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The Indomitable Isabella Paris
Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
06/18/2025 -
Gioacchino Rossini: L’Italiana in Algeri
Nahuel di Pierro (Mustafa), Marie‑Nicole Lemieux (Isabella), Levy Sekgapane (Lindoro), Alejandro Balinas Vieitas (Haly), Mikhail Timoshenko (Taddeo), Manon Lamaison (Elvira), Eléonore Pancrazi (Zulma)
Chœur Fiat Cantus, Le Concert de la Loge, Julien Chauvin (conductor)
J. Chauvin, M. N. Lemieux
(© Cyprien Tollet/Théâtre des Champs-Elysées)
Concert versions are becoming more and more common, to the delight of opera lovers eager to hear operatic rarities or favourite singers in roles rarely performed onstage. As this format dispenses with the exorbitant costs of staging, and when at least half of staged productions are dull and sometimes even hideous, this formula seems both judicious and cost‑effective.
In the past six months, I’ve seen seven “opera in concert” productions, some truly mediocre, such as René Jacob’s Idomeneo in Madrid, and others utterly pleasurable, as with Marie‑Nicole Lemieux’s Carmen in Montréal. In the past two days, I got a taste of both extremes, a mediocre Semiramide (though far from the trainwreck seen in Madrid), and the delightful present performance of L’Italiana in Algeri.
One question performers face in “opera in concert” settings is whether they ought to overact to convey their emotions and the overall plot, given the absence of staging. With the present superlative cast, no such questions were necessary. By mere facial expressions, complicity and perfect enunciation, the public immediately accessed the story.
Vocally, the cast could not have been better. Canadian mezzo Marie‑Nicole Lemieux has an impressive voice, easily able to handle the technical challenges of the role of Isabella, from her opening aria “Cruda sorte!” to her Act I duet with Mustafa, “Oh! Che muso! Che figura!” or in the Act II “Per lui che adoro”. As importantly, Lemieux, who’s gifted with amazing comic verve, made the most of the text, with proper emphasis on specific words and her capacity of saying much with a mere grimace of astonishment, dismay or bemusement. From the start, it was evident Isabella would manoeuvre all those in her orbit to get her way. Unlike her chaperon Taddeo, Isabella wasn’t intimidated by the alarming predicament of having been captured by the Barbary Coast pirates.
As she mentioned at the end of the evening while taking her bows, this performance coincided with the twenty‑fifth anniversary of Marie‑Nicole Lemieux’s career. May opera lovers be fortunate enough to have another quarter century of glorious music from this talented and multi‑faceted singer.
South African Rossini specialist Levy Sekgapane is an amazing vocal phenomenon. Sekapane has come a long way since the first time I heard him in Il viaggio a Reims in Barcelona in 2017. He was admired more recently in the demanding coloratura tenor role of Rodrigo in Rossini’s Otello in Frankfurt.
He impressed in the technically challenging Act I aria “Languir per una bella” by extrapolating the high G in the aria’s cabaletta “contenta quest’alma”. At the present moment, no other tenor can perform such a tremendous feat so effortlessly. Amazingly, the South African was also in great shape the next evening confronting the role of Almaviva in Damiano Michieletto’s superlative Opéra de Paris production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. No challenge is too great for this marvelous tenor. Moreover, without overkill, he conveyed Lindoro’s bonhomie quite well. No wonder Isabella is determined to get her man.
This opera has two basses, Mustafa, the Bey of Algiers, and Haly, Captain of the Algerian pirates, and a baritone, Taddeo, Isabella’s companion and hopeful soupirant. It is essential that these three lower voices sound distinct, and that they were, though both basses were of the basso cantante rather than profondo variety. Often, one of the roles is relegated to the other variety of bass, to distinguish between the two, and to build on the comedic propensity of the basso profondo voice.
Admired in Donizetti’s Il diluvio universale in Bergamo, Nahuel di Pierro impressed with his comedic talent. His portrayal of the Bey was spot on, and distinct from others I’ve seen. Instead of acting like a caricature of an Oriental despot, he looked and acted like a suave 1920s movie heartthrob, refined and urbane. This made him sympathetic and enabled the public to identify with him. This Westernized Bey seemed eager to integrate himself further into Western life by acquiring an Italian spouse. Instead of a despot, his Mustafa was an ingénue. A basso cantante is most appropriate for this type of Bey.
Some directors confuse Haly, Captain of the Algerian pirates, with another subordinate in another “Orientalist” opera, Osmin, overseer for the Pasha, in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, also a bass. Haly is no Osmin; he observes and is bemused by his master’s folly. Alejandro Balinas Vieitas played this role in this more interiorized manner.
Finally, Russian baritone Mikhail Timoshenko evoked the essence of Taddeo: a cowardly and foolish man. Instead of doing his best to comfort Isabella, he constantly needs reassurance himself. Best of all, he too falls for Isabella’s ruse. The poor man is seriously convinced that Isabella has devised her “Pappataci” scheme so that she may escape to Italy and marry him. Watching his facial expressions, initially as the plan unfolds and ultimately as he figures out that Lindoro is Isabella’s love interest, was truly effective. The pathos of this very real character was phenomenal.
Finally, the Algerian women Elvira and Zulma have token roles that are vocally undemanding. Thanks to their formidable stage presence, both Manon Lamaison and Eléonore Pancrazi managed to make their roles seem larger than they were. Lamaison, like most Elviras, has a high soprano, whose main function is to contrast with Isabella’s lower notes, and it certainly did, in Act I’s thrilling finale, “Pria di divedersi da voi, Signore... Va sossopra il mio cervello”. Thanks to Julien Chauvin’s eloquent direction, this often extravagantly boisterous ensemble piece was beautifully controlled, almost subdued. In underplaying it, it was so much more effective than the circus act that almost always characterizes most productions of this opera. Finally, a conductor and director who understood the golden rule of comic opera: less is more! Bravissimo!
Ossama el Naggar
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