tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4561984720413683052024-03-23T06:17:37.681-04:00Voix des Arts: A Voice for the Performing Arts throughout the WorldFounded in 2008, the primary goal of VOIX DES ARTS is to supplement the ever-decreasing—and, in terms of quality, the ever-deteriorating—coverage of the Performing Arts by mainstream media outlets. All content is written and copyrighted by Joseph A. Newsome.Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comBlogger672125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-76069243273613349252023-11-09T21:52:00.001-05:002023-11-09T21:55:33.924-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala 2023 (B. Bliss, S. Costello, S. Howard, Q. Kelsey, F. Lombardi, A. Meade, A. Pérez, S. M. Plumb, L. Redpath, B. Wagorn, H. Watkins; Carnegie Hall, 29 October 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: bronze bust of American tenor RICHARD TUCKER by Milton Hebald, Richard Tucker Park at 66th Street and Columbus Avenue, New York City; 30 October 2023 [Photograph by Joseph Newsome, © by Joseph Newsome / Voix des Arts]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: bronze bust of American tenor RICHARD TUCKER by Milton Hebald, Richard Tucker Park at 66th Street and Columbus Avenue, New York City; 30 October 2023 [Photograph by Joseph Newsome, © by Joseph Newsome / Voix des Arts]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwFUjtOwl-xnzj6BqJcIlaxGEpopYSHGUMzX8LhOdWuLJ99JIySLVBnvNIyWMc3-n6US8BCuEam6GXHkopqG5M1yHGQUNfMBDTsdhVGcVKujvUb0ERqb-5j2l0IknJKfuTEFcj4c4M0OgFI8hkc7Bhh9FlVyNatEnAblhk5tXK3R57HBJC-UCjCLI8Eiw/s1600/Richard-Tucker-Park_Milton-Hebald_2023-10-29.jpg" width="480" height="368"><u>GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792 – 1868), GAETANO DONIZETTI (1797 – 1848), ABROISE THOMAS (1811 – 1896), GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813 – 1901), GEORGES BIZET (1838 – 1875), ALFREDO CATALANI (1854 – 1893), GERÓNIMO GIMÉNEZ (1854 – 1923), GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 – 1924), MANUEL PONCE (1882 – 1948), FREDERICK LOEWE (1901 – 1988), and RAY CHARLES (1930 – 2004)</u>: <strong>Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala 2023</strong> – <a href="https://ammann-horak.agency/index.php/en/artists-en/artist-lombardi-federica-en" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Federica Lombardi</font></a>, <a href="https://angelameade.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Angela Meade</font></a>, <a href="https://ailynperez.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Ailyn Pérez</font></a>, and <a href="http://livredpath.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Liv Redpath</font></a>, sopranos; <a href="https://www.benblisstenor.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Ben Bliss</font></a> and <a href="https://www.askonasholt.com/artists/stephen-costello/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Stephen Costello</font></a>, tenors; <a href="http://www.quinnkelsey.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Quinn Kelsey</font></a> and <a href="https://www.seanmichaelplumb.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Sean Michael Plumb</font></a>, baritones; <a href="https://solomanhoward.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Soloman Howard</font></a>, bass; <a href="https://www.metmusicstaff.com/about/wagorn.html" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Bryan Wagorn</font></a> and <a href="https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/watkins-howard" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Howard Watkins</font></a>, piano [<a href="https://www.richardtucker.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Richard Tucker Music Foundation</font></a>, Carnegie Hall, New York City, USA; Sunday, 29 October 2023]</p>
