It was unfortunate that SF Opera lost their scheduled tenor, Arturo Chacón Cruz, due to bilateral ear infection merely six days prior to Thursday’s concert. Dupuis and Car are both also scheduled to make role debuts with Il Trovatore in Montreal this fall! Car sang an acclaimed Luisa Miller in Melbourne six years ago, and Dupuis brought down the house at the Metropolitan Opera presentation of Don Carlos in March. I felt that the opera selection was also done to accommodate the soloists, particularly of husband-wife Canadian baritone Etienne Dupuis and Australian soprano Nicole Car, who were both mesmerizing in this summer Don Giovanni (). To highlight Verdi’s musical style progression, three different Verdi operas presented chronologically, starting with 1849 Luisa Miller, followed by 1853 Il Trovatore (both from the so-called Verdi’s ‘middle period’) and 1867 Don Carlo, representing Verdi’s late period, after the intermission. It was rather ironic that there were times that I thought Shilvock’s remarks were more passionate than the performances that followed! Unfortunately, those charged emotions that I came to expect from any Verdi performances felt lacking from this particular concert. I personally prefer my Verdi to be blazing red-hot, bloodied and battered, you-only-live-once kind of things, because after all, those (characters) were people who sacrificed everything for love and freedom and justice. Don’t get wrong, everything on stage on Thursday was immaculate, from the orchestra playing with its perfectly shaped phrases, the chorus (prepared by John Keene) pristine singing to the quartet of lovely soloists. “Formal” was also the word I would use to characterize Kim’s music-making on stage. All this praise, combined with the impending inner and After-Party scheduled afterwards, permeated the proceedings with a sense of festivity. Shilvock also tirelessly throughout the night reminded the audience about the importance of having Kim as our Music Director and her first season amidst the pandemic.
The significance of the Thursday concert was further accentuated by having Matthew Shilvock, SF Opera Tad and Diane Taube General Director, acting as the MC and giving the audience descriptions of the pieces that they were about to hear. Many leading artists made their US debuts at War Memorial in Verdi’s operas – notably Renata Tebaldi and Mario del Monaco in 1950 Aida – and many more debuted Verdi roles here, among others, Marilyn Horne as Eboli, Leontyne Price (as Aida and Amelia), Luciano Pavarotti (as Radames, Manrico and Riccardo) and Joan Sutherland (as Leonora). Among the omissions, the most glaring ones included 1844 I Lombardi alla prima crociata, 1845 I due Foscari (which was presented by the local company West Bay Opera in 2019 and reviewed here, 1846 Giovanna d’Arco and 1850 Stiffelio.
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