Review: Winter Opera's "Norma" scales the heights

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

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The great soprano Renata Scotto once referred to the title role of Bellini's 1831 tragedy "Norma" as "the Everest of opera...You want to climb the mountain. You know you are supposed to climb the mountain. But it is so difficult." Soprano Christine Lyons is singing the role at Winter Opera this weekend, and if she doesn't quite scale the part's highest peaks, she turns in a mesmerizing performance nevertheless.

Christine Lyons
Photo: Convergence Media

There are good reasons why the role of Norma, the Druid high priestess who loves neither wisely nor well, is widely regarded as one of the most difficult in the repertoire. It's a big part, and not just because of its length; its wide emotional and musical range requires a daunting combination of vocal flexibility, physical stamina, solid acting ability, and a dynamic stage presence. Ms. Lyons certainly has that presence, and her emotional commitment to the role makes her performance compelling.

Her voice has the range and flexibility that that part demands as well. When I heard her at final dress rehearsal on Wednesday, though, there was also a curiously muffled quality to her sound that reduced its power. Practically speaking, that meant that while her "Casta diva" was lovely, she tended to recede into the background a bit in duets and trios. Still, her Norma is theatrically on point. And that's the bottom line.

Tenor Peter Drackley, who was a charmingly winsome Nemorino in Winter Opera's "L'elisir d'Amore" last year, is less credible as the faithless Roman general Pollione, whose attempt to love and leave Norma ends in disaster for both of them. He still has the solid and wide-ranging voice, but he hardly seems to be acting the part at all. Pollione is a pretty unpleasant character on the page. An actor needs to give him a bit of depth on the stage to make him at all interesting.

Benedetta Orsi and Peter Drackley
Photo: Convergence Media

Mezzo-soprano Benedetta Orsi, who gave us such a memorable "Carmen" at Winter Opera in 2017, impresses once again as the young priestess Adalgisa, whom Pollione tries to spirit away to Rome. The role is smaller than Norma but still very demanding, and Ms. Orsi's dark, powerful voice handles it easily. Some of the best moments in this production happen in her duets with Ms. Lyons, as if the two were drawing strength from each other.

Bass-baritone Neil Nelson, who has displayed such a wide vocal and dramatic range locally in roles as diverse as di Luna in "Il Trovatore" (Winter Opera) and Hagen in "Götterdämmerung" (Union Avenue Opera), is a commanding presence as Norma's father, the Druid Chief Oroveso. His "Ite sul colle, o Druidi" with the male chorus gets the first act off to a rousing start. Soprano Grace Fisher and tenor Thomas Taylor provide solid performances in the secondary roles of Norma's friend Clotilde and Pollione's companion Flavio.

Neil Nelson and the company
Photo: Convergence Media

Conductor Darwin Aquino delivers another robust performance from the small but mighty Winter Opera orchestra. I don't know whether it's the Viragh Center acoustics, the quality of the players, or a bit of both, but the band at Winter Opera always seems to sound larger than its small size suggests.

Stage Director John Truitt paints some appealing stage pictures, but seems too fond of the static, "plant your feet and sing" approach that one sometimes sees in bel canto opera productions. And speaking of stage pictures, Scott Loebl's stark sets and JC Krajicek's striking costumes bring the drama to vivid visual life. Norma's flowing white gown is especially impressive.

Performances of Winter Opera's "Norma" are Friday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, March 9 and 11, at the Viragh Center on the Chaminade campus in Creve Coeur. The opera is sung in Italian with English supertitles and runs just short of three hours, including one intermission.

Review: A triumphant "Norma" at Lyric Opera of Chicago

This review originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Russell Thomas and Sondra Radvanovsky
Photo: Cory Weaver

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We arrived in Chicago the last weekend in February just in time for the final night of Lyric Opera's splendid production of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma. With a truly memorable performance by soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in the absurdly demanding title role and a first-rate supporting cast, this was a demonstration of just how compelling a great bel canto opera can be.

The role of Norma, the Druid high priestess who loves neither wisely nor well, is widely regarded as one of the most difficult roles in the repertoire. It's a big part, and not just because of its length; its wide emotional and musical range requires a daunting combination of vocal flexibility, physical stamina, solid acting ability, and a dynamic stage presence. From the moment she first appears on stage, we must believe that this is someone who could command an army as well as the passionate attachment of a Roman general.

Ms. Radvanovsky had everything the role required. Her "Casta Diva" brought down the house with wild applause and spontaneous shouts of "Brava!" She was imperious. She was conflicted. She raged, sighed, and swooned -- and all with a wonderfully seamless and powerful voice.

