Pedro Ribeiro

Mozart & Salieri

pedro.ribeiro — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:35:30 +0000

Stage Direction

OPERA | Mozart & Salieri

Backdrop Image: © ROH / Richard H Smith 2012 | Riches as Salieri, Kim with puppet, Bemsch as Mozart

> Director’s Note

With “Envy”, the original title that Pushkin gave to this text, everything would have been easier… These two characters are so charged with historical references that it is almost impossible to be dissociated from them… But this Mozart and Salieri is not about Antonio and Wolfgang. We’re not looking for historical characters, but for embodied ideas. Envy, genius, crime, friendship, music, ambition, pride, fame, justice, religion, art, these are just some of the components that Pushkin added to this exercise that questions us, makes us doubt, makes us uncomfortable. Bringing our “geniuses” down to earth is a hard task, but realizing that they are made of flesh and bone like us is a pleasure.

> REVIEWS

The staging was stark, shadows playing off a dim room with a paucity of unembellished furnishings. (…) During an especially evocative moment, Mr. Bemsch’s Mozart speaks of his work and begins to finger the air in front of him as though there were an invisible piano only perceptible to him. A beam of light eerily glanced his hands as he touched the unseen keys (…) Another highlight occurred near the end (…) just before Salieri is to plant the poison in his wine, a row of tall candles is discreetly lit behind them. A chorus emerged from the gloom of the wings (…) the effect was haunting. ‘Can criminality and genius be intertwined?’, Salieri asks himself before the curtain falls; in that instant, it is the genius of the fallen composer that resonates poignantly throughout the darkening room. Mozart and Salieri had also never had a previous showing in Covent Garden. Mr. Ribeiro’s astute production has given it a strong introduction. (…) Judging from this performance, the Young Artists are certainly an asset to the company. It is well worth keeping an eye out for them this season.

> John E de Wald | Opera Britannia ****

–

“(…) Korsakov’s opera Mozart and Salieri (1897) received its first ever performance at the Royal Opera House (…) Mozart and Salieri is unusual. The part of Salieri so dominates the work that it is more psychodrama than opera. Mozart and Salieri barely interact. Mozart isn’t a character so much as the embodiment of music. (…) Mozart is seen playing invisibly on stage, his hands lit with golden light. A magical moment. (…) This production was one of the most sophisticated I’ve seen for a group with these relatively limited resources. Sophie Mosberger and Pedro Ribeiro designed an elegantly simple set, which suggested that Salieri, despite his wealth and status, was a fundamentally isolated man. The little puppet figure buffeted by figures in the darkness suggested that both Mozart and Salieri were victims of forces greater than themselves. Exquisite lighting by Warren Letton, colours changing as mysteriously as the music. A stunning finale, where the dark figures singing the Requiem move around lighted candles. Since financial problems will haunt the opera world for a long time to come, this restrained but poetic minimalism may be the way ahead. This production was intelligently thought through, and musically sensitive.”

> Anne Ozorio | Opera Today

–

“Mozart and Salieri, also directed by Ribeiro (…) handled as effectively as it is here, it’s highly affecting. (…) Men in suits against a starkly lit black background with the simplest of props makes for an arresting visual. Mozart playing keyboard on a horizontal beam of light is a moment of inspiration. (…) The technique of puppets is a little over-used in the opera house but it works well here and there’s a haunting snatch of the great Requiem from an anonymous chorus of men (and women) in black.(…)”

> Simon Thomas | What’s on stage ***

–

“Set on a very darkly-lit stage, Mozart and Salieri is beautifully produced here (…) Puppetry comes into play in this sometimes candlelit production as the two men seem to find common ground, but this not prevent Salieri slipping some poison into Mozart’s wine glass (very Agatha Christie!). It’s a good story (…) and is equally well served in this imaginative production (…) This is a double-bill worth catching (…) The Rimsky holds the attention and seeps into the consciousness, and this ‘black’ production is a winner (…)”

> Colin Anderson | Classical Source

–

“This double bill by the Jette Parker Young Artists was a delight. (…) The amusing incident of a badly played and out of tune violin, which one of Salieri’s friends used to poke fun at Mozart — though the trick was roundly dismissed by Salieri — was an entertaining interlude, much appreciated by members of the orchestra. On-stage this was mimicked by a puppet representing Mozart, which we saw lying sideways centre stage at the start. Then at the end Mozart himself lay in exactly the same position. These were clever aspects of this simple but excellent production by Pedro Ribeiro. Designs by Ribeiro and Sophie Mosberger worked well, and I loved Warren Letton’s lighting, particularly at the end of Mozart and Salieri. (…) Not to be missed.”

