Recent performances of Don Giovanni and Il turco in Italia by Teatro Nuovo are a good enough reason to revisit the company’s most audacious mounting thus far, the modern premiere of Carolina Uccelli’s Anna di Resburgo, the only bel canto opera by a female composer, under the auspices of Will Crutchfield and featuring soprano Chelsea Lehnea in the title role.
Reviewing the performance, Parterre Box critic John Yohalem qualified that in Lehnea’s case, “a full bel canto heroine seems to give her undue stress,” while he praised baritone Riccardo José Rivera‘s “dark, liquid, theater-filling sound” and noted that “his musical skill is matched by his dramatic instincts; he held the theater rapt during his long solo scenes, as well as matching Lehnea, bel canto snarl for bel canto snarl, during their furious duet.” That duet is this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag item.
Both Lehnea and Rivera had high points this season; Rivera made an important jump-in for the HD broadcast of I puritani while Lehnea’s Violetta from Rouen made the rounds online. This fall finds Rivera at the Met as Schanuard and then in Tokyo where he’ll sing Ford opposite Roberto Frontali’s Falstaff, while Lenhea sings the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor in Stuttgart.
Uccelli: Anna di Resburgo, “Ah sventurata”
Chelsea Lehnea
Riccardo José Rivera
Teatro Nuovo
Elisa Citterio, conductor
Rose Theater, New York
24 July 2024
In-house
