{"id":11978,"date":"2013-03-27T14:53:43","date_gmt":"2013-03-27T03:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/?p=11978"},"modified":"2013-03-27T14:53:43","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T03:53:43","slug":"carmen-handa-opera-on-sydney-harbour-reviewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/?p=11978","title":{"rendered":"‘Carmen’ – Handa opera on Sydney Harbour reviewed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Rinat Shaham as Carmen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a second year, Opera Australia has presented an outdoor performance located spectacularly at the Royal Botanic Gardens on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour.\u00a0 Nowhere else in the world is there such a wonderful setting with Sydney’s\u00a0Opera House and Harbour Bridge providing a magical backdrop, and the city lights reflecting in the waters of the harbour, flying foxes gliding silently overhead.\u00a0 The location is truly stunning.<\/p>\n

Gale Edwards\u2019s exciting production of Bizet\u2019s Carmen<\/em> is largely successful in matching the splendour of the site.\u00a0 Props swing in and out on huge cranes and the stage is often filled with energetic choreography and a blaze of colour and movement.\u00a0 This is well suited to much of Carmen<\/em>, though the quieter scenes are certainly not neglected.\u00a0 John Rayment\u2019s excellent lighting provides effective contrast by darkening the stage and circling it with an ominous red ring of light.\u00a0 The production is notionally set in the Franco period, but most of Julie Lynch\u2019s costumes are traditional Spanish so the updating is mostly unobtrusive.<\/p>\n

An impressive array of singers has been assembled.\u00a0 Rinat Shaham repeats the vivid performance she gave in the Opera Theatre two years ago.\u00a0 Her voice is well suited to the title role and she is dramatically very convincing.\u00a0 The Ukrainian Dmytro Popov is new to Sydney and provides an excellent Don Jos\u00e9.\u00a0 His voice has sufficient power for the big moments but he also has the musicality to provide a sensitive ending for the Flower Song.\u00a0 Andrew Jones has all the strut and swagger needed for Escamillo and he survives a hair-raising aerial entry in the last act.\u00a0 Vocally, he needs more time to develop the robustness and fullness of tone the role needs.\u00a0 Nicole Carr is well suited to the restrained figure of Mica\u00ebla, and the smaller roles are all well performed.<\/p>\n

The big drawback of outdoor opera is, of course, the amplified sound.\u00a0 Here, the voices fared much better than the orchestra.\u00a0 The balance strongly favoured the singers with the orchestra often being almost inaudible in the ensembles.\u00a0 Perhaps this was fortunate because although the wind and brass emerged acceptably, the string sound emanating from the loudspeakers was disappointing.\u00a0 The violins in particular sounded harsh and metallic.\u00a0 Brian Castles-Onion kept the stage and orchestra impressively synchronised.<\/p>\n

As a spectacle, the evening is very successful, and hopefully it may entice those who are unfamiliar with opera into the Joan Sutherland Theatre to experience a \u2018real\u2019 opera performance.<\/p>\n

Larry Turner for SoundsLikeSydney\u00a9\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Larry Turner is a music writer who\u00a0has been singing in choirs for many years, both in Sydney and London.\u00a0 He is an avid attender of\u00a0 opera and of concerts with an emphasis on vocal music.\u00a0 He particularly enjoys music from both the great a capella period and the baroque \u2013 especially the lesser-known works of Bach and Handel.\u00a0 He has written programme notes for Sydney Philharmonia, the Intervarsity Choral Festival and the Sydneian Bach Choir and is currently part of a team researching the history of Sydney Philharmonia for its forthcoming centenary.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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