Simon Boccanegra
- Robert Beale
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
Piave, Montanelli, Boito and Verdi, after Gutiérrez
Opera North
St George’s Hall, Bradford
April 24-26, 2025: 2 hrs 40 mins
(also at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, April 29; The Glasshouse, Gateshead, May 2; Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, May 11; Hull City Hall, May 17)
Though there is a love triangle, of a kind, within it, Simon Boccanegra is essentially an opera about politics – and the hard, lonely path trodden by a leader who appeals for reconciliation, not conflict. In the end, he loses his life because of it.
The work has become accepted today as one of Verdi’s greatest achievements, though it hasn’t always been that way. It has a dark, dangerous feel about it, reflecting the dirty tricks of the political world and also because three of its male major roles are sung by low voices: a baritone (the title role – and it must be cast to a singer of authority and vocal weight) and two basses. There’s one for tenor, and one for soprano – the young couple who come to represent genuine love and hope for the future.
With Francesco Piave as his main librettist, Verdi first completed it in 1857, still in the celebrity of his great successes with Il Trovatore, La Traviata and Rigoletto, each of which took the art of opera excitingly forward, though in different ways. Its initial reception proved less than totally enthusiastic (Verdi, exaggerating, called it a “fiasco”), and he only returned to it in 1881 with help from his great creative partner in later life, Arrigo Boito, replacing the ending of his original Act One with a completely new Council Chamber scene that is now seen as one of his most brilliant dramatic creations.
As a side point, in April 2024 Sir Mark Elder, with the Halle and the Chorus of Opera North, recorded the 1857 version and performed it in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, making a compelling case for its merit, reinforced by the issue of the CD around a week ago.
Opera North has recently pioneered a way of presenting blockbuster works such as Wagner’s Parsifal, Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers and Verdi’s Aida, as “dramatic concert stagings”, performing them in concert halls as well as theatres, with the orchestra on the platform behind the singers, a minimalist set and present-day costumes rather than a period look. Some have had video projection as a backdrop, but that’s also been dispensable.
This one has opened at the St George’s Hall, Bradford as a high-spot of the City of Culture year, rather than in Opera North's Leeds home. The entire building in Bradford has been used to stage the political clashes and near-riotous crowd scenes that surround the gradually unravelling relational tangle of the main characters - the Chorus of Opera North appearing at first on the sides of the circle seating as party supporters, later singing as a distant choir for the offstage wedding, and also bursting in from the stalls' side corridors as a baying mob. Two assistant conductors follow CCTV screens as Antony Hermus, the company’s principal guest conductor, takes charge of all the stunning musical impact of the score. Grand civic auditoria can be as much an asset as a problem to be solved with a saga such as this.
The plot – based on a play of 1843 – is almost too convoluted to explain, but there’s a Prologue set 25 years before the rest, in which we learn that Boccanegra, an ex-pirate, becomes Doge (Governor) of Genoa and fathers a child with the wife of his great enemy, Fiesco. A quarter of a century later, the girl has grown up and is the ward of Fiesco; neither he nor Boccanegra knows that she, Amelia, is their grand-daughter and daughter, respectively. She is in love with a sworn enemy of Boccanegra, Gabriele. There’s much more to come – the word “vendetta” emerging strongly and repeatedly through it as Paolo, the man who originally helped Boccanegra to win the votes of the people, becomes both his enemy and a rival to Gabriele for Amelia’s hand.
Roland Wood in the title role brings both authority and a noble purity of tone, combined with committed acting. Vazgen Gazaryan (Fiesco) has a rich low register and presents effectively the change of tone attributable to his bitter experience in the story. Mandla Mndebele as Paolo Albiani acts the thwarted power player and unrequited lover: he is the out-and-out bad guy, but finds depth there.
The young lovers are young singers: Andres Presno, as Gabriele, is a real heroic tenor in the Italian tradition. He has sung for Opera North before and is able to react intelligently and use his vocal potential wisely. Sara Cortolezzis, making her Opera North debut as Amelia, is a real find in a role that must be a stand-out in the story, as she alone brings reconciliation to the warring men.
More info and tickets here
