“possesses utter control of a ravishing mixed head sound.”
Nathan Granner was a strong and believable Rodolfo ...the San Luis Obispo production was polished and self-assured
She falls in love with the young nobleman Alfredo — tenor Nathan Granner, who local audiences are familiar with from his 2018 performance in La Bohème — but their star-crossed love affair is challenged by her health problems, financial woes, and major objections by Alfredo’s father Giorgio Germont, in a standout performance by baritone Joel Balzun.
And in the end, Mozart’s famously flawed leading man gets his indeed, via a deftly retrofitted reframing of a story that scoffs at any excuses for his poor moral choices. There is still space for mirth, as his victims haunt him in life and in death. It all demonstrates that, with a little coaxing, we can make sport while utterly condemning bad male behavior, contemporized for the times and moved to Mexico, no less. Yes, opera fans. We can have our Mozart cake and eat it, too.