Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Back at BAM, André Campra’s rarely-performed LES FÊTES VÉNITIENNES is stunning in the hands of William Christie and Robert Carsen

• By drediman
• April 15, 2016
• No Comments

Last night, I caught a rare staging of André Campra’s episodic opera-ballet Les Fêtes Vénitiennes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The much-loved conductor William Christie and his influential early-music ensemble Les Arts Florissants led a spirited and stylish account of Campra’s gorgeous baroque opera score, despite some minor sound design issues on opening night. The series of ravishing visions seen on the stage of BAM’s opera house were courtesy of the brilliant Robert Carsen, one of the most dependable directors working today in opera. Prior to arriving at BAM for this week’s brief run, Mr. Carsen’s production was also seen at the Opéra Comique in Paris to much acclaim; Mr. Christie provided his inspired musical leadership there, too.

Mr. Carsen has long been one of my very favorite opera directors. His talent for complimenting musical scores with striking visual tableaux to create gripping drama is unmatched. I’ve never been so viscerally drawn into Dvořák’s Rusalka or Wagner’s Lohengrin as I was with Mr. Carsen’s evocative productions for the Paris Opera. His pair of Gluck operas for Chicago’s Lyric Opera, Orfeo ed Euridice and Iphigenia in Tauris, were deeply felt meditations on the human condition that I won’t soon forget. Additionally, his production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (which was unfortunately replaced last season) and Verdi’s Falstaff for the Met are far more successful at drawing out theater in opera than almost all of Peter Gelb’s “updated” productions. Lastly, his stark vision for Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, originally staged for La Scala but which I saw in Chicago, remains one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had in a theater.

It was therefore with great anticipation that I approached this collaboration between these two great artists. What’s clear from last night’s performance, which was distinctively sung by a cast of superb singer-actors, is the immense respect both have for each other. From the pit, Mr. Christie responded to Mr. Carsen’s visual cues with playfulness and vigor. Mr. Carsen’s production (which features witty choreography by Ed Wubbe and dancers from his Scapino Ballet Rotterdam), in turn, gave the audience a series of fantastical, hedonistic stage pictures of Renaissance Venice that mirrored Mr. Christie’s sensuous orchestral shapings, thanks in large part to his fabulous design team – the simple yet effective sliding and rotating towers were by set designer Radu Boruzescu; Petra Reinhardt designed the provocative costumes; Peter van Praet and Mr. Carsen himself were responsible for the stunning lighting. All in all, this Les Fêtes Vénitiennes is perhaps the most exciting production of a baroque opera I’ve seen since David McVicar’s landmark production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

LES FÊTES VÉNITIENNES
Opera/Dance
BAM Opera House
3 hours (with one intermission)
Through April 17