DON GIOVANNI – REVIEW OF TCHERNIAKOV PRODUCTION AT AIX-EN-PROVENCE

Reviewed by James Karas

*****  (out of five)

Don Giovanni is one of the most popular operas in the repertoire and everyone knows something about the fantastic womanizer. Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov will wipe out all your notions about the legendary seducer of Mozart’s opera. Tcherniakov gives a brilliantly original interpretation  of the opera and of the myth.

The Aix-en-Provence Festival produced Tcherniakov’s vision of the opera in 2010 and the production has been seen in Moscow and Madrid. It will eventually be shown in Toronto. For those seeing this production for the first time some factual adjustments are necessary.

We know that Don Giovanni seduces Donna Anna, the daughter of the Commendatore. She comes out screaming, her father challenges Don Giovanni and is killed by him. Her fiancée Don Ottavio comes on the scene and promises vengeance against the seducer.

Don Giovanni escapes with his servant Leporello but soon runs into Donna Elvira, a noblewoman that  he once seduced and abandoned. She is a woman on a mission to expose his crimes to the world.

That is what Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte gave us. According to Tcherniakov, Donna Elvira is Don Giovanni’s wife and the cousin of Donna Anna. Zerlina, the peasant girl that is his next target, is the daughter of Donna Anna by a previous marriage and Leporello is a relative of the Commendatore. In other words this Don Giovanni is a family drama and all of it takes place in the Commendatore’s book-lined and beautifully paneled dining room.

Tcherniakov uses a number of devices to achieve the transformation including inserting time delays in scenes that are continuous in the opera. When Don Giovanni “kills” the Commendatore (he really dies after accidentally hitting his head against a bookcase and perhaps having a heart attack) in Mozart’s version Don Giovanni runs off. In the Tcherniakov version as a guest of the house and the husband of Donna Elvira, he cannot very well run away and he does not. The curtain drops and a few days later, the scene continues without any problem in the plot as laid out by Da Ponte.

Zerlina is getting married in the Commendatore’s house because she is his granddaughter and not some country girl. This intricate conversion is carried out throughout the libretto and the result is an utterly fascinating and convincing transformation subject to some twists that do stretch our credulity.

But that is not the most interesting aspect of the production. Tcherniakov’s view of Don Giovanni is so complexly different from what we expect or think we know about the character that we are left almost aghast.

This Don Giovanni is not the ruthless and selfish lecher who runs off from Donna Anna, kills her father and in short shrift runs into Donna Elvira, one of his victims and then tries to seduce a country girl on her wedding day.

Tcherniakov’s Don Giovanni is old, tired, all passion spent, and a distant memory of the mythical character. He is not interested in seducing anyone. His hair is rumpled, he is unshaven and his clothes look like they have been slept in for weeks. In short, he is a pathetic figure.

Donna Anna tried to seduce him and not the other way around. She is so desperate for sexual satisfaction, that she sprawls out on the stage looking for sex but neither Don Giovanni nor her dolt of a fiancé are prepared to fulfill her. If Don Giovanni says some words that sound as if he is trying to seduce Zerlina, his actions tell us that he is not interested at all. In fact he does nothing.

That is the vision and interpretation that Dmitri Tcherniakov brings to this opera and I consider it original, brilliant and simply awesome.

The production boasts a fine cast of singers/actors to bring out convincing portrayals of Mozart’s people as seen by Tcherniakov. American baritone Rod Gilfry is the exhausted, stumbling Don Giovanni who lives and often sings mechanically. That is not a criticism but a compliment. His voice carries the notes masterfully and displays occasional flashes but all is done in character. It is a superb performance.

Swedish soprano Maris Bengtsson is the sexy and sex-starved Donna Anna with a luscious voice that suits her character. Her cousin Donna Elvira is in the hands of Kristine Opolais and she is angry, frumpy and sexless. She can express her displeasure well enough but one look at her and you say no wonder Don Giovanni left her. Well done by Opolais. 

American bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen is a devil-may-care Leporello, with his mop of hair and irreverent attitude. Ketelsen has a marvelous voice and gave an excellent performance.

Lithuanian bass-baritone Kostas Smoriginas gave us a city tough-guy Masetto instead of a country oaf. Well done vocally and well-acted. American soprano Joelle Harvey gave us a sassy Zerlina, smart and carefree who goes after Don Giovanni and can wrap Masetto around her little finger. Very well done.

