Like many concert halls and opera houses, The National Opera has regularly turned to "streaming performances" over the past year. There were captivating productions to see. I'll just mention The Seven Deadly Sins by Kurt Weill, featuring none other than Eva-Maria Westbroek, which was shown during the Opera Forward Festival. But now it's really a case of eagerly awaiting the chance to experience it live.
Lorandzo Viotti
The start of the season at The National Opera is therefore very promising. Lorenzo Viotti, the new chief conductor, opens the season with no fewer than two productions. We were already able to meet the young conductor in 2019 with the double bill Rustic Chivalry and Pagliacci by Leoncavallo/Mascagni (directed by Robert Carsen), when he brought the veristic score to life in all its nuances. The arrival of the Swiss-French conductor promises a beautiful musical future for the National Opera. Viotti wants to establish a strong partnership with the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra and is convinced that you build a relationship through respect and trust. "Thanks to the musicians in this orchestra, I learn something new every day – as a person, as a conductor" (interview on the Concertgebouw website). Opera director Sophie de Lint calls him a "visionary, talented and charismatic artist [...] who is open to exciting experiments" (Odeon. Magazine of The National Opera, no. 122).
The two productions with which the 2021-2022 season opens certainly demonstrate a sense of adventure. The one-act The Dwarf by Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942) is a late Romantic work that you can hardly call a crowd-pleaser. The story in which illusion and reality form a complex blend makes the opera a fascinating piece. But it is also an opera about the vulnerability of the artist in a soulless world. Zemlinsky composed The Dwarf a century ago, in 1921, based on Oscar Wilde's tragic fairy tale. We'd wager that Viotti will make the orchestral sound enchanting. Dutch director Nanouk Leopold makes her opera debut with this production.
Clay Hilley
With American tenor Clay Hilley as The Dwarf, we have one of today's most promising dramatic tenors in the title role. In the role of Donna Clara, the exceptional Dutch soprano Lenneke Ruiten returns to The National Opera. Premiere on Saturday, September 4.
With his second production of the season, Viotti takes a completely experimental approach. He returns to the eighteenth century with the Timpani Mass by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). This Mass in Time of War becomes a combination of music theater, dance, electronic composition, and video. Director Barbora Horáková questions in her staging the unwavering faith that radiates from every note of Haydn's mass. In a gripping way, she brings individuals to the stage who suffer under the heavy weight of a rigid ideology.
The Swiss-Israeli composer Janiv Oron offers an electronic counterweight to the conviction that speaks from the Mass and the Spanish choreographer Juanjo Arqués creates choreography for nine dancers, giving physical expression to the contrasts that are central to the staging. The major draw for Viotti to conduct this production is that in the Mass a leading role is reserved for the magnificent Choir of The National Opera. This production will premiere on September 6.
Both productions will have only 4 performances each. From Friday, August 27 at 12 noon, you can reserve seats for performances from October through December.
More information at https://www.operaballet.nl/
