IL TROVATORE
"Internationally at the forefront"
In Erl, the performance begins even before the performance: When the Italian baritone Luca Salsi takes his seat in the audience, he is celebrated with bravos for the Rigoletto he sang here the previous evening. Somewhat less so Jonas Kaufmann, whom one now knows here as artistic director, who brings previously unknown star glamour to the Tiroler Festspiele. Condensed at the end of his first summer festival in the "Trilogia popolare", the concert performance of the three most famous operas from Giuseppe Verdi's middle years.
To cast Verdi's 'Il trovatore', Kaufmann's colleague Enrico Caruso is said to have said, is ultimately quite simple: You just need the four best singers in the world. Whether Erl has really found the four best for 'The Troubadour', we don't want to argue about that. What is clear at the latest by the intermission: With Pretty Yende as Leonora, Mattia Olivieri as Luna, Piero Pretti as Manrico and Elizabeth DeShong as Azucena, they are now playing at the forefront, internationally. (…) The result is opera as only opera can be: monumental even without staging, emotional power plant without any regard for plot logic, a bit of bullfighting too, interrupted again and again by frenetic applause. Have we forgotten something? Oh yes, Anna Netrebko was also sitting in the audience. One should still hear quite a bit from and in Erl in the coming years.
(Süddeutsche Zeitung)
RIGOLETTO
"Euphoria in the hall"
While at the beginning everyone still remained in their roles, the ensemble let itself be increasingly infected by the continuously rising euphoria in the hall over the course of the evening. When, for example, the jubilation after Gilda's bravura rendition of "Caro nome" simply wouldn't end and the conductor finally had to bring Julia Muzychenko back on stage for a well-deserved solo applause. A scene that repeated itself similarly loudly after the "Sì, vendetta" duet, where the distinctly colored soprano of the young Russian mixed ideally with Tézier's baritone. And it was clear that a genuine tenor naturally cannot stand back there. That's why Iván Ayón Rivas rushed forward prophylactically after his aria in the second act to also bathe in applause. A confident attitude that suited the overbearing duke well. Especially because the Peruvian Operalia prize winner not only equipped his role with an extra portion of testosterone, but also garnished the earworms intended for him with powerfully shining high notes.
(Münchner Merkur)
"Great opera theater"
As part of the Tiroler summer festival, Jonas Kaufmann, the new artistic director, took a risk this year: He presents Verdi's so-called "Trilogia popolare" – Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata – in concert form, but with the best voices of our time. The risk was great, the result overwhelming. (…) With Salsi, one encounters that great Italian baritone art of bygone times again. His Rigoletto is not a cute court jester, but above all a father, torn apart by his daughter's suffering. Without any exaggeration, he forms a portrayal full of finesse and nuances. The voice is of intoxicating splendor, giving the character a special impact. (…) But it's not just the flawless voices that make the magic: The scenic play, flawless and of magnetic presence, captivates one from the first to the last minute. Boredom? Déjà-vu? No way. That was great opera theater – and a feast for all the senses.
(Forum Opéra)
"Why Verdi's Rigoletto became a world success"
That his daughter thwarts his plan and becomes a victim herself completely destroys him and makes him believe that Monterone's curse has now been fulfilled on him. Salsi underlines all this with a magnificent baritone that has enormous volume in the depths and great radiance in the heights. Full of contempt, he hurls his great aria "Cortigiani" at the courtiers in the second act, where he switches to a plaintive tone in his despair. His duet "Si, vendetta, tremenda vendetta" with his daughter at the end of the second act tears the audience to such storms of enthusiasm that Salsi listens to the audience with his hand at his ear and lets himself be carried away to a repetition, where he vocally adds even more with Julia Muzychenko as Gilda during the repetition, so that the audience can hardly calm down. (…) In this excellent cast, it becomes understandable why Verdi's Rigoletto became a world success.
(Online Merker)
"Please more such star hours of opera, you don't forget that! Many cried! Verdi would also have been pleased!"
(Klingers Kulturpavillon)
LA TRAVIATA
"Rosa Feola tore the audience from their seats"
That the concert performance works in Erl is, alongside Verdi's earworms, a merit of the excellent personnel who stand on stage. Above all Rosa Feola as Violetta. With secure high notes and a fine interpretation, she literally tore the audience from their seats. Rarely has one heard Violetta "die" so beautifully as on this evening.
(Tiroler Tageszeitung)
DUKE BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE / LA VOIX HUMAINE
"Must-see of this summer. It's your own fault, one would like to call out to those who stayed at home, because this double evening with outstanding soloist casting is certainly among the best that the Erl Festival Hall has seen since it went into operation in 2012."
(Orpheus)
"You have to hear it. What should one write about it now? So much: You have to experience it yourself. You have to hear how Hannigan sings captivatingly and creates goosebump moments, you have to hear yourself how discreetly and yet atmospherically the orchestra plays under the absolutely flawless baton of Martin Rajna here. And you have to see how skillfully the staging supports Poulenc's music. So go!"
(Tiroler Tageszeitung)
"When everything fits together. (…) This unusually rounded, outstandingly well-cast and scenically exciting evening was enthusiastically received, although the audience in Erl rather expects Wagner or bel canto. It is an encouragement to sharpen the profile of this festival, which is still searching a little for its meaning, through – in moderation – more challenging works and scenically unconventional performances like this co-production with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. And when it's done as well as this double evening, then such things also find their audience."
(Abendzeitung)
"Barbara Hannigan was magnificent in the role of La femme (The Woman)! With overwhelming intensity, devoted physical and vocal commitment, enormous presence and expressive power, she fulminantly experienced all shades of this exceptional female figure. A fantastic premiere and a huge success! Both one-act operas were frenetically celebrated and cheered by the audience, rightly, with standing ovations and bravo calls! (Online Merker)
"Outstanding opera evening" (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
"Such Erl productions should get around." (Münchner Merkur)
"Goosebumps at the Tiroler Festspiele: Bartók and Poulenc performed in rarely heard quality." (Tiroler Tageszeitung)
"Bayreuth? Salzburg? No, Erl in the Inn Valley!" (Welt)
