With a real gala, the Reisopera 2.0 presents itself. And immediately strips the gala of its stuffy image. With thanks to the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble.
Because opera gala? Well, we hoisted ourselves into our tux, exchanged pleasantries, mean or otherwise, in the lobby with the other invited guests, and were presented with an hour and a half of excerpts from operas, sung by soloists in the neatest attire.
This is how it goes at most major opera houses. Milan, New York, Berlin - the gala that opens the season is the ultimate networking event.
But godlof, the company cut short under Rutte I, which also had to overcome a rival application from its own city, does not seize a gala to look back easily, but shows a glimpse of the future and turns it into a true celebration.
Exactly what a gala should really be. Not an over-priced event where the rich and famous can meet. Even they are no longer waiting for that. We do networking digitally, only an old-fashioned entrepreneur who also buys into RTL's business class thinks he has to do it in a football stadium.
On that football pitch, things are often predictable, but this gala surprises from the first note. We read opera gala, but we get Paranoid android by Radiohead, in an arrangement for winds. At the end of the evening, we hear it again, almost as a sing-along, but by then the audience is already on the benches.
Understandable, because in the two hours before that, there were wonderful arrangements of Bach, Wagner, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Randy Newman and Bizet. And even a drum solo that is captivating.
At the beginning of the evening, mezzo Tania Kross, who once made her debut at the Reisopera in Verdi's La traviata sang a Rossini duet and aria from the opera Katibu di Shon (slave and master) that will premiere in exactly one month, but she left the Habanera from Carmen to Anna Traub. No star laziness, but making room for the new ensemble to gain experience at the Reisopera in the coming years.
And that is much needed, because with the disappearance of Opera Studio, the opportunities for young soloists have been reduced even further - the money that remained there after dissolution was silently moved to a prestigious competition, but a competition is only a contest and does not offer singers the opportunity to learn the trade for several years, as Kross also made clear, after which she introduced the soloists. And they showed themselves emphatically, especially in the terzettino from Cosi fan tutte.
Sure, not everything was perfect, but Xander Straat's cleverly directed performance captivated from start to finish.
The Nederlands Blazers Ensemble has now built a tradition with its New Year's concert. High time a new tradition was created together with the Reisopera, because this gala tastes like more, much more.
Nationale Reisopera, Opera Gala. Wilminktheatre Enschede, 1 July. On tour until 14 August.
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