Germany Verdi, Otello: Soloists, Refrain and Extras of Staatsoper Hannover. Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover / James Hendry (conductor). Staatsoper Hannover, 7.1.2024. (DMD)
Manufacturing
Director – Immo Karaman
Stage design – Etienne Pluss
Costume design – Gesine Völlm
Lighting design – Susanne Reinhardt
Video – Philipp Contag-Lada
Motion director – Fabian Posca
Dramaturgy – Regine Palmai
Revival director – Valérie Junker
Refrain director – Lorenzo Da Rio
Solid
Otello – Andeka Gorrotxategi
Jago – Daniel Miroslaw
Cassio – Marco Lee
Roderigo – Fabio Dorizzi
Lodovico – Markus Suihkonen
Montano – Richard Walshe
Desdemona – Kiandra Howarth
Emilia – Ruzana Grigorian
The lights within the auditorium go down and off, the black curtain throughout the body of the stage goes up, and in a sparsely embellished room with grey-green partitions, a Sixties fridge-freezer, desk with chairs and a mattress with blanket and pillow on the ground, a person in his early 40s, wearing trousers, T-shirt and worn-out bathrobe, tumbles round as if in delirium, hits out on the empty house with a baseball bat and collapses on the mattress. The body of the room is demarcated by white strip lights which now activate, to coincide with the primary ferocious bars of music from the orchestra pit. What appeared to have been the again wall of the room framed by white strip lights rises — to disclose a smaller model of the identical room – altogether there are 5 – 6 of those rooms, an identical and unusually completely different on the similar time. They’re the nightmare, the delirium, of Otello, the person within the bathrobe, the battle veteran, the soldier simply returned from battle, the sufferer of some horrible experiences, affected by huge post-traumatic stress dysfunction, past anybody’s assist. Desdemona is his spouse, takes care of him, throughout the context of economic restrictions advised by the shabbiness of the room(s). She bears his temper swings, his aggression. The occasions of the opera occur in that world of trauma, characters are revealed and hid by the partitions of the a number of room(s), and the viewers are as unsure of what’s actual and what’s not as is Otello himself. Such a mind-set have to be scary – that a lot is evident. Director Immo Karaman, with the assist of dramaturg Regine Palmai, has developed a cogent idea for this 2021 manufacturing, now revived by Valérie Junker. The a number of rooms, with their perspective of proper to left quite than centred in Etienne Pluss’s set present ample examples of refined nightmare. The gray colors of the troopers’ uniforms (costumes by Gesine Völlm) are cleverly juxtaposed with the extra vibrant ones of the welcome house social gathering. Susanne Reinhardt’s lighting serves the creation of moods effectively, enhanced at occasions by the video projections designed by Philipp Contag-Lada (for instance, white noise from an old style malfunctioning TV set superimposed onto the characters who’re celebrating the return).
James Hendry, First Kapellmeister at Staatsoper Hannover, is in command of the Staatsorchester for this revival. He has made the rating his personal, conducting with broad gestures that display his dedication. Intense passages change into thrilling with out overwhelming the singers’ voices or the spectators’ ears. The completely different devices stay audible always, by no means succumbing to an nameless and obscure tapestry of sound. Mild and lyrical passages are rendered with subtlety with out turning into kitsch.
The manufacturing employed a motion director (Fabian Posca), and Andeka Gorrotxategi as Otello, in his debut on the stage of the Staatsoper Hannover, does him credit score: he’s a convincing actor to begin with. He has obtained the vocal stamina for the title position and can develop additional into it over time – that is solely the second manufacturing since his position debut. Presently, whereas there are numerous promising parts, he has not but achieved the flowing essence, the wholeness, which comes throughout, for instance, in his video of Nessun dorma. In Otello, he nonetheless must push up his voice an excessive amount of to achieve the uncovered excessive notes, though as soon as reached, they’ve an thrilling ring to them.
Daniel Miroslaw was a robust Iago, roundly and expressively singing throughout the vary of the feelings the character feels or feigns (quite than having to revert to barking, shouting, or in any other case sacrificing fantastic thing about tone to attain the expression of evil). He trusted the music, and rightly so. Kiandra Howarth as Desdemona sang with a really slender, quick vibrato all through, which overshadowed tonal magnificence each in dramatic in addition to mild passages, together with the A-flat within the Ave Maria.
With a robust firm of resident singers, Hannover Staatsoper can afford to forged the minor elements with artists who would even be seen and heard in main or title roles for different productions (quite than these singers showing in a single minor position after the opposite). Marco Lee (Nemorino, Ferrando, Rodolfo) was thus a robust, full of life, and convincing Cassio, Richard Walshe (Figaro, Escamillo) authoritative as Montano, and Markus Suihkonen (Sparafucile) commanding as Lodovico. Fabio Dorizzi is a member of the Worldwide Studio of the Staatsoper Hannover and contributed a promising Roderigo. Ruzana Grigorian (Carmen, Amneris) was appropriately subdued as Emilia and solely within the refrain scenes did she enable her voice full circulate. The members of refrain, directed by Lorenzo Da Rio, had been effectively coached by the motion director they usually sang with an admirable stage of dedication and unison.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
Featured picture: Staatsoper Hannover © Staatsoper Hannover
