An evening at the Opera in Bangalore

Before I even start to describe how an experience at this chamber opera was, let me clarify — I am no opera expert, but yes, I have been brought up on a healthy dose of what popular opera should sound like and have attempted on several occasions to even recreate some of the most popular arias, with a voice trained as a soprano-tenor. I shall not however indulge you with details on how those attempts turned out.

The European Chamber Opera was in town on Friday and Saturday and Bangalore quite literally turned out in hordes to watch probably the first chamber opera in town. We’ve all dreamed of being the selected audience at an event as celebrated and niche as this — but how many of us are actually even aware of what a chamber opera could be like?

Mövenpick was the venue of choice and I must say, I couldn’t think of a better venue in town. The spacious ballroom, which was converted into an chamber opera house for the occasion was well-lit and ensured that we could take advantage of the benefits of such an intimate setting. Each word spoken, sung or even breathed rang across the room with enough intensity to throw you out of your chair.

Fashionably Bangalore, we started late and the opera began as people were still settling into their seats — quite unsettling a scene. The first few pieces were selections from Verdi’s La Traviata, an operatic interpretation of Alexander Dumas’ tragic love tale, La Dames Au Camelias. Opening to Libiam, from the first act… we were narrated and guided through special arias and other fine examples of Verdi’s masterpiece, sung quite beautifully by the five performers. While, I may be biased towards female voices, I quite strongly felt that soprano Ana Jeruc, who played Violetta Valery, the protagonist of  the tale, stole the show, leaving behind her lover Alfredo Germont, essayed by Leonel Pinheiro, for cheap seconds.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Leonel had an amazing voice… it was just that I’ve heard and seen better tenors and was in no mood to appreciate someone only because of it being my first experience. Stefan Paul Sanchez, who played Alfredo’s father, was more invigorating and his rendition of the aria, Di Provenza, left most of us breathless. I was however most moved by the rendition of Madamigella Valery that represented my idea of what Italian opera was all about.

An interval of 20 minutes gave most of us enough time to sip leisurely through another glass of red wine, before we returned for a set of arias from several other popular operas — something that kept most of us much entertained and brought back lost smiles to our faces.

Not many will agree with me when I say that German and French seem more suited for the opera — but I stick with my belief, especially after this performance. No offence meant to any Italian opera fan or the great Verdi himself, but the compositions in French and German were what saved the evening, for many of us.
Stefan Sanchez first gave us a wonderful rendition of the Papageno and Papagena song from Mozart’s The Magic Flute in German that had us in splits, after which Ana Jeruc and Norma Fendor took the evening to its zenith, with their mind-blowing rendition of the Flower Duet from Lakmé.

Then, like she’d heard our secret prayers, Norma Fendor broke into a soulful rendition of the Rodgers and Hammerstein composition, Climb Ev’ry Mountain from The Sound of Music, which sealed the deal for most of us. They do say, that the familiar impresses the most, and I can’t but agree. The real clincher however was Norma Fendor’s impressive rendition of one of the last arias from Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola — simply exquisite!

After two hours of Italian chamber opera that left me moved but terribly needy of something familiar, the post-interval set had me begging for more. With almost all my operatic needs met and thoroughly indulged, still humming several of the more popular tunes I had just heard, I left, reeling from the magnificence of the performance.

As an afterthought, I can only say that the opera is indeed magical, magical beyond any other performance art that I have seen at such close observation — the only requirement, that you be a savant to a certain degree and appreciate the language the opera is being performed in. Italian is definitely not one of the languages I’d want to watch an opera in, ever again!
On the better side, however, I am now officially a chamber opera fan.