新鮮血液：新生代在舞臺上閃亮

經(jīng)過了20年的光景，你可能會說香港的歌劇已經(jīng)成為它自身成功的“犧牲品”。2003年，香港歌劇院（Opera Hong Kong）成立，它確保了這座城市每年至少有兩部（有時是三部歌劇）的上演。在此之前，接受過系統(tǒng)歌劇訓練的本地歌唱家，甚至偶爾還有外籍聲樂指導，都可以在一年一度的香港民政事務局安排的演出中，與資深的國際藝術(shù)家同臺演出。即使是在10年前，香港歌劇院青年藝術(shù)家計劃的成員也有機會在常規(guī)演出季中登臺獻藝。

但隨著本地人才輩出，香港歌劇院將焦點轉(zhuǎn)向了常規(guī)劇目和職業(yè)生涯中期的國際歌手。近幾年來，香港歌劇院一直致力于推出青年藝術(shù)家海外獎學金計劃，該計劃將贊助6名本地歌唱家在海外短期求學，時間可達半年之久。但香港本地的歌唱家，尤其是那些學成歸來的年輕藝術(shù)家，如果他們?nèi)〉昧艘欢ǖ某煽儯瑒t會被香港歌劇院納入更為低調(diào)的夏季制作中。

隨著香港年輕演員的數(shù)量不斷增長，其他的演出機構(gòu)在過去幾年里不得不開始自己消化這些演藝人才，例如制作較小規(guī)模的演出，通常是鮮少登臺的劇目，并經(jīng)常以內(nèi)地為巡演的目標市場。今年早些時候，法國五月藝術(shù)節(jié)（Le French May Arts Festival）與亞洲協(xié)會香港中心（Asia Society Hong Kong Center）合作，在亞洲首演了阿道夫·亞當（Adolphe Adam）的喜歌劇《斗牛士》（Le toréador）。該劇由香港的文化企業(yè)家彼得·戈登（Peter Gordon）和香港作曲家兼指揮家馬可·伊恩尼（Marco Ianni）改編并執(zhí)導。

這部制作遵循了戈登和伊恩尼早期作品中的合作模式，包括2019年更名為《女服務員至上》（Waitress on Top）的佩爾戈萊西的《女仆作夫人》（La serva padrona），和2022年奧芬巴赫的《蘋果之夜》（Pomme d’api）。前者后來由官方的香港電臺（RTHK）在新冠疫情期間在香港半島酒店（Peninsula Hotel）的主餐廳進行了拍攝，后者為在廣州大劇院（Guangzhou Opera House）上演進行了大量修改，并于今年早些時候在上海半島酒店的玫瑰宴會廳（Rose Ballroom）再次推出了沉浸式制作。戈登對《斗牛士》的故事進行了現(xiàn)代化和本土化的處理，而伊恩尼則重新設計了音樂和舞臺，以適應香港賽馬會廳的演出空間。該劇的對話采用英語，音樂部分則以法語演唱，并配有英文字幕。

戈登再次在標題上大做文章。他將原標題“斗牛士”（Le toréador）改為“三合會”（The Triad），并將原來的副標題“完美和弦”（法語雙關(guān)語，意為音樂和弦、三角關(guān)系）改為“三和弦”。亞當?shù)母鑴≈袥]有真的提到斗牛（與標題中沒有提到斗牛，卻圍繞斗牛士展開故事的比才的《卡門》恰恰相反），而“三合會”也暗指香港曾經(jīng)的犯罪集團。因此，故事的視角從退休的斗牛士轉(zhuǎn)向了歌劇中的第三個人物：這位男士的形象更為模糊，卻很浪漫。

女高音馮曉楓（Etta Fung）和男中音以撒·德羅沙（Isaac Droscha）現(xiàn)在都已為香港歌劇觀眾所熟知，二人分別將佩爾戈萊西的《女仆作夫人》中詭計多端的塞爾比娜（Serpina）和步履蹣跚的烏貝爾托（Umberto）延續(xù)至“斗牛士/三合會”（Toréador/ Triad）中，舞臺上的卡洛琳（Coraline）和唐·貝爾福（Don Belfore）明顯有著極佳的默契，碰撞出不錯的喜劇效果。可惜的是，6月6日在亞洲協(xié)會香港賽馬會廳上演的這場演出，缺少一個能讓歌唱家們的聲音聽起來很悅耳的音響環(huán)境。男高音陳勇的特拉科林（Tracolin）表現(xiàn)得更糟，他的聲音經(jīng)常毫無防備地直沖入耳，而不是在有足夠空間的劇場里繞梁不絕。鋼琴家徐惟恩（Hsu Wei-en）能夠保持穩(wěn)定的戲劇和音樂節(jié)奏，但他經(jīng)常在琴聲與歌手的聲音平衡方面遇到問題。

