She falls in love with the young nobleman Alfredo — tenor Nathan Granner, who local audiences are familiar with from his 2018 performance in La Bohème — but their star-crossed love affair is challenged by her health problems, financial woes, and major objections by Alfredo’s father Giorgio Germont, in a standout performance by baritone Joel Balzun.
She falls in love with the young nobleman Alfredo — tenor Nathan Granner, who local audiences are familiar with from his 2018 performance in La Bohème — but their star-crossed love affair is challenged by her health problems, financial woes, and major objections by Alfredo’s father Giorgio Germont, in a standout performance by baritone Joel Balzun.
The Puccini-Ravel Double Bill Connects In More Ways Than Meets the Eye
Smerud was excellent as the sad-faced, hapless Sancho. He was the most at ease on stage, and his bass-baritone was ideally suited to capture Sancho’s many moods and to give voice to the vivid description of past exploits that Telemann depicts so brilliantly in the music, especially the ups and downs of a ride on a magic carpet. Truth be told, Smerud would have made just as fine a Don Quixote with minor tweaks of character and costume.
