Since the early 2000s, the Jette Parmer Artists Company have spurred on emerging opera talent. The highlight of these efforts is the summer performance at the Royal Opera with hand-picked choices from a selection of varied works.
Odd to see a ballet opener start things off, Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights from His Romeo and Juliet, was still thrilling done by this orchestra. The through line was seen with a sliver of Bellini's take on Shakespeare's tragedy with I Capuleti e I Montecchi. This was a slow start and felt more like a slog to begin with. This movement saw Gabriel? Kupšyte, Sarah Dufresne and Jamie Woollard come together as the leads. Vocally this is demanding due to the severe insistence of the bel canto style, not many singers can get away with this today. It dragged along, though these singers might have needed a little more time to perfect their Bellini.
With no time to lose, the famous Pearl Fischer's Duet by Bizet followed. These friends here sung by Ryan Vaughan Davies and Josef Jeongmeen Ahn have a wonderful harmony between them. It's soupy stuff, though I was quite taken with it. The set remains the same for most of the night, though a Virgin Mary used in the past scene then being used as a Hindu God here might be inappropriate.
Some fun with Donizetti and his beloved La fille du Régiment. In an absurd singing lesson, Isabela Días, Grisha Martirosyan and Veena Akama-Makia brought slapstick with fine singing abound. Not dissimilar to the lesson in Barber of Seville, this is a silly scene and was hard not to like. Akamai-Makia stood out, though all three were a delight. Strauss' Capriccio ended the first half, scene 7 seeing nice use of one of the auditorium boxes and the massive curtain. Michael Gibson as Flamand stood out in Strauss' sort of biopic of the life of a composer amid love and strife.
The second part was better paced, more Bellini this time the lesser-known La Straniera. Grisha Martirosyan and Veena Akamai-Makia were both dripped out in the finest costumes of the night. Complicated, royal love triangles ensue and both had focus and drive in their voices. This really should be staged fully, it's quite alluring. Back to the Bard, Gounod's spin on Roméo et Juliette had more guts to it against the Bellini in the first half. Ryan Vaughan Davies and Isabelia Díaz were the star-crossed lovers in spite of everything, here with polish and affection.
Mozart's Così fan tutte I rarely have time for, though the end here was the Act 1 finale. I dare say, I had more fun here than the full production I saw with Welsh National Opera earlier this year. The stupid, sexist story gets an update on a uni campus. An amusing play on the Royal Opera House initials mixed with Greek fraternity symbols got considerable laughs. Many of the singers seen before were back, Jamie Wollard as Don Alfonso is lorrel clad, frat boy mascot, his bass really commanding and filled with depth. I had to be it together when they started near twerking.
Two directors shared the scenes between them Harriet Taylor and Eleanor Burke, some ideas working better than overs, a lot of humour did work and the use of the larger space faired well. Three conductors: José Salazar, Edward Reeve and André Callegaro maintained momentum throughout, and the players always an honour to hear live.
Review: James Ellis