“There’s nothing more beautiful to me than a pit full of musicians,” violinist Sarah Darling remarked to me as she took her seat with the orchestra for Sunday afternoon’s performance of Boston Early Music Festival’s centerpiece opera, Reinhard Keiser’s 1705 “Octavia.”
Even as pits go, BEMF mainstage pits are up there for beauty. Instead of the industry usual of a half-circle of chairs led by a conductor in front, BEMF customarily places its pit musicians at a long rectangular table — almost as if they were all about to be served a banquet, but with music stands lit by soft lamps where plates would otherwise be. I pointed this out to Darling, and she laughed. “We’re all sitting down to a musical feast!”
For the next 3½ hours, Darling proved correct. BEMF’s longstanding creative trinity of stage director Gilbert Blin and musical directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs can count this as another success in their books, bringing to vibrant life yet another opera that could have otherwise felt like a musty museum piece.
The story of “Octavia” itself is pure sword-and-sandal historical real-person-fanfiction. The tyrannical Emperor Nero (bass-baritone Douglas Williams) sets his eye on the visiting Queen Ormoena (soprano Amanda Forsythe) and decides he’ll just accuse his wife Octavia (Emőke Baráth) of adultery and order her to off herself. In real life, Nero probably did orchestrate Octavia’s death in a similar way after taking up with his mistress-later-wife Poppaea; see Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea” for something closer to that version of the story. However, 18th-century audiences in Hamburg wanted happy endings, so Octavia gets rescued just in time by the rebellious senator Piso (Aaron Sheehan) and the avuncular tutor Seneca (Christian Immler), and Seneca helps Octavia straighten out her already-paranoid husband by dressing up as a ghost and scaring him straight.
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There are also a bunch of minor characters running around, and they’re all in love with someone they shouldn’t be — except for Octavia, who remains a paragon of saintly patience and upright faithfulness throughout her trials. The fact that she only barely resembled a doormat is thanks to Barath. With her face and voice, she showed a queenly mask cracking to reveal the human fragility underneath.
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Williams’s ravenous Nero was a visually and vocally compelling foil to the regal Octavia, restless even while standing still; he bounced his foot and rolled his eyes as Immler’s Seneca tried to counsel him in Act 1. The Cutler stage has an unfortunate acoustic dead spot about halfway back that will swallow a solo voice, and Williams’s imperial proclamations that might have otherwise boomed fell victim to that somewhat often. Thankfully, he stayed out of the danger zone during his tingling breakdown scene and haunting by Octavia.
There was nary a weak link in the rest of the cast either, a testament to BEMF’s ever-expanding contact book. Forsythe, a fixture in BEMF’s crown, showed off her sensuous vocal bloom and dynamic control as Ormoena. Festival newcomer Michael Skarke also made a fine showing as her husband, the Armenian king Tiridates, deploying a nimble and strong countertenor voice. Sheehan’s lissome tenor voice and oratorical, text-forward style of singing perfectly suited the role of Piso, and Sherezade Panthaki’s jewel-toned soprano made any appearance by the yearning Princess Clelia a highlight. Jason McStoots exemplified “long-suffering” as chamberlain Lepidus, and Marc Molomot rendered the clownish Davus in a pungent character voice.
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I named soprano Hannah De Priest the breakout star of 2023’s festival for her appearances as a concert artist and soloist, which she did while also understudying the role of Circe in the mainstage opera. It was wonderful to see her as part of the mainstage cast as the flirtatious Livia, and then find her name on the bill for this fall’s chamber opera. I’ll give this summer’s breakout award to the young tenor Richard Pittsinger; we saw him with Boston Baroque a few months ago, and at BEMF, he more than held his own while sharing the stage with singers who have been in the game since before he could walk.
The orchestra led by Robert Mealy was in fine form, capably handling the score’s sometimes unusual demands (one aria featured a quartet of bassoons) and imbuing the recitatives with dramatic tension.
Painted backdrops by Alexander McCargar set the scene with opulence, as did the costumes by Anna Kjellsdotter; the silhouettes and colors gave the impression of 18th-century European aristocracy throwing an Ancient Rome-themed costume party, with a bit of bright red flair and intricate beaded accents on Tiridates and Ormoena’s outfits to highlight their foreign-ness in Rome. Catch the broadcast when it pops up on WCRB if you can, but hopefully it’ll get released on video at some point. Antonio Oliart Ros and the CRB crew are masters at their art, but no audio broadcast will be able to capture the energy and verve of Hubert Hazebroucq’s choreography as realized by BEMF’s in-house dance company — not to mention Barath’s royal side-eye.
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OCTAVIA
Presented by Boston Early Music Festival. At Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre June 15
A.Z. Madonna can be reached at az.madonna@globe.com. Follow her @knitandlisten.