Theaterkrant | Kester Freriks

Spanga pushes the boundaries with an unvarnished exposure of sexual urges

(…) This creates a timbre that, if you are familiar with the original, comes as a surprise. It sounds more intimate and subdued, less intensely dramatic than in the original version…

(…) Vocally, the performance is compelling. The drawn-out, thoroughly composed aria in the first act, sung by Runia as she expresses the Feldmarschallin’s fear of old age, is magnificent. She is certain that the young Octavian will leave her, once again, for a younger lover. Medecigo brings the cross-dressing role to life with vocal power and a deliberately broad, ‘masculine’ stage presence. Soprano Selin’s lyrical singing is delightfully seductive.

(…) This Der Rosenkavalier is daring and dares to push boundaries, both musically and stylistically. So it is possible, after all, to break with operatic conventions.
read the full review here (dutch)

Leeuwarder Courant***** | Rudolf Nammensma

(…) The staging of this aria – sung here motionlessly, as if in a trance – is one in which one recognises the quality of a director, someone who understands what Der Rosenkavalier is all about. That director is Corina van Eijk, who has been at the helm of Opera Spanga for decades.

(…) Spanga’s Rosenkavalier features outstanding vocalists who deliver compelling performances.

(…) Yet in this streamlined, intimate production, she maintains a healthy balance between the elements that make up this early twentieth-century work. Including her own comic touches…
read the full review here (dutch)

Trouw ** | Hugo Jage

In Der Rosenkavalier, Opera Spanga loses sight of Strauss’s richness

(…) whatever you may think of it, Van Eijk does not, with that banality, touch upon any socially relevant themes, as she keeps proclaiming everywhere. Everything remains as trite as can be.

(…) Vocally speaking, however, soprano Merlijn Runia is a delight.
Less precise is the duet between soprano Erin Selin and mezzo-soprano Itzel Medecigo. Baritone David Visser’s singing is flat; his character is missing from the music.

(…) If Van Eijk really believes that the opera repertoire is old-fashioned and has its limitations, why doesn’t she take up composing herself?
read the full review here (dutch)

Place de l’Opera | Franz Straatman

Magnificent singing in a mangled Rosenkavalier

(…) If this is meant to be a ‘comedy for music’, I expect a first-rate performance of such a score. However, the sounds produced began to irritate me more and more. So there is nothing to be said about the merit of this aspect of the Rosenkavalier production…

(…) It is impressive how Opera Spanga consistently manages to create an excellent visual spectacle within the limited space…

(…) The robust-looking and powerfully singing mezzo Itzel Medecigo was a real driving force in the vocal-erotic interplay.

(…) In a strong production that found its continuation in the vocally colourful outpouring about the passage of time. Here too, a top-class performance from Merlijn Runia.

(…) … soprano Erin Selin sang with a blissfully lyrical expression.

(…) My conclusion is that this production must be deemed an artistic mortal sin due to the omission of the instrumental ensemble and the vocal highlights at the end.
read the full review here (dutch)

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