Purcell: The Indian Queen, Z630

Julia Bullock (Teculihuatzin/Dona Luisa), Vince Yi (Hunahpu), Nadine Koutcher (Dona Isabel), Christophe Dumaux (Ixbalanque), Markus Brutscher (Don Pedrarias Davila), Noah Stewart (Don Pedro de Alvarado), Maritxell Carrero (Leonor)

MusicAeterna, Teodor Currentzis, Peter Sellars (dir.)

punchy playing from Perm Opera's MusicAeterna orchestra under Teodor Currentzis...The Perm chorus...also field Purcell's sacred anthems with refreshing directness...Yet the more the evening slides... — Gramophone Magazine, March 2016 More…

Release Date: 9th Oct 2015
Catalogue No: 88875049529
Label: Sony

ECHO Klassik Awards

2017

Winner

Purcell: The Indian Queen, Z630

Peter Sellars’ New Version
Julia Bullock (Teculihuatzin/Dona Luisa), Vince Yi (Hunahpu), Nadine Koutcher (Dona Isabel), Christophe Dumaux (Ixbalanque), Markus Brutscher (Don Pedrarias Davila), Noah Stewart (Don Pedro de Alvarado), Maritxell Carrero (Leonor)
MusicAeterna
Teodor Currentzis, Peter Sellars (dir.)

About
Reviews
Videos
Explore

About

This is the second creative project bringing together conductor Teodor Currentzis and director Peter Sellars (the first being the operatic double-bill of Iolanta and Perséphone staged in Madrid in 2012), and also the first collective production of three opera companies — the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Spanish Teatro Real and the English National Opera.

The action is set in Central America. Spanish colonialists are at war with the native Mayan people. In the face of the armed forces the locals appear armed with bows and arrows, but they are mere children. Blood runs like a river. The Mayans resort to trickery – in order to infiltrate the enemy, the daughter of the Mayan chief becomes a concubine to the commander of the Spanish army. The plan brings her unexpected happiness (she falls in love with the commander and has children with him) but also tragedy (the Spanish colonialists continue the massacre of the Mayans). With nowhere to turn for help, the only hope is that the great Mayan gods will descend from the sky to the earth at the critical moment…

The scenery recreates the symbolic and colourful decoration of the Mayan tribes and the Zapatista Army — a modern national liberation movement in Mexico. The music is performed by an international ensemble of soloists, choir and the orchestra musicAeterna.

Reviews

March 2016

punchy playing from Perm Opera's MusicAeterna orchestra under Teodor Currentzis...The Perm chorus...also field Purcell's sacred anthems with refreshing directness...Yet the more the evening slides on, the more the tools in Sellars's armoury grow rusty...The sympathetic and hard-working Julia Bullock is the Queen...and two very different countertenors, the soprano-ish Vince Yi and the silkier-sounding Christophe Dumaux, both impress.

August 2016

The human drama born of the encounter is vividly underscored by close-ups of singers, particularly Julia Bullock, superb as the Indian Queen, and Noah Stewart, compelling as Don Pedro, the most handsome and heroic of conquistadors, with whom the queen is paired in a sexually charged but ultimately lethal relationship. Nadine Koutcher sings with pure tones as Doña Isabel, a Spanish aristocrat sympathetic to the Indians, and there are excellent contributions from two countertenors, Vince Yi and Christophe Dumaux, and from the baritone Luthando Qave.

Videos

An error occurred.

Try watching this video on www.youtube.com, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.

Purcell: The Indian Queen, Z630

Contents

Download queue

Purcell: The Indian Queen, Z630

Blu-ray

Other available formats

Contents

Download queue