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Garsington Opera Festival 2009 - Rossini, La Cenerentola: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Garsington Opera, David Parry (conductor)  Garsington Hall, Garsington,  Oxfordshire,  UK  25.6.2009 (BK)

Cast:

Angelina : Ezgi Kutlu
Don Ramiro: Antonis Koroneos
Dandini : Quirijn de Lang
Don Magnifico :Henry Waddington
Clorinda :Eliana Pretorian
Tisbe :Lisa Crosato
Alidoro :Joshua Bloom

Production:

Conductor: David Parry
Director: Daniel Slater
Sets and Costume Designer: Angela Davies
 

Ezgi Kutlu as Angelina / Cenerentola

Don Magnifico and his three daughters live in a seedy caravan  and Ramiro's  grand ball  is an all-comers audition for the lead in a movie. That's Garsington director Daniel Slater's idea for this  Cenerentola and most of it works very nicely - although why the paparazzi chorus doesn't twig that the guy in shades and white jacket is Dandini rather than his master is a little bit of a  puzzle.  He's a crowd-pleasing celeb though and that's probably all that matters.

Quirijn de Lang as Dandini

Quirijn de Lang's Dandini might well have fooled other people too, except that he's a baritone. He sings and acts the fake heart-throb so convincingly that he could easily steal the show completely if virtue didn't have to triumph in the end. It does of course -La Bontà in Trionfo is the opera's subtitle - despite the best efforts of Angelina's chavvy half-sisters and her grasping father: all played with huge verve and enjoyment by Eliana Pretorian, Lisa Crosato and Henry Waddington. These baddies sing very nicely too although none were quite the vocal scene stealers of the evening.

Those honours go to the Turkish mezzo Ezgi Kutlu as Angelina and to the Australian bass-baritone Joshua Bloom, each of them with voices to remember for years to come. Ms Kutlu looks small and fragile but she has an arena filling sound that's as agile and expressive as anyone could wish for. Gliding effortlessly from soprano to a resonant low mezzo she put me in mind of a high-speed elevator plummeting earthwards from the heights, with never a falter to its progress before slowing down gracefully for a safe and secure landing. This was Ms Kutlu's UK debut and it's to be hoped she'll return again soon.

Joshua Bloom's Alidoro was another vocal delight. Listed as a bass-baritone, his is a weighty and glorious voice with the power in its lower reaches strong enough to shame many a so-called bass. He was a dignified Alidoro, cool and savvy as the film director although ever so slightly too young to convince as the original  wise old tutor.

Antonis Koroneos's Ramiro was honesty through and through. He has sung the role in Athens, in Germany and Italy and has obviously taken it to heart. Just quite why he and Angelina would celebrate their betrothal in Magnifico's run-down caravan was another imponderable, but then true love never did  know boundaries, I suppose.

David Parry was in the pit, on his usual top form with pacey and lucid conducting that made everything go with a swing. The balance in the great Act II sextet was particularly fine adding extra value to an already enjoyable evening.

Bill Kenny

For details of the  last week of Garsington performances for this  season, visit: http://www.garsingtonopera.org/

Pictures © Johan Persson

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