Grand Finale ëToscaí and ëSamson et Dalilaí Close Opera Season at Kennedy Center by Gary Tischler A great heroine and a great hero wind up the Washington National Operaís 2004-2005 season. That means there will not only be triumphant music to be heard, but epic tales to be told. You donít get much more operatic than Giacomo Pucciniís ìToscaî or ìSamson et Dalilaî by Camille Saint-SaÎns, both of which begin their run in May at the Kennedy Center Opera House. In the case of ìSamson et Dalila,î itís a finale to end all finalesóa way to end the season by bringing the house down, at least the part thatís represented on stage. The dramatic ending is how Samson responded to his betrayal at the hands of Dalila (or Delilah), the handmaiden and seductive temptress of Philistine. Blinded, chained between two pillars at the Philistine palace, and thought to be shorn of his great strength, Samson strained and pushed until the whole place came down on top of the celebrating Philistines, as well as Delilah and himself. To this, and to the music, all you can say is ìBravo.î Both ìToscaî and ìSamson et Dalilaî are revivals of popular and hit Washington National Opera pro ductions, but with Olga Borodinaówho plays DalilaóWashington gets its first opportunity to hear a new mezzo soprano star. St. Petersburg-based Borodina performed this role in San Francisco where she was hailed as ìthe Philistine temptress for our time,î with a ìgloriously voluptuousî singing voice. Meanwhile, dramatic tenor Carl Tanner as Samson has been praised for his ìbright, metallic timbreî in Opera News. ìSamson et Dalilaî is considered an orchestral showpiece by French composer Saint-SaÎns, and it includes sensual duets, a frenzied Bacchanal and, of course, an epic downfall. Giovanni Reggioli conducts ìSamson et Dalilaî with Pl·cido Domingo conducting for one performance on May 23. If you think of opera at all, thereís no escaping Giacomo Puccini, often called the last great composer of Italian opera. If thatís the case, then ìToscaî is probably one of the last great ìoperaticî operas. Pucciniís second opera, ìEdgar,î was a disaster, but being the perfectionist that he was, he made up for lost time. Puccini is after all the man who created ìManon Lescaut,î ìLa Boheme,î ìMadame Butterfly,î ìToscaî and ìTurandot.î Not especially prolific, he wrote only eight operas, but his batting average was pretty high. Nevertheless, at the time his overall record was mixed. The first production of ìMadame Butterflyî was greeted with scorn and laughter, and forced bouts of rewriting and retooling. The second time around it debuted to acclaim. Similarly, ìToscaî was bold and charted some new territory, but was ripped apart by critics at the time of its debut in 1900. It was a highly romantic, highly historic epic, but perhaps not romantic enough for its time given that the second-best role in the play is that of the fascinating villain Scarpia. Still, there are the two romantic male leadsóartist Mario Cavaradossi and the heroic political fugitive Cesare Angelotti. And then thereís Floria Tosca herself, described as a famous singer at a time when few women took to the stage and gained fame. The setting is the period of Napoleonís warring in Italy as he plans to attack Rome. Toscaís lover Cavaradossi (played by tenor Salvatore Licitra and tenor Marcello Giordani) is hiding the political fugitive Angelotti (Philip Skinner), who is being pursued by the relentless aristocrat Baron Scarpia (Spanish baritone Juan Pons), the chief of police, who wants something else: Tosca herself. Prone to jealousy, Tosca (Venezuelan soprano Ines Salazar shares the role with French soprano Sylvie Valayre) makes tragic mistakes, but sheís also prone to heroism. The protagonists play out their fates on a grand scale, with an abundance of violence and torture, emotional and physical, along the way. When ìToscaî debuted in Rome in 1900, Italy was in a state of political unrest and a tense atmosphere existed in the opera house at Teatro Costanzi, which added flavor to an opera where political tension was part of the romantic stew. Anarchism and assassination were common elements on the European political scene in the first year of the new century. ìToscaî was not received all that well: A French critic called it ìcoarsely puerile, pretentious and vapid.î As late as 1956, Joseph Kerman described it as ìa shabby little shockerî in his book ìOpera as Drama.î That shabby little shocker has become a classic, challenging the best singers and performers, reinventing itself, and still hypnotically attracting big audiences. ìToscaî runs from May 6 to 31, and ìSamson and Dalilaî runs from May 14 to June 4 at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $45 to $290. For more information, please contact the Washington National Opera at (202) 295-2400 or visit www.dc-opera.org. Gary Tischler is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.