If ever there was an opera production that put the words “cultural divide” in neon lights, the Rossini Opera Festival’s 2007 production of La Gazza Ladra is it. The striking differences in opinions between Italian opera critics and their English counterparts were planted front and center.

These diverse viewpoints were directly linked to Damiano Michieletto’s direction and Paolo Fantin’s sets whose eagerness to exceed the textual boundaries of Rossini’s most respected opera semiseria ignited the debate. Hugh Canning’s comments in Opera, November, 2007, boiled over the operatic cauldron in total disapprobation. “They (ROF) could also hardly have done worse than engage a young director with ‘ideas’ about La Gazza Ladra, staged as an immigrant’s nightmare…The genius responsible for transforming Rossini’s domestic semiseria into a searing indictment of a police state and implacable judiciary was Damiano Michieletto.” Even as late as November, 2008, David Blewitt in Opera referred to ROF’s new productions in 2007, as, “two concept productions of unmitigated awfulness,” — the other disappointment being Rossini’s Otello.

Stephen Hastings’s perspective in Opera News November, 2007, touched on some of the ideas Italian critics voiced about the work. “The director, Damiano Michieletto, aided by scenographer Paolo Fantin, proved…adept at matching sound and movement, offering a number of striking visual effects (including a stage flooded by rain in Act 11).” In fact, the Italian critics were completely enamored by Michieletto’s and Fantin’s approach which cast a darker hue over the opera’s story than past productions had done.

Claudio Salvi, in Il Messaggero, on August 12th, 2007, said about the first performance, “In a festival which is now basing all its reason for being on modern directors and on young talented casts, the traditionalists have found it difficult to integrate their melomanical beliefs with Damiano Michieletto’s innovative and original direction, and for Pesaro’s new course of action.” Yet, Salvi believed this dreamlike interpretation of La Gazza Ladra worthy of ROF’s fame and as one of the best productions seen at ROF in the last few years. For having bet on this young director and his talented cast, this production represents a kind of awakening from the dark and shows a good dose of courage.

Ivana Baldassarri in the Il Resto del Carlino , on August 12, 2007, noted two significant changes to the plot: one in the opera’s locale from country inn to luxury hotel and the other, transforming the thieving magpie into a young girl who in a bad dream becomes the thief. But the story on the stage still follows the same outline as in Giovanni Carli Ballola’s program notes. “Ninetta, a girl from a good, but poor family has to work as a servant in a rich tenant farmer’s home. She is unjustly accused of stealing and then selling a silver spoon. The mistake is compounded by the hated Podestà (the chief magistrate) who persecutes the girl for rejecting his amorous advances. Ninetta really has sold, to an old-clothed man, a silver spoon given to her by her father, an army deserter in need of money. Tried and condemned to death, Ninetta is saved at the last minute by the chance discovery of the missing spoon in the magpie’s nest.”

In an interview with Il Resto Del Carlino,on August 10, 2007, Michieletto explained to writer Maria Rita Tonti, his reasons for his directorial choices. “Because La Gazza, a complex opera, belongs to the semiserio genre which mixes happy moments with dramatic ones, I thought to find a non-rhetorical way of telling the story that would give a narrative value to the plot while the libretto would not follow the music in a simple and light manner.” He said the idea came to him while reflecting on the Alice In Wonderland fable in which Alice follows the rabbit without asking any questons and finds herself involuntarily involved in a dramatically fearful situation, a necessary ingredient in all fairy tales. In the story’s most terrible moment when the Queen of Hearts is going to kill her, Alice wakes up from the nightmare. The director used this idea, turning the magpie into the personification of a young girl. As the girl falls asleep, she begins to dream, becoming the protagonist in a trip that initially seems wondrous and playful. She finds, however, she is the one blamed for stealing the cutlery and is about to be shot when she suddenly wakes up bringing the opera to an end. What is not imaginary is that Rossini and librettist, Giovanni Gherardini based their work on a true incident where a young girl was put to death for stealing cutlery.

It is Michieletto’s approach to the story that fascinated the Italians and ultimately one they believed in wholeheartedly. The result was they gave the director, in May of 2008, the Franco Abbiati prize for his work at the festival. The prize, named in memory of one of Italy’s greatest music critics, is one of the most prestigious in Italian music circles. Then the French magazine, Diapason, awarded the DVD of La Gazza Ladra, the Diapason d’or as the best disc for the months of July-August.