<p>Nearly a half-century has passed since, on a solemn day in January 1975, the immense stage of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House was occupied not by lavish costumes, scenery, and sets but by the simple coffin of one of that company’s best-loved singers, tenor Richard Tucker. Heard between his 1945 début as Enzo Grimaldo in Ponchielli’s <i>La gioconda</i> and his final MET performance, thirty-six days before his death, as Canio in Leoncavallo’s <i>Pagliacci</i> in an array of parts encompassing the Verdi and Puccini rôles for which he was most renowned, Mozart’s Ferrando (<i>Così fan tutte</i>) and Tamino (<i>Die Zauberflöte</i>), and French protagonists including Bizet’s Don José (<i>Carmen</i>), Offenbach’s Hoffmann, and Saint-Saëns’s Samson, Tucker thrilled audiences, first at the MET’s inaugural home at 39th and Broadway and later in the new house at Lincoln Center, with a voice that was truly worthy of those spaces. A native New Yorker who devoted three quarters of his operatic career to the MET, Tucker epitomized the American opera singer for generations of listeners, forging a legacy that continues to fascinate, inspire, and nurture new ranks of opera lovers and emerging singers.</p>
<p>Since its inception in 1975, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation has honored its namesake’s legacy by recognizing and supporting the work of American singers whose efforts advance the ideals advocated by Tucker, perhaps the most significant of which is indefatigable championing of opera in the United States. Like many Arts organizations, RTMF continues to battle the financial woes exacerbated but by no means solely begotten by the global COVID pandemic. Having sung at the MET for three decades, during some of the most turbulent economic and social periods of the Twentieth Century, Tucker was unquestionably adept in the art of adaptation. Especially in times of upheaval, uncertainty, and scarce resources, when Art can provide glimmers of hope that are otherwise elusive, Tucker would likely have been among the most fervent adherents to the adage that, by whatever means are necessary, the show must go on.</p>
<p>Aside from the fiscal inability to award the foundation’s customary prizes and grants in 2023, the most dispiriting manifestation of the financial hardship being endured by RTMF was the substitution of piano for the chorus and orchestra typically engaged for Tucker Galas, yet, as the sequence of performances progressed, the artistic benefit of this seeming deficiency became apparent. In years past, particularly when the Galas were televised, analyses of whose designs participating singers were wearing sometimes seemed to garner more attention than considerations of whose music was being performed. For the 2023 Gala, collaborative pianists <b>Bryan Wagorn</b> and <b>Howard Watkins</b> supplied musical settings for each selection that rendered the absense of larger forces inconsequential and focused attention on the music. Both gentlemen played superbly, their technical prowess meeting every challenge of the musical arrangements, and their collective artistry unified power with poetry. Gala performances are rarely events of profound emotional depth, but Wagorn and Watkins effected abundant moments of poignant engagement.</p>
<p>In Spring 2022, baritone <b>Sean Michael Plumb</b> had the exhilarating but daunting distinction of débuting at the MET as Harlekin in Richard Strauss’s <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i> opposite Lise Davidsen. That he made a brilliant, lasting impression in such formidable company is a testament to his stagecraft. Honored with RTMF grants in 2015 and 2022, he opened the 2023 Gala with another unenviable task: taking the stage following the playing of a 1951 recording of Tucker singing the aria ‘Sound an alarm’ from Händel’s oratorio <i>Judas Maccabaeus</i>. Following Tucker’s electrifying performance with ‘Largo al factotum’ from Act One of Gioachino Rossini’s <i>Il barbiere di Siviglia</i> was slightly jarring, but Plumb sang the familiar music with charm and a laudable avoidance of comedic excess. Occasional lapses in accuracy notwithstanding, the patter was deftly handled. The lyricism of Zurga’s lines in the duet ‘Au fond du temple saint’ from Act One of Georges Bizet’s <i>Les pêcheurs de perles</i> was better suited to the natural amplitude and timbre of Plumb’s voice, and he sang handsomely, extending the line with innate grasp of the style and centering his tones on the vowels of the text.</p>
