Stunning recital by Lisette Oropesa in Hamburg

GermanyGermany THE ART OF Lisette Oropesa: Lisette Oropesa, (soprano), Alessandro Praticò (piano). Staatsoper Hamburg, 18.1.2025. (DM-D)

Lisette Oropesa © Steven Harris

Ravel – ‘Chanson espagnole’
Délibes – ‘Les filles de Cadix’
Massenet – ‘Chanson andalouse’; ‘Sevillana’
Bizet – ‘Ouvre ton Coeur’; ‘Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe’
Donizetti – ‘Prendi, per me sei libero’
Verdi – ‘È la vita un mar d’affannni’; ‘Stornello’; ‘Chi i bei dì m’adduce ancora’; ‘Perduta ho la pace’; ‘Merci, jeunes amies’
Saverio Mercadante – ‘La stella’; ‘La primavera’

Many conductors of classical music have reported that they hear the music when they read a score. They then seek, in rehearsals and performance, to create the sound for the audience that they hear in their mind’s ear. What they hear in this way, and the extent to which they can get their orchestra to create that sound, are two important factors. From the listener’s perspective, it is predominantly the structure of the music that suggests whether the exercise of conducting has been successful. The conductor’s and orchestra’s ability, together, to render the sound of the orchestra such that structure is apparent, that there is unison of the different instrument groups on their own, and their interaction, is the measure of the success and brilliance of a performance. Without such structure, Wagner sounds awful, Mozart boring, Puccini over the top, Verdi tedious, Beethoven lame and Brahms conventional, and so on. The music of many other composers, if presented as if without structure, may confirm (in most cases wrongly!) that the composers rightfully occupy positions somewhere further down the hierarchy of greatness.

The same is true for classical singing of song, Lied and opera. In singing accompanied by an orchestra, the conductor’s reading of the score will set the scene for the singer to integrate themselves. For events where the piano provides the sole accompaniment, the singers are left to their own devices to shape the singing.

It is in this context that I want to consider this performance in the THE ART OF series at Hamburg State Opera. Lise Davidsen had been announced for the performance on 18th January, but she withdrew early in January ‘for family reasons’. We have learnt since that she has now cancelled all her scheduled performances beyond March this year because she is pregnant with twins. Lisette Oropesa stepped in at relatively short notice, selecting a range of French and Italian songs and opera arias. She demonstrated a very keen awareness of each composer’s specific structure in their music. This extended from the rhythms to the individual complexity of the interplay of changing volume across a Lied, song or aria, as well as the composers’ take on the musical styles of a different culture: in some cases, we had an American singing music by a French composer in the Spanish style, accompanied by an Italian pianist.

Oropesa’s presentation was immensely detailed and finely chiselled. The placing of the voice in relation to different parts of her throat and indeed her entire face shifted in line and in harmony with the music. Her command of voice with all its numerous shades and nuances is quite considerable, and she was thus able to shape every moment of it at will, leaving nothing to chance. This control was at such a high level of excellence that it never came across as an intellectual effort, as mere technique, but was so much part of her holistic nature that the sounds she produced came across as effortless and spontaneous, not to mention her precise pronunciation. No wonder I overheard someone in the audience saying they could understand every single word. Oropesa clearly enjoyed every moment of her recital: she relished the music, she relished the work with her accompanist, Alessandro Praticò, she relished the excellence of her own voice. And she had every reason to.

Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe

1 thought on “Stunning recital by Lisette Oropesa in Hamburg”

  1. I was at this concert. Flew from Ireland for one night. It was just stupendous. Lisette is just simply inexplicably captivating in front of an audience. An operatic superstar.

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