> Mark Ronan | markronan.wordpress

–

“Rimsky-Korsakov’s darkly atmospheric two-hander Mozart and Salieri (…) The same production team opted for an all-black setting – the men’s suits blended into an impenetrable background – concluding with a candle-lit sequence in which Salieri secretly added poison to Mozart’s wine; it was finely judged.”

> Margaret Davies | Opera Magazine

–

“(…) Ribeiro’s production – suits and black, with excellent lighting giving the right sense of melodrama, shadows and darkness – seemed to me to capture very nicely this haunting little piece.”

> Opera Notes

“(…) Ribeiro resists the temptation of referencing the movie and instead presents a gloomily lit empty stage, which serves to highlight his few theatrical flourishes – a puppet as a street violinist, a single beam of light illuminating Mozart’s hands as he plays air piano amongst them.”

> Intermezzo

Bastien und Bastienne

pedro.ribeiro — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:29:13 +0000

Stage Direction

OPERA | Bastien und Bastienne

Backdrop Image: © ROH / Richard H Smith 2012 | Jihoon Kim as Colas, Dusica Bijelic as Bastienne and David Butt Philip as Bastien

Jihoon Kim, Bastien > David Butt Philip, FOWife > Justina Gringyte" title="Colas > Jihoon Kim, Bastien > David Butt Philip, FOWife > Justina Gringyte" /> David Butt Philip, FOWife > Justina Gringyte" title="Bastien > David Butt Philip, FOWife > Justina Gringyte" /> Jihoon Kim" title="Colas > Jihoon Kim" />

> Director’s Note

In retelling Mozart’s early opera, we defy the pastoral setting. In a time when cotton no longer made sense and fibres took over, two shepherds fight to keep their business going between the pasture and the town. They roam along an abandoned railway track during long nights and dawns and sometimes they have the company of a handyman, who thinks that gives good advice… and can do magic… in return of some for some simple favours…

> REVIEWS

“(…) Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienne, written when the composer was twelve years old. It’s a slight piece about a courtship between shepherd and shepherdess. Staging this literally would expose the weaknesses of the piece. Ribeiro and Mosberger set the Singspiele in a vaguely industrial landscape, which added much needed good humour and gave the singers more material with which to develop character (…)”

> Anne Ozorio | Opera Today

–

“This interestingly contrasted double bill featured singers, conductors and a director – more than one half of The Royal Opera’s current intake of Young Artists – in roles that focused on the emerging talent nurtured by the Programme. The libretto on which Mozart based his early singspiel Bastien und Bastienne offered the 12-year-old composer little dramatic substance but he infused with music of much charm and tunefulness to create a situation in which two rustic lovers, separated before curtain-rise, are reunited by the intervention of a perceptive third party. The producer Pedro Ribeiro and his designer Sophie Mosberger enlivened the pastoral setting and the plot with a railway track along which the shepherdess Bastienne moved wagonloads of replica sheep, heard baaing before the music started, round their pastures – four-legged figurants are always a hit (…)”

> Margaret Davies | Opera Magazine

–

“This double bill by the Jette Parker Young Artists was a delight. The story is that Bastien, strongly sung here by David Butt Philip, has had a dalliance with an attractive woman portrayed by Justina Gringyte in a sexy red dress. Dušica Bijelić as Bastienne, advised by Jihoon Kim as the soothsayer Colas wins him back by feigning indifference. Ms Bijelić sang very well and played her role with panache, while Jihoon Kim sang a very fine bass-baritone. The German diction was good from everyone and strikingly good from David Philip Butt. The production use of railway tracks was rather a good idea, and conducting by Michele Gamba gave a powerful feel for Mozart’s music. (…) Altogether this was a thoroughly good evening, with music played by the Southbank Sinfonia (…) Not to be missed.”

