OPERA COMIQUE: AT THE AIRPORT / New Opera Singapore / Review

OPERA COMIQUE AT THE AIRPORT

New Opera Singapore

The Chamber @ The Arts House

Saturday (9 March 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 11 March 2013 with the title "The comedy of arias".

The Opera Comique series by New Opera Singapore is becoming a bit like those Carry On low budget comedies of the Sixties and Seventies, featuring a cast of familiar faces in variations on the theme of farcical plots, double entendres and more than a few good laughs.

Each of these opera capers features popular arias and duets strung together by some flimsy plotline. On this evening, the setting was the airport in Bali, where flirtations, misunderstandings and love matches take place between passengers, cabin crew, ground staff and Duty Free personnel. It was all very silly but the quality of singing was most encouraging.

The sopranos had a field day. Few might have expected the ease and level of projection afforded by Isyana Sarasvati (above) in Je veux vivre (Juliette’s Waltz Song) from Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. She was scintillating and simply brilliant. Closely matching her were Bethea How, 3^rd Prize winner in the Llangollen Eisteddfod last year, in Arditi’s swirling Parla Walzer, which brought on the loudest cheers.

Rebecca Li’s Mein Herr Marquis (Laughing Song) from Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus was infectious, as were her tittering giggles, while Moira Loh (below) had the audience in stitches in Mozart’s Batti batti, o bel Masetto (Don Giovanni), as she went on to batter her love interest. After this, there may be a new meaning to “Could you batti batti me?”

Of the male singers, baritone Jeremy Koh impressed most in Mozart’s Donne le mie fatte (Cosi Fan Tutte) with his clear ringing tone. Tenor Yap Joo How’s Questa o quella (Verdi’s Rigoletto) was convincing in his libertine aspirations, while Shaun Lee and Lim Jingjie were more than earnest in their efforts. Pianist Albert Lin, attired as an ICA immigration official, was unobtrusive while providing premium accompanying support.

It would seem that most the young singers trained by Korean soprano Jeong Ae Ree, founder of New Opera Singapore, were bleeding heart tenors or coloratura sopranos. Where were the altos or basses among the eight singers featured?

Thus this programme was skewed heavily towards soprano and tenor arias, which besides being slightly unbalanced and also on the short side. By the end of the hour, the conflicts had ceased and all on stage was kissing and making up to Lehar’s Lippen Schweigen from The Merry Widow.   

This cavil aside, it was all in good fun. With time and as the cast of New Opera Singapore matures, we might have local singing versions of Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor someday.

OPERA COMIQUE (IN THE OFFICE) / New Opera Singapore / Review

OPERA COMIQUE (IN THE OFFICE)
New Opera Singapore
The Chamber @ The Arts House
Saturday (6 August 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 9 August 2011 with the title "Pure delight in the office".

As of tonight, there are three Western opera companies in Singapore. The latest entry is New Opera Singapore, brainchild of Korean-Singaporean soprano and voice teacher Jeong Ae-Ree. Its debut concert was greeted by a full house but more importantly, it signalled a very bright future for operatic singing here.

Forget the title, merely the premise to string along 18 operatic arias, duets and art-songs into a coherent whole. The flimsy plot of an opera company, with its share of romances, politics and shenanigans, was clumsily scripted and, of course, overacted. There were several in-jokes within the industry. For example, the company’s boss is an ageing tenor who is deathly afraid of his diva wife. Sounds vaguely familiar?

Thankfully the music was far more memorable, sensitively accompanied by Hyerin Oh on piano. The ten singers, all students of Jeong, included undergraduates, amateurs and professionals, but all were beyond competent. Some would even make it to bigger stages.

Take the astonishing bel canto sequence which saw soprano Teng Xiang Ting, the evening’s best singer, emote in Ah non credea mirarti (Bellini’s La Sonnambula), followed by David Charles Tay hit the high spots of Una furtiva lagrima (Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amour), for example. Such beauty of tone, confidence and showmanship were almost unheard of here twenty years ago without involving foreign singers.

The couple would later go on and polish off Puccini’s duet O soave fanciulla (La Boheme) with much intimacy and chemistry. Add David’s twin brother Jonathan into the mix, Lehar’s Dein ist mein ganzes herz (The Land of Smiles, above) was pure delight shared by the threesome.

The scenario’s protagonist Lim Yan Ting (above left) , looking very distant from her scientist day job, was a scream with her coquettish, nudge and wink demeanor, but dealt a mean Agitata a due venti (Vivaldi’s Griselda) with its spitting repeated notes. Other femme fatales included teenager Bethea How (above middle) who proved that age was no impediment in nailing the Queen of the Night’s aria Die holle rache (Mozart’s Magic Flute), and Alexandra Ioan (above right) who flirted with the audience in Musetta’s Waltz Song (La Boheme).

Time and space does not permit elaboration of the contributions of Moira Loh, Shaun Lee, Yap How Joo and Daniel Fong, but suffice to say, New Opera Singapore’s first staged production, of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amour in July 2012, will be keenly anticipated.

A toast to New Opera Singapore and further endeavours!