REVIEWS 
"Andrea
Chenier": apotheosis of the Opera Season.
Flowers and standing ovation for the extraordinary quartet in
the opera which closed the Season: Armiliato-Dessi-Lafont-Del Monaco
Armiliato showered by enthusiastic applause
Everyone speaks of «la Dessi»
From the grandeur of the ‘Ancien Régime to the guillotin
How
long was it since we did not witness a performance like this one? Flowers
pouring at singers´feet from a standing audience!
It seemed like going back in time,
to those passionate days when audiences would not applaude for mere
protocol reasons, ashamed to expose their own enthusiasm. Audiences
recover their own voice. Last Friday, with Andrea Chenier, the
Opera season closed with an apotheotic performance.
Open
curtain applause followed every big aria. Fabio Armiliato was the first to
receive such greetings.
With his slender profile, almost shy presence, he
endowed the role with all his stamina, full
heart and spirit. The result: truly impressing (lett: ”Il
nous a bouleversés”.)
He will certainly not forget his stay in Nice. As much as we won´t
forget it ourselves.
Daniela
Dessi was her partner. She was captivating too. Along theatre corridors,
after the performance was over, one could still hear people talking about
«la Dessi». Had we anticipated this, we would have left not a single
flower in the flower market for her sake! Only marble hard hearted people
could have remained untouched at the sight of the two lovers at the end of
the opera, singing “Viva la morte insiem”, heading towards the
scaffold!
All
performers plunged us into the wonderful giddiness of opera, making us
loose our minds as well as
Andrea Chenier lost his head!"
André
PEYREGNE - NICE MATIN 28 May 2000
"The
“Annuario Lirico” (Yearly book of Opera records) in 1940
lists over 47 names of tenors available to sing Andrea
Chenier. Nowadays,
it is already something short of miracle to find a single one. This did
happen at the Nice Opera, often
visited by many italians, where Neil Shicoff was replaced by our Fabio
Armiliato. A change which in
the end made no difference at all, because the tenor from
Genova boasted his skills as an interpreter, displayed his security
and good intentions obteining a brilliant personal success. "
Giorgio GUALERZI
- FAMIGLIA CRISTIANA 18 Giugno 2000
....
“in the title role he was replaced
by Fabio Armiliato who, already after singing his first lines succeeded in
putting aside – at least during the whole night– any possible regrets in
his audience for the absence of his great colleague.
Indeed, his rendition of the recitative which precedes the
“Improvviso“ (“Colpito qui m’avete”) was believable and seductive,
and he coloured the whole aria itself with all the strength and lustre of
his voice which, although
somehow lacking in nobility, is certainly quite unique and well led. He
reaches high tones without any effort, and the baritonal shade of his voice
renders an equally beautiful and enjoyable central register. In his duets
with Maddalena and scenes with Gerard, Armiliato proved that besides from
outstanding technical skills he knows how to join any ensamble in a
remarkable way.”
P. König
OPERNGLASS – 7/8 2000
In
this new production (staged by company general director Giancarlo del
Monaco, and seen on May 30), Genoa ruled Nice once again, thanks to the presence
of Genoese singers Fabio Armiliato, in the title role, and Daniela Dessì, as
Maddalena de Coigny, who fully embodied their characters in terms of music and
acting and were entirely in sync with the particular French-Italian flavor of
this production. Armiliato, in excellent voice, replaced an indisposed Neil
Shicoff on four days' notice, yet his performance was profound and memorable.
Dessì, perhaps responding to the sudden cast change, was much more spontaneous
than usual, making her Maddalena a compelling dramatic presence.
Fred Plotkin - OPERANEWS - October 2000
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