In Act One of Puccini’s Tosca (1900) at San Francisco Opera, we were treated to the glorious and beautiful strains of Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, and although she grew in force as the act moved on, her voice was more buoyant than dramatic, and she seemed drowned out by the stupendous orchestra, led by the emotional and exaggerated conductor Nicola Luisotti, who almost seemed at times to be swatting at flies his conducting may have been a bit hammy, but I thought the orchestra sounded great, with the low brass resonating at a level usually reserved for Wagner (which makes sense when you consider that Puccini uses Wagnerian leitmotifs to identify characters).īut just before Act Two, the lack of spark in Gheorghiu’s performance suddenly made sense: General Director David Gockley announced that Gheorghiu was struck with intestinal flu, and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. It’s one of those instances that may just be talked about in the San Francisco opera circle for years to come.
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