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Opera
London UK
February 2006, Volume 57 No 2
Reviewed by David Shengold
Toledo
Toledo's proudest legacy of its glory days of
glass and automobile manufacturing is its astonishing Museum of
Art, free to all and with a collection to make strong curators
weep. But operatically-minded visitors should not overlook the
worthy Toledo Opera, housed in the impressive yet intimate Valentine
Theatre, a beautiful 900-seat house built in 1895, remodeled in
full art deco style in 1942, and renovated in the 1990s. As general
director since 2000, Renay Conlin has promulgated high standards
and valiantly performed 20th-century repertory, though this season's
newest offering is Pagliacci. Her husband, Thomas Conlin
conducts an orchestra drawn from the very estimable Toledo Symphony.
This season led off with a winning Le
nozze di Figaro (October 9). It was immediately clear that
Mozart was in good hands with Conlin's fluent direction of the
39-piece orchestra; Curt Pajer's harpsichord provided sensitive
underpinning in the recitatives. Properly, the handsome below-stairs
couple dominated the afternoon. A fine singing actor, Kristopher
Irmiter brought an earthy bass and verbal acuity to Figaro. Vanessa Conlin
made an alert, utterly persuasive Susanna, an apt quicksilver quality allowing
her soprano to soar aloft. Though not yet a seasoned Mozart singer, Kara Shay
Thomson (Countess) promisingly fielded darkly pretty looks and a plush lyric
soprano. Thomas Barrett delivered a solidly sung Count, seething with entitlement.
Angela Horn acted a splendid Cherubino, but her piquant mezzo – frequently
heard as Carmen in American regional houses – now lacks the purity for Mozart.
Bernard Uzan, working on Allen Charles
Klein's fluid, evocative sets from Opera de Montreal – a fine novelty
to have the Countess's balcony windows upstage – superimposed too
many lewd gestures, but handled the flow of scenes well and made
the coming-and-goings in the finale's garden unusually lucid. The
surtitles from Lyric Opera of Kansas City mixed imprecision, sheer
invention and anachronism.
Reprinted with permission. |
