There has certainly been no shortage of opportunities to experience Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” here on the mountain in recent years. The Norwegian Opera and Ballet’s critically acclaimed production has been played steadily since its premiere in 2015. In the same year, the Ringsaker Opera had “Carmen” as its main venture. Opera Trøndelag’s colorful production in 2017 was later staged in Kristiansund, Sandefjord and Bodø. But not in Nordfjordeid and Halden, where the opera was performed in its own productions in 2009 and 2010 respectively. When Opera Rogaland now puts on its first full stage and self-produced performance, the choice once again falls on “Carmen”. Hit parade There is every reason to ask what it is about this opera that makes it so irresistible to all the kingdom’s opera directors. Firstly, it must be said that “Carmen” is a veritable hit parade of an opera. It usually also hits with an audience less used to opera. The long list of supporting roles, as well as the use of both choirs and children’s choirs, also make it suitable as a platform where local amateurs and talents can perform together with hired professionals. CHARMING: Choir and children’s choir do a good job in “Carmen”. Th Ana Petricevic (Carmen) and Aleksander Løe Myrling (Escamillo) Photo: Frode Olsen / Sandnesposten It must be said that Opera Rogaland succeeds well in setting the local music scene in motion in its production. As a performance, this is nevertheless one of the strangest things I have experienced from an opera stage in my time as a reviewer. So many incomprehensible choices have been made here that I wonder what thoughts the directing team actually had during the process. Children’s book-like Opera Rogalands had its premiere in Sandnes cultural center before it moved into the Zetlitz hall in Stavanger concert hall. Naturally, this places certain limitations on the scenic apparatus. The scenography mainly consists of a few platforms and staircases, with a full-width backdrop where children’s book-like drawings of the various places where the opera’s scenes take place are projected along the way. Why on earth the directing team has chosen to illustrate the performance with drawings in a sort of 1950s Thorbjørn Egner style remains a mystery to me. CHILDREN’S BOOK: The backdrop with Thorbjørn Egner-style drawings takes some of the focus away from Mattis Holthe Møll Austrheim in the role of Morales. Photo: Espen Behrens Costume cliché If the stage image is of the simple kind, the costumes are, in return, sumptuous so it holds up. These have been borrowed from an opera house in Slovenia, where I suspect they have been gathering dust in a warehouse since the days of Leonid Brezhnev. Let it be said right away: I have nothing against opera performances of the more traditional kind. Carmen doesn’t have to be a tattooed heroin addict to be relevant in our time. Here, however, we are talking about costumes that take the opera genre’s problematic tradition of cultivating postcard-like ethnic clichés to a new level. COLLARS AND BLING: news’s reviewer was going crazy from all the tinkling. (The picture is from the dress rehearsal, with different soloists than the performance being reviewed here. But the costumes are the same.) Photo: Espen Behrens Even the smugglers far up in the mountain passes look like they have come straight from a folk dance festival. The performance’s scenic concept thus does not hold up, and appears as a charmless and anachronistic hodgepodge. Language problems I still haven’t mentioned the biggest problem in terms of communication: the performance is sung in French without subtitles. Even for French speakers, it is therefore a challenge to catch the action. Strictly speaking, one should know the opera in advance to get any benefit. The spoken dialogues have, however, been translated into Norwegian. This creates new problems in that several of the central roles are sung by foreigners. All credit to foreign soloists who venture out into deep water and play theater in foreign languages to the best of their ability. The inevitable accent nevertheless reinforces the impression that this performance consistently suffers from a stiff and stilted theatrical language. Good soloists The performance’s soloists are mainly Norwegian, augmented by foreigners in a couple of the roles. Fortunately, there is much to enjoy here. To start locally: Soprano Astrid Kallenbach makes a fine portrait of the naive and innocent Micaëla. However, she sings best in the ensemble parts. The aria in the third act is characterized by a somewhat harsh and strained sound in the higher register. The young bass baritone Aleksander Løe Myrling is also magnificent in the role of the toreador Escamillo. Myrling impresses with a great sound and vocal excess. Stage-wise, however, he has a bit to go on. He looks more