Pierangelo Valtinoni is a contemporary Italian composer best-known, among other things, for his operas for children. The Snow Queen (La regina delle nevi), originally commissioned by the Komische Oper Berlin, was given its Asian debut (in English translation) at Hong Kong’s Shatin Town Hall 14-15 October.
Despite being based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, there’s nothing particularly childish about The Snow Queen, which means that its designation as a “children’s opera” needs some explaining. The story itself is about a girl, Gerda who searches for her friend Kai, who has gone missing after he has been struck by a shard of an evil mirror; he ends up in the hands of the eponymous Snow Queen who, despite the work’s title, hardly appears in the opera at all. There are two acts and eight scenes which provide only a minimal backstory and fairy-tale vignettes of Gerda’s quest. The scenes have little connecting tissue and it can be hard to discern a plot or dramatic dilemma. The libretto, at least in English, contains many words that are, one might think, above the reading level of the target audience member.
The critical element, as far as children are concerned, is that the music is tuneful, rhythmical and cleverly orchestrated. There is much for children to listen to. There is much for adults to listen to as well. The influence of Leonard Bernstein seems much in evidence, and there are echoes of the European musical tradition of such works as Les misérables.
This production also gives children lots to look at. The sets are simple, clean and on occasion evocative, and enhanced with strikingly-attractive animated projections. The cast (many of whom are only a meter or so tall and dressed in fairy-tale costumes), drawn from Yip’s Children’s Choir, number in the many dozens if not quite hundreds. There is both a community and participatory aspect to the production which keeps it grounded.
The pin-point professionalism of the staging was well-matched in the pit by the Hong Kong Sinfonietta under the direction of Yip Wing-sie. The protagonist of the opera is Gerda, ably sung by soprano Candace Chung. Other roles were taken (often doubling up) by singers familiar to Hong Kong opera goers: Bobbie Zhang, Dominique Chan, Michael Lam, Freddie Tsang, Edmund Kwan.