Ionuț Pascu (Iago), with a perfectly nuanced voice and dramatic talent, is an intelligent and commanding stage presence in a character role that will remain legendary.
PASCU’S FANTASTIC performance masterfully kept guests on the edge of these said seats and was equally rich with such small details. When he sang “Credo in un Dio crudel” (I Believe in a Cruel God) he seemed to be in dialogue with his own shadow, a man not yet fully committed to evil.
He pondered over his cup to ask what follows the grave, and then, as if making a decision – tossed its content on the floor and spat out: “nothing!” It is deeply rewarding to watch a version of Iago becoming a devil in front of our eyes – and not a so-called fully baked bad guy simply carrying out his evildoing.
Ionut Pascu as Rigoletto is phenomenal– a wonderful singer and an unusually talented actor able to convey the character. Even without the hunched back, in a suit and a long black coat, he is still a miserable wretch, limping and singing his parts full blown to the audience.
When Rusalka’s father, the water spirit Vodnik (baritone Ionut Pascu) emerges, he rises from that pool. The element of water is massive. The nymphs lay down and roll around Vodnik, unable to rise since, in this mythic logic, they don’t have feet. Pascu is able to sing beautifully, inhabits the role of the grieving father who laments the loss of his daughter to the human realm, and jumps to the pool without missing a beat. Good opera is hard; to sing submerged in water is an Olympian feat.
