Johannes Martin Kränzle as Pizarro
(c) Michel Cooper

Beethoven: Fidelio, Canadian Opera Company Toronto, (2023 D: Debus, I: Ozawa):

Barcza:
I found Kränzle’s Pizarro to be the most interesting portrayal, right on the boundary between the romantic era and our post-truth world. He is playing the villain of the piece to perfection. But although he’s performing a nearly unmusical role, belting out the most believable and lyrical “Ha! Welch ein Augenblick” I have ever heard, making music out of something that is usually barked or shouted, instead of the usual ugly melodramatic villainy he gave something recognizably political, slippery and as contemporary as what you see on CP24 every day.

The Globe and Mail:
Kränzle is compulsively watchable as the corrupt Pizarro, here presented as less a moustache-twizzling baddie than a corporate-suited smooth talker barely concealing psychotic fury.The opera closes with him standing on the top tier, a spotlight revealing a terrible smirk.

Opera Going Toronto:
Baritone Johannes Martin Kränzie contributes an appropriately contemptible Don Pizarro, splendidly embodying the character’s aforementioned penchant for violence, his voice disarmingly mellow and honeyed.

Opera Canada:
Kränzle was a focal point in all his appearances, thrilling in his Act 1 “Revenge” aria, more power-hungry than darkly evil, and, in a cynical touch at the end of this production, looking as if he has not been beaten and is ready to wreak further havoc.

Toronto Star:
The story follows Leonore (Miina-Liisa Värelä), a woman whose husband, Florestan (Clay Hilley), is arbitrarily detained as a political prisoner by the dishonourable Don Pizarro (Johannes Martin Kränzle). And Kränzle’s villainous Pizarro is clearly meant to resemble a Trump-like figure.

La scena musicale:
German baritone Kränzle is a versatile actor, whose brilliant portrayal of evilness is totally believable.

Ludwig van:
Johannes Martin Kränzle was a terrific Don Pizarro, with a voice almost too beautiful for such a vile character.

Operaramblings:
Johannes. Martin Kränzle, as Don Pizarro, is suitably unpleasant while still being musical.

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