Past Production Reviews
32Ed ecco le prime recensioni…: “Marily Santoro as the Dama di Lady Macbeth showcased strong support in the ensembles as she brought beaming high notes and a gorgeous tone during the sleepwalking scene. “ Marily Santoro nei panni della Dama di Lady Macbeth ha mostrato un forte sostegno negli ensemble mentre ha portato raggianti note alte e un tono meraviglioso durante la scena del sonnambulismo.
“ altra menzione onorevole per la Dama di Marily Santoro, fresca, generosissima nel sostenere la scena e nel rinforzare la drammaticità dell’opera con puntature inappuntabili.” (Recensione Cast Alternativo)
Carlo Lepore è un Mustafà irresistibile per fantasia nel fraseggio e presenza scenica; la voce, poi, è bella nella sua particolare brunitura e nella ragguardevole estensione.
The last few performances of Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier revival saw the much expected visit of star tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who replaced Yusif Eyvazov in the title role. In spite of limited rehearsals, the singer adapted perfectly to the production and was very compelling theatrically. The vocal performance was somewhat uneven, with a positive start in “Un dí ll’azzurro spazio” and an even better end in “Come un bel dí di maggio” and then in the final duet. In the course of the performance he sounded at odds in “Ora soave”, which he started in pianissimo, a choice that turned out to create problems for his emission. At his side, soprano Sonya Yoncheva, who sang in all of the performances, proved to be more than adequate as Maddalena di Coigny, changing her interpretation from the cheeky girl of the first act to a more mindful young woman in the rest of the opera. Vocally she displayed a firm middle range and a well tuned high register, while in the lower range the voice changed color and the emission sounded forced.
Allison Cook is a perfect Marquise de Merteuil; an intelligent, cynical, sophisticated, androgynous beauty. Cook is a star with scenic charisma and voice control allowing her to withstand the sharp contrasts of the music and capture all the variety of expression in this dynamic role.” ( teatro .it April 2011)
Phenomenal…. It would be impossible to imagine a more beautiful, intense, predatory and tragically glacial Marquise than that created by Allison Cook.” (Il Giorno, April 2011)
The interpreters of the original production return and are masterful in their roles, mezzo Allison Cook as he Marquise de Merteul and baritone Robin Adams as the Vicomte de Valmont. Both were amazing, their voices using all possible registers and techniques, from the passionate to the declamatory up to the coloratura..." (Renato Verga, Bachtrack, October 2019)
In his epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), Choderlos de Laclos gives an account of the libertine cynicism of the depraved French aristocracy in 1782, seven years before the storming of the Bastille. Two centuries later, the German playwright Heiner Müller rewrote the text by stressing its verbal defiance and making it a cruel game of sex and death between two characters, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, who eventually play the other two personas of the novel, Madame de Tourvel and the young Cécile de Volanges – hence the title of the piece, Quartett. The interpreters of the original production return and are masterful in their roles, mezzo Allison Cook as the Marquise de Merteuil and baritone Robin Adams as the Vicomte de Valmont. Both were amazing, their voices using all possible registers and techniques, from the passionate to the declamatory up to the coloratura, the male voice often climbing to falsetto when warbling in the role of the Marquise. The two characters must support a deliberately mannered acting ("The brutality of our conversation bores me. We should have our parts played by beasts."), their task is burdensome and demanding, ranging from the blasphemous to the obscene to the ironic, as when the two characters exchange their respective roles ("I think I could get used to being a woman," says Valmont in the part of the Marquise, and she comes out with "I wish I could.”).
The 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.
Verdi, Nabucco: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Daniel Oren (conductor). Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 20.12.2021. (CC)
The run-up to curtain-up wasn’t auspicious. The Royal Opera House prefaced this opening night of the revival of Daniele Abbado’s 2013 production of Nabucco with an earlier announcement that the next two performances of Verdi’s biblical epic of religious enlightenment and reckoning, on 23rd and 28th December, had had to be cancelled, ‘due to resource challenges caused by the Omicron COVID-19 variant’.
Tra il cast spicca la Gretel di Francesca Manzo, che dispone di uno strumento impeccabilmente impostato, sempre a fuoco nell’intonazione e nella proiezione del suono.
Anna Doris Capitelli, Hänsel, e Francesca Manzo, Gretel, dal timbro smaltato, dall'emissione correttamente sul fiato che consente loro di controllare perfettamente ogni nota, arricchendo la propria performance di chiaroscuri espressivi, e di risultare altrettanto brave in acuti qua e là scoperti. Attrici poi che si muovono con la naturalezza delle artiste consumate da anni di esperienza.
Il Silvano di Liviu Holender ha il fare simpatico di chi, a ritmo di marcia e voce omogenea, chiede la giusta mercede per i propri servizi e poi, ricevutala, guida il coro in un inneggiante e grandioso ringraziamento.
...idem Alexander Roslavets, il protagonista, finalmente un basso «vero» da seguire con attenzione, che però è l’unico non allievo dell’Accademia.
Musicalmente Impeccabile, Disciplinata E Mai Sopra Le Righe, Federica Guida, Al Debutto Scaligero, Ha Delineato Una Despina Ben Consapevole Degli Affetti Umani.
Federica Guida, Poi, Conferma Di Essere Più Che Una Promessa: Dopo Il Trionfo A Portofino Con Le Acrobazie Vocali Della Regina Della Notte, Sa Adattarsi Con Gusto E Spigliatezza Alla Tessitura Ben Più Centralizzante Di Despina, A Cui Offre La Grazia Di Una Figura Bella E Giovanile E La Brillantezza Della Sua Giovane Età. E Il Fatto Che Nei Due Travestimenti Rinunci Alle Orride Vociaccie Caricaturali Praticate Da Troppe Sue Colleghe È Qualcosa Di Cui La Ringraziamo Sentitamente.
Inappuntabili i giovani del coro a sei voci...Massimiliano Mandozzi,...
Incisivi i numerosi interventi del Coro a sei voci composto da Massimiliano Mandozzi...
Rosa Feola was very suited to this part; she displayed a confident command of coloratura and a beautiful, silvery soprano with great projection.
Jolana Fogas è una Kristina di voce aggraziata.
La brava Krista di Jolana Fogas.
