A mass filled with vibrant life

Inspiring, full of fine humor and also disturbing: Nico and the Navigators in Bregenz. Already Gioachino Rossini spiced his "Petie Messe solennelle" with humor, which is expressed in a "Letter to God". But even the title "Little solemn mass" is a tongue-in-cheek understatement, since the composition, with its hour and a half duration and numerous interludes, corresponds to a full-blown "Missa solemnis". A work, then, that is quite capable of being doused by the effervescent imagination and enchanting humor of the Berlin troupe "Nico and the Navigators". Their Rossini production could be experienced on Wednesday and Thursday evenings in the workshop stage of the Festspielhaus as part of the Bregenz Festival's art-out-time program. It is obvious that the Catholic beliefs are not visualized here one-to-one. Rather, we see and hear a musical theater that plays with the manifold themes of life. Love and hate, trust and resentment, openness and lies, compassion and arrogance, all this and much more comes to life in dance, song and on two pianos and harmonium - these instruments were originally used by Rossini. Unbelieving Benedict But the spiritual questions are by no means swept under the carpet. A kind of monk, who pretends to be wise and enlightened, repeatedly enters into a discourse with a non-believer, piquantly named Benedict. Certainly neither of them has the truth, but perhaps a modicum of it resonates in the many enchanting scenes that put a smile on one's face. The breathtaking dancer Yui Kawaguchi dances a veritable pas de deux with the small and somewhat round tenor. A farmer recounts in gnarled English a mystical experience that brought him the tear from the eye of his favorite cow. The great bass aria "Domine Deus" from the "Gloria" is interspersed with a dwarf-shaking scene among men, as might happen in a bar at night. Or the monk and Benedict play on seesaws and the latter gets into a whirl, which demands all kinds of acrobatics from the performer. "Nico" is the director Nicola Hümpel, who came up with all this together with the actors and actresses and their management team, and who was now a guest at the Bregenz Festival for the third time. This time the musical part was also excellent. Under the conducting of Nicholas Jenkins, who was integrated into the scene, the twelve singers, the two pianos and the harmonium sounded fabulous. Stormy applause. Rossini would certainly have been delighted with this evening.

<< Back to press overview