OTELLO – VERDI
Presented on Apr 27, 30 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin and on May 3, 5 at the Opera House Cork as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society’s Spring Season
Angelo Marenzi – Otello
Hagint Vartanian – Desdemona
Joshua Hecht – Iago
Brendan Cavanagh – Cassio
Patrick Ring – Roderigo
Seán Mitten – Lodovico
Peter McBrien – Montano / Herald
Ruth Maher – Emilia
Napoleone Annovazzi – Conductor
Dario Micheli – Producer
Listen to this production here:
Three of the operas from the spring 1976 Dublin season were also presented in Cork; sadly, this production of “Otello” was not amongst them – a factor that was examined at length and with some erudition by popular broadcaster Tommy O’Brien:
Singing the title role in “Otello” was tenor Angelo Marenzi, who hailed from Rome, and worked in public transport before he took up opera as a career. He was married to New Zealand-born soprano Lorraine Jones. Marenzi quickly impressed the chorus members by his vocal powers. To Paddy Brennan, in the tenor line, his voice was special, being naturally produced, even and well-focused. ‘I remember he sailed through the most difficult parts of the music in a surprisingly effortless way. Off-stage he had a fetish though about his health – his throat especially.’ Fanny Feehan (Evening Herald) thought Marenzi produced some splendid singing, while Charles Acton commented that he had a true tenor voice of considerable flexibility which he used at full power at climactic moments. There were mixed views regarding Joshua Hecht’s performance as lago, but nearly everyone agreed that Hagint Vartanian’s Desdemona was beautifully sung and acted. She was a late replacement for Linda Vajna who because of a broken leg sustained in Italy, was unable to come to Dublin. “Otello” wasn’t altogether a happy experience for tenor Paddy Ring. He was due to sing the role of Cassio but because he regarded it as more important than Roderigo, asked Colonel O’Kelly for a bigger fee. The Colonel, however, took umbrage at the request, so Ring decided to sing Roderigo for his original fee, letting Brendan Cavanagh sing Cassio, ‘I would like to have sung the part a few years before if I’d been asked, but it didn’t happen that way.’ It would be 1980 before he’d be invited to sing another role for the society and that would be “Fidelio”. Dario Micheli had reason to be pleased with the critics’ reaction to his stage designs and direction. Charles Acton (Irish Times) in particular was impressed and found his opening act ‘gripping and a tour de force.’ Fanny Feehan found it ‘a colourful production’ while Judith Segal (Evening Press) stated the ‘production had celerity, colour in costume, good handling of crowds and altogether showed Micheli as a visionary of musical theatre.’
(Extracted from “Love and Music: The Glorious History of the Dublin Grand Opera Society” by Gus Smith, 1998)
Opera in Ireland 