Gambling – Winnipeg Free Press

Manitoba Opera created a whirlwind of love and passion when it presented its first production of Bizet on Saturday night. Carmen Since April 2010.

Originally scheduled for 2020, the production was abruptly halted between rehearsals due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Several of this season's closing acts appeared four years ago, helping to bring a sense of closure to a difficult time when many shows were unceremoniously canceled.

However, its most recent iteration—performed in French (with English surtitles), originally staged for Edmonton Opera and staged by Brian Diedrick—has been worth the wait, featuring a galaxy of Canada's finest opera stars.

The three performances, which conclude Friday, are dedicated to the memory of Michael Kavanagh, the Winnipeg-born artist and artistic director of the Royal Swedish Opera, whose untimely death last month shocked the world.

The production is long, running 31/4 hours (billed as 21/2), including one intermission and two short intermissions to allow for set changes; The first half ends in 105 minutes. Carmen It also comes with a trigger warning for those who may be affected by domestic violence or intimate partner violence.

Set in Seville, Spain, based on a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, Bizet's ever-popular opera comique tells the tale of Carmen, the opera's beloved wife, a Roma woman who falls deeply in love with officer Don José before being swept away. At his feet is the beautiful bullfighter Escamillo.

The four-act work shocked the audience during its premiere in Paris in 1875, when its main character was killed – an impossibility even for an opera at the time.

This 1930s version features Italian-American mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson in her successful MO debut in the title role. He burns like a ember in a torch, his smoky vocals creating a flesh-and-blood dead hero trying to control his own destiny.

A volatile, highly visceral portrayal of the Metropolitan Opera's charismatic star as he knocks over chairs, thrashes his lovers, and sings famous arias, including the famous Act I Habanera, L'amour est un oiseau rebelle — as haunting as his ringing Segidilla, Press des Remparta de Sevilla, led by his clattering castanets.

Sometimes his heat proves too much of a good thing, and rages into passion. Her character shows great vulnerability during Acts III and IV as she knows she is about to be destroyed, allowing us to feel great sympathy for this sad feral cat. We need to see more Carmencita than Carmen.

The always brilliant Canadian lyric tenor David Pomeroy – who has performed at Don Jose for 20 years, including in 2010 – embarks on an emotional trajectory that takes him from a devoted corporal to an obsessive lover prepared to kill for his desires.

His “great aria,” the flower song of Act II, La fleur que tu m'avais jetée, The singer's impressive lyrical phrases, pleasant vibes and resonant voice will not make anyone go crazy.

It's been too long since we've seen Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulich grace the stage; he last captivated audiences in the lead role of Mozart Don Giovanni In 2018. Okulich's larger-than-life presence as the macho bullfighter Escamillo is imbued with a sexy swagger..

Winnipeg soprano Lara Ciekiewicz makes a wonderful Michaela, Don Jose's long-suffering “country girl” who counteracts Carmen's seductive charms. The singer-actress brings a rainbow of emotional colors to her carefully nuanced role, her sparkling, perfectly controlled voice on display during Act II. Je dis que rien, It is sung with sheer emotion when he discovers that Jose is hiding in the mountains with Carmen and her gang of smugglers.

Other key roles include baritone Jonathon Kirby in the dual role of Morales/Le Dunker; bass-baritone Giles Tomkins as Lt. Zuniga; and Carmen's confidantes, Winnipeg-born lyric coloratura soprano Lara Secord-Heid as Frasquita and mezzo-soprano Barbara King as Mercedes. The last two convey horror Melons! – Coupons! where Carmen's fate is revealed through their tarot cards.

Diedrich's great attention to detail makes this opera a song. Individual actions are represented by the main characters hiding behind a claw often covered by falling rose petals, suggesting the blood of a bull or heroin.

The show also has some effective bits of stage business, such as Carmen biting into an apple in Act I by storm (hello, Eve), before throwing pieces of fruit at the soldiers. A chorus of pure magic tobacco factory girls is created in the first act as the stage leaves work in smoke.

MO Principal Conductor Tyrone Paterson expertly leads the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra through Bizet's sparkling score, his picador-sharp themes.

The production features effective lighting by Hugh Conacher (although the Smuggler's House is too dark), Spanish-flavored choreography by Brenda Horlick, and fight direction by Jacqueline Levene.

Multi-level sets designed by Camellia Koo transform into a tobacco factory, a tavern, a house, and a bullpen, where the Manitoba Opera Chorus (Tadeusz Biernacki, chorus director) and an extraordinary children's choir (Carolyn Boyes, chorus master) cheer Escamillo's murder. Bullshit as Carmen's life slips away.

The weird proscenium arch framing the stage area is unnecessary and cheapens the show's otherwise strong production values. Another weird thing is Carmen's costume at the end; in her white pedestrian dress, she blends in with the crowd instead of standing out as she demands.

As expected, the audience, who had finished the song, rose to their feet, and the cry of the opera's incredibly powerful, attractive and self-empowering hero “Born free, dies free” still rings like a scream. .

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