Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Tosca National Concert Hall 18/05/14
Tosca
18/05/14
By Angela O’Looney
My musical taste can be very diverse. This I discovered throughout my life thus far, partly because I grew up in a house with people of varying tastes and also because I adapt to any music or art form that is pleasurable, be it rock, jazz, ballet music or ballads. And during a conversation with the parents of my son’s school friend, I found out that they shared my interest in opera.
His Mum is very involved in the Royal Irish Opera society and mentioned she could get me a ticket for Lyric Opera Production’s Tosca in the National Concert Hall. I of course couldn’t resist and so found myself sitting in a brilliant seat in the stalls, awaiting the entrance of David Angus the Maestro!
The set of the first act takes place in the church of Sant’ Andrea Della Valle, where an escaped prisoner goes to hide. His name is Cesare Angelotti. The Sacristan enters to pray and is interrupted by the painter Mario Cavaradossi, who has come to work on his portrait of Mary Magdalene-inspired by the Marchesa Attavanti, Angelotti’s sister. Cavaradossi contrasts the beauty of the blond Marchesa with that of his lover, the singer Floria Tosca.
Cavaradossi discovers he’s not alone when Angelotti ventures out of his hiding place. The artist hears his lover Tosca come into the church and urges the escaped convict to hide again, giving him a hamper of food he brought for his lunch. The story begins!
There are many dramatic twists and turns, emotional struggles between the lovers regarding Cavaradossi’s choice of model for his painting versus Tosca’s dark eyed beauty. Also, he feels a loyalty to Angelotti to assist him in finding a safe house to hide from Baron Scarpia, chief of the secret police, who along with his heavies is on his way to search the church and its surroundings to recover his prisoner, who is a traitor against Napoleon.
The musical content of course is amazing, the orchestra providing a powerful musical backdrop to the voices of the Principles. Each aria is magical, and I found the costumes interesting too. Although the story takes place during the Napoleonic reign, the cast wear more modern style clothing. It works however, and I particularly love Tosca’s draped style coat which is flung about her shoulders for added emphasis when she’s fuming with jealousy over the blue eyes of Mary Magdalene in the portrait, a little too like those of Marchesa Attavanti.
Over the stage area, a screen translates each line of the opera. This was excellent for me. I do know some Italian, but would be quite at a loss without it. At the end of the act, there is a fantastic scene where choirboys, nuns and two Sacristans enter singing joyfully about the Te Deum they will sing that day. This excitement goes on while the evil Baron finds Tosca, who returns to discover her lover gone from the church without explanation. The Baron finds a fan with the emblem of the Marchesa on it and uses this to plant a seed of doubt in Tosca’s mind that maybe her artist has another love interest. You feel her anxiety and her passionate vow of vengeance as she leaves the church.
This entire act is wonderfully performed and after a short interval we were called back for act two. This is where Scarpia finds a way to drive a wedge of suspicion and doubt between Tosca and Cavaradossi. It’s a bitter and emotional scene. The sound of Tosca performing at a Royal Gala downstairs in Farnese Palace, is a disturbing coincidence, as this is the place where Cavaradossi is brought before the Baron accused of helping Angelotti the traitor hide.
The music is heart-rending as the schemes of the Baron result in Tosca blowing the whistle about where Angelotti is hidden. She finds herself being offered one way out of Cavaradossi being tortured and executed and that is that she has to give herself to the Baron in return for safe passage for both of them. Cavaradossi’s execution is to be fixed. It all ends up with her finding a sharp knife and plunging it into Scarpia to fend off his overzealous advances.
Here she sings a sweet aria appealing to God as to why this is happening to her. Naomi Harvey performs this beautiful piece and draws her audience into her agony. The final moment in this act is suitably shocking, as you see her place candles on each side of the Baron’s corpse, a crucifix on his chest. Then she hurriedly exits.
Act three takes place at The Castel Sant’Angelo. A Shepherd (Max O’Neill) is heard singing as church bells toll the dawn. Cavaradossi is led to the roof of Castel Sant’ Angelo to await execution. He bribes the jailer to convey a farewell note to Tosca. Writing it, overcome with memories of love, he gives way to despair.
Tosca appears with a story of her encounter with Scarpia. She has murdered for his sake, and he hears her speak of a chance to escape. She persuaded the Baron to fix it so that the firing squad would shoot blanks, then when the soldiers leave; they can escape the Papal States on a fishing boat which awaits them. However, it all ends in overwhelming tragedy, when the bullets end up being real.
