Michael Tanner

Moving and magical

<strong>Roberto Alagna</strong><br /> <em>Barbican</em> <strong>Simon Boccanegra</strong><br /> <em>Royal Opera House</em> <strong>The Merry Widow</strong><br /> <em>Coliseum</em>

issue 17 May 2008

Roberto Alagna
Barbican

Simon Boccanegra
Royal Opera House

The Merry Widow
Coliseum

Roberto Alagna gave a recital of Verdi arias in the Barbican last week, his first appearance in the UK since his wounding experience at the hands of the hooligans who call themselves connoisseurs at La Scala Milan. It was a most enjoyable occasion, and after the first number the singer said quietly, ‘It’s very nice to be here,’ a touching tribute to the greater taste and better manners of London audiences. He was for the most part in excellent voice, though the encore of Otello’s first entrance showed that that is a role he would do well to leave alone; his singing of the death scene, by contrast, was moving and magical, with no histrionics and an inwardness I haven’t heard from him before.

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