Newton orchestra performs spectacular Tosca
It was only a matter of time before the Newton Symphony Orchestra got around to opera. After all, the 36-year-old community orchestra has been headed by conductor Jeffrey Rink for six seasons. As Boston opera lovers know well ... Rink is both a gifted opera conductor and a vigorous local champion of opera in concert.
Puccini's Tosca might not seem an ideal work to present on a concert hall stage, ... but Sunday evening's performance at the Rashi Auditorium in Newton Corner demonstrated how much of that action comes across through the composer's spectacularly detailed, vivid music. Violence has rarely been translated into art with such skill and, yes, dark beauty, and Rink elicited the kind of warm and animated playing from the orchestra that is essential to putting that across ....
The young Canadian soprano Michele Capalbo as Floria Tosca ... demonstrated a dark, richly colored, even voice topped by brilliantly shining high notes ... [and] the famous aria "Vissi d'arte" was exquisitely shaped.
[Tenor Mark] Nemeskal (Mario Cavaradossi) produced plenty of downright gorgeous sound ... and [baritone Robert] Honeysucker turned in his usual class act by playing Scarpia not as a cartoon villain but as a suave, supremely confident man. In smaller roles, baritones Donald Wilkinson and Philip Candilis particularly impressed, as did boy soprano Max Greenfield as the Shepherd Boy. And the voices of Chorus pro Musica and the New England Conservatory Children's Chorus pleased.
T.J. Medrek, The Boston Herald, Tuesday 15 January 2002
A thrilling Tosca
Despite all the scorn heaped upon its brutal and melodramatic plot, Tosca ... makes for an irresistible night at the opera. Even when it's heard in a concert version, it's impossible not to be carried away when the performance is as good as the one the Newton Symphony fielded Sunday night ....
Conductor Jeffrey Rink ... got to the heart of the opera .... When all those choristers singing the Te Deum arranged themselves in the aisles, the orchestra was playing flat out, and Robert Honeysucker's Scarpia was exulting over his nefarious plot in the great Act I finale, the listener was simply dazzled. And in the more intimate scenes, Rink kept things moving at white heat while allowing his singers the freedom to shape their phrases.
The production was fortunate indeed in the three principal singers. Baritone Honeysucker nearly stole the show with his portrayal of the venial and debauched Scarpia. He put all his savoir-faire to work in making the Baron a calculating villain. His nuanced acting was transcended only by singing that rang out thrillingly. Tenor Mark Nemeskal ... brought a virile lyric tenor to the part. The way he brushed off Tosca at the end of the love duet, humorously but firmly, was a particularly nice touch ....
Soprano Michele Capalbo, a young Canadian on the way to a major career, played the title role. Her voice, particularly in the upper reaches, is by turns warm, sultry, and brilliant .... Surrounding the three principals was a capable cast of singers: Boy soprano Max Greenfield sang the Shepherd's song with sweet tone and dead-on intonation; Donald Wilkinson was a cheerful Sacristan; and Philip Candilis was an appropriate Angelotti.
Ellen Pfeiffer, The Boston Globe, Wednesday 16 January 2002
