“In sum, with Taddei’s imaginative programming and natural ebullience, Orchestra Wellington triumphed again.”
“The work was put across with a level of confidence and sheer commitment that took the breath away. With the singers all the way were the musicians of Orchestra Wellington guided surely and sensitively by Taddei, making the most of all of the work’s varying moods, most particularly the nakedly brusied and bleeding anguish of the final interlude as Wozzeck drowns.” – Opera Magazine (UK), February, 2024
The production itself, a few days ago, was nothing short of astonishing.
Marc Taddei is a visionary, one of the most talented concert programmers in the country, and a persuasive salesman. He regularly cajoles the large, loyal Orchestra Wellington audience into joining him on adventurous musical journeys. They’ve learned to trust him.
Taddei is to be congratulated for his huge commitment to this ground-breaking production of Wozzeck. He has shown deep insight into both Berg’s musical intentions and the composer’s compassion for the poor and disempowered. Taddei has also drawn into his artistic vision wonderfully talented performers, many singing a role debut, alongside an inventive creative team. This may not have been the most flawless performance of Wozzeck ever presented, but it absolutely and triumphantly captured Berg’s modernist conception. Unforgettable!
Discordant, atonal, brutal, distressing? Yes! Wonderful? Yes!
It was a bold decision to perform it. It cannot be an easy work for soloists, chorus, or orchestra. Orchestra Wellington is to be congratulated for programming Wozzeck and all performers for pulling it off so successfully.
It’s the stuff this country’s musical legends are made of…
Conductor Marc Taddei’s wondrous grasp of the ebb and flow of these disarming contrasts and his players’ ability to deliver the full range and force of their extremes made in itself an unforgettable impression.