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Reviews The production garnered more reviews from the national press than any other in the history of Pegasus Opera Company. Samples of these are included below:
“Pegasus Opera is… to be commended for reviving Delius’s 1897 opera ‘Koanga’… with Leonard Rowe suitably commanding in the title role and Alison Buchanan poignant as Palmyra… Bass Njabulo Madlala was particularly impressive as voodoo priest Rangwan… Also impressive was the Community Chorus as the slaves, both singing and acting well… Pegasus Opera has done London’s opera-going public a major service… if the first night is anything to go by, it has been successful in finding an intrigued audience.” “… all credit to Pegasus for reviving Koanga” “The production is blessed with central performances of real presence… Buchanan rivets the attention… Leonard Rowe is more commanding still… ” (London Evening Standard, 13 April 2007) “Multicultural opera company Pegasus marks the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery with Delius' criminally neglected opera Koanga… a timely as well as topical revival and nothing short of a must-see event. Sadly, the four performance run at Sadler’s Wells is all too short… we have a great deal to be grateful to Pegasus for, in allowing us to hear Delius’ glorious score in its proper context.” “… a great night out…”
“Leonard Rowe is effective in the title role, ably supported by Alison Buchanan’s mature sounding heroine.” “[A] very worthwhile opera production… an inspired idea… ambitious and timely… [a] strongly cast central couple here, with Leonard Rowe the embodiment of the enslaved population as an imposing and noble Koanga and Alison Buchanan singing with heartfelt… commitment as Palmyra” “I thoroughly enjoyed the rare experience of being able to hear this opera by Delius, which contains some of the most entrancingly beautiful and emotionally moving operatic music ever written by an English composer… a very good vibrant production… We should congratulate Sadler’s Wells and Pegasus Opera Company for staging this neglected work.” “Pegasus may now be far from the only company to cast against stereotype, but its educational thrust, and its determination to look beyond the easy Show Boat/ Porgy and Bess options, represents an admirable policy… Buchanan has a sweetly focused sound, and Rowe a plangent high baritone; Aris Nadirian as the plantation owner and Adrian Dwyer as his sidekick deliver fine performances. There being no “hit” numbers, this could never be West End stuff, but that wasn’t Delius’s intention: what he wanted to create, and what we get here, is something profoundly arresting.” “Koanga does offer some irresistibly rapturous lyricism. The idiom is French Wagnerian, richly coloured, harmonically dense and emotionally melancholy… but sprinkled and leavened with the supple rhythms and melodic grace of authentic plantation songs and dances. As Koanga himself, Canadian baritone Leonard Rowe sang with dignity and poise, at his best in his impassioned outpouring at the climax of the second act and the voodoo incantations of the third.
… Sympathetically conducted by Martin André, the orchestra relished Delius's sumptuous scoring and painted some lushly evocative mood music.” “The two leads were strongly cast and did an impressive job… Alison Buchanan gave depth and involvement to the role of Palmyra… Leonard Rowe had presence and authority to spare, and managed the role‘s terrifyingly high baritone range… In the smaller roles, Aris Nadirian and Adrian Dwyer suitably whip-cracking and sadistic as the estate owner and his overseer. The chorus of… slaves made a powerful and haunting contribution…” “Leonard Rowe… is commanding both in physique and voice. Alison Buchanan as Palmyra has a rich full tone, and her death scene, evocative of Wagner’s Brunnhilde, grips the attention. Njabulo Madlala also impressed as priest Rangwan.” “… towering central performances… ably supported by Aris Nadirian as the dastardly plantation owner Don Jose Martinez and Adrian Dwyer as his henchman Perez.”
“[The] Prologue and Epilogue… now brilliantly revised by the playwright Olwen Wymark so that the opera now begins with a tableau vivant in a contemporary slavery museum before fading into Act 1 and the real thing of a Southern cotton plantation… The director Helena Kaut-Howson gives a clear and powerful exposition of a music drama of love, lust, miscegenation , hideous cruelty and a doomed slave revolt with an omnipresent quartet of Voodoo dancers who heighten rather than impede but, in the end, cannot protect Palmyra and Koanga. The score is a constant delight – and not just the celebrated dance sequence La Calinda… Both orchestra and chorus performed with tremendous enthusiasm under conductor Martin Andre and the five principals all acquitted themselves well in a performance which is a perfect example of Pegasus Opera’s aim to model multi-racial “Harmony and Diversity” (sic)… Inevitably, and rightly, the stage is dominated by Alison Buchanan, strong of voice and presence and a prima donna in the making. Leonard Rowe is the imposing, compellingly regal Koanga… Congratulations and good luck to Pegasus and all who work for it.”
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“The two leads – Alison's dignified Palmyra and Leonard Rowe's regal Koanga – impress… As Martinez and Perez, Aris Nadirian's trenchant bass and Adrian Dwyer's nasal tenor fit the bill nicely.”
Alison Buchanan… is an attractive performer and a sensitive musician. Adrian Dwyer and Aris Nadirian gamely played the villains, and the amateur chorus was well drilled and vivacious.
“Koanga was Delius’ first work to reach the stage and his inexperience shows… But Pegasus made a decent go of it. The African prince Koanga… was powerfully conveyed by the Canadian baritone Leonard Rowe, and Palmyra… was given dignity by Alison Buchanan, whose essentially lyric soprano rose to the role’s appreciable vocal challenges. The Armenian-Iranian bass Aris Nadirian made a forceful Martinez, and Adrian Dwyer was properly vicious as Perez. The set was designed simply but effectively by Kenny Miller… Helena Kaut-Howson’s production made a fair job of enunciating the plot and characters… The Pegasus chorus gave their music – some of the most striking in the score – plenty of vocal presence, while in the pit the Aurelian Ensemble made a fair shot at Delius’ often heavy scoring, and the conductor Martin Andre brought some dynamism to the proceedings.”