MEDEA
Canadian Opera Company, Toronto
May | 2024
"There are not enough words of praise to shower on Italian conductor Lorenzo Passerini making his COC debut. This production is meticulously rendered and magnificently defined. There is not one musical effect that is overlooked. In Passerini’s fine hands, Cherubini’s score becomes a musical conversation. The maestro is a keeper."
Paula Citron, May 6
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https://paulacitron.ca/music/opera-review-canadian-opera-company-spring-season-medea-closes-may-17/
"Conductor Lorenzo Passerini draws a fiery performance from the COC orchestra. [...] The orchestra and cast play and sing this unfamiliar work with such passion it overwhelmed me with its power. This Medea will go down as one of my all-time greatest theatre experiences."
Christopher Hoile, May 8 - Stage Door Review​
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https://www.stage-door.com/3/Reviews/Entries/2024/5/medea.html
"It’s a wild ride both musically – thanks to masterful conducting from Lorenzo Passerini and the brilliance of the COC Orchestra – and dramatically thanks to McVicar and this amazing cast of singing actors that’s been assembled."
​Greg Finney, May 24 - SCHMOPERA
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https://www.schmopera.com/chiara-isottons-chilling-medea-a-bloody-good-season-closer/
"Viewed from a purely orchestral point of view, Medea occupies an awkward musical middleground between late 18th century Classicism and harmoniously updated 19th century Romanticism, neither identifiably Mozartian or early Beethoven or even Bellini-esque for that matter. Leading a particularly vibrant Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, conductor Lorenzo Passerini gives the historical patchwork that is Medea’s score more than a passing note of meaningful form and substance."
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​Ian Ritchie, May 8 - Opera Going Toronto
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"From the get-go, Passerini signalled this was not going to be a routine evening, conducting a frantic, rhythmically charged overture and later, a spookily Gothic Act 3 storm prelude. The COC Orchestra sounded energised by its guest leader and by a challenging, unfamiliar score."
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Gianmarco Segato, May 5 - Bachtrack
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https://bachtrack.com/review-cherubini-medea-radvanovsky-polenzani-mcvicar-canadian-opera-
company-toronto-may-2024/amp=1
"The orchestra crackles under a remarkably energetic Lorenzo Passerini, finicky rhythmic changes handled well and delivering suitably zealous contrasts."
Jane Forner, May 6 - Opera Canada​​
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https://operacanada.ca/canadian-opera-company-medea-an-opera-that-seizes-you-by-the-scruff-
and-makes-you-want-to-come-back-for-more/
"Conductor Passerini led the robust COC Orchestra through the frantic tempos with the right amount of intensity."
​Denise Lai, May 13 - Myscena​
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"One thing I have learned about these late 18th and 19th century French works is that they are not Puccini and, regrettably, the Italian versions of them often seem to get conducted as if they were (perhaps more a problem fifty years ago than now). Lorenzo Passerini doesn’t make that mistake. He moves things along at a brisk pace with supple shaping of the phrases that recalls French performance practice. The orchestra responds admirably. It never drags."
John's opera ramblings, May 4​
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"Musically it was an exciting evening, with debuting Italian conductor Lorenzo Passerini leading the orchestra in a brisk and incisive reading of the score. The two hours of music went by in a flash."
​Joseph So, May 6 - Ludwig van Toronto
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"Musical values were high overall under the Italian conductor Lorenzo Passerini, who effectively underlined Cherubini’s proto-romantic impulses and painted a wonderfully evocative canvas of a gathering storm at the beginning of Act 3 (with, of course, the cooperation of the well-drilled COC Orchestra)."
​Arthur Kaptainis, May 7 - Classica Voice North America
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"Buoyed by conductor Lorenzo Passerini’s vigorously paced, always dramatic reading of the score, Sondra Radvanovsky simply soars."
Glenn Sumi, May 4 - Toronto Star​
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https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/cocs-medea-is-an-impressive-feat-and-has-one-of-
this-seasons-best-lead-performances/article_234d9d76-095e-11ef-870d-27d7f39cc0e1.amp.html
"Conductor Lorenzo Passerini gave a taut and apparently flawless reading to a score full of soft lyrical moments between outbursts of fury and horror."
​Leslie Barcza, May 6 - barczablog
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"The orchestra is a dream, a beautiful heartbeat that propels this masterpiece."
​Andrea Perez, May 9 - Next Mag
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"The COC Orchestra under the baton of Lorenzo Passerini performed Cherubini’s complex score with exceptional ability."
​James Karas, May 9 - JAMES KARAS - REVIEWS AND VIEWS
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https://jameskarasreviews.blogspot.com/2024/05/medea-review-of-2024-canadian-opera.html?m=1