Melbourne City Opera: Ernani

By Ronald McCoy

Melbourne City Opera’s performance of Ernani provides an ideal opportunity for opera buffs to become familiar with this seldom performed Verdi opera based on Victor Hugo's drama Hernani.

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Being played in the BMW Edge theatre, the audience had that rare opportunity of being able to be ‘up close and personal’ with the orchestra, and any budding music students interested in opera should take this opportunity to experience this score at a close range. The Melbourne City Orchestra, under the direction of Erich Fackert, demonstrated a consistently fine level of playing, bringing out the wide range of Verdi’s orchestral colours making this score a real listening joy.

Like most of the playing of the evening, the performance was robust, brimming with a confident forthright declamation throughout. Christian Germaine draws an extroverted projection from this chamber orchestra, unleashing a whirlpool of ecstatic liberated energy.