> Mark Ronan | markronan.wordpress

–

Writing an opera at the age of 12 is an extraordinary feat but if you want proof that Mozart actually was once a child, his singspiel Bastien und Bastienne provides it. Apart from the very opening which makes us think we’re in for a performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony (a case of a good tune not gone to waste), it’s made up of brief airs, dull and thankfully briefer recitatives and the most naive of scenarios. (…) Pedro Ribeiro avoids any sense of tea-set cosiness in this Jette Parker Young Artists showcase by setting this simple tale of shepherds, shepherdesses and their relationship problems on an Eastern European railway track. It’s an imaginative staging (…)

> Simon Thomas | What’s on stage ***

–

“(…) Upon entering the Linbury one notices some rails; a clue perhaps to the production of the Mozart being on the right track. The first sounds heard belong to the farmyard. Fair enough, Bastien und Bastienne is a pastoral opera and the named characters are here sheep farmers; their stock (woolly until sheared) pushed around on carts on those very rails. (…) This is a double-bill worth catching (…) The Mozart is a curiosity given who wrote it – but it has charm and the production is light-hearted with three excellent singers.”

> Colin Anderson | Classical Source

–

“(…) Pedro Ribeiro’s production conjured a quaint, modern rural landscape, a line of railroad tracks broken on either side by desultory telephone poles. The backdrop alternated between intermittently blue and violet hues, lit at times to evoke the orangish fire of a setting sun (…) the staging – co-designed by Mr. Ribeiro and Sophie Mosberger - was otherwise more successful than not. (…) The Young Artists are an impressive bunch, and though I can certainly think of more impressive one-act operas with which to showcase their talents, they nevertheless brought out the promise latent in Mozart’s early score. (…) Bijelic’s Bastienne (…) was genuinely funny, and she carried off the comedy of the part well. The Bastien of David Butt Philip was a bustling country boy (…) The exaggerated acting of the two was not out of step with the work as a whole, and they made an endearing couple. They were joined by the Colas of Jihoon Kim, who largely stole the performance during the scenes in which he appeared. Mr. Kim’s (…) he played the part of the soothsayer with presence and well-judged comic effect. (…)”

> John E de Wald | Opera Britannia ****

Il Viaggio a Reims

pedro.ribeiro — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:45:15 +0000

Concert Staging

OPERA | Il Viaggio a Reims

> Reviews

“…the concert staging was by Pedro Ribeiro who is a current young artist (…) brought just enough drama to the staging - the result was surprisingly successful and dramatically involving…”

Robert Hugill | Opera Today

“…Aided by Rustioni’s conducting and Ribeiro’s discreetly effective staging this was a sparkling evening in the theatre…”

Robert Hugill | Opera Today

“…Whether fully conversant with their parts or not, the whole cast benefited from just enough adroit direction by Pedro Ribeiro to take it off the page and make it live…”

Simon Thomas | What’s On Stage ****

“…The singers (…) worked extremely well under the simple and effective stage direction by Pedro Ribeiro (…) The 2012 Olympics will have its work cut out to match this performance’s effervescence…”

Peter Reed | Classical Source

“…One-off concert staging by Pedro Ribeiro – minimal, but always to the point…”

George Hall | The Guardian

“…Rossini opera buffa: shot through with humour, witty undertones and virtuosic vocal lines…”

Katy S. Austin | Bachtrack ****

“…Their evident enjoyment of the musical party spilled across the stage into the auditorium (…) a final burst of sunshine to what has otherwise been a pretty dreary season for the Royal Opera…”

Rupert Christiansen | The Telegraph ****

Showcase I

pedro.ribeiro — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:52:59 +0000

Stage Direction

SHOWCASE comprising excerpts from:

COSI FAN TUTTE – Act.II

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO – Act.I

D.GIOVANNI – Act.II

LA FILLE DU REGIMENT – Act.I

LA BOHEME – Act.IV

Backdrop Image: © ROH / Richard H Smith 2011 | Coline > Jihoon Kim

Cosi Fan Tutte" title="© ROH 2012 / Richard H Smith | JPYA > Cosi Fan Tutte" /> Pedro Ribeiro" title="© ROH 2012 / Richard H Smith | In rehearsal > Pedro Ribeiro" />

 All Images - © ROH 2012 / Richard H Smith

> Director’s Note

As Jette Parker Young Artists, on a normal day of cover rehearsals, we connect with the most intangible elements that the human being can ever experience: invisibility and transmutation. We will be working with some objects that you’ll see today on stage and with others that are simply invisible. We sometimes imagine that a rolled up newspaper becomes some 18^th century binoculars, or that we open doors, climb up and down flights of stairs, or that we have another character or even a group of people by our side.

