Wexford Festival - dumbing down?

westtip

Has anyone been to Wexford Opera Festival "summer festival" this year - silbersee by Kurt Weil has to be IMO the worst so called opera ever selected for the repertoire at Wexford. Simply dreadful. A poor quality drama with poor quality music - absolutely the worse thing i have ever seen trying to pass itself off as an opera - selecting this piece has done untold damage to the reputatation of Wexford as a truly international opera festival. Thumbs down big time - at at €100 a throw for a ticket - an absolute joke to its fee paying public.

I'mthe gaffer

One or two points here westtip, as you probably know the reason for the Wexford opera festival is to present operas which are not in the mainstream operatic repertoire. It can occasionally throw up turkeys that probably deserve to be forgotten. In fairness to the festival they now have an Irish based orchestra rather than a motley bunch of Eastern European 'yellow pack' musicians as they tried for a few years. In addition as I see from your location, I believe that The Marriage of Figaro will be performed in Galway as Gaelige during July so it wouldn't be as far away!

Sandwich

I'mthe gaffer wrote:

One or two points here westtip, as you probably know the reason for the Wexford opera festival is to present operas which are not in the mainstream operatic repertoire. It can occasionally throw up turkeys that probably deserve to be forgotten. In fairness to the festival they now have an Irish based orchestra rather than a motley bunch of Eastern European 'yellow pack' musicians as they tried for a few years. In addition as I see from your location, I believe that The Marriage of Figaro will be performed in Galway as Gaelige during July so it wouldn't be as far away!

One or two points also, Imthegaffer :

1. Its easy to pick operas that arent in the mainstream repertiore - the reputation of such a festival rests on presenting rare works that should not be rare, not turkeys.
2. How can you suggest we should be 'fair' to the festival just because they are using Irish instrumentalists? Your implication is that we should tolerate a lower standard of player just because they are Irish. (a) Im not sure the irish players are inferior. (b) Even if they are, that is no reason to tolerate them and lower standards in what is purporting to be a high quality festival.

westtip

I'mthe gaffer wrote:

One or two points here westtip, as you probably know the reason for the Wexford opera festival is to present operas which are not in the mainstream operatic repertoire. It can occasionally throw up turkeys that probably deserve to be forgotten. In fairness to the festival they now have an Irish based orchestra rather than a motley bunch of Eastern European 'yellow pack' musicians as they tried for a few years. In addition as I see from your location, I believe that The Marriage of Figaro will be performed in Galway as Gaelige during July so it wouldn't be as far away!

Nozze di Figaro as Gaelige - don't worry the music will still be sublime - think I will make the trip down for that one. Yes I am well aware of the idea of the WFO restoring little known pieces to the repertoire - as a Friend of WFO for over twelve years I have witnessed some of their turkeys, but Silbersee is the turkey of them all - it simply isn't an opera. casting an ex british soap opera star from Eastenders in a principal role was pure tabloiding of the festival and not necessary. Re the choice of musicians at the festival - that was an issue for the festival management and not an issue I was taking WFO to task on in this thread - Quite simply Silbersee is the worst selection of opera ever by the WFO artistic directors - and when people come expecting to see an opera they are entitled to stand up and say - this piece truly is a load of rubbish and should never have got past the selection process at €100 for a ticket it was an absolute disgrace. It was the worst thing I have ever heard trying to pass itself off as an opera - and believe me I have clocked up a few miles on the operatic mileage chart over the years (about 2,000 live performances attended in my life to date)

Oryx

Chief executive of WFO Michael Hunt has stepped down and is yet to be replaced. This was a very unexpected move, as he was hired only last year, and the festival is in the middle of a huge redevelopment at the moment. So not the best timing for this. I think the powers that be were less than happy with his ideas for the direction the festival should take.

And yes, that opera got completely slated.:) I didnt see it myself, the tickets were a tad steep.