Cavaradossi dies. And in her grief and fear at what Scarpia promised in his efforts to ravish her and his lies, she climbs the battlements and crying that she’ll meet Scarpia before God, leaps to her death.
This is a short version of this tragic tale. But it’s the melodrama and emotional rollercoaster that enthralled me as I listened to these powerhouses pour out each beautiful note. What an evening!
The star studded cast of this performance included Michael Wade Lee as Cavaradossi, Naomi Harvey as Tosca, Anooshah Golesorkhi as Baron Scarpia, Graeme Danby as the Sacristan, Stephen Fennelly as Cesare Angelotti & the Gaoler, Stephen A. Brown as Spoletta, Rory Dunne as Sciarrone, and Tom Asher as the second Sacristan.
Killian Farrell was chorus Master and The Boys of the Palestrina Choir performed the Te Deum scene. After the finale, the director/Designer Vivian J. Coates came out to say a few words of thanks and also greeted the Italian and Portuguese Ambassadors who were guests in the audience.
The entire evening was a wonderful experience for me even though previous to this I wouldn’t be as familiar with the music from Tosca, as I would be with popular operas such as Carmen, IL Trovatore or Aida.
I noticed that there wasn’t a full house this evening. The director encouraged members of the audience to spread the word that seats were available for the third night of this show on Tuesday.
I was still hearing the strains of the last aria in my head, as I stood in the foyer with the lady who had invited me to this opera, when she told me she had backstage passes for us to meet the cast. This was a lovely bonus after such a brilliant show and I found each member of the cast utterly delighted to meet and greet us and hear our congratulations on their excellent singing. We got autographs and just before we left, we got an added bonus; The Italian Ambassador appeared backstage to say hi to the cast too. As he passed, he shook our hands and asked our names. I told him mine and he was smiling and very gracious. I floated out of the theatre and was even driven right to my door. On such a rainy evening, this was heaven. The programme I will treasure with each autograph in it. But even more so, I will always remember my magical enchanting experience of Puccini’s Tosca. Thanks and congratulations to Lyric Opera Productions.
By Angela O’Looney
My musical taste can be very diverse. This I discovered throughout my life thus far, partly because I grew up in a house with people of varying tastes and also because I adapt to any music or art form that is pleasurable, be it rock, jazz, ballet music or ballads. And during a conversation with the parents of my son’s school friend, I found out that they shared my interest in opera.
His Mum is very involved in the Royal Irish Opera society and mentioned she could get me a ticket for Lyric Opera Production’s Tosca in the National Concert Hall. I of course couldn’t resist and so found myself sitting in a brilliant seat in the stalls, awaiting the entrance of David Angus the Maestro!
The set of the first act takes place in the church of Sant’ Andrea Della Valle, where an escaped prisoner goes to hide. His name is Cesare Angelotti. The Sacristan enters to pray and is interrupted by the painter Mario Cavaradossi, who has come to work on his portrait of Mary Magdalene-inspired by the Marchesa Attavanti, Angelotti’s sister. Cavaradossi contrasts the beauty of the blond Marchesa with that of his lover, the singer Floria Tosca.
Cavaradossi discovers he’s not alone when Angelotti ventures out of his hiding place. The artist hears his lover Tosca come into the church and urges the escaped convict to hide again, giving him a hamper of food he brought for his lunch. The story begins!
There are many dramatic twists and turns, emotional struggles between the lovers regarding Cavaradossi’s choice of model for his painting versus Tosca’s dark eyed beauty. Also, he feels a loyalty to Angelotti to assist him in finding a safe house to hide from Baron Scarpia, chief of the secret police, who along with his heavies is on his way to search the church and its surroundings to recover his prisoner, who is a traitor against Napoleon.
The musical content of course is amazing, the orchestra providing a powerful musical backdrop to the voices of the Principles. Each aria is magical, and I found the costumes interesting too. Although the story takes place during the Napoleonic reign, the cast wear more modern style clothing. It works however, and I particularly love Tosca’s draped style coat which is flung about her shoulders for added emphasis when she’s fuming with jealousy over the blue eyes of Mary Magdalene in the portrait, a little too like those of Marchesa Attavanti.
