Geoffrey Mogridge reviews A Night at the Opera

Millennium Square, Leeds

Saturday 29th July 2017

One orchestra, two conductors and a pair of versatile singers gave this enjoyable concert in front of a seated audience of around 3000 - the centrepiece of Opera North's 'in the City' Festival. The title 'A Night at the Opera' really applied only to Part 1 of the programme since the second half was devoted entirely to musical theatre. I'm not complaining though.

Fast rising Australian conductor Jessica Cottis presided over the operatic first half with seemingly tireless energy and clarity. Cottis and the Orchestra of Opera North opened with a racy performance of Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture and closed with a searing account of Verdi's Overture to the Force of Destiny. Popular numbers sandwiched in between were lifted from Don Giovanni, Cavalleria Rusticana - the glorious Intermezzo, Pagliacci, Madam Butterfly, Carmen and Dvorak's Rusalka. Soprano Jeni Bern's beautifully phrased performance of Rusalka's Song to the Moon had to compete with the roar of a helicopter circling overhead.

Don Giovanni's Deh vieni alla finestra - sung with burnished eloquence by baritone Quirijn de Lang - and the Don's exquisite La ci darem la mano with Bern's passionate Zerlina - benefited from the incisive direction of Jessica Cottis. A generous helping of Italian verismo came with Nedda and Silvio's volcanic duet from Pagliacci, and Bern's resplendent One Fine Day from Madam Butterfly. The delicacy of the Intermezzo from Carmen Suite No 1 led into Quirijn de Lang's swaggering interpretation of the Toreador's Song.

James Holmes conducted Part 2 and our soloists effortlessly changed gear to the more informal - but hardly less demanding musical theatre of Porter, Weill, Sondheim, Lerner and Loewe, Bernstein, and Marc Blitzstein - the wistful I Wish it So from his 1959 musical Juno. Bern's scintillating performance of Mr Right from Kurt Weill's Love Life set the mood. The Orchestra's playing of the Ballet Music from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel and Quirijn de Lang's singing of Billy Bigelow's Soliloquy were guaranteed to bring a lump to the throat. Gershwin's Overture Girl Crazy and Wunderbar from Kiss Me Kate (with audience sing along) brought a great evening to a sparkling conclusion. And the rain stayed away!