The first staging of this opera in 43 years is powerful, thanks to the voices of Matthew Polenzani and Isabel Leonard.'
Matthew Polenzani and Isabel Leonard in Houston Grand Opera's 'Werther'Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Houston Grand Opera has a gift for opera lovers. But these roses have thorns.
Now it’s paid off in a production, directed by Benoit Jacquot, that should haunt the memories of those fortunate enough to see it for some time afterward. Polenzani and Leonard are, as advertised, spectacular. Their voices luxuriate in Massenet’s well-marinated score, conducted with grace and poise by Fort Worth Symphony and Aspen Music Festival music director Robert Spano.
As Werther, a young and melancholy German poet, the 55-year-old Polenzani demonstrates formidable emotional range: slow-cooking anguish all the way to blazing passion. His voice in full flower is something to behold, a reminder that nothing can get those neck hairs standing up quite like a tenor in full command of his craft. He can go from gentle breeze to hurricane in the space of a few bars.
Leonard, a dazzling mezzo-soprano, brings a real vibrancy to the role of a young woman with sadly limited choices. Tasked with raising multiple younger siblings, Charlotte is kindhearted and gorgeous… and engaged, thanks to a promise she made to her dying mother to marry the upright Albert, played by stout, forthright baritone Sean Michael Plumb. Meeting Werther allows the tiniest kernel of doubt to take root; he and Charlotte’s connection is unmistakable and implacable.
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