<<<  <<  -- 3 --  Maria Nockin    DRAMATICALLY RIVETING

Tenor Mark T Panuccio made a most impressive début with the company as Edgardo. He has a robust, warm lyric voice with distinctive colorations and he was an ardent, passionate Edgardo. It was easy to understand why Lucia fell in love with him. As Enrico, Lucia's scheming brother, Weston Hurt was a glowering bully for whom the weak minded Lucia was no match. He sang with vigorous dark tones and energized his lines with conviction.

Stephen Morscheck was a stentorian Raimondo Bidebent who commanded the stage whenever he appeared. The elaborately costumed bridegroom, Arturo, was sung with polished tones by Jason Ferrante. Francisco Renteria was a promising Normanno and Anne Marie Berg was a fresh voiced Alisa. Cal Stewart Kellogg conducted with flexible rhythms and drew a musically exciting performance from his cast and players. It was a stellar night at Arizona Opera as evidenced by the numerous audience members who stayed after the final curtain to 'talk back' to General and Artistic Director Joel Revzen and tell him how much they enjoyed the performance.