Spain Bellini, La sonnambula: Soloists, Liceu Chorus (conductor: Pablo Assante) and Orchestra / Lorenzo Passerini (conductor). Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 5.5.2025. (JMI)
Production:
Director – Bárbara Lluch
Sets – Christof Daniel Hetzer
Costumes – Clara Peluffo Valentini
Lighting – Urs Schönebaum
Choreography – Metamorfosis danza
Chorus director – Pablo Assante
Cast:
Amina – Nadine Sierra
Elvino – Xabier Anduaga
Count Rodolfo – Fernando Radó
Lisa – Sabrina Gardez
Teresa – Carmen Artaza
Alessio – Isaac Galán
Notary – Gerardo López
I feel obliged to begin with what happened in Barcelona in the hours preceding and coinciding with the start of this performance. A massive thunderstorm hit Barcelona, with huge amounts of lightning and rain like I have rarely seen. It was almost impossible to find taxis, and the traffic jams in the city center were enormous, which meant that I arrived at the theater seven minutes late. The Liceu, wisely, made the decision (for which I can never be grateful enough) to delay the start of the opera by a few minutes. I was able to enter the theater, even though I couldn’t reach my seat, and I attended the full performance of La sonnambula.
The opera was a resounding success with the audience, as has been the case in all previous performances. Nadine Sierra has become – and rightly so – the Queen of the Liceu, following her spectacular triumph here a few days ago in a recital and now with this memorable Sonnambula.
The production – a coproduction with Gran Teatre del Liceu, New National Theatre Tokyo, and Teatro Massimo di Palermo – is by Bárbara Lluch, granddaughter of the ever-remembered Nuria Espert, and her work still fails to impress me. Lluch’s originality, according to her own statements, is the fact that she leaves the ending open: the final union of Amina and Elvino is up in the air. I am not entirely clear about how that interpretation works on the stage.
The sets are very simple. There is a tree in the center of the stage where two puppets hang, which is replaced later by a machine representing Elvino’s mill, and then by a house in the final scene on whose roof Amina’s sleepwalking takes place. The production’s ‘contribution’ is the addition of a group of ten dancers who accompany Amina in her sleepwalking scenes and at the beginning of the two acts. In my opinion, they contribute nothing. The stage direction seemed rather poor: the chorus is always static, as if this were a concert version, and the soloists are on their own.
The musical direction was entrusted to the young Lorenzo Passerini, whom I had not seen conducting before, and I believe this was his debut at the Liceu. It was a careful and appropriate reading: Passerini took care of the singers and was very aware that he was conducting a bel canto opera. The orchestra performed well, as the chorus did.
Soprano Nadine Sierra was the star and triumphed in her performance which was impeccable from beginning to end. Her attractive lyric soprano is perfectly homogenous throughout the range, with spectacular high notes and perfect control, accompanied by fiato singing worthy of a breathing contest. Added to this is a stagecraft which few colleagues achieve. In short, we are looking at a Number One in the world of opera, a position she can share with the great Anna Netrebko of the recent past. Today, the Russian singer has evolved towards dramatic roles, while the American soprano focuses on the lyrical repertoire.
Elvino was sung by tenor Xabier Anduaga, who has once again demonstrated that, at 29, he is one of the best tenors in the world. His voice is beautiful and even, with significant volume throughout his range, and his singing is worthy of praise. I thought his performance of the aria and cabaletta which begins with ‘Ah! Perché non posso odiarti’ was simply magnificent.
Bass Fernando Radó as Count Rodolfo is a rather modest singer and fell far short of the young couple. Lisa was played by soprano Sabrina Gardez, a light soprano with an appealing center, although her voice narrows considerably in the upper range. Mezzo-soprano Carmen Artaza as Teresa, Amina’s mother, left a positive impression. And both Isaac Galán as Alessio and Gerardo López as the Notary were correct in their parts.
José M. Irurzun