Few opera composers provoke lasting artistic engagement, enthusiasts vs detractors, quite as intensely as Giacomo Puccini.

An incomparable master of melody, a ceaselessly inventive tonalist, his lush, vibrant orchestration elevates his work to incomparable levels of transcendent emotional resonance in the hearts and minds of countless admirers, public and professional alike.

Not all in the music world and beyond are comfortable, however, with the somewhat deified perspective.

Prominent opera authority Joseph Kernan infamously branded Tosca, “a shabby little shocker”, the severity of the remark indicative of the depth of critical unease with early 20th century Puccinian music theatre built on pre-existing 19th century Verdian foundations. A singularly abiding “unmodern” structure in latter-day musicologist Roger Parker’s rather more tactful assessment.

Stereotypes, genderized and cultural both, occur with troubling regularity throughout Puccini’s so-called “first-manner” work, preposterously anachronistic, grossly misinformed, his penchant for self-described piccole donne laden with misogyny. The pervasive air of period convention and melodrama that clings to all too many characters and situations can prove suffocating.

Curtain up on La bohème. Cue Madama Butterfly. Enter the composer to rapturous applause.

The reality is inescapable. No amount of critical dissent can ever hope to disabuse inveterate Puccini fanciers of their unshakeable faith in the legendary maestro’s undeniable flair for turning story or generating pathos.

The present overrules the past. For better or for worse, Puccini is lodged in our souls.

Launching the second year of what is hopefully destined to become an enduring seasonal event, dauntless indie producer Opera 5 opened its annual Toronto Opera Festival at Theatre Passe Muraille last week with a charged, high energy double bill, spotlighting two of Puccini’s so-called late “second-manner” one act experiments, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi.

Taken as a whole, the evening’s entertainment, lovingly presented with great passion and care, went some notable distance to brightening the prevailing Puccinian landscape. A welcome respite from controversy.

Premiered at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1918 under the banner of Il Trittico, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi preceded by Il Tabarro — a gritty verismo companion piece missing in action in Opera 5’s compacted presentation — took some time to seize centre stage, anguish and hilarity colliding. A grief-stricken nun is reunited with her dead child. A quick-witted grifter outwits a callous, money-grubbing family.

Insightfully directed by Jessica Derventzis, Puccini’s signature tinta splendidly aglow, courtesy conductor Evan Mitchell and an excellent finely tuned chamber orchestra, Opera 5’s Angelica/Schicchi moved and gladdened, an intensely genuine, highly rewarding excursion into the realm of the human spirit.

Rachel Krehm as Suor Angelica, Krisztina Szabó as La Zia Principessa in the Opera 5 production of “Suor Angelica”. Photo: Emily Ding Photography

Setting is everything here. A modest convent. An order of humble nuns, the minutiae of their cloistered life exquisitely poignant in the depth of its innocence. A world rooted in the natural and the blessed. The gleam of golden sunlight on a fountain, a manifestation of the Virgin’s Grace. A sister, stung by a swarm of wasps in the rose garden in sudden need of a soothing balm. Joy and excitement at the appearance of modest baskets of humble produce, alms from the local countryside.

Director Derventzis detailed every moment of business, no happening too small for re-enactment, employing virtually every square metre of available playing space, balconies and side aisles included.

And when the inevitable happens, when the outside world ruptures the impossibly tranquil scene, it bears the face of cruelty in the person of Angelica’s aunt, La Zia Principessa, all arrogance and spite and diamonds and fur.

Stepping out of her role as Opera 5 General Director and into that of the title character, soprano Rachel Krehm brought a rich abundance of humanity to this gentle, acutely affecting Suor Angelica, Puccini’s achingly poignant ode to tragic loss, Senza mama, (“Without a mother”) delivered with great tenderness rising to notes of shattering despair.

Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó appeared as the Principessa, powerfully assertive, darkly resonant, singing from the centre of narrative-inspired heartlessness, her blistering performance of the glowering arietta, Nel silenzio (“In the silence”), a highlight of the evening.

Of particular note in an expansive roster of captivating comprimari and choristers:
Paige Robinson as exasperated, temperamental, foot-stamping Suor Osmina. Patricia Wrigglesworth as perennially sweet-natured daydreamer, Suor Genovieffa. And Angélique Brown as no-nonsense spiritual taskmaster, La Zelatrice (The Monitor).

A cherubic Keira Beasley appeared as Il Bambino, immensely touching in the opera’s tearful closing scene.

Gregory Dahl (centre) as Gianni Schicchi in a scene from the Opera 5 production of “Gianni Schicchi”. Photo: Emily Ding Photography

If there is a single, overarching directorial issue to be addressed in this utterly outrageous, unapologetically overwrought venture, it is the challenge to maintain at least some semblance of order amid endless eruptions of anarchy. Characters jockey and jostle for comedic pole position, constantly struggling to prevail in librettist Giovacchino Forzano’s roiling satire. Buffoonery piles atop chaos. Bickering inflates to pitched battles of wits.

An unrestrained mob of hysterical family members plots to overturn patriarch Buoso Donati’s will. The mule and the mills in Signa deserve to be theirs, not i frati! Donati’s last wishes be damned!

Given the strength of her cast, Derventzis, by and large, rolls with the mayhem, wisely electing to step aside. Madness reigns.

Featured in the principal role of Gianni Schicchi — local fixer and renowned undoer of vexing legal knots — baritone Gregory Dahl sang with prodigious muscularity, ringing strength of purpose commandingly on display. Parlando is very much the order of the day in Gianni Schicchi. Dahl exploited the form to its utmost, grumbly, assertive, disdainful, often simultaneously, his mastery of physical comedy shamelessly flaunted to uproarious effect.

Singing mutual cousins Zita and Simone, Kristina Szabó and bass-baritone Aaron Dimoff delighted, the former clearly revelling in her role as flinty ersatz family matriarch, Dimoff decidely convincing as experienced conniver and former suave, silver-haired mayor of sleepy Fucecchio.

Tenor Jeremy Scinocca sang Zita’s nephew, Rinuccio, gifting last Saturday evening with an exceptionally fine, convincingly Italianate rendering of local Busati hometown anthem, Firenze è come un albero fiorito (“Florence is like a tree in flower”). Soprano Kate Fogg appeared as his bride-to be, Schicchi’s daughter, Lauretta, her lovely O mio babbino caro (“Oh, dear daddy”) an added measure of enchantment.

Ryan Nauta as Donati’s nephew, Gherardo, and Daniela Agostino as wife Nella, partnered by Christopher Pitre-McBride as Simone’s son, Marco, and MacKenzie Sechi as La Ciesca, his spouse, brought innumerable, meticulously crafted moments of finely detailed actorly hilarity to the ensemble.

Tristan Pritham appeared as apple-munching Betto di Signa, brother-in-law to the deceased and resident domestic gossip monger.

Liam Dooley performed essential double duty as bumbling doctor Maestro Spinelloccio and the learned Ser Amantio di Nicolao, notary.

Two expansive mini operas. One more than occasionally problematic composer. Opera 5 has worked wonders.