Since the regrettable demise of the Handel Opera Society and Alan Kitching’s Unicorn Opera at Abingdon it has been left to Andrew Jones and the Cambridge Handel Opera Group (in association with the University Opera Society and the Selwyn College Music Society) to keep the flag of Handel’s operas flying in this country - and to set an example to more august bodies in matters of style. ... The score was given complete except for one aria, proving yet again that Handel’s operas are not impossibly long and that heavy cuts are not only unnecessary but damage the fabric of the work. ... Amadigi is before all else a singers’ opera, and here we were exceptionally well served. Two of the cast had appeared in previous productions, but they far surpassed their earlier efforts. Jonathan Peter Kenny sang Amadigi’s part with strong, steady tone, a complete absence of hooting and bleating and an admirably controlled messa di voce. ... Katy Tansey, a student about to face her final exams, was a revelation as Oriana. She sang her two arias in Act 1 most beautifully, and produced a lovely pianissimo in her Act 2 lament. ... Fiona Motherway was a splendidly fiery Melissa... ...she put the utmost conviction into her brilliant arias and was very moving in the death scene. Bridget Budge, a contralto of firm rather than fruity timbre, made a good deal of Dardano’s far from simple part. She managed the awkward roulades of her Act 1 arias with confidence, and was at her best in the marvellous sarabande ‘Pena tiranna’.
Opera, July 1991
...the biennial Cambridge productions...have solid advantages: you know you will get, under Andrew Jones’s guidance, all of the music, sensitively performed and well paced and, under Jean Chothia’s guidance, a production in which the style of the scenes, costumes and stage movement is in harmony with the style of the music and the medium. ... Jonathan Peter Kenny in the name part was most convincing on both musical and dramatic fronts. Fiona Motherway as the sorceress had by far the best stage presence ... Bridget Budge delivered two of Handel’s most remarkable arias (‘Pena tiranna’ and ‘Tu mia speranza’) with assurance and commitment. ...Act Three was a triumph: enough to whet the appetite for something good in 1993.
The Musical Times, July 1991
Andrew Jones’s biennial performances of Handel operas have now become something of a tradition, setting high standards of performance and scholarship and justifying his insistence on the benefits of translating the original Italian into English. The young professional soloists and a polished student orchestra gave as fine a performance of the opera as you might expect to hear anywhere. ... Jonathan Peter Kenny negotiated the demands of the virtuoso title role with apparent ease... Fiona Motherway as Melissa gave a hearfelt performance; Katy Tansey was such an assured Oriana that it was hard to believe she is still an undergraduate: her cantabile tone and subtle ornamentation were pure delight. Visually, the opera was well managed, with the magical transformations effected with transparent cloths and clever lighting.
Opera Now, August 1991
