"a breathtakingly disciplined Royal Opera debut... soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh... How impressive, within weeks of 2023, to see so totally finessed a performance from a young rising star."
Ní Fhearraigh’s Elisabetta was a splendidly drawn character. She was aggressive, regal, jealous, and easily provoked, but there was always an underlying sense of irony, magnified by her costumes, which emphasized the fact that Elisabetta was always aware she was playing a role. In her first meeting with Maria, her horse riding attire with its black leather latex trousers, red leather gloves, and whip were very much suggestive of a dominatrix, which Ní Fhearaigh successfully played up to the full, yet without ever crossing over into farce. Her gestures and bold facial expressions were wonderfully managed, and the power relationships she established with the other characters were convincing. Likewise, she produced an equally impressive singing performance. Recitatives were confidently and clearly articulated, with well-placed emotional accents and flashes of color, which successfully fleshed out her character. She attacked her arias and the ensemble scenes with real energy, making full use of her versatile and powerful voice which soared effortlessly above the orchestra and chorus, in what were convincing and expressively fine performances.
Michael Gallen’s polyglot minimalist music captures energy of historic Monaghan strike
Amy Ní Fhearraigh as Jemmy, Tell's son, was quite the show-stealer both in her acting and her vocal agility. The iconic apple scene was comically done with the apple covering all of her head while her fear and worry of her father imprisoned were perfectly depicted.
the evening was seized by Konu Kim's astonishing, ringing Arnold, a great, concentrated physical performance expressed through fabulous vivid and fearless singing, including a ten-second top C and some real distilled angst as Tell and Walter worked him over to rouse his patriotism.
Ní Fhearraigh’s Elisabetta was a splendidly drawn character. She was aggressive, regal, jealous, and easily provoked, but there was always an underlying sense of irony, magnified by her costumes, which emphasized the fact that Elisabetta was always aware she was playing a role. In her first meeting with Maria, her horse riding attire with its black leather latex trousers, red leather gloves, and whip were very much suggestive of a dominatrix, which Ní Fhearaigh successfully played up to the full, yet without ever crossing over into farce. Her gestures and bold facial expressions were wonderfully managed, and the power relationships she established with the other characters were convincing. Likewise, she produced an equally impressive singing performance. Recitatives were confidently and clearly articulated, with well-placed emotional accents and flashes of color, which successfully fleshed out her character. She attacked her arias and the ensemble scenes with real energy, making full use of her versatile and powerful voice which soared effortlessly above the orchestra and chorus, in what were convincing and expressively fine performances.
Amy Ní Fhearraigh, noticeably taller than Mangan, acted her part superbly. Her silky tones entwined beautifully with that of Mangan in the Evening Prayer. Both Ben McAteer and Miriam Murphy made much of their roles, Murphy possessing impeccable comic timing. Her hasty return for her chicken nuggets and her quarter pounder burger before searching for her children was as hilarious as it was anachronistic.
★★★★★ “Of the moment, full of character and rich in variety, these short filmed operas by 20 Irish composers and top performers are exemplary lockdown music-making” - The Guardian