Beate Vollack / Reseñas

Every opera lover knows "Carmen", but Georges Bizet's "Pearl Fishermen" are only rarely performed. The Graz Opera presents the early work in an antiquated production, the driving force of the evening is the soprano Tetiana Miyus. If you still own a video recorder and stumble across a couple of old, dusty VHS cassettes with opera recordings in the basement: What you would see on them would be amazingly similar to what the Graz Opera House is now doing with Georges Bizet's "Die Perlenfischer " indicates. Director Ben Baur and the Graz ballet director Beate Vollack bring very old-fashioned music theater to the stage, unfortunately without retro charm and almost parodically. The unbelievable events in Bizet's pseudo-Ceylon take place between fake blood, theater rocks and long-haired wigs. Baur, who had already shown two rather weak works in Graz, remained true to his method of "greasing up" the clothes box, especially towards the end, with a few visual stimuli (here a skeleton, a man on fire and the like), which did not give the impression of being unoriginal weakened, only strengthened. The appearance of Leïla in the first act indicates how attractive such an opera museum could be. Apart from such positive details, this time you have to be content with a rather banal love triangle against the background of a repressive, archaic system (strong as the high priest Nourabad: Daeho Kim). As regrettable as it is not to assign a director to a dramaturgically unsuccessful piece like “The Pearl Fishers” that authenticates the plot, the music of “Les pêcheurs des perles”, which premiered in Paris in 1863, is as astounding. Bizet's imagination did not allow itself to be domesticated by the weak libretto; it is a melodic, impressive work full of poetry, which already testifies to the talents of the great music dramatist. This poetry can be heard above all through Tetiana Miyus as Leïla, who lends lyrical brilliance and suppleness to this evening: she is not one of the coloratura automatons that one has often heard in this role, she sings with imagination, inwardness and rounded coloratura. She is not guilty of the dramatic outbursts in the third act either, in fact she creates them in a downright brilliant way. Miyus moved in her own league that evening. Her two partners in this opera, which is actually designed like a chamber play, are by no means bad: tenor Andrzej Lampert brings a radiant forte with him, but also gives the nadir a tormented, intense expression, whereby some ugly notes in the top register are certainly not intended to be creative. Baritone Dariusz Perczak is somewhat monochromatic, but very cultivated as a “forgiving” and “forgiving” Zurga in the end. In Bizet's work, the fourth main role is not taken on by the aforementioned bass Nourabad, but by the chorus, which boasts massive breadth here (rehearsal: Bernhard Schneider). Conductor Marcus Merkel creates the right mood for this work with its ominous exoticism, he lets the melodies flourish, but keeps the action in the pulse and demonstrates that this music, a sound blend of early Wagner, Grand Opéra and Offenbach, is not sentimental. Those who concentrate on the music will experience an impressive evening, those who look too much at the stage will probably think of the old VHS tapes at home.