November 1991

SANTA FE OPERA: Le Nozze di Figaro

Santa Fe Opera's splendid Le Nozze di Figaro (Aug. 1) was announced as the first of a new Mozart cycle. Robert Perdziola's period scenery and costumes trusted composer and librettist to move a modern audience without hokey updates. With all sorts of nooks and crannies to hide in, the sets also ingeniously allowed one to see Cherubino, then Susanna, in the Act II closet. Director John Cox extracted performances of wit and such spontaneity that the opera seemed composed on the spot.

Tops in a well-matched cast was Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel, in his North American debut. At twenty-five, he offered presence and a full-blooded voice that should make him a major player. Sheri Greenawald's double take on seeing Susanna emerge from the closet was worth the ticket price, though both Almavivas were older than Da Ponte specified, and Michael Devlin's woodenly cheerful Count lacked menace. Susan Graham's plumpish Cherubino, Heidi Grant's pert Susanna and especially Francois Loup's and Joyce Castle's sympathetic, three-dimensional Bartolo and Marcellina were delights. Edo de Waart conducted with warmth and devotion. The reinforcement of harpsichord with cello under the recitatives proved especially effective.

- JOHN BRIGGS