JOHANN STRAUSS JR'S DIE FLEDERMAUS / Singapore Lyric Opera / Review

JOHANN STRAUSS JR’S

DIE FLEDERMAUS

Singapore Lyric Opera

Esplanade Theatre

Saturday 17 December 2022

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 December 2022 with the title "Soprano Joyce Lee Tung steals show in Singapore Lyric Opera's Die Fledermaus". 

 

This is the season for uncorking champagne bottles and what could be more appropriate than another airing of Johann Strauss the Younger’s evergreen and bubbly-induced operetta Die Fledermaus? Singapore Lyric Opera’s most recent crack at this hoary old chestnut had much to recommend, reminding one and all why we love the festive season plus a few good jokes or two.

 

Directed by Tang Xinxin and accompanied by the SLO Orchestra conducted by Joshua Tan, an ebullient Overture presenting all the memorable melodies got the show off to a good start. The operetta’s comedic plot was one of mischievous vengeance and the usual farce of mistaken identity, culminating in a New Year’s Eve ball at Prince Orlofsky’s.

 

All three members of the Eisenstein’s dysfunctional household contrive to attend the high society event with assumed foreign identities, and the deceptions with predictable misunderstandings inevitably take place. Tenor Jonathan Charles Tay’s Eisenstein and soprano Shimona Rose’s Rosalinde were splendid antagonistic twin pillars of the action, their repartee effected under disguise being a very funny aspect of the story.

Eisenstein becomes Marquis de Renard while
Rosalinde becomes the Hungarian countess
at Orlofsky's ball.

 

They were, however, upstaged by soprano Joyce Lee Tung stealing the show as their housemaid Adele, who has aspirations as an actress. Adele’s Laughing Song (Mein Herr Marquis) in the second act acted like the pivot around which all action was built. She nailed the role with striking aplomb.  

Adele becomes transformed
into a budding actress at Orlofsky's ball.

 

The threesome was well supported by baritone Martin Ng (as Falke, who hatched the plot of revenge against Eisenstein), tenor Kee Loi Seng (Alfred, Rosalinde’s hopeful paramour), baritone William Lim (Frank, conniving prison governor) and tenor Leslie Tay (Blind, hapless attorney), the last who could not resist cross-dressing again, this time as a very unvoluptuous Wonder Woman. Ironically, the usual cross-dressing role of Prince Orlofsky, usually by a mezzo-soprano, was instead sung pretty convincingly by countertenor Chan Wei En.

 

While the First Act, set at the Eisenstein’s domicile, dragged somewhat, everything came to life in the glittering Second Act, with cast, SLO Chorus and dancers at full tilt. Here the operetta’s dizzy heart flowed unabated without contrived and time-consuming setpieces. The blazing Unter Donner und Blitzen (Under Thunder and Lightning) Polka was danced to animated choreography by Andy Benjamin Cai.

 

Leading into the Third Act saw the non-singing role of inebriated prison attendant Frosch portrayed by Alaric Tay (of The Noose fame). Ten minutes of stand-up comedy was just about right, with references to past inmates being incarcerated for refusing to wear face-masks, and the ongoing football World Cup, particularly the Messi state the gaol was in.

 

The deliberately uncredited set design was simple and effective, incorporating Wiener Werkstatte (Vienna Workshop) elements into light fixtures and furniture – a nice touch. Overall, this was both a stylish and enjoyable production which reflects the typically excellent yet underrated work undertaken by Singapore’s premier opera company, which labours under a chronic lack of capital. May the coming year ahead see a continuation of similar high standards. 

All photographs by courtesy of 

Singapore Lyric Opera.

ROSSINI'S L'INGANNO FELICE / Lirica Arts / Review

ROSSINI’S L’INGANNO FELICE

Lirica Arts

Lee Foundation Theatre

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Saturday (5 March 2022)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 9 March 2022 with the title "Italian opera sparkles in classical Chinese setting".

 

It is not a well-known fact that only one of Gioachino Rossini’s 39 operas, The Barber Of Seville, had received performances in Singapore. That all changed when the great Italian composer’s L’Inganno Felice (The Blissful Deception) got its Singapore premiere, a debut outing for newly-formed opera company Lirica Arts.

 

This 1812 single-act opera was once very popular but later neglected because of its origins as a farsa (or farce), a semi-serious piece that fell between the cracks of comic opera and grand opera. Running at around eighty minutes and involving a small cast of five singers, it was not taken seriously by major opera companies. It is, however, well-suited as a pandemic opera with transmission risks minimised by the chamber forces employed.  

