by From a wartime dance hall to a boxing venue to a venue for political rallies, Belfast’s Ulster Hall has a long and storied history, dating back to 1862. Charles Dickens played there; the Protestant loyalist Ian Paisley gave branded speeches; Stairway to Heaven was originally performed by Led Zeppelin. Since 2009 the Ulster Orchestra, the only professional symphony orchestra in Northern Ireland, which played throughout the Troubles of the 1970s and 80s, has never had a concert cancelled. What better place to stage the world premiere of a work with an activist commitment in its title?
Symphony Riot, composed by Conor Mitchell, is the latest collaboration between the orchestra and the multidisciplinary Belfast Ensemble, of which Mitchell is artistic director. They combined their contrasting talents to deliver a thrilling debut last weekend. Mitchell, whose caustic Abomination: A DUP Opera (2019) tackling homophobia in Northern Ireland, using music as a tool of protest. It is written in the notebook: “Perhaps I am deceived [insurrection and resistance] because I am from Northern Ireland, where everything in my childhood had a sectarian meaning. Even the war drums of the Orange bands meant something every July.”
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Scored for soprano (Rebecca Murphy), tenor (Michael Bell), video installation and orchestra, the 50-minute work draws on texts by Sophie Scholl, who was part of the White Rose movement, an anti-Nazi campaign run by students in Munich . . She was executed for treason in 1943 at the age of 21. The work rises with an explosion of brass, rampant statements now in the major key, now falling into a serious tuba dissonance. The national anthem of Ukraine is performed. So too, as an orchestral overlay, the Russian punk bank Pussy Riot, a major inspiration for Mitchell. A simple figure, wind ripping, played forward and backward, adds lyricism. The last line is a cry of hope – “Doch ist es noch nicht zu spät” (But it’s not too late).
The musicians performed behind a gauze screen, onto which a live video was projected by designer and film maker Gavin Peden. Generic images of young people in various forms of protest were contrasted with stunning close-ups of a boiled, fried and flayed Putin. Musical colors and visual images were vague and immediate, nicely directed by Andrew Gourlay. At the end, the audience rose to its feet, cheering. The mood was one of celebration, those speaking out in a city where self-expression, compared to the dark times, is now possible.
The Irish National Opera, established in 2018, returns to the Royal Opera House’s Linbury theater with Vivaldi’s The Olympiad (1734), after his success with the same composer Bajazet in 2022. Elegantly staged by Daisy Evans, with designs by Molly O’Cathain suggestive of an amphitheater and Olympic rings, the production’s emphasis was on the simplicity of the action and a clear pattern, through unfussy choreography (movement by Matthew Forbes , lighting Jake Wiltshire). In the early 18th century, modern game dress combined skirts, tricorns and full skirts.
Involving a lost child and multiple confusions, the plot is the kind that calls for a flowchart. All ends happily. Vivaldi’s long recitative passages can strain the ears, but he suddenly disarms us with extended arias of great beauty and good will. One is Licida’s meditation on sleep and dreams, Mentre dormi amor fomenti, painstakingly delivered here by Chinese counterman Meili Li. Siam navi all’onde algenti all’onde algenti Aminta (We are like ships on the silver waves) – a high independent favorite – was sung persuasively by Rachel Redmond.
The most impressive performance came from an unexpected source: the mezzo-soprano Maria Schellenberg played the lead role of Megacle from the pit, replacing the unhappy Gemma Ní Bhriain, who walked the role. Schellenberg had not sung the part until the day before, but he handled each recital and aria with precision, and with gusto. Some of the singers were not quite up to that level, but there was another notable highlight: the presence of the Dublin-based Irish Baroque Orchestra, conducted from the harpsichord by Peter Whelan. With two violins together, and everyone else just one part, this tiny ensemble gave shade and melody to Vivaldi’s brilliant score.
One more event last week will remain in the memory of anyone present. Michael Tilson Thomas“MTT”, conductor laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra, at the Barbican to conduct Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, the first of two performances. In 2022, MTT, who is now 79 years old, announced that he had brain cancer. He continued to work as much as possible. At around 110 minutes, Mahler 3 is the longest symphony in the mainstream repertoire. It takes enormous physical energy and mental dexterity. Within its great length, the ebb and flow of the music is plotted in detail. No speed change or dynamic change can be left to chance.
Tilson Thomas, visibly frail, maintained relentless control, but let the score roll with an almost dreamlike generosity and leisure. All, however, was not good. Perhaps this is the story of what happened next: MTT’s uneasiness after five of the six moves; the supporting hand of Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano, who remains the interpreter of first choice for this work; the conductor’s husband calmly coming on stage to offer water and urge him to finish the performance.
Instead, the real story was how the concerted effort of every musician on stage brought this legendary conductor. It was his hushed yet ethereal music that he brought into the finale’s relaxed opening melody that led to the relevancy. Understandably, the nearness of death in life, which so obsessed Mahler, came before us. There was superb playing in this heroic symphonic affair – especially the trombone soloists, the offstage mail horn and the flute – and there were rough moments when tension or exhaustion came through. Above all, every note was hard-won because of the collective desire for safe delivery. Here humanity was at its rawest, and most precious.
Star ratings (out of five)
Symphony Riot ★★★★
The Olympiad ★★★★
LSO/Tilson Thomas ★★★★
• The Olympiad at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London, until 25 May
