Il Trovatore

by Peter Burwasser

It is good to see the Opera Company of Philadelphia take some chances in repertoire and production choices, as it has done so increasingly in the last few seasons, but it is even more rewarding to witness a real jelling of OCP's artistic vision in a mainstream work. In the luminous Il trovatore that opens this season, a distinct sense of style can be detected that links this production to previous OCP successes. The formula centers around the cultivation of relationships with fine young singing actors and elegant, minimalist stagings.

At the heart of this distinctiveness is the team of director Kay Walker Castaldo and Boyd Ostroff, previously known as the lighting designer, but now, by virtue of his enlarged tool box, officially known as the director of design and technology. Almost all of the scenery for this Il trovatore derives from lighting effects and projected imagery. Ostroff paints the stage in bold, broad strokes, with a keen sense for the emotional impact of differing colors. But the riveting power of this technique is diluted when Ostroff crosses over from abstraction to pictorial projections, which fight against the ample dramatic strengths of the score, rather than enhancing them.

Castaldo excels at extracting theatrically sophisticated performances that seem intimate and subtle even in the vast expanses of the Academy of Music. The personification of this approach is baritone Gregg Baker, who sang the role of Count di Luna. Baker has been an OCP regular for almost a decade, and it has been gratifying to watch (and listen) as he has grown as an artist. He has always possessed a beautifully focused voice that projects effortlessly across a wide dynamic range, but now adds layers of tonal shading. His acting continues to radiate a natural dignity that adds a quality of sympathetic humanity to such dark roles as the Count and last season's Macbeth.

Baker's unhistrionic manner was superbly matched by the Leonora of soprano Patricia Racette, in a role debut. Hers is a voice that shimmers rather than soars, conveying the strength and vulnerability of Leonora all at once. Mezzo Barbara Dever also combined lustrous vocalism and incisive stage presence in her portrayal of Azucena. Only the tenor Viktor Afanasénko, as Manrico, slipped below the highest standards, with somewhat wooden acting and a vocal timbre that occasionally became lost in Verdi's sonic forest. Afanasénko is a fine artist whose minor flaws only stood out amidst the gleaming polish of his colleagues.

IL TROVATORE

Through Oct. 21, Opera Company of Philadelphia at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust sts., 215-893-1999

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