| As the Venetian envoy Lodovico arrives with a letter from the Doge, Iago persuades Otello that he must strangle his wife, and he, Iago, will kill Cassio. Lodovico enquires as to the whereabouts of Cassio, and Desdemona expresses a wish that he will soon be returned to favour. At this point, Otello almost strikes her. He then reveals that the Doge has recalled him to Venice, and the new Governor is to be...Cassio! He grabs Desdemona and flings her to the ground. Dismissing the crowd, Otello collapses in a fit of madness as Iago stands over him in triumph. In Desdemona's bedroom, she sings the Willow Song to Emilia – the story of a woman forsaken in love, who sits by a willow tree awaiting her death. She falls asleep. Otello creeps in and wakes her, telling her he is about to kill her for her treachery. Emilia enters to reveal that Cassio has killed Roderigo. She then sees Desdemona, who protests her innocence with her dying breath. Emilia calls for help, and Iago's plotting is revealed. Realising his mistake, Otello stabs himself, kisses Desdemona one last time, and falls dead beside her.
Reviews
The Spectator
Dorset Delight: An annual event I am ashamed not to have caught until now
Otello ...is rarely staged even in the big houses, and not only because the title role is so demanding. Dorset Opera was extraordinarily lucky to get Ian Storey for the part, a tenor whose list of roles makes exhausting reading. Actually, he wasn't in his best voice, though at the great moments he rose to the challenges. Otello is a convulsive work: the fury of the opening storm gives way to strange quietness, until the drinking song gets under way. And Otello is required not only to have the trumpet tones of his entrance, a wonderful moment from Storey, but also to sing pppppp in the love duet. No one does it, or ever has, but when Storey cut down on volume, there and elsewhere, his voice almost disappeared.
The rate at which things happen in Otello, in the first three acts, until they are virtually immobilised for the first 20 minutes of Act IV, does mean it can give the impression of sheer mania, and that can only be avoided if there is a fair amount of mezza voce singing, not just a series of eruptions followed by dazed near-silence. Even so, Storey was moving, impressive and harrowing in his disintegration. Stephanie Corley, in the still more difficult part of Desdemona, was mainly exquisite. The love duet went beautifully, it's a pity they didn't spend more of it standing close together. And in the great Act III scenes, the fearful duet at the start and the huge finale, she had all the colours in her voice to convey this role's anguish.
Iago, played by Luca Grassi, managed to be both detestable and plausible; and all the smaller roles were well taken. The chorus, which plays such a large part, was rather seriously underpowered. It must be one of the most complex scores to learn, for them, in the whole of opera. And there was some tired playing from the orchestra, under Robin Stapleton. He contented himself with holding things together. But I enjoyed Otello and was stirred by it much more than these few criticisms suggest. It was a wonderful day and, given the time frame, might well be called miraculous. Michael Tanner.
What'sonstage.com
Otello
Date Reviewed: 30 July 2011
WOS Rating: 4 stars
Dorset Opera at The Coade Theatre, Blandford Forum
Given that Otello is a more demanding and difficult work to get right, Anna Gregory's production of the Verdi wasn't as consistently excellent (as Tosca), although the final act was every bit as focused and moving... Balance was occasionally an issue (Robin Stapleton conducting)... Ian Storey is an experienced Otello, not least for having sung it in Los Angeles under Domingo, where he must have picked up a trick or two... he's a commanding presence with all the heft one would expect from a La Scala Tristan. Luca Grassi's... Iago... had bags of oily charm and drove the action convincingly. Stephanie Corley (fresh from playing the part in Graham Vick's innovative Birmingham production) grew enormously in the fourth act, poignant in the Willow Song and with a wonderful stillness for the Ave Maria.
The large amateur chorus, expertly drilled by Nicolas Mansfield, shone in both productions.
Roderick Kennedy, Artistic Director of Dorset Opera since 2004, is attracting names and producing work here that puts better-publicised companies to shame. You have to be quick to catch them, as their summer season is here and gone in a flash, but for anyone travelling from further afield, the journey to rural Dorset is enormously rewarding. Simon Thomas.