American tenor Paul Groves was a square-jawed Don Ottavio, well-meaning but ineffectual. He can sing well (Groves, that is) but he cannot even give minimal sexual satisfaction to Donna Anna (as Don Ottavio, that is).     

Conductor Marc Minkowski conducted the London Symphony Orchestra with deliberation and precision matching the interpretation of the opera.

A great night at the opera.

    ___

Don Giovanni by W. A. Mozart opened on July 5 and be performed a total of ten times until July 23, 2013 at the Théâtre de l'Archevêché, Aix-en-Provence, France. http://festival-aix.com/

RIGOLETTO - REVIEW OF CARSEN PRODUCTION AT AIX-EN-PROVENCE

Reviewed by James Karas

The Aix-en-Provence Festival opened its 65^th season with a resoundingly successful production of Rigoletto directed by Canadian Director Robert Carsen.

Rigoletto has been placed in many venues from a casino in Las Vegas to a high-rise apartment building in New York but Carsen’s vision and interpretation surpasses all of them. With the assistance of dramaturge Ian Burton, Carsen makes Rigoletto a clown in a circus. The scenes that usually take place in the palace of the Duke of Mantua are transferred to a circus rink. The courtiers of Mantua sit in the stands of the rink or come down to the performance area.

Carsen enriches the production with numerous brilliant strokes and inventive touches that make Verdi’s chestnut look like a new work. A few examples.

During the brief overture, Rigoletto steps on the stage in front of the curtain carrying a blanket. He opens the blanket and reveals the naked body of a woman. It is only a limp mannequin, but we know that it is the corpse of his daughter. Rigoletto grabs the mannequin, the curtain opens and he joins the partying courtiers in the first scene of the opera. The mannequin becomes his toy and he even simulates copulation with it.

The court of the Duke of Mantua or in this case the circus rink is a full-blown bordello. We have acrobats doing some magnificent somersaults and other athletic deeds but we also see bare-breasted women who are engaged in acts of debauchery. The courtiers are dressed in tuxedos and Rigoletto is dressed as a clown.

Carsen carries the circus metaphor brilliantly to the end of the opera. When the courtiers abduct Gilda and bring her to the palace, the Duke visits her. I suppose the courtiers have already gang-raped her and at times I am not certain what the Duke does when he sees her in a private room. Carsen knows and practically shows us that the Duke has sex with her. In fact, he takes off all his clothes, yes, all, (but does not reveal his front to us), somebody puts a housecoat on him and he climbs a ladder to his private box to (further?) defile Gilda.

When Gilda comes down, disheveled and disgraced, she is wearing the Duke’s housecoat. In fact, she keeps it right to the end. This woman is in love with that man, period.

I will mention one more brilliant directorial trick. When Monterone (a sonorous Arutjun Kotchinian) complains about his daughter being disgraced by the Duke, he brings her body on stage. He curses Rigoletto, of course, and that curse haunts the jester to the bitter end until it is fulfilled. When Rigoletto realizes that Sparafucile (a scary and excellent bass Gabor Bretz) killed Gilda instead of the Duke, the body of Monterone’s daughter is lowered on the stage. This is directorial imagination at its best.

Baritone George Gagnidze made a marvelous Rigoletto. His deep mellow voice was full of pathos and he was magnificent as the clown whose heart is breaking. He does not have a hunched back since his “deformity” is to be a clown.

Tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz was a very disappointing Duke. He is youthful and agile but his voice had no colour, no feeling and nothing convincing about him. He sounded strained in the upper register and only adequate in the middle.

The best singing of the evening was done without a doubt by soprano Irina Lungu as Gilda. She fits the part physically and has a lovely voice. Her “Caro nome” was full of tenderness, beautiful phrasing and a delight to hear. Gilda may be stupid but Lungu made her believable and very attractive. A marvelous performance.

Since we are at the circus, we have acrobats and dancers that perform real acrobatics at several points in the opera including during the kidnapping of Gilda. Together with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, this production required a small army of people.

The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gianandrea Noseda played Verdi’s dramatic music superbly.

The set by Radu Boruzescu consisted of the circus rink and stands as indicated. There was a box with a curtain in the middle of the stands where the Duke was initially seen. The stands remained in place throughout. Gilda’s residence consisted of a small camper on wheels. There was no need for a ladder here but the courtiers pretended that they climbed up for the kidnapping. There were a few such incongruities for those that were paying strict attention to the words of the libretto.

