Il Trovatore

Il Trovatore

Il Trovatore El Paso Opera has been delivering high quality opera performances for over 15 years, and I’m my opinion, Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore was just as outstanding. Although the production was relatively small, as well as the audience, the most important aspect of opera – the music – was superseding. Stage Director Kay Walker Castaldo worked wonders with a very talented, although small, cast. All of the singers in the cast excel at their singing abilities; in colloquial terms, their voices melted my soul. Most of the performers have strong credentials and a very high level of training. Hope Briggs and Jessie Raven are the female stars of this performance, playing the roles of Leonora and Azucena, respectively. Both their performances were flawless, excelling in their dynamic flexibility, agility, and timbre. Their loud fortes could easily overlap the sound of a full orchestra. Raul Melo and Jeffrey Snider were the male luminaries of the whole male cast, staring as Manrico and Count di Luna, respectively. The voice quality of the males was amazingly outstanding. Although not a principal character, the quality of Sangin Han’s voice was something I distinctly remember. Dr. Han played the minor character of Ruiz. His voice has this very special and peculiar vibrato that you do not usually hear very often. In my opinion, the strongest character, musically speaking, was the antagonist: Jessie Raven. I have always noted that usually, it is the antagonist who has the hardest parts in the music, not the protagonist. The antagonist’s themes are usually characterized by much syncopation, large interval jumps, and a high level of dynamic difficulty. And Il Trovatore was not the exception. But Raven was able to completely achieve the high levels of difficulty posed by Verdi’s opera. Her singing agility is not superseded even by the protagonist, Briggs. That is not to say Briggs’s performance was unfit. She, as well, delivered performances of incomparable quality....

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