From around the world: Washington, DC. (North America).(Opera Review)

With its psychologically astute, occasionally overripe libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti and its unabashedly romantic, brilliantly orchestrated, occasionally overheated score, Samuel Barber's Vanessa makes for a vivid night of music and theater. This was borne out October 19 at the Kennedy Center Opera House, as Washington Opera revived its handsome 1995 production for Kiri Te Kanawa, in her company debut. An inevitable will-this-be-her-last-opera buzz accompanied the venture. Te Kanawa, already on record as saying that there aren't any other operas she's dying to sing, did acknowledge a few days before opening night that she had received two more offers to sing Vanessa (companies unspecified) but hadn't decided whether to accept. She also admitted interest in Menotti's The Consul. Don't count the Dame out yet.

There's no doubt that Te Kanawa still has what it takes to keep full-fledged opera productions in her schedule, to complement the concertizing she clearly loves. Her Vanessa was an incisively drawn portrait, every bit the aristocrat in bearing, every bit the vulnerable woman underneath. At fifty-eight, the soprano sounded in fine vocal state. It mattered little that the orchestra sometimes swamped her, or that the middle and low registers sometimes lacked weight, especially since the famous top soared with considerable freedom and beauty. (Given that the role lies rather low for her, Te Kanawa asked that the orchestra tune a bit higher than normal; she had hoped for 443 but settled for 441.) The high, endlessly floated final note of her Act I aria was vintage Te Kanawa; that single note also effectively uncovered the depth of Vanessa's heart and the eternity of her longing. All evening, the singer's phrasing revealed a tight, sympathetic connection to the character. With her astute husbanding of her musical and theatrical resources, Te Kanawa owned the stage. But she shared that ownership with some extraordinary colleagues.

...