When Director General Andreas Homoki appeared on stage, at the beginning of the premiere of a new production of Anna Bolena, many of us feared some illness, or substitution in the cast. But the occasion was more poignant: the Zurich Opera House dedicated the performance to Edita Gruberova, recently deceased, for whom Anna was one of her signature roles. Homoki used words as “Großmächtige Koloraturprinzessin”, or “Prima donna assoluta des bel canto”. We all observed a minute of silence in memory of this beloved singer, who had a special relationship with Zurich and the opera house.
After such an introduction, it can’t have been easy for Diana Damrau to walk onto the stage for her role debut as Anna, but she took it in stride, and managed a very good performance. David Alden's production was not particularly inspiring, but harmless. The set presented an arched wall, sometimes covered in wood panelling, and few other props. The Tudors were in royal costumes from different eras, we saw some medieval headpieces, some 19th-century gowns, while the rest of the cast and the chorus were in clothes of the 1940s and 50s, with some details to recall the 16th century. A little girl of nine or ten, with red hair, was often present on stage as Elizabeth (Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII’s daughter, the future Queen of England), an idea already seen many times in different productions of Anna Bolena, (such as that seen a few weeks ago in Geneva). Given that Elizabeth was two and a half years old when Boleyn was executed, I am at a loss to understand this obsession of putting her on stage as an older child, for no apparent reason.
Alden's Personenregie was much more captivating. Anna was aloof and struggling to keep her poise in the first act, still trying to act the queen; she slowly lost confidence as she lost control. Damrau was excellent in her acting (as usual). Her desperate attempt to regain some royal dignity during the duet with Jane Seymour was pathetic and moving. Henry VIII was portrayed as an abuser, on the verge of a mental breakdown, obsessed and dangerous. The torture of the witnesses in the trial against Anna was portrayed on stage, with very little left to the imagination, for a very powerful and understandable development towards Boleyn’s execution.
Enrique Mazzola read from a score prepared with the Fondazione Donizetti, in Bergamo, with the objective of going back to the source and leaving behind a tradition which sometimes betrayed the intentions of the composer. The result was a very fresh reading, exciting, bouncy, with close attention to the recitatives and, in general, to details of the score. The Philharmonia Zürich followed him with great phrasing and a very Italianate sound.
Damrau dazzled with her easy high notes and the sheer beauty of her silvery soprano. She was at her best in the pianissimi, the filati, and the sobbing, melancholy parts. She lacked a bit of strength in her portrayal of the queen, giving us a more subdued, more compliant Anna. In the last scene, her “Al dolce guidami” was heartbreaking and gorgeous, and she did find some violence in her voice in “Coppia iniqua”.
Karine Deshayes was also giving her role debut as Giovanna (Jane Seymour), and she passed with distinction. Her strong, powerful mezzo is very suited to bel canto, her high notes came through as strong but appropriately round, while her interpretation was moving and believable. Luca Pisaroni was a menacing Enrico (Henry VIII), very committed to the role of the tyrant. He sometimes seemed to have trouble keeping together with the pit, but overall it was an engaging performance. His beautiful, powerful bass-baritone was a very good match to Deshayes’ mezzo; they had chemistry and the scenes between them were very emotional.
Smeton, the young page in love with Anna, was Nadezhda Karyazina, a young Russian mezzo who impressed with a beautiful timbre, supported by strong technique and breath control. Percy, Anna’s first love, is a typical Rubini role; Alexey Neklyudov sang with a high, well placed tenor and the technique needed to get through the difficulties of the part. His high C was well set and effective, but when he ventured higher (in his last aria) he had to resort to falsetto. Overall, his performance was convincing, he showed good phrasing and legato, and nerves of steel. The cast was completed by Stanislav Vorobyov as Rochefort (Anna’s brother), with a resounding bass, and Nathan Haller as a creepy, disturbing Hervey, his looks inspired by Frankenstein’s Igor, his light bright tenor secure and perfectly suited to the part.
