From Carmen to Carmina at the Aotea Centre

By HEATH LEES

Paddling their way through the year with only two operas, Aucklanders could be forgiven for thinking of last week's opera-type concerts as a consolation prize.

But there were some outstanding items, such as Jared Holt, on the way to being the best male opera voice this country has reared. After an iffy choral start to Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (the women's voices great, the men lagging behind), Holt rose to his feet and let loose a thrilling baritone sound that applied rocket propulsion to the work and sent it into orbit.

Judging the part of the drunken abbot to perfection and with some beautiful falsetto notes, Holt personified glorious tone and artistry.

You had to remember it wasn't a one-man show. James Meng sang valiantly as the swan, and a red-robed, liquid-voiced Jenny Wollerman made the song of the "girl in the red dress" a thing of beauty. Earlier, in the Carmen selections, she was a touchingly sad Micaela, capturing what many whole operas miss - that Micaela isn't self-pitying, just bewildered at being alone.

Helen Medlyn is never alone. Talented, frivolous, and with a script so overdone it was almost operatic, she was presenter as well as star singer. She threw herself into the role of Carmen as though she had bits of Lady Macbeth caught up in her habanera. Musically it was a treat, though her second aria disappointed, the voice having shed some of its focus and blend.

When Medlyn joined four of New Zealand Opera's emerging artists in the famous Carmen quintet, Andrew Conley and Seamus Casey stood out.

Occasional appearances from the children's choir were welcome, and the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus received a well-deserved cheer at the end, as did the evening's maestro, John Grieves-Smith.

Lighting added much, though the back-projection was niggardly in giving us only three different scenes. Not a big-budget affair, but the rich playing of the Auckland Philharmonia was ample compensation.