New Opera Company Meets ‘Cosi’ Challenge Voice-First

Going boldly where many a veteran company fears to tread, the ambitious South Bay Opera opened for business Thursday with an artistic challenge of surpassing sophistication, Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte.” The performance, first of four with alternating casts at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, proved a surprisingly honorable one vocally.

Evincing no particular interest in psychological subtleties, the staging by company founder Jae Woo Lee concentrated on broadly conveyed humor and seemed designed primarily to keep the singers always looking at conductor Frank Fetta. The mostly young, pre-professional cast acted the roles bravely within conventional parameters and sang--in Italian--some sublimely difficult music with honesty and affection.

As Fiordiligi, Lori A. Stinson supplied nobility in action and voice, troubled most by the low end of the vocal range. Julie Randall’s giddy Dorabella was histrionically wide-eyed and vocally a bit covered.

Zeffin Quinn Hollis appeared most comfortable with the acting demands and sang Guglielmo with real baritone presence. Jong Hoen Lee delivered a stolid, solid Ferrando.

Juan Sanchez Lozano projected the cheerful cynicism of Don Alfonso suavely and Nona Watson reveled in the antics of a soubrette Despina, bright in voice and spirit. All six soloists worked with added confidence and effectiveness in the numerous ensembles.

Fetta kept the music moving and added some unlikely vamping while accompanying the recitatives on a keyboard himself. A top-heavy chorus contributed modestly.

The production was not without its technical glitches, including on-and-off and poorly proof-read supertitles, and Fetta’s small chamber orchestra was severely over-parted. Mark Wood designed the attractive sets, confusingly with the same seascape backdrop regardless of where the foreground action was meant to be.

As Peter Sellars and others have shown us, there is more to “Cosi” than farce, but a company that opts to open with a piece like this rather than one of the repertory’s hum-along tear-jerkers has interesting priorities. SBO plans six further productions of more commonplace operas over the next two years.

*

* “Cosi fan Tutte,” South Bay Opera, James Armstrong Theatre, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance. (310) 781-7171. Today, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m. $15-$22.