October 21, 2001: L'Elisir d'Amore in Nordfjordeid

2001-10-21 L'Elisir d'Amore (Donizetti), Opera Nordfjord

Nemorino = Nils Harald Sødahl
Adina = Cecilia Lindwall
Dulcamara = Anders Vangen
Belcore = Espen Langvik
Giannetta = Synnøve Nordvik

Michael Pavelich, conductor



I was at the last performance!
First time in Nordfjordeid, I stayed at the Hotel Nordfjord, where they had opera buffé. I came late the evening before, and I choose to have my dinner (opera buffé) since I was hungry, I had to wait until the guests came from their overa experience. Absolutely fabulous!

Because of the timetables in Sogn og Fjordane, it was not possible for me to come in time for Saturday's performance, and that was completely sold out by the time I remembered Opera Nordfjord, but I was in time to get some of the few tickets that was left on Friday. Thursday I had suddenly seen a page on the net about this opera, I thought about it, found out I had time, last performance Sunday, came home after work, and phoned the hotel to find out about the opera-package, was it available, did they have room. They had only 2 rooms, so I booked it right-away, didn't ask for the prize. And in my lunch-pause at work, I went to the post office to get ticket. Got it! Saturday, bus ride to Nordfjord. Found my hotel, I was rainy and cold in the evening. Nice atmosphere, many pictures from opera performances on the wall. NICE!!

Sunday, started with breakfast (obvious I woke up first, got dressed....). I have two pictures from my last opera travel, one picture of Carreras and one of Bavaj in Stavanger 22.9.2001, so I had to finish my film. My new location was Nordfjordeid, some great photos, some Ok and some relatively bad photos from my walk in the center of Nordfjordeid.

Then came the time, 1400, I took a taxi from the hotel 1330. And it was really crowded in Fjordane folkehøgskule. CROWDED. I met my college from work and her husband. Many people from Western Norway, many from Bergen, or so it seemed. Luckily I got a better seat than I had bought with the help of the nicest person in the hotel, or most opera mad. (Somebody had chosen to stay home?!). They sang Donizetti's music in Norwegian, luckily I know the Italian text well from the CD-libretto. "Venti scudi" became "fire tusen" (4000 NOK). A well known revue/cabaret artist from Norway had done the Norwegian text, it was a nice job. But, however, it will always be hard to hear the words when the top notes are sung, so knowing the original well was an advantage. Professional singers and orchestra, an amateur chorus. I liked the production. I liked the conducting, very vibrant. The tenor was best and the baritones were very good too. Maybe the aula was not given the right acoustic to the sopranos. The Swedish Adina sang well, and was very good in Norwegian. Only when I talked to her after the performance, was it obvious that she was from Sweden. The Norwegian Giannetta seemed vocally weak and she need to stand out from the other voices.

Back to the hotel, I found out that orchestra and soloists all lived in my hotel. Just before I went to take the bus home, I got the chance to talk to Cecilia Lindwall and get her autograph.

I think I will make this an annual tour.

OD Travel

April 25, 2003: Opera Gala in Sogndal

2003-04-25 Operagalla, Sogndal Kulturhus

Cecilia Lindwall, soprano
Trine Øien, mezzo
Jørgen Talle, tenor

Michael Pavelich, conductor

Opera Nordfjord in Sogndal, Norway
OPERA NORDFJORD ON TOUR (Sogn og Fjordane, Norway)
Sogndal Kulturhus (25.04)
Flora Samfunnshus (26.04)
Hotell Alexandra in Loen (27.04)
Opera Nordfjord tour-ensemble, orchestra & three soloists.

Cecilia Lindwall, soprano, was Adina in Elskovsdrikken (L'Elsir d'amore) in 2001, she now lives in Berlin.

Trine Øien, is one of our (Norway) best new mezzo-sopranoes, lives in Oslo. Freelance

Jørgen Talle, tenor, at the opera in Hannover since 2000.

Orkestra ca. 35 musicians: mainly District musicians, music teachers and music students from Sogn og Fjordane, with some few hired freelance musicians. Conductor: Michael Pavelich.

PROGRAMME

M.Glinka: Ruslan et Ludmila -Ouverture
G.Bizet: Carmen -Habanera (Øien)
G.Puccini: Tosca -Vissi d'arte (Lindwall)
G.Verdi: Macbeth -Ah, la paterna mano (Talle)
C.Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila -Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix (Øien)
G.Puccini: La Bohème -Quando me'n vo (Øien)
C.Gounod: Faust -Salut! demeure chaste et pure (Talle)
E.Humpeldinck: Hänsel und Gretel -Evening prayer (Lindwall & Øien) & Dream-ballett

Pause (20 mins.)

G.Rossini: La Gazza Ladra -Ouverture
R.Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci -Vesti la giubba (Talle)
G.Puccini: Gianni Schicchi -O mio babbino caro (Lindwall)
G.Verdi: Il trovatore -Stride la vampa (Øien)
G.Puccini: Madama Butterfly -Bimba dagli occhi (Talle, Lindwall)

Extra
J.Strauss II: Fledermaus -Champagner (Øien, Talle, Lindwall)

If this were a contest I would have pronounced the soprano as the absolute winner, the mezzo as a smashing good second place, and the tenor as a dubious third. Since this my review I have to tell why.

And I begin with the orchestra which was very good with the inspirational conductor Michael Pavelich, who also introduced the music and the soloist in a humorous way, yet informative way. The both overtures was brilliantly done. First soloist was the mezzo Trine Øien. A great mezzo voice who sang Carmen, Dalila, Azucena and little Hänsel wonderfully. Yet only in Azucena's aria did she make use of her hands. Which made her Carmen and Dalila a little less seductive than the full use of body language. The singing was excellent. A competitor to Agnes Baltsa

The second soloist was Cecilie Lindwall, the Swedish soprano. Two years ago I heard her as Adina, now she was even better. Her Tosca, Musetta, Gretel, Lauretta and Cio-cio-san, was a marvel to see and hear. The wonderful voice, now matured to more dramatic, but still essential lyric soprano voice, and with her acting skills, and a great sense of humor and dramatic poignancy. A miracle of a soprano.

Then the tenor, Jørgen Talle, when he sang Macduff's aria from Macbeth, I was deeply disappointed, I seemed to be the only one to feel that way. As the evening progressed, he was being better and better, also in my ears. Maybe my ears was wrong. Or maybe he was nervous, or simply not yet a Verdi tenor, he IS young, and he did use to be a baritone. But when I say he was a baritone, it does not mean that his tenor voice had a baritonal sound, not at all. His very bright, light tenor voice was ideally suited to Faust by Gounod, and he sang Pinkerton very well. In Pinkerton he showed that he not only can sing, he can act. He did the Pagliacci aria very well, but I don't think that Canio Is a role that he should sing, not yet, he is still young.

OD Travel