Newspaper Article

Summer Company's 'Il Trovatore' Is Something to Sing About

Tim Page - Washington Post Staff Writer

2006

Overview

Summer Opera played to the deeper Verdi: There was hardly a cymbal crash throughout the afternoon that didn't seem part of a long-meditated and carefully shaped totality. H. Teri Murai's conducting was taut and fierce, and his small but well-drilled orchestra responded reflexively to his direction. Soprano Fabiana Bravo, a Catholic University alumna, sang with a healthy, florid lyricism and intensity as Leonora. Baritone Grant Youngblood, a late substitute for Jason Stearns as Count di Luna, grew stronger and stronger as the afternoon wore on; his rendition of \"Il balen\" was brilliantly expressive both musically and dramatically. Benjamin Warschawski, who sang the tenor role of Manrico, has the ringing high notes for \"Di quella pira,\" one of opera's all-time showpieces. But I was even more impressed by the aching tenderness he brought to softer passages such as \"Ah si, ben mio\" and \"Amor, sublime amor,\" which gave the character a human dimension that is too rarely explored. Patrice Houston has an unusually light mezzo- soprano voice; whatever her Azucena may have lacked in the way of plummy tone was mostly made up for by agility of phrasing. Soprano Monica Szabo made a bright, ebullient Ines, while Kwang-Kyu Lee sang the role of Ferrando with dignity and lithe grace.

• Publisher: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post
• Subject: Il Trovatore / Opera