You think you’re going to Glyndebourne for a UK opera premiere, and instead you’re dazzled by a series of brand-new rotating legs paintings. It gives a new meaning to the term “double first.”The premiere is the first-ever professional British staging of Donizetti’s “Poliuto” (composed 1838). For those of us who had never previously seen the piece, it is revealed as a punch-packing bel canto blockbuster, with a spectacularly juicy finale.More about that later. What about these gyrating shanks? The pinwheel pins?They come courtesy of German painter, printmaker, and sculptor Georg Baselitz. The 77-year old artist has created a series of paintings especially for a new wooden pop-up gallery space by White Cube (designed by the architectural studio Carmody Groarke) situated in the grounds of the countryside opera house. The gold-framed works all depict the motif of whirling, high-heeled feet in a subtly different way. Some are blurred; others splashed with pale colors; some rotate clockwise, some counter-clockwise. They have cryptic musical titles, such as “Yesterday Wagner,” “Today Bach,” and “With Harmonica Too,” which makes them curiously appropriate for a musical institution. They’re funny, playful, intriguing — and they make a great visual aperitif before whirling your own feet towards the auditorium.The project inaugurates “White Cube at Glyndebourne” a three-year collaboration between the opera house and White Cube, designed to showcase the work of artists represented by the gallery. Curated by Andrea Schlieker, the exhibition runs until August 30, and gives an enjoyable art-rush to the opening of the season. Bravo, Glyndebourne.This sense of movement and involvement doesn’t quite extend on stage into Mariame Clément’s static production of “Poliuto.” The opera, set among a group of Christians during a time of Roman persecution, centers on the new convert Poliuto, who believes his wife Paolina is having an affair with the Roman Proconsul Severo. It ends in an operatically extravagant bloodbath, when Paolina declares her innocence and voluntarily joins her husband in his martyrdom to prove it.It’s meaty stuff, with all sorts of obvious political relevance to the contemporary situation in the Middle East. Is it right to die for your beliefs? Where does faith end, and fanaticism begin?Clément sets her production in Fascist-era Italy. If it’s an idea that has been seen many times already on the operatic stage, it remains workable in suggesting a brutal and militarized society. Julia Hansen’s set comprises six huge sliding monolithic slabs which, with the aid of projections, create various locations: a prison, a courtroom, a bedroom. It’s efficient, if drab.The acting and characterization lack detail, and are often displayed through over-semaphoric gestures. Vocally things are better, and Igor Golovatenko (Severo) wins the palm: his rounded, smooth baritone is a joy. Ana María Martínez (Paolina) does some exquisite work too, showing off a fine bel canto technique and a soprano sound which is surprisingly rich and dark.Tenor Michael Fabiano (Poliuto) is more problematic. He has an undeniably impressive voice which projects with trumpet-like clarity, but also has a tendency to push his top notes until they rasp: in the world of “money notes” I fear for the health of his currency. And in his big Act 3 aria “Visione gradita” he often finishes his phrases with out-of-breath gasps. Despite all that, there’s some fascinating potential there. Conductor Enrique Mazzola keeps things energetic in the pit, even if he doesn’t follow the singers as much as he might. The limitations make it an even greater achievement that the piece still creates knockout tension. The concerted finales to Acts 2 and 3 show Donizetti at his best, and even rival the great execution scene in “Maria Stuarda.” At Glyndebourne, with the superb chorus to aid things, they both go like firecrackers.Donizetti later reworked “Poliuto” into another opera called “Les martyrs,” a highly-praised recording of which was released recently on Opera Rara. But full marks to Glyndebourne for giving us a chance to hear the rare original masterpiece."Poliuto" runs through July 15 at Glyndebourne.
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