Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra • Zurich Opera House • Performance: October 4th, 2024
(2nd performance • Resumption on September 27th, 2024 • Premiere on December 6th, 2020)
«All cheerfulness on earth is a deceptive illusion, the human heart is a source of never-ending tears»
The second performance of the series confirms the impressions gained from the revival.
Andreas Sandss production – inexplicably – continues to preserve the restrictions imposed by Corona. Above all, the cruelly distorted recorded one Choir of the Zurich Opera: the recording itself would still be understandable. But why does it have to be so distorted? The fact that the choir is being recorded would be noticeable even without distortion. (More about the production:
With Paolo Arrivabeni An old-school conductor takes over the musical direction of the evening. His conducting is characterized by natural authority and confident craftsmanship and so he elicits phenomenal performances again Philharmonia Zurich magical sounds. The collective as well as the individual registers are completely convincing and what comes out of the pit leads to superb performances on stage.
George Petean gives an ideal, intense Simon Boccanegra with his wonderfully flowing, warm baritone. Christof Fischesser is a moving counterpart to him as Jacopo Fiesco with his balmy, flowing, deep bass. Jennifer Rowley as Amelia Grimaldi can be announced. Her high-pitch, colorful soprano initially sounds much sharper than in the revival, but then quickly recovers. Omer Kobiljak portrays Gabriele Adorno again with a radiant tenor and a lot of mellowness. Andrew Moore as Paolo Albiani and Brent Michael Smith As Pietro, the roles of the Doge’s two courtiers are more than luxuriously cast. Maria Stella Maurizi as Amelia’s maid and Maximilian Lawrie as captain of the crossbowmen complete the ensemble.
A wonderful Verdi evening.
Further performances: Sun. Oct. 13, 2024, 1 p.m.; Sat. Oct. 19, 2024, 7 p.m.; Fri. Oct. 25, 2024, 7 p.m.
04/10/2024, Jan Krobot/Zurich
