Ionarts at Santa Fe: The Lady without a Lake

Joyce DiDonato (Elena) in La Donna del Lago, Santa Fe Opera, 2013 (photo by Ken Howard)
Charles T. Downey, Santa Fe Opera’s thrilling “Donna del Lago” proves the highlight of the summer
The Classical Review, August 2

It had to happen eventually, and it did.

After some disappointments earlier in the week, Thursday was a very good night to be at the Santa Fe Opera. The company’s debut production of Rossini’s La Donna del Lago turned out to be the high point of this summer’s season. In a charming, rustic production, directed by Paul Curran and shared with the Metropolitan Opera, a top-notch cast blew the roof off Crosby Theater with performances that were vocally and musically thrilling and dramatically compelling. The magnificent purple-hued vista of a stormy night in the New Mexico desert, complete with lightning flashes, is the sort of thing that only Santa Fe can offer.

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Rossini, La Donna del Lago (critical edition of the score edited by H. Colin Slim)
Libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, premiered 24 October 1819 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples
Based on Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake
Santa Fe Opera

SEE ALSO:
Scott Cantrell, Vocal virtuosity in Santa Fe “La donna del lago” (Dallas Morning News, August 2)

George Loomis, La donna del lago, Santa Fe, New Mexico – review (Financial Times, August 1)

James M. Keller, Joyce DiDonato dazzles in La donna del lago (Santa Fe New Mexican, July 14)