In love with opera

The BOV Opera Festival has become an annual appointment not only for local opera lovers but also for culturally-minded tourists, some of whom visit Malta purposely for this event. As in previous years, the festival, now in its tenth edition, will be held at the Manoel Theatre over a week in March and will contain a healthy dose of unusual fare.
The Festival will start on March 18 with a production by the French opera company ARCAL of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s tragic one-act opera Riders to the Sea, which will be performed as a double-bill with the English composer’s cycle Songs of Travel. ARCAL will also be bringing to Malta another sea-themed opera – Le Pauvre Matelot (The Poor Sailor), a three-act collaboration between playwright Jean Cocteau and composer Darius Milhaud.
The highlight of this year’s festival, however, is set to be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s much-loved fairy-tale opera The Magic Flute, which was premiered in September 1791, just over two months before the composer’s death. The opera will be presented in an original production featuring a Maltese cast and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the musical direction of Maestro Michael Laus. Miriam Gauci is the stage director.
“The Magic Flute is a multi-faceted opera which works on many levels”, she explains when I meet her at the Manoel Theatre just after the press launch of the festival. “It contains magic, humour and romance. The opera also reflects the spirit of revolution which was widespread at the end of the 18th century and contains several references to Freemasonry, since both Mozart and his librettist Emanuel Schikaneder were active Freemasons.”
Ms Gauci emphasises the importance of understanding the context in which this opera was written. “The Magic Flute is a Singspiel, a combination of singing and spoken dialogue which was the popular theatrical entertainment of its day. It is significant that the Magic Flute was first performed at Vienna’s Theater auf der Wieden, rather than at the more elitist Imperial Theatre. This was in itself a political statement. It will be my task, as stage director to transmit all these elements to the audience.”
Ms Gauci is internationally renowned as a lyric soprano. She has appeared in operatic productions and concerts around the world, but is particularly associated with the major European opera houses including the Teatro Alla Scala of Milan, the Liceu of Barcelona, the Munich Staatsoper, the Opéra de Bastille in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera of New York and the Wiener Staatsoper, where she performed annually as a guest artist for many years. She has also a number of acclaimed CD and DVD recordings to her name.
So, with a singing career which is still going strong, what is it that has led Ms Gauci to branch out into artistic direction? “I was expecting that question!” she laughs good-naturedly. I am immediately struck by the fact that Ms Gauci does not conform at all to the stereotype of the haughty, forbidding operatic diva. On the contrary, she is highly approachable and is visibly enthusiastic about the operatic and musical world to which she belongs. It seems only natural that she should speak with a quaint Italianate accent, acquired during her years as a student and singer in “the country of opera”. The story she recounts, in fact, starts in Italy, when she was a student at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi and the Centro Perfezionamento of the Teatro Alla Scala, after winning a scholarship offered by the Italian Cultural Institute.
“While I was taking voice lessons in Milan, I also enrolled on a two-year course at the Teatro Studio in Bologna. There, under the tuition of Maestro (Vladimir) Delman, we were trained in all aspects of opera production, not just singing, but also orchestral direction, stage preparation and stage direction. This aspect of opera fascinated me and, already at the time, I was determined that this was something I wanted to do later in life.”
This early training is complemented by years of experience performing under great directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Giorgio Strehler, Robert Wilson and Robert Carsen. “In many cases I would be creating the role in a new production and this would mean that I would be working very closely with the director.” So, when she was approached to direct Rigoletto for the 2006 BOV Opera Festival, Ms Gauci seized the chance to fulfil a long-held dream, despite initial misgivings in view of her other commitments. It was a decision which paid off, as the production was a success.
Ms Gauci does not seem too keen about certain trends in contemporary operatic productions. “Opera is built on three equally important foundations – the libretto, the voices and the music. I believe that every director should have the utmost respect for these elements and for the composer and librettist’s vision. Some of today’s directors are drawn from the movie or theatre world and have little or no idea about music or voice technique. Others simply want to shock the public in a bid to attract audiences.”
She confides that there were occasions when she refused to take part in productions where she did not agree with the stage director’s ideas. Nonetheless, she does not support the traditional view which sees opera as primarily a vehicle for the voice. She also appreciates a novel staging as long as it does not jar with score and libretto. She mentions, for instance, avant-garde director Robert Wilson’s production of Madama Butterfly at Paris’s Opera Bastille, where she was expected to remain standing motionless with her arm outstretched all through the opera’s Act II intermezzo. “Bob Wilson himself told me that I needn’t do it if it tired me, but I made the effort. It was a brilliant dramatic idea as that single simple gesture encapsulated Butterfly’s yearning as expressed in Puccini’s music.”
