SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

M.A.Charpentier, Actéon. H. Purcell, Dido and Aeneas: Les Arts Florissants. Conductor: William Christie. Auditorio Miguel Delibes de Valladolid. 13.10.2010. (JMI).

 

Semi staged version.

Cast Actéon.

 

Acteon: Ed Lyon.

Diana: Katherine Watson.

Arethuze: Emmanuelle de Negri.

Hyale: Céline Ricci.

Juno: Hillary Summers.

Daphne: Ana Quintans.

 

Cast Dido and Aeneas:

 

Dido: Sonya Yoncheva.

Aeneas: Andreas Wolf.

Belinda: Emmanuelle de Negri.

Sorceress: Hillary Summers.

Witches: Céline Ricci and Ana Quintans.

Spirit: Ed Lyon.

Sailor: Damian Whiteley.

 

William Christie continues with his efforts to recover and rediscover underperformed or completely forgotten operas, and he has stopped in Spain to offer this double bill consisting of Marc Antoine Charpentier’s Actéon and Henry Purcell's ‘greatest hit’, Dido and Aeneas. On this European tour, he arrived straight from St. Petersburg and judging by the excellence of the performance, it is deplorable that no other Spanish theatre opened its doors to this great artist.

 

Acteón is a kind of chamber opera, premiered sometime between 1683 and 1685 in Paris which is based on the episode of Ovid's Metamorphoses where Diana changes Acteón into a deer after catching him spying on her bathing in the lake. Dogs however, do not recognize, hunt, or kill him. William Christie decided to blow the dust of its covers when he presented it last March in a fully staged production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, directed by Vincent Boussard.

 

Dido and Aeneas is Henry Purcell’s only Opera, since the others are rather semi-operas. Every time I have the chance to see it I admire the great genius of Purcell and regret that he doesn’t have more operas in his catalogue. The production shown in Valladolid was truly semi staged in that the soloists and chorus members truly performed as actors, without using a score.

 

William Christie and Les Arts Florissant were absolutely sublime. What an exciting evening! This group, including the 16 chorus members, is truly incomparable. The audience expressed its appreciation of this exceptional evening with honest, long-lasting standing ovations. It’s not very often that one can witness such enthusiasm, and on this occasion all the performers truly deserved it.

 

Acteon was portrayed by British tenor Ed Lyon, who did his reputation as an accomplished singer and actor proud. Katherine Watson as Diana was not quite at the same high level and Emmanuelle de Negri with the reasonably important part of Arethuze did it quite well. Queen Dido was interpreted by young Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva (the most recent Operalia winner) and her performance was superb. A good figure harmonized with a beautiful voice: quite homogeneous through the whole tessitura, with a very rich middle register, and a remarkable capacity for emoting. Dido’s final lament, the famous “Remember me”, left the audience breathless.

 

Andreas Wolf’s Aeneas couldn’t reach that exalted level, but Emmanuelle de Negri as Belinda just about did. As the Sorceress, Hillary Summers proved a very good singing actress. Ana Quintans has a very promising career, a reputation buttressed by her Daphne in Acteon and witch in Dido.

 

In perhaps a clue as to why no other theatre took on this travelling tour: The Auditorium was only at around three quarters capacity—although you couldn’t tell from the noise thy made when it came to receiving the artists. The applause lasted for a good 12 minutes.

José M Irurzun