Music: Georges Bizet
Libretto: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy, after Prosper Merimee
Director: Yriu Chayka
Conductor: Ihor Puchkov
This was an extremely difficult review to write. At the end, as the cast lined up on stage, a Ukrainian flag was unfurled and Ihor Puchkov led the entire ensemble in the Ukrainian National Anthem. It was a profoundly moving experience. How, you asked yourself, could these victims of Russian terrorism, tour productions of well loved French and Italian operas through the UK while their home city, in the far east of Ukraine, endured Russian bombardment? And no doubt raise some much needed capital for the war effort? It’s remarkable to read in the programme of Dnipro Opera’s ongoing performances in Dnipro itself, even forming a children’s choir last September.
Yet, taking the opera as a performance in itself, it was no more than a modest success. The full-blooded orchestra, soloists and chorus were very little to blame for this. In truth, until the truncated last act caught fire with Don Jose and Carmen’s final confrontation, this was a pretty tame Carmen. For much of the opera Yriu Chayka seemed to do little more than direct traffic: the chorus lined up or formed in a semi-circle while the principals acted the scene in front of them – and they were not especially mobile.
Puchkov, too, must bear a tiny portion of the blame: he produced a wonderfully committed performance from his orchestra – the occasional fluff readily forgiven – but he had a tendency to stop and wait for the stage action that held up the drama. Sergei Shepelev’s unexciting sets, suitable for one night stands, had the virtue of being rapidly changed – he, for one, had no truck with holding up the action – and the simple cut outs clarified the four different settings.
A further difficulty lay in determining who was singing. The programme gave two singers to most parts and an appeal to the Box Office produced the surprising information that a lack of English prevented them from identifying the singers. So, taking the photographs in the programme as a guide and with apologies to any misidentified, here goes.
Veronika Koval, if hardly a gypsy tiger, grew with each act, singing superbly in the lower register and, as time went on, producing some thrilling high notes, shading her singing to emphasise character. Ruslan Zinevych brought plenty of passion, sometimes at the expense of accuracy, to the role of Don Jose and made the last scene totally convincing by his expressive singing. Andrii Lomakovych made the most of the Toreador’s Song as Escamillo, rather less of the Act 3 confrontation with Don Jose. Nadiia Yeremenko sang beautifully as Michaela and we can assume that her unfortunate manner and appearance was an attempt to solve the problem of one of opera’s “difficult” characters.
The strength of the Dnipro ensemble was impressive. The chorus sang well, even though their movements often seemed undirected, and the smaller parts were all filled with distinction: Maksym Ivashchuk a strong and dignified Zuniga, Vietrov Oleksii and Hazin Mykhailo a perky duo as Dancaire and Remendado and, best of all, Nadia Mykolaichuk and Olena Dolhina as an irrepressible duo of Frasquita and Mercedes.
All in all, this was an evening not of a great opera performance, but of wonder that these artists are still performing with intensity and commitment. When the tour finishes in a month, they carry with them to Ukraine our good wishes and hopes for success.
Reviewed on 1st March 2023.
