Il Trittico

This afternoon, I attended a couple of firsts: my first performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, and my first performance at the Castleton Music Festival. Both were great - and notwithstanding the 90+ degree temperature outside, we stayed absolutely comfortable in the festival tent as our seats were as close as you could get to the A/C vents.

I wasn't familiar with any of the music from these operas, with of course the exception of "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi (which by the way the soprano Joyce El-Khourey performed with perfect girlishness yet perfect polish). The order of these three operas today: Il Tabarro, Gianni Schicchi, and Suor Angelica. I don't know if this is the usual order, but I thought it worked well today, to have the lighter-hearted Schicchi sandwiched between the two tragedies, with the more powerful drama with the more powerful soprano coming last.

Yes, Angelica - herself - was superb. Both Rebekah Camm's dramatic instincts and her vocal agility was on display. She convincingly played her character - a mother-turned-nun as punishment for circumstances that are never completely revealed, and who appears to have grown to accept and is at peace with her fate, until learning that her son has died, at which point she feels the unbearable pain that only a mother who has buried her own child knows. Camm delivered the emotion and passion in this character, with great vocal power and range, and reminded me of just how good opera can be, and how the combination of drama and song can transcend what either can deliver on its own. Angelica's aunt was a bit less compelling, and unfortunately, some of the other sisters even more so. Still, since Angelica is after all the story of the title character, Camm's excellent performance more than offset the lackluster ones of her colleagues.

Gianni Schicchi was also done well.