Opera at Artscape
Johanni van Oostrum will be performing the role of Senta in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Hollander. Orielle Berry asked her about her role and her career in opera
THIS will be the third time you will be playing Senta. How do you foresee the difference in venues and audiences – from classical Europe to new-world South Africa? Every venue in every city and theatre is different, old or new. Every architectural detail has an effect on the sound and on how the audience experiences it. The stage orchestra rehearsals give me the opportunity to get to know the theatre and its character. In Germany, the Wagner repertoire gets performed more often than in South Africa, but people all over the world go to the opera because they love and enjoy music. I am committed to interpreting the music and portraying my part so that it can become the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) and experience for the audience that Wagner intended it to be.
What are the demands of performing Senta as compared to your other roles? The approach to singing Wagner is different to singing Mozart, for example. Senta varies from a dreamy state with lyrical passages to dramatical emotional outbursts. It is an exhilarating challenge that I love.
You have had an illustrious career. What are some of the highlights? The first thing that comes to mind is when I took over the role of Marschallin in Amsterdam under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Other highlights were playing Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow under Stefan Soltesz, Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro in Munich and Grete in Der Ferne Klang in Graz.
Which roles do you still aspire to perform? I have some thrilling and challenging roles coming up: Chrysotemis in Elektra, Richard Strauss’ Salome, Katja Kabanova and Marie in Die Tote Stadt.
How do you feel your voice and your performances have matured? Every time I look at a musical score that I have studied before, I find something I did not notice before. I would like to think that my understanding and interpretation of a specific piece deepens every time I perform it.
What can audiences expect from you as Senta and from Der Fliegende Hollander? Der Fliegende Hollander is a magical piece in which legend, fantasy and past and present meet in an emotional and sensory overload… don’t miss it!
Der Fliegende Hollander runs for four nights only at the Artscape Opera House: tomorrow at 7.30pm, Saturday at 6pm, Wednesday, August 23 at 7.30pm and Saturday, August 26 at 6pm. Book online through Computicket.