On Sunday, September 15, 2013, Odyssey Opera made its highly anticipated debut at Boston’s Jordan Hall, offering a five-hour concert performance of Wagner’s rarely heard opera Rienzi. In celebration of the bicentennial of Richard Wagner’s (1813-1883) birth, Odyssey saluted one of history’s greatest and most controversial opera composers in a spectacular Wagnerian event performed in true Bayreuth fashion.
Led by conductor Gil Rose, Rienzi was performed by the Odyssey Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Boston’s Lorelei Ensemble and an international cast headed by Lithuanian tenor Kristian Benedikt (making his North American debut)—one of the world’s most promising and exciting dramatic tenors of his generation. Cast members included Metropolitan Opera soprano Elisabete Matos; Margaret Jane Wray, recently acclaimed for her performances in Seattle Opera’s Ring cycle; Grammy nominee Kristopher Irmiter, and local stars Stephen Salters, David Kravitz, Ethan Bremner, Kristen Watson, Robert Honeysucker, and Frank Kelley.
