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by Giuseppe Gazzaniga / Igor Stravinsky,

directed by Tom Diamond / Serge Bennathan

Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio,

Imperial Oil Opera Theatre, Toronto

June 16-22, 2008

This year the COC Ensemble Studio is presenting a double-bill of operatic rarities--Don Giovanni (1787), not by Mozart but by his contemporary Giuseppe Gazzaniga (1743-1818) and Renard (1922), a 15-minute burlesque by 20th-century master Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971).  The two works are entertaining if not particularly profound but they do provide a fine showcase of the talents of the next generation of opera singers.

Gazzaniga’s Don Giovanni at only 95 minutes long is about half the length of Mozart’s opera and while it was very popular in its day, it is inferior to Mozart’s masterpiece musically, dramatically and intellectually.  At the same time, it is known that it influenced Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte by setting forth the plot and characters that Mozart and Da Ponte would elaborate in their work that appeared later in the same year.  Gazzaniga’s opera, thus seems like a précis of Mozart’s even though it was written first.  Designer Yannik Larivée has set the action in its period in gorgeous costumes and director Tom Diamond has drawn detailed performances from the entire cast.  Adam Luther does not have an ideal ringing tone but he is suitably haughty as the dastardly womanizer juggling four different affairs at the same time.  As his faithful servant, here called Pasquariello, baritone Jon-Paul Décosse tries perhaps too hard to his character funny who, unlike Mozart’s Leporello, is a would-be womanizer himself.  The finest voices have the finest arias like those of Yannick-Muriel Noah as Donna Anna, whose father Don Giovanni murders, Melinda Delorme as Donna Elvira, Justin Welsh as the peasant Biagio and Lisa DiMaria as his fiancée Maturina.  The vocal highlight of Gazzaniga’s version is a duet of one-upmanship between Elvira and Maturina that has no equivalent in Mozart.  For those who don’t know Mozart’s work, Gazzaniga’s will be a pleasant if undemanding introduction to the story.  For those who do, it will serve as a fascinating means of measuring Mozart and Da Ponte’s genius.

Stravinsky’s Renard is based on the Russian version of the kind of barnyard fables found around the world.  Here a Fox (Michael Barrett) twice entices the overly proud Cock (Adam Luther) to come down from his perch to be attacked.  On his third attempt the Cock’s friends, the Ram and the Cat (Andrew Stewart and Justin Welsh) combine forces and kill the Fox.  Designer Larivée and director Serge Bennathan have brilliant re-imagined this contest as a battle of Mexican luchadores, known for having even more outrageous costumes than their American counterparts in professional wrestling.  Bennathan is more content with his concept than with actually illustrating the story, but with such a short work that hardly matters.  In condensed form Stravinsky’s burlesque provides the evening with the comedy and satire so oddly missing from Gazzaniga’s opera.     

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2008-06-17.

Photo: Lisa DiMaria and Adam Luther. ©Michael Cooper.