Once again, Carsen has taken a very familiar work and imposed his vision on it and produced a new opera while being faithful to the old. A superb achievement.  

____

Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi opened on July 4 and will be performed ten times until July 27, 2013 at the Théâtre de l'Archevêché, Aix-en-Provence, France. http://festival-aix.com/

SIMON BOCCANEGRA – REVIEW OF ROH REVIVAL

Reviewed by James Karas

Simon Boccanegra is a dark and sombre work with a convoluted plot but it provides vintage operatic pleasure with the right cast under the right conductor. The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, bats a thousand, as they say in baseball, with its current revival of Verdi’s much-revised opera. We get the 1881 version, for those tracking details.

Antonio Pappano’s vigorous conducting of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House does not allow for a dull moment. The production by Elijah Moshinsky has been around since 1991 and although I cannot express unreserved enthusiasm for the set designs, it is a thoroughly enjoyable staging.

The sombreness of the opera is reflected in the vocal distribution. We do have a tenor who turns out to be a fine person after some wrong turns on the road and a much-suffering soprano but the rest are baritones and basses.

The name role is handled with ease and aplomb by baritone Thomas Hampson. He has sung the role so many times that it seems to be a part of him. The tall American has a great stage presence and he fulfils the vocal requirements with resonance and complete control.

Bass Ferruccio Furlanetto seems to have cornered the market for older men with rumbling low voices. He has the role of Jacopo Fiesco, an angry patrician who hates Boccanegra. Fiesco takes some unpleasant turns in the tortuous plot but in the end he comes out on the side of morality and order. A fine performance on the high par maintained by Furlanetto.

The unredeemed villain of the opera is Paolo Albiani, politically and morally corrupt, who ends up on the gallows. Baritone Dimitri Platanias shuffles on the stage, oozes evil and gives an excellent vocal performance, acted well.

The lighter voices are given to tenor Russell Thomas and soprano Hibla Gerzmava. Thomas may not qualify as physically heroic but he more than makes up for that with his vocal chords. He leaps to his high notes with ease and displays marvellous phrasing and tonal beauty. We don’t always like his character but eventual heroes are allowed to make mistakes.

The moral centre is held by Amelia Grimaldi as sung by Gerzmava. She is the out-of-wedlock daughter of Boccanegra who was raised by the wealthy Grimaldi family as a secret replacement for their dead daughter. This plot bit is mentioned to dissuade you from following the libretto and directing you to concentrate on Gerzmava’s lovely voice and moving performance.

Hampson and Furlanetto have sung the same roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in a production by Giancarlo del Monaco. That production has been around since 1995 and a small comparison is inevitable. The Met production is over the top in its monumental sets from a huge statue in the prologue to opulent displays for the rest of the scenes.

The Royal Opera’s sets by Michael Yeargan seem Spartan by comparison. A few oversize columns and almost-blank walls are most apparent. The Doge’s apartments are utilitarian to put it mildly and the only signs of wealth and splendour are the costumes of the Genoan council. No fireplaces and decorated walls here except for the limited grandeur created by the over-sized columns.

The sets take nothing away from the performances by a superb cast and the orchestra and Royal Opera Chorus. A great night at the opera.

       ___

Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi in its current revival opened on June 27 and will be performed six times until July 16, 2013 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. www.roh.org.uk

MARRIAGE OF FIGARO - REVIEW OF GLYNDEBOURNE FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

                           The Count, Susanna and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro - Photo: Robert Workman

Reviewed by James Karas

Figaro has moved his marriage to Susanna to the 1960s.

The Glyndebourne Festival has revived its 2012 production of Michael Grandage’s production of The Marriage of Figaro to the hip decade of hot skirts, marijuana, long hair and other long forgotten habits and fashions.

Grandage’s production has some delightful aspects, some great theatrical touches but his conception is not without its problems. Life in a castle in Seville a couple of hundred years or so ago poses some challenges when trying to marry it to the 21^st century. I will have more to say about that in a minute but first let’s talk about the singing and acting.

For several good reasons, top honours for performance go to soprano Laura Tatulescu as Susanna. She sang with verve, joy, beauty and energy. She acted the same way and gave a Susanna that is a delight to watch and listen to. She can be quite physical in her falls and tossing of her legs in the air and is a woman who can stand on her own two  feet in any century.

Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka was an outstanding Figaro, tall with a resonant voice he made a comic and enjoyable partner for Susanna and  an adversary for Count Almaviva.

Soprano Amanda Majeski made a majestic and gorgeous Countess. The singer gets two wonderful chances to display her vocal splendour and the heart-rending condition of a woman spurned by an unfaithful husband. Majeski’s “Dove sono” and “Porgi amor” are feasts for the ears and the eyes as the beautiful soprano pours out her distraught emotions in lustrous tones.

The juicy role of Cherubino is handled by Lydia Teuscher. The Count calls this hormonally hyperactive teenager a “horny bastard” and that’s putting it mildly. This mop-haired boy (and Teuscher does a good imitation of a boy) has hormones that are so hot you can practically see the steam coning out. His arias are fine expressions of his sexual excitement and Teuscher delivers all well. The role is usually given to a mezzo soprano but Teuscher makes you forget that fact.

Partially because of Grandage’s conception for the production, there is a problem with the rendition of the role of Count Almaviva. This Almaviva is a superficial dandy with long hair who smokes pot. If you imagine the Count as being imperious and commanding (like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau doing it, say), you will not find him in this production. Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins acts the part as directed and sings it in a like manner. He sounds like a shallow, fun loving creature which is quite incongruous with the character that he is playing or, perhaps more accurately, the character we know from Mozart’s opera.

During the overture, a convertible sports car arrives and the Count and Countess alight. They are returning from their honeymoon. (They could have been out shopping but I prefer my view). A gardener places a flower pot under a window and we know that it will come in handy a bit later.

Susanna and Figaro roll happily on the floor in the opening scene and when she ends up on top of him she feels something hard and jumps up. It’s only the measuring tape in Figaro’s pocket. These are some of the fine touches that Grandage adds to the production that help define and humanize the characters and entertain the audience.

The set by Designer Christopher Oram seems to be intended to make no impression at all. Are we in a rich castle, a modern house or what? Did I detect Middle Eastern décor? 

Jeremy Rhorer conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra and gave us crisp and delicious Mozartian music.

Not all the issues of the change in era were resolved satisfactorily but that barely affected this thoroughly enjoyable production.

 ____

The Marriage of Figaro by W. A. Mozart opened on June 8 and will be performed on various dates until August 2, 2013 at the Glyndebourne Festival, East Sussex, England. www.glyndebourne.com

SALOME IN BRILLIANT INTERPRETATION BY EGOYAN FROM THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY

Hanna Schwarz as Herodias and Erika Sunnegårdh as Salome. Photo: Michael Cooper

Reviewed by James Karas

       

For many of us the Dance of the Seven Veils evokes the image of the gorgeous Rita Hayworth as Salome undulating before Charles Laughton as Herod. That image may be forever removed from your subconscious if you see (and you should) Atom Egoyan’s interpretation of Salome with the Canadian Opera Company.

Egoyan manages to produce an entirely new work while staying faithful to Richard Strauss’s setting of Oscar Wilde’s play. The Biblical story as adapted by Wilde is that Salome is the stepdaughter of Herod. He is married to Herodias, his brother’s wife and Salome’s mother.

John the Baptist, a zealous prophet, is under arrest for fulminating against the sinful life of Herod and Herodias. Herod is attracted to Salome; Salome is attracted to John the Baptist; John the Baptist will have nothing to do with her. Salome performs her famous dance and asks for the Baptist’s head on a platter as her reward.

That is the barebones of the opera’s plot. Enter Egoyan. When Salome is about to start her strip tease of a dance, we see on a projected video a smiling, little girl on a swing. As the dramatic music of Salome’s dance develops, we see images of the little girl as a young woman and men enter the picture. Subtly, beautifully, disturbingly we realize that Salome is an abused child.

Now her attraction to the horrible-looking prophet makes more sense. Her lecherous stepfather and probably others abused her and the Baptist is perhaps the only man who has not. She does not take revenge on John – she makes love to him as she kisses the lips and tastes the blood of the man’s severed head.

In the end, she is executed by Herod himself and not by the soldiers as indicated in the libretto.

The most impressive performance of the evening was given by soprano Erika Sunnegärdh in the title role. She is physically lithe with a big, dramatic and supple voice. This Salome is not a sexual magnate out for revenge but a woman wronged and in love and Sunnegärdh gives a signature performance.

