Garsington Opera starts today at Wormsley

A new era for Garsington Opera as it moves to its new home at Wormsley Park. Garsington Opera has been visionary from the start, and the tradition continues. Part of the buzz this year is the new pavilion. It was designed to solve problems. How to build a space that enhances performance even though it's open air. How to give patrons amenities of a very high standard in a temporary structure? This isn't Glastonbury, they don't do mud. Wrecks Louboutins.

Here is what I've written about the Garsington Opera pavilion, and here is what Jonathan Glancey's written. He's an architect, I'm a patron, we're both excited. Why is it that visual arts and architecture writing is usually so much better written than music? Tickets are still available for Rossini Il Turco in Italia and for the rarity, Vivaldi La verita in cimento. The popular Mozart Magic Flute always appeals, though from what I've heard thuis time not quite as much as usual. All the more reason to stick to the others !  I heard the last Vivaldi opera, L'Incoronazione di Dario at Garsington Opera  last year's delightful, vibrant Rossini Armida. Also a wonderful Britten Midsummers Nights Dream last year that's quite different from the one at ENO. Click on links. Lots more, not all on this site.  Here's a link to the Garsington Opera site.

Garsington Opera 2011

Garsington Opera starts its first season at Wormsley Park in grand style. Mozart The Magic Flute in a new Engluish translation by Jeremy Sams - bound to be pacy! Sure to please. Then, Rossini Il Turco en Italia conducted by Garsington's regular specialist maestro David Parry. Mark Stone sings. And for those who know another great Garsington tradition, an obscurity, Vivaldi La verità in cimento (Truth by ordeal) "a dotty story", goes the press release, about a King who switches babies born to his wife and mistress. It's the very dottiness that makes Vivaldi operas work, they're too cheerful to be serious. Please read the story in Opera Today.

Garsington's new home at Wormsley

Garsington Opera has received planning permission for a new Opera Pavilion at Wormsley in South Oxfordshire. Vistors in summer 2011 can look forward to a structure "made from a limited palette of materials – timber, fabric and steel and it will combine transparency and lightness with a sense of intimacy. Lifted above the ground to give an appearance of ‘floating’ over the landscape, architect Robin Snell’s design takes its cue from a traditional Japanese pavilion in its use of sliding screens, extended platforms, verandas and bridges to link it to the landscape. It will be built by Unusual Rigging, the UK’s most experienced provider of stage engineering and technical solutions for the entertainment, sports, film and television industry." Hopefully legroom will be more generous, as many patrons need it.

Wormsley Estate is the perfect setting for Garsington Opera as it is not only a quintessentially English country estate with an expanse of rolling, verdant parkland, complete with lake and deer, but has extremely good road access just off junction 5 of the M40.

Out in a blaze of glory - Garsington, Midsummer Night's Dream

Garsington Opera is moving to Wormsley Park in 2011 but it marked its last production at Garsington Manor with a glorious coda, that augurs well for the future. As a friend remarked "We'll be talking about this for years to come".

Garsington is unique because the gardens are incorporated into the action on stage: landscape as drama!  It's an ideal setting for Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, where the action takes place deep in woodland. As twilight slowly descends in realtime  Garsington, night closes in on the opera. Reality gives way to dream, mortals to fairies.

For this last production in its 21-year history, Garsington Opera brought in conductor Steuart Bedford, who worked with Benjamin Britten himself. Very idiomatic playing from the orchestra, Bedford coaxing sinuous glissandi from the strings, moody murmurings from the winds and brass. In this transformed, magical world, everything is slightly, but deliberately, out of kilter.At Garsington, the effect is enhanced because you're never quite sure what you're hearing. The bird song is natural, as there are trees all around. Trombones and trumpets materialize in the parterre garden, so they really are "heard from afar", like fairy horns.

Rebecca Bottone's Tytania is heard from a distance, before she enters. She has an extremely distinctive voice, which is immediately recognizable, and carries well, and here, it was used for maximum impact.

Fairies aren't necessarily passive innocents, but are creatures of the night in every sense. Tytania is feisty, she stands up to Oberon's demands, and is by far the stronger of the pair. Tytania is wild and free, so the edge in Bottone's voice strengthened the role. True character singers are rare, especially in female voice. Bottone is a treasure. She emanates energy.

Last year she was a magnificent Semira in Thomas Arne's Artaxerxes, a little dynamo running about the Linbury at ROH, yet still managing the impossibly long, florid lines. (Read more HERE). She also created The Maid in Thomas Adès's Powder Her Face, who upstages the Duchess in more ways than one. (Read about that HERE)  Bottone is luxury casting, because there are very few in her specialist fach. 

