Платея с субтитрами - Рамо - Гарсингтонская опера 2024 - PLATE Rameau Garsington Opera

Platée is a character whose self-deception and entrancement places her in the middle of a heartless plot, devised by the gods to cure Juno of her obsessive jealousy over Jupiter and his romantic attachments. Jupiter pretends to fall in love with Platée only to abandon her once Juno arrives, proving she has no reason to be jealous. Comedy had traditionally played little part in French opera. Lully soon eliminated comic episodes from his tragedies; from then until the appearance of this work, only a handful of operas had comic themes. That for Platée is the mock marriage between the god Jupiter and an ugly marsh nymph, who is totally convinced of her own charms. As such, the story seems grotesquely ill-suited to the occasion for which the opera was commissioned - the wedding of the Dauphin and (an unsightly?) Spanish princess Maria Teresa - though it was well enough received at the time. While all this may seem rather perverse, the cruelty of laughing at an unattractive and hopelessly vain woman is kept at a distance by the role of Platée being sung by a tenor. And whatever the comedy in Platée’s plight, our sympathies are with the nymph throughout. A first production for Garsington Opera, this Platée is the chance to indulge in grand choruses and fabulous dances played out in a French Baroque world of glamour and deception. Critically acclaimed from the summer 2024 Festival, the production is directed by Louisa Muller, designed by Christopher Oram, and conducted by Baroque specialist Paul Agnew (a former Platée himself) making his Garsington debut with The English Concert. CAST In order of singing: Satyr, Chitheron Henry Waddington Thespis, Mercury Robert Murray Maenads Audrey Tsang Nancy Holt Thalie Holly Brown Momus Jonathan McGovern Amor Victoria Songwei Li Platée Samuel Boden Clarine Holly Teague Jupiter Ossian Huskinson La Folie Mireille Asselin Juno Annabel Kennedy Dancers Marco Venturini (Dance Captain) Zaynah Ahmed Vikki Clark Jay Jobarteh Malin Kvist Helen Parsons Jessica Saisang-Rowe Leah Wallings Orchestra The English Concert Continuo: Christopher Bucknall (Harpsichord) Joe Crouch (Cello) Chorus Garsington Opera Chorus Music Jean-Philippe Rameau Text Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d’Orville Conductor Paul Agnew Director Louisa Muller Sets & Costumes Christopher Oram Lights Malcom Rippeth Video Illuminos Movement director Rebecca Howell Publisher Société Jean-Philippe Rameau and Bärenreiter Verlag, Kassel