Madrid, October 24, 2024.
The Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is trending topic these days in Spain due to the interview that she gave to the famous presenter David Broncano in his program "La Revuelta" on the Spanish Television last Monday. But for opera-goers, she is a fairly well-known figure. Here in Madrid, she has performed very frequently, she sang Imogene in Bellini's Il Pirata with Javier Camarena at the Teatro Reañ, she made her debut in zarzuela with a great concert, in the same name theatre in 2021, she sang Giordano's opera Siberia in 2023, and she participated in Plácido Domingo's return to the Teatro Real, among others. Now she returns with Henry Purcell's masterpiece "Dido and Aeneas" at the Auditorio Nacional de Música.
Alongside the German-born Handel, Purcell, is the most famous baroque composer in England, and one of the most important in British musical history. If we narrow the field to opera, he is even more relevant, since after his death, we have to wait until Benjamin Britten, two and a half centuries later, to find an English opera composer of his level. Premiered in 1687, with a libretto by the playwright Nahum Tate, based on one of his works and on Virgil's Aeneid, "Dido and Aeneas" is Purcell's only opera, but his stage music extends to the famous semi-operas such as King Arthur, The Fairy Queen or The Indian Queen, which was seen in Madrid eleven years ago in an unforgettable staging by Teodor Currentzis and Peter Sellars. Due to its short duration, just over an hour, and its popularity, Dido and Aeneas is performed frequently, and in the Spanish capital it is usually offered by prestigious touring baroque orchestras, and in the last eight years, it has been staged twice, in 2016 and 2019 at the Teatro Real, and the last time in January 2023 with William Christie and choreography by Blanca Li. Now it returns to Madrid, in a concert version, on tour with the Versailles Royal Opera ensemble, with a cast led by Yoncheva, after having performed it last week in the French palace city, in a staged version.
The cast at Versailles, in the production staged there last week. Photo courtesy of Olyrix.
The Orchestra and Chorus of the Versailles Royal Opera sounded splendid under Stefan Plewniak's conducting. The orchestra quickly improved. It was a pity that the electrifying and intense prelude did not suit the acoustics, as the strings, very agile, seemed to have a rather thin sound. But from the end of the first act, and in all the added orchestral interludes, all of them composed by Purcell, except a piece by his brother Daniel, the ensemble's sound finally took over the room and was splendid. Plewniak gave an energetic rendition. The theorbos before Aeneas' entrance were very beautiful, as was the viola da gamba at the beginning of the final aria, as the full orchestra in the interludes of the second act, in which every section had their shining moment. The Choir sounded formidable in all its interventions, especially in the finale, after Dido's aria, with an almost religious touch, which the choir approached in a sensitive, exciting way, even more so at the end, when little by little they positioned themselves at the edge of the stage, joined by the rest of the cast (except Yoncheva), concluding the concert in a moving way.
In the role of Dido, Sonya Yoncheva has a dark and big voice for what is usually found today in this kind of repertoire. Although she has already sung this opera at least once, in Moscow in 2010 with Christie, she not only made herself heard above everyone else in front of the small orchestra and her vocal style, but at the beginning, sometimes it seemed as if the performance was designed to be suitable for her. Her entrance in "Ah, Belinda" was truly beautiful, with her most dramatic tone, singing the piece with an elegiac sensitivity, in an exquisite way. Then in the second act she sang with a dramatic coloratura in her brief intervention "The skies are clouded, Hark!" In the third act, she approached her big scene with great dramatism, and thus the famous final aria "When I am laid in Earth" she sang with dedication and drama, although sounding sometimes a bit nasal, but nothing that could tarnish a magical moment like that.
The baritone Halidou Nombre sung Aeneas, with a powerful voice, with a noticeable deep, although somewhat guttural tone, but after Yoncheva he had the biggest voice. Ana Vieira Leite was a remarkable Belinda. The tenor Attila Varga-Tóth sung an Irregular Sorceress and Sailor, not having a very brilliant second act, but noticeably improved in the third one. Much better were Pauline Gaillard and Yara Kasti as the other witches, especially Gaillard with his light voice, with a funny and grotesque intonation that suits the character. The countertenor Arnaud Gluck as the spirit and Lili Aymonino, who had a brief and well-sung added intervention in the second act, fulfilled their roles.
The hall probably occupied at its half, in fact there were large gaps in the higher areas and in the stands, which shows the event (organized by Impacta, a private company; if it had been in the Universo Barroco cycle, the tickets would have been sold out long ago) wasn't too much publicized until few days ago, and the prices of the seats (which could be noticed in how well-dressed the people were in the stalls). But when it finished, the audience applauded enthusiastically, in an outstanding ovation. But it did not stop there. There were two encores: the first, the entire cast, including Yoncheva, performed "Tendre Amour" from Rameau's opera Les Indes Galantes, accompanied by the chorus. Afterwards, the entire cast danced, inviting the audience to clap,with Yoncheva dancing with the tambourine, they performedthe cheerful "Forêts Plausibles", from the same ópera, closing a glorious baroque opera night.
My reviews are not professional and express only my opinions. As a non English native speaker I apologise for any mistake.
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