Carmen

Published Wednesday 26 September 2007 at 17:10 by Jeremy Brien

Ellen Kent has added Royal Opera mezzo-soprano Heather Shipp to the familiar Eastern European opera company mix for 17 performances on this premiere tour of a production she has produced, directed and co-ordinated herself for the first time.

Shipp, a sensuous and petulant Carmen, has to compete with the usual Kent production appendages of a high-stepping black stallion horse, an authentic troupe of gypsy dancers and even on this occasion an Andalucian donkey (or at least one borrowed from a local animal sanctuary).

Her lyrical voice and sultry acting skills hold their own against all this theatrical showboating, however, in a production where the best singing and almost all of the passion comes from the female side.

Irina Vinogradova is a touching and delightfully sung Micaela, contrasting effectively with fellow sopranos Maria Tsonina and Galina Bernaz as bold and brazen bandits Frasquita and Mercedes. In the male ranks, Nicolae Busuioc’s Don Jose is a throw back to more traditional Moldovian opera stock, strong on tenor voice but only finding the passion in the role in the final death scene, while Petru Racovita’s Escamillo makes a stunning entrance with the best known baritone aria of all, The Toreador’s Song, but then rather fades away.

One element of an Ellen Kent offering that does remain totally constant is the sturdy yet never domineering work of the Chisinau National Philharmonic Orchestra and chorus, here conducted by Gheorghe Stanciu.