Thomas Howard
May 7, 2009
The Sydney Lyric Opera launched its inaugural season last night and showcased some wonderful young operatic talent. The Independent Theatre in North Sydney was an intimate and yet grand setting for this operatic gala which presented concert versions of Puccini’s Tosca and Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. The stated mission of the Sydney Lyric Opera is to promote emerging opera artists and to provide the Sydney community with high quality traditional opera staged in a beautiful and intimate setting and at an affordable price. Even though some of the young voices on display demonstrated a general level of discomfort with this difficult repertoire, the Sydney Lyric Opera did in fact live up to its mission, by providing high quality performances by a couple of extraordinary young tenors who look to have huge careers ahead of them. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that they are brothers.Singing the role of Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca was Daniel Sloman, an internationally acclaimed Cantor. For over a decade he has held various cantorial posts at some of Australia’s finest synagogues, including The Great Synagogue Sydney, but in recent years has studied opera extensively and traveled regularly to the United States to perform. It is obvious to see why this amazing singer was highly successful as a Cantor as his voice is one of staggering beauty and elegance and he perfectly expressed the romance of Puccini’s Tosca. His Cavaradossi was one of tremendous sensitivity and warm lyricism in the duets with Tosca, and he juxtaposed this superbly with heroic passion in his confrontations with Scarpia and dramatic sorrow in his despairingly heartfelt third act aria. His is certainly a career to watch out for.
But perhaps an even bigger impact was made by his younger brother, Benjamin Sloman, in the role of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana. True big voiced tenors are a very rare breed, but it appears that Australia has unearthed one here last night. Benjamin Sloman lifted the roof off the elegant Independent Theatre with a performance dripping with virile Italianate fire. This is a voice of staggering power and technical excellence, endowed with astonishingly clarion ring. His artistry was sophisticated and stylish and he managed to add nuance and pathos to a role which is generally crude and shallow. Without a doubt we will be hearing from this fine tenor for decades to come.
Soprano Cathryn Deuchar was perhaps too lyric a voice for the dramatically intense role of Santuzza, but she sang with superb line and her voice is one of tremendous innate beauty. In fact, she spins such an entrancing tone that one is left wondering why Turiddu ever cheated on her in the first place. The role of Tosca was unusually double cast – in the same performance – with Jessica Walls and Angie Torbay sharing the honours. The role of Tosca poses great difficulty to even the most experienced of singers, and the Sydney Lyric Opera focuses on young artists, so it is not surprising that a compromise like this had to be made. Suffice it to say that neither Walls nor Torbay was able to deliver an authentic voice for Tosca. Nonetheless, both displayed good musicianship and generous voices that look to develop into instruments of some importance. As if making up for the shared role of Tosca, Ian Fisher performed double duty singing both the roles of Scarpia and Alfio. His voice is dark and dramatic but suffered a little as the evening went on, the higher pitches spreading and diffusing. His artistry was solid, however, and particularly successful in the menacing and violent scenes where Scarpia interrogates Tosca.
As musical director, maestro John Martin held the evening together with great mastery and performed with great sensitivity.