Baritone Martin Gantner was a disappointing Jochanaan (John the Baptist). His voice never achieved the power and intensity required of the passionate moralist, and the orchestra frequently drowned him out.

Tenor Richard Margison made a splendid Herod. This ruler of Judea was a classic dictator: a bit demented, somewhat unstable and thoroughly egotistical. Margison’s big voice stood him in good stead and his Herod was done superbly.

Mezzo-soprano Hannah Schwarz, with orange hair combed in a bun on top of her head, wearing an orange gown, made a good Herodias vocally and in appearance.

The set by designer Derek McLane resembles a walled yard with a swing in the centre. The “cistern” of the libretto where John the Baptist is held is under the stage and he is brought out on a cart. However, there is a hole on the stage through which he can be seen by the other characters. The only other props are a couple of chairs brought out during the performance.

Egoyan relies partly on video projections to set the tone of the opera. Aside from the Dance of the Seven Veils, we get glimpses of the party inside the palace as well as a swimming pool and images of Salome almost naked. She leaves the party and comes out of the pool and on stage wearing a while robe and swimsuit for her scenes before the famous Dance.

Captain Narraboth (well done by Nathaniel Peake) wears a suit while others wear robes. John the Baptist, hair disheveled, looks simply wild. The impression is that of a futuristic sci-fi setting rather than anything recognizable.

Salome is as much an orchestral work as it is an operatic composition and Strauss’s marvelous score makes high demands on the orchestra. The COC Orchestra under Johannes Debus gave us what amounts to a full concert. Listening to them alone is worth the price of admission.

This is an original, thought-provoking and exciting production. A great night at the opera.

____


Salome by Richard Strauss opened on April 21 and will be performed eight times until May 22, 2013 on various dates at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel:  416-363-6671. www.coc.ca

DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES – REVIEW OF CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

Jean-François Lapointe as Marquis de la Force, Isabel Bayrakdarian as Blanche de la

Force and Frédéric Antoun as Chevalier de la Force. Photo: Michael Cooper

Reviewed by James Karas

Can you stage a full-length opera with (almost) as few props as an armchair, a white sheet and a few benches?  Robert Carsen can and did in his minimalist production of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites for Amsterdam’s De Nederlandse Opera back in 1997. Some sixteen years later, the Canadian Opera Company has, sensibly and astutely, brought that production to Toronto.

Carsen and Set Designer Michael Levine manage to give us a visually stunning production despite and because of their minimalist approach. The opera, for example, opens in the aristocratic home of the Marquis de la Force (Jean-Francois Lapointe) but the first thing we see when the curtain goes up is a number of nun’s habits arranged like crucifixes on the stage floor. It is an arresting sight.

Then a mob enters in a menacing fashion and they leave a small square space in which the Marquis appears sitting in an armchair. Four liveried servants stand at each corner of the square as if guarding the Marquis and the performance proceeds from there. The nuns’ habits and the mob are ideas of the director.

There are a number of extraordinary stage effects like that. In the third act, the Chevalier de la Force (Frederic Antoun) goes to the convent where his sister Blanche (Isabel Bayrakdarian) is a nun to ask her to return to her house. Carsen has the other nuns lined up across the stage like a wall separating the siblings. An ordinary scene is turned into something extraordinary.

Finally, in the closing moments of the opera when the nuns are being guillotined, there is no guillotine on stage and we only see them fall to the ground. They are wearing white gowns this time as compared to the black habits that we saw in the opening scene. Blanche, the heroine of the opera, is supposed to be executed as well but she simply raises her arms in the air, the spotlight shines on her and we have an arresting vision of death and transfiguration.

        

You cannot ask more from a director and a designer than to provide an original interpretation without resorting to gimmicks or outlandish tricks.

The striking visual effects are matched by mostly outstanding vocal performances. Soprano Bayrakdarian is Blanche, the daughter of an aristocrat who joins the Carmelite convent and grows spiritually into a martyr. I saw her perform this role in Chicago in 2007 in the same Carsen production and she was magnificent. Nothing has changed.

Soprano Hélène Guilmette plays Sister Constance like a soubrette at the beginning in nice contrast to Blanche. She exudes optimism and has a lovely voice. However, she too matures and is the one who triggers the martyrdom of Blanche.

Soprano Adrianne Pieczonka as Madame Lidoine and mezzo soprano Judith Forst as the First Prioress gave polished, dramatic and praiseworthy performances.

