Giacomo Puccini, Tosca - Linzer Musiktheater

Performance 26th December

As second part of my opera marathon I saw Puccini's Tosca, also in Linz. The production of Rainer Mennicken (director), Stefan Brandtmayr (stage) and Cornelia Kraske (costumes) was very classy and conservative. I really liked it but I'm sure some people thought it was too conventional.
Marc Reibel conducted the work very expressive with very effective details and great dynamic contrasts. The Brucknerorchester Linz also did a good job following his instructions and found a great balance between dramatic outbursts and ravishing melodies.
The small roles of Spoletta, Sciarrone, Schliesser (doorkeeper) and Hirt (shepherd) were sung by Iurie Ciobanu, Marius Mocan, Boris Daskalov and Jakob Reiter. All of them did a fine job in their little roles.
The role of the sacristan was sung by Franz Binder. His voice seemed a little bit rough and uneven but because of that it fitted the role of the old sacristan even more. He portrayed the role quite well and convincing.
Ulf Bunde sang Angelotti with a really beautiful heroic baritone voice. He showed us a very desperate but promising rebel with great visions.
Tuomas Pursio performed the evil role of Scarpia and was a great antagonist with a very strong heroic baritone voice. He did a great job showing the obsession of Scarpia with Tosca and was vocally really convincing.
Cavaradossi was sung by Pedro Velázquez Díaz who has a quite light voice for this role even though his voice is quite powerful. Still he seemed a little bit strained from time to time, especially in the upper register and his high notes did not come really easy. Nevertheless his performance was not bad at all and he managed to capture the spirit of the role adequately.
The title role was performed by Myung Joo Lee who has a very beautiful powerful soprano with a easy but strong upper register and enough power in the lower register. Her acting as jealous singer also was very convincing and she knew how to combine acting and singing in order to obtain credibility.
I really liked the performance and I give it 7 stars.
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