Puritani’s Review – Oropesa looks great in Jones’s Bellini | Opera

Forget Puccini and Nessun Dorma: the right opera singer for the World Cup should be Bellini. The high notes, the bravery, the patience with which the singers sing endless songs before releasing the twisted words like a gymnast moving around the bars – it’s as close to opera as a sport. Finding the right actors at this level is not easy, which is one reason why it has been almost 35 years since Bellini’s last opera, I Puritani, was last performed at Covent Garden.

There is enough good music in the Royal Opera’s new production to satisfy anyone who sees opera singers as elite athletes. But there’s more to it than that, thanks to conductor Riccardo Frizza, in his first home. Bellini’s 1835 opera may be a showpiece for the singers but that’s what makes this stand out, and Frizza puts it very well, creating a sense of excitement without pushing the vocals and the dynamic movement from Bellini’s style.

Richard Jones’ production manages to impress, too, even if it doesn’t quite connect. The original story pits the Roundhead against the Cavalier in Plymouth in the 17th century. In Jones’s interpretation, we are indeed in a civil war, but which one has no information due to the unpleasant appearance of Hyemi Shin’s sets and Nicky Gillibrand’s costumes: English? America? Cavaliers wear bandoliers and look like hairy cowboys; the Roundheads are a well-dressed group who wear steel helmets and other similar to modern flak jackets. Granite slabs with transparent windows surround the stage to create Elvira’s bedroom or, more obscurely, a prison cell, and an interesting touch is the way in which the words of the most important characters come out of the page in beautiful ribbons, sometimes playful, with the help of Sasha Balmazi-Owen’s videos.

It is not surprising that Jones does not give us a happy ending of the opera – the idea that Elvira, who spends most of the opera in a state of psychosis-induced psychosis, can be confused back to good mental health and true love during the last song, is impossible. But what ultimately fills her is how her unwanted friend Riccardo, the chief of the Roundhead, is known to be very despicable.

However, baritone Andrzej Filończyk does a good job in the role, wrapping the gangster’s character in a steady, clear voice. As our hero Arturo, Francesco Demuro has a high-pitched tenor that isn’t clear but direct, though his clarity on the final high notes can’t be beat. The lady of the game, however, is Lisette Oropesa. Elvira is becoming a signature role for her, and her performance, well-sung and always moving, is the perfect reason to revive this tricky, fun opera.