*2013-17: La traviata, Capriccio, Tosca, The Merry Widow, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Zauberflöte and Eugene OneginĢ018-19: Falstaff, and guest conductor Pepito (Family Performance)Ģ016-17: Moby Dick, and guest conductor Bastien and Bastienne (Family Performances) Lyric Opera of Chicago: Music Staff: Cover/Assistant ConductorĢ020-21: Tosca (cancelled) and L’Elisir d’amore (cancelled)Ģ019-20: Luisa Miller, Madama Butterfly, and Die Walküre (cancelled)Ģ018-19: Cendrillon (*LOC debut performance 1/11/19) and La traviata It’s a concert piece nestled in Capriccio’s narrative bustle, and to hear Fleming sing it is to be reminded of her talents as a communicator in music within and beyond the opera stage.Florentine Opera: Artistic Advisor/Guest ConductorĢ020-21: Rigoletto (postponed) Guest conductor Late in the opera, in the calm that settles after a vaudeville of ballet dancers and Italian singers (the appropriately hammy Juan José de León and Emily Birsan), and as the light falls on the gleaming period set, Fleming’s poise pervades the Countess’ closing rumination over love and the nature of art. The one who really benefited from the orchestral tune-up was Peter Rose as La Roche, who made apologies for a deficient throat but sang in the second half with an astonishing diction and carry, marrying beautifully with the grooves in Strauss’ modular operatic style.īut it was only Fleming who seemed comfortable in the orchestral balance from start to finish, and it was only with her that the voice had enough room to relax above Strauss’ manic and refined textures. In the second half, the orchestra and singers seemed to fight each other less, which bodes well for the rest of the run. Her mezzo-soprano needs to be given a great deal more space from the pit, especially given her lilting delivery of many of Clairon’s lines can it be any recompense for an opera singer to know that her physical performance was as expressive and natural as those of the best silent film actresses? I am not entirely sure why Anne Sofie von Otter came all the way out to Chicago just to be swallowed under Sir Andrew Davis’s baton. On opening night, nearly everyone started out sounding gauzy and distant, including Auden Iverson as the poet Olivier and William Burden as the composer Flamand, meta-characters vying for the affections (and, ultimately, the judgment) of their patron, Renée Fleming’s Countess Madeleine. He has singers chew through words often in rhythms unsympathetic to vocal range and vowel extension, flittering up, down and around thick orchestral middles that can so easily take the wind out of a breath’s projected arc. Certainly Strauss’ text setting doesn’t make it easier. But then, this was always the risk of satire: you’d better be sure you’re not the butt of your own joke.
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