Alexander Balus. By G.F. Handel. Canberra Choral Society.The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, Saturday, September 20 at 7.30pm. Tickets: Full price $64 & $54 Concessions: $59 & $49 Bookings: 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au
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It's been Tobias Cole's dream to present Handel's oratorios to Canberra audiences, one each year, performed by the singers of Canberra Choral Society and outstanding soloists. Last year's production, Theodora, was sold out, leaving some people who had anticipated buying tickets just before the performance standing forlornly in the foyer. The production received warm reviews including that by the Canberra Times critic, Jennifer Gall: "an elegant, professional production".
This year the chosen oratorio is Handel's Alexander Balus, a work which had its premiere in London over 260 years ago. It's a little-known work, recorded only twice, that has, however, great dramatic potential if one looks beyond the rather confused libretto, written in English by Thomas Morell and based on the biblical book 1 Maccabees.
"It brings in family power games and manipulation by the Egyptian king," Tobias Cole says. "King Ptolemee presents himself as a friend to Alexander Balus and it's only in the second half of the opera that his true motives are revealed. We've condensed Acts I and II, and Act III, the most dramatic, comes after the interval."
The full score by 19th-century Handel expert Friedrich Chrysander has been used as the main source for creating the parts for this production.
This action goes far beyond a formal oratorio performance. Brett Weymark will conduct with the choir and band formed into crescents, and the soloists at the front of the stage. Special choreography will direct all movement, costuming will add to the visual impact and subtle lighting will provide focus.
"Brett's collaboration has helped make things happen," Cole says. "He's not only a great conductor but prepared to think outside the box in his belief in making theatre. Brett and I first collaborated in 1990 as soloists in Arvo Part's Passio and we're constantly developing a new style of presenting this type of music. Each year we're building on what we've done before with the same team in a way that will be unique to Australia."
Cole thinks that The Playhouse is the perfect venue for this production. "It's an intimate space with very live sound," he says.
Cole will sing the alto role of Alexander Balus, King of Syria, with tenor Christopher Saunders as his friend Jonathan, Chief of the Jews. Christopher Richardson, an outstanding young bass baritone from Sydney, will portray the devious Ptolemee, King of Egypt, who plots to use everything, even his daughter Cleopatra, to seize the Syrian throne from Alexander.
Melbourne soprano Jacqueline Porter, from Victorian Opera, will take the role of Cleopatra and Canberra mezzo soprano Christina Wilson will portray Aspasia, Cleopatra's confidant. "Christina has been part of this Handel project since its inception," Cole says. "She sang in our 2012 production, Saul, and last year in Theodora."
The music will be performed on period instruments by a distinguished band of instrumentalists: violinist Bianca Porcheddu from the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, cellist Anthea Cottee, a Canberran who also plays with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Leanne Sullivan on baroque trumpet and Canberra oboist, now based in Melbourne, Kirsten Barry.
Cole, busy as ever, has just received accolades for his performances as Pharaoh Akhnaten in the Philip Glass trilogy (Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha and Akhnaten) performed by the State Opera of South Australia. "He all but stole the show," wrote critic Emily Morris. "When he teamed with soprano Deborah Caddy and mezzo soprano Cherie Boogaart (he) achieved a fascinating effect, haunting and hypnotic."
Cole's versatility enables him to move easily from the contemporary to the baroque and from September 21 he'll turn his talents to something completely different: conducting four weeks of Evensong at the National Portrait Gallery, a 25 minute program from 4pm. "Evensong without the religious trappings," he says. "An experience, not a concert."