Washington Classical Review

Kang Wang and Amanda Woodbury performed in Washington Concert Opera’s performance of Verdi’s Luisa Miller Sunday evening. Photo: Caitlin Oldham

Washington Concert Opera, the last area company to perform Verdi’s Luisa Miller back in 2005, brought this rarely heard opera back to Lisner Auditorium Sunday evening. That last performance came two years after WCO had embarked on an ill-considered attempt to host its performances in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Long since recovered, WCO has once again lapped Washington National Opera in the repertoire race: WNO’s last production of this opera dates from 1995.

The title character, an innocent girl in a Tyrolean village, is in love with a stranger who turns out to be Rodolfo, the son of the local count. The count’s henchman, a slimy villain named Wurm who is also in love with Luisa, reveals Rodolfo’s identity. Both fathers oppose the marriage, but the count has Miller arrested so that Rodolfo can marry a wealthy cousin. To save her father from execution, Luisa writes a letter proclaiming her love for Wurm. Engulfed in despair after reading the letter, Rodolfo poisons himself and Luisa, but the effects are slow-acting enough to allow for 20 minutes of ensembles.

WCO artistic director Antony Walker’s casting reach is so deep that this rendition sparkled with talent, even after three singers had to be replaced. Soprano Amanda Woodbury, who took over for Angel Blue as Luisa two weeks ago, made a noteworthy WCO debut in Bellini’s La Straniera in 2017. Although this performance was her first assay of the role, Luisa fit Woodbury’s voice almost ideally.

The role demands ethereal lightness, which Woodbury delivered from her opening scene, with flexible arpeggiation in staccato attack and effortless trills, easily reaching up to high B and C. Not only could she soar with power over the ensembles and chorus, Woodbury sang with both beauty and power through her many scenes up to and including the powerful duet with Miller in Act III, including a sustained high C and touching on D-flat.

The Rodolfo of Kang Wang matched Woodbury in fortitude if not in subtlety. He approached this role with more delicacy than in two recent outings with WNO, mollifying his powerhouse tenor in ensembles. In his dramatic scena that ended Act II, Wang purred with velvety legato in the cavatina “Quando le sere al placido.” In the concluding cabaletta of despair, “L’ara o l’avello apprestami,” he drew the evening’s loudest ovations with room-filling volume on the piece’s B-flat climaxes.

Ricardo José Rivera, last heard at WCO in Roberto Devereux in 2022, replaced an indisposed George Gagnidze as Miller earlier this week. His rich baritone thundered on the role’s many high notes, even interpolating a high A-flat at the end of his Act I aria. The only shortcoming was in the few complex cadenzas Verdi wrote for Miller, with trills and other fioriture sounding awkward, but his intense singing proved ultimately affecting in the striking father-daughter duets with Woodbury.

Bass Oren Gradus took over the role of Count Walter from Morris Robinson, long enough ago that the program at least contained his name instead of the original casting. Gradus made a tentative WCO debut, with a wobble in the vibrato that often soured his intonation, and his voice tended to pale against his colleagues in ensembles. Samuel Weiser, who turned in some noteworthy performances as a WNO Cafritz Young Artist in 2019, relished the vile side of the villain Wurm, his smarmy bass mined for its sinister qualities.

As Duchess Federica, the rich cousin meant to marry Rodolfo, mezzo-soprano Kate Jackman especially impressed with her resonant bottom range. In her duet with Rodolfo, Verdi gave the character a striking cadenza, rising up to high G and then ranging down two octaves to the G below the staff, an ambitus covered elegantly by Jackman. 

In the unaccompanied Quartetto in Act II, Woodbury and Jackman complemented one another handsomely, while Gradus and Weiser’s parts felt muddy at times. Of the two singers from the WCO chorus who took comprimario roles, soprano Erin Ridge stood out as the village girl Laura. In her charming little scene to open Act III, Ridge’s sweet tone blended seamlessly with the two flutes, and she floated a limpid high G twice.

The WCO Orchestra’s performance boasted many strong elements, including the angelic harp, pastoral clarinet solos, and a solid bassline from the cimbasso played by Zach Bridges. The ensemble felt less polished than usual, however, with some sloppy ensemble playing in the violins and cellos, as well as a number of early entrances in the brass. A crudely synthesized organ used for the church in Act III did not help.

The presence of Walker at the podium provided the throughline of the evening, as he skillfully cued singers, orchestra, and chorus, always making sure of balances in service to the voices. With strong and subtle contributions from the WCO Chorus as well, this performance again made the case for Luisa Miller, which except for its absurdly melodramatic ending, deserves to be in the company of the composer’s Rigoletto two years later.

In its 2o25-26 season, Washington Concert Opera will present Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (November 23), Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles (March 14, 2026), and Mozart’s Idomeneo (May 9, 2026). concertopera.org