reviews of
Bruce Ford as Rodrigo in Otello (Rossini)
San Francisco Opera ~ October 1994"The
Act 2 aria in which Rodrigo tries to woo Desdemona ('Ah, come mai non senti') was so
sumptuously phrased and so gorgeous in its overall effect that Desdemona seemed a fool not
to run off with him immediately."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"As Rodrigo, Ford wields an appealing,
eminently flexible instrument (which takes him up to high D natural without strain), a
romantic stage manner, an imaginative, tasteful feeling for embellishment and
extraordinary Italian diction. When he and Chris Merritt's Otello met for their dazzling
Act II duet and duel, both tossing off stratospheric notes as if they were everyday
occurrences, it was all too easy to understand the elemental appeal of the opera. Who
cares if half the sports world is on strike?"
--San Francisco Examiner |
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BRUCE
FORD
1955 - Hailing from Texas with a voice best suited to the specialized Rossini and Mozart
roles, Bruce Ford makes most of his career happen in Europe, where there's a better
audience for the old-fashioned bel canto style. Other than the repertoire, he's very much
an American-style performer - athletic, a good actor who handles both seria and buffo
roles with ease, and he's very involved with text and with his characterizations.
It is perhaps unfair to label him a "Rossini
specialist," for there's more to Ford than that - a superb Mozart stylist who also
performs Donizetti and Bellini - he is nonetheless firmly in command of the bel canto
niche of tenors. Ford has regular appearances in all the major opera houses of Europe as
well as a string of debuts with the principal American companies (San Francisco, Chicago,
Los Angeles, the Met) and many of the world's opera companies have revived neglected works
specifically for this singer who can handle the unusual demands of the repertoire.
Along with the operas we don't know by heart, there are a
handful in Ford's regular repertoire that we do readily recognize: Edgardo in Lucia,
Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Almaviva in Barbiere.
From the beginning of his career, he has sung all of Mozart's youthful tenor roles, from
Mitridate to Ferrando and Belmonte in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail; and in his
full vocal maturity, has taken on Idomeneo and Tito with enormous success. In the world of
Rossini, he appears in La Donna del Lago and L'Italiana - and the title
role in the Rossini Otello is becoming a signature piece for him, in part because
he's one of the few Rossini stylists who can actually do it, never mind do it
justice. Always growing as an artist, Ford recently added Handel's most challenging role
to his onstage work, that of Bajazet in Tamerlano.
Ford also records many of these greater and lesser-known
roles - listening to some of these early 19th century gems, we get a wonderful idea of the
roots of what we "know" as opera. Listening to some of the more popular ones, we
think we'd like to hear some of his frequent concerts and recitals, too.
Bruce Ford is profiled for ML Hart's upcoming book PASSION & GLORY - The Tenor
Book. Opera Rara's
recording sessions for the Rossini Otello in October 1999 were the focus of
ML Hart's cameras and interviews. Since there are no less than six tenors in the work, it
seems like the perfect choice!
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