Petite Armenian soprano fills S.F. Opera's 'Tosca' with her voice: review

PanARMENIAN.Net - Even though tenor Brian Jagde and baritone Mark Delavan towered over her, Lianna Haroutounian outsang them at San Francisco Opera's matinee of Puccini's "Tosca," Janos Gereben said in a review published at the San Francisco Examiner.

“In her San Francisco and role debuts, the diminutive Armenian soprano (well-known and acclaimed in Europe) filled the huge War Memorial Opera House with her lovely, effortless voice. Her projection and musicality were excellent. Her leap to her death from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo showed Olympic form,” the review said.

“Tosca” is one of San Francisco Opera’s most frequently performed operas. This version, from 1997 with Lotfi Mansouri's staging, is based on the 1932 production, the very first in the War Memorial.

“Stage director Jose Maria Condemi, also at the helm in 2008 and 2012 at S.F. Opera, has added minor new touches to the proceedings (which unfold on Thierry Bosquet's slightly fading sets), but wisely refrained from changing the staging for the sake of doing something different – to good effect.”

“The same cannot be said for Riccardo Frizza's conducting, although the orchestra did its best. The conductor's shortcomings were especially obvious in the snail-paced Act 1 finale, the normally rousing Te Deum, and even more in the long introductory scene of Act 2, which was slow and sounded monotonous,” the review said.