Opera Through Excited Young Eyes: Iain Reviews Turandot

Fernando Bustos Helps Early Music Festival End On High Note

Look Away: Fernando Bustos as Orfeo in the Twin Cities.

"The second annual Twin Cities Early Music Festival — three weeks of period instrument and early vocal style performances — presented its finale Friday night, an ambitious and largely successful semi-staging of Gluck’s classic 18th-century opera, Orfeo ed Euridice.....A feisty little 10-piece orchestra offered playing that was both lively and consistently in tune — no small accomplishment in the period-instrument world. Even so, under the circumstances, it was probably wise that conductor Donald Livingston cut at least a half-hour out of the score. Two of the singers came from Panama for this production (which was repeated Saturday). These were a young countertenor, Fernando Bustos, who sang Orfeo, and soprano Graciela Saavedra, who portrayed Amore, the Goddess of Love. Bustos brought a sincerity and an emotional vulnerability to the role that more or less carried the evening, and his high tenor, with its poignant naturalness, had none of the steely sound that mars the singing of so many countertenors. As far as variety of vocal expression and coloring, Bustos is probably not yet in the league of David Daniels, the current champ of countertenors who sang Orfeo for Minnesota Opera, but he is clearly on his way. He sang the great lament, 'Che faro senza Euridice?' with such sweetness and tragic dignity that it seemed fresh and new. Saavedra was a saucy Amore with an agile voice, though a couple of her coloratura flights sounded tentative. Linh Kauffman was a warmly human Euridice exquisitely sung. Both Bustos and Kauffman embodied the 'noble simplicity' that Gluck sought in his works for the stage." Read the entire review here and learn more about the festival here. Additional information on Fernando Bustos, after the jump.

Five-Hour Porpora Opera Staged At Innsbruck Festival Of Early Music

Lengthy Drama: Rosmonda (Klara Ek), Arminio (David 
Hansen), and Segeste (Carlo Vincenzo Allemano)
in Porpora's Il Germanico.

"Le chef italien Alessandro De Marchi exhume un ouvrage ambitieux au Festival de musique ancienne d’Innsbruck. Il Germanico fut créé en 1732 à Rome, et c’est la première fois qu’il est rejoué. Cinq heures de musique, et deux entractes. Vous pensez à Wagner, bien sûr, mais non! L’opéra Il Germanico de Nicola Porpora n’avait jamais été joué depuis sa création, à Rome, en 1732. Sa renaissance fait l’événement au Festival de musique ancienne d’Innsbruck, où le public a réservé une standing ovation au chef Alessandro De Marchi et aux six chanteurs réunis pour cet opera seria sur fond de lutte politique....La mezzo irlandaise Patricia Bardon chante le rôle-titre. Sa voix homogène et très expressive sert magnifiquement le général romain. Le contre-ténor australien David Hansen campe Arminio. Il se montre très engagé scéniquement, prêt à prendre des risques, mais la voix n’est pas idéale. L’émission est serrée, d’où des acidités dans l’aigu. Sa diction en italien mériterait d’être travaillée. Il gagne pourtant en aisance au fil du spectacle. Son grand air de lamentation, au cœur de l’opéra («Parto, ti lascio»), est digne des plus beaux moments chez

Powder His Wig: David Hansen (second from left) as Arminio 
at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik.

Haendel. Le ténor italien Carlo Vincenzo Allemano (qui n’a peut-être pas le plus beau timbre) incarne un Segeste très alerte. La soprano suédoise Klara Ek présente un timbre gracieux et souple en Rosmonda. La jeune mezzo Emilie Renard (Ersinda) est aussi bonne comédienne qu’excellente cantatrice. Le contre-ténor Hagen Matzeit (Cecina) se montre un peu imprécis dans certains ornements, maniéré par moments, mais il chante avec une belle musicalité. Le duo qu’il forme avec Emilie Renard est attendrissant. Entre grâce mélodique et élan solaire, cet opéra méritait une renaissance. Il donne une image plus complète de Porpora que l’on résume trop facilement à un compositeur purement intéressé par la pyrotechnie vocale. Alessandro De Marchi creuse les nuances et façonne des couleurs à la tête de l’Academia Montis Regalis. On est loin d’un ouvrage mineur d’un petit maître, même si on n’y atteint pas l’inspiration d’un Haendel dans ses plus grands opéras." [Source] And if you're wondering what team David Hansen might play on, the answer is after the jump.

