Past Production Reviews
3Hong Kong’s Musica Viva has incrementally moved from one full opera production per year—in December—to two. If this recent production of Mozart’s comic masterpiece is any indication, the smaller production in late September featuring entirely local singers has, over the past couple of years, matured and is hitting its stride. These productions have tended to concentrate on the lighter side of the repertoire—the past two years have featured comic operas by Gaetano Donizetti. Le Nozze di Figaro, while a comedy, is not necessarily funny: it runs considerably longer and, Mozart being Mozart, lends itself to multiple interpretations. The work was here abridged to just about two hours and the cast, particularly a perky Phoebe Tam as the maid Susanna, tilted the performance toward the humor. Oscar Droscha’s Count Almaviva had the wandering eye (and hands) that the role demands, but was not the irredeemably odious character he can sometimes be. Musica Viva’s productions often have good chemistry—ensemble performances where the whole is greater than the mere sum of the parts—and this Marriage of Figaro followed the pattern. But even ensemble performances can deliver up individual surprises: soprano Vicki Wu lit up the stage in the small part of Barberina. She will be a singer worth watching.
Opera for everyone – that’s the message behind Waitress on Top, an adaptation of the Italian comic operetta La Serva Padrona which will be performed later this month as part of the new Italia Mia Festival. Presented by the Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong, the operetta takes Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s 1733 opera and resets it in an Italian restaurant in Hong Kong. “We thought it would be nice to bring this opera to Hong Kong and do an adaptation (set) in Hong Kong,” says Clemente Contestabile, the consul general of Italy in Hong Kong. “The production will feature dialogue in English and Cantonese, the subject itself is funny, the script is light and people will laugh and enjoy it very much.” Contestabile intends to show an opera every year as part of the Italia Mia festival, which will take place every October and November. In a bid to encourage local and younger audiences, tickets to the Oct 29 performance at Chai Wan’s Youth Square Y Theatre are free of charge. “The Italia Mia Festival is for everyone in Hong Kong and we want to reach out to the local community,” Contestabile says. Waitress on Top stars Hong Kong soprano Etta Fung as Serpina in a production that is deliberately intimate, featuring just two singers (Fung and Isaac Droscha as Uberto), alongside music director Marco Iannelli who doubles in a non-singing role. The finale includes three arias from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale to help, as Iannelli puts it, “make (the ending) a little bigger”, rather than going with the more subtle ending of the original opera. Together with the show’s director Peter Gordon — who was named Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia earlier this year for his contributions to Italian opera — Ianneli looked for a cast that would represent Hong Kong’s mix of cultures. “We’re trying to propose to the audience this mix of cultures in Hong Kong and that this is what makes Hong Kong a beautiful and unique place,” Iannelli says. “Etta will use Cantonese to help really set the action in Hong Kong.” Contemporary themes Finding ways to make opera accessible and to engage diverse audiences seems to be a common goal among Hong Kong’s growing number of opera companies. Over the next two months, several operas will be performed on stages across Hong Kong and Macao, showcasing a growing interest and demand for the art form. In September, Musica Viva staged two sold-out performances of Le Nozze di Figaro at Hong Kong City Hall. Featuring an all-Hong Kong cast, including Sammy Chien as Figaro, Droscha as Count Almaviva and Phoebe Tam as Susanna, the opera highlighted local talent and was the first of two productions this season by the company’s director-general Kingman Lo. Next up is Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow, an operetta in three acts which will be performed from Dec 6 to 8 at the Hong Kong City Hall. Opera Hong Kong’s Rigoletto is playing at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre through Sunday, Oct 13, also as part of the Italia Mia Festival. The production is by Fondazione Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and stars Roberto Frontali in the title role. “Rigoletto is one of the most performed operas in the world,” says Opera Hong Kong’s artistic director Warren Mok. “The plot is incredible: the evilness of mankind, quest for power and its relationship with the lust and sexual abuse, violence, injustice still resonate (with today’s) audience. Verdi’s music is a perfect match to the plot and its characterization.” Frontali is known for his Verdi roles and received strong praise for his Rigoletto earlier this year at the Metropolitan Opera. The rest of the cast put together by Mok includes Anton Keremidtchiev and Audrey Luna along with Hong Kong singers, including Joyce Wong, Carol Lin and Bobbie Zhang. “It’s a strong Rigoletto,” Mok says. “We bring in the entire production from Italy and also their design team. We are glad to have Pier Francesco Maestrini as the director and Paolo Olmi, a highly respected conductor, can no doubt do a wonderful job to reveal Verdi’s powerful music.”
When Micaëla comes on Act III, looking for the estranged Don José at the smugglers’ camp, she sings that Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante—“I tell myself that nothing will frighten me. One could sense, in this, its first full-staged production in eighteen months, Opera Hong Kong telling itself much the same thing opera Hong Kong’s travails, it must be remembered, didn’t start with the pandemic. Rigoletto, its last production to grace the Cultural Centre stage, was plagued by the city-wide protests which had resulted in closure of the venue just the week prior. This time, after months of cancellations and postponements, the company still had to navigate COVID-19 regulations for both audience and performers: overseas singers endured three weeks in quarantine—making the trip reminiscent in duration of the sea voyages of yore—rehearsing over Zoom, while the chorus and dancers performed fully-masked (to ward off the Spanish flu, perhaps). That the production was a revival of the company’s 2018 Carmen was itself more the result of serendipity than design: it was the work whose cast was ready and able to perform. Revivals are rare in Kong Hong. This sold-out run of Carmen, which makes use of a stylish rotating set, provides evidence of the concept’s viability. Mikheil Sheshberidze and Louise Kwong Mikheil Sheshberidze and Louise Kwong Opening night starred young Canadian soprano Carolyn Sproule in what is apparently a COVID-delayed role debut. Sproule’s rich low tones, as well as a sort of North American forthrightness, hearkened back to some Carmens of yesteryear, of a time when Marilyn Horne sang the part. Local favorite Louise Kwong shone as Micaëla; she had sung the role in 2016 with Musica Viva and then with the Opera di Roma where she had been part of the young artists programme. Georgian tenor Mikheil Sheshberidze was Don José and Belgian Pierre Doyen was a dashing and bright Escamillo. Among the supporting, Apollo Wong brought his mellifluous bass to Zuniga; he deserves larger roles. The three principals alternate with Polish soprano Gosha Kowalinska as Carmen, Irakli Kakhidze making a complete complement of Georgian Don José’s and Li Yang as Micaëla; Doyen sings throughout. Visiting Italian conductor Gianna Fratta cut a dash both in the pit and at curtain calls where, sporting silver in her braid and a bright red cummerbund, she gave Carmen a run for her money. Although a revival, the work was considerably re-staged, and simplified in the process. Gone were some of the more avant-garde elements, replaced with realism. Less can often be more; this is maybe one of those times. Opera Hong Kong has two more productions scheduled for the rest of the year: a semi-staged version of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi over the summer and Madama Butterfly in the Autumn. May their luck hold.
