San Francisco Opera Unveils A New Star in UN BALLO IN MASCHERA
In Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, soprano Julianna Di Giacomo made her San Francisco Opera debut on Saturday, October 4, 2014; and a sensational debut it was! Sounding like a young Beverly Sills, Di Giacomo, a Santa Monica native and Merola alumna, has a very bright and focused soprano, which was heard to wonderful effect in the role of Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. From the moment she came on stage, in Act I’s scene in Ulrica the soothsayer’s den, Di Giacomo thoroughly dominated every scene in which she appeared. Only veteran baritone Thomas Hampson, who sang the role of Count Anckarström, Amelia’s husband and friend of King Gustavus, managed to hold his own vocally with Julianna Di Giacomo. Unfortunately, as King Gustavus, tenor Ramón Vargas sounded thin and lacking in power in a role I heard him perform here in far better voice back in 1999. -more-