AMORE! / Singapore Lyric Opera

This is really very early in the year for a concert by the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO). Singapore's oldest opera company brought out its A list of singers for this recital of opera's most popular bleeding chunks - arias, duets and ensembles. At its helm was Artistic Director soprano Nancy Yuen, flanked by Spanish tenor Israel Lozano (undoubtedly SLO's best Pinkerton), relative newcomer Taiwanese mezzo Jo-Pei Weng and veteran Korean baritone Song Kee Chang. The orchestra was provided by pianist Boris Kraljevic.

Amore! was the title of the concert, but it was Nancy who clarified that most of the concert was not just about love, but friendship. Friendzone! would not have been a catchy or marketable title so Amore, it was. In nearly 100 minutes without intermission, the audience was treated to some of opera's best and most beloved highlights. Here are the photos from a most enjoyable early evening.

The concert opens with a familiar duet:
the Flower Duet from Delibes' Lakme
from Nancy Yuen and Jo-Pei Weng.

Why do we think of British Airways
whenever this duet is sung?

It's the men's turn:
Israel Lozano and Song Kee Chang
in the duet Au fond du temple saint
from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.

Un voce poco fa from
Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

Rosina & Figaro's duet Dunque io son
from The Barber of Seville.

Mimi's aria Si, mi chiamano Mimi
from Puccini's La Boheme.
A Nancy Yuen speciality.

O soave fanciulla
from Act One of La Boheme.

Act 3 ensemble Addio dolce svegliare
from La Boheme

Aria Per me giunto... Io morrow
from Verdi's Don Carlo

Mira o Norma from Bellini's Norma

La donna e mobile
from Verdi's Rigoletto

Rigoletto & Gilda's duet
Eil sol dell'anima la vita e amore 

The Quartet Bella figlia dell'amore
from Verdi's Rigoletto

The final ensemble Im feuerstrom
from Strauss' Die Fledermaus

Agustin Lara's Granada

Salvatore Cardillo's Core n'grato (Ungrateful Heart)

Denza's Funiculi Funicula

Di Capua's O Sole Mio

Encore time: Brindisi (Drinking Song)
from Verdi's La Traviata.

Bravissimi! Take a bow!

AN EVENING OF OPERA HIGHLIGHTS NOT TO MISS: AMORE! BY SINGAPORE LYRIC OPERA

 

Love opera and its most passionate moments? Enjoy favourite arias, duets and ensembles in Amore! with Singapore Lyric Opera’s A-list of soloists including artistic director soprano Nancy Yuen, Spanish tenor Israel Lozano, Taiwanese mezzo-soprano Jo-Pei Weng and Korean baritone Song Kee Chang. They will be partnered by Boris Kraljevic on the piano.

Highlights from these operas (sung in original languages):

DELIBES Lakme

BIZET The Pearl Fishers

ROSSINI The Barber of Seville

PUCCINI La Boheme

VERDI Don Carlo

BELLINI Norma

VERDI Rigoletto

J.STRAUSS Die Fledermaus

Popular songs including Granada, Core ‘ngrato, Funiculi Funicula and O Sole Mio.

AMORE!

Singapore Lyric Opera

Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday, 25 January 2026 at 5 pm

Get your tickets here:

Amore! – Celebrating Opera’s Passionate Moments | SingaporeLyricOpera

Nancy Yuen & Israel Lozano

LOVE AND PASSION / Singapore Lyric Opera / Review

LOVE & PASSION

Singapore Lyric Opera

Esplanade Recital Studio

Monday (20 January 2020)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 January 2020 with the title "Excellent solos, outstanding duets and ensemble pieces".

Is there any opera that is not about love and passion? Thus the title of Singapore Lyric Opera’s (SLO) latest concert seemed as superfluous as it gets. Nevertheless, one got the idea with this lovely programme of arias, duets and trios from nine operas sung in Italian and French.

SLO has recently worked with young prize-winning singers and scholarship holders, but this evening was reserved for veterans and stalwarts of the company to strut their stuff. But where were the many singing students in various institutions, conspicuous for their absence in a sparsely filled hall? Surely they could learn something or two from the likes of soprano Nancy Yuen, tenor Israel Lozano, baritone Song Kee Chang and accompanying pianist Boris Kraljevic.

It was the Spaniard Lozano, former Placido Domingo protégé, who opened the show with Questa o quella from Verdi’s Rigoletto. In this lusty aria from opera’s most infamous womaniser, the Duke of Mantua, Lozano sounded and looked the part with impressive flourishes in high registers. His other arias were from Verdi’s La Traviata and Massenet’s Werther. The latter was the unforgettable Pourquoi me reveiller, where unrequited love in spring could only lead to suicide.  

