The challenge for any “Tosca” interpreter is that no matter how incredible you’ve been for nearly two acts, the audience is waiting for you to deliver on one moment: “Vissi d’arte.” It literally breaks the momentum of the show and, with a poor performance, can ruin a soprano’s momentum as well. Her “Quanto? Il Prezzo” or “Questo il bacio di Tosca” was terrific she mixed the chest voice and spoken words, producing a hair-raising effect. She managed to build a climax full of tension and desperation gradually, without resorting to the mannerism of the old Verismo school, remaining true to her performance and control of voice production. Agresta displayed secure onset on the thunderous high notes (three high Cs), always perfectly on pitch (something that not all sopranos manage to do as they fight to be heard and sound dramatic), all while portraying all of the anguish and pain that the heroine is suffering while is being sexually harassed by Scarpia. Not only does the tessitura increase with several high Cs, B naturals, and B flats, but all these lines that rise up to the high notes require fortissimo over a dense orchestration. Agresta focused on portraying a jealous lover, with long legato lines, including an exquisite, piannissimo high B flat on “le voci delle cose.” She also showed off the power and darkness of her voice during her jealous outbursts.Īct two is the real tour de force for the soprano. Not only is it the shortest act for the soprano, but the tessitura doesn’t rise above A naturals and B flats. The first act is a perfect warm-up for sopranos. But most impressive to me was to see how her voice has evolved to suit all the demands of this dramatic part. The Evolution of AgrestaĪgresta took on the title role for the very first time, showing off her brilliant secure top notes. Surely for live audiences, this was set to be a treat for all of these reasons. The result was that many productions were forced on digital platforms, including its recent “ Faust” showcase.īut alas, after 15 months of closure, the Opéra Bastille finally reopened its doors for a production of “ Tosca” featuring the double debut of Maria Agresta and Michael Fabiano in the leading roles. This review is from the opening night on the 4 th of June 2021įor months the Opéra de Paris was doing it all it could to reopen.
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