盡管該劇制作了新的字幕，但當晚并不完全與演出合拍，這一制作仍在磨合之中。亞洲協(xié)會（Asia Society）雖然在制作當代歌劇方面取得了一些成功，但也沒能完全適應19世紀的作品。關(guān)于《斗牛士》本身，各方面已經(jīng)準備好迎接更成功的未來——鑒于其制作團隊的經(jīng)驗，該劇很有可能會取得成功。

從純聲樂的角度來看，相對而言，最活躍地高舉本地旗號培養(yǎng)表演新人的可謂是香港大歌劇院（Hong Kong Grand Opera）。該院團由男低音歌唱家兼聲樂教師龔冬健創(chuàng)立。龔冬健是香港歌劇院青年藝術(shù)家計劃的前負責人，他和幾名曾受訓的青年藝術(shù)家一同于2019年離開香港歌劇院，創(chuàng)立了自己的藝術(shù)團體。香港大歌劇院成立于新冠疫情期間并成長起來，當年人們盡力尋找替代政府演出的場所（因為它們通常在幾乎沒有預告的情況下會突然關(guān)閉），創(chuàng)造出富有空間想象力的制作。這一次，香港大歌劇院在香港演藝學院（Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts）的一個圓形劇場里上演了一場別開生面的《女人心》（Così fan tutte）。

這部《女人心》是與意大利巴里大劇院（Teatro Petruzzelli）聯(lián)合制作的，該劇院是舞臺總監(jiān)詹多梅尼科·瓦卡里（Giandomenico Vaccari）和指揮家埃利奧·奧丘洛（Elio Orciuolo）的長期駐地。6月22日，奧丘洛以精湛的控制力和完美的清晰度在舞臺后方帶領(lǐng)著他的管弦樂隊。舞臺的其余部分被整齊地分成兩半，每一邊都各自貢獻給一對情侶（不過，就像故事發(fā)展的那樣，兩邊會流暢地交換變化）。兩名身著軍裝的舞臺工作人員站在舞臺外側(cè)，根據(jù)需要給演員們分發(fā)額外的道具或服裝。

作為莫扎特與達·龐特合作的最后一部歌劇，無論是音樂上還是在戲劇結(jié)構(gòu)上，《女人心》仍然堪稱古典對稱的典范。也許在經(jīng)典保留劇目中，沒有哪一部歌劇能比它更適合展示單個歌手和全體演員的水平。女高音曾麗婷（Kenix Tsang）的斐爾迪利吉（Fiordiligi）與男中音林俊廷（Michael Lam）的朱列爾莫（Guglielmo）配合得天衣無縫，而女中音張吟晶（Samantha Chong）的多拉貝拉（Dorabella）和男高音陳勇的費爾南多（Ferrando）也完美契合。曾麗婷的詠嘆調(diào)“我心堅如磐石”引起了全場轟動，并為陳勇用“愛情的微風”溫柔地拂過聽眾做好了鋪墊。（在“愛情的微風”中，陳勇的聲音得到了完全的綻放，這與亞洲協(xié)會的《斗牛士》中判若兩人）。在這些異類中，男中音梁浩軒（Jeremy Leung）飾演的憤世嫉俗的阿爾封索（Don Alfonse）與女高音黃華裳（Joyce Wong）飾演的黛斯皮娜（Despina）勢均力敵，黛斯皮娜這個角色讓她充滿活力的喜劇能力盡顯無疑。

但一旦經(jīng)過這些短暫的華彩點，聚光燈很快又回到了整個演唱團隊，部分原因是這伙人讓故事以對話的方式展開以凸顯對宣敘調(diào)的高度重視，而不是通過過于程式化的話語。從阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦（Albert Einstein）到奧利弗·溫德爾·霍姆斯（Oliver Wendel Holmes），著名的思想家都贊揚過“簡單勝過復雜”的優(yōu)點，但很少有人像瓦卡里那樣發(fā)自內(nèi)心地將這句格言付諸實踐。瓦卡里對原文細節(jié)的高度關(guān)注——由歌手巧妙嫻熟地呈現(xiàn)在舞臺上并翻譯成清晰、精確的英文字幕——這成為舞臺上演員們肢體語言優(yōu)雅的源泉，并使得戲劇空間中的動作看起來毫不費力。

After two decades， you might say that opera in Hong Kong has become a victim of its own success. Before the founding of Opera Hong Kong in 2003， which guaranteed the city at least two and sometimes three staged operas a year， local singers with decent operatic training—and even the occasional expatriate voice teacher—could find a place on stage alongside veteran international artists in annual civic productions. Even 10 years ago， members of Opera Hong Kong’s Young Artists Programme could expect to wind up on stage during the regular season.

But as the local talent began to increase， so did the company’s growing focus on standard fare and midcareer international singers. These days， Opera Hong Kong has been focused on launching its Young Artist Overseas Fellowship Programme， which will sponsor a half-dozen local singers in short-term residencies abroad for up to half a year. But local folks—par-ticularly young artists returning to Hong Kong after studying abroad on their own—will find themselves relegated to the company’s more modest summer productions if they make it at all.