Rossini Opera Festival

Fortunately, we now have the DVD of ROF’s La Gazza Ladra which opera lovers can judge the merits for themselves. As for the physical production, Fantin, costume designer Carla Teti, and light designer Mark Truebridge compliment Michieletto’s emphasis on the darker side of the opera. The deep reds that accompany the stark white lighting are also reflected in the costumes. In addition to the black and drab brown costumes for Michele Pertusi’s malevolent Podestà and Alex Esposito’s Fernando, the eerie black robes of the judges indicated no mercy for Ninetta’s plight. Michieletto starts out with Sandhya Nagaraja playing a game with small white cylinders that set designer Fantin used throughout the opera, changing their size and stage position to accentuate the opera’s dramatic moments. In the opening scene of Act Two, they resembled sewer pipes sopping in water, representing Ninetta’s jail where Giannetto, her intended, Pippo, her trusted friend and the licentious Podestà come to visit her. No doubt, it is Michieletto’s stark point of view which caused all the critical dissension.

But it is the wonderful musical preparation and execution that makes this performance shine. Lü Jia’s conducting and devotion to his singers fit ROF’s dedication to Rossini’s operas like a glove to hand. Mariola Cantarero’s expressed Ninetta’s nobility and pathos through stellar vocal means. Michele Pertusi’s interpretation might have struck some as too thuggish but his vocal prowess made the role complete. Alex Esposito committed acting and singing as Ninetta’s devoted father was a perfect counterpoint to Pertusi’s bully. These two performers gave the opera its emotional truth. Dmitry Korchak’s Giannetto showed his character’s concern for his beloved, but the upper voice lacked the necesary security. At times, Manuela Custer’s middle voice proved clumsy, but in the second act duet, “E ben, per mia memoria,” her Pippo melded beautifully with Cantarero’s Ninetta. Paolo Bordogna as Fabrizio, Kleopatra Papatheologou as Lucia, Stefan Cifoletti as Isacco and Cosimo Panozzo as Antonio rounded out the cast giving first class interpretations to their smaller roles showing the depth of this production’s musicality.

Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901) Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave

Simon Boccanegra – Melodrama in a Prologue and Three Acts Simon Boccanegra – Roberto Frontali Amelia Grimaldi – Carmen Giannattasio Jacopo Fiesco – Giacomo Prestia Gabriele Adorno – Giuseppe Gipali Paolo Albiani – Marco Vratogna Pietro – Alberto Rota Capitano dei balestrieri – Enea Scala Ancella di Amelia – Lucia Michelazzo

Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna Conductor – Michele Mariotti Chorus Master: Paolo Vero Director – Giorgio Gallione Costume and Set Design – Guido Fiorato Lighting Design – Daniele Naldi

Directed for TV and Video – Francesca Nesler

Live from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna 2007 Synopsis, essays and Subtitles in Italian, English, French, German, and Spanish. ARTHAUS MUSIK Cat. No. NTSC 101 307 1DVD Running Time; 140 Min.

At first it came as a delightful surprise to see this Simon Boccanegra from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna available on DVD. In November, 2007, thirteen opera lovers from Michael Tisma’s Ovations International opera tour travelled to Teatro Municipale Valli in Emiglia Romana to see Bologna’s production of Boccanegra. Without exception, everyone considered it an emotionally gripping performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s pessimistic tale of spiritual disturbance and foreboding. What is evident while watching the DVD is the difference between the confident execution and polish of the Teatro Valli performance and the unfinished, yet promising rendition caught at the opera’s prima in Bologna. There is much to be said for taping a production later in the run, after it has had a few performances under its belt. Valli’s was the seventh outing for Bologna’s dedicated team where it revealed all its artistic merit.

The mandate, however, is to review the performance as it is seen and heard on ARTHAUS MUSIC at its initial showing on November 13th.

A behind-the-scenes look at the production reveals a confident, independent spirit in the Teatro Comunale’s approach to mounting new productions. Devoid of any outside influences, the company has produced a team of cohesive artists with a inspired point of view.

