Īn intelligent artist and actor, still in the early part of an important career, one expects the addition of other iconic spinto roles to his repertory in the next few years. I have been fortunate to have been present at Jagde’s role debut as Cavaradossi as well as a San Francisco performance. Possessing a sturdy, dusky-colored spinto tenor, Jagde brought sustained lyricism to Cavaradossi’s two great arias, the first act Recondita armonia and the last act E lucevan le stelle, and power to his second act defiant celebration of a Napoleonic victory. New York tenor Brian Jagde, a former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and, like GIannattasio, an Operalia winner, had performed the role of Cavaradossi in the last two seasons (20) in which “Tosca” was performed at the San Francisco Opera, Jagde was an obvious choice for the cast launching the new production. Giannattasio clearly has the vocal power and dramatic instincts to make her own mark as Tosca.
Tosca, on the other hand, is one of the iconic leading soprano roles of Italian opera. Alice Ford can be considered as an ensemble role and Giannatasio performed admirably as part of that ensemble. I had seen Giannattasio perform the role of Alice Ford in Lee Blakeley’s production of Verdi’s “Falstaff” at the Los Angeles Opera. In Giannattasio’s portrayal, the second act aria Vissi d’arte, rather than a pause in a fast-paced drama, becomes an exposition of Tosca’s vulnerability, a transformative moment that makes her sudden determination to defend herself physically against Scarpia’s assault believable. Tosca observes the rituals of a conservative church hierarchy, but is sexually active with Cavaradossi, a nobleman suspected of anticlericalism. Portraying Tosca as Tosca as a young, self-centered woman, Giannattasio displayed the character’s contradictions. In her role debut and San Francisco Opera debut as Tosca, Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio, who was a 2002 Operalia winner, was a revelatory Tosca. The San Francisco Opera unveiled its attractive new Shawna Lucey/Robert Innes Hopkins production of Puccini’s “Tosca”.
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