If you don’t go to the opera, will the opera go to you! Thus, the Nice Opera has decided to build a new stage in its Diacosmie rehearsal and set center, located near a “difficult” outdoor district. The goal: to attract a new audience.
In order to tame access to this hangar with decorations, similar to a second-hand goods hall, a huge red carpet has been rolled out.
At the end of the red carpet was waiting for us the White Lady .
Here the performance conditions are limited: no decor or pit. The orchestra is placed on stage behind the singers.
To be frank, we were worried about the result. And on arrival, surprise: a totally delightful sight!
Behind her veil, all the charm of Amélie Robins © Dominique Jaussein-
The director Valerie Negre imagined showing us a kind of rehearsal transformed into a show. It succeeded. We see the singers arrive in contemporary outfits, congratulate each other, prepare, perform vocalizations and stretching exercises, put on their stage costumes, sing their tune and then return to their chairs to their scores. All of this makes for a fun, well-crafted, touching show, reduced to two hours instead of three.
The story ? That of a “White Lady” who haunts a Scottish castle and, finding her former lover, pushes him to buy back the said castle thanks to the treasure found by its former owners.
Amélie Robins has a crazy, vocal and personal charm. She unrolls vocalizations as supple as the white veil that hides her face.
The Rossini tenor Patrick Kabongo seduces us with the velvet of its tone and the softness with which it rises in the treble.
In Sophie Marin Degor – role of Jenny the farmer – we admire the musicality of the song but also the expression of the face. A real actress!
The baritone Laurent Kubla impresses with the solidity of his voice and his expressive authority. He plays the role of the villain who wants to take over the castle instead of the young couple.
The means Marie Kalinine – Marguerite, the nurse – unfolds a beautiful song, musical and well stamped.
We applaud the tenor Luca Lombardo whose mastery and profession have been known for a long time, as well as Michael Guedj, which is authoritative in this scene of auction sale so surprisingly modern for the time of Boïeldieu.
We felt a real joy in the direction ofAlexandra Cravero. Under his efficient baton, the choir and the orchestra did justice to the pleasant music of Boïeldieu, now forgotten, located at the crossroads of Mozart and Rossini. She achieved the feat of achieving perfect cohesion in vocal ensembles whose singers were behind her back.
At the Diacosmie in Nice this “Lady” is to be marked… with a white stone!
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