Here is my Monday March 14 suntimes.com and Chicago Sun-Times review of the Saturday March 12, 2011 Lyric Opera of Chicago spring cast opening night performance of Bizet's Carmen with guest conductor Alain Altinoglu.
Lyric’s recast ‘Carmen’ no less fiery
But conductor, orchestra continue to star
BY ANDREW PATNER
RECOMMENDED
Through March 27
For the spring run of Bizet’s 1875 Carmen, the octane is up with several new cast members (planned that way, for a change in the opera world) and a tightening of the stage action by director Harry Silverstein. But the stars this time around are the same as they were when Lyric Opera of Chicago’s very enjoyable revival opened in October: French-Armenian guest conductor Alain Altinoglu and the Lyric Orchestra in Bizet’s perfect score.
From the first beats of the prelude to the death knell for the love of Carmen and Don José four acts later, Altinoglu and the Lyric players get everything about this piece, which transforms melodrama into a piercing psychological study and unique musical invention. One looks forward to his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut in 2012 (announced since his fall engagement at Lyric) with an all-French program, including Bizet’s Symphony in C.
It would also be terrific to see him some day lead Bizet’s intended version of the opera, with spoken dialogue rather than the heavy recitatives by Bizet’s friend Ernest Guiraud (who also meddled with another French deathbed opera on Lyric’s schedule: Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann,” set to open the 2011-12 season in October with another fine younger French conductor, Emmanuel Villaume, in the pit).
The most significant cast change is Ryan Center alum and local favorite Nicole Cabell as José’s abandoned hometown girl Micaëla. Though the role often is thankless and dully sung, the California-born soprano gives it life throughout the performance, especially in her Act 3 aria and prayer. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Brandon Jovanovich’s Don José. The Montana-native Serbian-American tenor has been on a fast -- though wholly unpretentious -- rise. A fine Boris in Janáček ’s Katya Kabanova here last season, with a lovely voice, he has sung José around the world, yet Saturday night seemed unsure at times and more grieving than mad in the crucial last act and murder scene.
As Carmen, Bulgarian débutante soprano Nadia Krasteva offers an unusual combination, sometimes seeming removed both vocally and dramatically and at other times nailing things. Certainly her lifting her dress with her teeth to show José her leg when she is under arrest for a stabbing and has her hands bound behind her back is quite a contribution.
Returning Midwest baritone Kyle Ketelsen continues to find all the angles of the champion toreador Escamillo. And Craig Irvin (Zuniga), Jennifer Jakob (Frasquita), Emily Fons (Mercédès), Paul Scholten (Dancaïre), René Barbera (Remendado), and Paul La Rosa (Moralès), all Ryan Center members returning to their roles, make up one of the best benches around. Departing chorus master Donald Nally and Chicago Children’s Choir director Josephine Lee have their singers shining as ever.
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