Opening SF Opera’s 23-24 season is Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Of Verdi’s famous 3-opera run of Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata, it’s the last opera I haven’t seen, but the one I’ve always had the most interest in. Here, the tale is darker, and the music is a fuckin hit parade. The demands of the singers are also different with La Traviata and Rigoletto not requiring the same weight of voice in their characters. Manrico, for example, is a spinto/dramatic role unlike the inherently lyrical roles of the Duke of Mantua, and Alfredo. Leonora is also different, usually sung by spintos unlike the coloratura Gilda, and the more lyric Violetta. Throw in a substantial mezzo role and you’ve got yourself a hit.
The plot of Il Trovatore is pretty bonkers and spans generational beef. Essentially, Azucena’s mom was burned at the stake by the Conte’s dad because the Conte’s brother was sick and she’s Roma which apparently also means witch. As Azucena recounts, her mother commanded her to avenge her death, and in the chaos of the burning, Azucena (spoiler alert!) threw her own child into the flames and kidnapped the Conte’s brother, who is none other than Manrico. Thus, Manrico and the Conte are brothers. That story alone could be the plot of an opera, but since this is opera, a love triangle is needed, here with Manrico, Leonora, and the Conte. A common criticism of Il trovatore is the plot and its complicated backstory and I found it was best to just not question it. It’s opera.
The production was McVicar’s with a rotating circular set, and a big ass cross with an emaciated, faceless Jesus amongst other burnt-out trees. It’s intended to be inspired by Goya, which I agree with, except I’d say it’s later Goya. The original setting of Il Trovatore is Spain in the 15th century, and here that setting has been advanced to the Spanish War of Independence in the early 1800s. I liked the production, and I thought that it was one of the more creative productions I’ve seen. Beyond the staging, the direction here was fine except for the undercurrent of casual violence against women that permeated throughout the opera, especially in Act 3. There’s also a sense of toxic masculinity in the male characters, especially, and most appropriately, in the Conte’s men, and to a lesser degree in the Roma.
The Singing
A late replacement for an indisposed Anita Rachvelishvili, Ekaterina Semenchuk tore it up as Azucena. I’ll be honest and say I was slightly disappointed that Rachvelishvili pulled out, only because I was supposed to see her in 2019 as Eboli; a performance she also pulled out of (and was replaced by an excellent Marina Prudenskaya). Nevertheless, Ekaterina Semenchuk is certainly no bum, and the replacement of Rachvelishvili was the replacement of a world-class singer with another world-class singer. To my ear, I place Ekaterina Semenchuk in the line of dark Slavic mezzos, in the tradition of Elena Obraztsova, and Irina Arkhipova, and contemporary with Olga Borodina, Ekaterina Gubanova, and Marina Prudenskaya, to name a few. Her voice is a prototypical Verdi mezzo whose weight and tone are well suited for the Verdi Mezzo quadfecta of Azucena, Ulrica, Eboli, and Amneris. Perhaps her ace up her sleeve is here strong top range. Browsing through the program before the show started, I noticed that one of her upcoming roles is Turandot, a soprano role that demands multiple high Cs. Thus, when Semenchuk showed her secure top range, marked by a high C that she took twice, I was living.
Azucena is the most important role in the opera, and by far the character with the most depth. Her past actions frame the plot, and she plays a key part in the action. Semenchuk’s take on Azucena is a visibly tortured soul, traumatized by the sight of her mother’s and son’s grisly deaths and wracked with guilt for not fulfilling her mother’s dying wish. Though this is essentially the emotion Azucena is prescribed, Semenchuk was incredibly effective in bringing out these features. It was clear to me that she’d both sung and understood this role, and I found her dramatic presence to be enthralling, with her Act 2 ravings being appropriately detached, and her Act 4 delirium to be believable. Besides Angel Blue, she was the most natural actor on the stage.
When I saw Angel Blue in La Traviata earlier this year, I felt that her voice had outgrown Violetta, and that its size and timbre were ready for heavier Verdi roles like Aida, Amelia (in Un Ballo in Maschera), and Leonora. While not really the star turn of Violetta in Traviata, Leonora is still an important role, and in her role debut Blue was absolutely sensational. I don’t know what Blue was on, but that bitch went off like I couldn’t believe. Her ‘Tacea la notte’ and ‘Di tale amor’ were phenomenal as she amply filled the long, arching line in ‘Tacea la nottte’ and dispatched the coloratura (including the trills!) of ‘Di tale amor’ with ease. The role of Leonora is long and intense requiring significant vocal stamina, which Blue amply had. From Act 1 to Act 4, she showed up and delivered in spades.
