Conductor Antonello Allemandi
Production Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Set and Costumes Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Chorus Stellario Fagone
Don Ramiro Lawrence Brownlee
Dandini Nikolay Borchev
Don Magnifico Alessandro Corbelli
Clorinda Eri Nakamura
Tisbe Paola Gardina
Angelina (Cenerentola) Joyce DiDonato
Alidoro Alex Esposito
The Bavarian State Orchestra
The Chorus of the Bavarian State Opera
I often have the feeling blogs are show cases for artists and I somehow would dread to be part of the Business Industry by adding my 'advertising' to Advertising as it is already done by Opera Houses and the Record Industry... but in fact it is what it is, a kind of advertising through heart-choice!.
Chatting about very promising artists still untouched by celebrity is a very good job, they get known by a larger audience.
By travelling to other places in Europe I discovered another range of singers around the well known stars. It is the case for the young soprano Eri Nakamura who belongs to the Bavarian troupe. The real treat for me came when I discovered the contrastive skills of her art of singing and acting, on the 26th, impersonating a very young and overwhelming Giulietta next to Vesselina Kasarova's Romeo, and on the 29th in the same House, the bouncing, heartless and coquettish Clorinda in Rossini's Cenerentola next to Joyce Di Donato. Both nights, her voice was well suited to Bel Canto, with stratospheric heights, always outstanding in ensembles. She is very charming on stage, light and graceful! I read a dreadful comment on her voice somewhere, no she is not squeaking at all, on the contrary! she has got the power and breath control necessary to avoid mice squeaks...and her musicality is sovereign in Bellini and Rossini! This is a true bel cantist singer, a new one for me!
What I will try to say is her huge contribution to the success of both operas, one very dramatic and one utterly witty and funny...Apart from Joyce Di Donato I had seen in Paris twice (in Bellini's Romeo and Rossini's Donna del lago), I discovered a group of gifted young singers, all very nice looking, having fun in this cast and setting( the Ponnelle setting is a wonder, it works very well and has wit and elegance. The chorus, on this production, is absolutely outstanding, acting and singing!) Alex Esposito made an excellent Alidoro - philosopher, very handsome too... I cared a lot for the soft and high-pitched voice of Lawrence Brownlee, well matched with the natural generous mezzo of Joyce Di donato. She transformed marvellously into a princess with her simplicity and great singing skills. As for the funny ones, Dandini and Don Magnifico, a match of a young singer and an old brilliant connaisseur of this role, they were irresitible! It was fun and great rhythmic skills for trepidant sextuets and arias through this evening of real splendid art for the whole cast, and above all from the Conductor and the orchestra as Rossini Buffo requires perfect rhythm, and you can feel it from the very start! It was a great Rossinian night to my standards. My last Cenerentola was Cecilia Bartoli for the Malibran celebration in Paris, she seemed to be less generous and more witty, very lively, true Italian wit and charm with Antonino Siragusa and his sharp tops.. here the team Brownlee-Di Donato was more like a fairy tale, with softer tones, funny and touching!
Outside, after endless applause and curtain calls, an amazing Sound and Light show was burning the neo- classical facade of the theater, with the blue letters running at one point' Wagner Ring'... the storm and heavy rain of the day had stopped ...
