Scottish Opera Highlights enchants the audience
On Tuesday, April 1st, an evening of sheer astonishment took place in Whiting Bay Hall when four singers and an intrepid pianist created a magical world of opera. Working to a clever script that provided its own tale of love and loss (and sometimes sheer, delectable lust), these rising stars of Scottish Opera unfurled a programme of continual delight.
‘And not a mic in sight,’ somebody said at the interval as we sipped coffee in the beautifully renovated Lesser Hall with its pale wood panelling. ‘How do they manage to make all that sound?’ Opera singers are truly astonishing in their control of breath and voice production, but what was so attractive about ‘our four’ was that each one of them was also a consummate actor and dancer. Bringing their own simple but ingenious set and lighting programme that could be changed to accommodate changes of mood, the stage-craft and movement was immaculate. With never a fluff or an imprecise movement, the four of them, baritone, tenor, alto and soprano, were neat and quick and often very funny, and their voices soared gloriously through the hall.
Each one of these young stars is clearly on his or her way to great things. Sarah Power, slim and light and wickedly flirtatious, has a clear, true soprano voice, beautifully balanced by Máire Flavin’s soaring alto. When, following on from a lively quartet from Figaro, she turned to the meltingly beautiful Handel solo, ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’ (‘Let me weep’) the shared wave of emotion was almost palpable. Andrew McTaggart, baritone, could have been put into this world to play Falstaff, generous of build, with great stage presence and with a warm, glorious voice, and Paul Curievici, tenor, is quite simply astonishing. His stage presence and timing are completely magical, and he seems able to do everything. His voice is stunning, his quickness and accuracy a joy to watch, and he has the audience helplessly in his hands, entranced to know what he is going to do next.
The inventive programme was sure-footed, moving from the classic greats to a beguiling new composition by Gareth Williams and ending with a Weill/Gershwin number in which the talented four turned their talents to ‘Thirties song-and-dance as smoothly as a well-oiled engine. The whole thing was quite wonderful.
