As the streets cleared and Belfast returned to normal after the King’s visit on Tuesday, some who had sung at the memorial service in St Anne’s Cathedral had other pressing duties: a performance of Verdi’s La Traviata at the city’s Grand Opera House, the second night of a new production by Cameron Menzies, conducted by Rebecca Lang, with the Ulster Orchestra in the pit. Northern Ireland Opera had loaned members of its chorus to boost numbers (alongside Belfast’s Priory Singers) for the royal ceremony, the cathedral having sacked its own excellent choir and music director, in a cloistral blunder worthy of Trollope, just weeks ago.
Luckily this is a region rich in vocal talent. The locally based NI Opera chorus is, post-Covid, new, recruited through open auditions earlier this year yet already able to produce the vital, full-bodied sound needed for Verdi’s beloved work. The first opera to be produced in Frank Matcham’s magnificent 1895 theatre since it reopened last year after a £12m restoration, this Traviata was deftly cast, impressively sung, perceptively conceived and direct in impact, no mean feat. Lang kept the pace swift but never lost touch with the music’s heartbeat pulse. The orchestra was responsive and agile.
