Sunday night's Fidelio — the second of two performances with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra under Lan Shui — was in Yuchi Township, site of Sun Moon Lake and accordingly of the Sun Moon Lake Festival, of which this concert was a part. There had also been a performance the previous evening at what I assume to be the orchestra's regular venue in Taichung.
It was an adventure. The lake is gorgeous, although sadly among the cast only Rocco was lucky enough to have a room with a view. And you can't see it from the car park either. Did I mention that? The Fidelio was performed in a car park. A very large car park, mind you, and presumably the biggest open space in town, which is why it's used for open air concerts like this. Nevertheless, it was slightly disconcerting having to pick our way through all the tour buses to find the dressing tents (yep, tents) but we made it in the end.
And despite occasional attempts by car alarms to Ligetify Beethoven's score, it turned out to be a pretty cool evening. It had been pouring with rain throughout the afternoon soundcheck, but by the time 7.30 rolled around, it was starting to dry. Nevertheless, I wasn't too keen on the plastic seats, so I found a spot in the wings instead, and watched from there. Being a concert performance, there was very little dialogue included, but happily the gaps were bridged by not one but two costumed narrators — a gentleman (who had directed the semi-staging) dressed as Beethoven and a lady in spangled quasi-Victorian garb. I'm not sure who she was — perhaps the ferne Geliebte? — but the pair of them definitely added to the evening's entertainment value.
Our cast, for the record: Janice Watson as Leonore, Carsten Wittmoser as Rocco, Simon Neal as Pizarro, Klara Ek as Marzelline, Diang Wang as Jaquino, Simon Lim as Don Fernando and of course The Tenor In My Life, Stuart Skelton as Florestan. Much fun had by all, I think — it wasn't the most straightforward week, but was definitely an adventure, and often quite hilarious. And the singing wasn't too shabby either.
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