Dane Lam continues his close relationship with Opera Holland Park conducting Cilea's rarely performed opera L'Arlesiana, and Fflur Wyn returns to sing the role of Vivetta in this highly praised production:
"The conductor Dane Lam conjures up crisp rustic sounds from the City of London Sinfonia."
Geoff Brown, The Times
“Cilea’s emotionally affecting melodrama L’Arlesiana, a favourite here, has returned with sensitive conducting by Dane Lam and impassioned performances by Samuel Sakker, Yvonne Howard and Fflur Wyn"
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph
“Fflur Wyn was desperately sweet as his luckless fiancée Vivetta”
Richard Bratby, The Spectator
"Cilea’s vividly coloured score, superbly played by the City of London Sinfonia under the detailed direction of Dane Lam, takes this mundane tale of a broken heart to the level of grand tragedy, driving it ever onwards towards doom.
…as Vivetta, the village girl whose secret love for him is revealed, Fflur Wyn sings with particularly touching grace”
Stephen Pritchard, The Observer
"There’s a special liaison between Fflur Wyn as the besotted village girl who thinks she can cure Federico of his sickness and the beauty of the orchestral playing under Dane Lam, the revelation of the evening in his keen sense of movement and dramatic pace.
Wyn’s lyric soprano is developing real force at the top, and she’s the most simpatica of singers; again, keeping it simple and true works wonders on the drama.”
David Nice, The Arts Desk
"Cilea’s score is full of melody and atmosphere, and it’s played with evident enjoyment and lightness of touch by the City of London Sinfonia under the popular young conductor Dane Lam"
Amanda Holloway, The Stage
“…soprano Fflur Wyn is delightful”
Warwick Thompson, Metro
"...some superb conducting from Dane Lam"
Sam Smith, MusicOMH
“[Fflur Wyn] looks and sounds fresh and young – perfect for the role, and absolutely believable musically, too.
The performance is helped infinitely by the clear direction of Australian-Chinese conductor Dane Lam. … One aspect of Lam’s clarity is his expressive beat, but another is his vision of the score. The Act I Prelude was impeccably sculpted; Lam knows how to shape verismo phrases.
Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard International
“…this production drives forward unstoppably and clutches all in its relentless grip, enabled by some superb verismo singing and led insightfully by conductor Dane Lam. The latter demonstrates finely tuned verismo instincts, a sure ear for a surging melodic phrase and a telling orchestral detail in equal measure, and the ability to make six desks of violins sound like sixteen when required. The prelude to Act 1 was a microcosm of such skills, as the dark muted opening relaxed into the tender romanticism of the upper strings’ lyricism, with textures so transparent that we could hear every tantalising woodwind gesture.
Fflur Wyn made Vivetta a really credible character - vivacious and sympathetic.”
Claire Seymour, Opera Today
Photograph credit: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian
