La Traviata: an opera review by Alan Slade
It’s always disappointing when you walk into the foyer ahead of a performance to read a sign advising that one of the principal players is not in the performance.
The Cast of La Traviata in Opera Australia’s 2022 production of La Traviata.
Photo Credit Prudence Upton
This was the case for the October 22 performance of Verdi’s tragic opera “La Traviata” at the Sydney Opera House.
Internationally acclaimed Korean tenor Ji-Min Park returned to Opera Australia to repeat his successful 2018 season as Alfredo Germont, Violetta’s ill-fated lover, betrayed by his father, in Guiseppi Verdi’s musical adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ play “La Dame aux Camélias.
The notice read blandly, “The role of Alfredo in tonight’s performance will be sung by Tomas Dalton”. There was no announcement as to why Ji-Min Park was absent. As audience members saw the notice, the most common comment was, “who’s he?”. At least international star soprano Irina Langu was still appearing.
The performance to a capacity audience in the Joan Sutherland theatre began with a gasp from that audience as the curtain rose after the overture, sensitively executed by the Australian Opera Orchestra conducted by UK-born Australian Tahu Matheson, son of famous English international conductor John Matheson.
The gasp was a reaction to the beauty of the lavish stage setting and costuming in the revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s original production by Warwick Doddrell. The contrast for traditional (old fashioned?) opera-goers of the classical sets and costumes in this performance with the electronic wizardry of recent new productions was stark.
The real stars of the opening “Brindisi” were the members of the outstanding Australian Opera chorus.
“La Traviata” is the perfect showcase for this much underrated choral group, of which the performance’s stand-in lead tenor, Tomas Dalton, is a member. Russian star Irina Langu’s powerful coloratura invoked shades of Maria Callas, including her occasional harsh edges. The programme notes mentioned her initial studies “at the State Academy of Music of Veronezh”. A Google search revealed that it was not a typo (she also studied at La Scala, not Verona, although she has sung Juliette and Donna Anna at Arena of Verona). Irina Lanu was born in Veronezh, a Russian city in the southwest, near the Ukrainian border. Australian tenor, Tomas Dalton, played Alfredo as a love-sick puppy dog in the opening scene very effectively, although he was unable to match Irina Langu’s powerful vocal output. He warmed to his role as the opera progressed, resulting in well-deserved enthusiastic acknowledgement at the end by both audience and cast. West Australian Luke Gabbedy’s Giorgio Germont was both vocally and visually impressive.
All cast members acted and sang superbly, ably accompanied by the orchestra and enhanced by the scenery, which was changed silently and efficiently during the two intervals and Act 2 scene change.
Tomas Dalton’s casting reminded this reviewer of one of his earliest experiences of “La Traviatia” by the Sutherland-Williamson Opera in 1965 when the already internationally acclaimed ex-pat Aussie Joan Sutherland brought an unknown Italian tenor to play Alfredo. His name – Luciano Pavarotti. Who knows what Tomas Dalton’s future holds?
I’d see that as a plus, an Australian tenor singing bel canto instead of Park’s constant fortissinmo and forcing. Before we had this invasion of overseas singers, Australian singers would sing the full range of pianissimo to forte, but they never forced.