Pittsburgh Opera’s production of Il Trovatore, music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, continues at the Benedum Center March 28, 31 and April 2. (Images: David Bachman Photography for Pittsburgh Opera)
Melodious Old Standard Wows Big Audience
for the First Time in Over 20 Years
By George B. Parous
Pittsburgh Opera returned to the Benedum Center last evening to give the first performance in the current run of its staging of Verdi’s Il Trovatore.
This melodiously exuberant and rhythmically impassioned work has been a popular success since its 1853 première. It took some time for critics to warm to it, with detractors carping about what they considered to be Verdi’s “oom-pa-pa” styled orchestration and point to the impossibly twisted plot. Maybe the complaints have some aspect of validity for some, for others, not so much.
Hearing the tuneful old melodrama last evening, performed on stage here for the first time in nearly a quarter-century, Il Trovatore came almost like a new experience – the familiar old arias and choruses took on a freshness and youthfulness once again, suggesting it might not be a bad idea to shelve them for another couple of decades. For the present, however, the production is crammed with talent capable of revitalizing the opera and making it one not to be missed.
A true maestro, a first-rate orchestra, a tightly paced production, and a good cast of singers – principals and chorus – all are what you can look forward to by catching one or more of the performances. The period production, with scenery from New Orleans Opera and costumes from Sarasota Opera, is being presented with the following cast: as Manrico, Jonathan Burton; Leonora, Alexandra Loutsion, Conte di Luna, Lester Lynch; Azucena, Marianne Cornetti; Ferrando, Ashraf Sewailam; Inez, Emily Richter; Ruiz, Daniel O’Hearn; Old Romani, Jesse Davis; and as Messenger, David Scoville
Emily Richter as Ines, left, and Alexandra Loutsion as Leonora.
Pittsburgh Opera has certainly staged its latest production in the grand old “grand opera” style. The sets are large and colorful, sometimes crowded with what seemed to be a hundred or more well-choreographed, becomingly costumed chorus members and supernumeraries. Photos used on the company website and here can’t possibly do justice to the magnitude of it all. Every such detail is carefully seen to – Antony Walker and the orchestra gave a masterful reading of the score; Mark Trawka and the chorus did impressive work; the stage direction was well seen to by Daniel Rigazzi, and the wonderful costumes glistened under Cindy Limauro’s lighting.
Alexandra Loutsion as Lenora, in Pittsburgh Opera’s lavish Il Trovatore.
In the glistening costume department, nobody made out like Alexandra Loutsion. She wore several eye-poppingly beautiful gowns that suited her magnificent appearance and voice perfectly. She was, indeed, the vocal star of the show, but that could have been easily predicted by anyone who has heard her sing. It may be my imagination, but she seemed slightly nervous when attacking the part’s high-flying coloratura passages, but she got there, and sang mightily and delicately towards the demands the fourth act make of Leonora. These she handled with an ease which also could have been predicted. She made bravery and fright palpable, and sang her way through the part with the grace and beauty of tone she always so eloquently delivers. In her first scene, with Ines, Emily Richter made one regret, that the role has so little to sing.
Azucena (Marianne Cornetti) is captured by Count di Luna’s forces (Lester Lynch, left, Ashraf Sewailam, right).
Local legend Marianne Cornetti sang and acted the role of the tragic Azucena. This is a role she sang at the Metropolitan Opera over 20 years ago. She acted the part with excellent abandon, and in the main sang quite well, although now she employs, for lack of a better term, a vocal stepladder consisting of two or more notes as a booster up to the trills the part requires. Despite any hints that the role may not come as easily as it once did, she makes a perfect stage picture, and it is quite evident that she “feels” the role every second that she spends on the stage. This is the mark of a true vocal artist.
Azucena (Marianne Cornetti) and her son, Manrico (Jonathan Burton)
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Baritone Lester Lynch (Conte di Luna) and tenor Jonathan Burton (Manrico) returned to Pittsburgh Opera in the leading male roles. Lynch roused the audience to a furor with his singing of the famous “Il balen del suo sorriso” aria and dashed around the stage in sword fights like a true villain. Burton has a gleaming tenor voice that served him well in his role.
All told, Il Trovatore, in this Pittsburgh Opera production, scored a hit with the large crowd at the Benedum last night. I’m going back for next Sunday’s matinee, just in case the company holds off on producing the opera for another 25 years.
For ticket and details, visit Pittsburgh Opera.
Pittsburgh Opera Artistic Team for Il Trovatore:
Conductor, Antony Walker; Stage Director, Daniel Rigazzi; Set Designer, G. Alen Rusnak; Costume Designer, Howard Tsvi Kaplan; Lighting Designer, Cindy Limauro; Wig & Make-up Designer, James Geier; Stage Manager, Cindy Knight; Fight Director, Tonya R. Lynn; Assistant Fight Director, Ann Rematt; Assistant Conductor, Glenn Lewis; Chorus Master, Mark Trawka; Associate Coach/Pianist/Supertitles, James Lesniak; Assistant Stage Director, Haley Stamats; Assistant Lighting Director, Todd Nonn; Assistant Stage Managers, Hannah Nathan & Emily Grand
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