How Do You Play a Piano Concerto When You're Blind?īoy who said 'Wow!' after Mozart performance is found - and his story is so moving The Secret Jewish History of Ludwig Van Beethoven The sexual abuse of a female prisoner by the soldiers was portrayed with just the right amount of violence, harsh but not gratuitous. There were several dance sequences, which were all performed with great élan, as is usually the case with this company, and the choreography matched the basic concepts of religion and war. The lead women’s costumes were less successful to this reviewer’s eye.
The costumes were most notable in the chorus, from the military uniforms and priestly garbs to the gauzy multi-colored robes of the ladies of the court. His control of their playing and the singing on stage was masterful. The orchestra, led by Music Director Nicolo Luisoti, also played at their very best throughout the evening. In that last scene, and in others, the opera chorus was superb, modulating from loud and bombastic to quiet as church mice. There were large scenes of intense color in the first half of the evening, complete with gold dust falling from the sky. That was successful and added a tone of reality that we don’t often expect in Aida. The overall concept of the opera, according to director Francesca Zambello, a favorite of San Francisco opera goers, was to bring it into our time, with modern military and religious men and prisoners rather than slaves. Finally, Raymond Aceto’s Ramfis did a fine job, though his role did not call for much range of emotion. George Gagnidze’s Amonasro was most effective in his few scenes he looked and sounded like the king he was portraying his baritone voice rang out with strength and nobility. Ekaterina Semenchuk’s Amneris started out tentatively and seemed a bit out of her league in the early scenes, but by the second half she was in full strong voice, most notably when she was mourning the loss of her love. There was plenty of chemistry between them in their body language, and their voices blended beautifully. Brian Jagde made a physically compelling Radames as both bellicose warrior and tender lover his voice is strong and true and very clear. And her voice is stunning when she sings softly it can melt your heart, but she can also belt it out to great effect the emotion is there at all points in her range (which is considerable). She doesn’t move much on stage, but when she does it is with purpose and result.
Leah Crocetto’s Aida was very convincing. The chamber opera within the grand opera was very evident each of the four main characters had conflicting emotions that they struggled to resolve and each of them sang with great passion. Beginning with the six costumed musicians in the lobby trumpeting the audience to their seats and ending with Radames and Aida dying in bliss in their tomb, there was nary a misstep. San Francisco’s Opera’s Aida was triumphant tonight from start to finish.
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