The Fairy Queen

A brief comment on Prom 24: Purcell's 'The Fairy Queen'. My son, Hugo Herman-Wilson, was performing, along with other members of Le Jardin des Voix (the vocal academy of Les Arts Florissants) Purcell's 'The Fairy Queen'. They were singing with the orchestra of Les Arts Florissant and dancers from Compagnie Kaftig. This production has been touring throughout Europe, Canada and the USA and has been universally praised for its seamless fusion of baroque vocal and instrumental music, and ballet, break and street dance. Here we had a mainly young company from the UK, Europe, South America and the USA working as one, while celebrating difference. Dancers mingled with singers, instrumentalists left their seats in the orchestra to duet with vocal soloists. Singers danced, dancers sang. The Company performed as an organic unit. After the initial disconcertion of hearing relatively small forces in the vast space of the Royal Albert Hall, the audience too were drawn into the magic circle of collaboration: there were gasps at the spectacular dance leaps during lively orchestral interludes, smiles of admiration as the recorder players Sebastien Marq and Nathalie Petibon impersonated bird song, while the company fluttered fingers behind their backs as wings, delighted laughter during the cross-dressing duet of Corydon and Mopsa, and rapt silence during the magical chorus 'Hush no more!'.

This does not claim to be a disinterested review: Hugo is my son and I am very proud of him. For reasons of physical stature and dramatic presence he was the not so still centre around which, in ensemble moments, the other singers and dancers tended to gravitate: he is, and he can thank his mother for this, a true 'stage animal', bringing the 'Drunken Poet', 'Corydon' and 'Hymen' vividly to life as an impeccable singing actor. But his was only one fine performance amongst many. Paulina Francisco, Georgia Burashco, Rebecca Leggett and Juliette Mey were the nicely differentiated female voices, Mey quite exquisite in 'O Let Me, Let Me Weep' , her performance enhanced by leader Augusta McKay Lodge stepping out from the orchestra to deliver a sublime violin obligato. Tenors Ilja Aksionov, and Rodrigo Carreto, were sweet and expressive, and the warm toned, plangent bass of Benjamin Schilperoort added gravitas to his solo items and the general ensemble. Dancers Baptiste Coppin, Samuel Florimond, Anahi Passi, Alary-Youra Ravin, Daniel Saad, and Timothee Zig were individually and collectively sensational. Conductor Paul Agnew directed his multifarious forces with calm aplomb. All in all, this was an unforgettable evening.  At the conclusion of the performance the RAH erupted and applause continued for ten ecstatic minutes.