Antonia Botti-Lodovico / Arvostelut

Austin’s vocal unsteadiness seemed to unnerve the Cio-Cio San, Dina Kuznetsova, who was making her Pittsburgh Opera debut in this production; she had a rough first act with high notes that went wildly askew. However, her total control of the rich middle of her voice never faltered, and her exquisite pianissimos were stunning, carrying effortlessly through the theater. It is hard to imagine a lovelier sound than hers in the brief passage where Butterfly entrusts her son to Pinkerton’s American wife. The carefully conceived, detailed characterization of the young Japanese girl’s plight culminated in a devastating performance of her final aria, ‘Tu? Tu? Piccolo iddio!’ The roles of Suzuki and Sharpless took on greater importance than is the norm, and Laurel Semerdjian and Michael Mayes turned in top-notch performances. Semerdjian’s Suzuki was sensitively acted and very well sung, her lovely mezzo-soprano blending perfectly with Kuznetsova’s voice in the Flower Duet. Mayes made a powerful impact as the US consul who is increasingly dismayed over his fellow American’s callous, self-indulgent indifference to the plight of his fifteen-year-old bride. With Sharpless’ vocal lines exposed, Mayes showed off his tightly focused baritone to its full advantage. The supporting roles were also strongly cast, and the singers went about their business as if nothing was amiss. Julius Ahn’s Goro was all obsequious, self-serving efficiency, vividly acted and sung. Brian Kontes’ bass boomed as he raged at his niece’s abandonment of her traditional gods and conversion to Christianity in her attempt to become a true wife to Pinkerton. Two fine baritones, Ben Taylor and Tyler Zimmerman, both Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artists, sang the roles of Prince Yamadori and the Imperial Commissioner. Another of the company’s young artists, Antonia Botti-Lodovico, accomplished the impossible, turning Kate Pinkerton into an almost sympathetic character by the end of her short time on stage. There were a few ragged entrances from the chorus and coordination problems with the orchestra in the first act. Like the rest of us, conductor Anthony Walker must have been wondering what would come next from Austin’s Pinkerton. Once settled, Walker turned in a carefully sculpted performance, with the Humming Chorus and the orchestral interlude that followed one of the musical highlights of the evening.

Linda Brovsky directed this straightforward but affecting production, with smaller details selling the show. Falling flower petals at key moments and Pinkerton’s son saluting him after the Butterfly’s death were particularly evocative. Conductor Antony Walker kept singers and instrumentalists exactly together while allowing Puccini’s more indulgent lines to breathe. Making her Pittsburgh Opera debut as Cio-Cio-San (the Butterfly) was Russian-American soprano Dina Kuznetsova, who delivered her arias with inspired legato, tapering the ends of each phrase with finely polished lyricism. She plucked each pitch out of thin air, seemingly effortlessly, with a penetrating but soft tone that caressed the ear and carried through to the back of the Benedum. Her counterpart, Cody Austin, brought a bright but undersized tenor to the role of Lt. Pinkerton, his performance strengthening after the first act. Mr. Austin played Pinkerton as a straight but unwitting villain — contrasting coldly with Michael Mayes’ Sharpless (the America consul in Japan), who recognizes the amorality of Pinkerton’s actions but does nothing. Mr. Mayes brought depth but no agency to this incarnation of Sharpless, his rich baritone ringing a touch hollow in the face of Pinkerton’s betrayal. Laurel Semerdjian as Suzuki — Cio-Cio-San’s maid — immediately stood out as one of the strongest voices, a forceful, plush mezzo bringing emotional heft to the production. John Gunter’s set, an open house on the coast of Nagasaki, tilted jauntily to keep each character in view regardless of placement, felt static. The house occupied nearly the full stage, so characters and chorus members seemed crammed to the side. The pacing mostly clipped along but dipped at the end of the second act as Cio-Cio-San prepares and waits for Pinkerton to return. Overall, a strong production of “Butterfly.” This opera is a window into another more troubling time, yet it remains one of the most popular operas in the repertoire. It sells tickets to be sure — the Benedum looked quite full — but the portrayals of Japanese culture are dated. Still, in today’s charged climate, discussing the differences between the time of “Butterfly” and now can make ripe fodder for post-show conversation, whether you’ve seen it once or a hundred times.

