|
THE TORONTO 2006 RING CYCLE
Canadian Opera Company
www.coc.ca
Canadian Opera Company Ring Cycle
www.ringcycle.ca
At
The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
www.fourseasonscentre.ca
Professor Josephine Reiter
September 26, 2006 - October 1, 2006
The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto opened with the Canadian Opera Company’s (COC) grand post-modern production of Richard Wagner’s epic cycle of four operas: The Ring of the Nibelung (Der Ring des Nibelungen). General Director and conductor of the Canadian Opera Company, Richard Bradshaw, had the vision, energy and will to mount this very good production; and it made for a fine and fitting beginning for the COC in their new home. The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a marvelous venue for opera with superb acoustics and excellent sight lines. While it is about half the size of the Met Opera, there appear to be no bad seats in the house.
The Canadian Opera Company featured four different stage directors to work with Maestro Bradshaw. Production designer Michael Levine and lighting designer David Finn worked on the entire cycle. With multiple stage directors, it is not surprising that there were some tensions among the ideas that underlie or permeate the complicated story of gods, giants, nibelungs, gibichungs, and rhinemaidens. Wagner wrote both the words and music for the prologue (Das Rheingold) and the trilogy that follows (Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung). It is a monumental challenge to mount a complete Ring Cycle. Even so, the COC’s production gave the work its due - with very good singers, an excellent orchestra, interesting sets and costumes, and inspired lighting, in a superb venue. Not just Wagnerians would have been pleased.
Der Ring des Nibelungen
[The Ring of the Nibelungs]
Music by Richard Wagner
Libretto by Richard Wagner
Canadian Opera Company
General Director: Richard Bradshaw
Conductor: Richard Bradshaw
Production Designer: Michael Levine
Lighting Designer: David Finn
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto
Third Cycle: September 26-30, 2006
Das Rheingold
September 26, 2006
Director: Michael Levine
Alberich: Richard Paul Fink
Wotan: John Fanning
Fricka: Judit Németh
Freia: Julie Makerov
Fasolt: Robert Pomakov
Fafner: Phillip Ens
Froh: Thomas Rolf Truhitte
Donner: Julian Tovey
Loge: Richard Berkeley-Steele
Mime: Robert Künzli
Erde: Mette Ejsing
Rhinemaidens: Laura Whalen, Krisztina Szabó,
and Allyson McHardy
This Rheingold, an interesting production, was Canadian designer Michael Levine’s world debut as a director. The modern sets featured billowing waves of cloth to create the illusion of water, enveloping the three seductive Rhinemaidens. The costumes were Victorian black and white and emphasized the tight hierarchical world of the gods in stark contrast to the pilot-like outfits of the Nibelung and the fluid gowns of the Rhinemaidens. The strongest singer on the stage was American baritone Richard Paul Fink, who owns the role of Alberich, the evil dwarf. Tenor Richard Berkeley-Steele was an electric Loge with his wily moves and bright sound. Unfortunately Pavlo Hunka, who had been cast in the great bass-baritone role of Wotan, was unable to sing in this Ring Cycle. John Fanning sang Wotan in Rheingold; but was better as Gunther in Götterdämmerung in the closing music drama of the cycle. The goddesses, sung by mezzo soprano Judit Németh (Fricka) and soprano Julie Makerov (Freia), were very good as were the giants: baritone Robert Pomakov (Fasolt) and bass Phillip Ens (Fafner).
Robert Pomakov as Fasolt, Phillip Ens as Fafner,
and Julie Makerov as Freia
Canadian Opera Company's /Das Rheingold/, 2006
Photo courtesy of Michael Cooper
Allyson McHardy as Flosshilde, Krisztina Szabó as Wellgunde,
Laura Whalen as Woglinde, and Richard Paul Fink as Alberich
Canadian Opera Company' s Das Rheingold, 2006
Photo courtesy of Michael Cooper
Die Walküre
September 27, 2006
Director: Atom Egoyan
Siegmund: Clifton Forbis
Sieglinde: Adrianne Pieczonka
Hunding: Phillip Ens
Wotan: Peter Eglitis
Brünnhilde: Susan Bullock
Fricka: Judith Németh
Walküre: Julie Makerov, Irmgard Vilsmaier,
Mary Phillips, Buffy Baggott,
Elizabeth Stannard, Krisztina Szabó,
Allyson McHardy, and Guang Yang
Atom Egoyan, who comes to opera from the world of film, television, and theatre, directed a compelling Walküre for the Canadian Opera Company in this post-modern production of the second, and probably the most popular, opera of the cycle. British soprano Susan Bullock, in her debut role with the COC, was a formidable Brünnhilde - smart and passionate. Peter Eglitis sang a creditable Wotan in both Walküre and Siegfried. Phillip Ens’ deep bass voice created the dual roles of the menacing Hunding, husband of Sieglinde and adversary of Siegmund, in this opera, as well as a powerful Fafner, the giant (from the first opera) turned dragon in the third opera of the cycle. The highpoint of this Walküre was the soaring love duet between Siegmund and Sieglinde, sung by American tenor Clifton Forbes and Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka. David Finn’s lighting was very effective throughout the entire cycle, but especially at the end of Walküre. To create the ring of fire around Brünnhilde, who has been banished to a barren rock, surrounded by fire, because of her disobedience to her father Wotan, chief of the gods, the eight warrior maidens (Walküre) carried torches, and a red glow permeated the final scene.
