Piero Vinciguerra / Rezensionen

Musically, this premiere was also a great success. Especially in these pandemic-prone times, opera fans thirst for such large and elaborate productions. And apparently so did the ensemble of the Aalto Theater in the same way. Because the joy of playing of all participants was transferred to the audience at all times and increasingly inspired them. That's why first of all a collective big praise for the musical ensemble on the stage of Essen's Il Trittico! Of course, this also applies to the opera choir and the children's choir of the Aalto Theater ( directed by Patrick Jaskolka ) and to the extras of the house. Each of the three one-act plays was well cast, right down to the smallest parts. And there are quite a number of them in Puccini's work. And in the main parts of the three one-act plays there is also only positive things to report.Heiko Trinsinger as Michele (Il Tabarro) and as Gianni Schicchi equally, highly convincing in singing and expression. Two parts that could hardly be more different in design. His Michele was powerful and full of dramatic vocals, and his interpretation of Schicchi was playful and very pointed. The audience saw it that way too: at the end many cheers for this artistic achievement. As his wife Giorgetta, Annemarie Kremer also knew how to inspire. She played the inner turmoil of this woman very well and gave it great emphasis with her voice. Sergey Polyakov also played and sang the beloved Luigi convincingly and with a strong voice and complemented this vocal trio absolutely adequately. Mezzo-soprano Bettina Ranch made two brilliant role debuts that evening as La Frugola in Il Tabarro and as Fürstin in Suor Angelica. On the one hand there was the design of the rather cheeky La Frugola (ferret), who collects things from the Seine that she obviously needs and then there was the portrayal of the unapproachable princess in Suor Angelica, which gave the Bettina Ranch a cool and unsympathetic aura . Here the reviewer would have wished that Puccini had written more singing of this part into the score, the vocal interpretation of the mezzo-soprano from Berlin was too convincing.Jessica Muirhead was rightly and deservedly in the audience's applause. Her portrayal of the desperate Suor Angelica got under the skin. The design of her aria " Senza mamma... " was certainly one of the highlights of the entire premiere evening, actually only topped by Angelica's final dying scene when she asks the Virgin Mary for forgiveness. (" O Madonna, salvami! "). That's them. The moments when the opera fan knows why he loves this art so much. Well done to Jessica Muirhead! In the concluding GIANNI SCHICCHI there was an all-round inspiring ensemble performance. The portrayal of the title actor by Heiko Trinsinger has already been mentioned here. As Schicchi's daughter Lauretta, Lilian Farahani found the ideal tone, not only, but also, for one of the most famous opera arias of all, the " O mio babbino caro ", and then received spontaneous applause for the touching design of this gem. Her side was Carlos Cardoso as Rinuccio, who gave this young man in love an enormous amount of voice and really conjured up tenor moments of brilliance. Great performance by the Portuguese tenor! Roberto Rizzi Brignoli , a proven expert in Italian opera , conducted the brilliant Essen Philharmonic Orchestra . He let his musicians play and sound Puccini's rich scores with precisely these very special subtleties and nuances and set great accents in the musically dramatic moments, particularly in Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica. Of course, well-deserved applause for him and the Philharmoniker at the end of the evening!