Lech Classic Festival:

“Cosi fan tutte” completely convincing

Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" was recently performed in the new "Lechwelten" - the audience was thrilled.(Bild: Peter Panik)

Music manager Marlies Wagner not only attracts stars and young talents to the Arlberg for the Lech Classic Festival, but also knows how to set exciting accents in the program.

After inspiring performances - such as excerpts from operas by Richard Wagner - in the church in Lech and Beethoven's "Fidelio" in the sports park, the new Lechwelten building now offers her the opportunity to draw on the full potential. The move into the recently opened multi-purpose building in the center of the community thus marks a turning point in the festival's history, which began in 2012. In short, it is now an appropriate setting to celebrate what has been built, because don't tell me it's easy to fill a hall with up to 600 seats with sophisticated music on six evenings en suite in a region focused on nature and sport

Tetsuro Ban has his orchestra perfectly under control
Apart from that, the festival director has raised particular expectations with Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutte" - performed on Saturday evening. Are the acoustics up to scratch? Will the festival orchestra, with musicians specially engaged for each podium, deliver the level promised by the singers, whose names appear on the cast lists of renowned opera houses? And what about the suspense of a semi-staged performance with a narrator?

The hall in the "Lechwelten" has passed the "endurance test" - it is even acoustically suitable for grand opera.(Bild: Peter Panik)

The latter is one of the special experiences, because Tetsuro Ban, the conductor who has been working at the Lech Classic Festival for years, has his orchestra under such control (whereby the colloquial expression "having it in his little finger" is absolutely appropriate here) that the energy that a "Cosi" needs is sustained. And certainly not because he is a representative of a fast-paced Mozart style. He is a pedant in the best sense of the word and probably also something of a dream partner for the singers.

Great voices, united in harmony
Margarita Gritskova's velvet voice brings the drama that Dorabella goes through to life, Jennifer O'Loughlin reaches all her top notes effortlessly as Fiordiligi, Pavel Kolgatin (Ferrando) counters confidently with tenor brilliance, Uliana Alexyuk as Despina shows the suppleness and humor that the role needs and Peter Kellner (Guglielmo) represents in particular what this cast is all about: These are great voices that have been engaged for Lech and - particularly important in Mozart operas! - they harmonize perfectly in the tercets, quartets etc. Günter Haumer as Don Alfonso routinely keeps the action going.

Splendor and mountain panorama
Feudal background transparencies show a villa and gardens in Naples, relocating this "Scuola degli amanti", in which the fidelity of the women (but also the men) is tested with disillusioning results, to the actual location of the action. The fact that the image of Vesuvius was combined with the mountain panorama seen through a window in the auditorium made us smile and, in view of the feudal splendor, there is no need to include any contemporary psychological aspects in the text passages, which are quite rightly a feature of "Cosi" productions today. Nevertheless, it does not come across as dusty; instead of the recitatives, the actor Joseph Lorenz not only explains the course of the plot, he also interprets Mozart's music and Da Ponte's libretto, thus emphasizing that Marlies Wagner's aim is to win over audiences for classical music. With such a lively recitation, even those who know the opera well could enjoy it.

Incidentally, the acoustics are just right and therefore offer the best conditions for the next season of this special festival, which ends on Sunday with a Mendelssohn program.