<p>Fitting the Tucker Gala into her busy autumn schedule, a cornerstone of which is her portrayal of Amelia in the MET revival of Verdi’s <i>Un ballo in maschera</i>, 2011 Tucker Award winner <b>Angela Meade</b> drew from the time-tested soprano concert repertoire a well-known piece from a seldom-performed opera, the aria ‘Ebben? Ne andrò lontana’ from Act One of Alfredo Catalani’s <i>La Wally</i>. The Stern Auditorium acoustic was not congenial for the expansive dimensions of Meade’s spinto sound, obscuring pitch and articulation. There was perceptible connection with the text, however, and the impact of the singer’s tremendous top B could not be diminished.</p>
<p>Lending his talents to the Gala without benefit of extensive preparation, bass <b>Soloman Howard</b> exhibited his still-developing Verdian credentials with a stronly-sung account of Jacopo Fiesco’s scene from the Prologo of <i>Simon Boccanegra</i>. Elegantly phrasing the opening recitative ‘A te l’estremo addio,’ Howard invited the audience into the character’s troubled psyche. In the aria ‘Il lacerato spirito del mesto genitore,’ the vocalism was nearly upstaged by the heart-wrenching delicacy with which Wagorn played the music for the offstage chorus. The organic use of portamento that characterizes the work of the greatest Verdi singers was not yet evident in Howard’s performance, yet the vocal authority required to bring Fiesco to life compellingly was wielded with sonorous suavity.</p>
<p>Débuting at the MET as Oscar in the current season’s staging of <i>Un ballo in maschera</i>, soprano <b>Liv Redpath</b> paid tribute to the high voices that have garnered acclaim in past Tucker Galas with an engrossing, captivatingly-sung traversal of Ophélie’s extended mad scene from Act Four of Ambroise Thomas’s <i>Hamlet</i>. From the first phrases of ‘A vos jeux, mes amis,’ the clarity of the soprano’s diction was invaluable, transforming the vocal display into charismatic storytelling. ‘Il m’a donné son cœur en échange du mien’ was voiced with grace and poise, though nervousness—not inappropriate in the scene’s dramatic context—seemed to affect excursions in alt. Still, the opalescent sheen of the voice in ‘Partagez-vous mes fleurs!’ was exquisite. Redpath was later partnered by Plumb in a delightfully unpretentious account of ‘Pronta io son,’ the duet for Norina and Malatesta that ends Act One of Donizetti’s <i>Don Pasquale</i>. Genuinely reacting to one another, soprano and baritone amused without compromising musical integrity, acting with youthful exuberance and singing with <i>bel canto</i> ebullience.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) baritone SEAN MICHAEL PLUMB, soprano LIV REDPATH, tenor STEPHEN COSTELLO, pianist HOWARD WATKINS, soprano FEDERICA LOMBARDI, tenor BEN BLISS, pianist BRYAN WAGORN, soprano ANGELA MEADE, baritone QUINN KELSEY, soprano AILYN PÉREZ, and bass SOLOMAN HOWARD in the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala 2023, 29 October 2023 [Photograph by Dario Acosta, © Richard Tucker Music Foundation]" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) baritone SEAN MICHAEL PLUMB, soprano LIV REDPATH, tenor STEPHEN COSTELLO, pianist HOWARD WATKINS, soprano FEDERICA LOMBARDI, tenor BEN BLISS, pianist BRYAN WAGORN, soprano ANGELA MEADE, baritone QUINN KELSEY, soprano AILYN PÉREZ, and bass SOLOMAN HOWARD in the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala 2023, 29 October 2023 [Photograph by Dario Acosta, © Richard Tucker Music Foundation]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit5gz0bafzmgziroJFaEacwZaeu1lynceJ7iwKBnvuwTKG_JZLTgGKs8WGjpJcRPUpAejUw1Kl7LoLoOg3PEjuB9owKyokhCc5cSe4FKk5vfBLLreGncMtt_DE0RJk5wlpvnBlPess_XkzjJmMbMzmkgDcjCvTn5L_HaJOt35fQ178WYTz6_YeN14cW6Y/s1600/Tucker-Gala-2023_02_Ensemble_Dario-Acosta.