 

Its plot is relatively simple and almost farcical. Isabella (soprano Joyce Lee Tung) is an abandoned wife wrongly accused of infidelity, framed by the villainous Ormondo (baritone William Lim) whose advances she had earlier spurned. Her husband Duke Bertrando (tenor Jonathan Charles Tay) thinks she is dead but having been rescued by Tarabotto (baritone David Tao), she now assumes the role of Tarabotto’s niece. The opera’s action kicks off when Isabella and Bertrando get reunited by chance.

 

The 20-year-old Rossini’s music provided an early example of the bel canto style, characterised by sumptuous melodic lines dressed with florid ornamentations. In that respect, Lee was an ideal exponent. Her vocal capabilities, established from the opening aria on her lamentable fate, was matched by more than credible acting.

 

Her highly sympathetic role also stood shoulder to shoulder with four male characters. Tay’s bright and wide-eyed demeanour contrasted well with Tao’s more buffo (comedic) character, both a foil for stage veteran Lim’s menacing malevolence and reluctant henchman Batone (baritone Martin Ng). There were simply no weak links among the five singers.

 

Director Tang Xinxin’s had moved the setting of the opera from Italy to ancient China, with Dorothy Png’s simple yet effective set and lighting design evoking a garden villa in Suzhou. There was a brief scene where shadows of the reunited lovers were projected, making for a classically Chinese picture-perfect silhouette.

 

Isabella was the only character donning full Chinese opera make-up, contrasted with the men’s partial face paint, indicating her to be the most fleshed-out character of all. The silk brocades also made a stunning impact, with a possible nod to current global events. It could not be total coincidence that the good guys (and victims) were dressed in combinations of blue and yellow, while the baddies in black had red trimmings.      

 

Accompanying music was provided by the Wayfarer Sinfonietta conducted by Lien Boon Hua, opening with a typically witty overture and sensitively partnering the singers throughout. Despite some foursquare musical sequences, the generally upbeat tone of the proceedings was a hit with the full-house and no longer socially-distanced audience. Their chorus of approval deemed Lirica Arts’ maiden production to be a roaring success.

 

COMPASSION: Online Chamber Concerts / Singapore International Festival of Arts / Review

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL 

FESTIVAL OF ARTS 2021

COMPASSION Chamber Concerts

Online videos-on-demand on SISTIC Live

 

BE COMFORTED NOW: BACH CANTATAS

Red Dot Baroque

 

BEFORE LIFE AND AFTER

Felicia Teo Kaixin, Jonathan Charles Tay 

& Jonathan Shin

 

ECHOES OF FIRE AND WATER

Ensemble Aequilibrium

 

HEALING RHAPSODY

Ding Yi Music Company

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 16 June 2021 with the title "Emotional healing through music".

 

The heightened measures of the present circuit breaker could not have come at a worse time for the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA). Limited audiences were further restricted to 50 persons per event, and live shows of the Compassion series of chamber concerts involving singers and wind players had to be cancelled. These were, however, recorded and made available for viewing on demand, a reminder that art and artists provide solace and comfort, and will ultimately survive adversity.

 

Red Dot Baroque, Singapore’s only dedicated professional baroque ensemble, presented three sacred cantatas of J.S.Bach which explored the pain of human suffering and healing through faith in God. Sung in German, Bach’s Lutheran perspectives still ring true in modern times.

 

The world-weariness in Ich Habe Genug (I Have Enough, BWV.82) was poignantly portrayed by soprano Joyce Lee Tung while bass-baritone John Lee manly broached the subject of sacrifice in Ich Will Den Kreuzstab Gerne Tragen (I Shall Gladly Bear The Cross, BWV.56). Both singers were united for Ach Gott Wie Manches Herzeleid (Oh God How Much Heartache, BWV.58), which closed the concert with a spirit of blessed optimism.

 

Art songs of three 20^th century composers, Frenchmen Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc, and Briton Benjamin Britten were the subject of Before Life And After. Tenor Jonathan Charles Tay ran the full gamut of emotions in Britten’s Winter Words, eight settings of Thomas Hardy poems, encompassing pastoral innocence and seasonal bleakness. Its culmination was the titular final song, which pondered what came before “a time there was... when none suffered sickness, love or loss”.

 

The French songs from soprano Felicia Teo Kaixin were more lyrical but no less gripping, such as Ravel’s melismatic Kaddish (a Hebrew song of mourning) and Poulenc’s deceptively congenial Poems of Louis Aragon, with words by a famed Surrealist and Communist. In between groups of songs, pianist Jonathan Shin performed movements from Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, each dedicated to a friend killed in the First World War.   

