May 7, 2014

L’elisir d’amore – San Diego Opera

It seemed like déja vu all over again on February 16, when San Diego Opera offered Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore with Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti as Nemorino. The San Diego Elisir played in Stephen Lawless’s Los Angeles Opera production (developed with the Grand Théâtre du Geneve and designed by Johan Engels), which had served for Filianoti’s Los Angeles Opera debut in September 2009. The show worked better in San Diego….

San Diego Opera provided Lawless with a uniformly excellent company. Filianoti, who possesses a bright, forward voice with little fear of the stratosphere, is an engaging actor: his portrayal of Nemorino as shy, gauche and ecstatic by turns was quite fetching. When Tatiana Lisnic’s vivacious Adina kissed him, Filianoti literally quivered, shook and rocked her in his arms. He delivered a fine “Una furtiva lagrima” as well.

Opera News, Charlene Baldridge, May, 2014