Sondra Radvanovsky and Company
Photo: Andrew Cioffi

She was backed up by an equally stunning cast headed by tenor Russell Thomas as the feckless Roman general Pollione and mezzo Elizabeth DeShong as the young priestess Adalgisa -- a part almost as demanding as that of Norma.

Riccardo Frizza made an impressive Lyric conducting debut and stage director Kevin Newbury brought the drama to vivid life. Under Michael Black's direction, the chorus was splendid, as always.

This Norma was as pleasing to the eye as it was to the ear, with David Korins's sets and Jessica Jahn's costumes evoking a kind of Game of Thrones version of Roman Empire-era Gaul.

Norma ended its run on Friday, February 24, but the Lyric Opera season continues until late May, with productions of Carmen, Eugene Onegin, and beginning in late April, My Fair Lady. All performances are at the Civic Opera House in the Chicago Loop.

Review: The spectacular singing of Chicago Lyric's Lucia di Lammermoor

This review originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Albina Shagimuratova and Piotr Beczała
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

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Bel canto opera stands or falls on the strength of the singing, and by that standard Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Donizetti's 1835 tragedy Lucia di Lammermoor stands very tall indeed. From the starring roles down to the chorus, this is a cast that can handle the most demanding material with ease.

And a good thing, too, because the score is one of Donizetti’s richest and most dramatic. From the teeth-rattling choruses that conclude the second act, to the often imitated and even more often parodied aria "Il doce sono" (a.k.a. the "mad scene"), to the legendary sextet—a piece so famous that even the Three Stooges and the Warner Brothers cartoon crew knew they could make fun of it without losing the audience—Lucia provides a treasure trove of great music. The Lyric cast does it full justice with a great performance.

Albina Shagimuratova
Photo: Andrew Cioffi

Soprano Albina Shagimuratova is a radiant Lucia, handling Donizetti's most demanding passages with ease. Her mad scene was a thing of vocal beauty, wonderfully controlled and yet thoroughly expressive. Matching her in power and dramatic conviction is tenor Piotr Beczała as Lucia’s tragic lover Edgardo, as effective in his tender love duets with Ms. Shagimuratova as he is in the violent Act III tower scene (which is, by the way, as good an example of testosterone poisoning as you’ll find anywhere in operatic literature).

His opponent in that tower scene is Lucia’s scheming brother Enrico, sung with menacing force by baritone Quinn Kelsey. I don't think director Graham Vick's decision to make him a shambling drunk adds anything useful but it doesn't really detract either, so overall I can't complain.

Somewhat less credible is Mr. Vick's decision to make the small role of Arturo—whom Lucia is forced to marry, with tragic results—into a kind of foppish scarecrow with his arms permanently outstretched as though posing for a painting. It turns his sword fight with Edgardo into inappropriate low comedy. Tenor Jonathan Johnson looks and sounds great in the part, though, which helps.

Adrian Sâmpetrean
Photo: Andrew Cioffi

Bass Adrian Sâmpetrean puts a sympathetic stamp on the role of the chaplain Raimondo. The character is the moral center of the opera and needs to be credible, especially in "Ah, cedi, cedi!" the Act II aria in which he persuades Lucia to agree to the arranged marriage with Arturo. Mr. Sâmpetrean fully delivers the goods.

Tenor Matthew DiBattista, who has done such great work here at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, once again rises to the occasion as the scheming Normanno, whose forged letter from Edgardo helps persuade Lucia to accept the marriage contract with Arturo. Mezzo Linsday Metzger has less vocal power than her fellow cast members, but is otherwise a very appealing Alisa, Lucia's confidante.

L-R: Piotr Beczała, Jonathan Johnson,
Albina Shagimuratova, Quinn Kelsey
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

In his director's note in the program book, Mr. Vick says that he sees Lucia as "a late-classical work". It's an interesting point, but given that the Romantic movement in music was well underway in 1835, I'm not sure I buy it. In any case, his implementation of that view appears to involve fairly static staging and a monochromatic set by designer Paul Brown that consists largely of multiple levels of gray flats that are used to represent all the indoor scenes, from the Great Hall at Lammermoor Castle to the tower of Edgardo's Ravenswood.

Behind them is a "blasted heath" that Macbeth would have recognized, complete with a eerily crooked tree and an unnaturally large, featureless, and sometimes distractingly mobile moon. Mr. Vick seems fond of that heath, placing much of the opera's action there, even in scenes that are explicitly indoors, like the Act II wedding contract and Lucia's "mad scene." It's especially odd in the latter, since Lucia is supposed to be hallucinating the heath, not wandering about on it.

Mr. Brown's costumes, though, are right on the money. I thought decking the entire Bucklaw clan in blinding white and gold was a nice touch, contrasting strongly with the earth tones of the Lammermoors and Edgardo.

