Petite Armenian soprano fills S.F. Opera's 'Tosca' with her voice: reviewOctober 29, 2014 - 15:36 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Even though tenor Brian Jagde and baritone Mark Delavan towered over her, Lianna Haroutounian outsang them at San Francisco Opera's matinee of Puccini's "Tosca," Janos Gereben said in a review published at the San Francisco Examiner. “In her San Francisco and role debuts, the diminutive Armenian soprano (well-known and acclaimed in Europe) filled the huge War Memorial Opera House with her lovely, effortless voice. Her projection and musicality were excellent. Her leap to her death from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo showed Olympic form,” the review said. “Tosca” is one of San Francisco Opera’s most frequently performed operas. This version, from 1997 with Lotfi Mansouri's staging, is based on the 1932 production, the very first in the War Memorial. “Stage director Jose Maria Condemi, also at the helm in 2008 and 2012 at S.F. Opera, has added minor new touches to the proceedings (which unfold on Thierry Bosquet's slightly fading sets), but wisely refrained from changing the staging for the sake of doing something different – to good effect.” “The same cannot be said for Riccardo Frizza's conducting, although the orchestra did its best. The conductor's shortcomings were especially obvious in the snail-paced Act 1 finale, the normally rousing Te Deum, and even more in the long introductory scene of Act 2, which was slow and sounded monotonous,” the review said. Top stories Ara Aivazian said Azerbaijan continues the traditions of Turkey after seizing territories and forced Armenians out. The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. Partner news | Armenian delegation participating in NATO PA session The delegation is headed by Andranik Kocharyan, the chairman of the standing committee on defense and security matters. Schengen visa cost won’t change for Armenia – diplomat The increase in the cost of a Schengen visa will not apply to citizens of Armenia, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said. Yeremyan Projects opens state-of-the-art dairy production plant Yeremyan Projects officially launched the Yeremyan Products state-of-the-art milk processing plant in Yerevan on May 24. Azerbaijan's defense spending set to increase by 11% Azerbaijan's spending on defense and national security will increase by 11%, according to a fresh bill. |