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A Biblical Love Triangle Düsseldorf
Deutsche Oper am Rhein
05/23/2026 - & May 31 (Duisburg), June 12 (Düsseldorf), July 9 (Duisburg), 2026
Charles Gounod: La Reine de Saba
Liana Aleksanyan (Balkis, Queen of Sheba), Bogdan Talos (King Solomon), Sébastien Guèze (Adoniram), Anna Alàs*/Annabel Kennedy (Bénoni), Charlotte Langner*/Julia Wirth (Sarahil), Jacob Harrison (Sadoc), Andrés Sulbarán (Amrou), Jake Muffett (Phanor), Valentin Ruckebier (Méthousaël)
Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein, Albert Horne (chorus master), Duisburger Philharmoniker, Hendrik Vestmann (conductor)
Juliane Schunke (dramaturgy)
The phenomenon of "Opera in Concert” has become increasingly popular of late, for several reasons. One is that opera fans are more enamored with voices and music than with staging, especially with the dearth of directors with a grasp of history, literature and even music. The majority seem only interested in shock tactics. An operatic evening where one enjoys voices and music without absurd staging is a winning formula.
However, an unfortunate number of operas in concert feature overly familiar operas, even warhorses, as witnessed recently with Le nozze di Figaro in Montréal and Paris; L’italiana in Algeri in Paris, and Die Fledermaus in Barcelona and Madrid. The justification for these efforts is debatable, as these works already figure in the programming of most opera companies. Mercifully, Düsseldorf’s Deutsche Oper am Rhein presented a rarity unknown to all but a handful of cognoscenti. This is the raison d’être of “opera in concert”; to familiarize audiences with rarely-performed works.
Though famous for such popular works as Faust (1859) and Roméo et Juliette (1867), Gounod’s ten other operas (with the exception of his 1867 opera Mireille) are now forgotten. Despite having featured prominent performers for its 1862 premiere, La Reine de Saba was a flop. Though the music is comparable to his two major operas and its melodies are catchy, the weakness of the plot was undoubtedly the reason for its failure. Nonetheless, the opera has survived thanks to its two arias, the soprano’s “Plus grand dans son obscurité” and the tenor’s “Inspirez‑moi, race divine !”, which sometimes feature in recitals and recordings.
Based on an adaptation of the biblical story of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon by Gérard de Nerval (1808‑1855), the opera recounts the story of a state visit by Balkis, the Queen of Sheba (present day Yemen), to see King Solomon in Jerusalem. The King is enraptured by the beautiful Queen and intends to wed her. Balkis is impressed with both the temple of Jerusalem and its architect Adoniram. Three disgruntled employees of the master architect sabotage his forging of the “sea of bronze”, an enormous bowl, set to adorn the temple. During the official ceremony in the presence of Solomon and Balkis, the molten bronze flows uncontrolled and the casting furnace explodes. Despite his dishonour, Balkis expresses her love for Adoniram.
Divine intervention repairs the “sea of bronze” and Adoniram is honoured by Solomon and adulated by the crowd. Nonetheless, he announces his intent to leave the king’s service, arousing the King’s suspicion. Balkis and Adoniram decide to flee together. The three perfidious employees reveal the plan to Solomon. They further threaten Adoniram and demand that he reveal the source of his power, but he refuses and they stab him to death. Balkis arrives in time to comfort her dying lover.
Two of the three leading roles were sung by artists who regularly grace the stage of Düsseldorf’s Deutsche Oper am Rhein: Armenian singer Liana Aleksanyan (Balkis) and Romanian bass Bogdan Talos (King Solomon).
Liana Aleksanyan, in the title role, is a first‑rate lirico spinto soprano with a warm, distinct timbre and utter ease with her upper register. Astonishingly, her French diction here was better than her Italian had been when she played Elisabetta in Don Carlo two seasons ago in Düsseldorf, strange, as Italian is generally easier to sing than French. In that production, she was hampered by mediocre staging and poor stage directions. Here, without a director, she easily conveyed her regal station and convincingly expressed her emotions, whether her infatuation with Adoniram, her vulnerability and finally, her anguish at his death. She was truly moving in the opera’s most famous aria “Plus grand dans son obscurité” and the duet with Adoniram that follows,“Qu’importe ma gloire effacée.”
