{"id":66684,"date":"2013-02-21T15:32:13","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T13:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=66684"},"modified":"2016-12-20T09:35:56","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T08:35:56","slug":"verona-teatro-filarmonicoattila-alternative-cast-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/verona-teatro-filarmonicoattila-alternative-cast-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Verona, Teatro Filarmonico:”Attila” (alternative cast)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Verona, Teatro Filarmonico, Opera Season 2012\/2013<\/em>
\n<\/em>\u201cATTILA\u201d<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Opera in prologue and three acts, libretto by Temistocle Solera, from the tragedy Attila, K\u00f6nig der Hunnen<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>by Zacharias Werner.
\nComposer Giuseppe Verdi
\n<\/strong>Attila, king of the Huns\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>ERNESTO MORILLO
\nEzio, a Roman general <\/em>\u00a0<\/em>LEO\u00a0 AN
\nOdabella \u00a0daughter of the king of \u2019Aquileja<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>RACHELE STANISCI
\nForesto, Aquilejan knight<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>KHACHATUR BADALYAN
\nUldino<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>ANTONELLO CERON
\nLeone<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>SEUNG PIL CHOI
\nOrchestra and Chorus of the Arena di Verona
\nConductor\u00a0Andrea Battistoni<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Chorus master\u00a0Armando Tasso<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Director\u00a0Georges Lavaudant<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>reproduced by\u00a0Stefano Trespidi<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Scenery and costumes\u00a0Jean-Pierre Vergier<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Original production in 2008 by the \u00a0Fondazione Arena di Verona
\nVerona, 12th February 2013
\n<\/em>The fifth and final performance of\u00a0 the Fondazione Arena di Verona\u2019s production of Verdi\u2019s Attila<\/em><\/strong> at the Teatro Filarmonico, coincided with Shrove Tuesday and the inaugural night of the iconic San Remo Song Festival, where a part of the ubiquitous Arena chorus was simultaneously opening the proceedings with \u2018Va pensiero\u2019 as a homage to Verdi in his bicentennial year.\u00a0 This concomitance may explain to a degree the half-empty theatre and the reduced price tickets. On the other hand, in this early Verdian work, notwithstanding some first-rate numbers and some imaginative use of\u00a0 the orchestra, \u00a0Verdi\u2019s musical characterization is still unripe, and does not help promote the make-up of Verdi\u2019s new dramatic language; with Foresto a nonentity, Ezio and Oldabella, flat and one-sided figures and Attila as much a confusing as a confused character. However, this \u2018risorgimental\u2019 opera, dated 1846, exudes its own particular strength and vitality. The idea behind Attila was that of\u00a0 exalting the valour of the Italics as opposed to the ferocity of the barbarians, with the political element deliberately exploited to the utmost. The parts of Foresto and Ezio are anthologies of\u00a0 ringing patriotic anthems which oppose the martial rhythms of the marches and choruses of Attila\u2019s warriors. A few affectionate melodies give us a few moments of gentleness, but mostly the opera aims at grandeur and effect.
\nIn this production the staging is minimalist but not ineffective<\/strong>. The raked stage projects the soloists and chorus towards the audience, giving them a much more immediate contact, and underlining a sense of an invading army, being on the offensive and\u00a0 on the march. \u00a0The scenery, grey and bare, reminiscent of sand dunes along the ancient, swampy Venetian lagoon, were at the same time unobtrusive enough to be incorporated into\u00a0 the projections on the back-drop depicting accordingly Aquileia burning,\u00a0 Venice, the saints accompanying\u00a0 Pope Leo, (a scene which turned out to be\u00a0 all the more striking in this performance, coming as it did the day after Pope \u00a0Benedict\u2019s abdication),\u00a0 and the fire-works celebrations at the end of the Act 11.\u00a0 The costumes were historically inconsisent without disturbing the dramatic cohesion, with Floresto and Ezio dressed as modern men in black, Attila in orientalizing drapes,and Oldabella in indefinite antique.\u00a0 The Aquileian exiles dressed in 40\u2019s fashion complete with suitcase, brought to mind, at least to a regional audience, the Istrian refugees in a similar situation and in the same geographical area after World War 11, while the presence of the statuary Roman centurion in their midst, kept the analogy anchored to the setting of the original story.
\nIn general the cast acquitted themselves with decorum.\u00a0 Ernesto Morillo<\/strong> as Attila<\/em> demonstrated a assertive stage presence and\u00a0 vocal tenacity revealing a strong voice of interesting colour. Unfortunately his tendency to push \u00a0led to an unsteady focus of\u00a0 emission which resulted in unclear diction. But on the whole his Attila was convincing. \u00a0<\/em>Leo An<\/strong> as Ezio,<\/strong> had a firm, full and even voice, clear diction and meaningful delivery supported by a\u00a0 most commanding stage presence.\u00a0 His performance was the most incisive of the evening. Rachele Stanisci<\/strong> as Odabella \u00a0was at her most convincing in the lirical\u00a0 cavatina \u2018Oh nel fuggente nuvolo\u2019 scored exquisitely for flute, English horn, harp and cello, which give the voice a \u00a0most delicate yet expressive support.\u00a0 She handled the vocal line with masterful breath-control, long even phrasing, intense changes of colour and contrasting dynamics,\u00a0 clear diction and focussed emission. A vocal high-point of the evening. The superb piece of musical invective, expressing the ferocity of her sentiments at her first entry in the Abigaille-like \u2018Allor che i forti corrono\u2019 demonstrated a formidable vocal tenacity, but also highlighted the inevitable limitations of a lyrical soprano in this role. Beautiful in the lyric, at ease with the coloratura, in the dramatic declamatory moments, the middle and lower voice in comparison were opaque and weak. She tended to darken the voice in this situation,\u00a0 which only contributed to rendering the words incomprehensible. The preceding recitative contains a scale passage from top C to B below middle C, and the aria\u2019s tuneful vigour and brilliant cabaletta are theatrically irresistible.\u00a0 Overall, Stanisci gave a strong and committed performance. Khachatur Badalayan<\/strong>\u2019s Foresto was well sung but lacking in personality and colour.\u00a0 Precise and\u00a0 prompt Antonello Ceron<\/strong> as Uldino. Measured and appropriate Seung Pil Choi<\/strong> as Pope Leo.
\nOn the whole the orchestra, conducted by Andrea Battiston<\/strong>,i was disappointing.\u00a0 Right from the opening bars, the orchestra seemed unattentive and disinterested. The articulation was sloppy, the dynamic level was constantly forte\/mezzo-forte, and \u00a0the chorus, covered by the orchestra, was often inaudible. Within the orchestra, the different sections were not calibrated to each other. The musical depiction of dawn breaking, instead of arriving gently and\u00a0 progressively, arrived at a forte almost immediately. The playing was very lax and the conductor seemed unable to obtain a dramatic tension from them. Curiously, the most attentive and\u00a0 sensitive playing was to be heard\u00a0 in the simple, soft, orchestral accompaniments of the arias. Photo Ennevi<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Verona, Teatro Filarmonico, Opera Season 2012\/2013 \u201cATTILA\u201d Opera in prologue and three acts, libretto by Temistocle Solera, from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":48132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[945,548,7092,9354,4907,153,9497,4021,2610,793],"class_list":["post-66684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senza-categoria","tag-andrea-battistoni","tag-attila","tag-ernesto-morillo","tag-foreign-readers","tag-georges-lavaudant","tag-giuseppe-verdi","tag-khachatur-badalayan","tag-leo-an","tag-rachele-stanisci","tag-teatro-filarmonico-di-verona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88027,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66684\/revisions\/88027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}