Wexford Festival: Gala Concert
National Opera House (O’Reilly Theatre) Wexford 26/10/25
Marty Whelan (broadcaster); Rosetta Cucchi (WFO Artistic Director); Christopher Knopp, Nate Ben-Horin, Pantesilena Jaho, Rebecca Warren, Alessandro Uva, Carmen Santoro, Frasier Hickland, Declan Murphy, Doireann O’Carroll (pianists); Jade Phoenix, Lydia Grindatto, Sarah Gilford, Forooz Razavi (sopranos); Kseniia Nikolaieva, Sarah Richmond (mezzo-sopranos); Bruno de Sá (male sopranist); Nicolò Balducci (counter-tenor); Yu Shao, Dominick Valdés Chenes (tenors); Kamohelo Tsotetsi, Ihor Mostovoi, Rory Musgrave (baritones); Andrea Carozzi, Pietro Gerbo, Andrea Carlotta Pelaia, Ivan Striuk, Miryan Tomè (dancers)
The Gala Concert at Wexford Festival Opera is an annual event, traditionally at 9 pm on the Sunday night after the clocks go back, presenting some of the vocal stars participating in the opera productions at the Festival (and some participants and alumni of the Factory project) in a celebration of opera and song, accompanied by pianists associated with the Festival. In recent years, there is also an item on the programme where the pianists participating in the répétiteur section of the Wexford Factory project perform an operatic instrumental number while a troupe of dancers present a choreographed dance. This year (as last year) the Gala Concert was co-presented by RTÉ Lyric FM broadcaster Marty Whelan and Artistic Director of the Festival Rosetta Cucchi.
Irish lyric soprano Jade Phoenix (Inès in ‘Le Trouvère’) opened the concert, accompanied by Christopher Knopp (Music Director for both ‘The Dwarf’ and ‘A Little Midsummer Night’s Dream’) in the Csárdás from ‘Die Fledermaus’. Jade brings a lot to the party. Perfect German diction, clarity and accuracy, fabulous phrasing and messa di voce, an impressive dynamic range and expressive body language. A super way to set the ball rolling.
South African baritone Kamohelo Tsotetsi (the chief Wapanacki in ‘The Magic Fountain’) was accompanied by American répétiteur and collaborative pianist Nate Ben-Horin (Music co-Director on ‘La Tragédie de Carmen’) in a tender South African lullaby ‘Thula Sana’. Rosetta told us that, when seeking to cast the role of Wapanacki, a friend recommended Kamohelo. She phoned him. When he answered and she heard his voice, she knew instantly that she had found her Wapanacki and immediately offered him the role.
Up next was an operatic duet, that of the sisters of very different temperaments, Tatiana and Olga, from Act I, Scene 1 of ‘Eugene Onegin’ with American soprano Lydia Grindatto (a delectable Leonore in ‘Le Trouvère’) and Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nikolaieva (a fabulous Azucena in the same opera). Mutually responsive phrasing and gorgeous blending, together with sensitive accompaniment from Nate, got it just right. Of the 227 artists participating in this year’s operatic productions, Rosetta revealed, 22 different nationalities are represented.
Italian counter-tenor Nicolò Balducci (Ulysses in ‘Deidamia’), accompanied by Albanian pianist Pantesilena Jaho, followed with a breathtakingly virtuosic rendition of the Rossini showpiece ‘Canzonetta spagnuola’. This was a phenomenal display of the most agile vocal gymnastics which had the audience whooping with rapture. Astounding.
Nate returned to the piano to accompany Chinese lyric tenor Yu Shao (Chevalier Belfiore in ‘Il viaggio a Reims’), one of a number of exchanges from Opera for Peace this year, in the emotionally supercharged ‘Pourquoi me réveiller?’ from Massenet’s ‘Werther’. Phenomenally expressive vocally, but strangely static physically, I found myself shutting my eyes to enhance the artistic experience, which was thereby cogent.
A change of gear (and genre) ensued with Northern Irish mezzo Sarah Richmond (Carmen in ‘La Tragédie de Carmen’) and Irish répétiteur and collaborative pianist Rebecca Warren (Music co-Director and pianist in the same production) in ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ from ‘Les Misérables’. In a visual contrast with the previous performer, particularly expressive body language supported the glorious voice with the warmest and most expressive tone and vibrato, so that, although I am never destined to be the world’s most devoted fan of ‘Les Mis’, I was captivated. The audience evidently concurred.
The same happy marriage of vocal and physical expressiveness characterised Welsh soprano Sarah Gilford’s (Nerea in ‘Deidamia’) performance of ‘The Jewel Song’ from Gounod’s ‘Faust’, accompanied by Italian pianist Alessandro Uva. Her spangly golden dress sparkled like jewels, while her voice communicated effervescent delight. Super.