So what should we expect from Ms Gauci’s The Magic Flute? “This will be a completely original allestimento. I have prepared every aspect in meticulous detail, even building a model showing what the set should look like. In bringing my ideas to the stage, I have the invaluable help of assistant director John Gauci.”
While not a performance in modern dress, the approach to acting will be fresh and contemporary – “nowadays no one expects the exaggerated theatrics which used to characterise traditional productions”. In this work, the large number of scene changes poses an additional challenge.
“The Magic Flute is made up of short vignettes not unlike the scenes in a modern-day film. In Mozart’s time scene changes using complex stage machinery were part of the entertainment and, moreover, theatre-goers did not mind spending five hours at the opera house. On the other hand, today’s audiences are used to movies and television, and breaks to the dramatic flow should be avoided.”
The solution devised by Ms Gauci is to opt for a minimalistic set. Two panels depicting flames and ice will be the backdrop of the final “trial scene” and can be rapidly moved and assembled. Scene changes will also be made quicker through the use of a revolving stage. Light effects will be used to heighten the drama. “My aim is to get the most out of the Manoel Theatre’s potential. Despite its supposed ‘limitations’ it is amazing what one may achieve if one uses it intelligently. Defeatist attitudes should be avoided.”
Indeed, Ms Gauci has lots of praise for the theatre and, while avoiding to be drawn into the ongoing controversy regarding the need for a new opera house, she sensibly points out that we should not forget to appreciate and maximise the resources that are already available. This also applies to the talents of Maltese performers, which we unfortunately tend to underestimate. “I am immensely proud that the cast is almost entirely Maltese. In fact, apart from the Queen of the Night, which will be sung by the Spanish soprano Conchi Moyano and Tamino, the main tenor role, which will be sung by Jonathan Boyd, all other roles including major ones will be taken on by local singers.”
She singles out bass Noel Gauci as Sarastro – “one of our best performers, alongside whom I have had the occasion to sing during the President’s farewell concert held at St John’s Co-Cathedral”. Gillian Zammit, who sang Gilda in Ms Gauci’s production of Rigoletto, is Pamina and the humorous roles of Papageno and Papagena are taken on by up-and-coming singers Kevin Caruana and Maria Abela.
“Most of the soloists juggle their passion for opera with a full-time job. But this does not make them any less professional.” She points out that a foreign director would probably be surprised to discover how difficult it is simply to set a rehearsal schedule. “On the other hand, coming from this background, and having had to work hard to achieve success, I appreciate the sacrifices local artists make on a daily basis.”
She also looks forward to working alongside her husband Michael Laus. Her eyes light up as she tells me, “No one is in a better position to attest to his dedication and love for music. The possibility of collaborating with him is one of the factors which encouraged me to take on this project”.
This is echoed by Mro. Laus himself when I speak to him about the forthcoming opera festival. “In an opera performance, the music and stage directors cannot work independently from each other. I avoid conducting an opera unless I share the artistic director’s vision. Obviously, in this case this rapport is even closer than usual. Miriam and I give valuable feedback to each other.”
Mro. Laus has been actively involved in the BOV Opera Festival since its inception, not only as conductor of the National Orchestra (now, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra) but also as a consultant on choice of repertoire.
“The Magic Flute is an opera I have been suggesting for several years, not just because of my love for Mozart but, more importantly, because I feel that this work fits the Manoel Theatre perfectly. An opera should be chosen carefully, as it does not make sense to present works which require a larger stage.”
In past editions of the festival, Mro. Laus conducted Mozart’s Da Ponte operas – Don Giovanni, Così Fan Tutte and Le Nozze di Figaro. However, The Magic Flute is in several ways more ambitious, not least because it is in German. “I was always in favour of performing the opera in its original language, but there was a concern that audiences would find it difficult to follow. We have struck on a middle-way solution in the sense that while the sung parts will be in German, the considerable spoken dialogue will be in English.”
Ms Gauci shares her husband’s fondness for Mozart, a fact which I find somewhat surprising, considering that, as a soprano, she is mostly associated with Italian opera. “I adore Puccini’s innate sense of theatre and Verdi’s lyricism – the beauty of those splendid arias and cabalette. However, Mozart is the ultimate genius – his music is imbued with elegance and seemingly effortless creativity.”
She adds that, the highlight of her career was when she was invited to perform in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Teatro Alla Scala in the context of the composer’s anniversary celebrations. “I could not have been given a greater honour.”
With such passionate advocates, Mozart’s final masterpiece is certainly in good hands.

Source: Weekender, February 28, 2009