After a premiere on Thursday evening, the Université de Montréal will offer The bat by Johann Strauss, three more times until Sunday afternoon. This neat show, directed by François Racine, is conducted at a sustained tempo by Jean-François Rivest.
Several hazards have punctuated this first performance of a series of four The bat at UdeM. At first, we were told that Emmanuel Hasler, who was to sing the major role of Eisenstein, was replaced by River Guard. Hasler was scheduled to sing Thursday and Saturday, Guard Friday and Sunday. But we were very curious to hear again the excellent Hasler already appreciated several times.
What was our amazement to discover River Guard, this singer from the “B” distribution, in Eisenstein simply ideal in voice and slaughter, with in addition the timbre of the role, this “baritone” tenor just what he have to. The vocal revelation of this evening seems to be a singer already in his career. Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, he graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo where he studied with mezzo-soprano Kimberly Barber. His biography indicates that he was pursuing a master’s degree in opera at the University of Toronto. Either way, remember his name.
Two singers for one role
From a stage presence standpoint, River Guard was matched by Justin Domenicone, who, as prison guard Frank, gave us a number of ” slap stick quite astonishing at the beginning of Act III.
For the rest, the very respectably “normal” level of such a kind of production for the protagonists of the roles of Rosalinde and Adèle, Marion Germain and Maud Lewden, who just lack a small spark of aura, rubbed shoulders with the very correct (Maëlig Querré as Orlofsky and Jorge Ricardo Galindo Gómez as Falke) and very perfectible (the technique and projection of tenors Emmanuel Raymond and Andoni Iturriria Machinandiarena).
The shows on Friday and Sunday will make it possible to discover other singers, the second incident on Thursday having been the discreet failure of Théo Raffin as Falke in Act I, which evacuated the stage. We will have admired River Guard to continue on its own without disassembling the scene of Falke’s invitation to Orlofsky’s without anyone to give him the reply.
In the pit, Jean-François Rivest was agitated like a handsome devil from the opening at the head of an orchestra which is not one of the great vintages of the OUM (violins), but which animated opera with fervor. He had the remarkable idea of dressing up the change of scenery between Acts II and III by directing the thunderous Unter Donner und Blitz (Under lightning and thunder) to avoid a second intermission.
Congratulations, too, for the staging, the very functional sets, the often amusing costumes (the lampshade hats and the priceless bat costume), as well as the correct lighting.