It takes a certain amount of courage for an opera company to tackle a work as weighty and intricate as Verdi’s “Otello.” The piece requires singers of singular virtuosity, able to meet the technical and expressive challenges the composer throws their way, as well as a creative team to shape those performances into a persuasive whole.
The folks at Livermore Valley Opera are nothing if not courageous. Even better, their boldness turns out to be entirely justified.
The production that opened a four-performance run at Livermore’s Bankhead Theater on Saturday, March 5, is a tour de force of musical and dramatic star power. On opening night, each of the three principal singers took the measure of a substantial vocal assignment and dispatched it with vivid, often thrilling immediacy. The supporting cast was no less impressive, and Music Director Alexander Katsman, conducting a reduced orchestra, still conveyed most of the score’s shadowy, intensely colored brilliance.
The production represents a celebration of the company’s 30th anniversary, and it could not have offered a more resounding affirmation of what a midsize regional organization like this one can achieve.
No one undertakes “Otello” without a suitable Otello, and tenor Limmie Pulliam proved just the man for the job. He boasts the requisite combination of full-throated dramatic vocal power and intimate lyricism, and he deployed all of that in a performance of enormous heroism.
Granted, Pulliam cuts a somewhat impassive stage figure — he tends to adopt a position or facial expression and hold it — but he conveys plenty of emotional drama through his voice alone. His opening cry of “Esultate!” as the warrior returns to shore victorious after a sea battle rang out with conviction, and he brought tenderness and fervor to the sumptuous love duet that concludes Act 1.
Then, as the venom of jealousy worked its way into Otello’s soul, Pulliam drew out even more strings to his bow. His scenes with Iago showed Otello being pulled inexorably into madness, as Pulliam’s singing became increasingly fraught without sacrificing a bit of rhythmic or dynamic control.
He had a more than capable partner in soprano Elaine Alvarez, whose performance as Desdemona was a marvel of athleticism and tonal beauty. Alvarez sings with a throaty magnificence that is full of fire and urgency, and she does it while maintaining full command of pitch and phrasing.
Nowhere was that more evident than in her big vocal showpiece in the opera’s final act, combining the poignant strains of the “Willow Song” with the mournful simplicity of the “Ave Maria.” Alvarez shaped this scene over an impressive span of time, building phrase upon phrase with ever-growing eloquence.
And if Pulliam and Alvarez arrived as revelations to local audiences, the glistening malevolence ofPhilip Skinner’sIago was simply the latest demonstration of the well-known truism that this bass-baritone can do anything, and do it with splendid versatility. From the thundering strains of the “Credo” — in which Iago attributes his own evil to the vicious deity in whose image he believes he was created — to the sinuous manipulation with which he sets the plot’s machinery in action, Skinner was never less than riveting.
Other local operatic treasures did their part as well. Alex Boyer, whose gleaming, bright tenor is always a delight, shone as Cassio, and bass Kirk Eichelberger made a robust contribution as Lodovico. Layna Chianakas proved a double threat, singing the role Emilia vividly and also directing the entire production with sure-footed authority.
How does a company tackle an assignment this ambitious and emerge from the process so thoroughly covered with glory? There’s no single answer, but Livermore Valley Opera clearly has what it takes.
“Otello”:Livermore Valley Opera. Through Sunday, March 13. $20-$95. Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. 925-373-6800.www.lvopera.com