Steve Ruark

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra launched an ambitious, multi-year survey of Verdi’s operas with a complete performance of Aïda, the final concert of their 2024-25 season. The presentation served as a balm to the Charm City, which has been largely starved for music drama since Baltimore Opera Company ceased operations in 2009.

Led by music director Jonathon Heyward and featuring an impressive cast of international soloists, the performance also reaffirmed the value of concert opera, given simply but with dramatic conviction. Although the program credited a stage director, Marcus Shields, the action mostly unfolded in the traditional fashion: the singers in concert dress, placed in front of the orchestra, using gesture and phrasing to transport the audience to Egypt.

It proved a refreshing alternative to symphony orchestras who lately feel the need to overstage their opera performances. The singers, all practiced in their roles, knew exactly what they needed to do to get the message across. Supported by Heyward and the committed playing of the musicians, it proved a deeply satisfying experience of Verdi’s great geopolitical tragedy.

It stands to reason that in a concert setting of an opera, the orchestra will always emerge as the prima donna. This performance didn’t dispel that attitude. Despite a scant operatic résumé here in the States, Heyward conducted multiple runs in the United Kingdom, where he attended graduate school (and acquired a posh accent along the way, even though he grew up in South Carolina).

Despite some awkward layering of the string sections in the Act I prelude, the performance unfolded with a well-balanced energy, alternating brisk tempos that underlined the lineage of Verdi to verismo and ethereally relaxed passages that allowed the singers to spin luscious, sustained legato lines.

Heyward’s conducting highlighted individual sections and voices throughout the orchestra, with especially fine contributions from the brass throughout the Triumphal Scene. In Act III, flutist Martha Long and oboist Katherine Needleman created the appropriate moonlit mood for “O patria mia,” before the full forces let loose for “Ciel, mio padre!” Throughout the entire performance, principal cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski gave eloquent expression to the anguished emotions of the central characters.

Steve Ruark

With the imminent retirement of concertmaster Jonathan Carney at the end of the 2025-26 season, the BSO will see a parade of guest concertmasters over the course of the next year. The first chair for this run was occupied by Jun Iwasaki of the Kansas City Symphony, whose tone shifted seamlessly from gentle and rounded to fiery and insistent. I don’t know whether he’s a candidate for Carney’s replacement, but the performance suggested that he deserves serious consideration.

To anchor the opera, the company fielded one of the premier Aïdas of the day, Angel Blue. Fresh from an extended run of the part at the Met, she brought strong theatrical instincts to the role, firmly telegraphing Aïda’s conflicted nature. I appreciated that her Aïda was no wilting flower but a formidable, almost spiteful rival to the Amneris of Jamie Barton, and that while she made clear her love for Limmie Pulliam’s Radamès, she still burned with equal passion for Ethiopia’s cause. Her confrontation with Amonasro of Reginald D. Smith—who acted with conviction but occasionally sounded occluded—was riveting.

Vocally, Blue struck me as an ideal Act I Aïda, her rich, throbbing soprano sailing above the orchestra throughout “Ritorna vincitor.” Later in the proceedings, as Aïda’s music turned softer and higher, she seemed not entirely comfortable, but the overall scope of her performance was fully realized. Barton similarly sounded most secure at full voice, her mezzo hollowing out and diminishing in power in more lyrical passages. Her sword-and-sandal acting may have lacked subtlety but made for great fun.

Prior to the concert, BSO president Mark Hanson begged indulgence for Pulliam, who was suffering from a cold. Aside from a tendency not to linger on high notes, you’d hardly notice any diminution. Pulliam’s meltingly lyrical tone must be among the most beautiful in the business, and if he was not the most thrilling actor onstage, he compensated with sincerity and tireless stamina.

Mark S. Doss brought a veteran’s authority to Ramfis, which made up for the general wooliness of his current vocal estate. Matthew Anchel sang the King’s brief musical with an unpleasant gurgling quality, but Amber Monroe and Jonathan Pierce Rhodes made positive impressions as the Priestess and Messenger, respectively. Monroe especially sounded like an Aïda in the making.

In an opera where the strength of the chorus really matters, the men and women of The Washington Chorus made a consistent positive impression. The female voices especially brought a plush but gentle tone to their opening music in the second Act.

The entire endeavor demonstrated a polish I haven’t always associated with the BSO, an outfit whose frequently exciting playing can often have a ragged edge. I’ll be first in line for tickets next season when Heyward and company present Rigoletto with Quinn Kelsey.