Opéra de Montréal Gala goes American
Making things a little different while keeping them the same: such is the essence of life, as well as the art of sustaining interest in the annual Opéra de Montréal Gala. The twist on Sunday afternoon in the Maison symphonique was to stress the 20th century.
Sounds bold on the surface, but much of the repertoire was accessible and American. Half of the 22 selections were in English.
Well, this is not the season for grumbling, and there were certainly highlights. Soprano MarieÈve Munger won the applause- ometer award with Glitter and Be Gay from Bernstein’s Candide, as brilliantly ( and stratospherically) sung as it was crisply acted. Another young standout was baritone Elliot Madore, who managed to enliven items from Doctor Atomic ( John Adams) and Die tote Stadt ( Korngold) with fine diction and admirable tonal focus.
Arguably the most interesting selection was the Massenet- style aria Bernard Herrmann wrote for Citizen Kane. It is sung badly in the movie, in accordance with the demands of the plot. Aline Kutan gave us a bracing idea of what it sounds like in a thoroughly musical presentation by a soprano with an ample top.
There were earnest monologues by Samuel Barber ( Antony and Cleopatra), Giancarlo Menotti ( The Consul) and Carlisle Floyd ( Susannah), given palpable stage life by sopranos Chantale Nurse and Caroline Bleau, and bass Valerian Ruminski ( this last being the lone non- Canadian to take the stage). Justin Welsh was a fetching baritone in three ( count ’ em) excerpts from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Nurse joined him in a soaring and youthfulsounding version of Bess, You Is My Woman Now.
Everyone was in good voice apart from tenor Luc Robert, who was announced as being under the weather. Mezzosoprano Catherine Anne Daniel applied a bright, forward sound and vivacious acting style to the ode from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. Tenor Jean- Michel Richer brought fine lyric feeling to Lehár’s Dein ist mein ganzes Herz. Like soprano Florie Valiquette, he might be heard to best advantage in a smaller house.
Size was not a problem in the case of soprano Marie- Josée Lord, who sang Dvorak ( Song to the Moon) and Puccini ( Liù’s Act 3 aria from Turandot) with a big, gleaming sound. The OdM Chorus was heard in various ensembles, including one from Puccini’s La Rondine. The choir seemed to be a rehearsal away from mastering a lullaby from Silent Night, the opera by Kevin Puts we shall hear in the new year.
Valiquette sang a sardonic scene from Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias. It was one of only two selections in French on the program — a curious imbalance for a Montreal house. Might we not have heard something from Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, premièred in 1902?
Alain Trudel coaxed a wide range of colours from the Orchestre Métropolitain ( notably in Barber) and kept the beat alive in the Dvorak despite a slow tempo. Veteran prop master Philippe Pointard, who was inducted into the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame, gave a pleasant and humorous acceptance speech.