ENO: La traviata

 

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Conductor, Leo McFall / Toby Purser (11 April)
Director, Daniel Kramer

Daniel Kramer directs his first opera as ENO Artistic Director, a sweepingly romantic interpretation of La traviata

Daniel Kramer will direct his first opera as English National Opera’s Artistic Director this spring. This production of La traviata, which played to sold-out houses following its premiere at Theater Basel, is a sweepingly romantic take on one of opera’s most heartbreaking stories. Irish soprano Claudia Boyle will perform the role of Violetta alongside South African singer Lukhanyo Moyake as Alfredo. Singing the role of Giorgio Germont is Alan Opie, who celebrates 50 years since he first sang with ENO.

Daniel Kramer said: ‘Almost every note of Verdi’s masterpiece raises up the life of a women who has been deemed dishonourable by society. Through La traviata, Verdi invites us to listen to the magnanimous love of a character who makes a sacrifice which few others would be willing or able to consider. His music is, for me, a love letter to the tender and graceful Violetta. I believe that our core audience come to ENO wanting to have new light shed upon these well-loved classics. This is also one of my key passions when directing opera or theatre, and has informed our approach to this intensely moving story of love and sacrifice.  As our world continues to confront the treatment of women in our society we have worked to share the story of a woman who, despite her heartbreaking circumstances, rises above the judgmental and abusive world around her and passes through her life with integrity and grace.’  

Daniel Kramer was appointed Artistic Director of English National Opera in April 2016, taking up the position in August that year. His work with ENO extends backs to 2008. He was selected as part of ENO’s young director’s initiative for which he directed Punch and Judy at the Young Vic which subsequently won the South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. Daniel returned to ENO in 2009 to direct Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle at the London Coliseum and Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, conducted by former ENO Music Director Edward Gardner and designed by Anish Kapoor. He has been an Associate at the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill and the Young Vic, and a Creative Associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The 18/19 season, launched on the 1 May, will be the first that he has curated as ENO Artistic Director.

The ephemeral, image-conscious world of the courtesan Violetta will be brought to life through the designs of Lizzie Clachan, one of the most acclaimed set designers currently working in London theatre. She has recently been praised for her ‘extraordinary’ (The Guardian) work on the Young Vic’s Yerma, and for the National Theatre’s As You Like It.

Irish soprano Claudia Boyle will sing Violetta, the eponymous ‘fallen woman’. A fomer member of the Salzburger Festpiel’s Young Singers Project, her international profile has been dramatically raised through highly-acclaimed performances in London, Berlin, Rome and New York. For ENO Claudia has previously sung the roles of Leïla in The Pearl Fishers(2016) and a ‘standout’ (The Guardian) Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance (2015).

Up-and-coming South African tenor Lukhanyo Moyake makes his UK debut as Alfredo. South Africa’s representative in 2017’s BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, Lukhanyo has been performing at the Cape Town Opera Company since his graduation in 2010. His roles there include Alfredo in La traviata, Jaquino in Fidelio and Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress. In 2015 and 2016 he was a finalist of the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition (held in Amsterdam) and was also placed third in the Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition (held in Germany).

ENO legend and internationally acclaimed baritone Alan Opie will return for his second ENO engagement of the season. He follows his debut in the comic role of Doctor Bartolo (The Barber of Seville) with Violetta’s controlling father, Giorgio Germont. Alan’s previous performances in this role have been described as ‘full of feeling’ (The Guardian) and ‘consistently compelling’ (WhatsOnStage).

A nominee for Best Male Singer in the 2018 International Opera Awards, bass-baritone Henry Waddington will sing Dr Grenvil. Welsh tenor Aled Hall makes his ENO debut as Viscount Gaston and ENO Harewood Artist Božidar Smiljani? sings the Marquis. The cast is completed by Benjamin Bevan (Baron Douphol), Heather Shipp (Flora Bervoix) andMartha Jones (Annina).

Rising young British conductor Leo McFall will make his ENO debut with this production. Winner of the 2015 German Conductor’s Prize, he is among the foremost conductors of his generation, and received much praise for his performances with the Glyndebourne Tour and with Opera North. He will be assisted by ENO Mackerras Fellow Toby Purser, who will also conduct the performance on the 11 April.

The creative team is completed by Cosume Designer Esther Bialas, Lighting Designer Charles Balfour and Choreographer Teresa Rotemberg.

La traviata opens on Friday 16 March at 7.30pm at the London Coliseum for 10 performances: 16, 22, 24, 28 March and 3, 5, 11, 13 April at 7.30pm, 31 March at 6.30pm and 8 April at 3pm.

500 tickets for £20 or less are available for each performance. Tickets start from £12.

Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition

Despite the snow, ice and blizzards the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition continued on its inevitable way towards its two final evenings when the six surviving competitors from the original 160 would seek to go just that bit further to impress the seven international judges seated now in the circle of the White Rock Theatre.

After the second stage the competitors were reduced down to eleven who were invited to perform their own personal choices for a solo recital, and after this the six finalists were announced. If the sudden fall of freezing rain had kept some of the audience away on Friday, there was a full house on Saturday and a real air of expectation given the exceptional quality of the performers. To keep the two final events as even as possible both were introduced by Bill Turnbull, a familiar voice to listeners to Classic FM, who provided succinct introductions and, once the judges had made their decision, presented the prizes.

Both evenings opened with Schubert’s overture to Rosamunde and then on Friday evening Su Yeon Kim chose to play Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op.43, Gen Li Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 3 in C major Op.26 and Kyoungsun Park Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5 in E flat major Op.73. On Saturday Fanya Lin played Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 3 in C major Op.26, Rixiang Huang Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat major S.124 and Roman Kosyakov Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No 1 in B flat minor Op.23.

Then came the wait, not too long on this occasion, before the results were announced. Frank Wibaut, the Artistic Director and Chairman of the Jury, started by thanking the many people involved in the organisation of the competition, not least the many volunteers and host families who made the smooth running such an exemplary undertaking and Yamaha for the loan or a large number of high quality pianos. He then introduced the international jury and from there went straight to the results. This year, rather than announce the full six prizes, only the first three were publicly announced which made for an extra level of frisson within the White Rock.

The Third Prize went to Gen Li from China who I am glad to say I heard in the second round play a splendidly succinct and exciting rendition of Shostakovich’s 2nd Piano Concerto, one which I would gladly hear with full orchestra. The Second Prize went to Su Yeon Kim from South Korea, who repeated her performance on Friday of the Rachmaninov Paganini variations which she had performed in the Second Stage.

The winner, with a magnificent performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto was the young Russian pianist Roman Kosyakov. Though the jury do not at this stage give any immediate feedback, it seemed obvious to me that, where so many of these young performers had given us technical brilliance, his was the only contribution which had a sense of the emotional heart of the work rather than just the fireworks. The second movement was key, its gentle unfolding and romantic core captivating the antithesis of the extrovert panache of the outer movements.

As well as the £15,000 prize he wins a number of key concert dates both in Britain and overseas.

All the finalists were exceptional players, but I look forward keenly to following Roman Kosyakov’s career.

Hastings should be proud that, alongside its regular contribution to music through local choirs, orchestras and festivals, it can mount a competition which has genuine international importance. We look forward to next year.