It’s often an ungrateful and lonely job, where we can only use our imagination in a make-believe game. But it’s this practice in knowing how to speak the truth by lying that makes the game so exciting and challenging. To me, as an audience member, there is nothing better than to be constantly challenged by a game that places demands on my imagination.

In this performance, we present what is hidden behind the rehearsal process of a young artist and decided to tear away the skin so that the skeleton can be seen. These five scenes were built with the bare minimum props combined with the utmost imagination of everyone involved. The main objective is to show the versatility and honesty that each young artist offers to the audience.

These scenes were staged to be presented outside the context of the entire opera, so that, someone who has never seen one of these pieces can easily understand the characters in these small frames of their lives.

> REVIEWS

“(…)The first half of the showcase this June comprised a group of three Mozart operas, all of which revolve around the issue of disguise and focused on how such a device, according to director, Pedro Ribeiro, “can be used to reveal a deeper truth.(…) In the second half of the performance Miss Devin came into her own as the tomboyish Marie in La fille du régiment, full of pretty sounds and lots of physical comedy. She was joined by Ji Hyun Kim whose facility and ease in the highest register is such that he could almost do with making it sound more difficult, just to impress the audience. This was a sparkling and fizzing cameo which was well directed by Pedro Ribeiro, placing the emphasis firmly on youthful exuberance.

Something very special happened in the final item – the death scene of Mimì from La bohème. More accurately, several special things: When the quartet of Zhou, Jihoon Kim, Grice and Pablo Bemsch worked as an ensemble, I felt I was transported to a garret in the Latin quarter, watching four young men whose imagination and boyish energy could transcend the harsh reality of penury. It was inspiring. Then they were joined by the versatile Miss Pierard as Musetta and Miss Gaspar as Mimì. I was looking forward to hearing Mr Bemsch again. (…) I believed his grief when he flung himself on Mimì’s body. His acting was matched by that of Miss Gaspar, whose ability to float Puccini’s lines on her deathbed moved me to tears.”

> Miranda Jackson | Opera Britannia

“In a word, it was simply wonderful (…) Your overall concept was admirable in setting the showcase within the wider concept of a House whose everyday work continued in the background. By creating a believable ‘lie’ the ‘truth’ of each piece came shining through in every gesture and clearly-enunciated word, establishing an immediate bond with the performers. (…) Boheme was shatteringly engrossing and (I was glad to see that I was not the only one in tears when it ended). (…) I am usually quite level-headed in my assessment of shows, but yours deserves the fullest praise…so thank you so much for the opportunity to share your vision and your gifts and those of these talented young artists. (…)”

> Clive Burton, theatre & dance reviewer | Personal Feedback

“It goes without saying that if a house of the international standing as The Royal Opera invites you to join then the rungs of the latter are being climbed big-time. This Linbury presentation was somewhat behind-the-scenes, rehearsed as a rehearsal, the opera excerpts flowing one to another and using minimal props and with a dressing-room area at the back of the stage for make-up, hair-doing and changes of costume. In the small pit a piano and a conductor, Geoffrey Paterson on this first night, Volker Krafft for the following day’s matinee. (…) a round of applause and Figaro followed immediately but without rush (…) Energy was better disposed elsewhere and ZhengZhong Zhou was a nicely lascivious Count. The comedy was subtly revealed – so much better than laying it on with a trowel. (…) Devin shone like the star (…) as Marie teasing poor old in-love Tonio, taken innocently by Ji Hyun Kim. In this duet, Cupid’s arrow finally pricks both of them. From the soufflé-like frivolity of Donizetti to the heart-rending tragedy of La bohème. And we got both barrels – Mimì’s final moments on earth, shared with Rodolfo, his fellow bohemians and the reformed Musetta (…) a thoughtful and lively imagination was evident. (…) All in all this was an enjoyable and encouraging evening which brought talent and teamwork to the fore.”