 

Newly-formed new music group Ensemble Aequilibrium’s eclectic programme of 20^th and 21^st century works had one thing in common: uneasy calm that comes before impending doom and the aftermath that follows. Japanese icon Toru Takemitsu’s Rain Spell and Singaporean Young Artist Award Recipient Chen Zhangyi’s Walks On Water set the tone, with the fluid realm providing more than a modicum of sustenance and comfort. The atmosphere conjured was haunting and dissonances paradoxically soothing, especially with the use of flute, harp and piano. 

 

This continued into Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s Cendres (Ashes), a diametrically opposed scenario of consumption by fire. Volume and tempo were upped but stopped short of outright violence, as if stilled by the warmth of embers. The main work was American avant-gardeist George Crumb’s Eleven Echoes of Autumn, which employed only four instruments: piano (with “string piano” techniques), viola, flute and clarinet. This apparent economy however translated to a myriad of tonal effects, its very short connected movements suggesting that “less is more”.

 

Healing Rhapsody was the offering of Ding Yi Music Company, conducted by Quek Ling Kiong, in response to civilisation’s perpetual cycles of crisis and rehabilitation over the ages. Joyce Koh’s stark but dynamic Isskimmer was a reflection of natural beauty as viewed in ice formations. In Benjamin Lim Yi’s Memory, liuqin, cello and sheng starred as concertante instruments, with its rich melodic content signifying nostalgia and yearning.    

 

Buddhist precepts dominated the rest of the programme, with Chow Jun Yi’s serene and lushly-scored Zen Thoughts a meditation on impermanence, the current strife being just a passing phase. Luo Mai Shuo’s specially-commissioned Compassion, which lent its title to the entire chamber series, received its world premiere. Sounds of nature were recreated in its quiet introduction, the music then blossoming into a hope that humanity aspires to kindness and ultimately love. Finally, the vigourous chant-like closing pages of Wan Yun Fei’s Bodhi, the embodiment of enlightenment, provided an upbeat end to a concert that promised healing, and delivered. 

DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER & RED CLIFF / Singapore Chinese Orchestra / Review

DREAM OF THE

RED CHAMBER & RED CLIFF

Singapore Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Friday (13 July 2018)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 16 July 2018 with the title "Chinese works on local terms".

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra's opening concert of the 2018-19 season began with the national anthem Majulah Singapura, led by music director Yeh Tsung. That patriotic gesture indicated although the works performed were based on Chinese literature classics, the production was to be on Singaporean terms.

That this orchestra is able to hold its own, especially when performing concerts in mainland China, is beyond doubt. This was evident in Wang Li Ping's Dream Of The Red Chamber Suite, based on his music written for the iconic 1987 television serial Hong Lou Meng. That in turn was adapted from the 18^th century epic in 120 chapters by Cao Xueqin about the trials, tribulations and decline of four families in feudal China.

Twelve of fifteen movements in Wang's suite were performed. The pathos of impending tragedy was captured in the Overture, with the offstage voice of Chinese soprano Wu Bixia wafting in mysteriously. Although diminutive in physical stature, she would make her outsized vocal presence felt in seven movements, portraying the long-suffering women characters of the saga.

  

Poem Of the Red Bean, Handkerchief Melody, Longing In Vain, Tragic Story Of Xiang Ling and Elegy On Flowers were among these beautiful but mostly tragic plaints. About eternal longing and yearning, there was a certain degree of sameness, padding up the suite to nearly an hour.

For variety, there were spirited contributions from the 40-strong Vocal Associates Festival Choruses (Khor Ai Ming, Chorus Mistress), very fine string playing from the huqins in Love Between Baoyu And Daiyu, and raucous percussion in Lantern Festival.

More compact was Chen Ning-Chi's 2003 symphonic poem Chibi (The Battle Of Red Cliff), based on a tumultuous episode from The Romance Of Three Kingdoms. Channel Eight host Jeffrey Low was a stirring narrator and vocal heroics came from Singaporean tenor Jonathan Charles Tay. The musical idiom was decidedly more modern, and the vivid orchestration flowed inexorably through four linked movements.

The famous quote Ren Sheng Ru Meng (Life Is But A Dream) opened and closed this quintessential battle piece, emphasising the impermanence of being, even if it involved Chinese legends like Cao Cao, Zhu Geliang and Zhou Yu. Their interconnected lives were shelled out in the 2^nd movement Masks, where a delicate gaohu duet by Li Bao Shun and Zhou Ruo Yu stood out among the bluster.

  

Further solos by Han Lei's guanzi and Jin Shi Yi's suona mouthpiece set the stage for the furious final battle, with the decibel quotient raised by percussion, suona chorus, cannon shots, offstage horns and red smoke. A sensurround effect was clearly felt from the seats, a just Chinese riposte to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Beethoven's Wellington's Victory and Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, just to name a few battle potboilers.