Giorgio Gallione, in his first outing in opera, has been directing Italian theater since the early 80s. He worked well with Guido Fiorato whose set design consisted mainly of a series of marble-like walls that moved across the stage that simulated the 14th Century look of Verdi’s opera. Gallione’s gave his singers a natural acting style which easily fit the composer’s musical rhythms, letting their characterizations tell the story. Fiorito also designed the costumes that featured long, elegant tunics in rich greens and reds with adornments that recalled both the wealth and the gloom of Boccanegra’s court life. Daniele Naldi’s lighting complimented Michele Mariotti’s intimate conducting style which emphasized the torturous struggle between love of family and duty to one’s country that permeates so much of Verdi’s output. What is remarkable about this young conductor is how well he intergrated his musical expertise with Verdi’s musical narrative.

Boccanegra has always suffered complaints about its libretto from critics and opera goers alike. The opera debuted in Venice in 1857 and was revised by Verdi for Milan in 1881 with help from the composer Arrigo Boito who became Verdi’s librettest. Verdi and Boito worked diligently to give the opera a new life which translated into new music and a substantially revised libretto. Still many opera critics don’t find the story’s content an easy one to follow.

In the prologue we meet Simone, a young corsair in love with Maria Fiesco. Her father, Jacopo, has kept her hidden for she has had an illegitimate child by Simone. Paolo, the Plebian leader wants Simone to become Doge. Simone accepts, thinking his new position would make it easier for him to marry Maria. Jacopo’s hatred for the future leader increases when he learns that Simone’s daughter has vanished and he is deprived of the joy of having a granddaughter. After Jacopo departs, Simone enters the palace only to discover that Maria is dead. With a heavy heart, he accepts the cheers of the people as their Doge.

Act One takes place twenty-five years later when we are introduced to Simone’s daughter, who is now known as Amelia. Simone meets her and discovers the truth of their relationship in one of Verdi’s most beautiful father-daughter duets. Also, Jacopo has returned to Genoa in disguise under the name ‘Andrea’ and spends the rest of the opera detesting Simone until the end of Act Three when, as Simone is dying from poison, they reconcile their differences in one of Verdi’s best friendship duets. At opera’s end, Simone makes Gabriele, Amelia’s intended, the new Doge. The strong point of the opera is not its plot, but the magnificent music the mature composer invented for his revised version. Nowhere is that more evident than in the Council Chamber Scene that ends Act One.

It was Boito who convinced Verdi that this scene was necessary to show Simone as a leader for the patricians and the common people and to interject some of Verdi’s own thoughts about bringing peace to a troubled land. The composer created a complex ensemble, vivid characters and high drama in this scene. Roberto Frontali’s baritone climbs the scale, giving Simone’s lines,”Vo gridando pace, vo gridano amor” a rich, soaring thrust in a voice deep with emotion. In the scene before this one, at the end of his duet with Carmen Giannattasio as Amelia, he expresses his love for her with one word,”Figlia.” Many baritones try to project this moment with a mezza voce, but few can duplicate Tito Gobbi’s vocal heartbreak. Frontali goes his own way by expressing the word with a beautiful full sound that gives Verdi’s note – an F above middle C – its full value. Also, Frontali easily transitions from the brash sailor in the prologue to the seasoned and reflective Doge required in the rest of the opera. The baritone’s Simone is a very good reason to purchase this DVD.

There are other valuable contributions to this production. Carmen Giannattasio’s makes a lovely Amelia and a good partner in father/daughter duet in Act One, Scene 1. No other opera composer paints the longing for familial love in music as Verdi. At the duet’s end there are four measures that seem to carry the ecstacy of Simone and Amelia’s discovery into eternity. Giannattasio’s soprano starts out with cloudy overtones; by the time the duet comes, she’s warmed up.

Giacomo Prestia bass fills the dramatic parts of his Fiesco, especially in his two duets -one in the prologue and the other at the finale – with Frontali’s Boccanegra. The lower part of the voice, however, gets throaty, revealing his lack of sonority so necessary to the role.

Tenor Giuseppe Gipali is quite capable in handling the vocal requirements of Gabariele Adorno, even if his voice in person comes across smaller in volume than on the DVD.

The last major role is Paolo Albiani, who at first is Simone’s friend and later his betrayer. Marco Vratogna makes a strong physical and vocal presence, his lighter bass tone has no problem in projecting Paolo’s menacing moments.