Opera Magazine
Not having been to Bryanston for Dorset Opera before, I was naturally first struck by the beauty of the place, the immense grounds, the imposing... buildings, and then, when it came to it, the two performances which I saw in the same day. Given that everyone connected with the enterprise only arrives ten days before the first night, the achievement is hardly credible... Otello... began with a rather ragged storm, quite exciting but less than if there had been a bigger chorus and a more lusty one. Ian Storey, no less, entered immensely imposingly as Otello, but after that his voice did rather come and go, though when it came it was viscerally involving. Somehow his most reflective passages – there are quite a few of them – went for less than they should. His Desdemona, Stephanie Corley, sang exquisitely and got a welcome move-on in her long scene in Act IV, but her acting was too restrained. I liked the Iago very much. Luca Grassi is a fairly short man, and his villain suggested the kind of indignation that nature hadn't given him more stature that is quite realistic; Grassi was the best actor on stage. A good supporting cast, and a slightly weary orchestra, not surprisingly, but there were quite enough big moments to make me glad I had gone, and to look forward to revisiting. Michael Tanner
Blackmore Vale Magazine
Otello, Dorset Opera Festival at Bryanston
VERDI'S operatic version of Otello strips the story down to its barest bones. Starkly contrasting the glorious homecoming of the vanquishing hero and the drunken brawling that follows with the intense and solitary passion of jealousy from a man obsessively in love with his blameless wife.
Anna Gregory's production for Dorset Opera opened the first DO Festival at Bryanston last week, treating the audience to a visual, aural and emotional feast. The insistent power of the music, subtly drawn from the excellent orchestra by guest conductor Robin Stapleton, was enhanced by a design and traditional costumes that made the best use of the Coade Theatre stage. From its opening nod to The French Lieutenant's Woman, the production filled the stage with a fluid, vibrant chorus awaiting the return of the hero, and Iago's pernicious and jealousy-fuelling gossip visibly took its full effect.
Ian Storey returned to the company to sing his first Otello in England, triumphantly leading a powerful cast. Stephanie Corley's Desdemona captured the resigned confusion of innocence, and Luca Grassi's Iago was a chillingly evil manipulator.
Otello and Desdemona's great first act duet was ravishing, the poignancy and exquisite balance providing a strong contrast to the sound and fury of the opening storm and noisy crowd scenes. And the famous Act Two duet between Otello and Iago - arguably the greatest of all tenor-baritone duets – was intensely powerful, ratcheting up the tension as the amoral Ensign relentlessly turns the screws of jealousy into Otello's brain. It was amazing to learn that this was Grassi's debut in the role.
The director, in her Dorset Opera debut, brought intelligence and clarity to the characterisation of the lesser principal roles, particularly Cassio (Jonathan Stoughton), here a real "man's man" rather than the usual virtuous cardboard cut-out and Carolyn Dobbin brought courage and warmth to Emilia, the only character with whom the audience can really identify.
The extraordinary thing about Dorset Opera is that once the casting is done, the chorus, made up of local singers and vocal students from a wide area of the UK and mainland Europe, come together to rehearse the productions in a couple of weeks. Choristers attend an intensive summer camp at the school near Blandford, and only meet the soloists and orchestra days before the opening, subjecting them to professional opera house discipline and pressure. And this year, for the first time, they were learning two operas - all the choruses for Tosca and Otello - under the direction of chorus master Nicolas Mansfield, who takes over as artistic director of the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands in January 2013. GP-W
Opera Now
The Dorset Festival Experience 2011 – Otello
...this was for me and my friends, the operatic discovery of the year. Having seen an advert for Dorset Opera earlier in the year, I set off with friends with perhaps somewhat muted enthusiasm – a little-known festival in the depths of the West Country was an unknown quantity.
We saw the second of two casts for Verdi's Otello. Anna Gregory's production was traditional, and the marvellous orchestra was... conducted by the extremely experienced Robin Stapleton. Otello was the huge-voiced Howard Haskin and his Desdemona, Australian soprano Catherine Bouchier, got completely under the skin of this poignant role. Luca Grassi as Iago was the personification of evil and jealousy.
The young voices in the chorus of both operas were a treat. What an opportunity for young singers to have a concentrated two weeks of training under chorus master Nicolas Mansfield. The Dorset Opera Festival gave us an experience that has changed our view of the UK's unsung opera companies. |
Desdemona (Stephanie Corley) Otello (Ian Storey)
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
Emilia (Carolyn Dobbin) & Desdemona (Stephanie Corley)
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
Otello (Ian Storey) & Desdemona (Stephanie Corley)
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
Otello (Ian Storey)
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
Lodovico (Francisco Javier Borda)
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
Emilia (Carolyn Dobbin) & Desdemona (Stephanie Corley)
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
Emilia (Carolyn Dobbin) & Desdemona (Stephanie Corley)
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
Otello (Ian Storey) & Desdemona (Stephanie Corley)
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
Young ladies of the chorus
Dorset Opera Festival 2011
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