SCO's chorus of suonas
always create a sonorous impression.

Closing quietly with a reprise of Tay's lament about life, poignantly accompanied by Xu Zhong's cello, the subtle and sober end made the work all the more memorable.

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN / Thoughts on the Asian Cast evening on 27 October 2016

RICHARD WAGNER'S

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

Richard Wagner Society (Singapore)

Asian Cast  performance (27 October 2016)

I had the fortune of attending the production of The Flying Dutchman by the Richard Wagner Society (Singapore) for a second time, on this occasion a performance by an all-Asian cast. How did it compare with than the Singapore premiere performed by the International cast. Were there major differences?

I am happy to report that the opera scene in Singapore has progressed to such a point that the differences were not at all about standards of performances, and the mostly local cast could stand tall alongside the internationals. Physical stature alone was the main disparity, as the internationals were mammoths or amazons both in size and voice, but the locals made up in different ways.

Only two characters were common in both casts, Jonathan Tay's Steersman and Candice de Rosario's Mary. Tay was a bright and youthful presence in the opening aria while Rosario was ever-dependable in her smallish role.  

As Daland, baritone Julian Lo appeared almost puny, but his acting and characterisation of the role was superb. One could tell his intentions by just looking into his eyes and facial expressions. His voice, although not as towering as Andreas Horl's, was still well projected. Our Dutchman, bass-baritone Martin Ng is a six-footer but still small by Oleksandr Pushniak standards. He commanded a presence with his voice, which got better as the evening progressed. The main issue is a ramrod and strait-jacketed demeanour in his red suit, as if he were directed to portray a character of perpetual “stoic stiffness”.

Soprano Nancy Yuen in her Wagnerian debut as Senta was a pleasant surprise. She did not let her petite size (she is really tiny compared with Kathleen Parker) get in her way. The smitten youth she portrayed was as real as it gets, and her Second Act Ballad was convincing, even if one knew she was close to the upper limits of her abilities. She was made to work hard, and the credit was just in her giving it all, something we know to expect whenever she takes on a role. Tenor Kee Loi Seng as Erik, Senta's hunter boyfriend, was in ways preferable to Jakub Pustina. Playing the forsaken lover, his clear voice never strained and his intonation was never an issue.

The issues that dogged the choirs remained despite the earlier experience, and offstage choral amplification. 11 men were just too small for the sailors to make a real impact. Doubling the number on stage would have helped, as well as getting more powerful voices, and both. The women were better overall, with the intonation issues on the first night were more or less ironed out, and their acting was also more natural.

The direction by Glen Goei and Chong Tze Chien of the Finger Players was unique, putting an Southeast Asian twist to the story-telling with the use wayang kulit and shadow puppet-play. These came to play in the Overture and many scenes, where shadows and silhouettes skilfully took the place of expensive and bulky sets. That alone was worth the ticket of entry.

Attending a second evening of The Flying Dutchman was a rare pleasure, and I would urge others to do the same as there are two more performances, on Friday (28 October) and Sunday (30 October). Do note that this was the Asian cast’s only evening out, as the production returns to the international cast for the final two evenings.      

DONIZETTI'S RITA / New Opera Singapore / Review

DONIZETTI'S RITA

New Opera Singapore

Esplanade Recital Studio

Wednesday (13 April 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 15 April 2016 with the title "Spousal abuse Punch and Judy way".

This seems to be the month for chamber opera in Singapore, as so soon after L'arietta's debut with three operas in a hour, New Opera Singapore has unearthed bel canto master Gaetano Donizetti's one-act comic opera Rita, or Le Mari Battu (The Beaten Husband).

Created in 1841, it was not performed until 1860, well after the composer's death. Comprising a cast of only three singers and running for just 50 minutes, its farcical plot centred on one taboo subject: spousal abuse.

Rita (sung by soprano Felicia Teo Kaixin) takes perverse delight in berating and slapping her timid and ineffectual husband Pepé (tenor Jonathan Charles Tay), but the table is turned when Rita's abusive first husband Gasparo (baritone Sangchul Jea), orginally thought to have died, unexpectedly returns. Pepe sees this as a chance for bailing out, but learns a thing or two from Gasparo on how to love but keep a wife under control.

Rita provides a new definition
to the term "ballistic".

All this sounds almost sado-masochistic in a Punch and Judy way, and that was ironically what kept the audience mostly in stitches despite the grim subject matter. Large credit has to go to director Stefanos Rassios' simple yet brilliant staging, which saw spoken dialogue trimmed off but retaining all the music. Gaustave Vaëz's French libretto was sung with projected English surtitles which greatly enhanced the experience.

