PV Orchestra

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Orchestra concert
  • Classical orchestra
  • Popular orchestra
  • Orchestra opera

PV Orchestra

Header Banner

PV Orchestra

  • Home
  • Orchestra concert
  • Classical orchestra
  • Popular orchestra
  • Orchestra opera
Orchestra opera
Home›Orchestra opera›Chicago Classical Review » » Opera Festival of Chicago opens its second season with a Rossini rarity

Chicago Classical Review » » Opera Festival of Chicago opens its second season with a Rossini rarity

By George M. Ortiz
July 9, 2022
0
0
Kenneth Tarver, Alexander Adams-Leytes and Katherine Beck star in Rossini The inganno felice, presented by the Chicago Opera Festival. Photo: Elliot Mandel

True to its mission to perform rarely heard Italian operas, the Opera Festival of Chicago opened its second season with The inganno felice, a one-act opera by Rossini that was apparently never performed professionally in Chicago. Written in 1812, the opera was one of Rossini’s most performed operas during his lifetime, although it has now fallen into relative obscurity.

The inganno felice, which translates to “The Happy Deception”, tells the story of Isabella, who was accused of being unfaithful to her husband, Duke Bertrando, and thrown into the sea in a small boat. After capsizing, she was picked up by the kind Tarabotto, who tells everyone that she is his niece. The opera begins ten years later, when the Duke and his acolytes meet in the village of Tarabotto. Isabella immediately recognizes her husband and the men who cast her adrift; but presuming her dead, the men find her only an uncanny resemblance to the Duchess. The truth eventually comes out, Isabella and the Duke reconcile, and Ormondo confesses that he made up the story of his infidelity because she refused his advances.

The opera’s backstory—the alleged infidelity and Isabella’s banishment and shipwreck—would have made for a more dramatically engaging work. One can imagine this story as a complete opera, with the love story and the expulsion comprising the first half, and the plot of The inganno felice including the second half.

Without that backstory and investment in the characters, the unraveling isn’t particularly intriguing, and audiences don’t want the Duke and Isabella to reunite. Therefore, the opera, which had attractive but immemorial music, moved quite slowly. Fortunately, the cast, led by director Ella Marchment, rose to the occasion to overcome the opera’s dramatic shortcomings.

The expertly choreographed Overture presented a pantomime summary of the backstory through the lens of Isabella’s dream (or nightmare) ten years later. The comedic timing of the cast was brilliant, with movement and lighting cues perfectly in line with the music, especially when Isabella was shown giving birth. Here, the orchestra, led by musical director Emanuele Andrizzi, displayed luminous string sound and extreme precision.

The comic elements of this opera semi-series shone brightest, especially with character tenor Alexander Adams-Leytes as Tarabotto and baritone Matthew Ciuffitelli as Batone, the Duke’s henchman who failed to kill Isabella ten years before. Adams-Leytes was on stage for almost the entire show, delivering comedic asides and an impressive buffo motif. Ciuffitelli immediately impressed with the range of color he brought to his recitatives, his appealing tone and agility in his demanding tune, and his aptitude for physical comedy.

The climax of the opera came in the form of a duet between these two intriguing characters as they attempt to team up in a bid to extract each other’s secrets. In this scene, Andrizzi firmly held the reins of the orchestra, while the singers stumbled forward slightly. However, Andrizzi’s conservative approach proved necessary as the tempo picked up one last time in a final wave of buffo.

In the role of the exiled bride was the mezzo-soprano Katherine Beck. A vocal star of the show, her bright but balanced tone proved well suited to the relatively high role, which is often sung by sopranos. In his last aria, Beck navigated the high range and Rossinian runs and turns and with grace and ease, belying all difficulty except for a few slightly plucked high notes. Although the lack of interpolated high notes made the aria less breathtaking, Beck conveyed the pathos of the character’s predicament and provided a welcome foundation for otherwise frothy music.

In the role of Duke Bertrando was the tenor Kenneth Tarver. Possessing a beautifully Italian light lyrical voice, Tarver danced easily to the fast coloratura. However, he couldn’t mask the difficulty of certain vocal passages as well as Beck, as some of the high notes sounded a bit uncomfortable. Tarver’s diction was something to admire, his tightly rolled r’s and precise double consonants conveying the character’s high rank and distance.

Although Tarver’s voice was beautiful, it was dramatically quite stiff. He seemed emotionally detached, so it wasn’t clear that his character was falling for the mysterious woman who resembled his ex-wife, and his lack of dramatic clarity made the ending confusing. Also, Beck had more on-stage chemistry with the other characters, which made the ending feel a little underwhelming.

Rounding out the cast is bass Frank DeVincentis as the dastardly Ormondo. Although he had the least stage time of the small cast, DeVincentis was a commanding dramatic and vocal presence, leaving audiences eager to see the first half of the story in which he ensnares Isabella.

Designed by Luca Dalbosco, the sparse decor on the stage of the Athenaeum Theater featured empty doorways and stairs leading to nowhere, giving the singers plenty of room to move around and find different levels. Aside from the Duke’s floral appliqué suit jacket, the suits, also designed by Dalbosco, were also pared down.

As evidenced by the Overture pantomime, Marchment, along with assistant director Gregory Keng Strasser and lighting designer Eric Watkins, harnessed Rossini’s eminently choreographable music in moments of precise comic timing. However, more attention could have been given to clarifying the actions and emotions of the characters during the denouement so that the audience doesn’t have to be glued to the supertitles to understand it.

The inganno felice will be repeated Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Athenaeum Theater in Lakeview. operafestivalchicago.org

Posted in Shows


leave a comment

Categories

  • Classical orchestra
  • Orchestra concert
  • Orchestra opera
  • Popular orchestra

Recent Posts

  • ” Olivier ! » on stage at the Old Opera | Journal-news
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Gail Samuel explores how Tanglewood can be welcoming to everyone | Berkshire landscapes
  • Opera Festival Scotland announces 2022 Slate
  • Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, critic — the young conductor is a great talent
  • OrpheusPDX brings an old hand and a new vision to the Portland opera scene

Archives

  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • February 2016
  • April 2015
  • January 2013
  • November 2012
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions