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8Vratogna's singing was both beautifully controlled and dramatically on point - robust and athletic in the Act 1 Drinking Song and the great "Credo" of Act 2, lyrical and insinuating in the ensuing duet with Otello, where he first plants the seeds of jealousy. And throughout, Vratogna shaped the character with a vein of weary irony.
A few numbers — the ones that made you think, “Wait, am I listening to a full-fledged professional here?” — were breathtaking. There was, to take just one example, the duet from Act 1 of Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra,” rendered with extraordinary vocal luster by soprano Caroline Corrales and baritone Eleomar Cuello. This is the moment in which a long-separated father and daughter are reunited, thanks to a helpful portrait of her dead mother. It’s a scene that can come off as slightly corny in isolation (the moment is irresistible in the context of the full opera), but the two singers infused it with a thrilling degree of theatrical and emotional vitality. Corrales boasts a robust and luxuriant tone that she deployed with unerring precision through Verdi’s demanding melodic lines. Cuello’s dark, vivid sound was a perfect match for her.
Not least were standout portrayals that are polished and ready to go, among them soprano Georgiana Adams’ Wagner heroines and baritone Kevin Godínez’s capricious and irresistible Don Giovanni.
Director Francesca Zambello received the San Francisco Opera’s prestigious medal last night, but the star of the evening was Michael Fabiano. The tenor’s energy brought life and excitement to a static production. Luisa Miller is a tough sell – less musically and dramatically exciting than Verdi’s more popular works, with a plot that strips the nuance out of the Schiller play it’s based on. But Zambello’s production does nothing to increase the opera’s interest. While beautiful historical costumes abound, the chorus tends to stand still or process slowly in lines, and the set of moving panels and a giant horse often dwarfs the singers. The exposition-filled first half plodded along as we learned of the love of the noble Rodolfo and the peasant Luisa, and the jealousy of the scheming Wurm. Even the climactic scene when Rodolfo’s father Count Walter bursts into the Miller household to insult Luisa and arrest her father failed to captivate. Ekaterina Semenchuk stood out during the act as the flighty Duchess Frederica (in love with Rodolfo), thanks to her rich, smooth contralto and alluring mix of tenderness and haughtiness. The production picked up speed for the final two acts. Andrea Silvestrelli’s honeyed bass gained an especially menacing edge as he (Wurm) blackmailed Luisa into writing him a love letter. Count Walter and Wurm scheme to get the letter to the hands of Rodolfo, who reacts with the breathtaking aria “Quando le sere al placido.” Fabiano’s warmth and power of tone were complemented by the air of genuine despair he exuded. Never has an operatic murder-suicide seemed more plausible. The emotionally cold show suddenly became profoundly affecting. The conclusion is foregone but heart-breaking: Rodolfo poisons both himself and Luisa, learning of her innocence after he has already killed her. The two lovers’ parents and Wurm arrive as they lie dying. In his final moments, Rodolfo shoots Wurm and tells his father, “Let my death be your punishment!” Luisa’s father Miller looks on in mute despair. As Miller, Vitaliy Bilyy sang with uncommon steel in his baritone voice and painted a touching portrait of paternal affection. Daniel Sumegi’s Count Walter had a drier and wobblier tone, though he croaked out some truly impressive low notes and acted suitably conflicted about the crimes he had committed for the sake of his unappreciative son. Jacqueline Piccolino showed off a sweet, full instrument in the bit part of Luisa’s peasant friend Laura. In the title role, Leah Crocetto filled the house with sound while retaining the lightness of tone suitable to her character’s youth and innocence. Her acting was no match for Fabiano’s, but their voices blended beautifully, especially in the final act. Conductor Nicola Luisotti kept the orchestra balanced and together with the singers. His tempo choices initially felt slow, but that may have been more a fault of the dull staging. The San Francisco Opera Orchestra played well, with the violins and woodwinds sounded particularly excellent in the overture. A special commendation is due to the clarinet soloist (Jose Gonzalez Granero) for precise, soulful playing. The San Francisco Opera Chorus also produced a consistently strong and well-blended sound. Luisa Miller seemed like a boldly unusual choice for San Francisco Opera’s opening night, but the static period production felt both safe and dull, but the great cast and playing made for a very enjoyable evening.
San Francisco Opera has enlisted a vocally and dramatially impressive cast for German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel”. The expanded 65-member San Francisco Opera Orchestra resounded elegantly in the War Memorial Opera House. This a “must-see” holiday experience, sung in an enchanting English translation. Texas mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and Wisconsin soprano Heidi Stober were convincing as the starving siblings Hansel and Gretel. Stober adds the mischievous Gretel as the 12th lead role she has sung at San Francisco Opera. Her Gretel was an insightful portrait as a self-assured, graceful young girl, singing beautifully with clear diction. San Francisco Opera General director Matthew Shilvock announced prior to the performance that Michaela Martens, cast as Gertrude, was ill and that her place would be taken by New York mezzo-soprano and first year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Mary Evelyn Hangley.
Hongni Wu’s Bao Chai Chinese mezzo-soprano Hongni Wu is a graduate of New York City’s Manhattan School of Music, a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a member of the Jette Parker Royal Opera House Young Artists’ Program. Wu’s character Bao Chai intones one of the key motivating themes of the opera: “a woman’s only chance at happiness is to marry well.” A triangle forms between herself, Bao Yu, the man she (and the Xue family) believe she must marry, and Dai Yu (the woman whom Bao Yu wishes to marry) whom she has to displace. Despite Bao Yu’s humiliating treatment of her, Bao Chai agrees to the plot to trick Bao Yu into marriage. Hongni Wu made a strong impression in the role. Her next scheduled assignment is the Santa Fe Opera’s late July world premiere of “M. Butterfly” based on a play by David Henry Hwang (“Dream of the Red Chamber”‘s co-librettist), with music composed by Huang Ruo to Hwang’s libretto.
Anne-Marie MacIntosh along with fellow Canadian Adler artist, Simone McIntosh, created the highlight of the evening with the “Barcarolle” duet from Les contes d’Hoffmann. MacIntosh’s limpid soprano merged elegantly with McIntosh’s richer, yet still transparent, mezzo-soprano in the plangent rise and fall of this entrancing duet.
Patrick Summers conducted with tremendous sweep and subtlety, and Heggie's music registered with turbulence and disarming sweetness; the score is often borne aloft on woodwinds, and San Francisco's section sounded exemplary. So did the men of Ian Robertson's chorus, who sang with hearty, unflagging energy.
