Ernani Review - The Age 23 March 2009
John Slavin Reviewer

Verdi’s fifth opera is a wheel of fire turning on themes of passionate love, fanatical honour and bloodthirsty revenge. Based on a play by Victor Hugo set in 16th-century Spain, it tells of the love of three men for the beautiful Elvira (Martha George). Her vengeful, ageing guardian da Silva (Ian Lowe) intends to marry her. Her chosen lover, the bandit Ernani (Salvatore Granata), is proscribed by King Carlo of Spain (Lucio Coceani), who is also in love with her.

Directed by Ann Sanciolo, this production makes the best of stringent conditions in the echo chamber of BMW Edge. Part of the problem is that the action is played out on a narrow dais beyond the large orchestra, which, under Erich Fackert, played tactfully and mellifluously. Only powerful voices, however, can survive the space.

As the aristocratic rivals, Granata and Lowe rose vocally to the occasion. Granata possesses a powerful tenor with a sure upper register and a nice plaintive undertone. Lowe’s da Silva began shyly but the interpretation gave a consistent impression of nobility. This opera with its echoes of Trovatore is full of magnificent choruses and ensembles. George’s Elvira was initially swamped by the volume but warmed lusciously to the vocal line. Coceani’s tessitura was strained beyond the requirements of Don Carlo’s role.

This is Grand Opera both in its epic intentions and its charming old-fashioned production values, a touch rough-spun but the score is wonderfully stirring. Viva Verdi!

Ernani Review, ArtsHub Monday, March 23, 2009

Ronald McCoy, Reviewer

Melbourne City Opera’s performance of Ernani provides an ideal opportunity for opera buffs to become familiar with this seldom performed Verdi opera based on Victor Hugo's drama Hernani.

Ernani presents major vocal challenges for the lead singers, and this cast met them with varying levels of success.

Salvatore Granata’s fine tenor voice clearly carried the story all evening with vigour, strength and fine diction, making listening a real pleasure.

Martha George began the evening a little shakily, with her strong tone sometimes at the expense of vocal flexibility, but this, I think, was more about initial opening shakiness. After a few minutes, she settled into the role, with a lovely clear ringing tone which was well balanced with Granata’s tenor during some of the opera’s fine duets and trios, especially in the second act.

Ian Lowe as Silva did not have a particularly big voice compared to other cast members, but I really enjoyed his intelligent, sensitive and very musical singing.

Lucio Coceani was disappointing as Don Carlo was consistently just under the note the entire evening and sang with a tense vocal edge which detracted from the fine arias written for the part.

The production is in the original Italian, so it might be worth familiarising yourself with a libretto before you go, as the narrative introductions prior to each act were a bit stilted in delivery, and sometimes difficult to follow.

Being played in the BMW Edge theatre, the audience had that rare opportunity of being able to be ‘up close and personal’ with the orchestra, and any budding music students interested in opera should take this opportunity to experience this score at a close range. The Melbourne City Orchestra, under the direction of Erich Fackert, demonstrated a consistently fine level of playing, bringing out the wide range of Verdi’s orchestral colours making this score a real listening joy.

The Melbourne City Opera chorus were vocally very strong, especially the women. Ernani has some fine choruses, and these, combined with the fine orchestral playing, were, for me, some of the evening’s highlights.

There is much in Ernani of interest, but because Verdi wrote so many other better operas, we often don’t get the chance to see and hear the opera in its entirety. Melbourne City Opera has demonstrated that there is much of value in Ernani, and for this reason, this production is well worth a visit.