Spain San Sebastián Music Fortnight – Bizet, Carmen: Easo Refrain, Euskadi Orchestra / José Miguel Pérez Sierra (conductor). Auditorio Kursaal, San Sebastián, Spain, 10.8.2024. (JMI)
Manufacturing:
Director – Emilio López
Units – Carmen Castañón
Costumes – Óscar Frosio
Lighting – Naiara Béistegui
Solid:
Carmen – Rihab Chaieb
Don José – Dmytro Popov
Micaëla – Miren Urbieta-Vega
Escamillo – Simón Orfila
Mercédès – Marifé Nogales
Frasquita – Helena Orcoyen
Dancaïre – José Manuel Díaz
Remendado – Aitor Garitano
Zúñiga – Mikel Zabala
Morales – Juan Laborería
The San Sebastián Music Fortnight often contains one opera in its program, and this yr’s selection was the ever-popular Carmen, Georges Bizet’s masterpiece. The opera was final featured on the Fortnight’s program in 2008 with a Spanish forged.
The efficiency of this Carmen held little or no curiosity. I’ve at all times thought of that there are two genres in opera, buffo and drama, and key elements of each varieties which are required for a efficiency to work. In buffo operas, comedy is fundamental, whereas in dramatic operas, there can’t be an absence of emotion. There is no such thing as a doubt that Carmen belongs to the ‘drama’ style, and there was an absence of emotion on all fronts right here. Neither the manufacturing, nor the musical path, nor the vocal forged had been capable of transmit the required feeling to the viewers for them to benefit from the efficiency.
This new staging is directed by Valencian Emilio López. We noticed his Madama Butterfly in San Sebastián a number of years in the past, and I didn’t discover that passable both. This disappointing Carmen locations the motion within the Fifties on a relatively minimal stage – there may be barely something past a number of props. This type of set – virtually nihilistic relatively than minimalist – calls for an excellent stage path, and the manufacturing fell flat there too.
There is no such thing as a parade of cuadrillas, aside from the doorway of Escamillo who, curiously, just isn’t dressed as a bullfighter. The refrain is dealt with poorly, with half the members on the suitable and the others on the left, as if it had been a live performance. Neither is the path of the actors of curiosity.
The music was within the palms of José Miguel Pérez Sierra, the present musical director of the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, whose agenda has been fairly full lately. His conducting was extra routine than good, with extreme quantity each within the pit and on the stage, which he ought to have averted. The performances of the Euskadi Orchestra and the Easo Refrain had been passable.
Carmen was sung by Tunisian mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, whose efficiency fell beneath my expectations. Her voice is ample though not significantly stunning, and she or he doesn’t convey emotion in both her singing or her appearing – one thing essential in a personality like Carmen.
Ukrainian tenor Dmytro Popov performed Don José, and his efficiency was not convincing. His voice has fullness and the timbre is ok, however his singing is unattractive, with too many open sounds and in forte which doesn’t swimsuit the character of Don José very effectively. The always-awaited ‘Flower Music’ was of little curiosity. The most effective a part of his efficiency got here in Act III.
Micaëla was sung by a soprano from San Sebastián, Miren Urbieta-Vega who, in fact, had the viewers fully on her aspect. Actually, her aria in Act III was the one which acquired the best applause of the night. Nonetheless, I missed extra nuanced singing from her.
Simón Orfila as soon as once more sang the a part of Escamillo, which he has executed so many occasions now on stage. His voice is properly suited to the position, though it appears to me that it has misplaced some high quality.
The supporting characters did effectively of their components.
José M. Irurzun