> Colin Anderson | Classical Source

“In a printed note the director, Pedro Ribeiro, explained how ‘In this performance, we present what is hidden behind the rehearsal process of a Young Artist and decided to tear away the skin so that the skeleton can be seen. These five scenes were developed with the bare minimum props combined with the utmost imagination of everyone involved. The main objective is to show the versatility and honesty that each artist offers to the audience.’ Whether this was worth the effort since many in the audience were already involved with the JPYA programme or were their partners, relatives and friends, is a moot point but – by and large – it all succeeded in its aims. (…) On stage were many elements of the rehearsal process including towards the back an area for costume, wigs and make-up. There were also some monitors, spotlights, stage flats, trunks for equipment and a small amount of demountable staging. (…) All else that was needed was often mimed and left to the imagination of the audience. During the three Mozart excerpts in the first half many of the performers remained on stage as observers and people busied themselves ‘behind the scenes’, however, this did not happen again after the interval. Throughout the Mozart and later Donizetti, it suggested that Ribeiro is a ‘hands on’ director because certainly no one kept their hands off anyone else for very long! Much fun was had by all (…)”

> Jim Pritchard | Seen & Heard International

AGENDA 2013

pedro.ribeiro — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:12:57 +0000

2013

Jan. & Feb. - Assistant Director in EUGENE ONEGIN > Tchaikovsky | Stage Director: Kasper Holten. New Production. Royal Opera House Main Stage.

Mar. - Assistant Director in NABUCCO > G.Verdi | Stage Director: Daniele Abbado. New Production. Royal Opera House Main Stage.

Apr. - Stage Director in Stage Director’s Workshop – Theme: TBC | Solist: TBC | Performance in the Linbury Studio Theatre, ROH.

Apr. - Assistant Director in LA DONNA DEL LAGO, Donizetti – Stage Director: John Fulljames. New Production. Royal Opera House Main Stage.

Jun. - Stage Director in JPYA SHOWCASE Performance in the Royal Opera House Main Stage.

Les Nuits d’ete

pedro.ribeiro — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:27:04 +0000

Stage Direction

SONG CYCLE | Les Nuits d’ete – Staged performance

Backdrop Image: © ROH / Richard H Smith 2011 | Hanna Hipp & ZhengZhong Zhou

> Director’s Note

Les nuits d’ete? Why the need to stage a perfect piece that lives in itself? – This was my first thought, immediately associated with a second, the image of a plastic surgeon with delicate surgery tweezers trying to recompose someone’s already perfect face. However, hearing different versions of the work made me realise that being perfect, as it is, it is also ductile and very plastic. On a summer night, as I was wrapt in insomnia, re-listening to the songs, I observed my second pillow waiting to be held and comforted, on top of an ordinary mattress that endures birth, life and death. This song cycle is not about love or nature, but about ourselves, about leaving and staying, about how we selfishly feel the absence of someone that inevitably has to depart.

> REVIEWS

“The Jette Parker Young Artists double bill (…) featured romance, mystique and sumptuous singing. It has its inelegant features but the latest offering from the Royal Opera House’s emerging artists team brought imagination and wit to the programme, difficult to stage though it must surely have been. (…)

Les Nuits d’été, Berlioz’s sublime song cycle woven from threads of absence and longing, was perhaps more affecting. (…) The new set (a stage strewn with mattresses) and choreography, was spellbinding. Each song unfolded with the clothes of a lost loved one spot-lit against the back curtain, and used the old mattresses to symbolise the place of private grievance for each mourner. The effect was to add a sensual intimacy to the first orchestral song cycle ever written, based on six Gautier poems. (…) For the final song, L’île inconnu, Susana Gaspar was the lost lover positively floating around her mattress and assembling it into a fantasy ship with a gossamer sail, riding on cut-out waves under puppet-like clouds. What stayed with us was the consistency and emotion in Gaspar and Bemsch’s voices, the outstanding acting on display and the tangeable sense of love and loss which characterised the action. Director Pedro Ribeiro succeeded in impressing upon his audience the beauty and pain of death, life and love and judging by this performance, most of these artists all have the potential to produce something special on the main stage.”

