DEIRDRE
Reviewed by Warren Wilson, The Globe and Mail (Monday,
October 27, 1997)
"She's young. She's
beautiful. She's Irish. So she's dead meat: at least in opera, where box office
and body count go hand in hand.
Deirdre, by Canadian composer Healey Willan, in two
performances, launched the 24th season of Opera in Concert at
Toronto's Jane Mallett Theatre Saturday night, the first of four legendary
operatic heroines.
This is the work's first
performance in more than 30 years. Why the long hiatus? For one thing Deirdre
demands Wagnerian forces vocally and orchestrally."
"Top vocal honours went to
Bruce Kelly as Conochar, his sturdy baritone ringing and heroic, his diction
impeccable. Mezzo Rebecca Hass as Deirdre's handmaiden Levercham supplied a
lustrous vocal line. "
"Both principals, even given
the restrictions of a concert performance, acted with passionate
intensity."
Robert Cooper's Opera in Concert chorus
came into its own in the final scenes, keening in true Irish fashion as the
carnage mounted."