Young Welsh talents was at the fore in If Opera‘s La Rondine in the gorgeous gardens at Belmont Court at Bradford on Avon.
Soprano Meinir Wyn Davies took the title role in the Puccini opera that is far less performed than that other Parisian repertory stalwart La Boheme. Young Welsh tenor Ryan Vaughan Davies sang the poet Punier whose fanciful romantic lines prove the catalyst for La rondine (the Swallow) to rediscover romantic love.
Formerly Iford Arts, If Opera’s 2022 season is not only rebranded but reconfigured as a repertory ensemble approach by the ambitious company.
Taking place in the grounds of Belcombe Court no doubt added to the overall enjoyment of the festival experience. But the hearty responses to the performances were more than deserved by the blossoming talent presented in this idyllic gardens setting.
Part of the enjoyment of the festival and this company’s philosophy is that audiences who attend more than one of the offerings can see some of the singers in different roles, and enjoy the singers also perform arias in the gardens before the shows. Other members of the ensemble come and sit on the grassy knolls by the ornate pond, listening to their colleagues and give them lots of support – all adding to the pleasure of the day and encapsulating the ethos of this festival.
The staged operas performed at Belcombe Court were Puccini’s La rondine and a double bill of Donizetti’s Rita and Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna. The festival also included a concert performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and a family show The Man in the Moon. My visit took in the two staged performances.
Joseph Buckmaster and Meinir Wyn Roberts
The story of La rondine begins with a cocktail party where a romantic poet Punier compares Magda, the mistress of a rich older banker, to a swallow (La rondine) that seeks genuine love. The slightly jaded Magda remembers when she was younger dancing at a café and falling in love with a stranger. She failed to act on her emotions and nothing happened. When a handsome young man, Ruggero, appears at the party he asks the bright young things there how to discovering the true Paris. Magda is driven to give in to her yearning to relive her youth and joins him in the same café that she had that brief encounter. Only this time she does go off with Ruggero and sets up a love nest away from Paris, on the Riviera.
However, being a good country boy Ruggero seeks his mother’s blessing to marry and look forward to having children with Magda. This reality bursts the bubble of their romantic idyll, and she tells him she cannot be his wife as she has too much “baggage”. He is heartbroken as she returns to her former life. Meanwhile the actually rather worldly poet has had a fling with Magda’s fiesty maid Lisette, promising to make her a star. When the bubble of this dream is also burst by the negative respone of audiences, she too decides to go back to her earlier life with Magda. The swallow flies north back to Paris.
Ryan Vaughan Davies and Lorena Paz Nieto
Directed by Bruno Ravella, the production spotlights the distinctiveness/ modernity of the Puccini work with the heroine of sorts, Magda, returning to her real world after that brief affair that is more a nostalgic reliving of a romantic episode from her younger days. A delightful Meinir Wyn Roberts captures this almost other-worldly aspect of the relationship, balancing idealistic passion with darker introspection. The Welsh soprano gives us some thrilling singing particularly the emotional crescendos. Joseph Buckmaster’s innocent boy from the country Ruggero believes this is the real thing, dependent of course on his mother’s approval. He sings with an Italianate flair and acts with puppy dog longing.
This airy-fairy hearts and flowers contrasts with the (surprisingly) restrained and sympathetic portrayal of Magda’s down to earth “patron” Rambaldo from Philip Smith. There is also the contrast between Magda and Ruggero and the other romantic pairing, the cheeky maid Lisette and florid poet Prunier. Lorena Paz Nieto’s sparkling singing and Ryan Vaughan Davies’ effervescent performance brings much genuine humour and charm to the show.
Bruno Ravella’s direction is clear and crisp, working with the constraints of the enclosed space that similarly limits Flavio Graff’s semi Art Deco designs which must allow for speedy changes of setting, Magda’s Paris house, Bullier’s ball and the south of France villa. Video projections by Luna Panetta are used partly for some of this scene setting, but mainly to explore the psychology of Magda as she looks to the past and reacts to the reality of her situation.
The Bristol Ensemble conducted by Oliver Gooch is quite a revelation with a searing performance of Puccini’s score, packed with a plethora of musical genres, waltz, foxtrot and charictaristic soaring arias and duets. There are times when Gooch threatens to overwhelm the audience with a wall of sound in the small enclosed space, but balance and a sympathetic relationship with the singers are largely maintained.
After this accomplished season the future looks blooming bright and certainly intriguing for the next adventures from If Opera as it charts its own route ahead in the challenging climate for live performance.
www.ifopera.com
Main image: Ryan Vaughan Davies and Meinir Wyn Roberts