Pairings through this play and opera keep changing, too, which is why Neal Davies's Bottom is Bottone's match.  He's another character singer, also very experienced, which makes a huge difference. Bottom is a yokel, so there's no need for the male equivalent of coloratura perfection. Instead, though, Bottom's quirky personality has to be expressed in other ways. Davies doesn't do obvious humour like funny accents or buffoonery.  His Bottom is quicker off the mark than he lets on, but that, too, is an aspect of Bottom's personality. He's the humble working man who dreams up plays for Dukes, after all. Is Shakespeare having a joke on us?

Bottone and Davies shine above all else, but there are other good vignettes. Pascal Charbonneau turned the unrewarding part of Flute into a tour de force. This Flute "is" sexually ambiguous, frustrated, resentful and yet a diva-in-the-making. In Britten's time no-one would have dared do such a provocative portrayal, but it's entirely right in context.  Sion Goronwy's Snug had panache, confirming his extensive experience.

The staging was more of a problem. Boys dressed in 40's military costumes much too large for them? Adults having sex while dressed  in school uniforms? Toys being locked away? Filthy mattresses, seedy decreptitude? Maybe this is a dig on Britten's sexuality, but it's out of order and not supported either by the opera or what is known of the facts. Thankfully, it was obliterated by the other big star in this production - the lighting!

Like magic, the lights wiped away the tawdry squalor. The Duke's palace appeared, trasnsparent glass chairs lit with twinkling silver lights. Then, when couples are reunited, and order restored, night returns, and the fairies spread their magic again, this time on us, the audience.

Thousands of golden fairylights suddenly lit up at once, transforming the darkness closing in. Festoons of lights, twined round the topiary trees and box hedges in the pareterre garden, garlanding the trees beyond. A moment to remember forever.  Garsington goes out in a blaze of glory. Next year, it moves to an even bigger landscape, at Wormsley Park.

A word about the lighting design which at Garsington this year excelled all expectations.  Bruno Poet, who designed the lighting for this Midsummer Night's Dream deserves special praise. This was seriously imaginative work, which larger opera companies would envy.

Poet and his team spent hours carefully working out circuitry and placements. Designing this in a conventional setting would be hard enough, but in an open air setting, artificial lighting must cope with natural light, which lasts to 10pm at this time of year. Then ther's the added problem of Health and Safety. In ordinary theatres, the audience doesn't walk round the wiring. In Garsington, the gardens are a feature the audience comes to see. Poet and his team managed to conceal the wiring so well that it didn't intrude.

The lighting for Armida, also at Garsington this year, was designed by Malcolm Rippeth.  Read about it HERE. As in all cases, follow the links emnbedded in these postings to the proper, formal review in Opera Today, because they have production photos.

Rossini Armida Garsington musically informed production

The Metropolitan Opera in New York did Rossini's Armida earlier this Spring. This Garsington Armida was completely different, but by no means the lesser experience.  At the Met, Armida was a vehicle for Renée Fleming, designed to showcase her coloratura talents. At Garsington, the emphasis was on Rossini, and on the dramatic heart of the opera.

The theatre at Garsington is tiny, capacity only  517, smaller than the 1500 seat Real Teatro di San Carlo but this is not necessarily a disadvantage, as Armida is almost more baroque than bel canto. David Parry has conducted no fewer than 7 Rossini operas at Garsington (one planned for next year). He's currently Artistic Director at Opera Rara, so he's attuned to period performance.

Parry emphasized the inherent purity of Rossini's orchestration. It's carefully structured, clean, built on almost symmetrical foundations, from which extravagant flourishes can take flight. Indeed, images of M C Escher's drawings came to mind. Escher's flights of stairs and archways resemble Rossini's musical architecture. The vocal parts soar, run after run, ascending to ever greater heights. Sudden leaps and decelerations creating a strong sense of movement. Parry kept the lines clear and uncluttered, revealing the clarity of Rossini's ideas, which seem to reference Handel and Gluck.

The production takes its cue from the musical logic. A well known critic described the Act One set with its row of chrome and leather chairs as "Ikea", the Swedish design warehouse. And why not? The principle behind Swedish design is a fusion of function and classic elegance, an apt metaphor for Rossini's style in Armida..

The theatre at Garsington is temporary, but solid enough to withstand inclement weather. Designer Ashley Martin-Davis brings the struts and metal framework into the opera, by simply painting them red and black. It's an intelligent comment on the action, for this Act takes place in the camp of the Crusaders (also tented, like Garsington, one presumes).

