Figaro is a big success

REVIEW - THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
Upstairs At The Gatehouse By JAN TOPOROWSKI

TO celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday this year, the Hampstead Garden Opera has put on The Marriage of Figaro. If ticket sales are any indication of its success, then this production is a hit, with all tickets sold virtually before the opening night on Thursday.
Such a triumph was, I suppose, only to be expected. The semi-professional company was established in 1990 to perform the operas of Mozart. I found myself sitting next to Roy Budden, who founded the company.
In his view the production currently Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate is rather better than the first 16 years ago, if only because the orchestra then was fully amateur. Today’s accompaniments by the professional Dionysus Ensemble are considerably more polished than in the first production.
In fact, even by professional standards, today’s production is outstanding. The soloists, led in the performance I attended by Aidan Smith as Figaro, and Alice Woodbridge as Susanna, sang and acted as if their lives depended on it, and were beautifully co-ordinated in Mozart’s magical ensembles. Benedict Nelson was a sternly philandering Count Almaviva, and Ângela da Silva a surprisingly frail, but strong-voiced countess.
All of the cast made light of the farce in which the servants have all the fun, while the upper classes are frustrated by their appetites and social convention.
A great strength of the production is light orchestration, with only one instrument per part, and many parts (notably percussion) cut out altogether.
The reduced forces, totalling 12 players, including the indefatigable Alastair Macgeorge as “continuo and the rest,” and under the sole first violinist Laura Virtanen, make the musical textures so much more audible, and highlight the beautiful vocal lines of the singing.
The credit for this was down to the conductor (and musical director of the company) Michael Newton and the young professionals of Dionysus Ensemble.
Special mention is due to Stewart Charlesworth who is responsible for some very appropriate, and quite fetching, costumes, and to Racky Plews, who directed the production.

Back to music page