★★★☆☆ Lightweight operatic programme in need of some Verdi, Mozart or Wagner.

Llewellyn Hall, Canberra
July 2, 2016

This (election night) operatic gala featured three soloists from Opera Australia – soprano Stacey Alleaume, mezzo-soprano Anna Yun and tenor Simon Kim. The conductor, Stanley Dodds, was born in Canada, brought up in Australia and is now conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra.

The concert began with the overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor by Nicolai. This is not the easiest piece to bring off successfully because of the tricky woodwind writing but the orchestra and the conductor carried it off very well. The second half began with what was described as the overture to William Tell by Rossini but in fact only the last part, the hunting scene, was played; the audience might have felt a bit cheated. Much of the remainder of the programme consisted of orchestral items, with an emphasis on music from Bizet’s Carmen. Here, it was gratifying that the conductor eschewed the brassy, percussive tonal palette that is often inflicted on this music which therefore emerged with its inherent Gallic charm. The woodwind soloists in particular were excellent. By contrast, the Bacchanale from Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila was rather noisy, but this is inherent in the music. The...