Hardly the joyous sign of rebirth we’d hoped for
Royal Opera House reopening London WC2
Ishould have found this an unbearably moving experience. I’ve been visiting the Royal Opera House for over half a century and I love it as much as anywhere on earth. Knowing the building to be shuttered by the lockdown, the jobs of its staff threatened and its future imperilled has been as upsetting to me as any other aspect of the pandemic’s broader impact on society.
So it was with a bittersweet mixture of hope, longing, trepidation and anguish that I tuned in to the streamed concert that constitutes a first step towards reopening. What I felt at the end of its 70 minutes, however, was mild disappointment: I hadn’t felt the surge of emotion that I had expected, and oh dear, there were moments when I was actually quite bored.
Gushing banalities spouted by compère Anita Rani were one irritant, and sober lighting made the place look a bit gloomy. But the real problem was the downbeat repertory – presumably the choice of music director Antonio Pappano, who served as the superb solo pianist throughout.
Three 20th-century British song cycles were not what the public wanted, and there were complaints on the comments feed, mostly from frustrated ballet fans. The latter were rewarded only by a pas de deux for Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales, choreographed with characteristic voluptuous fluency by Wayne Mcgregor to Strauss’s rhapsodic song “Morgen”. The audience craved tutus and fouettés, and they weren’t on offer.
Opening the programme was Louise Alder singing Britten’s On this Island, her diamond-edged soprano sounding crystalline in this coolly sophisticated music. Then came Toby Spence with Butterworth’s melancholy A Shropshire Lad, followed by Gerald Finley with a triptych on animal themes by Mark-anthony Turnage. Unimpeachable performances and admirable music, of course, but nothing upbeat or comfortingly familiar.
Only at the very end did the temperature rise, as Alder returned for the sparkling “Tornami a vagheggiar” from Handel’s Alcina and Spence and Finley let rip in the duet from Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles.
Performers and core staff knelt on stage in dignified silent tribute to Black Lives Matter. The whole event seemed more like a commemoration than a joyous promise of rebirth.
This concert is available free to view via roh.org.uk or the Royal Opera House’s You Tube channel. Further concerts on June 20 and 27 will also be streamed at the cost of £4.99.