'Opera Beneath The Stars', presented by Absolute Opera, Royal Court Theatre Studio, Liverpool. The venue being hasily changed from St.Luke's Bombed Out Church (an open air venue - and underneath the stars!) - due to a sudden change in our wonderfully reliable British weather.
This concert was certainly an eclectic mix of musical genres from grand opera, operetta, to some more modern songs thrown into the mix. Accompanist Per Nielsen opened the show with Méditation from 'Thaïs' by Massenet. How very 21st century it was to see him playing a (somewhat tinny) electric piano with sheet music on his iPad!
He and tenor Roy Locke were both in formal evening wear as Mr Locke explained that none of the performers had microphones as this was how it used to be. He was a little softly spoken yet clearly possessed a powerful singing voice as demonstrated with his opening salvo, crowd pleaser 'O Sole Mio'.
We then met Lilly Papaioannou, resplendent in a sparkly black dress, flirting with the audience as she belted out 'Habanera' (Carmen), quickly followed by Leigh Rhianon Coggins singing one of the most famous of all arias, 'O Mio Babbino Caro' (Puccini - Gianni Schicchi). Lightness was added with a Gilbert and Sullivan section including 'Pirate King' - which had to be restarted when the digital piano lost power - and ending with 'Little Buttercup'. Papaioannou was appropriately dressed as a milkmaid but carrying a Sainsbury's bag and threw some of her wares into the crowd as she presented this quirky little ditty!
The first half ended with a mix of tunes, including a personal favourite, 'Wilja' by Lehar and Barcarolle ('belle nuit') from The Tales Of Hoffmann.
The second half was even more varied than the first and I liked everything except for a number of German love arias in the middle section. This time Papaioannou appeared in a gorgeous red dress as temptress Carmen before joining Coggins in a stunning rendition of the Flower Duet (Lakmé).
We were then informmed that the next few songs would be performed in English: 'Summertime', 'Danny Boy' and 'The Prayer' (most famously sung by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion). The concert ended with audience participation encouraged to join in on 'Funiculì, Funiculà' and 'Libiamo' in between all 3 singers adding their touches to 'Nessun Dorma'.
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