Sydney Reviews

Left - Kanen Breen and Anna Fraser. Cover - David Walker and Fiona Campbell. Photos - Simon Hodgson Photography

Pinchgut Opera’s latest offering of Francesco Cavalli’s L’Ormindo at the City Recital Hall serves up a coquettish little dish of comedy with lashings of ravishing music. The opera, originally performed in 1644 and largely neglected ever since, has miraculously made its way to Angel Place under the musical direction of Erin Helyard.

L’Ormindo is a tale of two princes in love with the same Queen, Erisbe, who is married to a man twice her age and enamored with the delights of younger men (who can blame her!), and the plot is thick with ‘love triangles … affairs, broken promises …  and of course a set-up to unravel the truth’. Over the course of three acts we witness much frivolity as hearts are broken and healed, the two leads are poisoned (but not really) and the ending is of course a happy one with lovers reunited and the betrayed king discovering a long lost son (who has incidentally been sleeping with his wife!).

The music allows the singers endless opportunity to display their vocal and theatrical talents. In the role of Queen Erisbe, Fiona Campbell shines like a jewel with her warm mezzo-soprano voice which floats effortlessly over the orchestra. She skillfully changes between straight, pianissimo tones and more dramatic ones and her acting is always convincing. Dressed in a beautiful turquoise gown with large splits up the side, her legs appear to be in as good shape as her voice, and although I found this rather distracting, my male companion assured me it was a nice touch! She looks every bit a queen and conveys the humorous elements in the plot well, at one point doing rather suggestive things with a phallic shaped cushion! Her love interest Ormindo – unfortunately for Erisbe’s husband Ariadeno, not himself - is sung by American counter-tenor David Walker with a beautiful soft-grained voice and pleasing musicality. He seems however to do battle at times to be heard over the orchestra and occasionally his intonation is under the note, marring an otherwise pleasing performance. In contrast to the beauty of Queen Erisbe, Ormindo is wearing a rather unfortunate looking get-up of tan-coloured pantaloon style pants to the knee which are accompanied by a tan shirt and terrible looking flat-topped hat, the effect of which creates an insipid looking character rather than an opera hero and makes the idea of lust between the two leads difficult to imagine; on a scale of one to ten the sexual magnetism between Erisbe and Ormindo must be close to zero. This is not true however of the relationship between Erisbe and lover number two – Amida – (Trevor Pichanick) who although dressed in the same garb as his friend and rival Ormindo, manages to wear the terrible outfit somewhat more convincingly. Appearances aside, this young tenor sings with a beautiful even tone, assured musicality and generally convincing acting.

Other characters in the opera, Erice (Kanen Breen), Mirinda (Anna Frazer) and Sicle (Taryn Fiebig), all play key roles in the intrigue and comic aspect of the piece, as do Ariadeno (Richard Anderson) and Osmano (Andrei Laptev). Mr. Breen performs his role with absolute commitment and does a great job at dispelling the notion that singers are poor actors unable to move. His singing is musically and vocally convincing and particularly impressive given the amount of silly antics and running around he has to do. Miss Frazer is delightful as Mirinda and also wears a dress which distracts one’s attention from her singing, which is nevertheless warm-toned and stylistically true. The audience seems to particularly enjoy her frolicking around the auditorium and amongst the orchestral players, although I found this silly even if it did fill a gap in the staging. Andrei Laptev sings with a well projected and pleasing tenor voice and somehow manages to get away with wearing another one of those terrible costumes mentioned earlier! Richard Anderson, who plays Erisbe’s long deluded husband Ariadeno, thrills with his beautiful bass voice and performs with assured stage presence and amazing good humour in spite of the treatment he receives at the hands of his wife and son; he is also surprisingly convincing as a very old man.

The absolute star of the show however is Taryn Fiebig, a singer displaying superb vocal purity and faultless intonation. Her beautiful soprano voice, capable of breathtaking pianissimo straight tones as well as thrilling full bodied vibrato, is combined with superb musicality and a pleasing stage presence; put all these qualities together in one singer and the result is exceptional - I hope to hear much more of her in the future. 

And of course no review would be complete without a mention of the wonderful orchestra and all its players who do an amazing job. The orchestra, whilst being small, is in no way insignificant, and under the direction of Erin Helyard it provides a perfect musical backdrop and support for those on stage.

This production of L’Ormindo is not exceptional but nevertheless a well-executed piece of fun with good performances and convincing direction. If criticisms are to be made, I think they would have to be directed at the piece itself rather than at the director and performers who are no doubt challenged by the limitations of this frivolous, cream puff of an opera performed on an extremely small stage; and in spite of the silliness of the piece I am happy I saw Pinchgut’s production as I’m sure I won’t get the chance to see it again in a hurry!


Pinchgut Opera presents
L’Ormindo
Francesco Cavalli

Director Talya Masel

Venue: City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney
Dates/Times: Wed 2, Sat 5, Mon 7 December 2009 at 7.30pm & Sun 6 Dec 2009 at 5pm
Website: www.pinchgutopera.com.au

Sung in Italian with English surtitles