Polifemo by Bononcini: a Baroque rarity in Potsdam

By Sandra Bowdler, 17 June 2019

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“Every aspect worked and the singing was little short of magnificent”

Reviewed at Orangery Sanssouci: Raffael Hall, Potsdam on 16 June 2019

Scarlatti, Serenata a Filli: Le Muse Urania e Clio lodano le bellezze di Filli

Handel, Sonata a 5 in B flat major, HWV 288

Bononcini, Polifemo (Baroque rarity)

Dorothee Oberlinger, Conductor

Margit Legler, Director

Johannes Ritter, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Roberta Invernizzi, Soprano

Roberta Mameli, Soprano

Helena Rasker, Mezzo-soprano

João Fernandes, Bass

Bruno de Sá, Countertenor

Liliya Gaysina, Soprano

Maria Ladurner, Soprano

Ensemble 1700

Evgeny Sviridov, Violin

10 Days in a Madhouse receives Canadian premiere

John Gilks, 16th June

10 Days in a Madhouse is a musically and dramatically excellent but disturbing insight into conditions in a women’s asylum brought to life in Toronto by an excellent production.

****1

Galați Cenerentola lights up the Bucharest stage

Peter Quantrill, 15th June

First class young voices and bewitchingly stylised designs shine through the murk at the Bucharest Opera Festival.

****1

L’Orfeo, the world’s first great opera, premieres at Glyndebourne

Roy Westbrook, 14th June

One element of the Orpheus myth is about creativity, so at Glyndebourne, William Kentridge sets Monteverdi’s opera in an artist's studio,

****1

Monteverdi and Ulisse return happily to Garsington Opera

David Karlin, 12th June

Laurence Cummings and John Caird’s second Garsington exploration of the operas of Monteverdi brims with wonderfully playing and singing in an attractive setting.

****1

Aldeburgh Festival dives in at the deep end with Pelléas et Mélisande

Eleanor Knight, 12th June

Rory Kinnear directs a minimally semi-staged performance of Debussy's problematic opera at Snape Maltings, but Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish SO provide the detail.

****1

Darkness without passion: Damiano Michieletto’s Carmen at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 12th June

Despite Michieletto's visual gloom, the evening is redeemed by Myung-whun Chung’s masterful conducting and a cast that brings conviction to a production that rarely trusts the opera’s own dramatic power.

**111

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Sandra Bowdler

Sandra Bowdler was born and educated in Sydney, and has pursued a career as an archaeologist since graduating from the University of Sydney in 1970. She is now Emeritus Professor of Archaeology and a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia in the School of Social Sciences and the School of Music. Since attending a production of Handel’s opera Alcina at the Sydney Opera House in 1982, she has become a devotee of the works of GF Handel, and Baroque music generally. In 1996 she began writing opera reviews for online outlets, graduating to more professional sources by 2000. In 2007, she inaugurated Festival Baroque Australia in Perth, Western Australia, Australia’s first Baroque music festival. Under that banner, she curated two festivals and several concerts in Perth.