In the long, distinguished line of exciting debuts in San Francisco Opera
Center productions, none was more remarkable than tonight's performance by
a young soprano from Cuba.

Elizabeth Caballero's Fiordiligi in the Yerba Buena Center Theater
production of "Cosi fan tutte" was stunning:  a big voice, used flawlessly,
a gutsy and appealing "Come scoglio" that brought the house down, and then
an amazingly unflagging "Per pieta," that daunting Act II mini-oratorio -
which should have received an extended ovation.  And, beyond those cruelly
exposed vocal challenges, met with aplomb and brilliance, Caballero spent
the entire three hours without a false step.  of her own.

That qualification is made because Scott Bergeson, who conducted an
outstanding orchestral performance, propelling the music in an admirably
straightforward fashion, over-propelled Act I's heavenly trio, "Soave sia
il vento," not letting the music breathe - the music or the singers.

Two of the young singers had their own breathing problems even when not
urged on by Bergeson.  Sarah Kleeman, as Dorabella, with a fine voice and
a charming stage presence ran into trouble with her aria, although in
ensembles, she was quite wonderful.  Bryan Hymel (Ferrando) has a gorgeous
"sobbing Italian" tenor and he sang well, but when his solo turn came, he
gave the feeling of suddenly finding himself on the high wire, without a
safety net.  To his credit, he got through it very well, but the labored
breathing was obvious.  (This, after all, is one of the reasons for
training programs, such as the SFO Center's - to handle problems early.)

No problems at all were evident in the performances of the others:  Brad
Alexander's Guglielmo and Matthew Trevino's Don Alfonso were both solid and
winning.  Saundra DeAthos provided a vocal and comic delight as Despina.
She alone was not new to me - I had the good fortune of witnessing her
previous Merola Program appearances in "Calisto," her memorable Adele in
"Die Fledermaus," and arias at last year's Merola Grand Finale.

John Copley's direction, with Amy Warren's superb lighting, lived up to the
standard one expects from him, but there was a quibble with each - Copley's
"funny" bit of the two sisters burying their faces in the men's crotches
did not serve the story or Mozart especially well, and the otherwise great
lighting washed out much of the supertitles.  Surely, somebody (director,
lighting designer, stage manager, a bold stagehand?) could have arranged to
have the light blocked where it was hitting the screen.

Were it not for the Festival Opera's "Carmen" premiere Saturday night, I'd
surely be heading back to Yerba Buena to find other great talent in Cast B
of "Cosi" - Melissa Citro, Angela Niederloh, Grea Feeney, Jangwon Lee,
Daniel Teadt and Burak Bilgili.

Janos Gereben/SF
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