Music shows off its muscle as singers adhere to form in 'Samson' workoutExcerpted From Commercial Appeal, main newspaper of Memphis, TN By Christopher
Blank, Music Critic As operas go, "Samson and Dalila" coasts on an elegant wave of music courtesy of one of France's great composers, Camille Saint-Saens. It was a wave that rolled gently over the rows of patrons gathered Saturday at the Orpheum for the first production of Opera Memphis's 50th anniversary season. Most impressive was the Opera Memphis chorus, under chorus master William H. Jones, which sang with confidence and wide-ranging emotions. In the first act the chorus members cowered and shuddered as the subjugated Israelites. Later they'd get up close and personal with each other as the hedonistic Philistines. As told in the Old Testament book of Judges, Samson is an unstoppable roughneck, made slightly more likeable in the 1877 libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. After setting his people free, Samson falls in love with that witchy woman, the demon barber of Gaza, Dalila. The set, newly acquired by Opera Memphis, offers a rewarding spectacle, with large, swooping overhangs and wonderful splashes of light designed by Helena Kuukka. The final scene, when Samson brings down the house, provides exciting closure to an evening of solidly performed music. |