Gluck’s Orphée Et Eurydice, composed in 1762, revolutionised opera. Gluck revised it in a French version in 1774 and in 1859 Berlioz edited the work in a new version, combining elements from the previous two.

The latter was the one which recently had a very successful four-night run at the Manoel Theatre. It is strange that not even one of these versions was ever performed in Malta, so the Manoel-BOV Performing Arts Festival scored a first for Malta with this production.

There was a lot to commend this event. The role of Orphée makes or breaks this work, this character having the lion’s share of the three solo parts. Mezzo-soprano Hadar Halevy sang on two nights, sharing the role with Italian mezzo-soprano Lucia Cirillo, who interpreted it on the other two nights.

There is no question of saying who did better, as the voices are very different. Halevy’s voice has a richly mellow, warm timbre, while Lucia Cirillo’s is a bit higher and sprightly. Both absorbed themselves completely in the role and made me feel they were really living it.

They lived the anguish and despair of a bereaved husband who grieves and laments no end to the point of becoming helplessly and hopelessly obsessive. Their vocal agility was admirable, judging by the way they handled a difficult aria with lots of coloratura, before Orphée sets of for Hades in Act I.

The plot alternates between despair and hope, fulfilment and disappointment. When acted and sung in that manner, the magic that is opera gets the upper hand and it becomes totally engrossing and convincing. Both Halevy and Cirillo were very warmly applauded. Their respective rendering of the opera’s top jewel, J’ai perdu mon Eurydice, could not be more poignant and more glowing with pathos.

A production that will long be remembered

Supporting soloists were sopranos Gillian Zammit (Eurydice), who had a major role in the second half and Francesca Aquilina (Amour), whose appearances were briefer but spread out through the plot. They were both on very good form, as one comes to expect from these two very talented singers. Poor Eurydice has to go through the disturbing of her blessed spirit when, thanks to generous gods she is again granted life… only to find a seemingly cruel Orphée who does not even cast a glance at her.

Zammit projected her character to the full – happy, bewildered, desperate, anguished and finally back to the underworld. The desperate Orphée considers suicide as the only means to be with Eurydice. Amour, often portrayed by Aquilina with a dose of mischief on her pretty face, again comes to the rescue and, on behalf of the gods, brings back to life Eurydice, never again to be separated from Orphée.

Holding all this together and bringing it so convincingly to life was the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Philip Walsh’s energetic and keenly-understanding handling of his team, with close attention to tempi and dynamics.

There was also the artistic direction of Denise Mulholland. The latter set the plot in the death- and mourning-obsessed Victorian era, often over the top in its dealings with death. Still here was always hope and, maybe, it was in the two silent young children who always wore white to the chorus’ mostly black attire that hope in new life and continuity could be seen.

The youngsters acted as pages or trainbearers to Eurydice and scampered along happily as well as making themselves useful in other ways.

Pierre Portelli’s set design and Chris Gatt’s lighting were very effective and there was more magic, very special magic in Mavin Khoo’s splendid choreography and the great performing abilities of ŻfinMalta apprentice company dancers. Not only in the alarming Dance of the Furies, so evil and threatening, but even more in the Dance of the Blessed Spirits in which the dancers wafted and floated from point to point. It was simply superb.

Luke Azzopardi’s costumes reflected the moods and changes in the plot – from sombre black to beautiful light pastels and especially shades of lilac.

If there has to be a gripe it is with the chorus. They were on cue at all times, but one wished some rough edges were properly smoothened to render the texture more homogeneous because here and there individual voices (male and female) surfaced and sounded ugly.

They were at their best in the scene preceding the dance of the Furies and in some parts where they are singing in the Elysian Fields. Like all characters, they responded very well in the slickly-directed crowd scenes. This was a production which will long be remembered.

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