Adrianne Pieczonka as Sieglinde and Clifton Forbis as Siegmund
Canadian Opera Company's /Die Walküre/, 2006
Photo courtesy of Michael Cooper
The Valkyries and Susan Bullock as Brunnhilde
Canadian Opera Company's /Die Walküre/, 2006
Photo courtesy of Michael Cooper
Siegfried
September 29, 2006
Director: François Girard
Mime: Robert Künzli
Siegfried: Christian Franz
The Wanderer: Peteris Eglitis
Alberich: Richard Paul Fink
Fafner: Phillip Ens
Forest Bird: Laura Whalen
Erde: Mette Ejsing
Brünnhilde: Susan Bullock
Some critics find Siegfried to be the least accessible opera of the Ring cycle. In the Toronto Ring, however, it worked for the most part. In the powerful vision of film director François Girard (”32 Short Films about Glenn Gould” and ”The Red Violin”), and the effective lighting design of David Finn, this Siegfried really came alive. The forging of Siegfried’s sword, the slaying of the dragon, and the rescue of Brünnhilde, were all bold, dramatic, magical and captivating. What made it so, in addition to the production design and the director’s conception, was the excellent sound of the COC Orchestra under Richard Bradshaw and the first-rate singing of German tenor Christian Franz, who will be singing Siegfried in the Metropolitan Opera’s next Ring cycle. The opera ends with a stunning love-duet between Siegfried and Brünnhilde. Susan Bullock and Christian Franz captured the surging climax that Wagner demands. This extraordinary production seemed to focus on the ideas of memory and yearning as bodies of past characters hovered above the stage, emerging from the sets in subtle choreographed movement. The only distraction for me was Siegfried’s pajama-like costume, which suggested a hospital patient or prison inmate, rather than a young hero.
Christian Franz in title role and Robert Künzli as Mime
Canadian Opera Company’s /Siegfried/, 2006
Photo courtesy of Michael Cooper
Susan Bullock as Brünnhilde and Christian Franz in title role
Canadian Opera Company’s /Siegfried/, 2006
Photo courtesy of Michael Cooper
Götterdämmerung
October 1, 2006
Director: Tim Albery
Brünnhilde: Susan Bullock
Siegfried: Christian Franz
Gunther: John Fanning
Hagen: Mats Almgren
Gutrune: Joni Henson
Waltraute: Mary Phillips
Alberich: Richard Paul Fink
Rhinemaidens: Laura Whalen, Krisztina Szabó
and Allyson McHardy
Wagner’s Ring is one of those monumental works with layers of meaning. It’s more than a story, based on mythology with tiers of characters: gods, humans, dwarfs, etc., but it is also about power, greed, and the cleansing power of love. It is the biggest work in the history of western music. Wagner entitled it Der Ring des Nibelungen [The Ring of the Nibelung], a stage festival play for three days and a preliminary evening. The third day: Götterdämmerung [The Twilight of the Gods] brings the cycle to a close. Tim Albery directed this final section of the Ring in a production that focused on the timelessness of the message or meaning. The sets were sleek and modern in black and red. The evil, sinister atmosphere in which Siegfried is betrayed and bewitched in the Hall of the Gibichungs was transformed into a corporate board room. While Götterdämmerung is the longest of the four operas of the Ring, it may also feature the greatest music: The Death of Siegfried, with its mighty funeral march, and Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scene. John Fanning (Gunther) and Christian Franz (Siegfried) sang a fierce blood-brother duet, the sexy Rhinemaidens: Laura Whalen, Krisztina Szabó, and Allyson McHardy, engaged Christian Franz (Siegfried) in a lively encounter to warn him of his impending doom, but to no avail. Susan Bullock did justice to the ending of this incredible work, as her Brünnhilde assumed such heroic stature in bringing this enormous musical work to closure: The stolen ring returns to the Rhine, Brünnhilde in a blaze of glory throws herself on Siegfried’s funeral pyre, and Valhalla (the grand home of the gods) is destroyed before our very eyes with the most powerful music imaginable. There is nothing like it in western music.
Bravo to Richard Bradshaw and the Canadian Opera Company for choosing Wagner’s Ring to inaugurate the new opera house. I believe the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto is one of the best places for opera on this side of the Atlantic. I am confidant that Richard Wagner would consider his Ring of the Nibelung to be a fitting inaugural event.
Mats Almgren as Hagen and Men’s Chorus
Canadian Opera Company's /Götterdämmerung/, 2006
Photo courtesy of Michael Cooper
Oliver Tickets > Dirty Dancing Tickets > Musical Tickets > Jimmy Carr Tickets >
Peter Kay Tickets > Ricky Gervais Tickets > Theatre Tickets
|
