Libera Dreams

Thomas Delgado-Little recently sang in a performance of Tippets Opera, King Priam, with the English Touring Opera at the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden). According to my nephew David, who is a serious opera buff, he gave an outstanding performance.

Here are extracts from some of the professional critics.

“Paris’s childhood incarnation was impeccably well taken by treble Thomas Delgado-Little”

“the fine stage presence and wonderfully musical singing of Thomas Delgado-Little in the treble role of the young Paris.”

“Thomas Delgado-Little was nothing short of brilliant as Young Paris, appearing at ease on stage and singing with calm purity and clarity.”

“The young Paris was played by a treble, Thomas Delgado-Little, who projected the not uncomplicated lines with security and accuracy.”

“Thomas Delgado-Little did a truly excellent job as Paris’s younger self: one of the most self-assured and dramatically convincing performances I have seen from a boy treble.”

“there is a performance of extraordinary self-possession from young Thomas Delgado-Little, who plays Paris as a boy.”

Well done Tom. Hope to you see you in the role on the 27th May in Cambridge.

The ETO will be touring the UK with this opera until May. I just hope it doesn't mean Tom will not be part of the Spring US tour line up.

John

That's brilliant news for Thomas, thanks for sharing John.

Comes as no surprise he's getting those favourable comments after hearing him at St George's, last November.

That is super news! Glad to hear that like Stefan before him, Thomas has been able to parlay his
success in Libera into success in a different kind of performing art.

A quick look at the schedule shows there are performances on April 12th and then not again until the 23rd
so perhaps there's room to do both.

Well done Tom. No surprise of course that his performance was worthy of praise from the critics. I'm sure everybody involved with Libera - and Tom's parents of course - are really proud of him.

Just to add, what stunning reviews from professional critics - he must have impressed (which is no surprise to us of course) because they have no reason to write that if it isn't true.

Another review, this time from Classical-Music.com:

We feel Tippett’s radical innocence at work in his forensic examination of cause and effect, shuttling back and forth through time, his gaze as frankly curious and wide-eyed as the boy Paris (the heart-stopping Thomas Delgado-Little).

I think being called heart-stopping by Helen Wallace, the BBC's consultant music editor might be a pretty big deal. I looked her up, she got quite a resume.
This is a touring work. Does that mean that Thomas is touring with the group, possibly tutored while on tour? Is he continuing with Libera while on tour?

It come as no surprise to me, Thomas certainly has a wonderful well controlled treble range, he hits them top notes flawlessly.

Well done Thomas

Go, Tom! So glad to see this!

Here's the trailer-- I didn't see Tom D.L, though.

[BBvideo 425,350][/BBvideo]

If there's a trailer does that mean the whole thing was filmed and might be available?

OTOH I wasn't impressed with the musical quality of the trailer. Sadly modern classical opera composers are less interested in making beautiful music and more interested in "breaking mundane traditions", i.e., composing music that's utterly intolerable to listen to.

Just got the last two tickets for tonight's performance.

john45 wrote:Just got the last two tickets for tonight's performance.

Looks like an intimate venue -hope you brought your tux!

tom413 wrote: A quick look at the schedule shows there are performances on April 12th and then not again until the 23rd
so perhaps there's room to do both.

Thomas just did the London shows. He will not be touring with the opera and should be coming to the US with Libera.
I was at tonight's performance. Thomas certainly deserved all the praise already heaped upon him by the critics and performed admirably again tonight. Though the singing standard of the company as a whole was technically very good, as Tully has suggested, the overall musical style of the opera may not be to everyone's taste and was actually quite painful at times.

John

You've hit upon the perfect description of contemporary opera. The last contemporary opera I listened to was Nixon in China. Painful, ground-breaking painful.

john45 wrote:Though the singing standard of the company as a whole was technically very good, as Tully has suggested, the overall musical style of the opera may not be to everyone's taste and was actually quite painful at times. John

Do you think I would have enjoyed it then

Does Tom just appear in the first act and then head off home John?

Yorkie wrote:Does Tom just appear in the first act and then head off home John?

Tom appears in the first act only and is on stage for about 10-15 minutes and has about 15-20 lines.
He reappeared front and centre for the curtain calls.