New opera companies seem to mushroom unabatedly, especially in Gauteng. Last week the youngest one, Opera Rocks, made its debut in the Opera of the State Theatre Pretoria. What we experienced was mostly thrilling, but one wonders how as many as half a dozen companies can be sustained in a single province. Paul Boekkooi reports.
THE debut of Opera Rocks was as yet not earth shattering, but there is great promise that the concept – to bring the best of local and overseas singers together in a showcase of diverse operatic styles – might lead to a guiding artistic standard by which all other companies can be evaluated.
Sibongile Mngoma, an opera singer of great integrity with a voice that has lost nothing of its engaging richness and subtlety, is Opera Rocks’ (OR) brainchild. After nearly being lost to South Africa as a professional singer, she made a career u-turn to fully plough back all her qualities as a musician and artistic leader in the sphere she loves most: opera.
She, the South African soprano Sally Silver who since 1998 has made a successful career in the UK, the riveting bass-baritone Thabang Senekal, as well as Joseph Clark, one of our most prominent voices in musicals and “pops” concerts, were the vocal kingpins of this debut performance which reflected the kind of explorative programming Opera Rocks plans to bring bi-annually to audiences.
By “explorative” is meant that, apart from the traditional operatic repertoire, also operatic-inspired rock numbers like Freddy Mercury’s Barcelona will be included, excerpts from a variety of musicals, as well as pop ballads, plus well-established evergreens like Everytime I Feel the Spirit and That’s What Friends Are For.
This programme would not be able to reach the musical heights without the tremendous input and musical acumen of OR’s conductor, Kutlwano Masote, who at the helm of the Chamber Orchestra of Johannesburg had total control of the proceedings with his very developed intuition for the diverse styles of this musical showcase.
Not only was there a developed leadership element between him and the four soloists, but he trained the 10-piece OR Vocal Ensemble to be a close-knit entity, with the kind of expression perfectly suited to the excerpts they chose to sing. Especially in Puccini’s Donde lieta/Dunque e Propi Finita the voices sounded well rounded, while dynamic contrasts were enhanced by complete naturalness.
Also in the solo vocal ensembles, like Mngoma, Silver and Senekal’s rendition of O Soave Sia il Viento from Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte, his ensemble opera par excellence, we heard some of the most exquisite singing of the evening.
Silver demonstrated her versatility with such contrasting pieces like the Jewel aria from Gounod’s Faust and her delightful rendition of I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady.
In both the Freddy Mercury numbers, Bohemian Rhapsody and Barcelona, in which Silver shone, Clark’s voice didn’t sound ideal under pressure (especially in the lower register where tonal support was lacking), but his Maria from West Side Story was vocally beautifully moulded.
With Mngoma’s soulful rendition of Sager/Forster’s The Prayer on stage we experienced the budding talent of Pendo Masote, 10, who performed the violin obligato in this piece with a concentrated simplicity. There’s no doubt where his musical genes comes from.
Concert master Samson Diamond performed the Meditaion from Massanet’s opera Thaïs with a very original calmness of expression which perfectly suited the piece as a whole.
One can go on about the virtues of OR’s premiere performance, but the lack of audience numbers on the second night shows up what the company’s priority should be: to reach new audiences on grassroots level. For that task they deserve all the sponsorship they can get.