The Big Bang: a starry launch for Irish National Opera

By Pia Maltri, 10 January 2018

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Reviewed at National Concert Hall: Main Stage, Dublin on 9 January 2018

Wagner, Lohengrin: prelude to Act 3

Catalani, La Wally: Ebben, ne andrò lontana

Korngold, Die Tote Stadt: Pierrot's Lied

Saint-Saëns, Samson et Dalila (Samson and Delilah): Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix

Verdi, Aida: O patria mia

Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice: Addio, addio, o miei sospiri

Wallace, Maritana: The Marriner in his Barque

Gounod, Romeo et Juliette: Amour, ranime mon courage

Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin: final scene

Giordano, Andrea Chenier: La mamma morta

Rossini, La Cenerentola (Cinderella): Là del ciel nell'arcano profondo

Verdi, La traviata: Sempre libera

Verdi, Falstaff: Tutto nel mondo è burla

Claudia Boyle, Soprano

Orla Boylan, Soprano

Anna Devin, Soprano

Jennifer Davis, Soprano

Máire Flavin, Soprano

Sharon Carty, Mezzo-soprano

Imelda Drumm, Mezzo-soprano

Miriam Murphy, Soprano

Gavan Ring, Baritone

Ben McAteer, Baritone

Padraic Rowan, Baritone

John Molloy, Bass-baritone

National Symphony Orchestra Ireland

Fergus Sheil, Conductor

Chopin and Franck reframed with elegance and insight in Dublin

Andrew Larkin, 20th March

In Dublin, Jean-Luc Tingaud and Louis Lortie bring clarity and purpose to two composers often ill at ease with the orchestra.

****1

Paradise Deferred: Shelley takes on Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri

Andrew Larkin, 13th February

Alexander Shelley tackles Schumann’s sprawling Das Paradies und die Peri with conviction, shaping real momentum and drama, even if balance issues and Thomas Moore’s cloying libretto sometimes distract.

***11

Sułkowska-Migoń’s Dublin programme crowned by a white-hot Scheherazade

Andrew Larkin, 16th January

Works by Boulanger and Shostakovich pay off handsomely before Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, shaped with dynamic control and visceral energy, crowns a vividly played concert.

****1

Michelle Cann brings out the soul in Price’s Piano Concerto in Dublin

Michael Roddy, 12th December

Florence Price’s concerto brings the Dublin audience to its feet at the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland’s latest concert.

****1

Anja Bihlmaier conducts a powerful NSO programme in Dublin

Andrew Larkin, 5th December

Scintillating Mozart meets soul-searching Bruckner as Anja Bihlmaier and the NSOI deliver a programme of vivid contrasts and compelling musical storytelling.

****1

Anna Rakitina’s night with the National Symphony Orchestra

Andrew Larkin, 17th October

From an Anna Clyne Irish premiere to Tchaikovsky’s brilliance and Shostakovich’s grim wit, the NSO balances virtuosity with thoughtful nuance in Dublin.

****1

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Pia Maltri

Pia first fell head over heels for opera when she was a teenager by listening to recordings of some of the great voices of the past: Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Mirella Freni, Alfredo Kraus. She holds a degree in Italian Literature and she lives in Rome.