La Dame Blanche

Reviewed by Paula Citron

La Dame Blanche
Opera in Concert
Music by François-Adrien Boïeldieu
Music direction by Nathalie Doucet-Lalkens
Performed by Eve-Lyn de la Haye, Ryan Harper, Maureen Batt, Stefan Fehr, Tracy Reynolds and Nicolas Guy-Buiron
Jane Mallett Theatre
Nov. 28, 2010

The opera-comiques of the early 19th century by the likes of Boïeldieu and Auber are filled with delightful melodies, charming ensembles, and scintillating choruses. They could certainly stand in the stead of the overworked Rossini and Mozart opera buffos.

Opera in Concert’s main occupation is rarities in opera, and their weekend offering was Boïeldieu’s La Dame Blanche, based on novels by the ever-present Sir Walter Scott.

The most accomplished singer was lyric soprano Eve-Lyn de la Haye as Anna. Her pretty voice is clear as a bell, yet with lovely colour. Ryan Harper as Georges Brown has the light lyric voice so necessary for this repertoire, but it is still a baby tenor that gets breathy at the high notes, yet the promise is there. The rest of the cast contributed to the singing in decent fashion.

Music director/pianist Nathalie Doucet-Lalkens kept up a blistering pace, and as always, Robert Cooper’s Opera in Concert chorus sang sublimely.