Reviews 2003
Reviews 2003
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by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Michael Hampe
Canadian Opera Comapny, Hummingbird Centre, Toronto
January 24-February 8, 2003
The COC’s current production of Verdi's A Masked Ball (Un ballo in maschera) (1859) emphasizes opera as primarily a musical experience with design and direction serving a decorative rather than interpretive function. As a result it seems incredibly old-fashioned.
The Verdi opera is based on a nugget of fact. In 1792 King Gustav III was assassinated by Captain Anckarstroem at a masked ball in the Stockholm opera house. The librettist's fiction is that Anckarstroem's motivation is his discovery of a love affair between the king and Anckarstroem's wife, Amelia. So hot was the topic of regicide, censors made the librettist relocate the plot to Puritan Boston. The present Dallas Opera production, returning to the original Swedish setting, is quite handsome except in for a fortune-teller's crystal dome looking like a relic from a 1950s sci-fi flick.
Michael Hampe direction highlights attractive positioning of singers over drama. Mikhail Agafonov (Gustavus) sings with great power but without the subtlety or characterization the part requires. Zvetelina Vassileva (Amelia) sings beautifully but remains emotionally distant. Of the principals only Timothy Noble (Anckarstroem) combines fine singing and acting to portray a complex character. Conductor Nicola Luisotti brings out Verdi's vivid colours and contrasts and generates more excitement in the pit than ever shows up on stage.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2003-01-30.
Photo: Timothy Noble and Zvetelina Vassileva (foreground). ©2003 Michael Cooper.
2003-01-30
Un ballo in maschera