The tragic duet with Carlo at the opera’s conclusion ached with anguish.īass-baritone Mark Delavan, an MDLO regular, brought incisive strength to the role of Rodrigo, the Marquis of Posa and Carlo’s devoted friend. That more plangent side of her tone gave poignancy to delicate arias, like “Non pianger mia compagna” in Act I. Her voice gleamed with power, but she could also moderate that volume with subtlety, matching beautifully with Chacón-Cruz’s lighter sound in their Act I scene. His voice and technical assurance have grown considerably in the intervening years, and he managed to make the character of the maligned heir to the Spanish throne both hateful and sympathetic.Ĭuban-American soprano Elaine Alvarez also made her company debut as Elisabetta, the French princess in love with Don Carlo but now married to his father, King Filippo.

The Mexican-born tenor last sang in the area over a decade ago, in a series of roles with Washington National Opera early in his career. This cast was as strong as the one heard in the last local staging of the work, by Washington National Opera in 2018, a velvet-gloved swan song by that company’s departing music director, Philippe Auguin.Īrturo Chacón-Cruz made his MDLO company debut, with heroic high notes and lyric beauty in the title role. Music director Louis Salemno presided over Verdi’s 1884 Milan version of the opera, trimmed down to four acts from its premiere as a five-act grand opera in Paris in 1867. Maryland Lyric Opera is closing out its half-season with a semi-staged production, featuring a ferocious cast and mammoth orchestra, heard Friday evening in the Music Center at Strathmore.

Photo: Julian Thomasįeeling cynical about the intersection of religion and politics for some reason? Giuseppe Verdi’s darkest grand opera, Don Carlo, may be just the thing you need right now.

Bass Andrea Silvestrelli sang the role of King Phillip II in Verdi’s Don Carlo with Maryland Lyric Opera on Friday evening.

Don carlos met opera review