Master class

The singing and teaching artistic director of Bregenz

Lilli Paasikivi herself provided feedback for the young performers.(Bild: anja koehler)

Lilli Paasikivi, the new artistic director of the Bregenz Festival, is also a singer. And so this time she led the Festival Opera Studio master class herself.

"This is not about good or bad, but about the range between very good and excellent." Lilli Paasikivi soon made this clear. She herself was a successful mezzo-soprano, and the master class of the Festival's Opera Studio was led by the Finnish baritone Jaako Kortekangas, who has been Artistic Director of the Bregenz Festival since Paasikivi took office.

The Bregenz Festival Opera Studio was a project close to the heart of former Artistic Director Elisabeth Sobotka and is now being continued by Lilli Paasikivi. With an opera production, which is shown in the Theater am Kornmarkt as part of the festival, young singers at the beginning of their careers can develop a major role in their field. This year's opera is Gioachino Rossini's "La Cenerentola", the story of Cinderella.

However, only two ensemble numbers from the opera itself were performed on Friday evening in the Seestudio of the Festspielhaus, conducted by Kaapo Ijas. The main part of the master class consisted of each of the six singers singing a well-known aria from their repertoire, interspersed with tips from the two teachers Paasikivi and Kortekangas, the first with more vocal input, the second with a focus on the psychology of the character's character. The Chinese mezzo-soprano Jingjing Xu, who has been cast for the title role of Angelina, presented Mozart's first aria of Sesto from "Titus", and the British tenor Aaron Godfrey-Mayes delighted the audience with the well-known aria of the "secret tear" from Donizetti's "Love Potion".

The Croatian Lobel Barun, who will play the bass role of the father of the three very different daughters in the summer, performed the "Slander Aria" from Rossini's "Barber of Seville" with great expression. Anja Mittermüller, just twenty-one years old, comes from Vienna and was highly praised by her coach Jaako Kortekangas for her highly musical interpretation of Cherubino's Cavatina from Mozart's "Figaro". The Korean baritone Josef Jeongmeen Ahn gave a sympathetic performance with an aria from Leoncavallo's "Bajazzo".

Masterful performance
Finally, the Spaniard Aitana Sanz sparked unreserved cheers with her masterful performance of the aria of Gilda from Verdi's "Rigoletto". Her seemingly out-of-nowhere entries and confident coloratura must be experienced, they were simply magnificent. The sensitive Hana Lee, who accompanied the evening on the piano, also deserves a special mention.

The premiere of Rossini's "La Cenerentola" will be celebrated on August 12. Incidentally, the Musiktheater Vorarlberg has also scheduled this opera for 2025. A rare and exciting opportunity to compare interpretations!