Which is where I was on Thursday evening, a beautiful night for a spot of' country house' opera in Inner London. Indeed, as I sat on the bus going along Bayswater Road I rather regretted that I had not walked; when I worked at Kensington Town Hall I occasionally walked through the parks to Hyde Park Corner on barmy summer evenings. I also regretted that walking from Hyde Park Corner to Holland Park would probably wipe me out for the week nowadays.
Fedora is most definitely a second-rate opera, which is not to say it is without merit. The music is pleasant throughout, the story is linear and moves along swiftly with plenty of opportunity for emotion. The production was traditional and simple. I suspect if it were an opera I knew well I would be a bit frustrated at the simplicity. And for blogging purposes, it's difficult to say anything insightful about a simple, traditional production.
It is written by Umberto Giordano, who also wrote Andrea Chenier, and in my view it isn't as strong, and certainly not as heart-stirringly emotive as Chenier. Synopsis and background. A tragic love story. Her fiancé is murdered; she befriends the murderer to seek revenge; he says he murdered fiancé because fiancé was cheating with his wife; they fall in love; she finds out that his brother has been executed as a result of her letter to the authorities; she takes poison and dies.
The orchestra - the City of London Sinfonia, under Brad Cohen, sounded perfectly fine to me. Obviously, a company like Holland Park is not going to get the stellar cast of the ROH or even ENO, but there is no shortage of good singers around.
Fedora was played by Yvonne Kenny. Unlike a certain blogger who is travelling all the way from New Zealand especially, I wouldn't call myself an Yvonne Kenny fan. On the downside I have to quote a seat-neighbour "coming to the end of her career"and "sings well in mezzo". On th epositive side, she gave a convincing and committed portrayal, and an intelligent musical interpretation. Overall she was good.
There was a strong cast in depth, notably Stephen Gadd (De Siriex), Catrin Johnsson (Dmitri) and Grant Doyle (Ciriilo) - two pleasing performances from Grant Doyle in the space of nine days speaks volumes to me.
However, and lets save the best for last. Forget all of the above. I'm not sure if there are any tickets left for remaining performances, but if there were and I wasn't totally skint, I'd be in the queue just to hear the tenor again.
Aldo di Toro. Remember that name, note it down. What a voice! I have heard some bloody good tenors so far this year - Calleja, Villazon, Domingo. To that list I have to add Di Toro. Mike had posted on rmo that he was a 'real find' and quoted the Standard's review that he was 'astonishing'.
For accuracy's sake I would argue that perhaps he requires a little more polish to be the entire finished article. But to be candid, with a voice like that, who cares about polish! What a voice! I have a 'thing' about tenors, which doesn't mean that I like all tenors. Far from it. But I would describe Aldo di toro as sweet, ardent, lyrical, musical, a ringing tone, squillo, and that certain 'something' indescribable which hits my T-spot. The guy can act, and while I wouldn't call him drop-dead gorgeous he's easy on the eye. I'm just purring at the thought of roles I would love to see him in. And hear him! All those wonderful Verdi/Puccini lyrico-spinto roles. Drool Drool! Some details here (scroll down) - he's Australian.
An opera is about more than arias, but, let's be honest, the most famous part of this opera is Amor ti vieta, which has been a showpiece for all the great tenors since Caruso. And tonight it was delivered with pasion and ardour
says a muscular, personable and entirely Italianate tenor in Aldo Di Toro... From the minute when Loris declares his love for the widow of the man he murdered, Di Toro is indefatigable.
Fabulous said the Guardian.
The Stage "his strong tone consistently impresses".
Bloomberg He has a firm, rounded and passionate sound, and brings all the lyric possibilities of the part to the fore.
Aldo Di Toro has a wonderfully natural, open sound throughout the range - a name to watch. says the Independent.
...a promising Australian tenor with the splendidly Italianate name of Aldo di Toro cut an elegant figure and sang with a firm line and sweet tone: I hope we hear more of him.says The Telegraph. Great opening line, BTW, "BAD operas don't come much better than Fedora."
And MusicOMH
