The venueDear diary,
On Saturday I drove to Ancient Corinth in order to watch a performance of "L'Incoronazione di Poppea" that would take place at the Temple of Octavia (sister of Emperor Augustus) for 2 consequent nights.
The Ancient Corinth Opera Festival was founded in 2003 after an idea of Mary-Ellen Nesi and since then has presented 5 productions that were highly acclaimed by critics. Even if the budget is quite reduced, even if the mediums that these kids have at their disposal are quite a few, they always give very good performances.
George Petrou
I don't think I have to repeat anything regarding George Petrou's artistic merits. Together with the Monteverdi Ensemble, Petrou delivered a great reading of Monteverdi's partitura but the -inevitable in a venue like that- usage of microphones was definitely deteriorating the pleasure of listening to period instruments.
If I could give a subtitle to the performance, i would use "What happens when a stubborn veteran diva gets in the way of a bunch of young, talented singers?".
Well, the answer I think you already know.
Jenny Drivala (Poppea) might have been a great Lucia, Amina, Violetta, Armide etc in the 80's and early 90's, having sung in many of the major opera houses (Sonnambula at La Scala for example) but what I heard was a shadow of the voice she once had. Her singing and acting was definitely old school, using all kind of manierisms in order to get away with the difficult parts of Poppea and totally destroying the fresh, lustrous performances of the others.
Petros Magoulas & Florin Cezar Ouatu
Special kudos to Florin Cezar Ouatu, the young Romanian countertenor for his Nerone. What an interesting voice! I'm glad to have heard a rising star! Beautiful voice, great high notes and a bartolian coloratura.
Mary-Ellen Nesi
Kudos to Mary-Ellen Nesi for singing Octavia with such class! Her hypnotic "Addio Roma" might have been the peak moment of the whole evening.
Kudos also to Irini Karaianni (Ottone) and Petros Magoulas (Seneca), Myrsini Margariti (Drusilla and Virtú), Mina Polychronou (Amore), Kassandra Dimopoulou (Valletto&Fortuna), Yannis Filias (Lucano&Soldato), Dimitris Nalbantis and Andreas Papagrigoriadis.
I can't say I enjoyed the performance of countertenor (?) Paul Zachariadis as an idiomatic, caricature Arnalda.
Maria Gyparaki (stage director) + Paul Thanopoulos (sets, costumes) did their best considering the mediocre budget of the Festival.
The Ancient Corinth Opera Festival was founded in 2003 after an idea of Mary-Ellen Nesi and since then has presented 5 productions that were highly acclaimed by critics. Even if the budget is quite reduced, even if the mediums that these kids have at their disposal are quite a few, they always give very good performances.
George PetrouIf I could give a subtitle to the performance, i would use "What happens when a stubborn veteran diva gets in the way of a bunch of young, talented singers?".
Well, the answer I think you already know.
Jenny Drivala (Poppea) might have been a great Lucia, Amina, Violetta, Armide etc in the 80's and early 90's, having sung in many of the major opera houses (Sonnambula at La Scala for example) but what I heard was a shadow of the voice she once had. Her singing and acting was definitely old school, using all kind of manierisms in order to get away with the difficult parts of Poppea and totally destroying the fresh, lustrous performances of the others.
Petros Magoulas & Florin Cezar Ouatu
Mary-Ellen NesiKudos also to Irini Karaianni (Ottone) and Petros Magoulas (Seneca), Myrsini Margariti (Drusilla and Virtú), Mina Polychronou (Amore), Kassandra Dimopoulou (Valletto&Fortuna), Yannis Filias (Lucano&Soldato), Dimitris Nalbantis and Andreas Papagrigoriadis.
I can't say I enjoyed the performance of countertenor (?) Paul Zachariadis as an idiomatic, caricature Arnalda.
Maria Gyparaki (stage director) + Paul Thanopoulos (sets, costumes) did their best considering the mediocre budget of the Festival.
Curtain calls
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