Soprano Laurie Janssens asked me emphatically to come. So did BE Culture, the particularly solid Brussels culture-oriented press agency and so did the organizers of the Mozartiade in Brussels. How could you then say no and moreover with Cosi fan tutte on the program and other Mozartian temptations? That cannot be and so I eagerly accepted those invitations and I have no regrets about it!
Ladies first and certainly those who invite: Laurie Janssens I heard among others brilliantly perform an interpretation of a magnificent song cycle, in world premiere no less, by the young composer Matthias Coppens. Flanders sends out its sons, so goes a saying and it is true, Matthias leaves for Los Angeles (USA) to polish his film music composition skills. Someone who is as good as he is, the Americans will want to keep at all costs.
That concert with those songs and also a composition for piano and violin as a gift for the first child of the artist couple Jolente De Mayer and Nikolaas Kende who also performed the work – what an almost frightening thing that reflects the first impressions of what a baby goes through at birth – was of an absolutely top level.
I write very consciously world-class. Coppens writes with a strong emotion that he sets in all forms and tonally very comprehensible and understandable. That is now an example of how contemporary art can and may be. Actually, Coppens perhaps does what Mozart did: give musical expression to all the emotions, feelings, influences and whatever else a person is continuously subject to. It is given to few to do this so and whoever can, has something of genius and if that is the case, then Matthias Coppens and Mozart find each other anew. And just as Mozart knew how to engage the ideal songstress to bring his work, in this case that wonderfully beautiful song cycle in world premiere.
From Coppens to Mozart and the bugle
So I would have talked about Cosi fan tutte, but you will hardly blame me for taking a necessary detour via Matthias Coppens and Laurie Janssens.
For the third year in a row, in the 'Salle des Martyres' at Martelarenplein in Brussels, the doors opened in the first days of June for the Mozartiade, a young tradition that hopefully will continue to exist for many years to come. The organization aims high and has the ambition to feature one of Mozart's operas on the program each year and perform it in that small room. The first time we were not there, last year we were and the Don Giovanni was so good, the best I have ever experienced live, that for that reason alone I felt obliged to be part of it again. Then there were those friendly invitations on top of that and yes, then you say yes.
Small room with a very small stage and no orchestra pit? Try performing an opera on such a stage that is used to large halls. Don Giovanni? That worked perfectly and now it was even better through small adjustments that further improved the listening quality. How do you do it without an orchestra pit on such a stage? Director Eric Gobin is particularly creative in his approach. He makes the stage even smaller and turns the rectangular stage into a triangle which he demarcates with large white curtains. This creates spatial perspective that deceives the eye but we gladly accept this 'deception'. The orchestra – in this case the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie - sits to the left of the stage behind the curtain where there is an opening in it, covered with black gauze so that you cannot really see the orchestra, but hear it very well. The stage action is more limited, the props are kept to the bare minimum. Life is where it should be: in the timeless costumes and the acting talent of the singers. Cosi fan tutte is very grateful in that respect. It is one of the most pleasant operas, especially for younger singers, to perform. Musically challenging, playful and youthful and full of humor.
And that bugle then?
The orchestra was reduced, given the limited space. Fewer strings and fewer winds. So a horn was missing and with some transcription work by the conductor, the trumpeter was used to also play the bugle, as a replacement for the horn. Who would have heard that? Well, me then and that is why I asked after the performance what that was with that strange horn? Come on now, with Mozart you certainly do not think of a bugle, but here it was the ideal find and who, except trained listener's ears of a reviewer, would have heard it? Clever then such a move! Also this: due to the unusual placement of the orchestra, a lot of orchestral gems and colors came much more into their own. It gave an extra musical richness to this opera which we think we know so well. You realize that you were thinking wrong.
The orchestral approach and that of the stage were not the only things that captured the imagination and made a strong impression. There was the general direction and the lighting – Nicola Pavoni - which played an important role in creating the atmosphere. The unusual poses of the Turkish seducers, rehearsed by Françoise Ponthier, the fluent Italian with the help of coach Sabrina Avantario, the refined costumes, contemporary and somewhat 'of that time' with an eye for color combinations (the two couples wore matching colors) by Gaël Bros Vandyck together with a host of remarkably good singers created a very successful Cosi fan tutte that, alongside many performances in the most famous halls, can proudly stand.
A number of singers we know, such as the already mentioned Laurie Janssens who didn't even have to sing to make the audience enjoy herself in her tailor-made role as the mischievous maid Despina. Pierre Derhet we already heard in Don Giovanni and was now a good Ferrando, sometimes pressing his voice a bit too loudly to fill the hall, which is unnecessary in the finer passages where he colours very beautifully. Dorabella, who after much hesitation also gives in, suited Pauline Claes very smoothly. Beautiful, everything she sang was beautiful, Mozart from A to Z.
If possible, we heard even more, even more convincing Mozart from Laura Telly Cambier as Fiordiligi. A great singer, certainly for Mozart roles, for the stages wherever they may be, and the same can be said, in male form of course, of baritone Drew Santini who has a warm voice with sometimes striking sensitivity. I couldn't and wouldn't want to improve anything in his interpretation as Guglielmo. And whoever did nothing but enjoy singing, that was Don Alfonso by Shadi Torbey. You simply became cheerful watching him perform. All this was further enhanced by the choir, which, however limited its role may be, would achieve excellence in competition with this performance.
Conductor David Miller can be proud of how the musicians followed his vision of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. A hearty bravo to everyone and yes, next year we'll be in the hall too and you can count on our review. Young talent that performs like this deserves our moral support!
- WHAT: Cosi fan tutte, opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
- ORGANIZATION: Mozartiade Brussel
- WHERE & WHEN: Salle des Martyres, Martelarenplein Brussel, 1 to 8 June 2018
- PHOTOS: Mozartiade
