Home to sing a firm favourite

Martin Snell. Photo / Supplied.

There was a time when one could only read of Martin Snell's many successes in the opera houses of Europe. Then, in 2008, the New Zealand bass singer returned to thrill us as Jokanaan in Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Salome, followed by appearances in the orchestra's Les Noces and, just last year, in NBR New Zealand Opera's Eugene Onegin.

Now Snell is back for the Messiah season. On Monday and Tuesday, he will tell us of nations raging and trumpets sounding in Auckland Choral's annual presentation of the Handel oratorio.

Inevitably, when we catch up, we talk opera, starting with his part in the Athens revival of Graham Vick's 2007 Tannhauser. The bonus was "working with Graham who revived the whole production rather than leaving it to an assistant", says Snell.

Only a few months ago, he played alongside Simon O'Neill in a new production of Der Freischutz by Stefan Ruzowitsky, the film director awarded an Oscar for his 2007 The Counterfeiters.

"Ruzowitsky distanced himself from great operatic gestures as one might expect but brought along a new horror movie element," says Snell. "During the overture he screened a black-and-white film showing the two characters as younger men and how everything came to be. It was very clever."

Then in September, there was the chance to revisit Stravinsky's Les Noces, staged as The Wedding by Graham Vick for his Birmingham Opera Company, and publicised as a "screaming, shrieking flat-out masterpiece".

"The chorus was in bridal gowns and morning suits, the result of a High Street wedding shop going bankrupt and it was set in a disused warehouse," Snell explains. "The audience was in the middle of it all and encouraged to move around the performing space. It was almost a quadraphonic experience, and there was such joy on the faces of the audience, many of whom were far from regular opera patrons."

Off the opera stage, Snell has a firm reputation in oratorio and choral repertoire, including a recent Glagolitic Mass alongside Simon O'Neill and the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis.

Handel's Messiah has become a regular. He remembers a fine Sao Paulo performance in which he felt uncomfortable "with the audience being the .001 per cent who control 90 per cent of the country's wealth." He has happier memories of a Huddersfield Choral Society presentation, which was signed for the hearing impaired, "an extraordinary experience, thinking of these people feeling the vibrations of the music".

Handel's masterpiece ensures eternal freshness. "Apart from the wonderful opportunity to perform on home turf next week," he says, "Messiah is just so brilliantly composed from first note to last. And, depending on how it's conducted, if the tempo is right it can be the most riveting evening out."

Performance

What: Auckland Choral - Messiah

Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Monday and Tuesday at 7.30pm