Over the stage area, a screen translates each line of the opera. This was excellent for me. I do know some Italian, but would be quite at a loss without it. At the end of the act, there is a fantastic scene where choirboys, nuns and two Sacristans enter singing joyfully about the Te Deum they will sing that day. This excitement goes on while the evil Baron finds Tosca, who returns to discover her lover gone from the church without explanation. The Baron finds a fan with the emblem of the Marchesa on it and uses this to plant a seed of doubt in Tosca’s mind that maybe her artist has another love interest. You feel her anxiety and her passionate vow of vengeance as she leaves the church.
This entire act is wonderfully performed and after a short interval we were called back for act two. This is where Scarpia finds a way to drive a wedge of suspicion and doubt between Tosca and Cavaradossi. It’s a bitter and emotional scene. The sound of Tosca performing at a Royal Gala downstairs in Farnese Palace, is a disturbing coincidence, as this is the place where Cavaradossi is brought before the Baron accused of helping Angelotti the traitor hide.
The music is heart-rending as the schemes of the Baron result in Tosca blowing the whistle about where Angelotti is hidden. She finds herself being offered one way out of Cavaradossi being tortured and executed and that is that she has to give herself to the Baron in return for safe passage for both of them. Cavaradossi’s execution is to be fixed. It all ends up with her finding a sharp knife and plunging it into Scarpia to fend off his overzealous advances.
Here she sings a sweet aria appealing to God as to why this is happening to her. Naomi Harvey performs this beautiful piece and draws her audience into her agony. The final moment in this act is suitably shocking, as you see her place candles on each side of the Baron’s corpse, a crucifix on his chest. Then she hurriedly exits.
Act three takes place at The Castel Sant’Angelo. A Shepherd (Max O’Neill) is heard singing as church bells toll the dawn. Cavaradossi is led to the roof of Castel Sant’ Angelo to await execution. He bribes the jailer to convey a farewell note to Tosca. Writing it, overcome with memories of love, he gives way to despair.
Tosca appears with a story of her encounter with Scarpia. She has murdered for his sake, and he hears her speak of a chance to escape. She persuaded the Baron to fix it so that the firing squad would shoot blanks, then when the soldiers leave; they can escape the Papal States on a fishing boat which awaits them. However, it all ends in overwhelming tragedy, when the bullets end up being real.
Cavaradossi dies. And in her grief and fear at what Scarpia promised in his efforts to ravish her and his lies, she climbs the battlements and crying that she’ll meet Scarpia before God, leaps to her death.
This is a short version of this tragic tale. But it’s the melodrama and emotional rollercoaster that enthralled me as I listened to these powerhouses pour out each beautiful note. What an evening!
The star studded cast of this performance included Michael Wade Lee as Cavaradossi, Naomi Harvey as Tosca, Anooshah Golesorkhi as Baron Scarpia, Graeme Danby as the Sacristan, Stephen Fennelly as Cesare Angelotti & the Gaoler, Stephen A. Brown as Spoletta, Rory Dunne as Sciarrone, and Tom Asher as the second Sacristan.
Killian Farrell was chorus Master and The Boys of the Palestrina Choir performed the Te Deum scene. After the finale, the director/Designer Vivian J. Coates came out to say a few words of thanks and also greeted the Italian and Portuguese Ambassadors who were guests in the audience.
The entire evening was a wonderful experience for me even though previous to this I wouldn’t be as familiar with the music from Tosca, as I would be with popular operas such as Carmen, IL Trovatore or Aida.
I noticed that there wasn’t a full house this evening. The director encouraged members of the audience to spread the word that seats were available for the third night of this show on Tuesday.
I was still hearing the strains of the last aria in my head, as I stood in the foyer with the lady who had invited me to this opera, when she told me she had backstage passes for us to meet the cast. This was a lovely bonus after such a brilliant show and I found each member of the cast utterly delighted to meet and greet us and hear our congratulations on their excellent singing. We got autographs and just before we left, we got an added bonus; The Italian Ambassador appeared backstage to say hi to the cast too. As he passed, he shook our hands and asked our names. I told him mine and he was smiling and very gracious. I floated out of the theatre and was even driven right to my door. On such a rainy evening, this was heaven. The programme I will treasure with each autograph in it. But even more so, I will always remember my magical enchanting experience of Puccini’s Tosca. Thanks and congratulations to Lyric Opera Productions.
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