Simon Iorio / Recensioner

It was left to Hera Hyesang Park’s charming, no-nonsense Despina to add a little sparkle and spirit. Brightly dismissing the sisters’ credulous faith in their lovers’, and all men’s fidelity, Park was deft and discerning in ‘In uomini, in soldati, sperare fedelta?’. She’s evidently a natural singing actor and – as her neat turns as the doctor and notary confirmed – able to judge the dramatic temperature to a tee. And, after she’d delivered such a perfect masterclass on feminine wiles to the naïve sisters, no wonder this Despina looked somewhat fed-up at the close when, they so swiftly forgot the wise homily of ‘Una donna a quindici anni’ in the hasty amorous re-assembling of the opera’s final moments.

Julie Boulianne is a slyly sensual, ideal Dorabella, and Hera Hyesang Park, as Despina, almost steals the show in a virtuoso turn that is both comedic and slightly sinister, the maid’s inflated ego driving the action only to realise she has been used when amusement veers towards tragedy.