City Opera Vancouver / Umsagnir

While a fairly grand production by City Opera standards was planned, practical exigencies led to the opera-in-concert format that listeners can, and should, sample this week. It may have been a blessing in disguise as the overwhelming strengths of the show are the singers, the orchestral ensemble, and Alice Ping Yee Ho’s enchanting score. One last minute change that might have derailed the enterprise was the introduction of Yenny Lee, who bravely replaced Erica Iris Huang on short notice in the smallish but very important role of the Hoisan Singer, a narrator/guide who frames the action. Lee was simply wonderful in the part.