SUPERB SHOT IN THE ARM FOR OPERA FANS
The latest online spectacular from Irish National Opera features 20 modern works of art
Beethoven getting into a tizzy over his missing socks, a slinky seductress wielding a bloodied knife, characters recalling the irritations and opportunities of lockdown, an exploration of garbage in the Pacific, and a young boy grieving over the loss of his mother. Just a sample of the many subjects covered in 20 Shots Of Opera, the latest online spectacular from Irish National Opera (INO) available free online for a year.
20 Shots is an exceptional artistic and logistical enterprise involving 20 short operas (five to eight minutes each) written by ten male and ten female composers, a number of whom doubled as librettists, using two conductors, 14 directors, and a cavalcade of sopranos, mezzos, baritones, a boy soprano and some actors in non-singing roles, with orchestral accompaniment from the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Sung in English, with English subtitles. INO can justifiably claim that it’s
‘These works have a bracing vitality, delivering doses of humour and gloom’
the biggest single-event project in Irish operatic history.
All performances were filmed at the Gaiety Theatre and directed with considerable flair, using atmospheric lighting, computer images and a genuine feel for opera as drama.
Taking on 20 modern works at one sitting would be demanding for an audience that ordinarily might fancy a few thumping Verdistyle choruses or lush Puccini melodrama; in these short works the music combines traditional melodic harmonies with avantgarde-style rasping wind or strings bringing memories of the shower scene from Psycho.
But these works have a bracing vitality, delivering small doses of humour, gloom, grief, anger and abstract images about life, beauty and decay, best viewed singly or in small groups on YouTube.
The singing is exceptional, considering the demands made on the mostly female voices, performing arias/recitatives that are more dramatic than hummable. The performances that worked best created recognisable characters, told a good story or gave some insight into the human condition. A number had immediate appeal, some were good at creating atmospheres: just a few didn’t make it on the dramatic level.
With so many artists, creators and performers involved, it’s impossible to do justice to the enterprise without overloading the review with a list of names, so I’ll just mention a few that left an immediate and lasting impression, and suggest that it’s worthwhile dipping into the menu. In referring to individual works I name the composer first followed by the librettist; (naming Beethoven as a librettist, not a composer, is not a misprint).
The most engaging was Mrs Streicher (Gerald Barry/ Beethoven), consisting of actual letters of complaint Beethoven wrote about his laundry list and household problems. As sung by Gavan Ring, it captures the almost comic sense of helpless paranoia and frustration of a genius caught in the practical world of laundry and missing socks, standing outside in the cold because his servant has gone off with the house key.
Close, (Hannah Peel/Stella Feehily) is a tentative comic romance, between two young women discussing social distancing, life and exaggerated reading and TV-watching feats under lockdown, sung by Rachel Croash and Raphaela Mangan.
Her Name, (Alex Dowling/Mark O’Halloran) has boy soprano Seán Hayden in a beautiful elegiac account of a young boy at boarding school suffering the consequences of his mother’s death.
In The Patient Woman (Conor Linehan/Louis Lovett), Imelda Drumm and Brenton Ryan clash in a doctor/patient film-noir-style tragi/comedy.
Others worth a hearing are Through And Through about a seductress with evil intent, the cartoon-style Verballing about police interrogation and AMessage for Marty, a typical Facebook attack on the eponymous Marty for dumping a woman by text.
20 Shots is another addition to the great online work done by INO in 2020, including the technical wizardry of its earlier production of Mozart’s Seraglio and its Mezzo Masterpiece series.
Visit Irishnationalopera.ie for more information.
‘ 20 Shots is another addition to the great online work done by INO in 2020’