The sets were spectacular but opera was plagued by a few technical hitches, says music reviewer TARA WERNER.
It was a year of decidedly mixed fortunes for opera in Auckland, opening with Alan Smythe's outdoor spectacular of La Traviata at North Harbour Stadium in February.
Ironically, the very intimacy that has made the opera so famous made it problematic when turned into a grand-scale event.
In comparison opera of the indoor kind also had its own dubious outcomes. Madama Butterfly was staged in March at the newly restored Civic Theatre. The venue's lifeless acoustics threatened to undermine the production. When the singers turned their backs to the audience, even momentarily, their voices seemed to disappear. This National Business Review New Zealand Opera version was also in the saccharine-sweet cherry-blossom and beautiful kimonos school.
Meantime Aida , in July, saw the return of the company to the mainstage at the Aotea Centre. When all spectacle is stripped away, Aida is essentially a private drama between three main characters, Radames and the two women in love with him, Aida and Amneris - an eternal triangle as ancient as Egypt, reflected subtly in the striking sets. The shape of the triangle was effectively highlighted in a minimalist setting which made good use of lighting to focus on a pyramid in its manifold manifestations.
Lastly, Die Fledermaus in October completed an operatic round of mixed artistic success by being undecided in its orientation. It was difficult to tell whether this production - sung in English - was meant to be traditional farce a la Gilbert and Sullivan, a modern comedy with the corner-shop humour of Ronnie Barker or just plain old-fashioned slapstick.
Opera New Zealand fared somewhat better when they presented Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel, who has been called one of the hottest properties in the opera world today. His recital in July at the Aotea Centre was an understandable sell-out and he did not disappoint, singing his way effortlessly through a programme of Schubert, Schumann, Ibert and Butterworth.
The International Chamber Music Festival, also in July at the Concert Chamber and Town Hall, highlighted an intense week of music making. It may not have been of consistently high standard this year but the wide choice would have kept concert-goers happy.
Within a busy orchestral season it was the women soloists who seemed to dominate in both the Auckland Philharmonia and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's concerts.
The gifted Chicago-based violinist Rachel Barton, aged 25, impressed with her NZSO concert in June. The audience and musicians alike thoroughly warmed to her extrovert personality, and she responded with near flawless performances of Chausson, Ravel, an arrangement of Bizet by Waxman, and last but not least, Bartok.
Soloist Karin Adam gave Alban Berg's 1935 violin concerto the credit it was due with a bold, yet graceful, performance with the Auckland Philharmonia in August. Bringing out the music's essential lyricism she showed an intuitive and deeply felt understanding of the score.
Rarely performed, this highly descriptive concerto has been sadly neglected, considering that it can easily be placed against the Greats in the violin repertoire.
And Evelyn Glennie can only be called a human powerhouse, drumming away on a vast array of instruments, moving dramatically around the stage from one set of percussion to another in the NZ SO's two closing concerts in September.
Last but not least, the English baroque cellist Susan Sheppard performed Bach's six cello suites as Artist in Residence at the School of Music in April.
Performing the suites is akin to scaling the trenches at the Somme, since they require such an excellent technique. They have been described as being perfect music of form and shape - the sonic equivalent of walking around a set of elegant, intriguing abstract sculptures.
Sheppard wowed everyone with her performances, proving that these scores are quite approachable for all music lovers.
2000: Year in review
2000: Month by month
<i>The year in opera:</i> Trials and tribulations in offerings
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