https://youtu.be/XcTS15OO0Bw (Flavio aria heard in concert with accomp. video film directed by Tilda Swinton!)
What a marvelous concert – a really thoughtfully planned one. Part 1 had Handel arias interspersed with Handel orchestral music and in Part 2, the Paris version of Acts 2 And 3 of Gluck’s Orfeo. Roth Costanzo has a marvelous voice with amazing control, surprising power and, of course, the necessary flexibility. And a very small, almost delicate frame. It was a tribute to him that for almost every aria there were a few seconds of silence before the applause started – the ultimate compliment I think.
It was good to hear ‘Che Faro…’in its dramatic context but it confirmed my instinctive feeling that, not ever having seen the entire opera staged, was something that I was going to change any time soon!
We also had two encores – some Handel fireworks and then, very powerfully, an a capella ‘The Man I Love’ which, performed in Hungary in present circumstances by an out gay man was as marvelous as one would expect -and exquisitely sung too – but Judy’s performance is still safe at the top of the heap.