<<<  <<  -- 5 --  Maria Nockin    MUCH TO CONTEMPLATE

Mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby was a captivating Lu who sang with burnished tones. Roger Honeywell declaimed his text with conviction as Princess Lan's brother and Christian Van Horn was an impressive emperor. Making his Santa Fe début, conductor Lawrence Renes led not only a western classical orchestra, but also a corps of percussionists stationed along the walls on both sides of the stage. They created soft sounds by pouring differing amounts water from high and low points and added harder ones by whipping the air with various sized sheets of paper.

Certainly, this was not traditional lyric opera, but it was substantial food for thought. Santa Fe always gives us various types of opera to sample and there is much to contemplate betewwn now and next summer.