Baroque rarities rapturously received in Riga

By Jonathan Sutherland, 11 July 2016

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Reviewed at St John’s Church, Riga on 8 July 2016

Handel, Serse (Xerxes), HWV 40: Overture

Vivaldi, Flute Concerto in E minor, RV 432 (incomplete)

Pergolesi, L'Olimpiade: Tu me da me divide

Leo, Demetrio: Manca sollecita

Bononcini, Serse: Ombra mai fu

Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17: Piangerò la sorte mia

Vivaldi, Griselda, RV 718: Dopo un'orrida procella

Frattima, Fra l'orror della tempesta

Elīna Šimkus, Soprano

Orchestra Coin du Roi

Christian Frattima, Conductor

A meticulous musical makeover in Riga

Jonathan Sutherland, 7th July

Almost all the singers, orchestra and conductor were Italian, but it was local soprano Elīna Šimkus and the Latvian Radio Choir who sang Purcell’s magnum opus as if to the English manner born.

***11

A grande bouffe of early music

Jonathan Sutherland, 9th July

Outdoor concerts are always prey to the vicissitudes of weather. The Festival of Early Music in Lativa is so well organized, unexpected light rain started just at the beginning of the interval and politely ceased before the second half of the programme.

***11

A meticulous musical makeover in Riga

Jonathan Sutherland, 7th July

Almost all the singers, orchestra and conductor were Italian, but it was local soprano Elīna Šimkus and the Latvian Radio Choir who sang Purcell’s magnum opus as if to the English manner born.

***11

A grande bouffe of early music

Jonathan Sutherland, 9th July

***11

Coin du Roi’s Serse in Milan's Teatro Litta

Courtney Smith, 29th May

"Grab ’em by the throat and never let ’em go!" goes the famous quote by legendary Hollywood director Billy Wilder – Sunset Boulevard, Some like it Hot, and Double Indemnity among his masterpieces – who regularly dispensed stellar advice to aspiring, young writers. Unlike good screenwriting, opera’s blood and thunder decree doesn’t need much coaching to bare its jugular.

***11

A meticulous musical makeover in Riga

Jonathan Sutherland, 7th July

Almost all the singers, orchestra and conductor were Italian, but it was local soprano Elīna Šimkus and the Latvian Radio Choir who sang Purcell’s magnum opus as if to the English manner born.

***11

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Jonathan Sutherland

Jonathan Sutherland is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Hochschule Mozarteum in Salzburg. He is also an internationally renowned concert pianist specializing in the music of the 1930s. Jonathan’s first operatic experience was hearing Maria Callas sing Tosca in Covent Garden and he has since heard performances in all continents of the world including over 60 different productions at the Wiener Staatsoper. He has written for The Australian, Opera Today and The Opera Critic as well as Bachtrack. Jonathan speaks English, French, German and Italian fluently and is based in the south of France near Nice.

Baroque rarities rapturously received at Riga's Early Music Festival