Alcina in the Helsinki Music Centre (Sonore stage), the 6th of April, 2019

This spring’s opera production of the Sibelius Academy students is a baroque opera, this time Georg Friedrich Handel’s “Alcina”. I saw this opera last about 18 months ago in Vaasa, where the soloists made a lasting impression on me. I would, therefore, have liked to see some other Handel opera instead (Handel has a huge amount of operas that have never been shown in Finland), but better “Alcina” than nothing.

So, as a recap the story of the opera. Bradamante’s lover Ruggiero has disappeared and is found on an island governed by Alcina. Alcina has bewitched several people and Ruggiero is completely under her spell. Bradamante dresses as a man when he leaves to rescue her lover together with Melisso and of course Alcina’s sister Morgana, who is married to Oronte, falls in love with her. Bradamante manages with great effort and the help of Melisso to break the spell and Ruggiero releases the rest of the people bewitched by Alcina. Alcina loses her magical powers and Morgana and Orente get back together. Quite silly a plot, but fortunately it does not affect the music.  

Not quite all the singers were at home with baroque opera, but that is hardly surprising since baroque opera is very difficult to sing. It requires technical abilities that not everybody naturally has.

The star of the opera was Minna-Leena Lahti, who sang the role of Morgana. I admired her already in the previous Sibelius Academy production of ”The Rape of Lucretia” and in “Alcina” she was of her own class. If this singer will not have a good international career, I will be very surprised. Also Réka  Bata in the role of Alcina was very convincing after a bit stiff beginning. She created very good emotional tension in her arias. I also liked Jussi Vänttinen in the role of Melisso. Very promising voice and I would definitely like to hear his singing in the future, too.

In the pit the Sibelius Academy baroque orchestra was playing conducted by Taiwanese I-Han Fu. The first minutes of the opera the orchestra was severely out of balance and you could not even recognize that they were playing Handel. Then, fortunately, they managed to get a grip of the music and the rest went well.

The director of the opera was Vilppu Kiljunen. On general level I liked his work, though I did not quite understand the plastic orgy in the end. If it was a statement supporting circular economy, it did not look like one in my eyes. Set design was made by Sirje Ruohtula and work group. The set design was not very abundant: basically some plastic sheets and a couple of stairs. It kind of worked even though it was a bit severe. Costume design (Aalto University work group: Riikka Mäntymaa, Elina Ström and Csilla Szlovák) was a success: timeless but modern.  

It is always interesting to see student projects of Sibelius Academy. Sometimes the results are more intriguing than other times, but it is always exciting to follow the development of the students. I can warmly recommend this opera, too, despite some blips. I am sure that with time the performances will become more confident and there are still a couple of performances left (one in Järvenpää).