The Franks (and Italian Rinaldo) belong to a military order with semi-religious vows, but Rossini very deliberately doesn't identify them with the Knights Templar. Torquato Tasso's original poem, on which the narrative is based, dates from 1580. but connects to traditions that long predate the Middle Ages. In painting, the protagonists are usually depicted as idealized Greeks or Romans. In any case, Armida is a fantasy, for Armida is a sorceress who can use magic.  Audiences in Rossini's time had no delusions that the opera was "historic". Indeed, the idea of priests succumbing to temptresses would have been only too obvious, and Rossini couldn't risk offending the all-powerful Church.

Military orders are highly disciplined, and these paladins have vowed to repress love and earthly pleasures. Martin Duncan has the men move in orderly procession. They troop up parallel flights of stairs - the structured music, the Escher ideas, coming together beautifully. They're ascetically garbed in black, reinforcing the idea of an austere sect. The costumes, stark as they are, are beautiful - elegance and simplicity again.

Armida is justly famed because it affords glorious coloratura display. But it's important not to forget the context. Armida and Idraote and Goffredo's Knights are polar opposites. The opera pivots on the dichotomy between love and duty, pleasure and higher ideals. Indeed, Armida's singing shines all the more brightly when the context is given due respect. Armida's luminous gardens wouldn't be so tempting if they weren't such a contrast to life in the regiment.

A small, temporary festival like Garsington does not do megastars, so it's pointless to compare Jessica Pratt's Armida with Renée Fleming or Maria Callas. Instead, she brings youthful energy to the part. If her ornamentations aren't too flamboyant, she reaches the high peaks in the score, and acts well with her voice. She comes over as a warm hearted spirit, so when Rinaldo leaves her, you sympathize with her pain. In Dove son io? she finds the different stages of emotion. It's not all piercing frenzy, but gradations of feeling.

Because the balance in this production isn't entirely one-sided, the male parts take greater prominence. Victor Ryan Robertson sings Rinaldo with pluck. He brought a sense of wonder to his Dove son io!, a deft parallel to Armida's final aria. The contrast between "hero" Rinaldo who kills for honour and "lover" Rinaldo, conquered by sensuality, was clear.

For such a young singer, Bogdan Mihai's Goffredo had vocal authority and physical presence.  Nice richness to his voice which will serve him well. He doubled as Carlo with David Alegret singing Gernando and Ubaldo. Alegret paced the long Gernando recitatives carefully, so the sudden explosions up the scale at the end of long phrases were very effective. 

Christophorus Stamboglis singing Idraote and Astarotte was impressive too. His voice has character, so it was almost a pity the parts weren't large enough to show his full measure. Nicholas Watts sang a nice Eustazio.

Naturally, or rather supernaturally, Armida's gardens in Acts 2 and 3 were vividly coloured. Now the male chorus appeared as blue-painted demons, hiding behind the infrastructure of beams that evoked both forest and ocean at the same time. When the nymphs appeared the audience gasped in delight. They were stunning, pale pink top to toe with glittery skirts, moving like exotic flowers.  The choreography was simple, more group movement than dancing, but it supported the singing, rather than distracting from it. Gradually the male figures emerged from hiding and embraced the nymphs chastely. The choruses re-enacted Rinaldo and Armida's relationship. It was another sign that this production developed from an understanding of the music and the opera.

Those who know the gardens at Garsington will be familiar with the strangely twisted topiary trees in the parterre garden the theatre opens onto.  As we filtered out after the performance, the garden was lit with emerald light, the more famous large shrubs picked out in mauve.  It was unearthly, as though we were experiencing Armida's garden for ourselves. Imagine Garsington staging Tannhäuser! That is part of the magic that is Garsington, where stage and reality interact.  .

This production, though, could easily be transported to another theatre. Indeed, any theatre suited to chamber opera. It's much too good to be missed.  Perhaps Garsington might consider joint ventures? In the long term that might be a way forward.
FULL REVIEW with pics here in OPERA TODAY

Rossini Armida - Callas 1952 full streaming download

Two major stagings of Rossini Armida this year, at Garsington and the Met, New York. Complete contrast, but one which shows that it's not how much money you throw at a production but what artistic values go into it. Garsington wins, hands down.

Obviously Renée Fleming is way above the league of most anyone else so the Met prod was worth hearing, though not seeing. Particularly as La Renée may not be singing it for many more years. I'll be writing about Garsington later today. But here is Maria Callas  in the role.

