Back in 2022, the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo featured a production of Donizetti’s “La Favorite” using a new critical French edition and with no cuts (including the whole ballet). For that occasion Ricardo Frizza was the conductor. Now, a few years later, ABAO Bilbao is bringing back that same Bergamo production, in coproduction with Opéra National de Bordeaux, as well as Frizza with the intention of presenting the opera as it premiered in 1840 in Paris.

Although “La favorite” is rarely performed, it has never disappeared from the repertoire completely. The role of Fernando is a tour-de-force for tenors. But it is most often showcased in its Italian translation, severely cut (without Fernando’s second scene cabaletta, the ballet and many cuts in the concertantes and choirs) and with a different ending that Donizetti wrote. The composer wanted to succeed in Paris and therefore adapted his composition to the Grand Opera demands by  making it longer, adding a ballet, and including big chorus scenes. It has two big concertante numbers and breaks the Bel canto aria structure as both tenors aria’s are isolated pieces with no cabalettas; the leading female role is performed by a mezzo-soprano rather than a soprano; and she is introduced without cavatina in a duet with Fernando.

Far from Excellent

The production, directed by Valentina Carrasco, featured fences, candles and a Virgin statue for the church scenes, as well as beds presented in several forms throughout the rest of the opera, which I guess tried to show the idea of King Alphonse’s lust, Fernando’s love for Leonora, and the concept that she is the lover. Leonora and the extras were mostly dressed in night gowns (again reinforcing this idea of bed = sex) throughout the whole show. However, the acting of the scenes was clear enough to keep the plot understandable and mostly intact. There was a clever use of the space in the two big choral scenes and concertantes (at the end of the second and third act) with interesting positions and movements of the large ensemble.

But the production was far from being excellent. I have stopped reading the notes written in the opera programs involving the productions, to be clearly objective about what I see and what it portrays. Despite the idea of the church, and the beds-night-gowns- sex; I couldn’t understand what the production was about. What was the point of view of the director? What was her message? Using extras to fill a 25-minute ballet seemed like a poor choice. The acting and actions couldn’t fulfill Donizetti’s lively music and therefore the scene turned out to be long and boring. If there is ballet music, there should be a ballet, no matter what style the dancing is. Only dance can enrich and find communion with ballet music. I applauded the Fundazione Teatro Donizetti and Frizza’s effort to reinstitute all of Donizetti’s music written for the premiere, but the choice the director took for the ballet scene was poor. It was difficult to read the concept of the production but, at least, it respected the libretto and the music (something rarely common today).

Fernand Instead of La Favorite

The opera should be named “Fernand” instead of “La Favorite,” as the tenor is the true protagonist of the show. Ismael Jordi, who debuted the role, succeeded with his impeccable bel canto technique, his sweet timbre and secure high notes. His task wasn’t easy. It is a long role, with two main arias, one cabaletta, two long duets with the mezzo, and a big ensemble scene. The tenor has to sing, after just a few lines, without the chance to warm up the voice on stage. The aria “Un ange, une femme inconnue,” which requires singing “dolce” (sweet) in a high tessitura, navigates constantly between F sharp and high A, singing a high C sharp and finishing on a diminuendo high A. Jordi sang every single dynamic, delivering breathtaking diminuendos in the passaggio register of the voice, singing long legato lines with mezza voce, emitting a strong secure high C sharp, and finishing with a soaring high piannisimo A. After his interpretation of this aria, I knew he would succeed for the night.

Although his voice doesn’t possess  great volume, his projection and harmonics are so rich that his voice could be perfectly heard along the mezzo-soprano in the first act duet, “Mon Idole…!” He sang the usually cut cabaletta, “Oui, ta voix m’inspire” twice. He imprinted the music with passion and heroism, interpolated some subtle, but great, variations during the repetition and, despite the high tessitura of this piece, he added an extra top ringing high B natural. Even when his voice had some white sweet quality, he managed to sound full of regret and revenge for the third act concertante when he realizes that his fiancé is the lover of the queen and despises her publicly.

The difficulty of his fourth act famous aria, “Ange si pur,” after a long night of singing, is major and it is tough for any tenor to maintain a fresh voice and flexible high notes. The tessitura is a little bit comfortable navigating between E and G, but not too insistent on the passaggio. And it requires long legato lines in mezza voce, a strong G in “Pitie! Pitie!,” and a secure high C. Jordi accomplished this with all the dynamics written in the score, combining mezza voce with passionate singing. He sang extremely long legato lines in one breath. He delivered a perfect ringing high C, and included the famously interpolated high B natural at the end. He received a strong ovation after the aria. He sang a moving and emotional final scene with Leonor, where he delivered a straight secure high B flat in the final cadenza. The single easiest thing in the French version is that the final duet with Leonora as it is shorter than in the Italian version, without a final verse where they sing together. Jordi finished the opera with a moving final duet and his final abandoned line, “Et vous prierez pour moi demain” was delivered with deep pathos. He was warmly rewarded by the audience at the curtain call.

