L’elisir d’amore at the RNCM

The RNCM have another future star on their hands. At their winter production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, the Chinese tenor Kang Wang won the hearts of all. Not only does he have a golden voice and idiomatic Italianate phrasing; he also has great stage presence, able to convey physically the emotional ups and downs of Nemorino’s plight and, at appropriate moments, to bring genuine pathos to his interpretation. At the same time, avoiding the pitfall of playing him as a wimp. Forget the fact that the voice is too big for the role; he will soon be into Verdi and Puccini. It was another, typically enjoyable operatic evening at the Manchester college, with the students’ energy and enthusiasm infecting the audience, but Wang stole the show.