Review 1

Thursday October 4th 2007

Festsalen, St Kannikestraede 19, Copenhagen Denmark

The utterly outstanding concert with Ernesto Tomasini and Othon Mataragas was presented by Warehouse9 on Thursday October 4th in the Festsalen in Kannikestraede 19.

The reception before the concert, held by performance group Trash Nouveau, was an exquisite experience. The entire old ballroom with its shimmering chandeliers, was full of wonderous personalities, floating about in creations that would have made The Sun King's court look quite mediocre: White wigs, opulent party dresses and a live tableau complete with flowers and naked bodies in gold; the perfect frame for champagne drinking and, more importantly, for the main attraction of the evening: The concert with the singer and theatre personality Ernesto Tomasini and the classically trained pianist and composer Othon Mataragas.

The first visit to Denmark for these two gentlemen was entitled "Black Pearls of Sweet Nothing"; a suite that Mataragas specifically composed for his singer, consisting of a line of dramatic but also very deeply moving songs. After opening the concert with two instrumental pieces (the first in particular made the audience shiver for its Gothic beauty) Othon Mataragas introduced Ernesto Tomasini, who graciously moved through the ballroom dressed in black veils and make-up, immediately conjuring up imagery from Italian opera.

The English newspaper The Independent has (very accurately) called Tomasini's voice "a banshee falsetto" (a falsetto from a ghost, whose scream is a death warning). The first piece of the evening was "Digital Angel 1", where Tomasini's vocal span of 4 and a 1/2 octaves in itself was enough to thrill the audience but this sort of technically impressive performance was not the main focus on this special evening. On the contrary there was in store a wonderful tour-de force through the baroque back alleys of opera, showing hidden entries to secret clubs and poly-sexual darkrooms. Costume changes and role play, monologues and recitations made the evening exactly as uplifting and joyful as it was moving.

Personally, I was greatly touched by the simple harmonic songs such as "When I Leave You" (from the new single by the same title). This song was in the context a perfect example of a composition that contains the theatrical burlesque qualities of the duo (e.g. text fragments like "I wake up with you in Spain or in jail"), yet also a more emotionally dedicated level of expression befitting the highly masqued world these two artists put on stage.

The concert with Tomasini and Mataragas was in short, not only filling the chronic emptiness of the zeitgeist (being truly and deeply felt around a project a league above) but also an aesthetic vacuum.

I hope their next concert will be on The Old Stage of the Royal Danish Theatre.

Martin Hall, 7 October 2007, English translation Nina Larissa Bassett

Review 2

“When opera heals"

Five stars (*****)

Thursday October 4th 2007

After rain on the writer comes fair thunder over those reviewed!

Wet in the clammiest way, autumn filling my throat and ears, I turned up at 19, St. Kannikestræde to let myself be encompassed and overwhelmed by opera singer Ernesto Tomasini and piano master Othon Mataragas. However, with their sumptuous extravaganza, the welcoming TRASH NOUVEAU people hosting the concert managed to coax me into a better mood, and I made a resolve after all to be as objective as possible, not letting my view on the evening's arrangement suffer from meteorological preposterousness.

After a good deal of posing on the part (every thinkable part, in fact) of the TRASHes, along with cucumber sandwiches and discount cola, the electrolier lights of the pale blue classicistic hall were subdued, and a soft red glow appeared, welcoming the two international artists. The concert was opened with a solo composition played by Mataragas, who got the maximum performance out of the piano. From minor to major, light trills mingled with literal fist blows to the keys, staccato and welter in a frightening/seductive ride. It thrilled through skin and bones, veins and arteries, and you never knew where the next movement would take you. Wild! And so beautiful. And that came to characterize the entire concert: Tomasini's voice, too, which did indeed span the promised 4½ octaves, kept surprising you. Mataragas' virtuosity gave and punished in constant jerks. Together, they are an explosive duo, and it is easy to see why musical stars such as Marc Almond have pitched their voices and talents into Tomasini's and Mataragas' upcoming CD. For they are originals, T & M. They don't pander, but take you on a melancholy odyssey in the cross field between traditional operatic art with a twist of cabaret and modern performance. The songs were mostly about love. And if anything (besides ginger) can take the edge off a cold, it's songs about love - performed by bold artists like Tomasini and Mataragas. So, dear reader, do pop by myspace.com/ernestotomasini or myspace.com/othonmataragas and snatch a little opera pill for the sniffles and stupid capriciousness of the season. It will heal you and warm you.

Casper O. Jakobsen, 01.11.07 - Anmeldelse, English translation by Maja Louise Vesterdorf Lange