Among the operatic gems in the recent Shorts festival of mini-works offered by Cape Town Opera was a stellar double bill showcasing the talents of students from Opera UCT, says BEVERLEY BROMMERT:
This proves beyond a doubt that the future for is bright, not only for these young singers from Opera UCT honing their vocal proficiency, but also for the art form they serve.
Sympathetically accompanied on the piano with a judicious blend of delicacy and dramatic vigour by maestro Jeremy Silver (who heads Opera UCT), the artists-in-training showed their mettle in two compact pieces by Schumann and Janáçek, presented together under the title Unbound.
The common denominator linking them? Personally-felt passion, love and pain experienced by both composers, serving as the source of inspiration for music of heart-wrenching intensity and timeless in its appeal.
As vehicles for the nascent prowess of young artists, they are ideal. Schumann’s Frauenliebe and Janáçek’s Diary of One Who Vanished are essentially monologues, the first for a female vocalist and the second for a male, even-handedly affording opportunities for both registers to exhibit their ability. In addition, these two works each feature a secondary character whose role involves little if any singing. What is required from them is expressive body-language, and also the discipline of understatement to complement the lead performance.
The four imaginatively costumed executants rose to these diverse challenges, vocal as well as dramatic, with a poise suggesting experience beyond their years.
Nurturing future stars
In Frauenliebe, Molly Dzangare’s maturing soprano navigated the joys and sorrows of Clara Schumann’s life as she sang through the episodes of that woman’s tragic life, her husband mutely but convincingly impersonated by former dancer Mduduzi Nyembe.
Diary of One Who Vanished had Vuyisa Xipu taking intelligent measure of a daunting role as the farmer lad in thrall to an agonising, obsessive love, his erratic outbursts delivered with full-throated resonance. Nica Reinke, as the unsuitable object of his desire, was voluptuously seductive without vulgarity, and handled her brief vocal contribution with sweet aplomb.
Highly acclaimed opera practitioner Christine Crouse has applied her directorial skill to pilot Dzangare and Xipu through the demands of their roles, and done an admirable job of eliciting innate talent and building confidence.
Opera UCT seems well set for a continuation of the fine form initially apparent in earlier productions such as Tales from Hoffman and Dalinda as it nurtures future stars for the stage both locally and internationally.
WS
