With the title "Finally 2021" Opera Ballet Vlaanderen presented on Saturday, January 23, 2021 a concert that was "streamed" (yes, corona has also affected our vocabulary!) from the Opera in Gent. It was indeed an experience, even though it could only be seen and heard online. For the first time since the lockdown in March 2020, the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen brought a full concert program under the direction of their chief conductor Alejo Pérez. It was not yet an opera performance, but the arias were performed with the highest possible commitment by the ensemble and soloists. Certainly a successful substitute in these somber theater times.
Jan Vandenhouwe, artistic director of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, set the program's motto as Ihr werdet froh euch wiedersehn, a phrase by Sarastro from the second act of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. The meaning of the concert was to offer hope for liberation from restrictive constraints. This content largely determined the composition of the program, with Beethoven's Fidelio as the main thread, at the same time also connecting to the 250th anniversary of the composer that was celebrated last year. The program therefore began with the overture to this opera and concluded with the final chorus Heil sei dem Tag, the day of ultimate freedom after the brutal oppression of Florestan. Other fragments in the program were also chosen on the basis of their thematic connection to human and ideological liberation, such as Patria oppressa from Verdi's Macbeth or the utopian In fernem Land from Wagner's Lohengrin. Apart from this main thread, the program sometimes seemed to lack coherence and appeared merely assembled to present something from the French, German and Italian repertoire. But let this be a minor criticism of what was simply a fantastic concert.
It was clear that both orchestra and choir seized this chance to finally present a program with tremendous conviction and commitment. Under the direction of their chief conductor Alejo Pérez, they played with precision and concentration and never gave the impression that the unpleasant masks hindered them...Even the choir sang with masks and that certainly must have required extra effort and practice. You watched and listened in amazement! Great compliments!
Expressive soloists in beautiful setting
There was also a fine group of soloists brought together, with especially remarkable contributions from American mezzo Raehan Bryce-Davis and bass Goran Jurić. Raehan Bryce-Davis had previously sung Eboli in Opera Vlaanderen and in the short interview with Katelijne Boon during intermission, she expressed her joy about the generous reception she experienced at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. She now sang a very expressive Lady Macbeth in La luce langue with not only a powerful voice and measured vibrato but also with facial expressions that conveyed all the nuances of the malevolent and determined Lady Macbeth. For her aria as Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust by Berlioz, she had dressed in an appropriate costume with an ornate hat. Goran Jurić sang with an impressive bass voice the aria of Banquo Come dal ciel precipita from Macbeth and In diesen heil'gen Hallen by Sarastro from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Argentine soprano Carla Filipcic Holm succeeded vocally better in a refined interpretation of Sieglinde (Die Walküre) than in the aria of Leonore (Fidelio). She also performed Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen from Mahler's Rückertlieder very sensitively. Each time, however, her imperfect German pronunciation was noticeable. Tenor Michael Weinius, despite his beautiful timbre, unfortunately sang somewhat constrictedly.
The concert was moreover very carefully executed and beautifully presented visually. Starting with the view of the magnificent hall of the Gent opera, with its beautiful horseshoe shape and red plush. It certainly looks odd at first to see the entire orchestra including conductor wearing black masks on stage (except the wind players – only when it's their turn!). The choir was distributed across the stalls, balconies and boxes, so the absolute "emptiness" of the hall was also somewhat broken up. The choir also provided the applause after the soloists' arias and that certainly came across as genuine and somewhat like "real audience." The cameras regularly zoomed in on solo instruments, which must be a welcome aspect for orchestra members in such an online concert. This way we got to see nice solos from clarinet, English horn, oboe, flute, bassoon, viola and harp, whereby the respective musical passages were nicely accentuated.
Of course, you would not want to say: worth repeating, but the performance of all the musicians and the entire team was so impressive that you would certainly like to experience it again. And it does give a bit of the feeling of making music together in joy. Congratulations and thank you to all OBV staff members for this concert.
P.S. I also like to refer to the interview of my Klassiek Centraal colleague with Jan Raes, to be read on these pages one of these days.
WHAT: Finally 2021, OBV concert
WHO: Soloists and Symphony Orchestra and Choir Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
WHERE: online Saturday 23-1-2021 from Opera Gent
PHOTO: Tom Cornille