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| Lyric Season Ends in High Style Monday, March 29, 2004 |
| By John Von Rheim, March 14th,2006
Chicago Tribune |
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Between Denyce Graves' smoldering Carmen, Susan Graham's
exuberant Octavian, Vesselina Kasarova's delectable Cenerentola and, now,
Viktoria Vizin's ravishing Carmen, this has unquestionably been the year of
the mezzo at Lyric Opera.
Vizin's company debut at the head of a new cast of principal singers in the
company's season-ending performances of "Carmen" poses the question: Why
haven't we heard of this promising singer before?
The Hungarian mezzo-soprano came to the U.S. in 2001 and has made her home
in suburban Aurora since 2004. The March performances of the Bizet opera
mark her first assumption of the title role in a major opera house, although
she has sung the Gypsy temptress at two German theaters and with the
Pittsburgh Opera.
Graves' Carmen was a unique creation, not to be duplicated. Carnal as sweat,
she blew everybody off the stage as the titular spitfire, a vivid acting
performance that suited director John Copley's conception of "Carmen" as a
fateful dance of love and death, with corporal Don Jose as her hapless
victim.
Vizin's Carmen was a more traditional portrayal, more femme than fatale. She
used her statuesque beauty to advantage, offering a sympathetic heroine who
clearly enjoys the power she wields over the opposite sex.
Vizin seemed to grow more comfortable in Carmen's skin as Thursday's
performance went on. If in the first couple of acts she engaged the audience
more by the luster of her singing than through dramatic conviction, Carmen's
final confrontation with Jose outside the Seville bullring was the real
thing: The defiant Gypsy poured contempt on the soldier who had thrown away
everything for her and now begged for her to love him again.
In truth, this was a better-sung Carmen than Graves'. The famous Habanera,
in which Carmen declares her free-spirited nature, emerged in a smoky billow
of sound that revealed Vizin's evenness and security from top to bottom of
her range. Her Seguidilla was just as good, a siren song to weaken the
resolve of the dumpy mama's boy for whom she has set her cap.
Vincenzo La Scola may not have looked or acted the most believable Jose one
has ever seen, but he certainly sang the role more beautifully and securely
than either of his predecessors this season. Jose's Flower Song was a
poised, impassioned model of stylish French singing right down to the soft
fade. It was good to hear the Italian tenor and Vizin energizing each other
in their final duet.
The vibrant American soprano Patricia Racette refused to play Micaela as the
conventional goody-goody from the provinces. Jose's sweetheart was not so
dumb or innocent that she couldn't recognize at once what was going on with
Jose. Racette gave an affecting account of Micaela's aria in which the
devoted girl asks for God's protection.
Back as Escamillo was bass-baritone Mark S. Doss, one of the Lyric Center's
most successful graduates. He played the bullfighter as a swaggering hunk of
machismo in tight black leather and delivered a robust Toreador Song, whose
awkward vocal placement has undone more than a few basses and baritones.
One could have nothing but praise for the fine work of the orchestra and
chorus under the idiomatic conductor Andrew Davis. Kudos as well for the
strong supporting cast that included Susanna Phillips and Elizabeth De Shong
as Carmen's Gypsy cohorts Frasquita and Mercedes; Quinn Kelsey and Christian
Van Horn as the soldiers Morales and Zuniga; and David Cangelosi and Rodell
Rosel as the smugglers Dancaire and Remendado.
Lyric Opera's "Carmen" repeats at 7:30 p.m. Friday and March 25, also at 2
p.m. March 22, at the Civic Opera House; phone 312-332-2244.
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