> Katy S Austin | Bachtrack

–

“There is a moment when the best have been winnowed out, the hard work has been done and the magic is about to begin. That is the moment captured in the ROH Young Artists Week. With the possible exception of brain surgeons, opera singers have the longest, toughest apprenticeship of the skilled professions. The competition is ferocious. The human voice is fallible – there are good days and bad days and if pushed too far, it can break. It takes battlefield courage to actually get yourself out there onstage in front of an audience, full of critical eyes and ears, expecting the best and merciless if this is not given to them. It does not get any easier when, if you are very lucky, you rise to become a superstar since you now have to compete against yourself and your own, and the audience’s expectations of you. Why do they do it? Last night, watching the young stars of the future, gave an answer in the exhilaration and joy that they clearly felt in doing something very well and making something beautiful. The young artists selected for the Jette Parker programme at the Royal Opera House are an international group of outstanding professionals at the start of their careers, usually including ten singers, a répétiteur and a director. (…)

At first sight, the set of Les nuits d’été looks like a squat, with mattresses of all sizes, alone, piled up to four deep, covered with flimsy sheets, crowded onto the stage. It becomes apparent that Ribeiro and Mosberger have placed Berlioz’s haunting song cycle in that hinterland between dreams and sleep, where all the barriers are down and ghosts and losses that lie just below the surface rise up to claim us. Visions of lost loves like the dried out husks of discarded bodies appear in the darkness behind the singers. It was the perfect showcase for three outstanding singers and I will remember for a long time Pablo Bemsch singing of lost love, Susana Gaspar sailing her mattress boat into dark waters towards the unknown island and, above all, Hanna Hip breaking my heart with le Spectre dela Roseand Absence. These are the stars of the future”

> Crispin Wellbeloved | Global News Box

–

“For those with an inquisitive ear for new upcoming talent on the operatic scene, the introductory Meet the Jette Parker Young Artists Week is an obligatory calendar event. (…) The centrepiece of this autumn’s week-long offering at the Royal Opera’s Linbury Studio is an intriguing double-bill of Berlioz’s song-cycle Les Nuits d’été and Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon. (…) Pedro Ribeiro has the unenviable task of directing Berlioz’s song-cycle which almost defies any kind of dramatic staging. (…) Hanna Hipp certainly makes her mark with a beautifully controlled rendition of the most celebrated song “Le Spectre de la Rose”, which in turn proves the most sensitive piece of staging.”

> Richard Russell | Whats On Stage ****

–

“Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été is a song cycle, and even in the 1856 orchestral transcription heard here, doesn’t transfer easily to the stage. In theory, there’s no reason why not, and the undercurrent of dream unifies the group of songs. The balance was good, making a case for mixed voices. Berlioz sanctioned this, but it’s usually impractical in recital. Another good reason for paying attention to Young Artists Events, where repertoire is often approached in interesting ways.”

> Anne Ozorio | Opera Today

–

“ The Jette Parker Young Artists were sounding in good health in this unusual double-bill. (…) Direction and design were much more elaborate for the first (…) staging I’ve ever seen of Berlioz’s song-cycle Les Nuits d’été (six settings of poems by Gautier), with heaps of grubby old mattresses arranged on the stage like graves, with one of the singers vanishing into her mattress (…) a modern-gothic, ghostly atmosphere that emphasised the melancholy of the songs (…) The staging was visually powerful (…)”

> Peter Reed | Classical Source

–

Le Portrait de Manon

pedro.ribeiro — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:51:24 +0000

Stage Direction

OPERA | Le Portrait de Manon

> Director’s Note

Le Portrait de Manon c’est un petit fondant aux chocolat. At a first glance, it appears to be an ordinary plain cake but if we are willing to break through the surface-layer, we are bound to be overwhelmed by a secret sensual myriad of sugars and cream. The characters around pivotal Des Grieux, a man tormented by memories of a lost love, have such a brief dramatic lifespan, that we are brought to wish them new embroilments and ways of feeling love. This love, being itself hereditary, brings nearly fateful martyrdom to two young lovers. A young man who deduces love from every gaze, a girl who replicates the feeling of love in every pleasure of life and an old wise friend who prevents the inevitability of a tragic “love” story and puts a full stop on Manon’s circle of lingering memory.

