February 9, 2013
On very rare evenings, an opera aficionado will run across a
performer who is not so much a singer as an alchemist of song. Such a one is
soprano Cecilia Violetta López.
López’s performance in OSJ’s season-opening Pearl Fishers was so good I almost wrote
it off as hallucination. But faced with Trovatore’s
Leonora, one of the richest roles in all of opera, she gave early indications
that she knew exactly what she was doing. López handled the long lines of the
first-act Andante, “Tacea la notte placida” with ease, producing a divine sense
of legato.
In the final act, as Leonora stood vigil outside the prison
where her lover Manrico awaited execution, López performed the Adagio “D’amor
sull´ali roseé,” in a fashion that almost defied description. She began with a
deliciously quiet high tone that swelled to forte, and proceeded to manipulate
the lines of the aria like a magician wafting smoke around the stage, weaving a
web of emotion and song that spurred a usually staid San Jose audience to an
extended ovation. It was a stunning moment.
Under the limitations of words on a page, this almost sounds
like showing off, but it’s not. López moves about the stage with a calm grace,
and her singing, for being so brilliantly nuanced, is much the same way. Later,
smaller touches demonstrated her ability to stay rooted to the emotions of her
character. Swearing a hateful vow to her nemesis, the Count, she drove the line
slightly sharp, in the manner of a dramatic soprano, to invest it with an angry
edge. Dying in the arms of Manrico, she sang her farewells with a faraway piano that almost seemed like a
ventriloquist’s trick, as if her lines were coming from the hereafter.
López had a fine match with Alexander Boyer’s Manrico.
Boyer’s tenor seemed slightly over-covered in the first half, but he warmed
nicely to the lovely Adagio “Ah si, ben mio, coll´essere.” For someone with
such great power, Boyer can also be very effective in quiet moments, as in the
final scene, when Manrico asks Leonora, “What price did you pay for my life?”
Bass Silas Elash does a fine job with the prologue, scaring
the wits out of Ferrando’s soldiers with the story of the burned gypsy. Mezzo
Nicole Birkland performed a sincerely deranged Azucena (which is exactly the
way to do it), drawing full intensity from the famed “Condotta ell´era in
ceppi,” her vibrato widening in alarm at the memory of her slain mother.
Baritone Zachary Altman presented a striking figure with
Count di Luna, but he spent the first half pushing too hard, especially in the
Largo “Il balen del suo sorriso,” in which the Count voices his desire for
Leonora. Considering the arc of a (very twisted) plot that eventually reveals
the Count to be not as much of a villain as he appears, Altman misses the
chance this aria offers to show a softer side. Fortunately, Altman eased off in
the second half and sang much better.
Mezzo Tori Grayum shines as Leonora’s lady-in-waiting Ines.
It’s Ines’ weeping that causes Leonora to look back from her entrance into the
convent, creating a profoundly poignant moment. Playing Ruiz, the guard who
leads Leonora to the prison walls, tenor Michael Jankosky sings much more
expressively than one might expect from such a brief role. (Keep an eye on that
kid.)
Andrew Whitfield’s chorus gave a boisterous performance.
Kudos to the anvil-pounders (always a fun novelty) and to the men, who handled
the rapid soldiers’ choruses with manly force.
At times, conductor David Rohrbaugh seemed to be driving them into
untenable tempos, but then, it’s not wise for an outsider to get into the
middle of domestic disputes. I appreciated stage director Brad Dalton’s
approach, which gave full expression to the brutality that reigned over the opera’s
medieval world – including a rather gory moment of prisoner-torture.
I enjoyed the black-and-brown uniforms that Elizabeth
Poindexter gave to the Count’s soldiers, as well as Leonora’s gorgeous maroon
gown in the final act. Steven C. Kemp’s set design took a minimalist approach,
featuring rough columns and a highly versatile set of stone steps. Rohrbaugh’s
orchestra played smoothly throughout, achieving a perfect dynamic give-and-take
with the singers.
Through February 24, California Theatre, 345 S. First St.,
San Jose. $51-$111. 408/437-4450, www.operasj.org
The company announced its 2013-14 season, which will include
Verdi’s Falstaff (Sept. 7-22),
Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel (Nov.
16-Dec. 1), Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
(Feb. 15-March 2) and Mozart’s Don
Giovanni.
Images: Alexander Boyer as Manrico, Cecilia Violetta López as Leonora; Nicole Birkland as Azucena. Photos by Pat Kirk.
Michael J. Vaughn is a 25-year opera critic and the author
of the novel Operaville, available at amazon.com.
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