The classic bel canto singing to be found in Lucia Di Lammermoor or La Favorita was not on show here, but the short arias, duets and the final trio still needed agile and expressive voices to pull off the dark comedy.

Teo's taunt of “When it comes to husbands, simpletons are the best” came off as funny rather than cynical. Jea's brash and booming counsel, “You can beat your wife, but don't knock her out” seemed almost good advice in the self-confident way he put it. Even Tay's declaration of glee in his aria when he thought he had seen the last of Rita was genuinely sincere.

What equalled or even surpassed the singing was the actual acting. Every singer rose to the test, particularly New Opera debutant Teo, whose transformation from bored stage prop (she sat on stage throughout all the preliminaries before any music began) to sadistic husband-beater and ultimately submissive spouse was remarkable.

The casting of actress Carina McWhinnie as the silent Cynthia seemed a luxury, but she added a further dimension to the story by acting out the inner thoughts of each singer. Besides delivering an excellent accompaniment, the casually outfitted pianist Kseniia Vokhmianina also had a minor role, spouting phrases in Ukrainian, probably swear words.

Like all comic operas, all's well that end's well. Or is it? Rita is rid of Gasparo (who wants to marry someone else anyway) but gets to keep a “reformed” Pepé (who has been well taught by Gasparo). A husband-and-wife detente is re-established, but like many a workable or peaceable marriage, tensions still exist. But who has the upper hand now? 

The cast takes its bow together with
New Opera Singapore founder Jeong Ae Ree
and director Stefanos Rassios (centre).

LIEBESLIEDER / New Opera Singapore / Review

LIEBESLIEDER

New Opera Singapore

Esplanade Recital Studio

Thursday (8 January 2015)

A heavily edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 10 January 2015 with the title "Lieder in tune with love's ups and downs".

What would the art song scene in Singapore be without groups like New Opera Singapore and the Sing Song Club? Much poorer. Although the listenership for lieder here is relatively small, the quality of performances is very encouraging, which is surely the first step towards audience-building.

This evening's programme by New Opera Singapore centred around German lovesongs performed by multiple voices and small ensembles. English translations were projected on a screen and that greatly enhanced the enjoyment of the songs.

The ten movements of Robert Schumann's Spanish Liebeslieder Op.138, based on Spanish poems translated by Emmanuel Giebel, opened the short but intimate recital with duo pianists Kseniia Vokhmianina and Shane Thio playing the brief Vorspiel (Prelude). The sheer lyricism and sensitivity displayed immediately set the right tone for the evening.

This set comprised solos, duets and one song which involved all four singers. Soprano Jeong Ae Ree portrayed sorrow in Tief im herzen (Deep In My Heart), while tenor Shaun Lee was all ardency in O wie lieblich (O How Lovely), the subject being love at first sight of some maiden. The emotions and pangs of falling in and out of love are the stuff of Romantics, so innocently but passionately captured in these songs.

A Schubertian lightness inhabited Flutenreicher Ebro (Surging Ebro River), which baritone Yun Seong Woo delivered with crispness and fluency. Mezzo-soprano Son Jung A's lovely Hoch, hoch sind die Berg (High, High Is The Mountain) made a departure from G minor to E flat major, altering the colour and complexion of the cycle.

The duet for tenor and baritone Blaue augen hat das Mädchen (The Girl Has Blue Eyes) provided some light-hearted moments if only because “she does not fall for the men”. The gentle tease became a declaration in the closing Dunkler lichtglanz (Dark Light), sung by all four, that Love is the only state where “happiness is paid for with pain”.

Johannes Brahms's Liebeslieder Waltzes Op.52 are far better known, the four vocal parts being often sung by mixed choirs. The four singers, with tenor Jonathan Charles Tay taking the place of Shaun Lee, also appeared more relaxed after the interval, as if spirits had been partaken. The music, taking on the Viennese waltz as the predominant impetus, was lighter and frothier.

The course of true love has its ups and downs, encapsulated in 18 poems from Georg Friedrich Daumer's Polydora, but how the waltz rhythm could be made to express tenderness, longing, angst and rage is down to Brahms's genius. Amid the busy but satisfying ensemble singing, there were only two solos: Jung in the  melancholic Wohl schön bewandt (All Was Well) and Tay wistfully in Nicht wandle (Do Not Wander). The last song Das bebet das gestrauche (The Bushes Tremble) provided a subdued and unsettling end to the set. Infuriating that may be, isn't that what love is all about?    

Photographs by the kind permission of New Opera Singapore.