like a mother-in-law’s dream as he struts around in his immaculate Slovenian bullfighter costume. I want more of the sleazy macho man who pulls the hottest ladies. IMPRESSES: Bass-baritone Aleksander Løe Myrling as Escamillo. Photo: Frode Olsen / Sandnesposten Kjetil Støa is also solid as the scorned soldier Don José. Støa may lack some elegance and flexibility in his expression, but he compensates in the performance with a raw directness that almost makes me forget the hopeless stage space he is forced to move in. It is undoubtedly the evening’s greatest achievement. SOLID: Kjetil Støa stands for the evening’s greatest achievement in the role of Don José. Photo: Frode Olsen / Sandnesposten The Serbian soprano Ana Petricevic has obvious qualities in the role of the protagonist herself. Petricevic is a lyrical soprano with an attractive dark mezzo-like timbre. She can muster a lot of vocal power in the dramatic dialogues with Don José towards the end of the opera. In the opera’s most famous vocal numbers, however, Petricevic’s weaknesses become obvious: the intonation is uneven, and there is also a considerable lack of rhythmic precision. UNEQUAL: Soprano Ana Petricevic (centre) shows strengths and weaknesses in the role of Carmen. Tv Marie-Elise Herredsvela (Mercédes), th Olivera Ticevic (Frasquita). Photo: Frode Olsen / Sandnesposten Incomprehensible orchestral collaboration The mix on the soloist side of local talent with Norwegian and foreign professionals is exactly as it should be. I have more difficulty understanding why Opera Rogaland has hired a half-decent orchestra from Sicily to play opera in Sandnes and Stavanger, admittedly supplemented by a handful of Norwegian musicians under the OR Sinfonietta umbrella. I read in the program that Opera Rogaland has started a “stimulating collaboration” with Orchestra Mediterranea, an ensemble I must honestly admit I have never heard of. In my opinion, that cooperation should be short-lived. Just the climate footprint of flying 40 musicians from southern Italy should be a sufficient argument. Is it necessary to remind you that Stavanger Concert Hall already houses a symphony orchestra? I think a more extensive collaboration with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra would be extremely stimulating for both parties. After all, this is how opera takes place in the other larger Norwegian cities: as a collaboration between the regional operas and the local institutional orchestras. Opera Rogaland itself obviously also thinks so, which already announced at the foundation in 2014 that the ambition was a collaboration with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. It should have been in place by now to a sufficient degree that it was not necessary to fly in an entire orchestra from the South to play standard operatic repertoire. Involuntarily comical I must confess that I wonder what the regular audience in Stavanger concert hall got out of this production of Carmen. If the ambition is to show that opera can be relevant and poignant in our time, I fear that this does more harm than good. Because I just have to say it straight: I can’t take this show seriously. Far too much of what happens on stage ends up being unintentionally comical. Most of all, this is sad for the large selection of local choral singers and dancers who mostly do a decent job. The choir works well, although it is occasionally a little thin in the tenor ranks, especially up in the register. The children’s choir is impressive and charming, although I would have liked to have seen more boys among them. Given its track record, it’s probably easy to fall into the trap of thinking that “Carmen” is an opera that plays itself, only the singing is beautiful and the costumes colorful and gorgeous. This show has shown once and for all that it is not true. news reviews Title: “Carmen” Location: Sandnes kulturhus, Stavanger concert hall and Festiviteten, Haugesund Music: Georges Bizet Orchestra: Orchestra Mediterranea, Opera Rogaland Sinfonietta and students from UiS Choir: Sandnes Operakor, Stavanger Operakor, singing students from UiS and others. Conductors: Alberto Maniaci, Salvatore Scinaldi Director: Einar Bjørge Producer: Siri Kval Ødegård Scenography: Hans Petter Harboe Lighting design: Martin Flack Costumes: Cristina Aceti Cast: Ana Petricevic, Eira Huse, Kjetil Støa, Ole Morten Velde, Aleksander Løe Myrling, Mattis HM Austrheim, Davide Sodoni, Zaza Gagua, Astrid Kallenbach-Gustavson, Lydia Hoen Tjore, Hannah Edmunds, Marie-Elise Herredsvela, Pernille Wik, Olivera Ticevic, Maria Mælan Bill, Lasse Økland, Aksel Frisnes, Steffen S. Sortland, Ole Harald Bergsholm, Øyvind Kleppe, Erlend K. Jåsund Date: 20–23 October 2022
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“Carmen” in Sandnes Culture House, Stavanger Concert Hall and Festiviteten – Reviews and recommendations
