When the tenor who was to sing Verdi’s Hymn of the Nations announced he was indisposed, Michael Hendrick was able to learn the score in a matter of hours and, with the orchestra and chorus under DeRenzi, give a totally convincing account of a rarely heard work.
SARASOTA
When the tenor who was to sing Verdi’s Hymn of the Nations announced he was indisposed, Michael Hendrick was able to learn the score in a matter of hours and, with the orchestra and chorus under DeRenzi, give a totally convincing account of a rarely heard work. Often dismissed as a mere occasional piece, the Hymn can glow and inspire in a sympathetic execution. In Sarasota it almost equaled in impact the piece that followed it as an unprogramed encore, the matchless “Va, pensiero.”
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Sarasota Opera’s season is relatively brief — about six weeks — but gluttonously rich. Not only does the company stage four operas (generally in new or newly adapted productions), it also offers concerts and recitals. On its final weekend, in late March, visitors could attend the four operas and a concert of Verdi rarities in the space of three days; and for members of the Verdi Circle (supporters of Sarasota’s comprehensive Verdi cycle), there was a special talk by artistic director and conductor Victor DeRenzi, with live illustrations and even a scene from Luchino Visconti’s film The Leopard, where Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale dance to an unpublished Verdi waltz.
This year’s annual Verdi opera was Ernani, conducted by DeRenzi. Direction by John Hoomes, like that of the other productions here, was conventional and unobtrusive, as were the sets (Jeffrey W. Dean) and costumes (Jan Finnell). What matters in Sarasota is the music: every opera is performed in the original language, in an authentic and complete version. The young singers are engaged for a ten-week period, and rehearsal time is generous.
Some of the interpreters may not be sophisticated artists, but none is unmusical or perfunctory. And every cast seemed to reserve for the audience a surprise, a discovery. In Ernani it was the young Chinese bass-baritone Ding Gao, an impassioned, lyrical Silva; the stirring Verdi soprano Tamara Wright Acosta is a familiar member of the Sarasota troupe — the “family,” as DeRenzi affectionately calls it — whereas the intense Moldavian baritone Igor Emilianov (Carlo) was making his local debut, as was Philip Webb, an affecting tenor, who sang the title role. But the family does not foster stardom, and for the small role of Riccardo there was another promising tenor, Dallas W. Bono, heard to greater advantage in a group of Verdi songs performed for the Verdi Circle.
Sarasota is attracting international attention with its Verdi cycle (Falstaff, Ballo, Nabucco, Vêpres, Trovatore and Aroldo have been done already, as well as both versions of Simon Boccanegra and Forza; next year features a new La Traviata, based on the recent critical edition of the score, while Verdi’s first version of several arias will be performed in a separate concert). Some years ago, DeRenzi initiated another cycle of forgotten masterpieces, such as Bizet’s La Jolie Fille de Perth, Smetana’s Hubicka and Rachmaninov’s Francesca da Rimini, paired with Tchaikovsky’sIolanta. The definition of “masterpiece” is broad here, but most operagoers were glad it was allowed to include Humperdinck’s enchantingKönigskinder, sensitively but keenly conducted by Neil Varon, with a dreamy Lisa Willson as the Goose Girl (a role created by Geraldine Farrar at the Met’s world premiere in 1910). The elaborately symbolic, complex libretto may have put off some listeners, but it was hard to resist the lush, elegant score and fresh, poetic voices — tenor Yi Ge as the King’s Son, magisterial Brian Davis as the Fiddler, bass LeRoy Lehr as the Woodcutter. Worthy of special mention was the winning participation of the Sarasota Children’s Chorus, effectively trained by Christopher Fecteau. With the company’s lively regular chorus, the children also appeared in DeRenzi’s warm but vigorous reading of La Bohème (Sarasota does not disdain repertory favorites).
It was a treat to have a bunch of genuinely young Bohemians. All were so enthusiastic, so appealing, that it is perhaps unfair to single out individual artists, though the tender Mimì of Carol Ann Manzi would be exceptional in any company. Peter Volpe was an authoritative, engaging Colline.
Thanks to its Studio Artists and Apprentice programs, Sarasota Opera always has a handy supply of ready and eager singers. So on the final Saturday, when the tenor who was to sing Verdi’s Hymn of the Nations announced he was indisposed, Michael Hendrick was able to learn the score in a matter of hours and, with the orchestra and chorus under DeRenzi, give a totally convincing account of a rarely heard work. Often dismissed as a mere occasional piece, the Hymn can glow and inspire in a sympathetic execution. In Sarasota it almost equaled in impact the piece that followed it as an unprogramed encore, the matchless “Va, pensiero.”
WILLIAM WEAVER
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-12673559.html
by William Weaver
Opera News