Wednesday saw the first lunchtime concert of the season in the RBA. And, of course, it was the COC’s Ensemble Studio performing. Angelo Moretti was away singing in Quebec so there were six singers and two pianists with an aria for each singer.
New soprano Sarah Caulfield, with Kimly Wang at the keys, gave us “Dich, teure Halle” and it was powerful and easy to listen to. Somehow she avoided the RBA’s curse on dramatic sopranos and didn’t sound at all forced or shrill. Pretty impressive really for a first ES outing. More Wagner from Nick Murphy and Lizzy Cojocaru; more Tannhäuser even, with “Odu, mein holder Abendstern”. This was really nicely sung. Plenty of power but not overdoing it. Cool outfit too. Add a bucket of blood anf Nick would look just the part for Banquo.
The another new soprano Nikan Kanate, with Lizzy again, sang “Dis-moi que je suis belle” from Thaïs. She has excellent French diction zand this was a ppretty good effort again from a newbie. Ariana Maubach and Kimly gave us Olga’s aria “Ah Tanya, Tanya” from Eugene Onegin. This was really good. Not only was it well sung but Ariana really got across the playful nature of Olga and her sense of fun.
Next came an aria I’d not heard before from an opera I’d never heard of. Ben Wallace and Kimly gave us “I’ll Be There” from Ricky Ian Gordon’s Grapes of Wrath. It’s Tom’s farewell to his mother just before he goes on the run and it’s pretty emotional. It got a powerful and sincere performance from Ben. Good stuff. Finally Emma Pennell, with Lizzy, performed “Pace, pace, mio dio”; the aria Leonora sings in the final scene as she seeks the release of death. Again lots of power and some pleasing, and highly appropriate, dark colours. The curse at the end was suitably maleficent!
One thing one notices about this cohort in the Ensemble Studio is power! There are no light, pretty voices at the moment. It will as always be interesting to see how things develop over the year but also to see how the COC decides to use this interesting group.
Photo credit: Karen E. Reeves
