Profil recensioner
3Canadian mezzo-soprano Catherine Daniel was magnificent as Madame. Her velvety voice conveyed her character’s deep sorrow and her final rhythmic farewell to her philandering husband was forceful and captivating.
Mezzo-soprano Catherine Daniel was a force of nature as Griffith’s mother, right down to her sing-song West Indian chiding. Her long, wrenching Act II solo—superbly accompanied by jazz bassist Eric Lagacé–was the opera’s musical highlight, soaring, textural, guttural.
Tidigare produktion recensioner
2Of course, the opera requires two sopranos who can bring distinctive qualities to the roles and match each other with vocal and dramatic prowess. KO executive director Brian Salesky found two such talents in Rochelle Bard (Mary, Queen of Scots) and Catherine Daniel (Elizabeth I). Bard is not new to Knoxville Opera, having previously sung the title role in Bellini’s Norma in 2014 and Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore a year later. Daniel, a native of Edmonton, Canada, was making her American opera company debut.
"Conductor Alexander Prior, writing about Edmonton Opera’s new production of Richard Strauss’ Elektra, which opened at the Jubilee on Saturday, commented, “Tonight’s Alberta premiere is an epic testament to Edmonton Opera’s ambition, vision, and strength.” Article content He is right on all counts. The opera is challenging to present, because of the demands of the music – in both the vocal and orchestral writing – and of the emotional content. Strauss’ brilliant score, a kind of culmination of the Romantic tradition, is alternately violent and tender, triumphant and despairing." "What really did come across was the playing of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. This was Prior’s Canadian operatic debut, and he not only paced the opera very effectively, but secured some wonderfully powerful and taut playing from the orchestra in a score that is beyond their normal comfort zone."
