Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell with Teatro Regio di Torino (Mathilde)
December 16th, 2014Carnegie Hall, NYC
“On Sunday the stylish and glowing playing of the orchestra; the robust yet sensitive singing of the impressive chorus; the solid cast, especially the glorious soprano Angela Meade; and the insightful conducting of Mr. Noseda all combined to make this event one of the New York’s operatic highlights of recent years. Rossini’s heroic, humane work, which in the version presented here lasted four hours with two intermissions, seemed more than ever his masterpiece. … Ms. Meade brought her sumptuous, powerful voice to Mathilde. She can be dramatically cautious, but this was a deeply felt as well as exquisitely sung performance. In the great choral ensemble at the end of Act III, when Tell is dragged away by the Austrian soldiers and the Swiss people denounce Gessler, Ms. Meade’s soaring phrases cut through the sound of the entire orchestra and chorus.”
— The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini (December 2014)
“Angela Meade has grown in strength and assurance in the past several years, and she was thrilling as Mathilde. Her soprano has always been generous, multihued and dispatched with pinpoint control, but here it blazed with passion.”
— The Wall Street Journal, Heidi Waleson (December 2014)
Chicago
Noseda, Teatro Regio hit the mark with thrill-packed ‘William Tell’
“[The tenor’s] voice was ideally matched in the Act 2 duet with Meade’s voluminous sound, uncommon flexibility and crushed-velvet richness of timbre. Matilde’s romanza, known in English as “Somber Forests,” was a model of bel canto singing at its finest, and the soprano’s top notes gleamed like lasers. … Too bad Noseda and the Regio Torino only gave one performance of “William Tell” here. This one could have played to packed houses all week.”
— Chicago Tribune, John Von Rhein (December 2014)
Grand Torino: Noseda, inspired cast and Italian musicians hit the bullseye in a thrilling “William Tell”
“With a first-class cast, Noseda led an electrifying performance that revealed the epic Guglielmo Tell as Rossini’s greatest achievement. Over four hours (including two 25-minute intermissions) Noseda sustained the immensely rich score with bristling momentum, drawing thrilling vocalism from his singers and searing dramatic impact in one of Chicago’s musical highlights of the year. … The only Americans among the all-Italian cast were the two lovers, John Osborn as Arnoldo and Angela Meade as Mathilde. The fast-rising Meade fully lived up to high expectations in her Chicago debut, displaying a creamy, resplendent soprano. If her Act 2 aria (‘Sombre foret’) was a little too carefully underlined, she showed striking agility for such a big voice, impassioned in the love duets and her high notes ringing out excitingly over the ensembles.”
— Chicago Classical Review, Lawrence A. Johnson (December 2014)
Noseda’s Gamble Pays Off
“The cast was about as strong as we could hope, not perfect by any means, but filled with great voices. The obvious standout among the soloists was American soprano Angela Meade, singing the role of Matilde, Arnold’s beloved. Her Act 2 introductory aria was a revelatory experience for those who have not heard her before. Meade’s clarity of both tone and diction, as well as her control of loud and soft tones, made the show worthwhile on their own. Meade wasn’t done yet; she topped her Act 2 aria in Act 3, with high notes that would make even the most experienced opera-going ears twitch. Her talent is so remarkable her voice could convert non-opera lovers; she is a threat to blow almost any other soprano out of the water.”
— LA Splash, Adam Dalgren (December 2014)
Edinburgh Festival, Scotland
“It is Rossini’s final and greatest work for the theatre – a tale of resistance to foreign tyranny and a hopeful hymn to nationalistic liberty. … The Edinburgh Festival offered a concert performance, emanating from the Teatro Regio in Turin and presented in the Italian version made under the composer’s supervision. It proved hugely enjoyable and rewarding. … Mathilde was also impressively incarnated by the American soprano Angela Meade, who has recently become a big favourite at the Metropolitan Opera. One could hear why: the voice is sumptuous and it paints the music with a confidently broad brush and a richly coloured palette.”
— The Telegraph (UK), Rupert Christiansen (August 2014)
“Noseda and his team made a terrific case for the piece. The demands on the soloists are as daunting as the Alps – poor Arnold needs an absurd cache of high notes, but John Osborn sounded heroically well-oiled. Angela Meade was an ardent, sassy Matilde with huge decibels.
— The Guardian (UK), Kate Molleson (August 2014)