Since becoming the artistic director of Washington Concert Opera, Antony Walker has added new prestige to the company’s innovative programs. Following the earlier presentation of Gounod’s dramatic “Faust,” he closes the season with Rossini’s sparkling “La Cenerentola” starring mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux and tenor Kenneth Tarver.
The Washington Concert Opera presents Rossini’s “La Cenerentola”
Where: George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, 21st and H streets NW
When: 6 p.m. Sunday
Info: $30 to $90; 202-364-5826; [email protected]
“Vivica has the most fantastic facility for the coloratura range,” Walker said. “She dazzles with her stage presence and she is beautiful besides. Ken sang the title role in our performance of Rossini’s ‘Otello’ several seasons ago and is an expert in the Rossini repertoire. He has an elegant way of singing and Vivica’s voice has a rapierlike quality, so I wanted to bring them together because they complement each other.”
To enhance the two exquisite voices, Walker will present “La Cenerentola” as a semistaged opera using the chorus and orchestra. Because he gravitates to early operas and those off the beaten path, his past WCO presentations have often been new to the audience. This season, however, he decided to do something different by choosing two popular works that have not been performed recently in the area and engaging two competent and admired international artists.
Raised in Australia where he wanted to compose from an early age, he soon discovered he possessed a beautiful voice. He was only 10 when Opera Australia invited him to join them as a boy soprano. By the time his voice broke, he had sufficient taste of opera to know that was the direction he would follow.
While still a student, he conducted the Sydney Symphony and the Melbourne Symphony and entered the Australian Opera Young Artists Program. After a term as musical director of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, he became chorusmaster of the Welsh National Opera.
Along the way, he has frequently taken over for singers in an emergency, singing their lines from the orchestra pit and earning their praise. In addition to his position with WCO, he is currently music director of Pittsburgh Opera, music director and founder of Cantillation Orchestra of the Antipodes and Sinfonia Australia and co-artistic director of Australia’s Pinchgut Opera.
Walker is in constant demand by opera companies worldwide. His most recent honor is Metropolitan Opera’s invitation to conduct Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” next season.
“This is a very good choice for me because it’s a repertoire in which I have a lot of experience,” he said. “It utilizes period instruments, one of my specialties, so the engagement renders me almost speechless. It wasn’t in my radar.”
In the meantime, he continues to plan for his other assignments by selecting operas to please and intrigue all those in the audience, both dedicated fans and newcomers to the genre. He is especially pleased to present “La Cenerentola” and its elegant stars to the WCO audience on Mother’s Day.
“I want them to be delighted by its wit and virtuosity,” he said. “This is a cast that will do it justice with sparkle and energy. It’s quite fast-paced and tuneful, the perfect gift for mother and grandmother.”