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Gone to a Gala</em></u>: (<em>from left to right</em>) baritone <strong>Sean Michael Plumb</strong>, soprano <strong>Liv Redpath</strong>, tenor <strong>Stephen Costello</strong>, pianist <strong>Howard Watkins</strong>, soprano <strong>Federica Lombardi</strong>, tenor <strong>Ben Bliss</strong>, pianist <strong>Bryan Wagorn</strong>, soprano <strong>Angela Meade</strong>, baritone <strong>Quinn Kelsey</strong>, soprano <strong>Ailyn Pérez</strong>, and bass <strong>Soloman Howard</strong>, participants in the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala 2023, 29 October 2023[Photograph by Dario Acosta, © by Richard Tucker Music Foundation]</font></p>
<p>Heard in recent MET seasons as Mozart’s Don Ottavio and Tamino and as Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s <i>The Rake’s Progress</i>, 2014 and 2016 grants recipient <b>Ben Bliss</b> sang some of Verdi’s most emotionally chameleonic music for tenor, the Duca di Mantova’s scene that launches Act Two of <i>Rigoletto</i>. The irrepressible verve of his declamation of ‘Ella mi fu rapita’ yielded to sweet-toned refinement in ‘Parmi veder le lagrime,’ the interpolated top B♭ an exclamation of awe and yearning. The cabaletta ‘Possente amor mi chiama’ was voiced with rhythmic buoyancy and romantic ardor. Bliss’s encore demonstrated his skill at integrating Classical training with Jazz vibes—an art of which Bliss’s mastery is rare amongst opera singers. His singing of Ray Charles’s 1956 standard ‘Hallelujah I Love Her So’ bewitched, the words enunciated with debonair magnetism and the inventive riffs executed dazzlingly.</p>
<p>Having appeared as Mimì in Franco Zeffirelli’s celebrated Metropolitan Opera production of Puccini’s <i>La bohème</i> on the day prior to the Tucker Gala, Italian soprano <b>Federica Lombardi</b> revealed an altogether different facet of her artistry at Carnegie Hall with a fascinating performance of the final scene of Donizetti’s <i>Anna Bolena</i>. The sadness with which she sang ‘Piangete voi’ was palpable. The impeccable breath control demanded by ‘Al dolce guidami castel natio’ was supplied with intrinsic sensitivity, the tone even and alluring throughout the range. The bravura flourishes of the cabaletta ‘Coppia iniqua, l’estrema vendetta’ corruscated with anger and disillusionment, but stylistic integrity was fastidiously maintained. Lombardi’s encore, ‘Me llaman la primorosa’ Gerónimo Giménez’s zarzuela <i>El barbero de Sevilla</i>, was sung with gala-appropriate glamour, the upper register radiant, but even more beguiling was her depiction of Violetta in ‘Parigi, o cara’ from Act Three of <i>La traviata</i>. With Bliss singing Alfredo’s music affectionately, Lombardi surrendered to the solace of the words, and the voice glowed with beauty and tonal purity.</p>
<p>It is unlikely that any attendee of the 2023 Tucker Gala who was unaware of baritone <b>Quinn Kelsey</b>’s preeminence in the field of Verdi singing departed after hearing his performance of ‘Pietà, rispetto, amore’ from Act Four of <i>Macbeth</i> without feeling grateful for having been educated. The dignity of Kelsey’s singing was remarkable, each sentiment of the text communicated with immediacy, and the rugged attractiveness of the timbre glimmered in the aria’s melodic lines. Singing Conte di Luna to Meade’s Leonora in their confrontation from Act Four of <i>Il trovatore</i>, Kelsey reacted to Meade’s frenzied ‘Mira, d’acerbe lagrime’ with insouciant disdain, but sadistic satisfaction resounded in ‘Vivrà! Contende il giubilo,’ voiced with full-throated abandon. Kelsey’s encore, ‘If Ever I Would Leave You’ from <i>Camelot</i>, was an unexpected and sublime change of pace. Truly sung rather than crooned, his performance of the song was touchingly personal. The quiet pensiveness of his delivery of the wistful text was easily interpreted as a plaint for the devastation and suffering in his native Hawai’i.</p>
