for her daughter and the desire for forgiveness. The cunning and provocativeness of Ulysses was perfectly embodied by the young Nicolò Balducci, who represents the new generation of highly talented and versatile countertenors. Veteran baritone Riccardo Novaro brought a lyrical and sonorous quality to the role of the high priest Calchas.
The most memorable performance of the evening came from male soprano Maayan Licht as Achilles. Licht’s portrayal was mesmerising, from the ethereal stillness with which he sustained soft, melancholic tones in his first aria in Act I, to the joyful ease with which he executed extraordinary jumps and coloraturas, to the raw power with which he confronted Calchas in the dramatic duet at the end of Act II.
A key figure in Cenčić’s clever interpretation of the opera’s central conflict was Jasmin Delfs, who with her richly coloured and highly flexible soprano sang the role of Iphigenia (physically portrayed by Marina Diakoumakou), though clearly as the goddess Diana. This twist allowed Cenčić to point to the core of his interpretation: in Enlightenment thought, divine providence is replaced by human agency. By voicing the humanity, humility, and dignity of Iphigenia’s readiness to die through Diana, the divine itself becomes human. Consequently, there was no dea ex machina moment, as Diana herself leads Iphigenia offstage at the end into an unknown future with all its potential positive and negative outcomes.
The production would not have come together so seamlessly without Christophe Rousset and the amazing musicians of his Les Talens Lyriques. Having followed Rousset’s career since his (still unmatched) recording of Rameau’s Pièces de Clavecin, I continue to be amazed by the emphatic depth and vivaciousness he brings to the music. His conducting was sheer brilliance and a joy to behold.
After such an extraordinary evening, it is difficult to imagine any other festival challenging the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival for ‘Best Opera Festival’ at the OPER! AWARDS 2025.
Andreas Bücker