As tragedies go, Lucia di Lammermoor is right up there with the grimmest. There’s a whole lot of darkness and precious little light, in a tale of thwarted love and a doomed marriage that can only ever end in tears.
Donizetti’s setting of Sir Walter Scott’s grisly novel is a staple in the opera repertoire, a place made perpetual by its everlasting association with Dame Joan Sutherland who made the famous ‘Mad Scene’ her own. And if Sutherland sang it, all the other famous sopranos had to sing it. It’s also fiendishly difficult.
So it’s a challenge for any company, and any singer, especially in the title role. There are only a handful of singers who have the wherewithal. Emma Pearson is happily such a one. She storms into the role with Lucia’s fine Act 1 aria ‘Regnava nel silenzio’ – itself no walk in the park – and powers on in the Act 2 sextet. In the ‘Mad Scene’, she negotiates the many twists and turns with ease, even if, when this reviewer attended, the voice was tiring, but still true.
Her lover, Edgardo, is played with great sincerity by Alok Kumar, whose ringing tenor thrills from the Act 1 duet with Lucia, to whom he has pledged himself, to his own death aria, ‘Fra poco a me ricovero’. Completing the trio of principals, Morgan Pearse is terrific as Enrico. His fine, resonant baritone is well-suited to roles such as this, and he also brings a confident swagger – not to mention a dandy flourish with a cape – to the part.
The minor roles are nicely done with Pelham Andrews’ rumbling bass giving the chaplain Raimondo a special gravitas.
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Conductor Lucía Marín conducts the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in a brisk performance that is expressive, if somewhat detached, especially in the recitatives. John Copley’s venerable production fills the modest Her Majesty’s stage impressively, but oh! it is a dark and dour thing and is well past its use-by date.
Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
State Opera Chorus
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Lucía Marín
Director: John Copley
Revival Director: Laura Hansford
Costume Realiser: Tracey Richardson
Lighting Designer: Mark Oakley
Chorus Master: Anthony Hunt
Cast: Emma Pearson, Alok Kumar, Morgan Pearse, Pelham Andrews, Iain Henderson, Samantha Rubenhold, Jiacheng Ding
Lucia di Lammermoor will be performed until 16 November 2024.
