CHENNAI: Think of opera and some of the things that one will get reminded of will be the gaudy and famous opera houses in Italy, where it originated, the evolution of the genre as such, and the beautiful rendition of songs. At the KM Music Conservatory’s annual event, which included Opera Scenes presented by Harman, it was evident just how important voice modulation is to an opera singer, while rendering high pitched notes with perfection.
As is required for an opera performance, the performers staged the show in such way that it matched the standards of a quintessential performance — with the apt portrayal of a plot, through aspects such as acting, sets, costumes and songs, making it a musical ensemble.
So immersive was the performance that as one listened to the captivating songs, it felt as though the whole ambience had changed to an Italian setting, and scenes of a moonlit night amid the Italian streets and buildings flashed before our eyes. The show, which had the singers performing three short scenes, were dramatised in such way that it diligently followed the conventions of an opera in the western operatic tradition.
The first scene was titled The Favourite, which was directed by Hratsjuhi Aramian. Inspired by the opera La Favorita (1840) by Gaetano Donizetti, it was a presentation of an unrequited love story. The tale went like this – the protagonist, Leanora, who is the mistress of Alfonso, falls in love with Fernando, who is a novice in a monastery. The narration was so engaging that it evoked a dash of empathy in the audience, when Fernando is not able to reciprocate the love, as he is crippled by the norms of the monastery.
Other scenes that were staged were Comeuppance directed by Cynthia Smith, which is an adaptation of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (1923). It narrated the story of the Donati family’s patriarch, who had just passed away. The members of the family, who hope to find they are now rich, discover that all of the family’s great fortune has been left entirely to charity. The final production was Iktsuarpok by Gilles Denizot, which reminded one of the stream of consciousness technique in literary style, with the flow of acoustic operatic voices, showing the mundane and the extraordinary.
What made the opera scenes stand out was that it followed the guidelines of a conventional opera, with regard to singing style. The artistes were clad in not just Western costumes, as the singer-actors wore a little desi tadka, with some of them donning Indian attire such as patiala suits and sarees, coupled with the Punjabi beats, dol and baaja and the artistes shaking a leg for Punjabi tunes. East meets West meets Opera...the evening was a fun cocktail of music from across borders and as you can imagine, varied genres.