Georgia Jarman Returns Triumphant In Santa Fe Opera "Rigoletto"

Gilda In The Desert: Jarman sings the Verdi role
at The Santa Fe Opera (Photo: Ken Howard)

Former Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Georgia Jarman currently sings the lead role of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Santa Fe Opera: "The plot, derived from a Victor Hugo play, revolves around the curse to which Rigoletto is referring just then. It focuses specifically on how he loses his daughter, Gilda, to the decadent Duke of Mantua, whom Rigoletto serves as court jester. Soprano Georgia Jarman proves to be a splendid Gilda, acting the part with forthright simplicity and displaying the vocal heft, timbre and agility needed to meet its demands. One of the evening’s high points was her aria 'Caro nome,' which started in loveliness and ended five minutes later in otherworldly beauty — her coloratura encompassing some clearly articulated, sustained trills, to boot. Conductor Jader Bignamini had led a sturdy interpretation up to that point, but in the aria he and the orchestra supported Gilda’s musings by allowing breathing room of their own. Jarman’s aria 'Tutte le feste al tempio' was similarly affecting, and the duet with her father into which it escalates was one of the evening’s most touching highpoints." [Source] Watch a video interview with the soprano discussing her role, after the jump.

Christine Goerke Gives Top Wagnerian Performance In New Zealand

Brünnhilde Ascending: Christine Goerke is quickly climbing to the summit of Valhalla. (Photo: Arielle Doneson)

Concert review for Wagner Gala featuring Christine Goerke (soprano), Simon O'Neill (tenor) with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen at Michael Fowler Centre on June 12, 2015, in Wellington: "In 2012 we had that thrilling concert performance of the second of Wagner's Ring operas Die Walkure, and two of the outstanding cast were Christine Goerke and Simon O'Neill. Now as a kind of addenda to that extraordinary experience we heard large slices of the last two Ring operas, Siegfried and Gotterdammering [sic]. I suppose there was a hint of frustration in the hour or so of each opera we heard, in that we moved from act to act, missing huge chunks that tie the operas together, and were treated to surtitles that were quaintly absurd in the manner of English translations of Wagner's words. Having said all this, though, the evening was a marvellous experience of Wagner 'writ large'; a huge orchestra with

Early Reviews Mixed For Patricia Racette As Nedda At MET

Tears of a Clown: Patricia Racette as Nedda with Marcelo Álvarez as Canio at the MET

Yesterday, the new David McVicar's production of Pagliacci by Leoncavallo had its opening night at the Metropolitan Opera. Critics didn't all agree on Patricia Racette's performance:

"Patricia Racette as the doomed Nedda gives one of her finest performances in recent memory, finding focus and honey in her middle range. She wholly inhabits her role, playing the wanton scamp 'Colombina' with aplomb, but earnestly yearning to be free of her life with Canio. Even in the midst of her infidelity, she commands sympathy in her duet with Lucas Meachem, who brought a warm, smooth baritone to the role of Silvio." [Source]

"But as Nedda, the luminous Patricia Racette is an optimist in spite of everything, her bright soprano spinning buoyantly in her duet with the orchestral birds in 'Stridono lassù.' Still, Ms. Racette is ready to switch into play-acting whenever she must." [Source]

"Patricia Racette delivers a fine performance as Nedda in Pagliacci, fiery in her aria 'Stridono lassu' and sultry in her love scenes with Silvio, making out on the running board of the truck." [Source]

"The soprano Patricia Racette may have a slight hard-edged quality in her full-voiced top notes these days. Still, as Canio’s wife, Nedda, who has become involved with the villager Silvio, she sang with beguiling feistiness, sizable sound and great character. She looked charming and captured the suffocating young woman’s restlessness." [Source]

"Patricia Racette as Nedda, the floozy with a heart of tarnished gold, acts, reacts, shimmies and swishes with such virtuosic glee that one wants to disregard some patchy vocalism." [Source]

"He has persuaded some of the singers to match his elegance, especially Patricia Racette, whose sultry Nedda in Pagliacci is the second-best reason to buy tickets. Equipped with a sumptuous black wig and a deluxe soprano in its prime, she toggles between heavy passion and light mockery. In the duet with her lover, Silvio, Racette’s voice rides the orchestra’s warm currents in long, legato glides, making the physical craving she inspires in men seem like an acoustical phenomenon." [Source]

"Joining them was Patricia Racette, who played Nedda like a has been hooker, and sounded like an over-the-hill soprano." [Source]

"In Pag, Patricia Racette's ever-widening vibrato (recalling late-period Maria Callas) meant that redemption for this Cav/Pag skeptic wasn't in the cards, even though David McVicar's production is perfectly respectable at worst and full of impressive, dramatically-relevant theatrical flourishes at best." [Source]

Bolshoi Theatre Revives Robert Carsen Circus "Rigoletto"

Kristina Mkhitaryan as Gilda

"Giuseppe Verdi's immensely popular opera Rigoletto returned to the Bolshoi Theater earlier this month, after an absence of 25 years, in a staging by Canadian director Robert Carsen co-produced by the Bolshoi, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, in France, where it originated in the summer of 2013, and the opera houses of Brussels, Strasbourg and Geneva. The Bolshoi played host to the Russian premiere of Rigoletto in 1859 and over the next 130 years the opera went on to become one of the theater's most-performed works, appearing nearly 1,600 times in 11 different stagings. To say that Carsen's production is unlike any seen before at the Bolshoi would amount to a gross understatement. Moving the action from its

Justina Gringyte as Maddalena and Sergey 
Romanovsky as the Duke of Mantua

original locale, the 16th-century ducal court of Mantua, in northern Italy, to a modern-day circus arena, Carsen has turned the libidinous Duke into an equally libidinous circus director and the court jester, Rigoletto, into a clown. To conduct Rigoletto, the Bolshoi engaged prominent Italian conductor Evelino Pido, who encountered certain difficulties in coordinating his forces and for whom the orchestra played rather insensitively at times. The principal treat vocally on opening night was the Duke of Sergei Romanovsky, who, after a brief stint with Novaya Opera, left Russia in 2009 to pursue a career abroad. His bright, technically secure lyric tenor proved a near-perfect fit to the music, marred only by a few cracked high notes. And he played the philandering Duke with enormous gusto and conviction. Kristina Mkhitaryan, a

Dimitris Tiliakos as Rigoletto

member of the Bolshoi's Young Opera Artists Program, showed considerable potential in her sympathetic account of the doomed Gilda, though she lacked, on opening night at least, the pure, bell-like high notes heard from the part's finest interpreters. The vocal disappointment of the evening was the Rigoletto of Greek baritone Dimitris Tiliakos, who seemed to possess several different voices, principal among them an only intermittently full-bodied sound in the mid-range of a sort that marks the true 'Verdi baritone' and rather weak and fluttering notes in music's upper reaches." [Source] Click here for information about Rigoletto performances at the Bolshoi. Watch a video after the jump.

Sonya Yoncheva Heralded As Mimì At MET By New York Times

Ms. Yoncheva in rehearsal (Photo:
Jonathan Tichler/MET Opera)

"In the third act of Puccini’s La Bohème, Mimì, the tubercular seamstress, says goodbye. 'Addio,' she tells Rodolfo, her poet lover, at the end of the aria 'Donde lieta usci,' and then repeats it for emphasis: 'Addio, senza rancor.' Many Mimìs keep this moment simple, singing both iterations of 'addio' roughly the same. But at the Metropolitan Opera on Friday, the Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva first sang the word in a voice straightforward and resolute, trying desperately to project strength. The second time, she sounded wispy and vulnerable: a poignant revelation of her true feelings. Subtle, thoughtful and heart-rending, the passage seemed like the work of a veteran artist. But astonishingly, this was Ms. Yoncheva’s first staged performance of the role. Her delicate, dreamy, detailed Mimì has arrived more or less fully formed — and, for good measure, with less than two weeks’ notice and just a month after she gave birth to a son....Her voice is not huge, but her precise articulation of the text and the slightest metallic glisten in her warm tone allow it to penetrate. Her first-act aria built to a gently riveting reverie, and she grew in tragic stature as the opera went on, with her soft-grain echo of Rodolfo’s earlier melody a textbook lesson in tender nostalgia near the end. The rest of the performance was not at her level." [Source] Her debut recording, "Paris, Mon Amour," will be released on Sony Classics in January 2015.

As the delicate Puccini character Mimì in La Bohème, Sonya Yoncheva receives a triumphant review.