Not overshadowed was the Korean Song, whose rich and mellow tone was well suited for a bel canto aria from Bellini’s I Puritani. His portrayal of the older Germont in Di Provenza il mar (from La Traviata) also tugged on the heartstrings, as did Nimico della patria from Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier. While not exactly love songs, these were however tinged with longing and regret.

Yuen, also SLO’s Artistic Director, regrettably sang only one aria. However nobody can scale the heights of Vissi d’arte from Puccini’s Tosca as effortlessly as she does in her signature role. With the absence of programme notes or printed libretti, she and Lozano introduced their numbers with brief but helpful explanations.

Good as the solos were, the duets and ensemble pieces stole the show as all three singers exhibited excellent chemistry with their blended voices. Yuen and Lozano emoted in Signor ne principe (Rigoletto) and the poignant Parigi o cara (La Traviata), which was a tearjerker.  Lozano and Song relived two of opera’s greatest bromances in In un coupe (Puccini’s La Boheme) and the familiar Au fond du temple saint from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. And how the room shook.

Yuen and Song accounted for a duet in La Boheme and the most unexpected treat in Te souvient-il du lumineux voyage from Massenet’s Thaïs. This is none other than a glorious reprise of the famous Meditation, with the violin’s unforgettable melody replaced with soaring voices.

The highly enjoyable concert closed with a Three Tenors-styled medley of four Neapolitan songs: O Sole Mio, Non Ti Scordar di me, Torna a Surriento and Funiculi Funicula. Two encores in Santa Lucia and Leoncavallo’s La Mattinata brought down the house and raised a standing ovation.  

PUCCINI'S MADAMA BUTTERFLY / Singapore Lyric Opera / Review

PUCCINI’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY

Singapore Lyric Opera

Esplanade Theatre

Friday (1 February 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 4 February 2013 with the title "Butterfly soars to new heights".

The Singapore Lyric Opera was on course to have staged four consecutive operas new to its repertoire for the first time, but it turned its back on the double bill of Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, and settled on the familiar favourite Madama Butterfly instead. It was a stroke of pragmatism and expediency, which transformed looming box-office disaster to full houses.

This was its third production of the best-loved tear-jerker, and the first without veteran soprano Nancy Yuen in the titular role. She had been spotted in the audience looking very relaxed, as her younger Japanese colleague Mako Nishimoto stole the show. It would seem that the part of Cio-Cio-San was tailor-made for her, the tragic Oriental who gave only love but reaped misfortune.

Nishimoto sang as she lived her character, fraught with tenderness, passion, anxieties and terminal despair. Her voice was sweetness itself, but was capable of tumultuous shifts as her mood traversed many shades of darkness. In the Second Act, her aria Un bel di (One Fine Day) was pure radiance captured in a bottle, and when girlish anticipation turned into the cold realisation of her partner’s treachery, these were etched on her face and ultimately her singing.

Butterfly’s tragedy was born from a clash of cultures and expectations. This was mirrored in Spanish tenor Israel Lozano’s Pinkerton, whose oblivious and callous posture was apparent from the outset. She was, after all, a plaything even if the shared chemistry in the First Act love duet seemed like the real thing. The fact that Lozano garnered not a few boos at the end was testament to his believability.

       

The supporting cast was excellent in all respects. Anna Koor (the brow-beaten Suzuki), John Antoniou (the sympathetic Consul Sharpless) and Lemuel dela Cruz (the slimy marriage broker Goro) added to the characterisation and interest of the story. The chorus scenes were lively and colourful, with director Andrew Sinclair’s attention to the minutiae of details being particularly delightful.

Did anyone notice Butterfly’s cousin (a bit part sung by young soprano Su Yiwen) and how jealous she got at the wedding ceremony? Even more significant is the non-singing role played by Andrei Rasmussen, as Butterfly’s son Sorrow (above), who acted most naturally and responded to her every gesture as an innocent and loving 3-year-old would.

The set design by Christopher Chua was kept deliberately simple, with sliding doors playing a pivotal part in separating public scenes from what is kept private. Deborah Png’s concept of lighting was stunning in its effectiveness; fiery red for the Bonze’s menacing intrusion (above) and the phases of a full moon for the musical entr’acte into the final scene.

This was one production where the SLO Orchestra conducted by Joshua Kangming Tan sounded close to faultless. When the orchestral playing complements the singing to the point that it becomes a seamless part of the action by not bringing undue attention to itself, it has done its job well. This may well be SLO’s finest production yet.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly plays for two more shows, on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Be sure to catch it.

Photographs courtesy of Singapore Lyric Opera.