Video director, Francesca Nesler easily follows Gallione’s stage demands, but the deep blue lighting that permeates the production does cover some of the distinctive greens and reds Fiorato used to represent the Plebians and the Patricians in the Council Chamber Scene. This did not happen in the house.

Does the fact that an Italian opera company the size of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna is willing to make a DVD of one of their new productions indicate a resurgence of operatic interest in Italy? Only time will tell, but we can hope that this production bodes well for the future.

Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
Torvaldo e Dorliska – Drama semiserio in two acts (1815)

Dorliska – Darina Takova (soprano)
Duca d’Ordow – Michele Pertusi (bass)
Torvaldo – Francesco Meli (tenor)
Giorgio – Bruno Practico (bass)
Carlotta – Jeannette Fisher (soprano)
Ormondo – Simone Alberghini (bass-baritone)

Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano Trento
Conductor: Victor Pablo Perez
Prague Chamber Choir
Chorus Master: Lubomir Matl
Director: Mario Martone
Set designer: Sergio Tramonti
Costume designer: Ursula Patzak
Light designer: Cesare Accetta
Fortepiano: Giulio Zappa
Cello continuo: David Etheve
Video director: Tiziano Mancini

Edizione critica della Fondazione Rossini in collaborazione di Casa Ricordi Rec. live, Teatro Rossini, Pesaro, August, 2006. Synopsis and essays in Italian, English, French and German. DYNAMIC 33528 2DVDS: 157 Min.

It is not often an opera goer gets to revisit a fondly remembered performance hoping the praiseworthy first impressions still ring true. Fortunately, the solid musical and dramatic values from the Rossini Opera Festival’s production of Torvaldo e Dorliska are still very much alive on this recently issued DVD taped in August 2006. And what stands out about the DVD is the care Dynamic took in presenting both the gentle reflections and the forceful declamations in Rossini’s semiserio opera, letting the camera capture these contrasting musical moments the composer recognized were essential to this genre.

Looking back at what I wrote on livingattheopera.com in ‘06, all the innovative moments from this production are there on the DVD. One reason is Mario Martone’s fluid, but sturdy directorial hand in guiding his dedicated cast through librettist Cesare Sterbini’s comic and serious dramaturgy. Another is conductor Victor Pablo Perez, whose able assistance gave the composer’s music its fullest performance value.

It helps in these semiserie works if the story unfolds simply and directly, and of course, Torvaldo does. Set in an unspecified European country sometime before the 16th century, in the dark, hooded woods surrounding the castle of the tyrannical Duke of d’Ordow, the knight Torvado comes in search of his wife, Dorliska. Helping him to rescue his beloved is Giorgio, the custodian of the castle. The Duke, thinking Torvaldo is dead, is ravaged with his own unrequited love for Dorliska. Giorgio, naturally conflicted between his loyalty to the Duke and his empathy for Torvaldo’s plight, decides to help the people’s uprising against the oppressive ruler, which results in reuniting Torvaldo and Dorliska. The opera ends with general rejoicing, a must in semiseria opera.

The tale’s simplicity in no way hides the commitment the four leads bring to their roles. In fact, Tiziano Mancini’s video-camera work follows the ebb and flow of Martone’s directorial style so neatly that the performances gain in emotional stature as the opera progresses. Mancini’s closeups become even more significant by the way he pulls the camera back at the exact moment the character changes his or her emotional footing, involving the viewer to an even greater extent than in the house, if that is possible. For that reason, the drama moves smoothly to the forefront partnering the vocal insights of bass Michele Pertusi as the Duke and bass Bruno Practico as Giorgio. The camera also intensifies the dramatic gifts of Franceso Meli as Torvaldo and Darina Takova as Dorliska, as well as their vocal achievements.

Set designer, Mario Tramonti extended the proscenium out and around the orchestra pit allowing the singers greater freedom of movement. He also built side steps that led into the two main aisles of the intimate Teatro Rossini extending the action into an even wider area. Mancini captures Tramonti’s illusion of a desolate space, moving the camera around the opera house showing not only a beautiful production, but this lovely setting for Rossini’s authentic interpretation of opera semiserio.

Visual purists may find some of the colors invading each other’s space when a surer hand is needed to keep them in check, but this may be due to how the production was lit as opposed to Mancini’s own lighting choices. But in the end, this is a small price for the viewer to pay for the opportunity to see and hear one of Rossini’s neglected works performed in such a distinguished production.