Alessandro stayed at the piano for another shot of gleeful Rossini: Dandini’s delightful Cavatina ‘Come un' ape ne' giorni d'aprile’ (Like a Bee in the Days of April) from ‘La Cenerentola’. Ukrainian baritone Ihor Mostovoi (Don Profondo in ‘Il viaggio a Reims’) negotiated its challenging ornamentation and rapid patter conclusion with ease and a gloriously rich and powerful voice,
Kseniia returned, accompanied by celebrated vocal coach Carmen Santoro, to perform Dalilah’s mezzo aria of seduction ‘Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix’ from Saint-Saëns’ ‘Samson et Dalilah’. And gorgeously seductive it was, expressive, sultry and passionate without being overdone. Fabulous.
Irish baritone Rory Musgrave (a steadfast Phoenix in ‘Deidamia’ and the hapless Bottom in ‘A Little Midsummer Night’s Dream’) was accompanied by Christopher, as he performed ‘In testa la cappellina’, Puccini’s eponymous ‘Gianni Schicchi’ changing into the bedclothes of a deceased testator in order to dictate a fraudulent but entirely more satisfactory will, assisted by the other performers as the disinherited ‘family’. Delightful silliness.
A happy marriage of pianism and choreography followed. Three répétiteurs (Frasier Hickland, Declan Murphy and Doireann O’Carroll) from The Factory played a six-hands piano version of the witty Overture from Rossini’s ‘La gazza laddra’ as a group of five dancers (Andrea Carozzi, Pietro Gerbo, Andrea Carlotta Pelaia, Ivan Striuk and Miryan Tomè) performed an equally whimsical dance routine, choreographed by Luisa Baldinetti. Initially, the dancers were dressed as commuters with suits, hats and commuter paraphernalia (umbrella, newspaper, briefcase and the like), a visual impression that could be described as “René Magritte meets Monty Python’s ‘Ministry of Silly Walks’”. As the music became wittier, the characters became freer and less strait-laced, their garb changing to smart casual colourful holiday attire. Very jolly. The playing was very satisfying too.
‘Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour’, otherwise known as the ‘Barcarolle’ from Offenbach’s ‘Tales of Hoffman’ is a favourite soprano/mezzo duet, right? Well yes, usually. Except when it’s sung by an amazing countertenor and a fabulous mezzo. Nicolò Balducci and Kseniia Nikolaieva showed how it’s done. Unforgettable. Sensitively accompanied by Carmen Santoro.
Two emotionally supercharged pieces of Puccini followed. Firstly, Iranian soprano Forooz Razavi, who joined the Factory from Opera for Peace this year and gave us a fabulously twitchy Madame Cortese in ‘Il viaggio a Reims’, performed ‘Senza mamma’ from ‘Suor Angelica’, an aria of grief, guilt and despair at the death of a child without knowing a mother’s love, with Alessandro at the piano. Fans of John Thaw as ‘Inspector Morse’ may remember, at the end of ‘The Death of the Self’, an episode set in Italy in which Morse’s romantic interest is Frances Barber as Nicole Burgess, an opera singer, ‘Senza mamma’ is performed in the Roman Arena at Verona. It is the only time in all the Morse films in which Morse sheds a tear. In Wexford, I was Morse. How do you follow that? With American lyric tenor Dominick Valdés Chenes (Solano in ‘The Magic Fountain’) singing Calaf’s aria of expectant triumph ‘Nessun dorma’ from ‘Turandot’, that’s how, with Nate Ben-Horin at the piano. Stunning.
Releasing the tension and cleansing the palate with the same sweet clarity that had opened the concert, Jade Phoenix returned, accompanied by Christopher Knopp, to sing the dreamlike ‘Over the Rainbow’ from Howard Arlen’s ‘Wizard of Oz’. Magical.
Back to impassioned Puccini verismo for a heartbreaking duet between Rodolfo and Mimi in Act III of ‘La bohème’, beginning with ‘Marcello, finalmente …’, where she has overheard him confess to his friend that his jealous behaviour is feigned to make her find a wealthy suitor who can afford the living conditions and treatment that her illness demands. Ihor and Forooz were accompanied by Carmen. Poignant Puccini as love is sundered by poverty and hardship.
With Carmen Santoro still at the piano, Brazilian male sopranist Bruno de Sá (Pyrrha/Achilles in Handel’s ‘Deidamia’), dressed travesti, sang the soprano aria from Bellini’s ‘Norma’. a Celtic priestess’ “song to the moon”, ‘Casta Diva’. A classic number, given a satisfying reading.
The programme concluded with another excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’, with Lydia and Nate returning to perform Tatiana’s ‘Letter Aria’, a young woman’s state of mind vacillating between self-doubt and the need and the determination to express her feelings in a letter. Lydia caught these nuances perfectly and did justice to Tchaikovsky’s female role, both dramatically and musically. Perfect.
As an encore expressive of the internationalism of the Wexford Festival Opera, all the performers returned to the stage to perform the Waltz Finale from ‘The Merry Widow’, with each nationality singing a phrase in their own language. A lovely earworm for the 14-mile drive back to my brother’s home, where I was staying.