Bel Canto Trio Brings the Allure and Excitement of Grand Opera to La Jolla’s Baker-Baum Concert Hall
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Joshua Guerrero [photo courtesy of San Diego Opera]
In addition to Guerrero’s fiery Italianate tenor, the ensemble featured the hearty bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee and Julie Adams, a young dramatic soprano with ample spinto allure. The singers opened their program program with a vivid trio from finale of the third act of Verdi’s early opera I Lombardi, a kind of “Liebestodt” in which the tenor is dying, his beloved pleads to be with him in the next life, and the hermit—the bass-baritone, of course—pronounces a hopeful benediction. I am happy to report that the rest of the evening unfolded with the high spirits and bravura vocal prowess this Verdi trio delivered.
If my memory serves me, Brownlee was slated to sing the title role in a recent San Diego Opera Don Giovanni production, but other
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Nicholas Brownlee [photo courtesy of San Diego Opera]
Julie Adams chose solo arias from three different Puccini operas, infusing Musetta’s familiar “Quando m’en vo” from La bohème with the understated coquettish confidence that only a radiant soprano can accurately portray. Adams and Guerrero were superbly matched both vocally and emotionally in the duet “Parigi, o cara” from the last act of La traviata. In a love duet such as this, Guerreo shifts into high Valentino gear, arguably his best suit, but even in a solo such as “E lucevan le stelle” from the final act of Tosca, the ardor his golden tenor communicates is transcendent. Giving welcome contrast from the opera buffa repertory, Guerrero and Brownlee made great sport of the scene from The Elixir of Love in which Nemorino (Guerrero) is acquiring his first taste of Dulcamara’s (Brownlee) magic potion, sipped from a large Slurpee-sized take-out paper cup with a straw. Their vocal agility suited the bumptious humor of the scene adroitly.
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Julie Adams [photo courtesy of San Diego Opera]
The closing trio from Gounod’s Faust superbly ended the concert with apt drama: Adams’ compelling, soaring soprano anthem providing heart-rending contrast to Guerrero’s desperation as the broken title character and Brownlee projecting his stentorian bass-baritone authority as the Devil. The trio’s encore was the popular song “Granada,” one of Guerrero’s signature tunes, which the three singers turned into a friendly vocal competition.
This performance was presented by San Diego Opera on March 4, 2020, at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Avenue, La Jolla, CA
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Ken Herman, a classically trained pianist and organist, has covered music for the San Diego Union, the Los Angeles Times’ San Diego Edition, and for sandiego.com. He has won numerous awards, including first place for Live Performance and Opera Reviews in the 2017, the 2018, and the 2019 Excellence in Journalism Awards competition held by the San Diego Press Club. A Chicago native, he came to San Diego to pursue a graduate degree and stayed.Read more…