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| Baron Scarpia (Kyle Albertson) and Floria Tosca (Ana María Martínez Credit: ‘David Bachman Photography for Pittsburgh Opera’ |
Tuesday evening, I lumbered into the Benedum Center in
Pittsburgh hopeful that the opening of the Pittsburgh Opera’s 86th
season would be a stellar one. Tosca was on the menu and I salivated at the
idea of seeing it yet again – for the 9th time.
Since
my very early 20s, I’ve been recording most of the cultural events I’ve
attended along with the date, but, unfortunately, not the venue. I see now in retrospect
that was a mistake because I’ve witnessed opera across the nation as well as a
good many in Europe and wish I could identify where I saw a particular
performance as well as the date. Paris? Warsaw? Covent Garden? Savonllina?
Baltimore? The Met? The Lyric? San Francisco? And so on.
After
catching Tosca Tuesday evening, I headed home to my record book and discovered
that this was my ninth Tosca, and I’d have to say, as much as I can recall,
that this was the best of the lot. Yay, Pittsburgh!
From
the first emphatic, clarion call notes of the overture, I realized the orchestra
was in fine form under the baton of conductor Anthony Walker. As the evening moved
on, I was impressed by the quality of the strings, the French horns and the standout
solo coming from a mournful clarinet in one particularly lugubrious scene.
Besides
the musical excellence of the orchestra, the sets were some of the most lavish,
colorful and tasteful I’ve recently seen in the city. After all, the Farnese
Palace deserves special treatment and set designer, Keith Brumley, seems to
have spared no effort in getting it right.
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Moving
on to the cast, I was amazed to see such superb quality assembled on one stage.
If you shut your eyes, you’d swear that Jonathan Burton as Cavaradossi is
another Luciano Pavarotti. As the title heroine, Tosca, Ana Maria Martinez was
excellent. Her Act Two “Vissi d’arte” was a golden moment, a taste of the Beatific
Vision, something that literally sent warm and bubbly currents of bliss up my
spine. Judging by the response of the audience, her exquisite aria, sung on a
darkened stage with a soft spotlight shining only on her, affected much of her listeners
the same way.
For
palpable villainy, Kyle Albertson as the chief of police Scarpia played the
role of a despicable tyrant to the hilt, all the while mesmerizing the crowd
with his powerful baritone.
Making
his Pittsburgh Opera debut, resident artist Erik Nordstrom showed considerable
acting and singing skills as the fugitive seeking refuge after escaping from
Castel Sant’Angelo, which later served as the third act setting that ended the
opera with a sudden and dramatic climax.
Add to
the mix of superlatives the chorus, the children’s chorus and the excellence of
the minor characters and you get a Tosca that is one not to miss. Two more performances remain on October 11 and
13. Treat yourself to some artistic excellence on a rarefied level by logging
on to www.pittsburghopera.org.
Original Costume Design by Andrew Marley with additional designs by Heidi Zamora. Costumes originally created for New York City Opera and refurbished by Seattle Opera Costume Shop
Scenery
and Props for this production constructed by Lyric Opera of Kansas City
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