Photo @ www.angelagheorghiu.com
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What can a I say? It was an unbelievable night for me and for all the Argentine fans that filled the Teatro Colón (2500 capacity - only some boxes and orchestra seats were unsold and reserved for invitations). We hadn't experienced such a "red hot" night in many years. I was sitting in the Cazuela section which is like a third row of balconies, right in the middle of Teatro Colón's huge space. That's a bit far away but the acoustics is the best in the theater.
Both Angela and Roberto sang beautifully throughout the night. My preferred pieces were "Io son l'umile ancela" and Adriana's last act duet including the end of the opera. That alone lasted over 15 minutes. Regrettably, we had no "Poveri fiori", but the intensity these two singers brought to that scene was mesmerising. They not only sang like gods but they acted as well. In the end, after Angela pronounces "Melpomene son io" and Adriana dies, she stood still with her eyes closed, while Roberto approached her and embraced her, screaming "Adriana, Adriana". It was a magical moment that I shall never forget.
The Tosca scenes wwere also wonderful, finding Angela still in better vocal command. Roberto brought the house down with "E lucevan le stell" and so did Angela with "Ebben ne andrò lontana", despite the fact that the poorly conducted orchestra rushed the tempi too much in my opinion. Both Tosca duets were magnificent. Here again the acted the scenes as if it were a staged production. This is only to confirm that when you have two great singer/actors on stage you don't need any régisseur to mark what they should do.
The public were in delirium with these two great artists. The concert lasted almost two hours.
My only qualms about this concert had to do with the indisciplined orchestra and inexperienced conducting of maestro Ramón Tebar. There were just too many false notes produced by the chords and brasses and the maestro kept the orchestra too loud at times, particularly during the first Adriana duet. The other frustration was that there were no encores. After the scheduled program was finished Roberto spoke up to explain that the Teatro Colón authorities had not approved the encores they had proposed, which would have consisted of crossover music or zarzuelas or tangos. So the only encore we had was Roberto singing "a cappella" a bolero from his Pasión album and Angela joining in at the end. I later learned from some members of the orchestra that it all had to do with score copyrights that Teatro Colón was not willing to pay, and after this decision was taken the singers and the orchestra did not have the time to rehearse alternative pieces.
But in the end the public were very happy and a huge crowd gathered at the stage door where Angela and Roberto patiently signed autographs and stood for pictures before leaving to complete their evening with a dinner and tango show at the famous "El Viejo Alacén".
Una Voce Poco FaOpera Desde Hoy
