TOSCA GETS OPERA NAPLES OFF TO A TERRIFIC START!
Naples Daily News, April 25, 2006
By Peg Goldberg Longstreth
Special to the Daily News
Neapolitans have been privy to some great musical performances this season. But it took Sunday evening's premier performance by a fledgling opera company in a packed high school auditorium to win my vote as one of the most exciting events in recent memory.
The opera was the much beloved "Tosca". The fledgling company is Opera Naples. Nearly 1,200 people packed the auditorium at Gulf Coast High School. A sufficient swell of them bought tickets at the box office at the last minute, forcing the start of the performance to be delayed nearly 15 minutes.
No one seemed to mind. Some highly respected professionals have lent their talents to Opera Naples, Southwest Florida's first and only regional opera company.
Ray Gnewiek, former concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Company, who now resides in Naples, is the concertmaster of the newly assembled orchestra. Some 40 members strong, part of the performers live here. Others are affiliated with orchestras in Sarasota and Charlotte. Still others commuted from the East Coast.
They played together like they were seasoned professionals. The orchestra was led by
Cal Stewart Kellog, one of the most energetic and dynamic operatic conductors you could ever find. Watching him go through his incredible contortions was nearly as much fun as watching what was unfolding on stage.
Several times during the three-hour performance, he and his orchestra were cheered on with "bravos".
You knew it was going to be special when the curtains parted and the audience gasped, applauding the extraordinary set design by Samuel Vasquez Jr. The interior of the chapel, complete with 'stained glass' windows, looked real. The audience applauded the fabulous set designs for the two remaining acts too.
Among the fine performers were Steffanie Pearce, as Tosca, who gave the most passionate performance I have ever heard her give, and her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, sung by rising tenor Jeffrey Springer.
Todd Thomas, baritone, was the diabolical, lecherous Scarpia everyone loves to hate. You just knew, even though Tosca (Pearce) has just stabbed him, his malevolence would reach out from the bowels of Hell and doom the star-crossed lovers.
Bass James Patterson was so bedraggled and tattered in his portrayal of Angelotti, the escaped political prisoner, you could almost believe he had just broken free from prison somewhere.
Dr. Ronald Bowman, president of the Naples Opera Society, was wonderfully cast as the Sacristan. The shepherd boy–carrot-topped treble Patrick Moran, brought forth another round of "bravi", foot-pounding and cheers. He will sing the role of the little shepherd boy later this season in "Amahl". And, though his was a minor role, local tenor Livio Ferrari received his own cheers; local opera buffs believe he has a great future.
In a business fraught with financial failures, can Opera Naples succeed? If Sunday evening's sellout performance is any indication, the odds-on are good that it will!
Peg Goldberg Longstreth was trained as a classical musician and owns Longstreth-Goldberg ART gallery in Naples. You may email her at jlongstreth@plgart.com.
