Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincinnatiopera continued its 2024 season with a gorgeous production of one of Giuseppe Verdi’s greatest works, La Traviata. This despite an active police presence outside Music Hall as a result of an active shooter incident in the area prior to the performance (Thanks to @cincinnatipolice and Music Hall’s house staff for keeping performers and audience members safe this evening).
Tonight’s cast was the definition of excellence. Soprano Gilda Fiume (@gildafiume_soprano) was wonderfully elegant and vulnerable as the tragic Violetta. Even if her voice may have initially sounded slightly timid, it greatly improved after she stopped the show with the aria Sempre libera in Act 1. Tenor Santiago Ballerini (@santiagoballerini.tenor) was just magical as the lovelorn, good-hearted Alfredo Germont, with a boldly vivid stage presence and a wholehearted, impassioned vocal timbre.
Baritone Anthony Clark Evans (@anthony_clark_evans) as Giorgio Germont (father of Alfredo) exuded magnificence and total command in his performance but with more than a hint of fragility, particularly in his Act 2 solo arias and duets with Violetta and Alfredo. Wonderful supporting performances were provided by singers such as mezzo-soprano Taylor-Alexis DuPont (@tayloralexisdupont)?as Flora, soprano Tanya Harris (@tanyaharris07) as Annina and baritone Samuel Smith (@samuelsmith) as Dr. Grenvil as well as members of @cincinnatiballet in the Act 2 party scene.
The Cincinnati Opera Chorus and @cincysymphony were in spectacular form under the leadership of conductor Lorenzo Passerini (@lorenzopasserini_conductor), making his U.S. operatic conducting debut. His was some of the most impassioned and invigorating conducting I have seen in an opera performance in years, and it seemed clear musicians and audience members loved his music making from the first bar of the Act 1 prelude all the way to the last notes of Act 3 as Violetta succumbed to her illness.
Eagerly looking forward to the world premiere staging of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio in July, which will no doubt receive a great deal of international attention.