GALA CONCERT 2017:
UNREQUITED LOVE
Esplanade Concert Hall
Thursday (23 November 2017 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 27 November 2017 with the title "Brave, bold, brilliant".
This
year's annual gala concert by the Singapore Lyric Opera provided a glimpse of
the future of opera in Singapore . None of the usual SLO suspects featured in this evening of
operatic highlights, instead the company boldly rolled out a cast of mostly
debutants. Winners of the SLO-Asean Vocal Competition 2016 and SLO-Leow Siak
Fah Artists Training Programme Rising Stars accounted for seven new voices
among nine singers.
The
repertoire choice also had a fresh ring about it, with not a single note of
Puccini to be heard. Two very demanding Handel arias opened the evening, with
the Competition's 1st prize winner mezzo-soprano Samantha Chong Ying Zing (from
Malaysia ) doing the honours in Dopo notte from Ariodante.
She
had certainly earned that accolade, with a performance of clarity and depth of
feeling. In Parto, ma tu ben mio from Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito,
she upped the ante, and was not upstaged by the SLO Orchestra's excellent
clarinettist Vincent Goh whose obbligato part was just as delicious.
Arguably
more spectacular was the 2nd prize winner soprano Pham Khanh Ngoc (Vietnam ) who made light work of Handel's Tornami a vagheggiar
from Alcina, and displayed gravity-defying coloratura abilities in
Rossini's Bel raggio lusinghier from Semiramide. That last aria
was, to these ears and eyes, the loftiest of many high points in the evening.
Singaporean
baritone Alvin Tan, who garnered 3rd prize, was very impressive too,
warming up Korngold's Mein sehnen mein Wahnen (Die Tote Stadt)
with a rich and burnished tonal colour. This suggests he will have many roles
to fulfill in the near future.
The
company's artist training programme named in memory of founding chairman Leow
Siak Fah which mentors locally-based singers has also borne fruit. Five
singers, sopranos Zhang Jie (China ) and Cherie Tse (Singapore ), mezzo-sopranos Chieko Sato (Japan ) and Zerlina Tan (Singapore ) and tenor Leslie Tay (Singapore ) were involved in ensemble roles from Bizet's Carmen
(Act 3) and Mozart's Cosi fan tutte (Act 1).
The
SLO Chorus and Children's Choir livened up the proceedings with choruses from Carmen
(Les voici), Cosi fan tutte (Bella vita militar) and
Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel (Evening Prayer). It
must be said the children did well in the last chorus, despite singing well
past their bedtime. The orchestra conducted by Jason Lai (above) played an excellent
supporting role throughout, and had the bubbly Overture to Mozart's The
Marriage Of Figaro all to itself.
As
a sneak preview to next year's production of Verdi's Aida, two favourite
arias were trotted out by two more experienced singers making cameo
appearances. Tenor Kee Loi Seng portrayed the heroic Radames in Celeste Aida
while soprano Jessica Chen was spine-tingling in Ritorna vincitor.
The
evening closed memorably with Gloria al l'Egitto (the Triumphal March)
with choir and orchestra. There was no Brindisi (Drinking Song from La Traviata) as encore
this time around, but it was stirring all the same.
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