Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 13 November 2009 - Coloratura Showcase

Featuring:
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Sinfonia
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Eccomi in lieta vesta..O quante volte
- Respighi Fountains of Rome
- Puccini Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro
- Rossini The Barber of Seville: Overture
- Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor: Regnava nel silenzio..Quando rapito in estasi
- Berlioz Romeo and Juliet: Romeo alone - Festivities at the Capulets'
- Gounod Romeo and Juliet: Je veux vivre
- Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
- Ambroise Thomas Hamlet: Ophelia's Mad Scene

Emma Matthews - Soprano
Alexander Shelley - Conductor

The star of this 'Celebrity concert' is supposed to be Sumi Jo. However, due to last minute injury, she cancelled her appearance in this concert to my disappointment. There are 10 programs on offer, with an orchestral piece alternating with a soprano aria sung by the replacement soloist, Emma Matthews. Emma is currently the principal artist of Opera Australia and should be a fair substitute to Sumi Jo. On top of that, Alexander Shelley who did a wonderful job conducting Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade MSO during last year's Sidney Myer free concert is the conductor of the night. Needless to say, my expectation of this concert is high.

Unfortunately though, my expectation was not met. The orchestra sounded a little bit uninspired in some of the opera numbers (maybe partly of the music itself?), but did a fair job in Rossini's Barber of Seville overture. I enjoyed Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun despite some unclean entries from some members of the orchestra. Also, the climax in the piece was a bit underwhelming.

Emma Matthews is a soprano who behaved like one on stage. She even changed her dress during the interval, and did plenty of what I called over-the-top gestures (esp. when she acted very girlishly in Gounod's aria). I guess, she's a prima donna after all and most of them act like one. Or maybe, she needs to act like that to be in the right mood for the character she's singing (she certainly acts like a deranged person in Ophelia's mad scene). Anyway, seeing someone's gestures or attitudes on stage is not the reason why I attended classical music concert - I can go to opera instead - , and I'm fine with all of that as long as the artist has the talent to match it. In Emma case, she definitely has a wonderful voice, a great range and control on the higher pitch, although her voice was occasionally swamped by the orchestra's fortissimo. Her notes ornamentation in particular (which is really the most important thing in the bel canto repertoire) impressed me. She's especially impressive at Donizetti's and Thomas' arias and the audience loved that high (C?) notes that she produced in the climaxes. Her other arias were fine, but not particularly impressive.

I guess the main reason why I did not enjoy this concert very much is the program. Bel canto music is not my cup of tea (at least not yet), and there were just too much of them that night. I'm looking forward to entirely different programs in ACO's Beethoven 4 concert.