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Nancy. National Opera of Lorraine. 29-VI-2024. Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835): I Capuleti ei Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues), opera in two acts on a libretto by Felice Romani, based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Staging: Pinar Karabulut. Scenography : Michela Flück. Costumes : Teresa Vergho. Lights: Bernd Purkrabek. With: Julie Boulianne, Roméo; Yaritza Véliz, Juliette ; David Astorga, Tebaldo ; Donnie Ray Albert, Capellio ; Manuel Fuentes, Lorenzo. Choir of the National Opera of Lorraine (conductor: Guillaume Fauchère), Orchestra of the National Opera of Lorraine, conductor: Ramón Tebar
For its end of season, the Opéra national de Lorraine honors bel canto with a remarkable cast and appropriate musical direction. Bellini’s masterpiece, however, did little to inspire the team of director Pinar Karabulut…
The staging of the works of nice singing romantic, essentially musical and vocal, often to the detriment of the dramatic stakes, remains problematic. Should we be content with a literal presentation of images that respects the context and leave it to the interpreters alone to bring out the emotions? The recent Beatrice of Tenda performed by Peter Sellars at the Paris National Opera showed the limits of such an option. On the contrary, should we at all costs update and try to bring these works closer to the first half of the 19th century?e century of our contemporary concerns? According to the intentions she sets out in the program, it is this second approach that the director Pinar Karabulut has chosen. Denouncing patriarchy, showing strong female figures, playing on the ambiguity of the transvestite (Romeo is sung in Bellini by a mezzo-soprano) while retaining all the attributes of femininity, this is very much in tune with the times.
The result is unfortunately not up to these noble ideas. Why transpose the action to the American West of conquest, a universe that is certainly virile but where male domination has not been exercised with more violence than in many other places? Especially since it is a cheap Far West, where a giant thistle evokes desert cacti, where the horses are made of wood and turn on a merry-go-round, where the chorus is masked like comic strip bandits and where the noble Tebaldo resembles Sergeant Garcia from Zorro. The costumes are unflattering (and that is an understatement) with a slightly childish color code: blue for the Capulets and red for the Montagues while Lorenzo, a fragile link between the two families, wears a Harlequin costume of both shades under his long coat. The violent and flashy lights, dominated by orange, are reminiscent of the “Pop Years”. With Juliet’s room and tomb in the shape of a plastic flying saucer, also orange, with the ridiculous gestures imposed on the chorus, everything distances us from the tragedy that is unfolding and seems not to be taken seriously. Only the final scene and the death of the lovers succeeds through its bareness, its refined and meaningful gestures, in a word through its simplicity, in finally arousing emotion.
The eye being little gratified, happiness is to be sought in the musical interpretation, and there the success is total. After Iphigenia in Tauride, Julie Boulianne returns to Nancy for an ardent and determined Romeo. Its opulent timbre in the medium and voluptuous bass, further enriched with a fine vibratoher powerful and darting high notes, her well-known capacities for tragic intensity contribute to the success of her incarnation. As Juliette, Yaritza Véliz is a real revelation for us. This Chilean soprano has indeed all the vocal assets and the technical background necessary for the nice singing : purity of tone, superlative control of breath and sense of line, sharpness and precision of vocalizations, comfortable ambitus and above all a flexibility which allows it to transmit emotions through the sole variation of colors, dynamics or emission with floating and ethereal high notes worthy of the greatest. Tenor David Astorga also plays a solid and powerful Tebaldo, with a dream tone (we often think of Luciano Pavarotti!), legato neat, with a firm and assured high pitch, imaginative in the variations of the reprises but nevertheless stingy with nuances. While Donnie Ray Albert imposes stature, presence and authority in Capellio with a somewhat vague diction, Manuel Fuentes holds the attention as Lorenzo, very invested, intense and of fine quality despite some brutality in the show.
To serve this high-quality stage, ad hoc orchestral support was required. This is also a complete satisfaction with an Orchestra of the National Opera of Lorraine very involved and perfect in fullness and homogeneity. The direction of Ramón Tebar contributes fully to this, which finds the right pulsations, gives dynamism without falling into pompierism and above all takes care of the instrumental colors, served in this by instrumentalists with interventions of pure beauty. Woodwinds, horn, cello thus participate in the ecstatic magic of Bellini’s cantilenae. Although hampered by the gesticulations imposed on it by the staging, the Choir of the Opéra national de Lorraine maintains its cohesion with gentleness and voluptuousness. The Nancy public, cautious about the unattractive stage aspect of the show, gave an enthusiastic and unanimous welcome to the musical performers, singers and musicians alike.
Photo credits: Julie Boulianne (Romeo), Yaritza Véliz (Juliette) © Jean-Louis Fernandez
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More details
Nancy. National Opera of Lorraine. 29-VI-2024. Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835): I Capuleti ei Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues), opera in two acts on a libretto by Felice Romani, based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Staging: Pinar Karabulut. Scenography : Michela Flück. Costumes : Teresa Vergho. Lights: Bernd Purkrabek. With: Julie Boulianne, Roméo; Yaritza Véliz, Juliette ; David Astorga, Tebaldo ; Donnie Ray Albert, Capellio ; Manuel Fuentes, Lorenzo. Choir of the National Opera of Lorraine (conductor: Guillaume Fauchère), Orchestra of the National Opera of Lorraine, conductor: Ramón Tebar
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