Sarah Delaney Boyle created a set that summoned the splendors associated with Baroque opera. Massive gold towers and a sweeping garland made from the armor and weapons of the knights who had fallen for Alcina’s charms dominated the stage, while an orb suspended from above was the source of her magical powers. Caitlin Gotimer as Alcina triumphed, capturing the myriad emotions of the sorceress in a performance that was as vivid dramatically as it was vocally. Apart from a few high notes that were off the mark, she sang Handel’s vocal lines with sensitive phrasing and tasteful ornamentation. Equally winning, and perhaps just a little more delicious in her pert, enchanting characterization of Morgana, was soprano Natasha Wilson. The sparkle in her voice and eyes made Morgana more vixen than temptress, and every moment she was on stage was a pleasure. Antony Walker, the company’s music director, led a brisk, exciting performance by an ensemble drawn from the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra augmented by Chatham Baroque, a trio made up of Andrew Fouts (violin), Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba) and Scott Pauley (theorbo). In addition to performing as a trio, Chatham Baroque regularly collaborates with guest instrumentalists and vocalists in historically informed concerts of early music. Fouts served as concert master, providing bite and flourish to the ensemble with his incisive bowing, while Halverson and Pauley, joined by Mark Trawka on the harpsichord, provided the continuo. The trio of continuo players provided color, texture and depth to the musical fabric, especially Trawka’s judicious use of the lute stop on the harpsichord. Chief among the musical delights were the dulcet tones of the recorders and the excellent horn playing in the second part.

Chatham Ba­roque, Pitts­burgh’s early mu­sic en­sem­ble, bol­stered the Pitts­burgh Opera or­ches­tra to pro­vide sup­port and a more his­tor­i­cally in­formed ap­proach to the score. This col­lab­o­ra­tive en­sem­ble of about 25 play­ers, led by mu­sic di­rec­tor Ant­ony Walker, sounded well-matched on Satur­day, lux­u­ri­ant in some of the slower arias and swoop­ing and stir­ring in some of the more rous­ing tunes. A small note — the dry acous­tics of the CAPA au­di­to­rium made some ends of phrases sound abrupt; more ta­per on rest­ing notes might ease this is­sue. An­to­nia Botti-Lo­dovico was ob­nox­iously pet­u­lant in the pants role (a woman play­ing a man) of the en­chanted Rug­ge­rio. She con­vinc­ingly por­trayed his arc of re­demp­tion back to a more he­roic bear­ing and was a high­light in the sec­ond act aria “Verdi prati.” So­prano Cait­lin Go­timer as Al­cina was en­chant­ing as she moved from all-pow­er­ful witch to jilted lover, achiev­ing a piti­able sense of wretch­ed­ness in her later arias with a fraught, ex­cit­able tone. The set by Sarah Delaney Boyle ap­peared a touch cramped at the out­set but brought Al­cina’s is­land to life with ter­ri­ble gran­deur. Cos­tum­ing by Ja­son Bray was well-planned and played a vi­sual role in the char­ac­ters’ in­di­vid­ual pro­gres­sions, as did the richly var­ied light­ing by Nate Wheat­ley. As for the sing­ers and their or­na­men­ta­tion, Ms. Wil­son and Mr. Romero seemed to take to this nat­u­rally, and the oth­ers suc­ceeded to vary­ing de­grees. This isn’t ba­roque op­era as it would have been heard in the 1700s, but for an eve­ning on the town in Pitts­burgh, it’s a charm­ing win­dow to an­other style of op­era and a fine eve­ning’s en­ter­tain­ment.