Il Trovatore: by Verdi

Since this is the latest opera I have seen my memory is freshest with it. You may actually get some real information with this one. Il Trovatore is fantastic. It also has an incredibly recognizable song in it which is the video above. Check it out. You may find your toes even tapping along. (Hang on until about 1:20 seconds)

Pros: Wonderful chorus numbers. Hopefully you will have found the anvil chorus to be as familiar to you as I did. Particularly I enjoyed the aria's by Leonora that hit the lower half of her vocal register. They were masterfully done and I get the impression that while it is difficult to keep a high note from breaking the low notes are difficult to project throughout the entire opera house. I keep reminding myself that mics are not used.

Cons: The gypsy lady is weird. And unless you read the back story portion in the opera program you may have found yourself a bit confused. They seem to glaze over some of the details (at least the subtitling did) I also found the vocal performance of Manrico to not be as strong as I wished. Sometimes he seemed over powered by Count di Luna.

Must See Rating: ****