Simon is an operaphile based in Auckland, New Zealand. He wrote his
dissertation on Japanese popular music. With a background in piano and
classical music retail, he spends his time attending as much
opera or vocal concert as he can and blogs at
irishenceaway.blogspot.com.
The Queen of the Night appeared as a malevolent giant spider, complete with exoskeleton, threatening Tamino with her stabbing limbs and summoning hordes of smaller spiders to writhe over Pamina when the latter hesitated to commit to Sarastro's murder.
Bellincampi’s way with this symphony was impressive: he knitted the composer’s sometimes diffuse structural cells into something cohesive, with no loss of tension in the various silences and odd transitional moments.
It was hard not to be drawn in by the romance and tragedy as presented by such a sincere, credible and vocally talented young cast and a conductor with such strong identification with the idiom.
On the basis of this concert, the graduate ensemble Juilliard415 (named after the standard Baroque pitch of 415 Hz) is already of extremely high quality indeed, technically proficient and highly in-tune with Baroque style.
This was a most impressive showing from the orchestra and conductor in which the works of three influential composers given emotionally engrossing treatment.
Notwithstanding Esfahani and McKeish’s sterling account of the Poulenc and the orchestra’s thrilling take on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, this was not a consistent enough concert to be called a complete success.