The wedding party
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

At the podium is Enrique Mazzola, an Italian conductor who, to quote his program bio, is "[g]reatly admired internationally in bel canto." If his work here is any indication, that admiration is richly deserved, as he leads the Lyric Opera Orchestra in an assured and well-paced reading of Donizetti's score.

Donizetti assigns an important narrative role to the choir, so Chorus Master Michael Black also deserves praise for the powerful and articulate sound of his singers.

The important point is that if bel canto is your thing, you can't go wrong with a production like this one in which all the musical elements are so strong. And despite my misgivings about some of Mr. Vick's decisions, there's no denying that this Lucia packs a real wallop overall. Performances continue through November 6 at Lyric Opera's home in the magnificent Civic Opera House in the Chicago Loop. Information on Lucia di Lammermoor and the rest of the current season is available at their web site.

Lyric Opera of Chicago does bel canto right in "Anna Bolena"

Photo: Robert Kusel
Courtesy of Lyric Opera

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In the 1830 tragedy "Anna Bolena" ("Anne Boleyn"), the second of Donizetti's four operas dealing with Tudor England and a classic of the bel canto operatic style, the composer and his librettist Felice Romani put the title character through hell—and aren't that much easier on the singer playing the role. She's on stage for most of the opera (which, in the Lyric Opera of Chicago production that opened this past weekend, runs three and one-half hours with intermission), finishing up with not one but two "mad" scenes and an execution scene that is almost as harrowing.

Not surprisingly, the role has become associated with some of the world's great singing actresses over the years, especially since the late Maria Callas caused such a sensation in a Lucino Visconti-directed production at La Scala in 1957. Other big names associated with the role are Renata Scotto and the great Joan Sutherland, who played the part in Lyric Opera's last presentation of "Anna Bolena" in 1985.

I don't think it's too much of an exaggeration to say that Lyric's current Anna, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, should feel right at home in that pantheon, judging from her heroic performance on opening night. Expertly sung and superbly acted, her Anna moves easily through the wide dynamic and emotional range of this role. Like Callas, Ms. Radvanovsky is not afraid to sacrifice a little technical purity here and there if it enhances the drama. Which, on opening night, it always did.

Sondra Radvanovsky and
John Relyea
Photo: Todd Rosenberg
Courtesy of Lyric Opera

Nor is hers the only impressive portrayal here. She's evenly matched by bass John Relyea's vocally powerful and dramatically on-point Henry VIII. Granted, the role has less depth than that of Anne—he's pretty much a rotter through and through—but Mr. Relyea makes the most of it, demonstrating flashes of the charisma that helps to explain how Jane Seymour (beautifully sung by mezzo Jamie Barton) could fall for him.

The "pants" role of Smeton—the young page whose infatuation with Anne is manipulated by Henry to undo them both—may only be a supporting part, but mezzo Kelley O'Connor brings a depth and humanity to it that makes it truly stand out. There was no scene stealing involved here, mind you; just solid technique and theatrical smarts. And an impeccable "Ah, parea che per l'incanto" in Act I.

Tenor Bryan Hymel is a passionate Lord Percy and bass-baritone Richard Ollarsaba an appealing Lord Rochford. Tenor John Irvin rounds out the named roles and a chilling Lord Hervey, Henry's hatchet man.

Director Kevin Newbury is, perhaps, overly found of placing his principals in static poses and lighting them starkly from behind in primary colors, but on the whole the overall look of the production is striking. Neil Patel's set contributes substantially to that with its imposing Tudor ceiling from which walls and set pieces descend for the scene changes. The illusion of massive weight is convincing and reminds us of how these characters are, in some ways, imprisoned in the splendor of their surroundings. D. M. Wood's lighting design is dramatic, but there seemed to be technical issues with some of the instruments on opening night.

Sondra Radvanovsky and Kelley O'Connor
Photo: Todd Rosenberg
Courtesy of Lyric Opera

Mr. Newbury has chorus master Michael Black's powerful and precise ensemble on stage more often than is called for in the libretto—sometimes merely to offer mute witness. The idea, according to his program notes, is "to bring the tension of private and public space to life... Are a kind and queen ever truly alone?" I thought it mostly worked, as did the conceit of adding Anne's toddler daughter, the future Elizabeth I, to some key scenes. Having the child quietly observe the cruelty around her adds an element of poignance.

Conductor Patrick Summers has an fascinating note in the program about the difficulty of performing Donizetti's music with modern wind instruments, which are louder and more resonant than those available back in 1830. The balance seemed fine to my ears, and the overall sound of the orchestra perfectly supported the singers throughout.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's "Anna Bolena" runs through January 16, 2015, in the company's opulent and comfortable theater in the Chicago Loop. It alternates with "Porgy and Bess" through December 20. For more information, visit the company web site