Opera Extravaganza

Opera Africa's "Opera Extravaganza" opened at the Johannesburg Civic
Theatre last night. It was somewhat of a mixed bag.

It is certainly large. And spectacular. Beverley Chiat, one of the
two solo sopranos, arrived on stage in a chauffeur driven Mercedes
Benz. I think that all operas should be rewritten so as to
accommodate such an innovation. It seems fitting that this is how
opera stars arrive on stage. And her singing actually warrants such
luxury treatment. Kelebogile Boikanyo was the surprise find of the
evening for me. I missed her in Princess Magogo which I didn't see.
She has a magnificent voice, and a remarkable stage presence. Stefan
Louw was, as usual, a vocal delight. Also starring were Ntsikelelo
Mali (baritone), Lionel Mkhwanazi (tenor), Thembisile Twala (mezzo
soprano) and the renowned Bala Brothers. Of course, the featured star
of the evening was truly the international wonder, Johan Botha,
singing in South Africa for the first time in many years. It was a
pity he sang so little. The only aria he sang was "Nessun Dorma" and
he contributed towards two others. This was disappointing to his many
fans.

A huge choral group, (sixty eight listed singers) the Gauteng
Choristers, under the management of Sidwell Mhlongo and Joe Khanye was
accompanied by the full, and in fact supplemented in some places,
Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Leslie Dunner.
The JPO always plays well under Leslie Dunner's direction and last
night was no exception. Gary Robert's little oboe solo was
magnificent.

The programme acknowledges that selections for concerts of this nature
are always somewhat irrational. I enjoyed the fact that not all the
selections were well known, but it bothered my sister who attended as
my guest. The orchestral overture was the Aida Preludio. The reality
is that most people only recognise the Grand March from Aida anyway.
(That's the one with the trumpets). In the first half the only easily
recognisable number was the "other" aria for the Queen of the Night.
The Queen of the Night has two arias, even though most non-opera
people can only recognise one of them.. The rest of the first half of
the programme comprised arias from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore",
Meyerbeer's "Le Huguenots", Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito" and
Wagner's "Die Meistersinger". I quite enjoyed it. After interval the
chorus started with the Soldier's Chorus from Gounod's "Faust", and
the Bala Brothers performed the "Nella Fantasia". We got two
delightful items from Verdi's "Rigoletto" (one quite amusing one) and
the Barcarolle from Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffman". "Nessun Dorma"
led up to the finale. My sister preferred the second half. She
recognised most of the music.

I missed the surtitles of "real" opera. Extensive use was made of
projections and the translations could easily have been projected for
the edification of those who, like me, don't speak the languages of
the operas and can't make out the poor diction of, in particular, the
chorus, even where the language is understood. It is nice to know
what the singers are on about.

The costumes were interesting for a production of this nature. The
chorus started out in white T-shirts and moved to camouflage gear then
on to white outfits, really pretty dresses in the case of the women.
The stars got the evening wear which is pretty standard for concerts
of this nature.

All in all it was a very pleasant evening and it should be enjoyed by
opera buffs and general audiences alike, even though the opera buffs
are all going to want to hear more, much more, from Johan Botha.

Opera Africa will be bringing Verdi's "Aida" to The State Theatre in
Pretoria next February and to the Johannesburg Civic Theatre next
March. What with "The Magic Flute" later this year and "Aida" early
next year Johannesburg audiences can look forward to some spectacular
operatic treats on home ground for a change. Something to enjoy now
and something to which to look forward. Most satisfactory.

That's pretty cool Thanks. My question is, how many peformances of each
opera are they able to give in a season? I'm curious about the size of the
audience. Also, what's the economic sense of it? Are tickets 'affordable',
whatever that means in a given culture, or is it something that is really
largely priced out of the market?


"Moira de Swardt" <moira.ds.TakeThisOut@wol.co.za> wrote in message
news:1183138046.542171@vasbyt.isdsl.net...
> Opera Africa's "Opera Extravaganza" opened at the Johannesburg Civic
> Theatre last night. It was somewhat of a mixed bag.
>
> It is certainly large. And spectacular. Beverley Chiat, one of the
> two solo sopranos, arrived on stage in a chauffeur driven Mercedes
> Benz. I think that all operas should be rewritten so as to
> accommodate such an innovation. It seems fitting that this is how
> opera stars arrive on stage. And her singing actually warrants such
> luxury treatment. Kelebogile Boikanyo was the surprise find of the
> evening for me. I missed her in Princess Magogo which I didn't see.
> She has a magnificent voice, and a remarkable stage presence. Stefan
> Louw was, as usual, a vocal delight. Also starring were Ntsikelelo
> Mali (baritone), Lionel Mkhwanazi (tenor), Thembisile Twala (mezzo
> soprano) and the renowned Bala Brothers. Of course, the featured star
> of the evening was truly the international wonder, Johan Botha,
> singing in South Africa for the first time in many years. It was a
> pity he sang so little. The only aria he sang was "Nessun Dorma" and
> he contributed towards two others. This was disappointing to his many
> fans.
>
> A huge choral group, (sixty eight listed singers) the Gauteng
> Choristers, under the management of Sidwell Mhlongo and Joe Khanye was
> accompanied by the full, and in fact supplemented in some places,
> Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Leslie Dunner.
> The JPO always plays well under Leslie Dunner's direction and last
> night was no exception. Gary Robert's little oboe solo was
> magnificent.
>
> The programme acknowledges that selections for concerts of this nature
> are always somewhat irrational. I enjoyed the fact that not all the
> selections were well known, but it bothered my sister who attended as
> my guest. The orchestral overture was the Aida Preludio. The reality
> is that most people only recognise the Grand March from Aida anyway.
> (That's the one with the trumpets). In the first half the only easily
> recognisable number was the "other" aria for the Queen of the Night.
> The Queen of the Night has two arias, even though most non-opera
> people can only recognise one of them.. The rest of the first half of
> the programme comprised arias from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore",
> Meyerbeer's "Le Huguenots", Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito" and
> Wagner's "Die Meistersinger". I quite enjoyed it. After interval the
> chorus started with the Soldier's Chorus from Gounod's "Faust", and
> the Bala Brothers performed the "Nella Fantasia". We got two
> delightful items from Verdi's "Rigoletto" (one quite amusing one) and
> the Barcarolle from Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffman". "Nessun Dorma"
> led up to the finale. My sister preferred the second half. She
> recognised most of the music.
>
> I missed the surtitles of "real" opera. Extensive use was made of
> projections and the translations could easily have been projected for
> the edification of those who, like me, don't speak the languages of
> the operas and can't make out the poor diction of, in particular, the
> chorus, even where the language is understood. It is nice to know
> what the singers are on about.
>
> The costumes were interesting for a production of this nature. The
> chorus started out in white T-shirts and moved to camouflage gear then
> on to white outfits, really pretty dresses in the case of the women.
> The stars got the evening wear which is pretty standard for concerts
> of this nature.
>
> All in all it was a very pleasant evening and it should be enjoyed by
> opera buffs and general audiences alike, even though the opera buffs
> are all going to want to hear more, much more, from Johan Botha.
>
> Opera Africa will be bringing Verdi's "Aida" to The State Theatre in
> Pretoria next February and to the Johannesburg Civic Theatre next
> March. What with "The Magic Flute" later this year and "Aida" early
> next year Johannesburg audiences can look forward to some spectacular
> operatic treats on home ground for a change. Something to enjoy now
> and something to which to look forward. Most satisfactory.
>
>