Poulenc’s score has numerous musical exclamation marks where there is a sudden burst of music. This tended to drown out some of the singers including Lapointe and Antoun. Initially I thought that they simply did not have enough vocal power but that did not seem to be the case. It was probably a case of poor balancing between pit and stage. Not a major problem but noticeable nevertheless.

The COC Orchestra under Johannes Debus played Poulenc’s richly textured score quite marvelously.

 _____

Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc opened on May 8 and will be performed eight  times on various dates until May 25, 2013 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel: 416-363-6671. www.coc.ca

SALOME IN BRILLIANT INTERPRETATION BY EGOYAN FROM THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY

Hanna Schwarz as Herodias and Erika Sunnegårdh as Salome. Photo: Michael Cooper

By James Karas         

For many of us the Dance of the Seven Veils evokes the image of the gorgeous Rita Hayworth as Salome undulating before Charles Laughton as Herod. That image may be forever removed from your subconscious if you see (and you should) Atom Egoyan’s interpretation of Salome with the Canadian Opera Company.

Egoyan manages to produce an entirely new work while staying faithful to Richard Strauss’s setting of Oscar Wilde’s play. The Biblical story as adapted by Wilde is that Salome is the stepdaughter of Herod. He is married to Herodias, his brother’s wife and Salome’s mother.

John the Baptist, a zealous prophet, is under arrest for fulminating against the sinful life of Herod and Herodias. Herod is attracted to Salome; Salome is attracted to John the Baptist; John the Baptist will have nothing to do with her. Salome performs her famous dance and asks for the Baptist’s head on a platter as her reward.

That is the barebones of the opera’s plot. Enter Egoyan. When Salome is about to start her strip tease of a dance, we see on a projected video a smiling, little girl on a swing. As the dramatic music of Salome’s dance develops, we see images of the little girl as a young woman and men enter the picture. Subtly, beautifully, disturbingly we realize that Salome is an abused child.

Now her attraction to the horrible-looking prophet makes more sense. Her lecherous stepfather and probably others abused her and the Baptist is perhaps the only man who has not. She does not take revenge on John – she makes love to him as she kisses the lips and tastes the blood of the man’s severed head.

In the end, she is executed by Herod himself and not by the soldiers as indicated in the libretto.

The most impressive performance of the evening was given by soprano Erika Sunnegärdh in the title role. She is physically lithe with a big, dramatic and supple voice. This Salome is not a sexual magnate out for revenge but a woman wronged and in love and Sunnegärdh gives a signature performance.

Baritone Martin Gantner was a disappointing Jochanaan (John the Baptist). His voice never achieved the power and intensity required of the passionate moralist, and the orchestra frequently drowned him out.

Tenor Richard Margison made a splendid Herod. This ruler of Judea was a classic dictator: a bit demented, somewhat unstable and thoroughly egotistical. Margison’s big voice stood him in good stead and his Herod was done superbly.

Mezzo-soprano Hannah Schwarz, with orange hair combed in a bun on top of her head, wearing an orange gown, made a good Herodias vocally and in appearance.

The set by designer Derek McLane resembles a walled yard with a swing in the centre. The “cistern” of the libretto where John the Baptist is held is under the stage and he is brought out on a cart. However, there is a hole on the stage through which he can be seen by the other characters. The only other props are a couple of chairs brought out during the performance.

Egoyan relies partly on video projections to set the tone of the opera. Aside from the Dance of the Seven Veils, we get glimpses of the party inside the palace as well as a swimming pool and images of Salome almost naked. She leaves the party and comes out of the pool and on stage wearing a while robe and swimsuit for her scenes before the famous Dance.

Captain Narraboth (well done by Nathaniel Peake) wears a suit while others wear robes. John the Baptist, hair disheveled, looks simply wild. The impression is that of a futuristic sci-fi setting rather than anything recognizable.

Salome is as much an orchestral work as it is an operatic composition and Strauss’s marvelous score makes high demands on the orchestra. The COC Orchestra under Johannes Debus gave us what amounts to a full concert. Listening to them alone is worth the price of admission.

This is an original, thought-provoking and exciting production. A great night at the opera.

____

Salome by Richard Strauss opened on April 21 and will be performed eight times until May 22, 2013 on various dates at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel:  416-363-6671. www.coc.ca