Showcase 03

Showcase 04

Showcase 06

Showcase 07

Showcase Review 2005

Opera
Margaret Davies

The NOS has evolved an effective style of presentation for its annual showcase: a permanent basic set enabling the sequence of operatic extracts to flow without pause for scene changes. The main feature of this year's design, by Connor Murphy, was a high curving wall, black on its outer side, rotating to white on the inner, positioned on the right of the stage, which served as a frame for the action on this proscenium-less area. Bruno Poet's imaginative lighting contributed to heightening the mood. The 11 singers were well coached in the musical and dramatic styles by the head of music, Roy Laughlin, and the director John Fulljames.

The scenes were drawn from Italian, German and English operas, starting with two from Don Giovanni, the first catching the dramatic tension of the opening and introducing the Australian soprano Rejieli Paulo as Donna Anna. Her strongly projected soprano, with mezzo colouring in the lower register, made a striking impact, and she was surrounded by neatly characterized performances from James Harrison, who lent his well-nourished baritone to the title role, James Robinson, a darkly lugubrious Leporello, and Ed Lyon, a pleasingly Italianate Ottavio. The second scene, with Harrison and Robinson enjoying their exchange of roles for Giovanni's wooing, introduced Maxine Montgomery, another Australian, who delivered Elvira's solo with passionate engagement, and Harrison rounded off with a seductive serenade.

The strawberry-gathering scene from Hänsel und Gretel featured Karina Lucas and Martene Grimson, who created an illusion of childhood with their clearly articulated singing. They also personified the more complex characters of Idamante and Ilia from Idomeneo, where Grimson displayed her growing vocal maturity in a tenderly expressive account of 'Zeffiretti lusinghieri', and their voices blended eloquently in the ensuing duet.

The first of two Britten extracts, a tightly-knit ensemble from A Midsummer Night's Dream, introduced the Irish soprano Sinéad Campbell as an imperious Helena, contrasting with Lucas's verbally cutting Hermia, and joined by Lyon and Harrison as their mixed-up lovers in an explosive quarrel. From Gloriana, Queen Elizabeth was depicted as an aloof , handbag-wielding display dummy in a white crinoline, which robbed her of all humanity in spite of a strongly projected performance by Maxine Montgomery, and it diminished the relevance of Ed Lyon's impassioned delivery of Essex's songs.

In the first of the two Donizetti scenes, from L'assedio di Calais, the Greek mezzo Eleni Voudouraki and Rejieli Paulo fromed a tautly-balanced partnership as a tormented husband and wife, Aurelio and Eleonora, fearing for the life of their son. In The Elixir of Love, the only item sung in English translation, Claire Booth was the personable '60s swinger of an Adina to Robinson's Dulcamara, and deployed a sparkling, flexible soprano.

Returning as Despina to Robinson's Alfonso, Booth again infused her performance with Vivacity in a contemporary setting that showed Fiordiligi and Dorabella indulging in beauty treatments while Campbell, as the former, gave a securely focused, polished account of 'Come scoglio'.