New Zealand Opera Explores The Seediest Side Of "Don Giovanni"

"Almost done with this pole dance, but first....let me take a selfie"
(Photo: Stacy Squires/Fairfax)

"New Zealand Opera's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni opened its Auckland season on Thursday and had already courted a little bit of controversy as to its staging. Not the stuffy, fusty 18th Century costumes and street scenes for this production directed by Sara Brodie. Rather, the setting is in a seedy, dingy Spanish nightclub, completely devoid of any sophistication whatsoever. There are poledancers and a DJ in residence and smartphones, and selfies are taken. Apparently, there's some substance abuse as well although I have to say I missed that. But you get the idea. Not surprisingly, this has detracted from the other, arguably more important elements. How's the music, for starters? Were there any sacrifices made to the plot or libretto to accommodate the setting? And was it any good at all? The good news is that the music is good and it is a pretty decent production. While some might argue that some of the traditional elements to the story are reworked to suit the setting, the sets, created by designer John Verryt, are dynamic and up to the usual high standard we have become

Hell Hath No Fury: Anna Leese stars as Donna Elvira
(Photo: Mark Stone)

accustomed to with a New Zealand Opera production. NZO's music director Wyn Davies and the Auckland Philharmonia give their customary quality performance. And, most importantly, the cast is vocally strong. The two standouts in the cast have to be New Zealand soprano Anna Leese as Donna Elvira, one of Giovanni's victims, and Australian bass baritone Warwick Fyfe as Giovanni's long-suffering manservant Leporello." [Source]

Frederica Von Stade Continues Astonishing Stage Performances

"As is the case with movie actresses, opportunities decrease when female opera singers reach a certain age. There are only so many chances to be the Countess in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, for example. So when the much-beloved mezzo Frederica von Stade retired from the opera stage in February 2011 at age 65, with a final outing as Mrs. De Rocher, the show-stealing featured part that Jake Heggie wrote for her in Dead Man Walking (2000), her many fans assumed that was the end. It wasn't. Ms. von Stade is back, this time at center stage in A Coffin in Egypt, a one-act chamber opera written for her by Ricky Ian Gordon. The work had its premiere at the Houston Grand Opera in March, went on to Beverly Hills and is now at Opera Philadelphia. Working with librettist Leonard Foglia, Mr. Gordon based the opera on Horton Foote's play of the same name. It's a ferocious character study. Myrtle Bledsoe, age 90, living in the tiny backwater town of Egypt, Texas, looks back on her life, and for the most part, it isn't pretty. In 1900, at 19, a beautiful, much-pursued city girl, she married a rich farmer, but the promise of that beginning was never fulfilled. Her husband, Hunter, cheated on her openly, first with a black prostitute, and later with a 17-year-old high-school girl whose father he shot and killed. His crime went unpunished, and Hunter and Myrtle's nephew, assuming he would be similarly immune, murdered his own father. Even Myrtle's daughters were no comfort to her; they blamed her for Hunter's tomcatting ways." [Source] Read the full Wall Street Journal review of the show here.

San Francisco Opera "Show Boat" Cast Garners Excellent Reviews

Morris Robinson lets loose with his booming voice for the role of Joe at the War Memorial Opera House.

"A couple of highlights: There's granite-voiced bass Morris Robinson, as the stevedore Joe, pacing himself through 'Ol' Man River,' aligning with the show's African-American chorus to build this iconic number -- part spiritual, part dirge -- into a majestic cry for justice. There's actor and comic Bill Irwin, as Cap'n Andy Hawks, who is all fluid motion and spark-plug energy: clowning, moon-walking or floating like Fred Astaire. His face is plastic. He is pure expression and heart -- an unforgettable performance. Not that Show Boat is light fare. What it is is an intensely American hybrid, celebrating vaudeville, jazz, opera, spirituals and popular song. It addresses distinctly American themes: racism against African-Americans and opposition to inter-racial marriage, especially. These themes play out aboard the Cotton Blossom, a floating theater -- a showboat with its own troupe, led by Cap'n Andy. His daughter, Magnolia Hawks (soprano Heidi Stober, perfect as the ingenue), is the story's pivot. We follow her through her ill-fated marriage to gambler Gaylord Ravenal (baritone Michael Todd Simpson) in the 1880s, and then through single motherhood and her resolute fashioning of a career in the 1920s New York theater. A subplot involves Magnolia's best friend, Julie La Verne (soprano Patricia Racette), who is bi-racial and has been 'passing' for

Tara Erraught Is Having Her Adele Dazeem Moment In Opera

A picture of Tara Erraught as Sesto in
Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito at
Bayerische Staatsoper
in February 2014 (Photo: Facebook)

Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught has been in the news lately for British press fat-shaming her in a production of Der Rosenkavalier. Other opera singers, most notably Alice Coote's open letter lashing the critics, have voiced their opinions on the matter as well. Even the fashion magazine Elle is weighing in on the issue. Of course the greatest offense here is the critics NOT actually critiquing the singing of an opera, but trying to focus in on someone's appearance. Now, what universe do these men live in that they think Tara Erraught is overweight? It is with great hope that Ms. Erraught is quite aware of her vocal talents and takes pride in her gorgeous physical appearance. This might just be her succès de scandale. John Travolta famously butchered Idina Menzel's name into Adele Dazeem at the Academy Awards just before she sang "Let it go" from Disney's hit film Frozen. The Broadway star now says she was shaken for about 8 seconds before singing, but now in hindsight it was the greatest thing to happen in her career because now millions more people know her by name that may not otherwise have paid attention after her performance. Tara Erraught should soak up all the attention in this moment and ignore those silly men with their limp quills. Her exquisite figure and career will have the last laugh. A photo from the Glyndebourne Rosenkavalier production is after the jump.

Brecht-Weill "Threepenny Opera" Plays At San Jose Stage Co.

"Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne, Und die trägt er im Gesicht": Moreno as Macheath

"At the center of this decadent universe is Macheath (the agile Johnny Moreno), a cheating,

Jenny Diver & Mack the Knife

whoring hustler (in case you're not sure, he has the word 'hustler' tattooed across his chest.) Armed with a silver tongue, an outsized libido and the gift of swagger, Macheath threatens to upset the underground economy run by Mr. and Mrs. Peachum (Paul Myrvold and Susan Gundunas) when he announces that he intends to marry their virginal daughter, Polly (Monique Hafen.)....The cast, costumed in eye-candy grunge by Jean Cardinale and looking sharp in MaryBeth Cavanaugh's choreography, is strongest on the female side; Hafen's Polly is the standout, creating the character with a fine mix of innocence and bruised toughness, and singing with a focused, sweet-toned soprano that made songs like 'Pirate Jenny' and 'Barbara Song' into showstoppers. As Jenny, Halsey Varady is also splendid, belting 'The Flick Knife Song' (also known as 'Mack the Knife') at the top of the first act. Her performance of 'Socrates Song,' sung with balletic grace while suspended over a piano, is one of the evening's mesmerizing highlights." [Source] More photos after the jump.

(Photos: Dave Lepori)

New York Times Clips Wings Off Metropolitan Opera's "Bat"

Susanna Phillips (Rosalinde) and Christopher
Maltman (Eisenstein) in Johann Strauss, Jr.'s
Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera
(Photo: Nick Heavican)

"Real Champagne tends to provoke sticker shock in cash-strapped young people hoping to drink their way through New Year’s Eve. A popular solution is André, the saccharine, mass-produced sparkling wine that sells for about $4 or $5 a bottle. The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Johann Strauss Jr.’s tuneful farce Die Fledermaus, which rang in the new year on Tuesday evening, is operatic André: bubbly, sweet and syrupy. It’s not subtle or deep, but if you’re determined to have a party, it’ll get the job done. And the Met’s youthful cast is nothing if not determined to celebrate. The performers sing, dance and mug their way through Strauss’s classic waltzes with big smiles and lots of hearty laughter, intent on showing the audience a good time. But their lines are often worthy of groans more than giggles." [Source]

Barrie Kosky Magic Flute Makes Big Splash At LA Opera

"A celebration of true love conquering all, The Magic Flute transports us into an enchanted world where good faces the forces of darkness. Under the masterful baton of James Conlon, LA Opera presents the U.S. Production Premiere of a highly inventive staging that originated at the Komische Oper Berlin, created by director Barrie Kosky in combination with the British theater group '1927,' whose humorous shows have thrilled audiences all over the world with their interaction between film animation and live-performing actors: 'A perfect mixture of all the things worth loving: silent films, the cabaret of the Weimar Republic, David Lynch, and the brothers Grimm (The Guardian, UK).' Packed with exquisite singing and stage wizardry, Mozart's delightful blend of high comedy and serious drama enchants young and old alike." This is a co-production with Minnesota Opera, where it will be performed in April. Read the New York Times review by clicking here and check out a large photo gallery of the production here. The complete LA Opera cast list is after the jump.

