This evening to the Festival Hall, for a Tenors Gala Concert. I booked the ticket, then looked at the list, and realised I had only heard of one, then the list changed, so that made it two, then when I arrived at the Royal Festival Hall, there was a different list again. I am posting this partly for posterity, to look back in five, ten years, and see where they are then.
To be honest, I was lucky I arrived. Signalling problems at Tooting Broadway made me change my plans, and in the end it took me an impressive forty minutes to get from Brixton via Vauxhall via the entire length of Waterloo concourse, in a pair of boots I realised, when level with Platform 8, are not really designed for walking. and have a wobbly heel to boot.
Digression over.
The ten tenors were led by José Cura an established star in the firmament, although a fast fading one, and one who rather fancies himself as a conductor.
The other nine were:
- Dante Alcalá from Mexico
- Kostyantyn Andreyev, 33, from Ukraine
- Gustavo Casanova, from Spain
- Adrian Dwyer, possibly Australian
- Woo Kyung Kim, 27, from South Korea
- Dmitri Korchak, 25, from Russia
- Ronald Samm, British
- Juan Carlos Valls, from Uruguay
- Dmitri Voropaev, 27, Russian but from Azerbaijan
Those whose ages weren't given in the programme were of much the same age - Valls looked barely out of school. So these are potentially the up-and-coming generation. With one exception they all sang two arias, Maestro Cura included. There were also four orchestral pieces, and a final ensemble Brindisi as an encore.
The programme was (with my notes scribbled on the programme as aide-memoire - incidentally, my gut feeling was generally backed up by the level of applause, whistles, bravos etc): breathe in
- Recitar...Vesti la giubba (Pagliacci) - Leoncavallo: Cura
- Intermezzo (Pagliacci) - Orchestra
- Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (Zauberflöte) - Mozart - Dwyer - thin voice but good diction and charm
- Dalla sua pace (Don Giovanni) - Mozart - Voropaev - Wow! Gorgeous tone; beautiful leggiero sound
- Ah, la paterna mano (Macbeth) - Verdi - Kim - pleasant, dark tone, faultless
- Niun mi tema! (Otello) - Verdi - Samm - looks like Otello, sounds like Otello, a baritonal sound, swallowed a few notes, but thus far, the most convincing facial actor
- Dei miei bollenti spiriti (Traviata) - Verdi - Casanova No. Painful to watch and almost as painful to hear - voice too dark and croaky for the aria
- Questo o quella - (Rigoletti)- Verdi -Alcalá - Okay, but a bit bland, and sounded a bit flat
- La donna e mobile - (Rigoletto) Valls - I like! A bit like Alvarez, very young, sweet at the top, and a gorgeous finishing flourish, maybe a bit dusky
- Intermezzo - (Manon Lescaut ) - Puccini - Orchestra - the principal cellist, who played a solo passage, looks like he's just out of school...am I getting old?
- Che gelida manina (Boh�me) - Puccini Andreyev - great forte, crap piano, quite lyrical at times, but a swallower
- Firenze � come un albero fiorito (Gianni Schicchi) - Puccini Dwyer - small but pleasant voice, engaging attitude, good facial acting
- Recondita armonia (Tosca) - Puccini - Andreyev - to me, uninspiring, like he was singing the Argos catalogue without colour, but was well cheered
- E lucevan le stelle (Tosca) - Cura
INTERVAL
- Prelude to Act II (Siberia) - Giordano Orchestra
- Sleep My Beauty (May Night) - Rimsky-Korsakov Korchak - like Florez but cuter and with a sweeter tone
- Indian Guest (Sadko) - Rimsky-Korsakov Voropaev - sounded beautiful, although I don't know the aria
- Amor ti vieta (Fedora) - Giordano - Alcalá - dramatic, projected a cheerful personality got whistles and shouts of approval
- Lamento di Frederico (L'Arlesiana) - Cilea Valls - I like - rich dark voice, passionate ending, screams from the audience
- Je crois entendre encore (Les P�cheurs de Perles) - Bizet Korchak - a bit rough round the edges, but potential to be the Real Thing
- La fleur que tu m'avais jetée (Carmen) - Bizet - Kim - technically and musically brilliant, but I felt did not become Don José enough - there were calls for Encore
- Ma se m'e forza perditi (Ballo) - Verdi - Casanova - boring, muted applause, poor chap - I assume he was having an off night
- Overture (I Vespri Siciliana) - Verdi - Orchestra
- Dio mi potevi scagliar (Otello) - Verdi - Cura
The couple behind me were very relieved that Cura didn't actually conduct whilst he was singing; daft as it may seem, he did so on a previous occasion and it didn't work. I overheard a woman in the interval commenting that all he was doing was waving his arm up and down, she could do that, only not as well, but she doesn't have his rippling muscles and fine physique.
I have to say, especially during the Vespri Siciliani, I watched the orchestra closely. It was pretty clear that they had their heads buried in their scores. Not a sign of a good conductor! And I noticed him a lot, and you're not supposed to notice the conductor. Admittedly, it was partly the ponytail - I can't remember ever seeing a ponytail on a conductor before. Not that it really matters, but it's damn distracting when you're in Row E of the front stalls.
Of course, Cura was the best singer there - the rest are really at the start of their careers. And it was obvious from the way he threw himself wholeheartedly into the arias did make a big difference from the rest. Whilst he sung, the orchestra was conducted by the leader, whose name escapes me, but he's a big chap, probably at least 6'4". José Cura is also tall, and of the other nine, so is Ronald Samm. Kostyantyn Andreyev is towards the taller end of average, and Woo Kyung Kim average, but the rest were all really on the short side, probably not managing a 5'6" between them.
It was a great atmosphere, full of goodwill, with everyone knowing that they are all young unknowns. It wasn't a competition at all, but I did feel there was a degree of the clapometer mentality in the applause. For what it's worth, Kim clearly won the clapometer, and the two Dmitris, Valls and Samm were the other top ones. I would happily pay to hear any of them again - with the possible exception of Gustavo Casanova, but I'm assuming that he was having a bad day. Of course, two arias in concert are no guide to what someone would sound like in a full opera, and there is no guarantee that early promise will turn into into solid achievement. But still, there you go. And a few people commented on the lack of German stuff. Also, there wasn't much bel canto, either.
Incidentally, the promoters are advertising three upcoming recitals at St John's Smith Square, by David Curry (January), Joseph Calleja (February) and Jonas Kaufmann (March).
The only bad thing was getting home; there was a shortage of taxis, so I walked all the way down to the Northern Line, fighting a flood of Arsenal fans returning from Highbury to their homes in the stockbroker belt. Teh dot matrix said fourteen minutes, and there were apologies for delays due to signalling problems, so I swore and walked all the way back up to the taxi rank. On the way home the taxi was delayed by crowds pouring out of Brixton Academy, where Scissor Sisters had been playing...
Update: Guardian Review
Update: Observer Review
Independent review.
Photos and press next.
