“Musically, the Ottawa production was cathartic at every turn. It more than met the moment as the opener of conductor Alexander Shelley’s final season with NACO. To begin, American soprano Ailyn Pérez delivered a Tosca that was stamped with her own velvet seal. Her characterization of the infamous diva leaned more on the chamber side of things, appropriately scaled to this two-dimensional set.
Pérez’s Tosca swaps gravitas for relatability. She’s intimate where others choose to be bombastic, transporting the audience into the corner of her vanity room, where every tormented aria is transformed into an urgent voice message with resonant effect. The final duet with her lover Cavaradossi, “Amaro sol per te m’era il morire” (Only for you was dying bitter), took the air out of Southam Hall.
Across from Pérez stood the towering figures of tenor Matthew Cairns (Cavaradossi) and bass-baritone Nathan Berg (Scarpia, the deranged baron pursuing Tosca). This triangle of talent formed a vocal unit that added meat to the bare bones of this opera-in-concert staging.”