Mixed Bag

Spanish mezzo soprano Silvia Tro Santafé sang the titular role of Leonora. She is a fixture in the Spanish opera houses and a Bel canto specialist. She has a strong voice with a marked vibrato, but she sounded strained and insecure in the high register throughout this showcase. She sang her entrance duet with Fernand with ardent love and long legato lines, but the multiple high Gs and A flats sounded tense and uneasy. She seemed more comfortable in the low register as she proved in the stable low B naturals before his second act duet with the king in “a moi la honte,” and during the duet, where Donizetti keeps the mezzo voice inside the stave in a central writing. Her voice didn’t carry over the orchestra and soloists well during the final second act concertante, and her ascension to high B flat sounded strained and insecure. She was lucky the soprano Alba Chantar, who played Ines, double her lines in the final stretta and covered her voice in the several B flats present at the end of the stretta.

She succeeded in the interpretation of her aria ”Oh! Mon Fernand” as it’s central to low writing helped Santafé to focus on delivering emotion and sing legato lines. It was in the cabaletta which rises to G sharps several times where the voice began to show again strain and tension, although the mezzo was brave enough to interpolate a B natural. But after the long third act concertante, her voice showed signs of tiredness and fatigue and she seemed to struggle during the final part of the duet where the tessitura becomes higher and she had to hold an A natural with the voice completely exposed. The note sounded unstable, and the marked vibrato made the pitch dubious. She was very convincing, though, in her dying scene.

Vladimir Stoyanov played the King Alphonse XI. He is famous for his Verdi incarnations such as Rigoletto, Germon, Simon Boccanegra and Foscari. He has a strong Bel canto background, which showed in his long fiato legato lines, the elegant phrasing, and effortless singing. His interpretation of his entrance aria, “Jardins de l’Alcazar…Leonor viens,” was breath-taking for his tenderness and sadness. He had a beautifully warm timbre and a sweet effortless ascension to high F on the scale, “pour ciel et pour couronne,” (an uncomfortable note for baritones). He delivered a heroic cabaletta, “Ah! Rien par moi…,” where the tessitura rises up becoming quite insistent in Es and Fs, keeping his elegant phrasing and suave vocalization. He concluded the piece with a long-sustained F. His voice blended perfectly with the mezzo, singing an emotional duet second act duet, including a never heard before section belonging to the critical edition, “Je l’ai jure por mon spectre.”

He kept singing with elegancy and long lines in his second third act aria, “Pour tant d’amour.” Although the structure of this piece doesn’t belong to bel canto standards, it is a scene between the King, Leonor and Fernand where the baritone sings the solo verses, where his voice sounded bright and full of color after a long night of singing.

Balthasar was sung by the bass-baritone Simón Orfila. He possesses a solid instrument with volume and projection throughout his whole register. His first scene with Fernand showed the extent of his tessitura from a strong long low F in “Et que Dieu ne te maudise pas,” to several F flats. This is an ungrateful part as it has no solo aria and sings only in ensembles, although his intervention at the end of Act two is very powerful. His interpretation of “Redoutez la fureur…” was thrilling and exciting because of his dark voice and dictatorial intentions. His final low G flat was quite present over the chorus and soloist singing together. He was perfectly audible during the concertante that closes Act three, where the tessitura keeps rising up the bass voice to E naturals. He showed off his strong low register in his solo line “Dieu Montez avec transport,” finishing in a long low G.

Attending a performance where Mikeldi Atxalandabaso is always a treat. His career has been focused on secondary roles, but his voice is exceptional. His warm timbre, strong projection, fluid phrasing, and effortless singing, plus his deep involvement in every role he plays (no matter how small it is), shows how underrated this tenor is, and what the world of opera is missing for overlooking such a precious voice and artist in minor roles. He was, as usual, committed to his small role of Don Gaspar both vocally and dramatically, and it was amazingly noticeable that his voice was the most audible during the third act concertante.

Riccardo Frizza has become a Donizetti specialist (he has been musical director of the Bergamo Donizetti Festival since 2017 and artistic director since 2024). He doesn’t just reinstitute original Donizetti music by working with critical editions and opening traditional cuts, but reinvents how to play Donizetti by paying attention to every single dynamic and providing it with a wide-ranging palette of colors and timbrical resources. Where other conductors make the music pedestrian or casual, he mines the apparent simple orchestration for interesting, lively, and dramatic effect. The Euskadiko Orkestra and Coro de la ópera de Bilbao sounded splendid under Frizza’s commands.

Ultimately, this production featured an excellent cast of male singers who succeeded in their roles because of their Bel canto technique, voice qualities and dramatic involvement.