Showcase Reviews 2004

The Stage - 10 May 2004
George Hall

The national advanced training centre for young opera singers presents its annual showcase and there is no shortage of talent on display. With strong orchestral support under versatile conductor Roy Laughlin and the experienced John Copley staging scenes from eight operas ranging from Baroque to modern, the standards attained are impressive indeed.

All 12 of the featured singers deserve to find work with our companies but only time will tell what level they will rise to.

Handel proves the toughest nut to crack, with some uncertain vocal values in a sequence of arias from Alcina but Lorina Gore and Cora Burggraaf make a beguiling highlight of a duet from Mozart's 'Il re pastore'.

The Donizetti extract from Anna Bolena features Lee Bisset and Lise Christensen, who make a creditable attempt at the difficult Anna/Giovanna scene and bring it off dramatically. Robert Murray engages well as Jack in The Midsummer Marriage and particularly as a mellifluous Des Grieux in Manon.

His partner in the latter is Kate Royal, already a lyric soprano of rich timbre and dramatic command. Equalling her in maturity is Paul Carey Jones, a Welsh baritone of striking vocal achievement and an effective stage performer. Another hugely gifted artist is New Zealander Andrew Sritheran, whose bright, shiny tenor has Heldentenor potential. If all goes well we are going to hear a lot more of these three and several others in the coming years.

Opera Magazine - July 2004
George Hall

High presentational standards provided a solid background to a foreground focus on the 12 young artists fortunate enough to take part in the NOS's valuable programme. Under the assured direction of Roy Laughlin, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia matched the styles of the seven featured composers ably, even without the use of period instruments for Handel or Mozart. Bringing in such an experienced director as John Copley also paid dividends, and his keen understanding of how to get singers to move and interact on stage was apparent throughout. (With one exception: having Amy Freston's Sophie skip on and off stage in the Werther extract looked silly. Nobody above the age of ten should be encouraged to skip on stage. I look forward to the contemporary staging of the opera that has Sophie high-fiving Werther as she rollerblades past him.) Similarly, the quality of the sets (Colin Peters), costumes (Prue Handley) and lighting (Geraint Pughe) will have encouraged the participants to know that they, and their audience, were being treated seriously.

But they were the main event, and, though variable in attainment, all reached a standard that should assure them work with professional companies at some level. Handel proved the hardest nut to crack, and of the three singers given an aria each in the Alcina sequence - Amy Freston (Morgana), Lise Christensen (Ruggiero) and Lee Bisset (the title role) - none came through with flying colours. These pieces demand the highest technical command, including the ability to trill, and those attempting them without inevitably come off the worse for it.

Bisset and Christensen had a better shot at the great Anna and Giovanna duet from Anna Bolena, which was vocally respectable and dramatically convincing. The weakness here was an inability to meld the words and notes into one single expression. More consistent was the team of Lorina Gore (Elisa) and Cora Burggraaf (Aminta) in the dramatically milder duet from Il re pastore, to which they brought all the requisite skills.

Robert Murray offered a pleasing tenor, both as Jack in The Midsummer Marriage (with Burggraaf a delectable Bella) and especially as Des Grieux in Manon, including a peachy 'En fermant les yeux'. His partner in the Massenet was one of three artists who made an outstanding impression. Kate Royal's already rich lyric soprano was offset by her poised stage presence here and as Melisande in the Pelleas tower scene (where James McOran-Campbell partnered her creditably).

The Welsh baritone Paul Carey Jones sang Golaud, but his most striking contribution came right at the start of the evening as Zurga in Les Pecheurs de perles. This is a beefy, wide-ranging instrument, and he has presence to spare, as does the equally remarkable New Zealand tenor Andrew Sritheran, whose Werther, sung with bright, easy confidence, showed Heldentenor potential. Given the nature of their instruments, these two in particular are going to have to tread carefully. All being well they, and several of their colleagues, look set to become significant players on the operatic scene.