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SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL OPERA REVIEW
Donizetti, Don Pasquale:
Soloists, Orquesta-Escuela de la Sinfonica de Madrid. Coro
Escénico de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Conductor: Álvaro
Albiach, Teatro Real de Madrid. 22.3.2009 (JMI)
Proyecto de Ópera-Estudio con jóvenes cantantes.
New
Production in co -production with Teatro
Cervantes de Málaga and El Baluarte de Pamplona.
Director: Tomás Muñoz
Sets and Lighting: Tomás Muñoz
Costumes: Ariane Unfried.
Cast:
Don
Pasquale: Miguel Ángel Zapater
Norina: Sonya Yoncheva
Ernesto: Domenico Menini
Malatesta: Davide Fersini
Notario: Abelardo Cárdenas
Picture © Javier del Real
This was a new production with stage direction by Tomás Muñoz. His
work is quite pleasant to watch and is based on Italian movies from
the 50s The stage has an ample open space, showing a series of
Roman monuments at the back, among them San Pedro, the Colosseum,
and Castel Sant' Angelo. Don Pasquale is an opera buffa of
course and the production set out its comic stall from the very
beginning with an amusing pantomime by scene shifters during the
overture, followed by the appearance of Norina on stage, looking ,
like Audrey Hepburn riding a Vespa bike with a Roman traffic
policeman handing her a parking ticket. The garden scene is
particularly well solved and takes place in “Il Boschetto Cafe”,
from which we can see Roman historic monuments lit very well.
Ernesto sings “Com’e gentil” accompanied by a guitarist, as if he
were a street singer for tourists. Altogether the direction shows
some excellent work with singers, particularly with Norina. It’s a
very pleasant, low cost production full of imagination on the part
of Mr. Muñoz.
Alvaro Albiach was in charge of the musical direction and gave a
fluent reading of the score, although the young orchestra was not
too polished here and there and the enthusiastic chorus was slightly
weak, particularly in the male section.
It was quite a surprise to see Miguel Angel Zapater announced as
Don Pasquale, a role very different from his usual repertoire. I
found him much better than I expected and in fact this was one of
the best performances I have heard from him. He gave great sense to
his phrasing and his voice sounded much better than in the past. He
had some difficulties in the duet with Malatesta in the second act,
but that’s actually not much of a criticism, considering that he has
never played a basso buffo role before, at least to my knowledge.
The young Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva was the great success of
the evening as Norina. In spite of her age - 27 - she has already
quite a lot of experience as a singer, having received very good
reviews while on tour with William Christie last fall in concert
performances of Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes. She looks
simply stunning and she has an attractive voice which is very easy
at the top. This in fact, is a remarkable actress who knows how to
sing perfectly. In summary, she is an extraordinary Norina
among a cast of young people.
The Italian tenor Domenico Menini was the least interesting
principal. He has a pleasant voice, but is rather unvaried in tone
and has quite a few pitch problems. At 31 is already an experienced
singer in Italy however, where he has sung Cavaradossi.
Another Italian, the Milanese baritone Davide Fersini was an
eloquent Malatesta, who showed off an interesting lyric baritone and
more than a little ability as an actor. At the moment, he is engaged
by Zurich Opera, where he sings smaller parts.
The
theater had a full house including lots of
families with children. At the final bows the audience showed huge
approval of the artists, with special cheers for Sonya Yoncheva.
The creative team also earned the audience’s favour. Mr Muñoz
deserved it.
José M Irurzun
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