Five stars for Andrea Chénier, Royal Opera House — Jonas Kaufmann returns to full-throttle form

The smart money said this revival of Giordano’s Andrea Chénier would have little new to offer, but it was wrong. Although the Royal Opera production is nearly 10 years old and the two main singers and conductor have appeared in it before, this performance made news on two counts.

The first is that Jonas Kaufmann sounds restored to something like his pre-pandemic self after several years of illnesses and cancellations. The burnished tone may have turned a little husky, but the musicianship is as fine as ever and, while he has never been the kind of tenor to throw caution to the wind, he roused his vocal resources to give the role of Andrea Chénier some impassioned, full-throttle singing.

The second is that Antonio Pappano is making his final appearances after 22 years as the Royal Opera’s music director. A verismo opera, Pappano’s greatest strength, was a good choice to say goodbye and Giordano most likely never heard Andrea Chénier played with the near-symphonic scale and passion that Pappano gives it here.

When David McVicar’s production was new in 2015 it felt inert, conventional in a tired way, but nearly a decade later the world looks different. With financial cutbacks hurting on every side, one is grateful for its grandeur and opulence, which may soon be a thing of the past.

Give it a cast that is committed and there is life in it after all. Sondra Radvanovsky is never a soprano to hold back and she sings Maddalena with no-holds-barred power, while also finding an inner intensity at her heart, charging the opera with electricity.

Amartuvshin Enkhbat sings a strong Gérard, with rolling waves of ample tone. There are vivid cameos from Rosalind Plowright as Contessa di Coigny and Ashley Riches as Roucher. Katia Ledoux gives notice of an impressive voice as Bersi and where would this production be without the inimitable Elena Zilio as old, blind Madelon? You are unlikely to come across an Andrea Chénier better than this.

★★★★★

To June 11, roh.org.uk

Never mind the awful summer weather. As the country-house opera season in England gets under way, the big question is not whether to risk a picnic, but which of this year’s festivals is offering the most adventurous operatic fare.

The 2024 winner is Garsington Opera, founded in 1989, now resident at the Getty estate at Wormsley in Buckinghamshire. Its new productions include two real rarities — Rameau’s Platée and Verdi’s Un giorno di regno, both by composers not known for their comedies — alongside Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a community opera, A Trip to the Moon, by American composer Andrew Norman.

For a celebratory start to the season, the wildly odd Platée makes an intriguing choice. It was written for the wedding of Louis XV’s son, the dauphin of France, in 1745. For reasons that seem bizarre to us today, Rameau chose the mark the occasion with a farcical tale of how Jupiter tricks his jealous wife Juno by setting up a bogus wedding to an ugly marsh nymph — cue gurgling frog noises and slimy scenes.

Is there anything today as far from real life as reality TV? Director Louisa Muller has updated Rameau’s mythological fable into a gods-meet-the-commoners episode of Love Island. When Jupiter and Juno fall out, Olympus TV’s hit show’s ratings plummet, so the creators cook up the idea of Jupiter being paired with Platée, a gawky girl who trips over her own feet and has a male voice (the role is sung by a tenor).

Unfortunately, like the stars of reality TV, the production is not as funny as it thinks it is. Some scenes hit the spot, such as the lengthy divertissement when La Folie (Madness) appears as a glittering chanteuse hosting nightclub revels, but too much is reduced to generic hyperactivity, as if a lot of mad rushing about can hide a lack of specific comic ideas.

As compensation, the period-instrument English Concert was on hand, stylishly conducted by Paul Agnew, a former Platée of distinction himself. Henry Waddington and Robert Murray, as Cithéron and Mercury, are admired Garsington regulars, though both tended to ride roughshod over the French recitative, and Ossian Huskinson’s Jupiter impressed with his strong bass-baritone voice.

The evening’s accolade goes to tenor Samuel Boden as poor, put-upon Platée, first for his elegant singing and second for his willingness to don a series of lurid green dresses. This production’s final image of Platée, now abandoned and dejected, is a difficult one. So long as Platée is a marsh nymph, mocking her is not a problem, but what about rejecting a young woman simply because she is not very attractive? Do we really want to laugh at her?

★★★☆☆

To June 30, garsingtonopera.org