Showcase Reviews 2007

The Times
Wednesday 9th May 2007
Neil Fisher

The Pagliacci clowns got adulterous, and were caught. Violetta decided to live, and then expired. Owen Wingrave faced his demons, and was locked in with them. And the lusty Comte Ory swapped his habit for a wimple. Such is the frenetic pace and dizzying breadth of the National Opera Studio's annual Showcase.

One of the brightest signs of the evening was how well this year's crop had melded into Annilese Miskimmon's clever stagings. A "backstage" Don Pasquale, with the minxish Norina as a Broadway starlet , fizzed with comic promise, while the slice of Wingrave - taut, simple and spooky - was equally deftly handled.

Yet it was a high-risk strategy for the NOS to focus so heavily on bel canto, an era that stretches from Rossini froth to Verdian passion. This is high-wire stuff: long-breathed melodies that need inventive word-painting and a dramatic pulse as well as rock-solid technique.

Not everyone hit all the targets. In Rossini, Brad Cooper's Ory had saucy charm and impeccable French, but his tenor drifted, strained and nasal; in Donizetti, Shaun Dixon mixed wayward high notes with Italianate suavity as the impulsive Roberto Devereux, cast against Julia Riley's capable but unexciting Sara. And although the Greek soprano Lenia Safiropoulou's dark, almost Callas-like, tone showed huge promise, she needed more nuance and more vocal security as the dying Violetta. It didn't help that Roy Laughlin seemed determined to hasten her into an early grave, conducting the Royal Ballet Sinfonia at an unsettling gallop.

But there was plenty to admire. In two bel-canto trouser-roles - the page Isolier from Ory and the headstrong Romeo from Bellini's I Capuleti - Anna Grevelius sang with tremedous spirit and impeccable musicanship, in the latter partnering Amanda Forbe's pure-voiced, fragile Giulietta. In Pasquale the baritone Viktor Rud, nimbly sparred with the diamond bright soprano of Alinka Kozári, the evening's stand-out performer. And in two meatier slices of Bizet and Leoncavallo, Stephanie Corley looked like a true dramatic soprano in the making. Heaven knows we need them.


Opera
July 2007
Margaret Davies

This annual event, marking completion by 11 singers of the NOS's intensive one-year master course, amalgamated extracts from eight operas in a performance that had a distinctly cut-price look. Settings were pared down to a few sketchy props, apart from an ugly scaffolding gallery and staircase used in two scenes and curtained off for the rest. It lacked the flowing style of recent year's showcases, acieved with a single basic set. But if visually it disappointed, musically there was much to enjoy, though not all the singers sounded ready to conquer the world just yet.

The opening extract, taken from Les Pêcheurs de perles, introduced the experienced Australian Baritone Christopher Hillier as Zurga, looking rather like the gangmaster of the pearl fishers in his cream tropical suit, but singing in vibrant tones. He was partnered by Stephanie Corley, whose impassioned portrayal of Leïla brought their scene to dramatic life, her evenly-produced soprano enhanced by a rich middle register.

An update on Don Pasquale depicted Norina as an actress being showered with jewels by grovelling admirers. She was sung with plenty of temperament by Alinka Kozári in an accurate though not ample soprano, with Viktor Rud inhabiting the role of Malatesta with his rounded baritone and the stage with his engaging personality. He was also an ardent Silvio, with Corley as Nedda, in the love duet from Pagliacci.

Amanda Forbes and Anna Grevelius were appealing lovers in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Forbes accurate in Giulietta's coloratura, Grevelius displaying some insecurity and an edge to her singing as Romeo. She returned more confidently as the page Isolier in Le Comte Ory, with Brad Cooper unable to produce a sufficiently honeyed tone for the Count's cajoling, and neither singers projecting the words clearly.

Another tenor, Shaun Dixon, sang with Italianate warmth in the title role of Roberto Devereux, though his voice turned raw and edgy under pressure, while Julia Riley exhibited a big dramatic mezzo-soprano as his beloved Sara. However, she fitted more comfortably into the skin of Kate in the scene from Owen Wingrave where the odious girl dares Owen to spend the night in the haunted room, and Julian Hubbard gave a good account of Owen's soliloquy. The concluding scene of La traviata brought Dixon in more polished form as Alfredo and Lenia Safiropoulou as the dying Violetta, her singing technically sound but her acting limited in range.

Annilese Miskimmon directed and Roy Laughlin was the supportive conductor, for whom the Royal Ballet Sinfonia played staunchly.

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