A year ago, the influential British critic Andrew Mellor, who came to Lithuania on behalf of Opera magazine to write a review of Vilnius City Opera's play Faustus, once again paid attention to this troupe. His positive opinion about "Faust" and the intriguing description of the troupe itself attracted the interest of another world-famous and prestigious publication "Opera Now", which, having already seen the work of the "bohemians", asked him to present Vilnius City Opera in the "Main Stage" column. . The author's impressions of the "bohemians" preparing for the opera "Samson and Delilah" returning to the Compensa concert hall on May 2-4 are from the February "Opera Now" pages.
A small but courageous troupe in Lithuania, which exists under the leadership of its charismatic founder - director, may be one of the least known secrets of the opera world. But not for long. Andrew Mellor directs the spotlight to the center of attention - Vilnius City Opera.
Question: why did Lithuanian opera lovers cross the street? This is not the start of a bad joke. The answer: to see elegant, ambitious operas produced by independent companies. Because Vilnius City Opera (VCO) creates opera performances in a bunker-like concert hall located in front of the state-funded National Opera and Ballet Theater, operating in a retro-style building from the 1970s. Founded in 2006 by Lithuanian-born director Dalia Ibelhauptaitė, VCO has since presented 14 new productions. They present six weekly blocks of performances per season, including at least one brand new production.
VCO has a lot of very unusual things: the troupe orchestra is the relatively recently assembled Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the choir is the professional Kaunas State Choir, supplemented by students and graduates of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. Even more remarkable is the fact that the productions regularly feature top-class soloists. In the last two decades, Lithuania has prepared a special crop of excellent soloists, few of whom become part of the National Opera. Many enjoy freelancing abroad and come to the VCO to prepare roles, visit homes or take part in a talent-nurturing drama experiment in between performances at the world's greatest opera houses.
This experiment was born out of Ibelhauptaite's unusual study and work ethic. Before going to London to work at the Royal National Theater and even in the cinema (in England she met her husband, actor and director Dexter Fletcher), she studied at the prestigious Russian Theater Academy (GITIS) in Moscow based on the strict Stanislavsky system. Dalia was lured to the opera by British impresario Adam Pollock, and her directorial debut in Don Juan took place at his Batignano festival in lazy Tuscany. The famous opera director of the day, Richard Jones, was staging another production at the festival that year and gave Ibelhauptate valuable advice on the specifics of opera directing while they were both washing dishes after dinner.
Ibelhauptaitė has lived in London for almost three decades, but the impetus to assemble a troupe led by herself came from the desire to do something in her homeland. "I was rehearsing in New York one day and I thought, 'I'm never going to change anyone's life here,'" she recalls. - I saw so many young talented singers in Lithuania who didn't have great opportunities to sing. I also thought that I could combine my knowledge of Eastern European directing science with the so-called American "method" acting and cinematography and create a new dramatic language for opera. I wanted a lot of dramatic theater elements, a lot of physical action, more realistic acting - better than abstract operatic acting."
The main ideology of VCO is that soloists are expected to do the same as actors in a drama theater. "I want them to be able to move on stage like dancers," says Ibelhauptaitė. The vivid acting realism she strives for is perfectly felt in the hall of the Vilnius Congress Palace, where the wide and shallow stage means that every spectator is close to the stage action. In fact, in 2018, Ibelhauptaitė's "Faust" production, which was conducted by the troupe's music director Gintaras Rinkevičius, had a very strong dramatic atmosphere.
The ensemble of "Faust" soloists was led by the Lithuanian tenor Edgaras Montvidas, who after a few months sang in the opera "Vanessa" at the Glyndebourne Festival. Montvidas, like Asmik Grigorian and Justina Gringytė, are regular VCO performers. He took part in the Young Singers Program at Covent Garden and is already scheduled to sing at La Scala. Like his Faust, his Werther was born precisely on the stage of the Vilnius City Opera. "We prepare the roles in great detail and that's why people like Edgars come back again and again," says Ibelhauptaitė. "I've never invited any press - you're the first foreign journalist in twelve years to see one of our productions, because this is a place where soloists can do the most daring things, not be judged or judged, they can test their limits here."
VCO changed the landscape of opera in Lithuania. And not just for singers. "From the very beginning, we had a very different audience," says Ibelhauptaitė. - We were the first art organization in Lithuania that put advertising on trolleybuses and printed a one-page advertisement in a newspaper. Then I went to all the major lifestyle magazines and asked them to put our soloists on the cover or to tell me exactly why not. In 2006, when we produced our first opera, Bohemia, we had three magazine covers. For me, opera must be modern, cool ir sexy . If it doesn't happen, we won't have any viewers in 30 years."
Ibelhauptaitė's methods, including her personal efforts to attract funds from the Vilnius business community (only 10 percent of VCO's funding comes from the state), sometimes made those around her mad. But every action has a reaction. Recently, she and Rinkevičius could have participated in the competition for the manager of the National Opera and Ballet Theater, but they did not take advantage of this opportunity. "We still have a lot of fire in us and we want to be an alternative."
And despite her insistence that Vilnius and Lithuania "desperately need" a new hall for concerts and opera, during the interview she felt uplifted about the near future and the premiere of the troupe "Pikai Damas", in which Asmik Grigorian sang. "I feel like we're on the cusp of a new milestone, and it's a good time," she says. - For 12 years, we were a little-known secret abroad, but now I'm not afraid that people come from everywhere to see us. I don't think this will change our style, because working the way we do is unique in the world of opera."
