not stop charmed Vienna! A 
Three times in less than two years. A director and a cast that, in the main parts, change from time to time. Now we can say, with undisguised pride, and for the public Viennese duo Fabio Armiliato-Don Alvaro has become inseparable.
After watching the last performances of La Forza del Destino de
scheduled for this September we can only fully support the choice of the leaders of the Staatsoper. The ringing of and attention to the word content Genovese hit right from the start of the sortie but, of course, in the third act that Fabio way to deploy all his art: the air
"O thou, that within the angels" , thanks to a sensitive phrasing and a singing line wonderfully elegant, is greeted by a veritable ovation. Even more compelling it seemed the fourth act in which the beautiful
duet with baritone is all played on the treble half swagger disarming and moving items. A truly masterful test.
Noteworthy too is the rest of the male cast, headed by Don Carlo in solid Željko Lučić and Ferruccio Furlanetto as a veteran in the role of the Father Superior. Among the well-characterized Melito of Tomasz Konieczny.
As for the women's side, the results were not the best. The Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek (Leonora), great Wagnerian, it did not seem due to some fibrous voice, combined with sharp focus and not always perfect diction, be perfectly at home in this repertoire. Then struggling to understand what could push to award to Nadia Krasteva Preziosilla for the proportion of each shot, if we exclude the physicality right to wear the skimpy costumes cowgirl provided by the director and we consider the unorthodox sounds emitted both in the low register how much and especially in the mid-high.
Philippe Auguin addresses the score (or what remains of it, given the massive cuts) with considerable air of theater even if, at times, exceeds the sound.
entertainment David Pountney continue to appreciate the ability to create spaces and environments with few props but, despite being the third time that we were faced with this production, there are the hidden meanings of the scenes with Preziosilla ... if ever there were.
September 27, 2010 Wiener Staatsoper
La Forza del Destino DON ALVARO: Fabio Armiliato
LEONORA: Eva-Maria Westbroek
Marquis of Calatrava: Dan Paul Dumitrescu
DON CARLO: Željko Lučić
FATHER GUARDIAN : Ferruccio Furlanetto
FRA Meliton: Tomasz Konieczny
Preziosilla: Nadia Krasteva
MASTRO TRABUCO: Michael Roider
A mayor: Michael Wilder
A SURGEON: Clemens Unterreiner
Currie: Donna Ellen
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Philippe Auguin
Director: David Pountney
And now all ready for
The Sicilian Vespers at the Festival Verdi 2010 !
