The rich history of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor has always been a tale of notable dramatic coloratura sopranos who have taken the title role to stratospheric heights—Nellie Melba in the 19th Century and 20th Century divas Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, and Beverly Sills, just to name a few. Do I dare suggest that Knoxville Opera’s latest Lucia, the 26-year-old soprano Meryl Dominguez, still at the beginning of her career, is destined to join that lofty group of singers in the future? Yes, I’ll go out on a limb and claim that Ms. Dominguez is a singer that we’ll be boasting in years to come that we heard her in her early days. In the meantime, we can say that we heard a Lucia sung the way we always dream it—with gorgeous, crystalline highs and a powerful mid-range, yet painted with delicate coloratura vocal details that are spine-tingling, and all supported by a strong, credible interpretation.
As if Dominguez’s thrilling performance was not enough, Knoxville Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor hit all the right the notes in every category, from a uniformly splendid and formidable cast throughout, both vocally and dramatically, to an attractive and accessible physical production that was visually impressive in its simplicity and flexibility.
KO music director Brian Salesky made some very judicious choices in casting, bringing back tenor Aaron Short to sing the role of Edgardo Ravenswood, Lucia’s clandestine lover and the target of her family’s hatred. Short, who sang impressively in KO’s 40th Anniversary Gala, was a perfect dramatic counterpoint to Dominguez’s Lucia, contrasting his feud-born, hot-headed anger with a softer romantic fervor. Vocally, Mr. Short had all the range, focus, and power the role demands, but what won the day was a mastery of a lovely gentle spot in that upper range that practically defines romance.
The villain of the piece, of course, is Lucia’s brother, Enrico Ashton, a man obsessed with maintaining family and economic status in a changing political environment. Forcing Lucia to marry a man of his choice in order to extricate his family from a sticky situation, Enrico alternately bullies, abuses, and cajoles Lucia, intercepting Edgardo’s letters and manufacturing a fake story of Edgardo loving another. Believing the worst, Lucia reluctantly agrees to marry Arturo, planting the seed of madness within her. At the wedding, Edgardo arrives only to find the marriage contract signed, and believing Lucia to be unfaithful to their own vow, chastises her for an apparent betrayal. Lucia falls irretrievably into total madness, stabbing her new husband to death in their marriage bed, thus setting up the opera’s legendary Mad Scene.
Singing a deliciously evil Enrico was baritone Michael Adams, who painted the role with an extremely credible dramatic desperation, coupling it with a rich, engaging vocal performance that sparkled with nicely turned embellishments for the sake of villainy.
Quite impressive was bass David Crawford in the role of Raimando, the Ashton family chaplain. Supported by Crawford’s natural stage presence, his rich velvety vocal delivery painted the character as one torn by family loyalty on one hand, and a desire for peace on the other.
Filling out this uniformly talented cast in smaller roles was Tori Franklin as Alisa, Lucia’s companion; Wayd Odle as Enrico’s henchman, Normanno; and Christopher Plaas as Arturo, Lucia’s short-lived husband.
A revealing moment in this production—and an excellent example of the balanced strength of the cast—was the opera’s famous Sextet at the end of Act II. Beginning with just a duet between Edgardo and Enrico, Edgardo reaffirms his enduring love for Lucia, while Enrico expresses regrets for having deceived her. Lucia’s expressions of unhappiness are added to the mix, while Raimando fears a tragedy in the making. Eventually, Arturo, Alisa, and the entire chorus join the others in revealing distress, while Dominguez’s Lucia alternates between broken phrases of sobbing and high notes of anguish.
Not unexpectedly, the evening belonged to Lucia’s Mad Scene in Act III. Descending the stairs, her dress drenched in her husband’s blood and consumed by madness, Dominguez’s Lucia was a masterful image of emotional drama and virtuosic vocal ability. Her vocal clarity, depth, and flexibility were simply sensational, especially mind-boggling in a singer at the beginning of a career.
Sometimes limiting one’s staging choices can be liberating, a fact that stage director Brian Deedrick used to his advantage. Working with a beautifully simple set of platforms, steps, and columns, the look for each scene was nicely varied with hanging curtains, chandeliers, and furniture. Not only did this avoid onerous scene changes, but it gave the opera a specific grand visual metaphor suggesting a tragic painting. This also allowed the Knoxville Opera Chorus a simplified, but dignified presence that didn’t overwhelm the action with movement. Contributing greatly in supporting the visual metaphor was lighting designer John Horner for some deliciously thick operatic darkness, punctuated with layers of highlights—including a particularly beautiful tableaux for the Sextet.
Although Maestro Salesky made cuts to fit the opera into a two and a half hour time constraint, the cuts were judicious and virtually transparent, contributing to a comfortable dramatic pace on stage, and a comfortable tempo for the solid Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in the pit.
Although every operatic production presents its own set of issues, Knoxville Opera certainly found the right combination of virtuosity, drama, and visual attraction for its Lucia di Lammermoor. One more performance of Lucia remains on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 PM at the Tennessee Theatre.
Photos Courtesy of Alan Sims, InsideofKnoxville.com
Alan, you were too generous to Dominguez; although she sung every note, I found her voice to be shrill. Michael Adams (Lord Enrico) and David Crawford (Raimondo) were the real vocal powerhouses. I would even say that Adams was the best actor. Act 2 scene 1 was probably the most superb scene in the entire opera; the mad scene would be second. Short (Edgardo) acted better in this opera than he did in Turandot. He needs to continue working on his acting abilities.
[Editor’s Note] Aaron Short sang Calaf in the educational outreach version of ‘Turandot’, not the fully staged Knoxville Opera version at the Civic Auditorium. That singer was tenor Jonathan Burton.