Past Production Reviews
4The more one sees performances of Verdi’s Falstaff, the more strange it appears. Verdi’s last opera is not only atypical in his career for being only his second comedy (along with the early Un giorno di regno)out of more than two dozen total operas, it is far different in means than his main body of work. The opera is mostly dialogue and ensembles, there is barely a signature Verdi aria, and even that is incomplete.
On Wednesday, October 15th I made my way on over the Four Seasons Centre at University and Queen Street West to check out the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini (duh, Greg.) Let me preface this by saying one thing: the music is beautiful, the story is not. I don’t have the emotional, visceral attachment to this piece that other people have. I can’t explain why - well, actually I can, but that’s a completely different piece for another time here at Schmopera.
The conductor Juri Lebidev understands singers and instruments with a sense of justice obsessed with detail. His almost telepathic presence becomes an indispensable prerequisite for the trust between the stage and the pit, which made this blissful operatic event possible in the first place. The premiere and the performance the following afternoon were enthusiastically celebrated by those who had come and subscribers with unusual persistence.In "La clemenza di Scipione" all the singers have a parade number or at least a better stage coup thanks to Wilgenbus. Sara-Maria Saalmann asked for kind indulgence before the second performance. Unfounded. In addition to all the other requirements, she mastered her great aria with solo instruments in concert with bravura. In terms of structure, melos and ornamentation, this huge piece is amazingly similar to Konstanze's dreaded martyrdom aria from "Die Entführung aus dem Seraglio". Alexandra Scherrmann, as Arsinda's sister Idalba, proceeds even more confidently with coloraturas of emphatic lightness and physical frivolity, even when the powerful Marzius swings the raw leg of meat. Johannes Mooser finds the right vocal compromise between hero and poltergeist.With a tenor that is minimally throaty in the depths and clearer and clearer towards the top, Martin Lechleitner recommends himself as a Scipio who appreciates love more than war for larger tasks in the Mozart repertoire. It is astonishing this time how Onur Abaci as Luceius lets all difficulties of the soprano castrato part be forgotten. In the large duet, Saalmann's soft entrances merge with Abaci's virile and at the same time flexible, nuanced intonation in such a way that the two voices can hardly be distinguished. A deluxe plea for Johann Christian Bach! Hopefully this is only the prelude to further discoveries of operas in Eisenach.
The conductor Juri Lebidev understands singers and instruments with a sense of justice obsessed with detail. His almost telepathic presence becomes an indispensable prerequisite for the trust between the stage and the pit, which made this blissful operatic event possible in the first place. The premiere and the performance the following afternoon were enthusiastically celebrated by those who had come and subscribers with unusual persistence.In "La clemenza di Scipione" all the singers have a parade number or at least a better stage coup thanks to Wilgenbus. Sara-Maria Saalmann asked for kind indulgence before the second performance. Unfounded. In addition to all the other requirements, she mastered her great aria with solo instruments in concert with bravura. In terms of structure, melos and ornamentation, this huge piece is amazingly similar to Konstanze's dreaded martyrdom aria from "Die Entführung aus dem Seraglio". Alexandra Scherrmann, as Arsinda's sister Idalba, proceeds even more confidently with coloraturas of emphatic lightness and physical frivolity, even when the powerful Marzius swings the raw leg of meat. Johannes Mooser finds the right vocal compromise between hero and poltergeist.With a tenor that is minimally throaty in the depths and clearer and clearer towards the top, Martin Lechleitner recommends himself as a Scipio who appreciates love more than war for larger tasks in the Mozart repertoire. It is astonishing this time how Onur Abaci as Luceius lets all difficulties of the soprano castrato part be forgotten. In the large duet, Saalmann's soft entrances merge with Abaci's virile and at the same time flexible, nuanced intonation in such a way that the two voices can hardly be distinguished. A deluxe plea for Johann Christian Bach! Hopefully this is only the prelude to further discoveries of operas in Eisenach.
