We could now open the criticism of the farewell gala of the “Compagnia d’Opera Italiana di Milano” in the Theater Gemeindehaus of the city of Schweinfurt with finely crafted words. Can we save ourselves for an evening that only had one thing in it: pure emotion.
The ensemble traveled to the ball bearing city for the last time to say goodbye to the Schweinfurt audience, who had remained loyal to them since 1979, with an “Italian Opera Gala”. Time and time again, the “Milanians”, as they were called by the people of Schweinfurt, were a safe bet for successful, rousing opera productions with young voices of the highest level, a guarantee for loud bravos and standing ovations as early as 1979.
Well, true to the saying that everything must come to an end, this gala evening was the last of its kind in Schweinfurt, the final act. The “Compagnia” dissolves, the 75-year-old owner Joachim Schlote of the Schlote concert management is retiring and when, where and what will happen next remains completely open at the moment.
But this last evening had it all again, starting with Offenbach’s overture to “Orpheus in the Underworld” and ending with the fuller, throaty “O sole mio” at the end. With Alvaro Lozano at the conductor’s podium there is someone who not only leads the musical direction of the brilliantly performed Cor Ochestra di Cortona with wild gestures, but also sings along – with a really good baritone voice – and encourages the audience to sing along.
And the surprise: the otherwise rather reserved Schweinfurt concert audience joins in loudly. The voices of all the soloists, with whom the “Milanians” and the ten-member choir (with all due respect to the charisma this small ensemble developed) arrived in Schweinfurt for the last time, once again made a lasting impression without any compromises.
The audience bursts into loud cheers in the middle of the aria
Certainly a highlight of the evening was Pucciní’s popular hit “Nessun dorma” from his last opera Turandot with Tiziano Barontini. While his tenor had previously seemed a bit narrow in the upper part of the duet (together with Lara Leonardi – voluminous soprano) “Oh soave Fanculla”, this time he hit the infamous high B at the end of the aria, radiantly metallic and so long that the audience was still in the middle the aria broke out into loud cheers – storms of applause, quite rightly so.
But the most beautiful voice of the evening was heard by the lyric soprano Eva Macaggi in “Caro nome” from Verdi’s Rigoletto. With wonderful legato, the young singer from Bologna mastered the technically extremely difficult coloratura of the aria right up to the briefly tapped high C at the end. Here too, loud bravos as before with the mantle aria from Puccini’s “La Boheme” with Max Medero’s really pitch-black bass voice.
At the end, the choir of all Italian choirs sang “Va pensiero” from Verdi’s Nabucco – together with the choir and audience and after Di Capua’s “O sole mio”, again with all singers and loud audience support, all critical dams broke in the Theater Gemeindehaus. The ensemble and choir marched with the conductor into the audience, cell phone photos everywhere from the audience, from the orchestra on stage into the audience and as the last encore the “Brindisi”, the drinking song from Verdi’s “La Traviata” – howls, bravos, standing ovations until up to the balcony.
And somehow, on the way home, a familiar song continues to ring in my head: This only happens once, it won’t come back…
After 45 years, a crowning conclusion that will remain in the memory. And perhaps theater director Christof Wahlefeld and the evening’s conductor Alvaro Lozano will find a new basis for further collaboration, even with a reduced theater budget. It would be good for the city, the house, employees and ultimately this audience.
