Alexa Frankian, sop., Geo Chobanov, bass-bar., Kindred Spirits Orchestra, Kristian Alexander, conductor. George Weston Recital Corridor, December 28, 2004.
For music lovers, one of many joys of the Vacation Season is the various live shows being introduced right now of 12 months. Along with the pre-Christmas Messiahs and different non secular programming, one can stay up for a feast of different musical genres in between Christmas and New Yr.
I attended my first on December 28, on the acoustically pleasant George Weston Recital Corridor. It was “Salute to 2025,” an opera live performance introduced by the Kindred Spirits Orchestra. It featured fast-rising Canadian soprano Alexa Frankian, whom I first heard when she was a pupil on the Glenn Gould College, as Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Even then, one might inform she had what it takes for a positive profession.
This night, she shared the stage with Bulgarian bass-baritone Geo Chobanov. I confess I used to be unfamiliar with this artist. Went to his web site which incorporates a formidable file, itemizing many engagements in European opera homes singing roles as numerous as Dutchman in Die fliegende Hollander and title character in Don Pasquale. I’m wondering if this live performance marked his Canadian debut. I’m positive we’ll hear from him once more!
Kicking off the proceedings had been 96.3 FM radio character Mark Wigmore and Aurenda Basis director Emiliana Blagoeva, welcoming the viewers and giving transient introductions of the performers. Below the skilled baton of Maestro Kristian Alexander, the live performance acquired underway with a number of Mozartian gems from Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. Chobanov sang Figaro’s signature aria “Non piu andrai” with mellow tone, adopted by a energetic Catalogue Aria by Leporello in Don Giovanni.
Alexa Frankian opened with the Contessa’s showstopping “Dove sono,” an excellent aria that exhibits off her large, brilliant full lyric soprano, with its surfeit of squillo. She adopted with “Ebben, ne andro lontana” from the hardly ever staged Catalani opera La Wally, capped by an exhilarating B pure on the climax. Then it was Mimi’s Act 3 “Donde lieta usci” and Musetta’s Waltz, impressing the viewers with the contrasting tones of gentleness and flamboyance.
The primary half ended with the Papageno/Papagena duet from Die Zauberflöte. A little bit of a foolish piece, however these two had been completely sport to show up a notch on the ham metre. In actual fact, Chobanov’s instrument is extra of a personality baritone to my ears, extra ideally suited to Leporello and Pasquale than the straightlaced Don Giovanni. The 2 of them sang the humorous Zauberflöte duet with relish. An amazing finish to the primary half.
The second half opened with a rousing efficiency of the overture to Carmen, displaying off what this positive orchestra can do. Kristian Alexander and his band later supplied a typical Christmas vacation piece, the “Valse des fleurs” from the Nutcracker, a spotlight of the night, with a stunning harp solo. Chobanov took on the Satan in “Veau d’or” from Gounod’s Faust, musically completed, if a bit quick on the blood and thunder menace of a basso profundo. In actual fact, to my ears he’s extra of a baritone than a real bass, evidenced in his agency prime notes within the aria from Ernani.
The formal program concluded with the stunning Don Giovanni-Zerlina duet, “La ci darem la mano.” The viewers gave the singers and orchestra sustained applause, and so they had been rewarded with one other typical Vacation fare, within the type of the Radetzky March, with the viewers becoming a member of in with the rhythmic clapping. By then, the viewers was actually in a celebratory temper, and so they loved the ultimate encore, the stunning “Lippen schweigen” from Lustige Witwe.
All in all, a marvellous begin to the Yr Finish festivities. Bravi tutti!
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Joseph So is Professor Emeritus at Trent College and Affiliate Editor of Opera Canada.He’s additionally a long-time contributor to La Scena Musicale and Opera (London, UK). His curiosity in music journalism focuses on voice, opera in addition to symphonic and piano repertoires. He seems recurrently as a panel member of the Massive COC Podcast.He has co-edited a ebook, Opera in a Multicultural World: Coloniality, Tradition, Efficiency, printed by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group).
