This year's Voices in the Forest will be the fifth. To mark the occasion, and because opera is a romantic idiom. artistic director Christopher Latham said he would be making a concerted effort to make it as romantic as possible. To that end, a highlight would be an abridged performance of one of the most popular of all romantic operas, Puccini's La Boheme.
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Mexican tenor Diego Torre will be making his Canberra debut as Rodolfo alongside Cheryl Barker as Mimi and Jose Carbo as Marcello. The trio will also perform popular arias and ensembles including works by Verdi, Bizet and Mozart.
Latham says, "There's a strong wish to feature our local singers" and Canberra artists Rohan Thatcher, Louise Page and Christine Wilson will be prominent - Page will play Musetta in La Boheme and they will all have plenty of opportunities to shine, particularly in a program of baroque arias by composers such as Handel that will open the performance.
Torre, visiting Canberra on Monday to check out the Arboretum where he will perform in November, said he had first come to Australia to perform in 2011, also in a production of La Boheme.
"It was the first contract I got with Opera Australia - I did 23 performances in a row in Sydney as Rodolfo."
He liked it so much he decided to make Australia his base and said he was in the process of emigrating here with his wife and child.
Torre studied at the National School of Music in Mexico City and said he was inspired to pursue opera after hearing recordings of the Italian singer Giuseppe Giacomini.
"His voice is dark, it is big, so present. He's a great singer."
After he graduated, he was a Domingo-Thornton Young Artist at LA Opera in 2007-9 and went on to sing in Verdi's Aida and Stiffelio at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. From there he went on to sing in many Verdi and Puccini operas in Europe and the US as well as Australia, where he is now performing in Don Carlo.
Comparing Spanish-sounding tenors such as Torre to Italians like Pavarotti, Latham said the former had a darker sound produced further back in the mouth. He said Torre had a thrillingly loud singing voice and that his Nessun Dorma - which will be featured in the concert - was the best he had ever heard.
Voices in the Forest 2015 is on at the National Arboretum on November 21. More information: voicesintheforest.com.au.