> REVIEWS

Sophie Mossberger’s spare, monochrome set for Le Portrait de Manon suggested all that we needed to know of the interior of the house of the aging des Grieux still mourning his lost Manon, with a door, a ramp and a desk,, and clever lighting by Warren Letton, leaving director Pedro Ribeiro to concentrate all the colour on the singers themselves, with ZhengZhong Zhou holding the centre as des Grieux and Susana Gaspar charming as Aurore. (…)

These are the stars of the future”.

> Crispin Wellbeloved | Global News Box

–

“For those with an inquisitive ear for new upcoming talent on the operatic scene, the introductory Meet the Jette Parker Young Artists Week is an obligatory calendar event. (…) The centrepiece of this autumn’s week-long offering at the Royal Opera’s Linbury Studio is an intriguing double-bill of Berlioz’s song-cycle Les Nuits d’été and Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon, a one-act sequel to the composer’s ultimate masterpiece for the operatic stage, and here receiving its Royal Opera premiere. Director Pedro Ribeiro makes the best case possible for this charming bon-bon of a piece that will stimulate little in those not already familiar with the earlier full-scale work. (…)”

> Richard Russell | Whats On Stage

–

“Massenet composed Le Portrait de Manon in 1894 as a one-act sequel to Manon. It is an excellent choice, coming after the Royal Opera House productions of Manon and Cendrillon. Knowing the background is valuable, as Le Portrait de Manon is essentally an epilogue to Manon. However, this Young Artists production was good enough that it could stand on its own. (…)Des Grieux (ZhengZhong Zhou) has grown old and bitter, so trapped in his grief that he’s irritated when his lively young nephew Jean (Hanna Hipp) falls in love and wants to marry. The set (Sophie Mosberger) is very well designed, emphasizing Des Grieux’s isolation, despite the trappings of wealth. There’s a long rumination, in which Des Grieux sings about his past. ZhengZhong Zhou (…) characterized Des Grieux’s personality with emotional depth. His makeup was so well done, he looked as mature as he sounded. Pablo Bemsch, as Tiberge, Des Grieux’s friend, was also very convincing, extending our sympathy with the predicament. (…) Hanna Hipp is a vivacious young scamp in trousers. If Manon the opera is tragic, Le Portrait de Manon is an invigorating romp, and in this performance, deftly executed. (…) Another good reason for paying attention to Young Artists Events, where repertoire is often approached in interesting ways.”

> Anne Ozorio | Opera Today

–

“The Jette Parker Young Artists double bill of Jules Massenet’s rare one-act opera Le Portrait de Manon (sequel to Manon) and Hector Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été, featured romance, mystique and sumptuous singing. It has its inelegant features but the latest offering from the Royal Opera House’s emerging artists team brought imagination and wit to the programme, difficult to stage though it must surely have been. (…) (In Le Portrait de Manon) The addition of pop-up silhouettes to illustrate Jean’s fascination with his romantic history lesson was endearing and props aside, as the narrative unfolded, the characterisations became larger than life against the simplicity of Sophie Mosberger’s sparse set. A single roughly painted corridor slanting up to a single door, centre-stage, provided a haunting symbol of entrance and painful exit. (…)”

> Katy S Austin | Bachtrack

–

“The Jette Parker Young Artists were sounding in good health in this unusual double-bill. Ribeiro’s direction and Sophie Mosberger’s designs kept things simple, (Le Portrait de Manon) Des Grieux (…) romantic looks and Byronic self-possession were matched by the weight and colour of his voice and its fluid, finely paced delivery. He was excellent in his opening gloomy narration, which usefully condenses three hours of Manon into a succinct few minutes. (…) Jean looked great, rather in the English-rose style, en travestie, and, as did all the singers, moved well and in keeping with her character. She was completely confident with the girl-to-boy artificiality, she had an attractive, easy presence that drew you into the role. Aurore aimed at revisiting the naive innocence of Manon before experience gets its hooks into her (…) the soubrette nature of the part engagingly realised. Des Grieux’s friend Tiberge was wittily played with an ear for the quiet humour and subtlety the role requires.”

> Peter Reed | Classical Source

–

Falstaff

pedro.ribeiro — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:31:09 +0000

Assistant Director

OPERA | Falstaff

La Boheme

pedro.ribeiro — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 01:03:24 +0000

Assistant Director

OPERA | La Boheme

Don Giovanni

pedro.ribeiro — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:05:04 +0000

Assistant Director

OPERA | Don Giovanni