As a character, Leonora is flat. She exists only to be fought over and to love Manrico, and a singer is limited in how much they can really portray her. Blue did the best I can think of given her character, and her choice to earnestly portray Leonora was well-taken and well-done. Blue cut out the histrionics and played Leonora somewhat straight to a marvelous effect.
I’d previously seen Arturo Chacón-Cruz as Rodolfo in La Bohème, also in SF, where he was excellent. The role of Rodolfo compared to Manrico, however, is significantly different. Manrico is a darker, more heroic role in the spinto/dramatic repertoire compared to the sensitive, lyric Rodolfo, and though voices certainly change in 6 years, I was still wondering how Cruz’s essentially lyric instrument would hold up to the demands of Manrico. His voice was one of the smaller ones, and at times I had trouble with hearing him, but when it mattered most, Cruz made himself heard. I do feel that Manrico is on the extreme end of Cruz’s voice, and the sustainability of this role remains to be seen, but I didn’t get the sense that he was straining too hard.
Manrico as a character is opera’s himbo. He runs off in Act 3 swords blazing to fall for the most obvious trap, just to get captured. Like Blue’s more earnest Leonora, Cruz’s Manrico is more naturally acted than the over-the-top antics that his character can also easily fall into. He portrayed his character’s essential struggle between his love and his family well, and I though this performance was effective.
As the Conte, I thought George Petean was vocally great, but dramatically lacking. The role of the Conte di Luna, like Leonora, is relatively one-dimensional. His family prominently plays into the backstory, but his only real personality trait is being in love with Leonora and being pissed at Azucena. In his big aria, ‘Il balen’ Petean was less dramatically taut, but vocally fatnastic, while his ensuing cabaletta lacked vigor to me. Coming back to the recurring undercurrent of violence against women I think Petean’s Conte could’ve been more dramatically interesting by playing into this dynamic. He’s clearly in love with Leonora, but why? Could it be that the Conte loves her because he views her as a possession, or does he genuinely love her? I think it’s about a 70/30 split, and I think Petean could’ve made a more menacing count to go along with the direction of his company.
I typically find the SF Opera Chorus to be very good and Il Trovatore was no exception, especially the men who are present throughout the opera. The Anvil Chorus is one of the few moments in opera where a chorus really gets to shine, and I thought that the SF Opera’s Chorus took the opportunity to do so. Shoutout specifically to the men of the chorus who pulled double duty as the Conte’s men and as the Roma men.
In the smaller roles, Mikayla Sager as Ines and Robert Pomakov as Ines and Ferrando were fine singers. Sager’s voice is not nearly as ample as Blue’s and at times I couldn’t hear her, but her work in the small role of Ines was good. Pomakov has the duty of setting up the backstory in Act 1 and I thought he did a fine job.
The Conducting
Caruso’s age-old anecdote of Il Trovatore requiring the 4 greatest singers in the world, is mostly correct, but what I think it misses is that it actually takes 5 to tango in Trovatore. A strong conductor is just as important in this opera in order to keep the dramatic tension taut, to keep us moving through this relatively expository heavy opera, and to provide support to singers in their demanding roles. Here, I found Kim to do an excellent job at keeping us moving, and providing support, but I thought that the dramatic tension was lacking at times. For example, in Azucena’s ‘Condotta all’era” where she’s describing her mother’s death, I thought that Kim could’ve drawn a punchier sound out of the strings.
Stray Thoughts
Love the choice to have hot, shirtless men front and center for Act 3. They weren’t even singing too; their role was just to be hot which I love.
My irrational dislike of theater kid antics by the chorus was luckily (for me) not activated as I felt that the over-the-top chorus acting was at a minimum here
The part of the anvil chorus where the anvils are being struck was notably out of sync with the pit, which normally I wouldn’t relaly care about except that you could hear the thuds of the hammers.
It probably goes without saying, but I think Angel Blue is one of the most complete singers I’ve ever seen. Her acting is natural, and her voice is fucking amazing. It’s rare for me to see a singer, and feel like I’m witnessing something special, but Blue is a talent I won’t forget.
I stand by my comment that Manrico is opera’s himbo like in Act IV Leonora did him a real solid and he’s cursing her like bro, get it together.
Published: Septermber 22, 2023