A Night at the Opera with Alfie Boe

Last week in Manchester, one of the theatre venues played host to a popular TV talent show holding auditions for their forthcoming series. However, just down the road at the Bridgewater Hall, the real talent of Britain was treating its audience to a night at the Opera.

Tenor Alfie Boe along with the Halle Orchestra under the direction of conductor Wyn Davies delighted the audience with music of the highest calibre performing works by some of the greatest opera composers known. One of the aims of Alfie as a Classical Crossover artist has always been to bring opera to a wider audience and whilst many of the pieces performed may not have been that familiar to the audience as a whole, the information in the programme together with Alfie’s introductions to each piece gave you enough of an insight into the piece to be able to enjoy it. If this was your first experience to Opera I think the relative informality of the evening would add not only to the enjoyment but also to your understanding and appreciation of the music in general and inspire you to find out more and try out a full length opera for yourself.

In my experience, nothing can surpass the sound of a live orchestra and the Halle is certainly of the finest in the country. Add to this a performance by one of the most talented and affable tenors of the time and you could not ask for a better or more pleasurable evening.

From the moment he walked on stage, Alfie interacted well with the audience. He introduced the conductor Wyn Davies and said that he was grateful he had been able to step in at the last minute as the original conductor was unwell. He then joked that Wyn had great experience as a conductor although usually he was the conductor on the 259 bus to Salford!! His easy manner endeared him to the audience completely and as he apologised and set the record straight that in fact Wyn was the Director of Music & Opera for New Zealand, you felt completely at ease. Alfie’s cheeky sense of humour was further displayed when he “told off” some late comers, firstly saying that they would have to start the programme from the beginning and then adding that they wouldn’t have been late if they had been on Wyn’s bus! Of course, the late arrivals had no idea what he meant but the rest of the audience dissolved in laughter.

As the programme progressed it was very easy to get caught up in the music and find yourself carried away by the emotion or drama of the piece. Alfie’s wonderful tenor voice complimented so many of the pieces and the expression and feeling he put into his performance also added to the beauty and poignancy of each piece. Even if you knew nothing about the piece of music you could not help but be impressed by the incredible performances given by Alfie and the Halle Orchestra. In the current TV series Pop star to Opera Star, mentor and singer Rolando Villazon tells his students that in order to be able to perform opera you have to connect to the piece, to the story and the music and then show that connection through your voice. To see how to do this, you need look only as far as Alfie Boe. Whether the piece is romantic, tragic or full of comedy, Alfie has a way of connecting to the piece and bringing this out in his performance in such a way that it is not forced or insincere. Several times throughout the concert, his performance brought tears to my eyes as I found myself getting caught up in the music and connecting to it on many different levels.

There were so many wonderful pieces performed that it would be hard to pick a favourite although a special mention should go to ‘Dein ist mein ganzes Herz’ (You are my heart’s delight) taken from Franz Lehar’s The Land of Smiles and also on Alfie’s latest album Love Was A Dream. I have heard this piece performed by Alfie before, both as a recording and live and yet it never fails to impress me and I always find something new to enjoy about it with each listening.

As an encore Alfie performed a piece that needed no introduction at all as it is extremely well known to opera fans, football fans and reality TV fans everywhere – Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot. This piece has been performed by many artists before, but there is something in the way that Alfie performs it that gives you goosebumps. I was so caught up in the moment of this song that at one point I realised I was clapping before he’d even finished singing – not only that but so were half the audience! It was a truly exhilarating performance which gave Alfie a much deserved standing ovation from the audience.

Afterwards Alfie greeted fans for well over an hour and was happy to sign autographs and pose for photos. Many people in the queue were commenting on just how amiable they found him and even though they had only recently heard of him, they were already huge fans. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and after a Night at the Opera with Alfie Boe, I hope to see many more operas in the future.


Programme:

Rossini: Overture L’Italiana in Algeri

Donizetti L'Elisir d'amore:
Quanto e Bella;
Una Furtiva Lagrima 

Mozart Overture: Don Giovanni, 

Lehar The Land of Smiles:
Dein ist mein ganzes Herz 

Puccini Manon Lescaut:
Intermezzo
Tra voi, belle 

Verdi Sicilian Vespers: Overture 

Verdi Macbeth:
Macduff’s aria, Ah, La Paterna mano 

Gounod Romeo et Juliette:
Ah! lêve-toi soleil 

Puccini Crisantemi 

Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin:
Poloniase
Lensky’s aria 

Encore
Puccini Turandot
Nessun Dorma

Added: January 30th 2010
Reviewer: xantha
Score: