Gig of a lifetime in London on Saturday

If you go to a hundred well-chosen gigs, maybe ten will stand out as life-enhancing. And two or three of these will number among the most emotionally heightened passages of your life.

Saturday’s performance of La Fille du Regiment at London’s Royal Opera House was one of those two or three: a thrilling, near perfect version of Donizetti’s opera comique.

The two leads, French soprano Natalie Dessay and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez, had a tumultuous reception, the like of which I’ve never before experienced in an opera house: Covent Garden on Saturday went nuts over these two.

Dessay was magnificent - as slapstick comedienne, soaring soprano, and even when delivering spoken recitative. You don’t see better performances than her Marie. And Florez lived up to his billing as the new Pavarotti – he has a higher, smaller voice than the great Italian, but his range, power and subtlety can match anyone on the world stage. Together, they were peerless. The chorus, orchestra and direction were also from the top drawer: opera (hence all music) simply doesn’t get any better than this.

You can hear this great production on BBC Radio 3 on Saturday from 1830, though you’ll obviously miss the visual feast. And it’s a co-production, so is due to travel to Vienna and New York; I’m tempted to book flights now.


Gerry Smith