Was Bianca Jagger Flashing at Barbican "Einstein on the Beach"?

Bianca, seen here at the Théâtre de France,
in a March 1974 photo shoot for Vogue UK.

"Last Friday, the theatre critic Mark Shenton was distracted from a five-hour performance of Philip Glass's opera Einstein on the Beach by a woman in his row taking photographs with a flash. It turned out to be Bianca Jagger. She had been snapping in defiance, Shenton claims, of complaints from those around her. Jagger has since said that others were taking pictures, too, adding that Shenton insulted and assaulted her. (He denies the latter, but admits the former with some pride.) The rules of behaviour in today's theatre audiences certainly seem to have changed. So, in the spirit of public service, and after consultation with Guardian critics, here is a new code of conduct." [Source] Read more details about the evening here.

Lyric Opera of Chicago Young Artists Leave Crowd Wanting More

Joseph Lim, Tracy Cantin and Kiri Deonarine in Act 2
from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro" (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

"There can be no higher praise for a concert performance of an isolated opera scene than that it leaves you disappointed not to be hearing the remaining two acts. Such was the case Monday night at Symphony Center, when the Civic Orchestra collaborated with Lyric Opera music director Sir Andrew Davis and singers from the Lyric’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center in a pair of Mozart and Puccini scenes. And while the final act of La boheme had its moments, it was Act 2 of Le nozze di Figaro that was the clear highlight of the evening, and left one wanting more. Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say that so stellar was the vocalism and spirited portrayals of the principals that any regional American opera house would be lucky to field this group of gifted young singers for their next Figaro production." [Source]

Verdi's "Aida" Hits Royal Albert Hall in London

"'Set amid the ruins of ancient Egypt,' promised the fliers. The impresario Raymond Gubbay has achieved many feats in his 45 years in showbiz but transporting the city of Thebes or the Temple of Vulcan to the Royal Albert Hall is not yet one. But he's had a darned good try in his latest opera-in-the-round blockbuster, Verdi's Aida, directed by Stephen Medcalf and designed by Isabella Bywater, which opened to a packed Royal Albert Hall last Thursday....In the first of three casts the Italianate-sounding American Marc Heller, making his UK operatic debut as Radames, was alone in seeing the point of vowels and consonants. He scaled 'Celeste Aida' with assurance and acted with the right kind of arms-akimbo gestures needed for this space. In the title role of the Ethiopian slave girl, Indra Thomas was sympathetic and looked magnificent but was off form vocally, struggling with top notes throughout. Claire Rutter and Catrin Aur, both strong performers, share the role for remaining performances. Some of the cameo roles were well taken and musical standards otherwise were high." [Source]

"Il Trovatore" at the Wichita Grand Opera Garners Praise

Bulgarian soprano Zvetelina Vassileva

"Manrico, the Troubadour, was played admirably at the last minute by tenor Michael Wade Lee, who had sung the role in the fall with the Lyric Opera in Dublin. The roll [sic] of Lenora was played by Zvetelina Vassileva. Vassileva possesses a voice with great tonal flexibility and she was able to display great tenderness and utter pathos; her coloratura tones were breathtaking. Baritone Michael Nansel’s Count di Luna also displayed a great vocal and emotional power making his character compelling and believable. Suzanne Hendrix powerfully dispatched her role as the most disturbed and disturbing mother since Shakespeare’s Gertrude, mother of Hamlet. The famous Anvil Chorus, gloriously staged, was strongly performed, but other choruses were plagued by weak diction and ensemble, particularly the chorus of nuns in Act II. The cast and orchestra were guided masterfully through the twists and turns of the score by music director Steven Mercurio. Mercurio’s clear, confident approach to the score made for a well-paced performance. Aside for some tuning challenges between sections, the playing of the orchestra was committed and very good." [Source]

Renée Fleming Wows New Jersey Audiences in Concert

La Fleming at the New Jersey Performing Arts
Center (Photo: Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger)

"With an album simply titled 'The Beautiful Voice' among her many recordings, Renée Fleming may be first recognized for the sheer quality of her sound. And audiences at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Sunday had ample opportunities to soak in that plush, opulent soprano. But while in fine form, Fleming made an impact with more than her musicianship. Throughout her performance with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under music director Jacques Lacombe, she was a warm, gracious presence. With infectious enthusiasm, she invited listeners into her world. She shared her affection for greatest hits arias as though they were new, and succinctly touted the virtues of lesser-known works." [Source]