Sonya Yoncheva shines on the Gstaad stage in Puccini's Tosca | Photo: Raphael Faux

Gstaad does one full semi-staged opera a year – last year it was Zauberflöte with Christoph Rousset, this year Tosca, and next year, Tristan. Operas are now shared with Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, which means also a sharing of costs and infrastructure. It also adds an attraction for the singers, suggests Christoph Müller, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival director. The operas provide a spike in audience numbers; Müller is also aiming to move away from one big name as the draw.

Sponsorship allows for the video projections, so successful in both Rousset’s Die Zauberflöte (2022) and Hindoyan’s highlights from I Puritani (2021). It is a formula that works, creating atmospheres in a defined space in which the action takes place (the stage). Minimal props were used for Tosca, where initially a portrait is seen at the side of the stage which will itself form the basis of a projection. Images of a church, and, later, an Angel of Death and a blazing cross make their points clearly and effectively.

Erwin Schrott as Scarpia with Sonya Yoncheva as Tosca | Photo: Raphael Faux

Sonya Yoncheva’s Puccini is a known and valued quantity: well remembered is her Mimī Bohème at Covent Garden in January 2020. Yoncheva came to Gstaad fresh from Tosca in the vast Arena di Verona - the Festival Tent must have felt positively homely in comparison. Yoncheva lived the part of Puccini’s diva from first to last, her voice full and strong, losing no tone whatsoever at the higher dynamics. Her Floria Tosca was controlled, even her jealousy of the Madonna, while her defiance of Scarpia was eminently believable. Her cries of ‘Mario’ in the second act were chilling, with her ‘Vissi d’arte’ being slow and beautiful. A real triumph for Yoncheva.

Tenor Riccardo Massi, as Mario Cavaradossi, who disappointed somewhat as Manrico in Trovatore at Covent Garden recently, had strong start which diminuendoed throughout that evening. Close-up in Gstaad, his acting comes under the magnifying glass, to his detriment. He does have the low notes for the part (many do not), and generally sounds better than he acts. Unfortunately, his second act was wanting of much more drama. While his cry of ‘Vittoria’ was fine, he faded somewhat thereafter. Plus, his old-school tendency to cling onto climactic high notes became tiring.

Puccini's Tosca at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival | Photo Raphael Faux

Erwin Schrott is well-known for his Don Giovanni. For Tosca, he presented Baron Scarpia as an egotistical Mafioso type with a rather alarming tic. Yet he offered a slightly more human Scarpia than, say, Bryn Terfel’s embodiment of lustful evil - perhaps the machismo is just a front, which was the implication. Vocally, everything was there. Of the lesser parts, Act 2 found the Spoletta of Álvaro Zambrano (replacing Massimiliano Chiarolla) in fine voice and with notably clear diction. David Oštrek doubled as a convincing Angelotti and Jailer; Matteo Peirone was a superb, busy Sacrestan.

Domingo Hindoyan is one of the most promising of current young conductors. He paced the acts carefully, intelligently and with devastating emotional effect. His ‘Te Deum’ was utterly remarkable, overpowering in its force, and the orchestra positively seethed during the crucial second act Tosca/Scarpia confrontation. Off-stage effects made their mark well, and the Chor Konzert Tehater Bern was in fine voice.

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