#SF OPERA AIDA REVIEW MOVIE#

And the “furious” exchanges between Zajick and Giordani registered falsely they weren’t very furious at all. Making things worse, there wasn’t a whit of chemistry between Carosi and Italian tenor Marcello Giordani, singing the role of Radames. Then, in opposition to Carosi’s petering out, she gathered steam and, by the end of the night, was rocking out. Yet the first couple of acts found her singing tepidly.

#SF OPERA AIDA REVIEW MOVIE#

It’s been said that Zajick owns this role you may have seen her sing it in the recent Metropolitan Opera production, shown nationally in movie theaters. It was perplexing, as was the performance by American mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick as Amneris, the Egyptian princess who also loves Radames and therefore hates Aida and conspires to bring them both down. Yet somewhere in the middle of the evening, her charisma dissolved and her singing became less technically solid. Watching her, even if you don’t know a word of Italian, you would understand the story. Verdi gives Aida some of the opera’s most delicate, melodic moments every fear, frustration and outburst of love registered in Carosi’s voice, face, body. Her voice wasn’t only luminous she was alive in the role. As Aida, she out-sang everybody during the first half, including the chorus. One wonders, with so much back-history, why this “Aida” is so out of whack, and why more focus hasn’t been put where it belongs: on the singing and the drama.įor a while Friday, it looked like Italian soprano Micaela Carosi, making her San Francisco debut, was going to steal the show and carry the whole thing on her shoulders. Both of those companies have already staged it. That is what gets papered over in this production - actually a co-production with Houston Grand Opera and English National Opera. But it’s also about stifled passion, the secret love affair of Radames and Aida, the Ethiopian princess who’s been taken slave by the Egyptians. Yes, “Aida” by definition is about spectacle: trumpets, processions, memorable military marches. We’re given a corporate view of fun and beauty: The high-fashion veneer blocks out the inherent drama and emotion of “Aida” in this staging, directed by Jo Davies with production design by British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes.

But the production feels cold and, for all the effort, bland. It’s gorgeous and lavish and outrageously decorated - like staring into a tropical fish tank for 21/2 hours - and perhaps it is ultimately linked to the woo-woo mysticism of Verdi’s pharaonic imaginings. It plays like an obsessive visual campaign for hearts and minds, as if someone has decided that seats won’t be filled without a blast of Cirque du Soleil and sexy intimations of movie magic.Īnd so Radames, the Egyptian general, rides in on a blue-winged puppet-elephant, a billowy pastel giant out of “Avatar.” And the royal palace of ancient Memphis, with all its bustling activities - acrobats, dancers and an army of bare-chested priests marching around in floor-length Hawaiian hula skirts of golden tulle - resembles a New Age samba fete in Monterey. And that’s the heart of the problem with SFO’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida,” which opened Friday at War Memorial Opera House to launch the 2010-11 season. It’s what fans have come to expect, especially from big-budget companies such as San Francisco Opera.īut it shouldn’t only be a spectacle. Hill’s 2022 Edition Records recording of this project, New Gospel Revisited, was recorded live at Chicago’s Constellation and features a staggering lineup including saxophonist Walter Smith III, vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist James Francies, bassist Harish Raghavan, and SFJAZZ Collective drummer Kendrick Scott.SAN FRANCISCO - Opera should, or can, be a spectacle. The trumpeter applied the foundations he built with mentors Willie Pickens and Bobby Broom to sideman work with the likes of Benny Golson, Steve Turre, Joe Lovano, and Ron Carter, and is paying it forward as an educator, teaching at University of Illinois at Chicago and NIU Summer Jazz Camp. He returns with a fresh take on the music from his 2012 debut New Gospel, with a decade of experience and perspective informing the album’s finely wrought compositions.Ī singular artist with a warm, soul-drenched sound and an advanced command of composition, the 29-year-old Hill accepted the prestigious Monk honor as an acknowledgment of a major career already in progress rather than the first spark from a neophyte, with four albums as a leader already under his belt, and a distinctive ensemble approach firmly established. Winner of the 2014 Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition, Chicago-born trumpeter Marquis Hill has, in a comparatively short time, established his well-deserved reputation as a leading figure among today’s crop of adventurous young jazz musicians.

Sf opera aida review