DEIRDRE

Reviewed by Warren Wilson, The Globe and Mail (Monday, October 27, 1997)

"She's young. She's beautiful. She's Irish. So she's dead meat: at least in opera, where box office and body count go hand in hand.

Deirdre, by Canadian composer Healey Willan, in two performances, launched the 24^th season of Opera in Concert at Toronto's Jane Mallett Theatre Saturday night, the first of four legendary operatic heroines.

This is the work's first performance in more than 30 years. Why the long hiatus? For one thing Deirdre demands Wagnerian forces vocally and orchestrally."

"Top vocal honours went to Bruce Kelly as Conochar, his sturdy baritone ringing and heroic, his diction impeccable. Mezzo Rebecca Hass as Deirdre's handmaiden Levercham supplied a lustrous vocal line. "

"Both principals, even given the restrictions of a concert performance, acted with passionate intensity."

Robert Cooper's Opera in Concert chorus came into its own in the final scenes, keening in true Irish fashion as the carnage mounted."