Monday, March 14, 2011

Boston Lyric Opera Scores with Händel's "Agripinna"

Caroline Worra in the title role with Christian Van Horn
as the Roman emperor Claudio
"The aria [“Voi che udite il mio lamento"] was particularly moving on Friday, thanks to the pure-voiced and uncommonly sensitive singing of the young countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Ottone. He was well-matched by his Poppea, the impressive Kathleen Kim, who acted vividly and sang with a nimble, clear, gleaming soprano. David Trudgen sang well as Nerone, even if one could imagine additional dimensions to his man-boy conception of the role. Christian Van Horn was a vibrant Claudio, by turns a chest-baring lothario and moralizing sovereign. Jose Alvarez, David McFerrin, and David M. Cushing rounded out this cast. And in the title role, Caroline Worra was vocally and dramatically commanding as a freewheeling Agrippina, crazed with blind ambition for her son yet not without her own sympathetic vulnerabilities." [Source]