Last night I attended a concert version of La Gioconda at the Sydney Opera House. A dream cast. Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tezier and a magnificent Gioconda the Spanish soprano Saioa Hernandez. The rest of the cast were seasoned internationals. Pinchas Streinberg conducted.
The Sydney Opera House is 50 years old this year and I have been a patron from the beginning. After a night like last night one can be accused of overstatement but I cannot recall a more entertaining evening in the past 50 years. The singing was nothing short if spectacular and the artists were rapturously received by the audience in particular Ms Hernandez.
As an aside I surprised this opera is not performed more often. It is wonderfully tuneful and surely no harder to cast than the big Verdi operas.