Flying in the face of fears of the state (and finances) of the opera scene worldwide, the European opera scene is opening with lavish stagings in Germany and Austria, three of which are immediately essential.Meyerbeer’s five-act opera “L’africaine” (1865), which includes a storm, shipwreck, and huge coronation scene, was said to be the most magnificent spectacle ever produced by the Paris Opéra. In a bold gesture worthy of the opera’s plucky and adventurous hero, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin is saying ‘pah’ to austerity and opening its new season with a mouth-watering cast in this lavish barnstormer.Or not quite. They’ve chosen to perform Meyerbeer’s first draught of the piece, called “Vasco da Gama”. The composer died in 1864, and the opera was prepared for its posthumous premiere by a journalist who chopped it up, and altered the characterisation.The five-hour authentic ‘composer’s cut’ gives greater prominence to the tragic mezzo Sélika, a humble slave who is really an Indian queen. (She comes a cropper and commits suicide when things go wrong with her lover, the explorer Vasco da Gama). This version was first staged in 2013, and immediately hailed as “Rediscovery of the Year” by the influential Opernwelt magazine.The casting in Berlin couldn’t be more tempting: the thrilling French tenor Roberto Alagna is Vasco and the gorgeous-voiced Sophie Koch is Sélika. Enrique Mazzola conducts, and the director is the widely-acclaimed Vera Nemirova. She’s used to tackling big works on a large scale: her Ring Cycle in Frankfurt was a triumph.More info: www.deutscheoperberlin.deIt’s a great time for fans of big-bigger-biggest opera. The Deutsche Oper’s neighbour in Berlin, the Staatsoper, is also opening its season on October 3 and 4 with a mammoth work – Wagner’s comedy “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” – although, curiously, it’s spread over two nights.The director is Andrea Moses (it seems to be a good time for female opera directors, hurrah), and the cast includes a who’s who of star Wagnerians: Wolfgang Koch is the lovelorn artist Hans Sachs, and tenor Klaus Florian Vogt is the hero Walther. The legendary 75 year-old heldentenor Siegfried Jerusalem also appears in a small role.The buzz couldn’t be any buzzier. Daniel Barenboim conducts (it’s his twentieth Wagner opera with the company), and the whole shebang will also celebrate twenty-five years of German reunification.More info: www.staatsoper-berlin.deJust time to mention another temptation during the same weekend. The Wiener Staatsoper is now in belt-tightening mode, and is only mounting five new productions this season, but the first of them (on October 4) is a big draw.It’s a new staging of Verdi’s “Macbeth,” directed by the audience-friendly Christian Räth. The cast includes the always-mesmerising bass Ferruccio Furlanetto as the doomed Banquo, and George Petean in the title role.More info: www.wiener-staatsoper.at
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