Macbeth – Leeds Grand Opera North’s winter season continues with a first-rate revival one of Verdi’s early masterpieces.
Bela Perencz in the title role and Kelly Cae Hogan as his Lady gelled well together from start to finish.
The Thane’s baritone voice was beautifully focussed, and his final tragic aria, where the composer is almost too kind to him, was absolute perfection.
Although his wife’s aria was not as ‘rough, hollow and stifled’ as Verdi would have wished, she let fly at her husband with an effortless abandon as she strutted about the stage in her high heels and fitted suit.
The rich bass voice of Paul Whelan’s Banquo was finally stifled by the tyrant’s assassins. Jung Soo Yun’s impressive tenor voice as Macduff lived to reap the warm acclaim of the audience.
The mighty Opera North chorus relished the composer’s magnificent finales to acts once and two, and the Witches cackled lustily wherever they were let loose.
The Swedish conductor, Tobias Ringborg, was warmly welcomed back to Opera North, his rich pacing and orchestral playing of the glorious score was a joy to hear.
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