Arts & Events

Celebrating the completion of her first year as Music Director at San Francisco Opera, Eun Sun Kim presented a concert on Thursday, June 30, of music by Giuseppe Verdi. The Opera Orchestra was joined by the Opera Chorus led by John Keane and by singers Nicole Car, Soloman Howard, Etienne Dupuis, and Mikayla Sager. The Opera’s General Director, Matthew Shilvock, gave a general introduction, noting the lifelong trajectory of Verdi as represented by this concert’s excerpts from the operas Luisa Miller, Il Trovatore, and Don Carlo.  

Opening the program was the Overture from Luisa Miller, an opera from Verdi’s early years. This vigorous Overture was brilliantly conducted by Eun Sun Kim. Next came an extended excerpt from Act II, Scene l from Luisa Miller featuring soprano Nicole Car as Luisa and bass Soloman Howard as Wurm. Nicole Car recently excelled as Donna Elvira in SF Opera’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in which opera bass Soloman Howard sang the role of the Commendatore. As good as she was as Donna Elvira, nothing quite prepared me for how sensational Nicole Car was in this concert where she sang three Verdi heroines. Her voice is bright, focused, and powerful. Car’s high notes have a clarion ring that is thrilling to hear. In her excerpt from Luisa Miller, Nicole Car dramatically portrayed the anguish her character experiences as Wurm villainously forces Luisa to save her father’s life by writing a letter denying that she loves Rodolfo and declaring that she loves Wurm. Bass Soloman Howard sang convincingly as Wurm. 

Next on the program came four excerpts from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, an opera of Verdi’s immensely fertile middle period. First we heard the famed Anvil Chorus, excellently sung by the San Francisco Opera Chorus. Following this we heard Nicole Car as Leonora and Adler Fellow Mikayla Sager in the soprano role of Inez. As Leonora recalls the time she first heard the singing of the troubadour Manrico, Nicole Car endowed the aria Taccea la notte placida with ravishing beauty. In spite of Inez’s warnings of the dangers involved, Leonora declares exultantly that words alone cannot express the love she feels for Manrico. 

Following this aria, we heard baritone Etienne Dupuis as Count di Luna, Manrico’s sworn enemy and rival for Leonora’s affection. In the aria Il balen del suo sorriso, Etienne Dupuis as Count di Luna sings that the brilliant flash of Leonora’s smile awakens his love and spurs him to pursue her at all cost. Next we heard Nicole Car as Leonora as she desperately resolves to yield to Count di Luna’s lust if he agrees to rescind the order for Manrico to be executed. Hearing this, di Luna exults that Leonora will soon be his. But Leonora secretly resolves to take poison and thus save Manrico’s life while giving up hers. Once again, Nicole Car was dramatically and vocally sensational, and Etienne Dupuis sang excellently as di Luna. Incidentally, Etienne Dupuis and Nicole Car are husband-and-wife as well as professional colleagues. 

After intermission, the second half of this concert was devoted to Verdi’s late opera Don Carlo. Based on a profoundly humanistic play by Friedrich Schiller, Verdi’s Don Carlo was originally written for Paris, where it premiered in French as Don Carlos. The opera underwent many different revisions as iVerdi prepared several subsequent Italian versions. For this concert, we first heard the Act III Auto-da-fe, the ritual burning at the stake of those accused of heresy by the Inquisition. Here it was beautifully sung by the Opera Chorus . Next came a rarity, the ballet music from the Paris version. This music had never before been performed by San Francisco Opera. Conductor Eun Sun Kim led the orchestra in a fine rendition of this ballet music, which included a sensitive violin solo by concertmaster Kay Stern. 

Following the ballet music we heard Etienne Dupuis as Rodrigo Posa, Carlo’s beloved friend. Recently, Etienne Dupuis sang the role of Rodrigue in the Metropolitan Opera’s French version of Don Carlos. Here he sang in Italian, and his dying aria O Carlo ascolta was very moving as with his final breath Rodrigo urges Carlo to realise their dream of freeing the people of Flanders who suffer under Spanish rule at the hands of Carlo’s father, King Philip II. Closing out the printed content of this concert was soprano Nicole Car as Elizabeth, who sang beautifully of those days of her youth when she and Carlo fell in love in Fontainebleau, France, before Carlo’s father King Philip abruptly took her in marriage, putting an end to Elizabeth’s dreams of happiness with Carlo. Nicole Car has the ability to convey every nuance of emotion with her voluptuous voice. At the close of this aria Nicole car received thunderous applause from the appreciative audience. Then, as an encore, all the soloists as well as the Opera Chorus joined the orchestra in the Brindisi or drinking song from Verdi’s La Traviata. It brought to a brilliant close a wonderful concert that will long be remembered., and one that, as Matthew Shilvock observed, portends great things to come in the future under the leadership of music director Eun Sun Kim.