'Baroque opera is like a necklace woven with pearls'
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Director Fabio Ceresa / Courtesy of KNO
35 year-old Italian director returns to stage Orlando Finto Pazzo in Seoul
By Yun Suh-young
Fabio Ceresa is the director for Antonio Vivaldi's "Orlando Finto Pazzo" which will be performed until May 14 at the LG Art Center in Seoul. It is a rare piece to be staged anywhere in the world - rare because it is unknown - yet the Italian director is bringing it to Seoul, which may seem an unlikely choice.
The operatic work was introduced in Seoul last year for the first time, after the Korea National Opera (KNO) decided to pull out a piece that was experimental. After positive reviews, the KNO decided to stage it again, with the same director as last time.
"Usually when we do a piece again, we play the same repertoires, but this time the conductor and three singers are new, so the music tempo changed, a few of the arias changed and the way we interpreted the characters changed," Ceresa said during an interview with The Korea Times, Monday.
A characteristic of baroque opera is that it is extremely long and flamboyant. This piece is already halved from the original but still 190 minutes long including two 15-minute intermissions.
"The reason why baroque opera was so long was because people at that time spent all of their evening at the opera. Nowadays we have cinemas and theaters but during that period, there was nowhere to go except to the opera. There, they would eat, talk and love - basically do everything except watch the show. So in order to keep the show going, it had to be long," Ceresa said.
"For this piece, I cut off about one to two arias per person to make it easier for the audience, but that was not an easy task."
The storyline is also extremely complicated. There are eight characters in the plot, seven of whom are intertwined in love. Understanding the relationship between each character may take as long as the running time.
"In the early 1700s there was a huge revolution in the opera script with the appearance of Pietro Metastasio, an Italian script writer who was active in the 18th century. He was the one who thought opera scripts should have meaning and literary value. Before then, there was no value in the script itself. Orlando Finto Pazzo was one of the scripts like that. Nobody cared about the logical flow of the story," Ceresa said.
He said the difficulty of baroque opera was that it needed "special care."
"Baroque opera is like a necklace woven with pearls. The pearls are the arias and the string is the recitativo. When you take out an aria, the necklace doesn't become uglier, just shorter. That means, each of the arias are, in themselves, gems. However, it needs special care not to get lost in the path," he said.
Whereas many directors these days try to interpret baroque operas in a contemporary setting, such as wearing suits as costumes, to relate to audiences, Ceresa said he likes to stick to the original.
"Stage directors these days do that for convenience. It's rather difficult to imagine ways to portray magic and ghosts. They can become obstacles. They also do that because they think baroque opera is boring. But on the contrary, I think we need to emphasize the Italian stage techniques and have pride in them. I'm not afraid of using huge stage props and machines and extravagant dresses," Ceresa said.
"Opera needs to give its audiences delight. I put emphasis in the dramatic effects for this opera to re-enact the 1700s baroque opera such as the giant egg and flower opening and the witch flying to the sky and chains dropping to the ground from the ceiling."
Ceresa said the greatest part in the opera is when Angelica, whom the protagonist Orlando is in love with, appears. This is the part where no singing is involved and the ballerina (Angelica) performs on her own.
"We didn't use the original score from the opera in that part. Instead we took a song from Vivaldi's violin concerto. I think that piece is not only one of the most beautiful pieces by Vivaldi, but also one of the most beautiful among all violin concertos out there."
Despite the fact that Italy is the country where opera was born, Ceresa said government support for the art genre is minimal.
"The number one reason why foreigners learn Italian is to study music. Opera is a jewel that raises the reputation of Italy outside of the country. Ironically, in Italy, opera isn't considered that important. It doesn't receive any incentives for boosting the national value. It is also the target of budget cuts. The budget given to all the theaters in Italy is equivalent to the budget France gives to one theater. The reason why opera is alive is because of the passion of young people," he said.