Last Sunday the English National Opera (ENO) presented a performance of one of the most famous operas of all time, Puccini’s La bohème, with every ticket in this 1,802-seat, world-class concert hall priced at just £5, writes Michael Holland.
Artistic Director of the ENO Annilese Miskimmon says: ‘It’s an honour for us to bring our full forces to Fairfield Halls ahead of Croydon’s historic year as the London Borough of Culture.’
The one-off show at this greatly-reduced price was to ‘encourage local families, that may not have experienced opera, to come along and give it a try,’ says Fairfield Halls General Manager Jonathan Higgins, who promised that ‘the audience is in for a real treat!’
And we were. How could we not be when enjoying the ENO’s 80-strong chorus and orchestra?
It was obvious that we were listening to world famous singers as soon as they begun. The emotion in the voices transported itself to our hearts and minds; we soared with the wind instruments as they accompanied the words of love, and we knew something was amiss as the percussionist took us down to deep and darker moods.
This version was sung entirely in English, which did half the work for those new to opera, but I think that even if performed in the original Italian anyone could see this was a tale of love won and lost.
And that is exactly what it is; a story of how two of the Bohemians of the title, living in the Montmartre area of Paris, fall in love with local women: Marcello with Musetta and Rodolfo with Mimi. Alas, as is the way with opera, no relationship runs a smooth path.
We knew we were witnessing the best people doing great work. Singing the role of Mimi was Irish soprano Sinéad Campbell-Wallace; Korean tenor David Junghoon Kim reprising his acclaimed role of Rodolfo; as Musetta, the Australian soprano and ENO Harewood Artist Alexandra Oomens; her lover, the tortured artist Marcello, is Anglo-French baritone Charles Rice; British bass and ENO Harewood Artist William Thomas reprised his role as Colline; the role of Schaunard is sung by British baritone and ENO Harewood Artist Alex Otterburn, with British baritone Simon Butteriss as both Benoît and Alcindoro.
These singers and the orchestra were all conducted by the ENO’s Music Director Martyn Brabbins who did a superb job without all the histrionics seen in some other conductors.
By the end the audience had laughed and cried and showed their appreciation with several curtain calls.
Did the uninitiated go along and try opera for the first time for a fiver? To be honest, this looked like an opera crowd to me, all enjoying their passion for the price of a posh coffee, but I would like to think that there were a few there who went out of curiosity and got the bug.
I know my companion Julia did. This was her first opera and she had plans to go home and listen to it all again but in Italian. She will definitely be seeing more opera.
