Norman Reinhardt / Arvustused

Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabitoemphasize the consistent restoration of women's rule in their spacious production of Bellini's "Norma". In the priestess Norma, who serves her gods and yet does not want to live chastely, Bellini depicts in glowing colors the disturbing double life of a woman who is extremely capable of love. However, she has also re-appropriated her dominion herself and has moved into the temple with her children. As a spiritual authority, Norma gives direction to her oppressed people. At the same time, there is a secret love agreement with Pollione, which he breaks when he falls hopelessly in love with Adalgisa. In her anguish, she entrusts her love to the High Priestess. In wild revenge, Norma first wants to kill her and Pollione's children, which the production captures in garish images. in trying Forcibly kidnapping Adalgisa from the temple, Pollione is seized. Norma orders a woodpile to be built for a priestess who has betrayed her country and her gods. But she does not mention Adalgisa's name, but her own. Then she is led to execution. All of this is only hinted at in the production (stage and costumes:Anna Viebrock ; scenic direction of the revival: Anika Rutkofsky ). There are always references to the modern world - from the telephone to the pull-out bed. Even if mystical and metaphysical moments are largely missing in this interpretation, the directing of the characters is all the more credible. One understands, above all, in the convincing performance of the excellent Spanish soprano Yolanda Auyanet,that Norma has the special dignity of a goddess, while she is only criminalized in Alexandre Soumet's play. At the same time, Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito make it clear that Norma is not Medea. Her vengeance is not so merciless, she is ready for a limitless self-sacrifice that leaves the people first shaken and then all the more angry. The strength and power of the mass rebellion stands out in this production in an extremely rousing and breathless way. Under the fiery direction of the young Italian conductor Giacomo Sagripanti, the Stuttgart State Orchestra performs with esprit and grandeur. Bellini's tonal language speaks with a thousand tongues, bringing boundless human passions to life. The brass players also appear at the side entrances and give the production a strange military character. One senses how strongly this work must have influenced Giuseppe Verdi, for example. Yolanda Auyanet lets the ecstatic surge of prayer in “Casta Diva” blossom in passionate cantilenas – and invoked in the cabaletta her marriage bond with Pollione in a most moving way. Yolanda Auyanet traces the contrast between prayer and cabaletta with an even timbre and top tones that rise to the limit. However, the magic of bel canto is also revealed in the touching embodiment of Adalgisa by the extremely emotional acting and excellent singing Diana Haller. Diminished intervals and chromatic passages of the score are then implemented in a gripping manner in the highest moments of despair. The outstanding Staatsopernchor Stuttgart ( studyer: Bernhard Moncado ) plays a central role in this , always dominating the stage in an almost all-encompassing manner. The radiant tenorAs Pollione, Massimo Giordano evokes his mental turmoil more and more believably, only to finally emphasize the larger-than-life presence of this character Giacomo Sagripanti has a special feeling for Bellini's overheated tonal language, which considerably strengthens and accelerates the singing culture and virtuosity of the singers. Liang Li portrays Oroveso as the head of the druids with a sonorous bass, while Regina Friedek as Norma's confidant Clotilde and Daniel Kluge as Pollione's friend Flavio provide interesting role portraits. Katarina Tomic and Konstantin Vogel can also be seen as Norma and Pollione's children . Cheers, frenetic applause.

West Side Story, an unconventional choice for a festival that focuses on classical music and opera, but a great success, which has also been planned for a run of long sold out performances at the Summer Festival. Bartoli is Maria, in a role which has been tailored to fit her by stage director Philip Wm. McKinley. She is already on stage before the music begins, in a prologue that the director has created in order to show what Maria is doing twenty years after Tony’s death - she’s still working in the tailor shop, and when the working day is finished sets out to walk home in the neighborhood in which two decades before she found and lost the love of her life. In the street, she thinks and remembers. And there starts the music, with Bartoli on stage for the whole of the performance, among the memories of her youth. She is doubled by another, younger Maria, Michelle Veintimilla, who takes part in the action and the dialogue but does not sing - all the singing belongs to the older Maria’s memories, and is accordingly performed by Bartoli. This looks a little awkward during the duets, but in general it works and is compelling. Bartoli’s operatic voice is somewhat too heavy for musicals, and the vibrato may at moments sound inappropriate, but she sings with delicacy and tenderness, and the applause that met her rendition of Somewhere was fully deserved. As Tony, tenor Norman Reinhardt sounded more at ease with the lighter singing style and showcased his excellent vocal skills in the aria Maria. All other singers had a background in musicals and were great performers, especially Karen Olivo, ideally cast as Anita.