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| Photo: Efrat Mazor |
The Jerusalem Opera’s latest production was W.A.Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte”.
Established in 2011 by producer Manon Weizman and musical director and
conductor Omer Arieli, the Jerusalem Opera aims to present opera productions of
the highest quality in Jerusalem and to provide a platform for the promotion of
Jerusalem and Israeli artists, new immigrants and young artists. So far, it has
staged seven full-scale operas and a number of smaller productions. The present
production was dedicated to the memory of singer Gilad Rosenberg. This writer
attended the performance at the Jerusalem Theater on December 16th 2018.
“Così fan tutte” ossia “La scuola degli amanti” (All Women Do It, or The
School for Lovers) K.588, Mozart’s two-act Italian-language opera buffa,
was first performed on January 26th 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria.
The libretto, written by Lorenzo Da Ponte (who also wrote libretti to “Le nozze di
Figaro” and “Don Giovanni”)
was to be their final collaboration. Prompted by a cynical old philosopher Don
Alfonso (Denis Sedov), two young men - Ferrando (Oshri Segev) and
Guglielmo (Gabriele Ribis) - decide to test the loyalty of their lovers,
sisters Dorabella (Aleksandra Kovalevich) and Fiordiligi (Elinor Sohn). As the
unusual experiment gets under way, nothing unfolds quite as expected, as a
series of outrageous events follows, with all assumptions and good intentions challenged
by their unpredictable complexities. The opera’s original message offered a
very dim view of women’s morals and even intelligence – extreme even by
18th-century standards - but its subject matter seems not to have offended
Viennese sensibilities of the time. However, in the 19th and early 20th
centuries, “Così fan tutte” was considered risqué, vulgar, and even
immoral. After World War II, it regained its place in the standard operatic
repertoire and is now frequently performed. In the Jerusalem Opera’s
production, Ferrando and Guglielmo, when returning as Albanians, appear in
whimsical animal costumes, possibly a touch to balance out the opera’s sexist
approach...
The Jerusalem Opera’s “Cosi fan tutte” (stage director: Ari Teperberg) was
an amiable, entertaining production, sparkling with energy, originality and
visually very pleasing. With the focus on the singers and plot, we were saved
from flashing, gaudy backdrops and video clips (so common in many of
today’s opera productions) in favour of an uncluttered stage. There was a real
aesthetic sense to the props - clothes racks, shop dummies, mirrors, etc., all
wheeled in and out gracefully by dancer/actors Adam Shpira and Chihiro Tazuro.
Costuming (Shira Wise) was contemporary and tasteful. But it was the splendid
line-up of singers, all carrying about the same weight in vocal demands, that
gave credence to Mozart and Da Ponte’s so-called “scientific investigation” of
love. As the glamorous Dorabella, Russian mezzo-soprano Aleksandra Kovalevich showed
herself at ease in every conceivable register. She was well partnered by agile
Israeli coloratura soprano Elinor Sohn in a fine portrayal of Fiordiligi,
arguably Mozart’s most complicated heroine and the more modest and longer-loyal
of the two sisters. The sincerity of the sisters’ shared feelings was expressed
in arching homophonic vocal lines, moving in parallel throughout. Playing
Guglielmo, baritone Gabriele Ribis (Italy), no new face to the Jerusalem Opera
(also as stage director) sang with honeyed fullness of tone, clearly
comfortable in comic opera roles. Going from strength to strength,
Israeli tenor Oshri Segev sang with natural, smooth clarity of sound without
force, giving delicious edge to his mock-heroic love music. As Don Alfonso,
bass Denis Sedov, the young men’s shady, cynical, underworld-type older friend, was slick and authoritative, his warm, substantial voice giving buoyancy to
Mozart’s long melodic lines. As to soprano Mima Milo, she brought to the
farcical role of the contriving maid Despina all her customary tonal finish and
finely hued texture, while entertaining the audience with her natural use of
the stage and waggish humour.
Also rewarding were the many wonderfully fluid, continuous duets, trios,
quartets, even sextets, Mozart’s way of showing interaction between
people. Under Omer Arieli’s baton, the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra gave the score
elegance and stamina, bringing both lift and precision to the emotional scope
of Mozart’s dramatic architecture. The chorus, too, gave a fine complement on and
off-stage, appearing in the last act all dressed in chic black as guests at the
festive double wedding.
The Jerusalem Opera’s production highlighted Mozart's ability to treat the
most profound subjects with the lightest touch, as he delves into the hearts of
his figures, using his sublime music to tell us about the confusing complexity
of their emotional state. At the same time, Mozart is no moralist; he invites
us to ride the wave of good humour in his wonderfully light, theatrical and
sophisticated way. Kudos to the Jerusalem Opera for a superb production.
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