Amadigi 2003Edinburgh International Festival
Read more about the opera Amadigi
This was the kind of evening that concert opera at the Festival was surely designed for. Take one rare or completely unknown opera, preferably a Scottish premiere, in which spectacular scenic effects can safely be left to the imagination, and the characters are driven by their emotions rather than by external events. It helps when there isn't a dud note of music in the score. All you need to do is add a cast of singers who believe in every note of it and perform all its difficulties with ease, and a conductor whose band plays the whole thing like chamber music, and the audience sits enraptured from start to finish.
Sarah Connolly was on the threshold of her international career, and it was easy to see why. Sadly, her only subsequent operatic trip to Scotland, for Scottish Opera's Rosenkavalier, was cut short by illness. Catherine Naglestad had made a strong impression as Alcina, and here played another sorceress who misused her powers to the confusion of others, but comes to a sticky end as a result. Anna Burford provided the contralto tones that are quite rare nowadays and Elizabeth Donovan the lighter soprano voice. All four blended beautifully when that was required.
In this version, the small role of Orgando, Oriana's uncle, is cut.
