Concert in the foyer of the Finnish National Opera, the 21st of May, 2022

The last foyer concert of this spring in the Finnish National opera was a really positive experience. It was an interesting mix of French and German opera and lieds with some Russian songs to spice it up.

Mezzosoprano Anna Erokhina was the most active singer of the afternoon, since she sang i Carmen’s “Habanera” from Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen”, the aria “Vois sous l’archet frémissant” and romance “Voyez-la sous son éventail” (both by Nicklaus) from Jacques Offenbach’s opera “The Tales of Hoffmann” and some songs from Gustav Mahler’s  set of songs “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen”. I liked her voice and she is a rather good performer, too.  

“The Tales of Hoffmann” was the centerpiece of the day, since also Polina Liiv and Tatjana Romanova-Vorontsova sang a duet “Belle nuit, ȏ nuit d’amour barcarolle” from it. The performance wasn’t especially memorable, but quite all right anyway.   

Johanna Lehesvuo sang a little bit rarer aria, that is, Heliane’s aria “Ich ging zu ihm” from Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s opera “Das Wunder der Heliane”. This aria is really versatile and requires a lot from the singer, but she nailed it quite nicely.   

Even though the programme was versatile, my absolute favourite of the day was Igor Stravinsky’s “Three Japanese Lyrics” sung by Tatjana Romanova-Vorotsova accompanied by a small orchestra. Absolutely charming little masterpieces and the orchestra sounded divine. It is wonderful that you get to hear such slightly more unusual pieces that you do not hear every day.

Igor Stravinsky has also composed another set of miniature songs ”Pribaoutki”, which was sung by Natalia Vinogradova accompanied by another small orchestra. It was also quite nice, but not as great as the Japanese lyrics.  

After the interval baritone Dong-Hoon Han again performed three more songs from Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise” (not the same as in the end of April). I must say I admire his admiration of ”Winterreise” even though his interpretation is not quite to my taste.  

My Johansson sang this time Ariadne’s aria ”Es gibt ein reich” from Richard Strauss’s opera “Ariadne auf Naxos”. Even this time Johansson made an impression on me.   

And the last performer of the afternoon was Joonas Orrain, who sang more songs from the Mahler songs mentioned above after Anna Erokhina.