Opera Australia’s Ernani delivers big voices and a dose of irony

The early blockbuster by Verdi is an excuse to send up some creaky operatic conventions.

Diego Torre and Natalie Aroyan in Ernani at the Sydney Opera House. Picture: Prudence Upton.

Verdi’s early opera Ernani (1844) is typical of the Romantic era. Based on French writer Victor Hugo’s play Hernani (1830), it has improbable plot twists, tormented love, thwarted desires and excessive emotions. The characters’ actions and decisions are governed by archaic codes of honour that are barely believable today.

Ernani centres around the competing love of three men — exiled nobleman-turned-bandit Ernani, Spanish king Don Carlo and aristocrat Don Ruy Gomez de Silva — for the noblewoman Elvira. Of course, she only has eyes for the outlaw Ernani, and the action unfolds with inevitably tragic consequences.

Director Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s production from La Scala updates the 1519 setting to the 19th century and stages Ernani as an opera-within-an-opera. Stagehands raise and lower scenery, repair costumes, touch up the singers’ makeup and mill about the stage before and during the “performance”.

Bass Vitalij Kowaljow as the mean-spirited and vindictive Silva. Picture: Prudence Upton.

As no director’s notes were provided, the ideas behind Bechtolf’s concept are a mystery. There’s certainly a touch of ironic detachment, as if the director is sending up the implausible libretto and old-school opera staging. This may explain why he opts for “park and bark” blocking in what is otherwise a dramatic and action-packed story, full of overheated passions. Ultimately, it was unclear what Bechtolf wanted to say about the opera.

Such emotional detachment nevertheless gave room for the music to convey its emotional power and dramatic force. The conductor, seasoned Verdi interpreter Renato Palumbo, and the Opera Australia Orchestra — delivering well-paced and curvaceously shaped accompaniments — convincingly realised the passages of intense drama and lyrical repose.

From left, Vladimir Stoyanov, Vitalij Kowaljow and Diego Torre, and front, Natalie Aroyan in Ernani. Picture: Prudence Upton.

The singing of the four principals matched the quality of Palumbo’s reading. Soprano Natalie Aroyan impressed with her voluptuous timbre, fluid phrasing and assured coloratura. Tenor Diego Torre’s penetrating, top-register power created an ardent portrayal of her beau Ernani, although a more varied palette of colours would have been welcome.

Bulgarian baritone Vladimir Stoyanov cut a commanding figure as Don Carlo. Firm and focused across his range, he balanced soft-grained warmth and firm-voiced intensity in his dual roles of lovelorn suitor and imperious monarch. As the mean-spirited Silva, bass Vitalij Kowaljow almost stole the show. Singing with resounding strength and clear sense of line, he brilliantly conveyed his character’s implacable vindictiveness and cruelty.

Ernani, by Giuseppe Verdi. Opera Australia. Director: Sven-Eric Bechtolf. Revival director: Laura Galmarini. Conductor: Renato Palumbo. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. February 2. Tickets: $40-$335. Bookings: [phone]. Duration: 2hr 30min, including interval. Until February 13.