SUOR ANGELICA by G. Puccini, “Faith to Face” in the Education Program of the Berliner Philharmoniker

A Star is Born" was my impression after the performance of Giacomo Puccini's drama "Suor Angelica" as part of the Berliner Philharmoniker's Education Program. For the first time, their chief Kirill Petrenko conducts an opera in Berlin, but with loud young, very talented people. They are the scholarship holders of the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, who play their instruments with verve and almost like professionals. The choir of the Vokalhelden choral program also does a good job. The phrase "folk heroes" is intended to lower inhibitions and encourage young people to join the choir. The greatest astonishment, however, is aroused by the 13 female singers, vocal soloists and students from Berlin's music academies. They sing and play the sisters in this Marian convent. Singing in Italian according to Puccini, they create their roles with temperament, joy of performance and already well-developed voices. The newcomers to the convent first take off their colorful wardrobe, slip into the white convent garb and then sit together with those who have lived in the convent for a longer time on a long bench in front of Petrenko and the instrumentalists, but directly opposite the audience. On a large screen they can also be seen exactly from the front, whether they are angrily contorting their faces or singing their parts. Oliver Proske has developed the stage concept and this video technology, which in its permanent existence sometimes seems somewhat disturbing and distracts from Puccini's music. How it is sung, on the other hand, can be closely observed. Since everything is recorded directly, it is also evident that the young singers obviously have no stage fright. When they receive punishment for their minor sins, some, as is equally apparent, do contort their faces, but overall they all seem relatively content in this seclusion. Also Ann Toomey as the actual Sister Angelica (now written in German). She carries only one sting in her heart: for seven years she has never received word from her propertied family, who, after she gave birth to an illegitimate son, put her in a convent to atone for her "misdemeanor." Nor did she ever see her infant son again. But then her princely aunt finally comes to visit, the soprano Katarina Dalayman, who also sings mezzo parts. But only with a document that is supposed to regulate the redistribution of the property, since Angelika's sister is getting married. Ms. Dalayman portrays her as a person with a petrified heart who, when Angelica asks her about her child, pitilessly announces that it died two years ago. A world is now breaking down for Sister Angelica, and as Ann Toomey sings it, it goes straight to the heart. Her powerful, intonation-clean and sonorous soprano, which after lyrical passages now dramatically expresses all her despair, floods through the large, very well-filled Philharmonie. Yet despite the believable anguish, her voice never becomes shrill, even in the high range. Her intensely sung despair brings tears to the eyes of some listeners. She tears the notarial deed brought by her aunt into pieces and forms a baby figure from it, which she puts on her arm. She has never been able to hold her own son in her arms, now she wants to join him in heaven. She drinks a weed killer and remembers too late that hell is certain for a Catholic suicide. A new surge of despair overcomes her and again, pleading with Mother Mary for help, she delivers a gripping vocal performance. "A Star is Born," is my impression, which will probably be shared later by the audience cheering for her. During her farewell song and still afterwards, two sisters make out of her former clothes loud little graves for more babies formed out of paper. There seem to be many of them in secret. An impressive idea by the otherwise pleasantly restrained Berlin director Nicola Hümpel with her ensemble Nico and the Navigators. Petrenko, too, is restrained during the final applause in favor of the young artists, but rightly beams all over his face. Here are all the sisters in their roles: Ann Toomey soprano (Suor Angelica); Katarina Dalayman soprano (La zia principessa), Daniela Vega mezzo-soprano (La badessa), Fleur Barron mezzo-soprano (La suora zelatrice), Sarah Laulan alto (La maestra delle novizie), Aurora Marthens soprano (Suor Genovieffa), Qing Wang soprano (Suor Dolcina), Aphrodite Patoulidou soprano (La suora infirmiera), Alessia Schumacher soprano (1st alms seeker), Ekaterina Bazhanova mezzo-soprano (2nd almoner and 2nd lay sister), Yeo-Jung Ha soprano (1st lay sister), Bernadeta Astari soprano (1st novice), complemented by the spectacularly agile dancer Yui Kawaguchi (Suor Osmina).

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