Review: Andrea Chenier

If you only see one opera this year, make sure you do not miss one of the four remaining performances of Opera North's outstanding new production of Giordano's highly charged drama, Andrea Chenier.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Jan 2016, 07:02 BST

The director, Annabel Arden, has, in today’s opera world, taken the unusual route of staging the work as the composer intended, returning the action to the turmoil, death and misery of the French Revolution, the dirty and ill-kept chorus filling the set with animated disorder to offset the opening act in the Chateau’s affluent surroundings.

The partially true story of the poet, Chenier, falling in love with the wealthy young Maddalena di Coigny, a fact that, in revolutionary eyes, places him in their social category and leads eventually to their joint execution. Giordano calls for a large cast to weave the story around the arias given to the main protagonists, and in the generous and robust voice of Rafael Rojas, you could not wish to hear a more passionate Chenier.

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Annemarie Kremer’s gorgeously sung Maddalena is a more fragile character than we normally see and hear, and is hardly a match for Robert Hayward’s purposeful and hateful Carlo Gerard, the unexpected third person in the love triangle.

Excellent cameo roles from Fiona Kimm as Madelon and Daniel Norman’s Incroyable, with Oliver von Dohnanyi’s conducting taking the orchestra and large chorus to a new level of excellence.

Further performances January 23, February 2, 20 & 24, 0944 8482700. David Denton