Word: mezzo-soprano
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...what is one to make of an opera about the life and turbulent times of Francisco Goya (Domingo, in robust voice) that omits almost every significant incident in the painter's life? Of a work that concentrates on a historically disputed love affair with the Duchess of Alba (Mezzo-Soprano Victoria Vergara), concluding with a gratuitous mad scene, replete with writhing spirits and fun-house demons? Of a score whose one striking musical device, an insistent, high-pitched whine signifying Goya's deafness, is borrowed from Smetana's string quartet From My Life...
Vocal quality was high throughout: Tenor Rene Kollo's sturdy Siegfried, Bass- Baritone Walter Berry's crafty Alberich, the ripe Fricka of Mezzo-Soprano Hanna Schwarz in Das Rheingold. A delightful bonus was the Walkure Fricka and Gotterdammerung Waltraute of Vienna-born Mezzo Helga Dernesch, who some years ago was an important Isolde and Brunnhilde. Combining her still considerable power with a riveting dramatic presence, Dernesch gave a lesson in Wagnerian artistry. Conductor Edo de Waart was too often cautious when he should have been impetuous, but he roused himself in Gotterdammerung to deliver a reading of surge and sweep...
...communicate either that lady's sultry eroticism or her ambiguous moral nature. Better is Bass-Baritone Simon Estes' dignified, sympathetic Porgy, though his voice is not as robust as it should be. (Injured during the dress rehearsal, he played the crippled hero on real crutches.) Individual honors go to Mezzo-Soprano Florence Quivar as the soulful Serena and the dashing Gregg Baker as the villainous Crown. The production, designed and directed by Robert O'Hearn and Nathaniel Merrill, is handsome, if not as spectacular as Douglas W. Schmidt's Radio City triumph. Arthur Mitchell, director of the Dance Theater...
...Queen, the Cheshire cat and several other figures, Alison Taylor stands out with a resounding, jazz-style voice, as does Belle-Linda Halpern's mezzo-soprano voice throughout her different personifications. Though Halpern and Taylor have the most refined and talented voices, the others--Ben Cobb, Linus Gelber, Maud Winchester and Susan Glassman--belt out their parts clearly and loudly...
Trouble began when he attempted the opera's biggest aria, "Cielo e mar." His voice was ragged, and the audience booed. Poor Bini was so stunned that Mezzo-Soprano Mignon Dunn had to hold his hands. Said she: "I was afraid if I let him go, he would leave stage." By this time the audience was divided: some continued booing; others tried to stop them. In the balcony, rival factions smacked each other with programs. From the orchestra pit Conductor Giuseppe Patané, who was ill himself, pleaded with the audience to be quiet; eventually he too collapsed under...