#scott conner

As promised for the ever-lovely @monotonous-minutia.

Ballo is a weird opera for me: I love it (it's definitely in my top 3 or 4 favorite Verdis), and it was my absolute favorite opera for...actually about a year or so, and while it's no longer my absolute favorite, it's still very high up on the list. However, I have found that it is almost impossible to find a production (or for that matter a recording) that gets the opera completely right for me or is in any way definitive—but then again, this is an opera that is also pretty hard to badly screw up. In fact, I think I've only seen one production that's managed to badly screw it up, which was from Leipzig and which has possibly the single ugliest production aesthetic I have ever seen in an opera. But I digress.

This production isn't perfect or definitive, but it is a damn good show.

Before you ask: yes, this is set in Sweden (good) and yes, Anckarström does shoot Gustavo (even better) as Verdi, history, and the universe intended. None of this stabby-stabby kitchen knife nonsense.

My biggest complaint is honestly that I hope the San Francisco Opera has changed their prompter in the past six years because whoever was prompting apparently decided that it was necessary and good to practically yell a lot of the lines, most noticeably in Act III, Scene 1. It got really annoying really quickly.

Also I wasn't a huge fan of some of the sets, in particular the set that seemed to (with slightly different pieces) be both the first and the last set. The gallows set looked really cool but was not very well-lit, causing a whole lotta darkness instead of what it was supposed to look like:

which would've been way cooler. The study set was pretty nice, though.

This production was veritable costume porn and I loved it. I want Amelia's Act II outfit immediately. Also that ensemble Oscar wears to the ball.

The conducting by Nicola Luisotti was excellent overall; I loved how fast-moving it felt (because this is a fast-paced opera!) and how each scene felt like it went by in the blink of an eye. My only no is that I feel like the strings were slightly underbalanced overall (particularly in the last act), although I may be biased as a longtime string player.

The chorus and orchestra were both excellent. The smaller roles were all well-taken; Scott Conner (whom you, @monotonous-minutia, may recognize as Bernandino in the Amsterdam 2015 Benvenuto Cellini) and Christian van Horn were luxury casting as Those Two Counts Where No One Can Tell Which One Is Which. Great singing-acting duo.

Dolora Zajick absolutely BROUGHT IT as Ulrica, with all the ghostly creepiness, charismatic flair, and powerhouse singing one would expect of her in this role. I always love seeing her in Verdi. And her costume made her look freakin' cool.

As I posted earlier, OH MY GOD HEIDI STOBER IS CUTEST OSCAR. This Oscar is ALWAYS sassing people around and being funny and really running the behind-the-scenes; everyone both loves and fears him. He's always making mischief (in particular wreaking havoc upon the Chief Justice) and trying to have a little fun and hating it when people take his fancy hat and start throwing it around (as happened multiple times). And he's also so concerned about his King 24/7, even though he can get annoyed with him. (Gustavo pretends to have a heart attack when Ulrica gives the prophecy, and while he thinks it's funny, Oscar very much does not.) And at the ball, all the attenion ends up on him and the commedia dell'arte dancers. It's amazing. And don't even get me started on how talented of a singer Heidi Stober is.

You want photos? HERE IMMA SPAM WITH PHOTOS:

Thomas Hampson isn't my favorite singer in the role of Count Anckarström—his voice often comes across as a little dry for my taste here—but he does very well nonetheless, with a fantastic "Eri tu". Where he really shines, however, is in his acting and use of the text. You can hear the feeling behind every individual word and thought he sings, which I think is incredibly hard to do. He makes so much out of it all and milks every moment for its dramatic potential, which helps create this wonderful sense of character—you can really believe in him from start to finish, through all his moods and his descent into murderous jealousy and hatred, and his remorse at the end. And those costumes, and how stylish he looks in them? Perfection.

And I'm just gonna leave this photo here:

(his FACE. it's PRICELESS.)

Julianna di Giacomo is just *heart eyes*. She can sing and those high notes are going to be ringing in my ears for a while. Amelia is not an easy role in any way, shape, or form, but she made it sound so easy, especially those two (very difficult!) arias. I think she also did a great job at finding her personality and capturing not only her inner conflict but also her innate strength beneath any fears she may have; a moment that particularly stood out is that in the Lot-Drawing Scene, she stood her ground even after Anckarström told her to draw a name, and in fact, he eventually had to physically force her to draw by grabbing her arm and putting it in the urn because he could not otherwise force her to take part. Also, may I say she is very pretty.

Ramón Vargas is not a popular quantity on here, and sure, it's not a perfect voice, but I do hear plenty of real Italian sound in his voice, which more than compensates for the fact that's it's inherently somewhat too light for the part. Nevertheless, he acquits himself very well in this long and demanding role, and I particularly enjoyed listening to his take on the I Am Totally A Fisherman Song. Also, he's just such a naturally cheerful and sunny personality, which melds really well with the character; he is also very convincing in the more serious parts, especially because it feels that the whole time, he is acting out of love and a zest for life, which fits pretty much all the problems Gustavo has really well.