Tenor SeokJong Baek makes a stunning BSO debut in 'Tosca'

Boston Globe

21-07-2025

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His phrasing in both of the character's big arias was supple and unforced, with no signs of strain, and his voice had a gorgeously gleaming resonant quality throughout the evening. Cavaradossi's big Act 2 moment, his extended cry of 'Vittoria, vittoria,' seared with raw defiance; triumphant while seemingly wavering on the edge of collapse. Baek also conveyed as much tender chemistry as the concert staging allowed with the Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, the frequent BSO collaborator (and former wife of conductor Nelsons) who sang the title role. That the lovers ultimately meet tragic fates is no secret, but as they reached the apex of their act 3 duet, the ultimately futile plan to escape that of which they sang felt real enough to grasp, not simply a vain hope.
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Baek is somewhat new to the tenor sphere, having originally trained as a baritone before transitioning to tenor during the height of the pandemic, when opera houses were closed. If he can consistently deliver performances of this quality and reliably follow through on his bookings, I predict full houses for him.
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Baek's stunning performance was even more impressive given the two veterans with whom he shared star billing. Opolais performed the same role when the BSO did the opera's Act 2 in concert at Tanglewood in 2017, and she made a much stronger showing this time. She was unusually quiet in the first act, barely rising above the sound of the orchestra at some points, but she came back at full power for acts 2 and 3, limning 'Vissi d'arte' with silvery grace.
Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel also returned from the 2017 Tanglewood cast; he has long counted Scarpia among his signature characters, and recently announced that he'd no longer be singing the role in staged performances of 'Tosca.' His voice is distinctly more weathered than it used to be, but Scarpia is maybe 90 percent acting, and those chops haven't gone anywhere. He didn't so much chew the scenery as devour it; sneering, leering, and purloining Tosca's scarf so he could conspicuously sniff it, he made for a power-drunk and easily detestable Scarpia.
The supporting cast was also strong, from Neal Ferreira's brown-nosing Spoletta to Morris Robinson's puissant and panicked Angelotti and Patrick Carfizzi's pettily pious Sacristan. Extra special kudos is due to the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Vocal Program, who filled seemingly every square foot of stage for the 'Te Deum' at the close of Act 1, and demonstrated you don't need scenery to create a spectacle.
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It's worth noting that the day before, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus also beautifully performed Rachmaninoff's contemplative, joyous 'All-Night Vigil' as a prelude concert to Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara's fabulous evening with the Boston Pops in the Shed, and Ozawa Hall and the lawn behind it were crowded with attentive listeners. Almost every Broadway baby was a choir kid at some point.
Kelli O'Hara and Sutton Foster perform with the Boston Pops.
Hilary Scott
Sunday afternoon sweltered as piano diva Yuja Wang took the stage with Nelsons and the pre-professional ensemble Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra for Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2, and to the audience (and the rapt throng of young musicians), she delivered dynamite.
Leading the student orchestra, Nelsons was visibly less free with his gestures than he is with the BSO, which seems to have mind-melded with him such that he can convey his intentions in ways opaque to outsiders. Wang is always a captivating performer, but there was something unusually elemental about her on Sunday afternoon; I spotted a few mouths on stage hanging open as she attacked the first movement's towering solo, her hands leaping through the score's twists and turns and attacking the keys with precise force. It was enough to drive all thoughts of the heat away. Not to leave without a parting encore, Wang threw down three before intermission; a Sibelius etude, a Schubert song, and a Horowitz 'Carmen' arrangement.
In the second half, as the story behind Berlioz's fever dream 'Symphonie fantastique' took its dark turn in the third movement, staff fanned out across the lawn ordering everyone to shelter in the Shed; there had been lightning spotted nearby. The sun was still shining at that point, but twenty minutes later, the wind shrieked behind the bells of the Witches' Sabbath before a deafening boom of thunder ushered in the 'Dies Irae' chant and the sky cracked open, drenching the chairs and coolers left on the lawn. No one could leave until the weather emergency lifted, and the TMC Orchestra deservedly basked in a full house's worth of applause.
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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA
Tanglewood, Lenox. www.tanglewood.org
A.Z. Madonna can be reached at