DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES
New Opera Singapore
Friday (3 August 2018 )
This review was published in The Straits Times (online edition) on 10 August 2018 with the title "Unconventional choice, but Dialogues of the Carmelites a landmark for New Opera Singapore".
New
Opera Singapore (NOS) has done it again. By mounting the Singapore premiere of
Francis Poulenc's 1957 opera Dialogues Of The Carmelites (Dialogues
Des Carmelites), it defied the conventions of what operas should local
companies be presenting. No Verdi, no Puccini, no Mozart, but no worries. NOS
had Purcell, Britten and Monteverdi on its books, and has now added 20th
century Frenchman Francis Poulenc to its list of successes.
In
reality, Carmelites should not have been a great surprise as it
represented the last of last century's great tonal operas, conceived during the
era when serious composers were pursuing atonalism and avant-garde agenda. Its
subject, the 1794 martyrdom of the Camelite order of Compiegne
 |
| Mother Superior Lidoine (Jennifer Lien) leads the Requiem service. |
Sung
in English instead of French, directed by Kyongsu Kathy Han and conducted by
Chan Wei Shing, this production was furthered by a very strong cast of
principals as the ill-fated nuns. The protagonist Blanche (soprano Victoria
Songwei Li) as aristocrat-turned-novice sparkled as she alternated between hope
and fear, finally finding a resolution in extreme courage. Beside her, Sister
Constance (soprano Capucine Daumas) was a light-hearted and playful presence,
the perfect foil.
The
Mother Superiors were well contrasted, soprano Patricia Sands as the
long-suffering and terminally-ill Madame de Croissy and soprano Jennifer Lien
(fresh from her leading role in the other significant Poulenc opera La Voix
Humaine) as the plain-speaking and more cheery Madame Lidoine. Between
them, mezzo-soprano Rebecca Chellappah was a rock-steady Mother Marie, close
confidante to the beleaguered ladies. Their voices rang well over the discreet
orchestral manoeuvres from the pit.
 |
| Blanche (Victoria Li) with Mother Marie (Rebecca Chellappah) |
Men
had much smaller parts, including tenors Reuben Lai (Father Superior) and tenor
Shaun Lee as Blanche's brother the Chevalier. The touching scene between
Blanche and Chevalier came closest to a conventional operatic love duet, but
had the former rebuffing the latter's pleas to flee the oncoming crisis. The
men's black suits also contrasted markedly against the light pastel nuns'
habits and ultimately white, symbolising innocence and purity.
The
sets in all three acts by Allister Towndrow were monochrome and starkly effective,
with series of screens adding layers of dimensions. The shadow of the
guillotine loomed ever so ominously through the First Act, and when the
heart-wrenching final scene beckoned, there were to be no falling blades.
Execution
by decapitation was depicted symbolically. With the chorus of nuns (including
NOS Artistic Director Jeong Ae Ree in a cameo role) singing the poignant Salve
Regina and each walking through the scaffold and towards oblivion, their
voices diminished and decimated until there were only two. Blanche's final act
of sacrifice with her sisters in faith could not have been better depicted.
This
production marked yet another important landmark in the short history of New
Opera Singapore. It produces only one opera a year, but making that count is
what that really matters.
 |
| The main cast (from L): Sands, Daumas, Li, Chan, Han, Jeong, Lien & Chellappah. |
Production photos by Chester Chew, applause photos by Pianomaniac.
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