By Luisa Terzulli
Closing show of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, on the 24th May 2007 Orfeo by Monteverdi went on stage. To give life to the famous opera by the Mantuan composer was La Venexiana, company founded and directed by Claudio Cavina, in the setting offered by St John’s, an old church converted in venue for classical music.
The favola in musica (story in music) is that well known about Orfeo descending to Hades to move the gods to pity and take her spouse Euridice back, dead short before for a snake’s bite. Successful in his exploit, Orfeo disobeys however the orders by Pluto, thus definitely losing his beloved Euridice. Nothing new so far. In the portrayal of the characters, in the costumes and the setting, creativity has the better of it, by desecrating the solemn world of opera and reinventing the canons of the scenic representation: so the nymphs dance in the way of Saturday Night Fever during the celebration of Orfeo and Euridice’s wedding, the ship of Caron looks more like the London 29N bus, and Apollo’s party has verve and glitters to be envied by King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar.
But this should not make think of wool pulled over the eyes: La Venexiana counts artists of great calibre and the eclectic Claudio Gavina, very famous countertenor and creator of the company itself, sings and conducts the orchestra – all “adorned” for the occasion, too. The tenor Mirko Guadagnini is the passionate Orfeo who throws the audience in the hall into raptures, while is Emanuela Galli to lend a splendid voice to the unfortunate Euridice. Sung in Italian, the libretto of Orfeo was available to the public, with parallel translation, in order to appreciate not only the sound of the language of opera, Italian par excellence, but also the meaning held in the musicality of the words. A special mention is for Makoto Sakurada: listening to him with eyes shut you would never imagine that it is a Japanese who sings, as imperceptible his foreign inflexion is.
The choice of a bit extravagant Orfeo was no doubt winning, and has often made the audience smile even without distracting them from the drama and tension of the narration. On this subject we recall the words of Nicola Luisotti, who exactly in an interview to GIORGIOSTUDIO (ST*ART volume 2, n. 2) stated that the orchestra conductor always has to respect the original composer, and that if he wants more freedom then he has to compose his own opera without altering the work of somebody else. Who will be right, the traditionalist Luisotti or the innovator Cavina? It is hard to say, in the eternal evolution of music and arts in general. Well, we enjoyed it like this, and judging by the enthusiasm, the audience too!
Copyright 2007 GIORGIOSTUDIO Ltd – All rights reserved
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