Tales of the underworld: All set for a revolutionary opera at Lismore
Kelli-Ann Masterson, soprano, with Alex O'Neill and Donking Rongavilla of CoisCéim Dance Theatre, at Lismore Castle for Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. Picture: Patrick Browne
A grief-stricken hero with musical superpowers goes to the underworld in search of his wife. He may retrieve her on one condition – that he does not look back until they return to the land of the living.
Since the beginning of opera, the Greek myth of Orpheus has been associated with the renaissance in every sense of the word. An appropriate choice for Blackwater Valley Opera Festival returning to live performance after the restrictions of recent years.
Monteverdi’s version in 1607 is regarded as the first fully developed example of the genre devised by the Florentine Camerata in their efforts to recapture the spirit of ancient Greek drama. A century and a half later, the German composer Christoph Gluck had a similar motive. Peter Whelan, director of Irish Baroque Orchestra explains why Gluck’s was considered a radical departure from the opera conventions of the day.
“Gluck had written many operas in the style of the time which involved a lot of expensive shiny singers showing off and trying to outdo each other in baroque style da capo arias with lots of flowery ornaments,” says Whelan.
“That went down well for a few hundred years in Italian opera. Gluck with his librettist, Calzabigi decided to re-look at the opera form and tried to bring it back to what they imagined was its origins - the classical purity of antiquity.”
The duo got rid of a lot of the floweriness and made the text front and centre. “Then they tried to marry text, dance, and music together, all on an equal footing.
That was the dream and that's why it was a revolutionary opera in lots of perspectives.
There was another radical dimension to the creation of the opera, Whelan suggests. “It is one of the first operas where the librettist and the composer work together. Gluck wasn't great at Italian, but we know that Calzabigi spent a lot of time showing him where the emphasis should go on the words and at what speeds they should be sung, and they begin to work together as a team like Rodgers and Hammerstein.”
As a conductor, Whelan is a persuasive champion of neglected music from the baroque era. Based in London, a busy diary of directing assignments has rendered his career as a professional wind player dormant. On his most recent recording, he appears as a soloist. “It’s a bit of a swansong for my bassoon as the conducting has really taken off at the moment and I’m really pleased to just have one more little say about the bassoon with this album of Mozart concertos.”
The German word ‘gluck’ translates as luck or fortune, and Whelan’s engagement with this setting of the myth of Orpheus has been fortunate for him. In 2018, he directed a touring production of the work for Irish National Opera and later this year he will direct a production at San Francisco Opera. The Kildare native comes to his debut in Lismore garlanded with a prestigious Olivier award for an INO production of another baroque opera, Vivaldi’s .
In Lismore, dance is an integral part of the production with Coisceim Dance Theatre. It will be a different production in several respects, not least in that it is staged not in a theatre but in the stable yard of the Lismore Castle. The piece is carried by the singer in the title role.
The first Gluck Orfeo was Guadagni, a famous castrato. The role in modern times is sung by a female mezzo-soprano or a male countertenor. In Lismore, the role will be sung by Meili Li, the first Chinese countertenor to forge an international career.
“There is something ethereal about the countertenor voice that adds to that sense of being between worlds. This time around, we have a bigger orchestra. The setting will be different. The changes of light during the evening will bring something magical."
- Orfeo ed Euridice, Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, June 1-6, Lismore Castle Yard. See https://blackwatervalleyoperafestival.com/
- Maurice Steger & Friends: - Thurs, 8pm
- Giovanni Bellucci Concert: - Monday, 1pm
- Irish Baroque Orchestra - Handel Programme Monday, 8pm
- BVOF Voices of Ukraine: Blue Skies and Wheat Fields – Sunday 4pm
- Lismore, Wednesday 1pm; Dungarvan, Friday 12 noon; Youghal, Saturday 12 noon; Fermoy, Monday 12 noon.
- Chorus Recital 2022: Stepping Out from the Chorus - Thursday 1pm, Villierstown Church.
- RDS Collins Memorial Recital 2022: Phoebe White and Ellen Jansson - Saturday 1pm St Carthage’s Cathedral
- 'Joyce in Music' Recital:– Saturday 4pm St Carthage’s Cathedral.
