Lebanon’s Beiteddine Art Festival

A muscular, big-voiced singer who channels the greats from Jussi Björling through Luciano Pavarotti, Eyvazov displayed genuine promise in challenging selections from the standard repertoire — «Celeste Aida» from Verdi’s Aida, «Vesti la giubba» from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and, in his solo encore, «Nessun dorma» from Puccini’s Turandot, the role in which he will make his Metropolitan Opera debut this fall. The less well known aria «E la solita storia,» from Cilea’s L’Arlesiana, offered another fine vehicle for this exciting young tenor.

And what would such a concert be without duets? The Act I finale of Verdi’s Otello poignantly ended the first half of the program. The encore «Brindisi» from the same composer’s La Traviata emerged in even more rapturous relief, accompanied as it was by an improvised waltz and clapping fans . . .

The young musicians of the Filarmonica Gioachino Rossini should rejoice in their chance to accompany such an outstanding vocal performance . . .