Dorset Opera's Le Cid Among Best of 2018
Dorset Opera Festival’s Le Cid Starring Leonardo Capalbo Among Critics’ Choice for Best of 2018
The Guardian has named Dorset Opera Festival’s production of Le Cid as among the best classical music events of 2018. Leonardo Capalbo starred as the title character of Massenet’s rare masterpiece when the piece received its UK premiere in July. For his performance, Capalbo was universally praised by critics and audiences alike.
“What makes the evening worthwhile, however, is the terrific bravado of the young American tenor Leonardo Capalbo in the title-role...[He] sings with unstinting heroic grandeur and does full justice to the lovely aria ‘O souverain, o juge’: his clean, bright, firm timbre is very well suited to this school of music, and he should sing more of it.”
- Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, July 2018
Leonardo Capalbo as Le Cid
“Pride of place amongst a doughty cast must go to Italian-American tenor Leonardo Capalbo, who not only keeps going throughout the arduous title role of Rodrigue (alias Le Cid), but does so with the kind of ringing tone and old-fashioned heroic stance this piece of dramatic hokum needs to succeed.”
- George Hall, The Stage, July 2018
“Le Cid, the name by which the Moors reportedly called Rodrigue Díaz de Vivar, was sung by Leonardo Capalbo who performed the role with complete assurance. Capalbo has a bold, ringing tenor and bristles with energy; his Rodrigue is an earnest, honourable man and Capalbo brought to life the confusion and distress that his need to defend his father’s honour at the expense of his own happiness brought him. Clear at the top of the voice and text passionately enunciated, Capalbo brought the spark to the production that gave it its edge.”
- Dominic Lowe, Backtrack, July 2018
“[Le Cid] is certainly worth doing, with challenging roles for Rodrigue (El Cid) and his lover, Chimène, taken with punch and intensity by Leonardo Capalbo and Lee Bisset.”