![]() No apologies, one week on, for another eulogy to the musicians at Westminster Abbey. As one who has always struggled with this work, I found it illuminating. But Carsen’s interpretation gives the characters definition and clarity. Aida devotees will rail against the production – not generally liked much when it was new – and the liberties taken with the plot (I don’t remember Verdi specifying a table-laying scene). He steered the epic moments as well as the subtle, spare scoring of the intimate passages, every moment steeped in maximum drama. Mark Elder, conducting, seems to have Verdi pumping through his veins. Ludovic Tézier showed pain and anger as Aida’s father, Amonasro, and Soloman Howard was calm and masterly as Ramfis, The ROH chorus (directed by William Spaulding) showed their world-class skill. As Aida, the American soprano Angel Blue was at times uneven vocally, but her natural, compelling stage presence won out. The Radames of SeokJong Baek was ringing and resonant, though Verdi’s two-dimensional character remained flat. ‘Ferocity and heartbreak’: Elīna Garanča, right, as Amneris, with Angel Blue in the title role, in the Royal Opera’s Aida. Playing this angry and devastated woman with all the ferocity and heartbreak she could muster, the Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča stole the show. Amneris, in heels and caped dress a la Penny Mordaunt sans sword, reeks of power. The lovers share their death tomb with a store of weapons. ![]() ![]() Carsen’s Egypt, in Miriam Buether’s severe but handsome designs, is a modern totalitarian state driven by territorial ambition, war and religious fanaticism. ![]() From the hero’s investiture as Egyptian army leader, to the choral prayer for victory to the triumphal march, there is no shortage in Verdi’s grand opera, first performed in Cairo in 1871. The crisply drilled troops, red, white and blue flags, the salutes and heel-clicking were a chilling reminder of the power of ritual. This was his nightĪt the Royal Opera House, Robert Carsen’s 2022 production of Aida is back for its first revival. This provocative opera deserves a wider audience. More performances were scheduled for Brighton last week. Four soloists, four chorus and a dancer make up the small, versatile team, with Mitchell’s own slick staging and video designs by Conan McIvor. In a reunited cast, the remarkable Canadian soprano Rebecca Caine was outstanding as Iris Robinson, with actor Tony Flynn as Radio Ulster presenter Steve Nolan, questing and questioning, if finally equivocal. A QEH performance, distanced from events, was never likely to match that level of intensity. They did not, but each twist, each witty nuance of music and text, fanned the audience response to a fiery furnace. Photograph: Neil HarrisonĪs an outsider, I experienced that opening night four years ago on tenterhooks, wondering at what point Robinson’s supporters would storm in and halt the performance. The Belfast Ensemble conducted by Tom Deering in rehearsal at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It made the words hard to hear, though the meaning was always clear. All the singers were miked, but Mitchell’s careful balance of voices and orchestration – the Belfast Ensemble, conducted by Tom Deering – felt quarrelsome, which was not the case in Belfast. One frustration at the Queen Elizabeth Hall was the overamplification. Shrill, unruly, mutinous, Mitchell’s 70-minute piece is a whirlwind stomp and canter through various operatic and cabaret styles, skilfully constructed and beautifully paced. Last weekend, Abomination had its overdue English premiere, with three performances at the Southbank Centre. To make opera out of such toxic ingredients was daring, but the work won ovations. Robinson’s own extramarital affair, breakdown and suicide attempt have long fuelled gossip-columns in the region. The opera’s verbatim text – grotesque language set to often tender, voluptuous music – is drawn from comments made by Robinson, a born-again Christian, and other DUP members expressing hatred of homosexuality. The work’s central character, Iris Robinson, is no fictional antihero but a former Democratic Unionist party politician, married to the former first minister of Northern Ireland. To protests and frayed nerves, Abomination: A DUP Opera by Conor Mitchell was given its world premiere at the Outburst Queer arts festival in Belfast in 2019.
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