Engrossing Performance
Dvorák's 'Rusalka'
in Rome
impresses GIUSEPPE PENNISI
impresses GIUSEPPE PENNISI
A few weeks ago (on 17 November 2014) I reported on the deep troubles of Rome's Opera House, named Teatro dell'Opera di Roma Capitale: huge financial debt and deficit, major
restructuring requested by various levels of Government to provide further
assistance, objections to the plan by some unions (especially those of the chorus and orchestra), the stern position taken by
the new management (namely mass firing of chorus and orchestra), and Riccardo Muti calling it quits
(at least from the two operas he was expected to conduct in the 2014-15 season, Aida and Le Nozze di Figaro). Many observers thought that
Italy's capital city was in for a long diet without opera performances from the major house.
After five weeks of around-the-clock negotiations, the 2014-15 seasons was inaugurated on 27
November with a rarely staged opera: Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka. In short, the unions agreed
to the industrial plan proposed by the management, the loss of some perks (and
the suspension of others for as long as the financial situation continues to be
worrisome). The artistic direction replaced Aida with Rusalka;
a series of performances of Aida are scheduled for April and May with
Donato Renzetti conducting.
 Maksim Aksenov as the Prince in Dvořák's 'Rusalka' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2014 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution |
I was in the audience on 27 November 2014. After
three hours and forty five minutes (including two intermissions) of performance, the audience erupted in
fifteen minutes of accolades and ovations to the opera, the interpreters, the
orchestra, the chorus, and to the news that Rome's Opera House will continue to
run.
 Svetla Vassileva in the title role of Dvořák's 'Rusalka' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2014 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Even though Rusalka has had only five productions in Italy — the first was in 1994 in a Rome staging imported from English National Opera — the dramatic fairy tale about the nymph in
love with a handsome prince is familiar fare in the United Kingdom, the United States and Central and Eastern Europe. It lends itself
to colossal staging and special effects: forests, lakes, palaces, dancing parties and witch hunts. Denis Krief (author of dramaturgy, stage direction, sets, costumes and lighting) had to make do with a budget of merely 50,000 euros. Of course, he opted for a
single set, contemporary clothes and props mostly
selected from the Teatro dell'Opera's warehouse. He
placed a lot of emphasis on credible singers and on their acting. The performance was engrossing.
 From left to right: Michelle Breedt as the foreign princess, Maksim Aksenov as the Prince and Svetla Vassileva in the title role of Dvořák's 'Rusalka' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2014 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution |
He shared the excellent outcome with young Norwegian conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen and
with the cast. Gullberg Jensen knows this complex score very well. On a late romantic base, there are influences of
Richard Wagner and of the 'Russian school', as well as vivid National colors. Gullberg Jensen rendered the meditative and sensual quality of the work very well, and
the blend between lyric and symphonic styles. He was especially good at avoiding covering the tenor, Maksim Aksenov, who, in the first act, saved his volume to make it resound in the strenuous third act. Svetla
Vassileva took the title role. Her lyricism was exquisite in the arias and the duets. Her rival (for the prince's love) was Michelle Breedt, with a Wagnerian-type pitch contrasting with the delicate beauty of the protagonist. The prince has an impervious
part: he must be young, slender and attractive and yet have the texture of a heldentenor. Maksim
Aksenov was quite skillful in handling the character. Finally, two jewels: Larissa
Diadkova as the funny witch and Steven Humes, as Vodník, the water spirit, who attempts, unsuccessfully, to convince Rusalka
not to become a human being and hence to avoid a tragic end.
 Maksim Aksenov as the Prince and Svetla Vassileva in the title role of Dvořák's 'Rusalka' at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2014 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution |
This was a good and promising start to the renewal of Teatro dell'Opera di
Roma Capitale.
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