UK Edition
Review
Rinaldo, Glyndebourne Festival, review: more work needed from the boyishly handsome, breakdancing counter-tenor
About 18 months ago the opera world was buzzing about a young Polish counter-tenor, new on the scene, called Jakub Józef Orliński. Boyishly handsome (and a part-time male model), he was also a champion breakdancer and prolific contributor to social media. A recording contract was signed, the press lapped him up. Could he be the one to make classical music ‘more accessible’ to Millennials hooked on hiphop and iphones?
I met him briefly: a nice, serious, articulate lad. But then at a Wigmore Hall recital I heard him live for the first time and thought - oops, something has been taken out of the oven too early here. Perhaps he was tired, or nervous, or both, but his singing sounded shrill in timbre, uneven between registers and expressively unsubtle. More work needed.
Now comes his debut at Glyndebourne. Originally he was scheduled to play a secondary character in this revival of Handel’s Rinaldo, but when mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong withdrew, he was promoted to the title-role at very short notice.
Sounding more robust, vibrant and confident than he had at the Wigmore Hall, he scored a big ovation and I warmed to him too: his clarity of projection is remarkable and he phrases with musicality. But he didn’t move me with the beauty of his voice - as Iestyn Davies did in the previous revival - and I found his energetic acting a trifle arch. A big talent, but yes, more work needed.
Three counter-tenors in one evening is too much of a good thing: Tim Mead (Goffredo) gave Orlinski a run for his money, but Patrick Terry (in Orlinski’s original role of Eustazio) was disappointingly wan. Two sopranos are easier to handle: Kristina Mkhitaryan’s Miss Whiplash dominatrix of an Armida was sung with irresistible bravado, while Giulia Semenzato simpered charmingly as the ingenue Almirena. At the other end of the scale, the bass Brandon Cedel (Argante) spun some fine legato and didn’t bark or woof as his kind so often do in this music.
As rehearsed by Bruno Ravella, Robert Carsen’s 2011 staging remains playful and inventive, even if its concept of a Harry Potterish schoolboy fighting an anti-Islamic crusade doesn’t hold much water: the brief third act is a romp and a well-lubricated audience roared with laughter at the pratfalls. Maxim Emelyanychev conducted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment buoyantly, but left me unconvinced that this should rank as one of Handel’s better operas.
Until August 24, in repertory with Die Zauberflöte and Rusalka. Tickets: 01273 815000; glyndebourne.com