Jonathan Lemalu News
New Zealand singer (1976— )
- bass-baritone
- New Zealand
- opera singer
Last update
2024-04-25
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2023-10-25 07:14:00
Fierce & intense: Peter Konwitschny's production of La traviata returns to ENO with a mesmerising account of the title role from Nicole Chevalier
[…] the second scene of Act Two where the emphasis was on disappointed expectations rather than fierceness. Around these three the production assembled a strong supporting cast. Zwakele Tshabala made a fine Gastone indeed, bringing personality to the small role and impressing with his command of the style, whilst Freddie Tong was a wonderfully fierce, unlovable Baron. Patrick Alexander Keefe made an elegant-looking Marchese and I look forward to seeing him in larger roles here, whilst Jonathan Lemalu was luxury casting as the highly sympathetic Doctor. Sarah-Jane Lewis was a wonderfully brisk and no-nonsense Annina, the sort of person always to have around in a crisis, whilst Amy Holyland's Flora was a real piece of work, definitely much more than just the musical side-kick that can be the case here.The cast all worked hard at getting Martin Fitzpatrick's rather functional translation across, and I was impressed at how many words Chevalier in particular […]
2023-08-25 07:57:00
Prom 50: large-scale drama from Allan Clayton, Philharmonia Chorus, Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings in Handel's Samson
Handel: Samson - Philharmonia Chorus, Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/ Sisi Burn)George Frideric Handel: Samson; Allan Clayton, Jacquelyn Stucker, Joélle Harvey, Jess Dandy, Brindley Sherratt, Jonathan Lemalu, Philharmonic Chorus, Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert HallAllan Clayton is towering in the title role, in a large-scale performance from soloists, chorus and orchestra that fills the Royal Albert Hall magnificentlyHandel's 1743 oratorio Samson was always huge. The uncut original version has significantly over three hours of music, [John Butt's recording lasts 3 hours 24 minutes, see my review] with a towering title role unusually given to a tenor (testament to Handel's confidence in his original tenor, John Beard), and a dramatic arc that reflects the scale Milton's original drama. It was one of his most successful oratorios during his lifetime and Handel tinkered with it from the word go, in order […]
2022-06-13 10:28:02
On a highly concentrated scale: Verdi's Macbeth at The Grange Festival
Verdi: Macbeth - Gezim Myshketa - The Grange Festival (Photo Simon Annand) Verdi: Macbeth (1865); Judith Howarth, Gezim Myshketa, Jonathan Lemalu, Samuel Sakker, director: Maxine Braham, conductor: Francesco Cilluffo, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; The Grange FestivalReviewed 11 June 2022 (★★★★½) Stunning singing and vivid performances bring out the sense of character in the revised version Verdi's first Shakespearean opera Verdi: Macbeth - Judith Howarth - The Grange Festival (Photo Bodnar Photography) Verdi's Macbeth premiered at the Teatro all Pergola in Florence in 1847. It had a respectable life in Italian houses before Verdi revised it for Paris in 1865 (where it was performed by the Théâtre Lyrique at what is now the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris), but then the work rather languished till the 20th century. This has left the opera with a somewhat complicated history, modern performances tend to focus on the 1865 revision, but miss out […]
2021-11-02 09:38:49
Beethoven’s Fidelio at Glyndebourne with Dorothea Herbert and Adam Smith
[…] Oliver. It was in this scene where the walls of the ‘panopticon’-style set were opened for the first time thereby giving a freshness to the singing while Mumford’s lighting levels were raised for a few vital seconds offering, perhaps, new hope to the white-smocked inmates in gaining their freedom. And helping them and Florestan towards their freedom came when the Minister of State, Don Fernando (the role so magnificently sung and acted by bass, Jonathan Lemalu) arrives in the prison courtyard to the ravishing sound of trumpets from the battlements. He immediately gets down to work and proclaims justice for everyone with Pizarro getting his comeuppance while the two protagonists of the opera, Leonore and Florestan, sing lovingly of their newfound freedom in that smoothing aria ‘Oh, what boundless happiness’ standing motionless side by side with confetti raining down upon them as if on their wedding day! A glitzy and […]
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