It's a live performance from Firenze in 1952. Callas is barely 30 but she connects to the fire within Armida, who is a sorceress, neither bimbette nor fag hag, both of which are elements in the image but not central to it.  So Rossini set in the Crusades? Realism, no. Dotty as the Crusaders may have been, they didn't get transported to supernatural worlds. What commander would be so dumb as to go and fight an enemy that doesn't exist? Oops, lots of them....

Naples audiences in 1817  would not have been fooled that Armida was "about" Crusades. They knew plenty, plenty about priests who broke their vows, seduced by temptresses. And Rossini knew he might end up in jail if he was too explicit.

Listen to Callas and drool. Look at the tenors, too - Francesco Albanese, Mario Filippeschi, Alessandro Ziliani, Gianni Raimondi, Carlo Stefanoni, Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin (conductor)  Cick HERE for full streaming download on Opera Today . Extremely comprehensive notes, full libretto, synopsis. This is a seriously good resource!  The sound quality isn't good, but this was the first modern performance, so it's of historic value. Review of Garsington Rossini Armida coming up soon. and listen to your heart's content. .Photo by Poussin, who painted Armida and Rinaldo in most UN-medieval dress, nearly 200 years before Rossini wrote the opera. And Roman soldiers wore skirts, not shorts, so Poussin is updating that, too. Besides, what you'd see in this pose should not be revealed.

New home for Garsington?

Has Garsington Opera found a new haven? Garsington Opera has now started consultations with the local community, and relevant authorities to apply for planning consent to locate the festival at Wormsley Estate, the home of the Getty family.

If anything, Wormsley will be even more spectacular. It's set in 18 acres in the lush Chiltern countryside, with an 18th century walled garden, a deer park and woodlands. Each year a special pavilion will be raised around a group of houses, built in flint in the traditional Chiltern style. The architect's drawings show an airy, attractive structure, nestling among trees.  Wormsley's only 15 miles from Garsington, even easier to get to from London. In theory, it's taxiable from Henley-on-Thames or Reading. If you have a party of four and champagne, taxi costs might not be disproportionate. Yet Wormsley's in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, where there are lots of huge estates, many of historic importance. Could it rival Glyndebourne?

Anthony Whitworth Jones, General Director of Garsington Opera, said: "Over the years Garsington Opera has become known for introducing lesser known works of genuine interest and artistic merit, and for attracting young and talented singers on the threshold of their careers. Our new home at Wormsley will enable us to continue that tradition in a thrilling environment, not far from Garsington, and marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in our history."

Mark Getty added:"We are delighted to welcome Garsington Opera for a summer season each year. I see Garsington Opera forming a central part of a vibrant cultural future for Wormsley Estate. It is also important to us that Garsington Opera will bring its terrific outreach activities to benefit schools and others in the local area with an interest in the performing arts. We are very pleased to be associated with a successful arts organization which enjoys such a high reputation for excellence in its field both nationally and internationally."

Just the tonic, gin optional : cheerful Martinů at Garsington

“Life is too important to be taken seriously” goes my motto. That could describe this cheerful production, just the right good-humored tonic for these difficult times.

Garsington Opera is quintessential English Country House opera. Garsington Manor is a private house, not normally open to the public, but for a few weeks in early summer it hosts a season of opera in a temporary theater. The whole manor is a piece of theater. It stands on a hilltop overlooking the rural Oxfordshire countryside. It’s designed so the distant horizon looks like an extension of the garden. It’s spectacular trompe d’oeil. At night, statues around the vast, formal lily pond are spotlighted so they glow softly in the darkness. The theater itself is completely open on one side, overlooking a beautiful walled English garden, which can be used to extend the stage area. Indeed, wind, rain and the occasional bird sometimes take part in shows. The atmosphere is unique.

It’s an ideal setting for a light-hearted opera like Mirandolina. Martinů delighted in commedia dell’arte and saw the possibilities of adapting Goldoni’s La Locandiera for the modern stage. Onto this Martinů builds musical jokes, complete with recitatives, arias, moments of Italianate color and stretches of spoken dialogue. This isn’t farce, it’s far too warm hearted and funny. Nor is it slapstick, as it’s too relaxed. As Martinů said it’s “ a light, uncomplicated thing”, fun for the sake of fun.

