Critics Hail Leonardo Capalbo as Candide
Leonardo Capalbo earned high praise for his star turn as Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Read below what the critics are saying.
“As Candide, Leonardo Capalbo sang with glowing tenorial warmth, and struck a wistful tone in his lament.”
-John Allison, The Telegraph, December 2018
“You have to sit back and relish, without cynicism, all the ridiculous twists and turns, convenient coincidences and improbable events that unfold as the naive Candide, winningly played by Leonardo Capalbo, finds out what life is really all about.”
-Rebecca Franks, The Times, December 2018
Leonardo Capalbo and Jane Archibald as Candide and Cunegonde. photo: Mark Allan
“There was a good cast. As Candide, Leonardo Capalbo combined a fine tenor voice and appealing personality.”
-Richard Fairman, Financial Times, December 2018
“Leonardo Capalbo brought the unfortunate non-hero’s numbers a lovely Italianate glow.”
-Jessica Duchin, The Arts Desk, December 2018
“Leonardo Capalbo’s big tenor is quite a showstopper at full tilt, and he deployed it magnificently in Candide’s music, especially the Lament and the Broadway-style ‘Make our garden grow’ conclusion; he also kept us guessing as to Candide’s true nature.”
-Peter Reed, Classical Source, December 2018
Sir Thomas Allen and Leonardo Capalbo as Pangloss and Candide. photo: Mark Allan
“The stellar cast was led by Leonardo Capalbo, who as Candide revealed a beautifully expansive voice that also felt extremely solid and controlled, and Jane Archibald, who achieved just the right sense of ‘flutter’ in her coloratura in Cunegonde’s ‘Glitter and Be Gay’. They also brought a depth of emotion to ‘Oh, Happy We’ that only comes when such duets are sung by genuine operatic voices.”
-Sam Smith, musicOMH, December 2018
“Our Candide was tenor Leonardo Capalbo, who gets the first word in his verse of ‘Life is happiness indeed’. Capalbo’s voice is full and rounded, aspects that paid full dividends in his Lament (‘Cunegonde, Cunegonde, Cunegonde,/Is this all then?’); the beauty of Bernstein’s music was fully relished by singer and orchestra. Together, Capalbo and [Jane] Archibald seemed the perfect vocal pairing: whether or not the text of ‘Oh happy we’ is a deliberate reference to Handel or not (Acis), there was no doubting the sentiment in Capalbo and Archibald’s rendition. These two have the final word in ‘Make Our Garden Grow’; appropriately, this was heard as high beauty, Alsop shaping the performance to allow this full dramatic resonance.”
-Colin Clark, Seen and Heard International, December 2018
“Leonardo Capalbo’s Candide moved from a lighter, almost naïve, tone at the start to a weighty helden-tenor in the final scenes.”