Anna Bolena, Vienna State Opera

VIPs in the audience, divas on the stage, and television cameras everywhere: Saturday’s premiere of Anna Bolena at the Vienna State Opera was an Event, with a capital E. Beamed live to the square outside, broadcast to almost a hundred cinemas and transmitted on radio, expectations were high.

It was Anna Netrebko’s first go at the title role. That in itself was a sensation. But the Russian soprano was just one member of a rub-your-eyes-and-look-again cast list: Elina Garanca as Seymour, Francesco Meli as Percy, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Enrico VIII, Elisabeth Kulman as Smeton. And it was, amazingly, the first time this Donizetti blockbuster had ever been staged at the State Opera.

If staging is the right word. What director Eric Génovèse did with the piece could at best be described as decorative blocking, and might equally well have been a revival of a production from 80 years ago.

At least Génovèse’s meaningless stasis and Luisa Spinetalli’s museum-piece costumes meant that there was nothing to take attention away from the singing, which was consistently superb.

Netrebko is, intriguingly, neither a born coloratura soprano nor a burningly charismatic performer in this role. She is disciplined, conscientious, accurate and pretty. As her rival Giovanna (Jane) Seymour, Garanca is far more lissom and passionate, at one with the role in a way that Netrebko is not yet. Kulman made a bodice-ripping (literally) Smeton, while D’Arcangelo, though indisposed, brought some much-needed chemistry to the stage as Henry. Netrebko is not the new Callas, and the hysteria surrounding her appearances says more about marketing and a public hunger for stars than it does about her artistry. She is just an exceptionally good singer with the versatility and stamina to bear the heat of the spotlight. Perhaps that is how today’s divas must be: more grit, less mystique.

The evening’s real star was on the podium. Evelino Pidò drew playing of unusual precision and refinement from the State Opera orchestra, shaping every phrase with love, constructing ensembles with care and making every note matter. He is clearly passionate about this music, and his fervour reached everyone in the house.

Is it enough to take a fail-safe line-up of stars, give them showy music and lavish costumes, hire a safe stage director and watch ticket sales rocket? Or does publicly funded high art have a duty to set itself further apart from the world of popular entertainment?

Génovèse and his team were roundly booed by the opening-night public. New intendant Dominique Meyer has succeeded in assembling a production too conservative even for the Vienna State Opera audience. That is, quite frankly, scary.

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