Opera Australia’s Idomeneo production worth it for its superb performances

Opera Australia’s production of Mozart’s Idomeneo is worth the price of admission for the singing alone.

Emma Pearson as Elettra in a dramatic moment in Opera Australia's production of Mozart's Idomeneo. Picture: Keith Saunders

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Opera Australia’s recent productions may have a recycled feel in terms of sets and design, in line with the current budgetary austerity in the arts sector, but CEO Fiona Allan and new artistic director Jo Davies are certainly not stinting when it comes to musical quality.

For their latest production Idomeneo – the second of three Mozart operas being staged in Sydney this year – they have snagged one of the world’s leading tenors, Canadian German Michael Schade, for the title role. And he is backed by a cast featuring a highly impressive array of local talent, all under the sure baton of former Queensland Symphony Orchestra chief conductor, German born Johannes Fritzsch.

Schade is wonderful in the role of the Cretan king who helps defeat the Trojan king Priam and who makes a deal with Neptune that he will kill the first person he meets on dry land if the god of the seas will spare his shipwrecked crew. Unfortunately, the “first person” turns out to be his son Idamante, who is torn between the attentions of two princesses, Ilia, Priam’s daughter, and the manipulative Elettra, daughter of the Greek king Agamemnon.

Caitlin Hulcup as Idamante and Celeste Lazarenko as Ilia. Picture: Keith Saunders

Australian mezzosoprano Caitlin Hulcup, who has built an impressive reputation overseas as well as appearing with Sydney’s Pinchgut Opera and Victorian Opera, is convincing in the “breeches” role of the prince with her clear and smooth tessitura and engaging acting skills. She also has good chemistry with soprano Celeste Lazarenko, an OA regular, as Ilia while WA soprano Emma Pearson almost steals the show, especially in Elettra’s dramatic revenge aria in the final act when all her schemes to snare Idamante come to nought.

Mozart was only 25 when he wove this complicated mythological tale into three acts, including ballets scenes which were considered obligatory at the time. Director Lindy Hume dispenses with those, but even so the production comes in at three hours with a 20 minute interval before the final act.

Michael Yeargan’s sets are minimal – a three-sided backdrop familiar to operagoers who saw Werner and the recent Magic Flute productions, augmented by David Bergman’s now familiar abstract video effects and some wallpaper shots of Tasmanian sea scenes and forests filmed by Catherine Pettman. Costumes are modern day, ranging from a silver lame suit for Hulcup – replaced by army fatigues in the third act – and a trailing shell jacket with a collar of black feathers, which occasionally moulted, for the troubled king, and a scarlet bolt of material representing the blood on his conscience and that which Elettra plans to shed.

Visually the first half flags. Chairs are carried off and on for some key scenes, but as all the action is offstage – storms at sea, shipwrecks, struggles with sea monsters, et al – it’s all a little static, broken only by the frequent use of a circular revolving platform centre stage.

However, the spectacle picks up in the second half with the arrival of the High Priest (Kanen Breen), Elettra’s hissy fit, Ilia preventing Idomeneo killing his son and the obligatory happy ending when the pair marry, with Idomeneo demoted by Neptune and the prince now king of Crete.

But for all of this the music and performances are worth the admission. Schade is tailor-made for the Lear-like hero, and his famous aria Fuor del mar ho un mare in seno (Far from the sea I have a sea in my breast) and Lazarenko’s arias at the opening of Acts 1 and 3 are all from the top drawer. And the OA Chorus and Orchestra are on top form.

DETAILS

• OPERA Mozart’s Idomeneo

• WHERE Sydney Opera House

• STARRING Michael Schade, Caitlin Hulcup, Celeste Lazarenko, Emma Pearson

• DIRECTOR Lindy Hume

• SEASON Until March 15