MONTREAL — Opera de Montreal presents Giuseppe Verdi's "Il Trovatore" for four performances starting Saturday.
"Il Trovatore" ("The Troubadour") tells the tale of Manrico, a wandering singer who is in love with the beautiful Leonora, according to the press release synopsis. Starts off simple enough. Now cue the operatic dramatics.
Love triangle
Rival Count di Luna also has a thing for Leonora. Enter Azucena, an old gypsy who seeks to avenge her mother's death; for it was the Count's father who burned Azucena's mom at the stake a generation before. Seems that Azucena is siding with Manrico in this love triangle — Azucena is Manrico's mom, after all.
The troubadour flees with Leonora, but soon the Count sends Azucena to prison in order to get Manrico to come out of hiding. Now captured, Manrico is sentenced to death, but Leonora is ready to marry the Count in order to save the one she truly loves.
Casting right singers
"It's going to be a very bel canto interpretation of the work, which is what Verdi wanted," Opera de Montreal artistic director Michel Beaulac said.
Beaulac said "Il Trovatore" was written just before "La Traviata" and just after "Rigoletto," two of Verdi's equally famous operas.
"And the vocal requirements for the tenor are identical," Beaulac said.
But Beaulac added that through time the role of Manrico the troubadour "has become too hefty, too powerful, too muscular."
The trend now, which Beaulac said is very respectful of the composer's intention, is to get just the right singer.
"And we have that singer in Korean tenor Dongwon Shin," Beaulac said. "He has an extremely powerful voice that's very well-projected with easy vocalizing."
The rest of the cast is equally as balanced. In the role of Leonora is Japanese soprano Hiromi Omura.
"She has the perfect elegant voice with exquisite lines in terms of her singing and appearance," Beaulac said. "She's so beautiful."
Rounding out the major roles are Canadian baritone Gregory Dahl as Manrico's rival, Count di Luna, and Italian mezzo-soprano Laura Brioli, who makes her Opera de Montréal debut in the role of the gypsy Azucena.
"It's a really international cast," Beaulac said.
Italian conductor Francesco Maria Colombo gets a nod as well.
"He's ideal for this. It's one of his favorite operas," Beaulac said.
Realistic settings
Beaulac added that the staging is beautiful and thoughtful.
"It's a stylized set that works perfectly for this production," Beaulac said. "It's extremely vivid and realistic. It gives the right flavor, the right era."
Beaulac said it is important to consider that the timeline dates to 15th-century Spain. With eight scenes in the opera, Beaulac said that what's most interesting is the setting can be changed very quickly. The show includes only one intermission.
"It flows so easily, so evenly, so naturally," Beaulac said. "It's a rhythmically well-paced opera performance."
Beaulac said the opera is filled with musical hits.
"I don't think there's one single aria in 'Trovatore' that you don't know either by heart or that you don't whistle along with when you hear it on the radio," he said. "People don't always know these songs are from this opera."
Beaulac said the staging by Oriol Tomas brings new light to the work.
"He's working with the very superstitious aspect of it," Beaulac said. "It helps portray the characters on a more spiritual level in terms of why they are behaving as they are and what prompts them to react in such a way. We are in the Spain of the 15th century where superstition, the occult, spirituality and power politics had so much to do with the way people led their lives."
This opera has it all, Beaulac said.
"The mood is there, the color is there, the tension is there and, of course, the music and the beautiful singing are there as well."
Steven Howell is the author of Montreal Essential Guide, a Sutro Media iPhone travel app available at iTunes.com.
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