opera

San Francisco Opera presents “Tosca”

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San Francisco Opera began its five performance revival of Tosca this past Thursday with soprano Lianna Haroutounian in the role of the passionate and devout opera singer around whom the opera’s action revolves, Flora Tosca. Haroutounian has a powerful voice with lyric beauty and incisive passion. She brought a feminine quality to the part that was both flirtatious and innocent.

And it was possible to believe in the depth of her jealousy, which appeared as a self-conscious insistence rather than tempestuous anger. A quality that was appealing rather than frightening, but that would transform in the second act to a desperate passion.

Tosca is one of those roles that epitomizes the opera singer. The soprano who interprets the part is allowed to sing as an opera singer, and by doing so to embody what opera means. Tosca as the character exalts the human voice – blending the purity and fervor of spirituality with the sensuality of eroticism. By being capable of blending the divine and the human Tosca becomes irresistibly desirable, and as desirable she is not only loved but also a target for the perversions of love. Her survival is an affirmation of the world, but her death is a revolution.

The role of Tosca is an enigma and a challenge. 

American tenor Brian Jagde was her Cavaradossi, the painter with affiliations to the French Republicanism represented by Napoleon in 1800 when the opera is set. Jagde is an attractive tenor with a voice resonant with Italian brightness and American warmth. Plus, he’s tall and good-looking – a perfect foil for the petite and sweetly round-cheeked Haroutounian.

Mark Delavan sang the baritone role of the evil Baron Scarpia, whose corruption as the Roman chief of police borders on the perverse. And it’s clear he enjoys that part. What fun to sing the role of a slimy, lascivious creep!

The three singers were excellently matched as the machinations of the three characters tightened, unwound and retightened. The other characters, well sung by American singers most of which were Adler fellows or Merola Alumni, were mere cogs in the gears of Tosca’s destiny. Dale Travis has honed his role as the Sacristan to comic perfection.

Typical of opera of the time, Tosca is based on the complicated historical struggle of European democracy over corrupt rulers and the politically opportunistic. But the complexity of the politics is not the center of the opera; rather it is love and its endurance in spite of or, in this case, destruction by power.

The sets by Production Designer Thierry Bosquet were based on the historical buildings where the opera’s three acts were originally set by Puccini and his librettists in their rendering of Victorien Sardou’s play, La Tosca. The Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, the Farnese Palace and the Castel Sant’Angleo are incomparably beautiful buildings. There is a certain satisfaction to be found in Bousquet’s sets’ endurance and to their simple reflection of the original opera production specific locales.

Tosca’s costuming was enviably gorgeous.

Conductor Riccardo Frizza led the San Francisco Opera’s ever-excellent orchestra in Puccini’s ever-lovely music.

– Jaime Robles

 

The San Francisco Opera production continues through November 8. For tickets and information, visit http://sfopera.com/Season-Tickets/2014-15-Season/Tosca.aspx

Photo: Mark Delavan (Scarpia) and Lianna Haroutounian (Tosca). Photo by Cory Weaver.