Valentine is reborn in a new genre. Review of Valentine’s monoopera performed by Sonora Vaice / Diena

Upon learning that Arthur Muscat’s opera Valentine about the life and miraculous survival of Latvian cultural legend Valentīna Freimanes (1922–2018), a cinematographer, during the Second World War in Riga, where the holocaust was raging mercilessly, turned into a chamber opera, moreover, in the format of a multimedia monoopera, there was only one question. Is this even possible? When, nearing the premiere on April 17 at the VEF Culture Palace, it was announced that the director of the new production, Sonora Vaice, would be the only soloist and would sing both the title role with the high soprano notes and the vocal parts of all the other characters in the show, including the men, all that remained was to ask: how possible?! There is only one answer to this question: to do something like this, one must have the kind of creative courage, confidence, convulsion and artistic imagination that Sonora Weitz possesses, combined with a sense of purpose and also an adventurous nature.

It is quite clear that only Sonora Vaice can cope with such a challenge in Latvia. Her directorial debut in 2021, in the evening of multimedia mono-operas, was already bright Human voice. The telephone connects and sings two stylistically different one-act operas in a single story: Giancarlo Menotti’s comic opera Phone in English and Francis Poulenc’s psychological drama Human voice French. This show was awarded the Grand Music Award in the category Performance of the yearpraising both the performance of Sonora Vaice and her creative team, and the Operetta Theater’s daring to believe and take risks.

She sings for everyone

With the operas of Arthur Muscat Valentine rebirth in a new form – a multimedia mono-opera – the independent Operetta Theater celebrates its decade of existence. Ten years have also passed since Arthur Muscat’s opera Valentine premieres at the Latvian National Opera. With the new version of this work, Sonora Vaice surprises us again, both as a talented director who knows the clothes of musical performances and is open to experiments, and as a singer and musical theater actress. Her role as Valentina from the first appearance (I’m a ray of sunshine) is emotionally charged and true. On the other hand, the wide range of her voice allows Sonora Vaice to play the entire gallery of characters in the play, starting with the title character Valentina, whose vocal part includes both the characteristic Jewish Easter song and the high soprano notes, and ending with all the other roles – not only women (Valentina’s mother, Elsa , the devout old grandmother Alma), but also men (Old Landlord, Valdis, Doctor), who are played by the singer’s soprano into a low contralto.

However, it can be felt that singing almost non-stop in such different vocal tessitura and timbral shades, the voice of the universal soloist gets tired. Perhaps this is why the clarity of diction suffers. Since the words of the songs reach the listeners’ ears only partially, sometimes it is not clear which character of the opera is addressing us at the moment, even more so – if you have not seen at all or over the years a previous production at the Latvian National Opera has already been forgotten. On the other hand, viewers who remember director Viesturas Kairis’s show may be confused by the fact that sometimes the words of one character are now put into another character’s mouth on purpose – because basically it doesn’t matter who exactly says them when talking about what “time is imminent” has brought with it . But it would be important to hear these words. Considering that in the opera genre it is generally utopian to expect to hear every word as in the dramatic theater, a title machine would be a valuable help, but only state theaters can afford it.

Love remains

Large format operas Valentine the incredible transformation into an emotionally saturated chamber work could not have happened without equally brave, talented and “crazy” associates. The director’s compact creative team includes set designer, multimedia artist and stage environment transformation master Ineta Sipunova, costume designer Antra Hanna Ellert, lighting designer Ivars Vacers and choreographer Ieva Kemler.

Ineta Sipunova, whose operas have been created by Sonora Vaice, has been a key figure in the collaboration since her directorial debut. Valentine the reality of the video blends so harmoniously with the physical stage space that at times it breaks down the boundaries between the physical and the virtual and allows the characters of the opera to “come out” of the video frame or enter it. This augmented reality takes you both to the apartment of Valentine’s parents and to the corporation ball, takes you to the Latvian summer countryside and seaside, makes you feel a real touch of history in the streets of Riga and accompanies Valentina’s parents on their cruelly doomed path to eternity through a long, surreal tunnel.

Antra Hanna Elert, on the other hand, managed to emphasize both the nature of the characters and the rapidly changing situation in the fateful war years for all of us with some apt strokes and colors in the costumes of the characters. All of this is especially important in order to strip this production of superfluous side characters and their relationship stories and focus solely on Valentine and the people on her path, highlighting with simple visuals how they change, adapt, succumb to evil or still maintain their faces and consciences in the turbulent time from 1939 to 1945. Optimized in this way, Liana Lang and Arthur Muscat’s original libretto only gains because it doesn’t deviate from the essentials. What remains is love, humanity and compassion in the face of betrayal, envy, greed, cruelty and hatred.

The versatile performance of Sonora Vaice’s stage partners – violinist Gidons Grīnbergs, accordionist Inita Āboliņa and pianist Māras Žagar – is worthy of admiration. As performing artists on stage, they not only play (both as a trio and solo), but also play the characters of the show. Gidon Greenberg plays Valentina’s beloved Dima, who becomes her husband and is shot, with the most convincing body language. In the mime actress appearances reserved for Inita Āboliņa, she expressively plays Elsa, whose conscience and compassion overcomes the desire dictated by jealousy and the chance to take revenge on Valentina. Although the pianist Māris Žagar has to be at the piano almost all the time (he plays music alone for long periods of the performance), even he is given a moment to become a Russian soldier with a metal detector in his hands. However, there is still an invisible, very extensive part of the work of these musicians, because they not only play and act on stage, but also themselves – without the involvement of the opera composer Artur Muscat – have created an overture for their trio from the score created for a magnificent symphony orchestra.

Although the Operetta Theater still does not have its own premises, infrastructure and permanent funding, its manager, creative director and producer of the production project Agija Ozoliņa-Kozlovska, has managed to cope with the practical challenges. It was worth it, because the topics that the opera talks about are unfortunately relevant again. The new one Valentine is a mobile performance, similar to a diptych Human voice. The phone could be shown in many places in Latvia, because there is no need for an orchestra pit, a huge scenography structure, or a few props. Just a screen, consoles for musicians and some furniture where Valentina can sit sometimes. A mono-opera in autumn Valentine will visit many Latvian cities.