Netrebko & Eyvazov in Hong Kong (安娜.涅翠柯與尤西夫.伊瓦佐夫在文化中心)

Destiny is not something we can always control, no matter how earnestly we desire to do so. But sometimes, it may smile upon us.  It did so a few days ago, when the Netrebko and Eyvazov arrived at the Cultural Centre. I have heard Netrebko perform many many times and have a fair idea of what she can do but I never heard Eyvazov. So it is with a little trepidation that I settled down on my front row balcony seat. After the wonderfully delightful ouverture or sinfonia of Verdi's La forza del destino was played by the HKPO under the baton of our guest conductor from Crema, Jader Bignanini, I saw enter the two stars of the evening, Anna Yuriyevna Netrebko and the Algiers born but Italy-trained Yusif Eyvazov. Since her marriage, Anna has put on quite a bit of weight. I know what additional body mass can do for a lady's voice. So I am not worried. The other star of the evening was a totally unknown factor to me. He definitely has got the looks of someone from the Middle East. I could easily picture him with a turban and feather fluttering over his head, wearing a long loose fitting robe with a brightly colored sash over the bulge in the middle of his body, with the unsteady light glittering from some huge colored stones from the rings on more than one of his fingers, a pair of those long pointed leather shoes with its curly tips curving in towards himself. But what about his ability to deliver arias and operatic songs?

The first piece of the evening was The Ecco: respiro appena...lo son l''umile ancella from Francesco Cilea (1866-1950)'s Adriana Lecouvreur and the second was his É la solita storia del pastore from his opera L'arlesiana. Her sound was impeccable, powerful without sacrificing grace and elegance and totally unforced.

But what about the second? I did not have to wait long.

The next piece was Verdi's Tacea la notte placida...Di tale amor from Il Trovatore. The voice of Eyvazov was well rounded, mellow and powerful and expressive all at the same time. I knew I would have another wonderful evening. 

It was followed by Verdi's Ah! sì ben mio...Di quella pira from the same opera Il Trovatore and then a  duet by the two singers in the Prelude from Attila and then  Già nella notte densa from Verdi's Otello.

Netrebko and Eyvazov would make a wonderful pair. But really I need not use the future conditional tense.  They're in fact husband and wife! They were married in Vienna last year..

What would be better than if we were to get a husband and wife team to sing in the same operatic piece. All the love is there. After the break, it was Ernesto De Curtis (1875-1937)'s well known piece Non ti scordar di me

After that, it was Giacomo Puccini(1858-1924)'s Un bel di vedremo from his famous opera Madame Butterfly. In the above badly recorded video, the one to the right is Eyvazov. 

Then follows another piece by him. It was Jules Massenet (1842-1912)'s Toute mon âme est là! ... Pourquoi me réveiller from his opera Werther

Then it was the turn of another extremely popular piece: Giacomo Puccini's O Mio babbino caro. 

After that, it's another of Puccini's compositions, his  E luce van le stelle from Tosca

After having sung for us for so long, the orchestra took over with the Intermezzo from Puccini's Manon Lescaut. a rather sad piece.

Then it was show time for the husband and wife team again. They sang another very popular piece from Puccini: his O soave fanciulla from his La Bohème

The pair received thunderous applause and were obviously quite happy. So happy that they gave us three encores! It's is totally unimaginable that anyone left the concert hall unhappy. The only possible cause where they might do so is that the concert did not last all night long.