A glorious Odyssey Opera restoration: Gounod's La Reine de Saba

By Kevin Wells, 27 September 2018

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Reviewed at New England Conservatory: Jordan Hall, Boston on 22 September 2018

Gounod, La Reine de Saba (Concert performance)

Odyssey Opera

Gil Rose, Conductor

Kara Shay Thompson, Balkis

Dominick Valdés-Chenes, Adoniram

Kevin Thompson, Soliman

Michelle Trainor, Bénoni

Matthew Dibattista, Amrou

David Kravitz, Phanor

David Salsbury Fry, Méthousaël, Sadoc

Odyssey Opera Chorus

Odyssey Opera Orchestra

Odyssey Opera presents Menotti’s The Last Savage

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Odyssey Opera makes a convincing case that The Last Savage’s time has come.

*****

A Rachmaninov troika from Odyssey Opera, with one lame horse

Kevin Wells, 25th September

Gil Rose conducts all three of Rachmaninov's operas in Boston, with impressive performances making a convincing case for at least two of them.

****1

A tantalizing might-have-been: Arnold Rosner’s The Chronicle of Nine

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An earnest, posthumous premiere of a flawed opera from Odyssey Opera and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

****1

Odyssey Opera presents Pacini’s Maria, Regina d’Inghilterra

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Odyssey Opera’s convincing revival of flawed Pacini in Boston.

****1

A rarity restored: Odyssey Opera’s Henry VIII

Kevin Wells, 21st September

Odyssey Opera's Tudor themed season opens with Saint-Saëns' Henry VIII in which Ellie Dehn's Catherine of Aragon steals the show.

****1

Odyssey Opera’s Die ägyptische Helena

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A concert performance in Boston of Strauss' rarely heard opera, The Egyptian Helen.

****1

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Kevin Wells

Kevin Wells was bitten by the opera bug at 10, having heard a 1936 recording of Jussi Björling singing “Che gelida manina”. He has never been the same since. A student of voice, performance practice, the history of singing and opera, he holds advanced degrees in Italian and has lived and worked in Italy off and on since the 70s. La Scala became a second home as the Met had been during college daze. Now in his native Boston, he works as translator, tutor, and language coach, haunts Symphony Hall, and would haunt the Opera House had it not been demolished in 1958!