Bogdan Talos had all the required qualities for interpreting King Solomon: a basso cantante that is both powerful and suave as well as clear diction, making his interpretation both effective and credible. He’s also a truly versatile singer; the next day he sang the eponymous comic role in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. In previous seasons, he has impressed as King Philip in Don Carlo and as Daland in Der fliegende Holländer. In each production, his diction, whether Italian, German or French, was excellent. In his Act IV aria, “Sous les pieds d’une femme,” he offered an intriguingly complex portrayal of King Solomon, regal and proud, enamoured yet distressed with Balkis’s attention to his master architect. Despite being an “in concert” performance, the intensity of Solomon’s emotions were adroitly conveyed, humanizing the character, making him sufficiently sympathetic for the public to identify with him. This Solomon was no villain, but rather a fragile man, despite his station.
The revelation of the evening was the excellent French tenor Sébastien Guèze, recently heard in Turin as Des Grieux in Auber’s Manon Lescaut, another rarity. Guèze’s light lyric tenor is appealing, his diction excellent and he has the looks of a jeune premier. Though the forty‑six‑year-old tenor’s latter quality is less essential for an “in concert” performance, it certainly helps in staged performances. Indeed, he graces the stages of France and other countries in the leading French roles of Faust, Roméo, Hoffmann, Pelléas, Werther and Massenet’s Des Grieux in addition to La bohème’s Rodolfo and Madama Butterfly’s Pinkerton. In the present performance, he impressed with his ease in the higher register, and his elegant phrasing and expressivity. Though not a staged performance, he conveyed such qualities as sincerity, strength of character and even modesty, justifying Balkis’s infatuation, rendering him sympathetic to the audience. Indeed, he was so convincing as the good Adoniram that one was totally immersed in the opera’s plot, despite the lack of sets and costumes. He was truly on the mark for the opera’s main tenor aria, “Inspirez‑moi, race divine !” where he invoked the example of the sons of Tubal‑cain, the biblical founder of metalworking.
As is often the case in exotic operas, names are not casually chosen, for example Adoniram, named after the biblical character who was the tax collector under King David. The name itself, אדונירם, is derived from ‘Adon’ meaning lord or master and ‘ram’ meaning high or exalted. Clearly, it’s a most appropriate name for King Solomon’s master architect.
The supporting roles were well sung, though none had individual arias to sing or much stage time to portray profound characters. Other than an attractive and warm mezzo, Spain’s Anna Alàs, who portrayed Adoniram’s assistant Bénoni, had such excellent diction that I mistook her for a native French speaker.
In Act IV, the three workers who betrayed Adoniram described to King Solomon the tryst between Balkis and Adoniram in an orange grove, “Sous le bois d’orangers”. This is an anachronism, as citrus fruits were brought from China and India by the Arabs over a millennium later. Indeed, the word for orange in German (Apfelsine), Dutch and Scandinavian languages signifies “apple of China.”
So why would an opera by one of France’s leading operatic composers, featuring three grand roles and countless memorable tunes, not be successful? The most likely response is its musical style of Grand Opéra, a style Gounod adopted for most of his operas long after it had faded away. It emulates Meyerbeer’s style but lacks the formula of five or six grand singers. La Reine de Saba only has three: Balkis, Solomon and Adoniram. Bénoni and Sarahil, Balkis’s companion, can’t be seen as major roles. Though stylistically it has the required five acts and ballet, it fails in its weak character development. Also the biblical epoch is less enticing than the usual Renaissance to nineteenth century settings, and the characters more remote.
Despite this performance’s great cast, the attraction of Solomon to Balkis and Balkis and Adoniram’s mutual attraction seemed rather quick and unconvincing. In general, the characters were insufficiently developed by Gounod and his librettists. Nonetheless, one can imagine La Reine de Saba making an impression with an elaborate production in the luxuriant setting of the Holy Land – and most of all with an excellent cast of this calibre.
Ossama el Naggar
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