Opera strikes a chord at a ‘very fine’ newly set up concert hall
Convincing quartet hit all the right notes in classic
Perth Festival
La Boheme
Perth Concert Hall
Keith Bruce
THE arrival in Scotland of His Purpleness Prince Nelson Rodgers last May meant I missed the unveiling of Perth’s hall in its opera configuration, so may I belatedly add my voice to the chorus suggesting that it should welcome more productions than the annual visit of English Touring Opera for the Perth Festival.
With the false proscenium arch created for the panto as well as the previously unseen pit, this is a very fine small house indeed, and the balance between singers and orchestras allowed Conductor Michael Roswell to uncover the fine detail in Puccini’s score, particularly from flute and harp.
With local children from Oakbank Primary Choir adding their voices to a quality chorus, this is a very well sung Boheme that also excels in characterisation from the start. Marcello, Rodolfo, Colline and Schaunard are a convincing quartet of flatmates that could easily be imagined in a modern television comedy and the fiesty relationship between Marcello (Grant Doyle) and Musetta (Sky Ingram) and the tormented one between Rodolfo (David Butt Philip) and Mimi (Ilona Domnich) both ring contemporaneously true.
Njabulo Madlala (Schaunard the musician) and Matthew Stiff (Colline the philosopher) make the most of their moments in the spotlight too.
Designer Florence de Mare has given director James Conway a clever, adaptable set in which a titled mirrored wall serves multiple purposes (cleverly lit by Mark Howland), an emblematic hot-air balloon basket metamorphoses into a puppeteer’s booth, and changes of location are accomplished by the swift re-arrangement of just a few elements. This is a very compact, touring Boheme that never feels small.
Of course, it is those famous big arias that are still the main attraction, and the production’s greatest asset is once again the vocal quality of the predominantly young cast that ETO has assembled.
Russian soprano Ilona Domnich is a company favourite, and is in her element here, but it is tenor David Butt Philip, who sang the same role of her lover Rodolfo at ENO last year, who takes the laurels amongst a top team.