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Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots
Opera Orchestra of New York
April 23, 2001
The latest exciting opera in concert success was the Opera Orchestra of New York (OONY)’s performance of Meyerbeer’s grand opera Les Huguenots on April 23 at Carnegie Hall. This five-act, three-hour long epic has been rarely heard in New York since Joan Sutherland owned the part of Queen Marguerite de Valois. Leave it to ambitious OONY to resurrect the behemoth, with a cast that was full of pleasant surprises.
The evening’s major find was Italian tenor Marcello Giordani, who gave a thrilling performance as Raoul de Nangis (a role he sang in Bilbao last season). He is a strappingly handsome fellow with a big, old-fashioned voice. His fortune is based on his total security when singing loud and high, producing a true clarion sound. At other times, usually just before a tough aria, his voice can go pitch shy, perhaps out of nervousness. But he soldiers from high point to high point, and one quickly forgets the glitches in between.
The Egyptian baritone Kamel Boutros deployed an intelligent and charming voice as the Comte de Nevers. It was rich and expressive, clear and eloquent. He had the best French diction of the cast. The dozen other male cast members were all respectable, though Gary Simpson was described by many as too light for the Comte de St. Bris. The Brazilian bass Luis-Ottavia Faria was an audience favorite as the Puritanical old Marcel, though one might have wished for a deeper, more resonant voice. His celebrated "Piff Paff" aria struck me as warmed over Offenbach/Boito.
American mezzo Maria Zifchak made a winning impression as the page Urbain. She has a thrillingly free, flowing voice with a rich middle and ringing top. Her impersonation of the impetuous page and her teasing of the Queen were well acted. There seemed to be a bit of diva rivalry between Zifchak and Russian soprano Olga Makarina, who sang Marguerite. Their voices were very similar, and one can imagine them trying to outdo each other. Makarina’s voice is large and pleasant but not especially full or gorgeous, and it sagged a bit when her attention wavered. Her aria “O beau pays de la Touraine” was pretty but not moving. Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, in her New York debut, brought more eastern European fire to the role of Valentine. We’ll surely be hearing much more of these singers in the future.
OONY artistic director and conductor Eve Queler conducted a firm if not especially poetic reading of the sprawling score. The choir was loud and stirring. Direction by Ira Siff amounted to a procession down the aisle. Cuts to the ballet music and irrelevant chit chat kept the work within reasonable bounds, but there were longeurs. A muscle cramp forced me to leave early, which I sorely regretted.
OONY’s next and final show of the 2001 season will be Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at Carnegie Hall, on May 13 at 8 pm. Their 2001-2002 season was just announced : Verdi: La Battaglia di Legnano; Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur; and Donizetti: Marino Falliero.
> OONY.
> Carnegie Hall
Copyright by Philip Anson (Questions or comments? Philanson@aol.com).
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