Opera Review: Head of the Class

Anna Bolena at the Washington National Opera.

Royal rumble: Anna Bolena (Sondra Radvanovsky) confronts Jane Seymour (Sonia Ganassi) in
the Washington National Opera production of Anna Bolena. Photo by Scott Suchman for the Kennedy Center

The 2012-2013 opera season is still in its first month, but it's already had its first great diva turn: Sondra Radvanovsky's portrayal of Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Washington National Opera.

These performances mark the American singer's first turn as Henry VIII's second queen in the bel canto gem, an opera that has rapidly come back into fashion thanks to the meaty title role and her dramatic confrontations with her double-dealing husband (played here by Oren Gradus) and Giovanna (Jane) Seymour (Sonia Ganassi) her lady-in-waiting turned successor.

First of all, Ms. Radvanovsky has the pipes to sing the demanding title role, gliding easily through the role's tessitura and finding a glittering edge to her voice that allowed her to surmount everyone else on stage in the Act I finale, the moment when Anna discovers she has lost her seat on the throne. This same strength and dominating presence is there in the big Act II duet with Ms. Ganassi, where Anne discovers that "her Seymour" is in fact taking her place.

Opera Review: Divorce, English Style

Read my review of Henry VIII on The Classical Review.

Catherine of Aragon (left) and her lady-in-waiting (and successor) Anne Boleyn.
The two Queens figure prominently in Saint-Saëns' opera Henry VIII.
Photo manipulation by the author. 

Those of you who read this blog know that my writing sometimes appears on sources other than Superconductor. That said, here's a link to my review of the Camille Saint-Saëns opera  Henry VIII, which closed the 2012 Bard Music Festival in regal fashion on Sunday afternoon.

Here's an excerpt, to whet your...axe.

"The jewels in this performance’s crown were the two queens: soprano Ellie Dehn as Catherine of Aragon and mezzo Jennifer Holloway as Anne Boleyn. Dehn began as an icy presence, but that facade cracked as the reality of her situation became apparent. She achieved dramatic heights in the final act, with a long aria that recalled the plight of another operatic queen in a similar circumstance: Elisabeth de Valois in Verdi's Don Carlos. "