With the supply of young performers in Hong Kong still growing， other organizations in the past few years have started taking matters into their own hands， generating smaller scaled shows， usually of lesser performed repertory and frequently with a goal of shopping their wares northward in China. Earlier this year， Le French May Arts Festival together with the Asia Society Hong Kong Center presented the Asian premiere of Adolphe Adam’s comic opera Le toréador， adapted and directed by local cultural entrepreneur Peter Gordon and Hong Kong-based composer-conductor Marco Ianni.

The production followed the Gordon-Ianni formula from their earlier efforts， including Pergolesi’s La serva padrona （renamed “Waitress on Top”） in 2019 and Offenbach’s Pomme d’api in 2022—the former later filmed by the government broadcaster RTHK in the main restaurant at Hong Kong’s Peninsula Hotel during its underutilized Covid period， the latter heavily revised for the Guangzhou Opera House and staged again earlier this year in an immersive production at the Rose Ballroom at the Peninsula Shanghai. Gordon both modernized and localized the story， while Ianni reworked both music and staging to fit the space. Dialogue was performed in English， musical portions sung in French with English subtitles.

Once again， Gordon toyed with the original title， changing Le toréador to “The Triad” and rendering the original subtitle L’accord parfait （a French pun referring both to a musical chord and a ménage-atrois） as “Three in Accord.” With no actual references to bullfighting in Adam’s opera （as opposed to， say， Bizet’s Carmen）， and “triad” also referring to Hong Kong’s criminal syndicates， the point of view shifts from the retired bullfighter to the opera’s third， more shadowy romantic figure.

Soprano Etta Fung and baritone Isaac Droscha， both quite familiar by now to Hong Kong’s opera audiences， brought to Toréador/Triad’s Coraline and Don Belfore a logical extension of Fung’s scheming Serpina and Droscha’s doddering Umberto from Pergolesi’s Padrona. The two singers have palpable rapport and good comic timing. What they did not have on 6 June at the Asia Society’s Jockey Club Auditorium， alas， was an acoustical setting that flattered their voices. Tenor Chen Yong’s Tracolin fared even worse， his vocal qual- ity often boring directly into unsuspecting eardrums instead of having sufficient space in the room to soar. Pianist Hsu Wei-en was able to maintain a consistent dramatic and musical pace， but he too had problems balancing his sound with the singers.

The show’s new subtitle notwithstanding， the evening was not exactly in accord， with the production still finding its footing and the Asia Society （despite some successes with contemporary opera） not fully accommodating the 19th century. Regarding Triad itself， the parts are in place for a more successful future—which， given the history of its production team， the show will most likely have.

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In purely vocal terms， the relative newcomer most actively flying the local banner is arguably the Hong Kong Grand Opera， founded by bass singer and vocal pedagogue Dongjian Gong， the former head of Opera Hong Kong’s Young Artists Programme who left （along with a handful of alumnae） to hang his own shingle in 2019. Having cut its teeth during Covid protocols， a time seeking alternatives to government venues（which frequently closed with little announcement） and treating space creatively， Hong Kong Grand Opera offered Così fan tutte in a resourceful three-sided staging in an amphitheatre setting at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Così was announced as a collaboration with Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari， a longtime professional home of both the production’s stage director Giandomenico Vaccari and conductor Elio Orciuolo. On 22 June， Orciuolo led his uncredited orchestra at the rear of the stage with superb control and consummate clarity. The rest of the stage divided neatly in half， each side devoted to a respective couple （though， as with the story， the sides would up changing fluidly）. Two stagehands in military attire flanked the outer edges， dispensing additional props or costumes as needed.

Mozart’s final opera with da Ponte remains a model of classical symmetry， not merely in musical but also dramatic construction. Perhaps no opera in the repertory is better suited to showcase both individual singers and a full cast. Soprano Kenix Tsang’s Fiordiligi pairing with baritone Michael Lam’s Guglielmo was smoothly matched by mezzo-soprano Samantha Chong’s Dorabella and tenor Chen Yong’s Ferrando， with Tsang nearly catching fire vocally in her aria Come scoglio as a warmup to Chen tenderly taking hold of listeners in Un’aura amorosa （where his voice found a bloom that evaded him entirely at the Asia Society）. Among the outliers， baritone Jeremy Leung’s cynical Don Alfonso likewise found his match in soprano Joyce Wong’s Despina， a role that let her feisty comic prowess run rampant.

But once past these momentary star turns， the spotlight quickly returned to the ensemble， in part because superb attention to recitative throughout the ranks let the story unfold in conversational terms rather than through overly stylized discourse. Famous thinkers from Albert Einstein to Oliver Wendel Holmes have extolled the virtues of simplicity over complexity， but few have put the maxim into practice as viscerally as Vaccari， whose supreme attention to the minutiae of the original text—deftly rendered by the singers and translated in clear， precise English surtitles—became the source of a physical grace that made motions through the theatrical space seemingly effortless.