Mirandola is the hotel owner who likes to tease men but loses interest once they fall for her charms. Her suitors are noblemen whose very names are jokes, like “Albafiorita” and “Forlimpopoli” announced with great flourish. When she gets the woman-hating Cavaliere to love her, she marries her waiter instead. There is room for spicier things, like the sub plot where tarty “actresses” try to pass themselves off as ladies of the nobility, but Martinů chooses not to develop these ideas, focusing instead on sunny insouciance.

The set is gorgeous, bright vivid shades of orange, yellow red and blue, a reference to the “sunny Italy” in the plot, or perhaps to the life the composer was enjoying on the Riviera when the opera was written. Special mention should be made of the costumes, as vivid as the cartoons in 18^th century broadsheets. They are so watchable that they make up for the lack of character development.

The translation is by Jeremy Sams. It’s so deadpan and maudlin, it evokes cackles of laughter. Indeed, there are choruses made up entirely of laughs “ha ha ha ha, and oh oh oh, ha ha ha weaving merry rhythms. Mirandolina ‘s grandmother taught her a ditty, “Long live wine and love and laughter". It’s banal but sung with such fervour it’s funny. Word setting otherwise misses the mark, but again, this isn’t High Art but fluff.

Performances could have been more polished, livening up the pace to sharpen comic delivery, but this isn’t the kind of opera where or feats of vocal fireworks are needed. Juanita Lascarro, the heroine, is the only naturalistic role in a company of caricatures, so her part gave her range to show her skills.

Mirandolina would fall flat as serious opera, heard in more formal surroundings, but at Garsington, where you’re mellow with the ambience and fuelled with good champagne, it’s plain good fun. So grandmother had it right after all. As long as you have “wine and love and laughter”, things can’t be all bad.

See full review and pix HERE

Garsington Opera - Landscape as theatre

Garsington Manor stands on a hill overlooking the Oxfordshire countryside. Architects call this “borrowed landscape” where vistas extend beyond a property, into the distance. Garsington Opera productions follow the same principle. The stage is literally built on the terrace that connects the house to the flower gardens. The performance space is open on one side. Sometimes rain and wind intrude on a performance – as do birds – but that is part of the pleasure. "Country House Opera" is one of the glories of the English summer and Garsington is one of the highlights.

This year brought Vivaldi’s L’incoronazione di Dario to Britain for the first time. Vivaldi has benefited from the upsurge of interest in the baroque, and his music is still being unearthed. L’incoronazione di Dario was first performed as part of the Venetian Carnival in 1717, so it's party opera, meant for fun celebrations. Vivaldi churned out almost 100 of these blockbusters so finesse isn't really what's happening here.

Musically, L’incoronazione di Dario is standard mistaken identity farce. Arias and recitatives are fairly short and undeveloped. Ideas flash past and aren’t extended. There’s no particular structure orchestrally to detract from the lively action. It was a pity, because this orchestra was very good. They are musicians trained to 20th century standards, playing what might have been performed by basic theatre players 300 years ago. But to their credit, they appreciated that this music works better when it’s played with gusto.

Fortunately, if L’incoronazione di Dario doesn’t quite convince as music, this production made it work very well as theatre. The plot is thin and illogical, so the staging turns its weaknesses into virtues. A huge half finished “Persian” head hovers above the stage throughout. It’s the dead King, who interjects during the course of events. At the end, his huge hand is left pointing at the stage. It’s hilarious. Argene is a princess right out of 50’s America, complete with Elvis Presley 45’s, a gingham crop top and tight jeans. Why, one might ask ? But that’s the whole point. This isn’t supposed to make sense. This is entertainment, not philosophy. So when the suitors fight, it’s cod pantomime. Casting a soprano instead of a countertenor as Arpago the suitor adds yet another irreverent touch. He/she wears the kind of military uniform Michael Jackson might take seriously, for this is the least butch soldier imaginable. So when he/she sings about being the greatest soldier the kingdom ever had, it’s a scream.

But perhaps the star was the stage itself. When Statira leaves the palace and heads for the wild, dangerous forests supposedly inhabited by beasts, she can be seen parading through the neat parterres of the flower garden, he wedding dress and train blowing in the breeze. Dario runs into the garden slashing his sword to create a bouquet for her. There are lots of real flowers out there, but he brings in an obvious fake, which she swoons over. He has a “mad scene” in which he slashes one of the two trees on stage in his “rage”, but it’s artificial. The other tree is real, or looks like it is. Just as “borrowed landscape” works in the gardens at Garsington, borrowed landscape works in its opera productions. It expands the stage and participates in the drama, without singing, without music, but very much part of the action.

pix at :
http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2008/Jan-Jun08/garsington2506.htm