Earlgrey

I thought Silbersee was a brave attempt at a broader scope than traditionally for the festival: I don't have any problem with a loose interpretation of 'opera' for one of the productions. I had more problem with the set and the direction, which was aimless and distracting in the first half though I felt came together a little better in the second half - at least there was some point in all the running up and down stairs. Pulcinella was wonderful, I thought, and Arlecchino quite well done, even if I didn't find it engaging. There was an old fella behind me who was scandalised by Pulcinella. 'Did you like it?' I said, more to make conversation. 'I did not,' he said, very firmly. 'I closed my eyes from the beginning until the end. This is not the Wexford Festival!' Ah. But he almost 'bravo-ed' himself off his seat after Arlecchino, so at least he left the evening happy. But Rusalka was an absolute joy of a production: stunning; and I've been cruising Youtube since then to hear extracts from it. Of the afternoon works Carmen was great (even if Herself was not quite the seductress she might have been).

Ticket prices are quite high, but the costs are enormous. Overall I thought they represented good value, especially the lunchtime recitals at 12 euro, with lunch thrown in.

This was my first time at Wexford, and I'm very inclined to go again, even with the very different atmosphere of the Opera House in October and not the Castle in June. It's clear from the average age of the audience that they ened to do something to attract a younger crowd as well as the older one. So I don't think we should regard attemtps to broaden the festival's attraction with some generosity; you'll not always get it right: but isn't that what Wexford is all about?

westtip

Earlgrey wrote:

I thought Silbersee was a brave attempt at a broader scope than traditionally for the festival: I don't have any problem with a loose interpretation of 'opera' for one of the productions. I had more problem with the set and the direction, which was aimless and distracting in the first half though I felt came together a little better in the second half - at least there was some point in all the running up and down stairs.

Ticket prices are quite high,

So I don't think we should regard attemtps to broaden the festival's attraction with some generosity; you'll not always get it right: but isn't that what Wexford is all about?

Look this is one of the great opera festivals of the world which people pay pilgrimage to come to - they expect to see opera - silbersee was an unmitigated disaster for WFO if it was an attempt to dumb down it did just that - What really is concerning about choosing Silbersee for the WFO is the untold damage (in my view) which has been caused to the reputation of WFO. The waste of money, producing and performing such an appalling piece does make me question in which direction the Festival is now going. The production values of this performance were first class and it is clear a lot of money was spent on it – but for what reason when such an appalling piece was clearly not going to be received well by Wexford audiences – the reaction was very muted to this piece. the reviews were quite rightly appalling.
The use of an ex soap opera star made me deeply suspicious. Anita Dobsons reputation from a British TV soap meant nothing to me Ms Dobson acted out her part quite competently in the play Silbersee, but I did wonder had the board of WFO decided to dumb down the festival promoting one of the central platforms of the Festival (the three operas are after all the backbone of the Festival) on the basis it has an ex soap opera star in it. It reminded me of the tactics of a provincial theatre or summertime pier show promoting it’s pantomime because a “has been” of a TV soap opera is playing the Dame that year. Does WFO really feel it has to enter a tabloid world in an attempt to democratize the festival? I find this a distressingly retrograde step for the future of the festival. In the programme notes Ms Dobson was described as an actress and Mezzo Soprano. Actress yes. Mezzo soprano? This is an insult to professional opera singers who have trained for many years. Ms Dobson would not pass an audition for most small town church choirs. Had I realised she was listed as a mezzo soprano for an international opera festival my hearty boos and hollers would have been heard from the audience. Her “singing” was simply dreadful. Ms Dobson is not an opera singer, she is not a mezzo soprano, she sang out of key, squawking her way through the little ditties she had to sing. It was painfully embarrassing to listen to. Ms Dobson is no mezzo soprano and to list her in the programme as such is a violation of the trades descriptions act.

Regarding the piece it wasn't even a good drama - it lacked tightness was overlong for the message it was trying to get across and simply did not gel. It was an altogether appalling piece of drama.
Anyway -I for one like many others was not impressed - in fact the worst thing I have seen at Wexford in my ten years of going there. The artistic director should be spit roasted.