Royal Opera House; Linbury theatre, London
Netrebko and Kaufmann turn tricky Verdi into box-office gold. Plus, a memorable outing for Handel’s Berenice
For a few hours the UK was the envy of the world. Incredible but true, at least for the musically interested. The combined forces of a fated opera, two superstars and pairs of tickets changing hands illegally for the price of a small car would stir excitement in any circumstance. Verdi’s La forza del destino is in itself an event: complex, bumpy, long; an exploration of war, prejudice and religion streaked with bizarre comedy, laced with superstition, glistering with orchestral brilliance and vocal challenge.
Recalled through the theatrics of the past week, that first night of the Royal Opera’s new Forza takes on the air of a febrile mirage, with opera’s most prized pair – the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and German tenor Jonas Kaufmann – rising from the haze like surreal visions. Both showed up and sang in peak, corporeal form, Netrebko her first Leonora, Kaufmann as her lover Don Alvaro, a role he sang in Munich seven years ago.
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