As Angelo Marenzi powered through the "Nessun Dorma" section of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot and rose through the high notes it was as if the whole building resonated. When he finished, there was spontaneous applause from the chorus and other artists gathered in the one-bedroom-sized apartment that serves as a rehearsal space for Cosmos Opera. Even at practice, Marenzi is a master at work.
Though some students referred to the Italian as maestro, others called him master, as if he was a leading kung fu or qigong practitioner. He stood in the middle of the room, swaying gently to the music and, seemingly acting out the drama of another classic hit to the imagined audience that will gather for a concert of opera favorites at the National Concert Hall in Taipei tomorrow.
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
The approximately one-and-a-half hour performance of Cosmos Opera and Friends rolls out the choice cuts from great works by Guissepe Verdi, Antonin Dvorak and other opera giants.
PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
The concert includes Wandering to Danshui and The River Ming Serenade by the Taipei A-Capella quintet; the Lazurite Voices; New Zealand's Lorraine Nawa Jones singing a duet with Marenzi, All I ask of You, from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera; snippets from comedic operas; You'll Never Walk Alone, from Rogers and Hammerstein and Liverpool Football Club; finishing off with E de Curtis' O Sole Mio.
The concert also features Belgium's Peter Ritzen on pianoforte. He said audiences could look forward to great opera. "It is a forgotten art that is being reestablished in the world. And I also believe that the musical center, or core, is moving forward from Western Europe. It moved from Russia and has now come to Asia, where there is a lot going on. The tradition is carrying on here. If I was in the US I would say the same. In China too. These are countries where there is a lot going on."
Cosmos Opera was formed in 1998 by Marenzi, his wife and the current artistic director of the company Lorraine Nawa Jones, and Henry Lin. It started off with regular performances in Taipei and has more recently started touring Asia, including a sold-out show last month at the Shangri-la Hotel in Shanghai.
"We started it out to give local people a platform, the chance to perform," Jones said, who teaches master classes with her husband at the National Institute of the Arts in Taipei. "We noticed that there were these tremendous talents who just needed the stage to be appreciated."
Marenzi, who has seen it all in his 40-plus-year career as a leading tenor in the US, Israel and at all the leading concert venues throughout the world, said he came to Taipei 10 years ago, enjoyed the city, was very sick with cancer, miraculously recovered and has found a comfortable niche teaching future generations of opera singers in Taiwan, while performing, and spending time at his house in Rome.
Marenzi tells the story of how, as a student, he sung his way aboard a luxury liner cruise from Italy to the US, and how he was rushed into the part of his breakthrough role when the lead fell ill.
"I was washing dishes to continue paying for my musical studies. Well, I thought about it when they called and I thought, `What am I? A dishwasher, or a singer?' I went to the restaurant and gave in my apron and told everyone they could see me at the opera. I never looked back."
Marenzi, who was taught by the legendary baritone Tito Gobbi and has sung with the best, also believes Asia is turning out fine talent that needs nurturing.
"After a while I decided I like Taiwan and they offered me a good position, so I stayed here."
Asked why he was considered a great singer, Marenzi said: "I was born with a great talent!" and went into a long discourse about the need for breath, a great larynx and a "mask," at the front of the face, which shapes the sound.
"Pavorotti, that is why he is a great singer, his mask."
Peter Bowden has sung with the Welsh National Opera Company and is currently a student of Marenzi. He is giving his debut Taiwan performance tomorrow and said a great singer often made a great teacher and "the maestro" had identified him as a tenor, whereas he had been cast as a baritone before. "He hears things and sings things other people don't."
Listen for yourself at Cosmos Opera and Friends. James Wang will be the conductor and there will be an accompanying 70-person chorus. Tickets are priced from NT$400 to NT$1,000, and are available from Era Ticket: http://www.ticket.com.tw. Call (02) 2786 1299 ext. 611. The National Concert Hall is at 21-1 Zhongshan S Rd, Taipei (台北市中山南路號). The show starts at 7:30pm.
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