<p>Winner of the 2009 Tucker Award, tenor <b>Stephen Costello</b> sang Rodolfo opposite Lombardi’s Mimì in the 28 October matinée performance of <i>La bohème</i>, replacing an infirm colleague on very short notice. The vocal security and tonal beauty heard at Lincoln Center on Saturday also distinguished his singing at Carnegie Hall on Sunday. The title character’s romanza ‘Deserto in terra, che più m’avanza’ from Act Two of Gaetano Donizetti’s <i>Don Sebastiano, re di Portogallo</i> was sung with the poetic eloquence—an integral tenet of <i>bel canto</i> that is now far too often approximated or altogether neglected—that both the music and the text demand, but there was also excitement befitting the piece’s dramatic context, the top Cs and D♭ all the more thrilling for being wholly in the voice and certain of pitch. The occasion encouraged a few instances of pushing the tone through and above the passaggio, but Costello is unmistakably a singer who is cognizant and respectful of his vocal capabilities. Again called upon to sing in a colleague’s stead, he joined Plumb in the beloved duet from <i>Les pêcheurs de perles</i>. Even in this brief excerpt, his Nadir proved to be as captivating as his Don José, first heard in Dallas in 2018. The top B♭s were voiced with ease, but it was the unassailable legato of Costello’s singing that was most memorable. For his encore, Costello gave a heartfelt, incisively-sung performance of Italian-American composer Salvatore Cardillo’s <i>canzone napoletana</i> ‘Core ’ngrato’ in which notes and words were merged into a stream of pure emotion of the type that Richard Tucker’s singing unabashedly embodied, the upper register projected with exultant freedom.</p>
<p>The evening’s most strikingly expressive singing was offered by soprano <b>Ailyn Pérez</b>, recipient of the 2012 Tucker Award and the first Latinx singer to be so honored. Recently acclaimed for her rôle début as the eponymous heroine of Puccini’s <i>Madama Butterfly</i> at Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, she brought a glimpse of Nagasaki to the Perelman Stage with a momentous, grippingly emotive account of Cio-Cio San’s ‘Un bel dì, vedremo.’ Secure throughout the range, with sterling top ♭s, the voice was voluptuous but successful at imparting Cio-Cio San’s naïveté. Opening in the long-overdue MET première of Daniel Catán’s <i>Florencia en el Amazonas</i> on 16 November, Pérez rejoiced in her Latin heritage with a magnificent performance of Manuel Ponce’s ‘Estrellita,’ words pronounced with obvious love and tones above the stave suspended sparklingly in air like dewdrops in early-morning sunlight.</p>
<p>The Gala ended with a recording of Tucker singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ from <i>Carousel</i>, the inimitable voice cascading into the auditorium with a timely message of reassurance and inclusion. No matter how isolating life’s roads may seem, no one walks alone when there is music.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-76528655790338443152023-11-08T20:20:00.000-05:002023-11-08T20:20:23.024-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Gaspare Spontini — LA VESTALE (I. Thomas, T. Kinch, T. Aluwihare, K. Oliver, E. Lindsey, R. Agster, H. Kim; Teatro Grattacielo, 28 October 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Graphic design by Ricardo Monge, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Graphic design by Ricardo Monge, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM8vpzXR-6zYLkyDV8wsNbh7Uycyra_weodZ4GDL66A97cpv2fqagLOhJbMKdkfCTqjw9agqoB_Khyphenhyphen-9IUficgjHPESnIXraBBdl6izx-ish7cQD9j96GjgurMrBvcocprak4kP715Mz2tmL7_6Iaf7vgk1LPCGtmwzdBurUTKxR_nXLCQ5DwZn5sOscE/s1600/Spontini_VESTALE_Teatro-Grattacielo_2023_Title-Graphic.jpg" width="480" height="252"><u>GASPARE SPONTINI (1774 – 1851)</u>: <em><strong>La vestale</strong></em> — <a href="http://indrathomas.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Indra Thomas</font></a> (Giulia), <a href="https://www.stevenswalesartists.com/artist/thomas-kinch/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Thomas Kinch</font></a> (Licinio), <a href="https://www.tahaneealuwihare.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Tahanee Aluwihare</font></a> (La Gran Vestale), <a href="https://www.kyleoliverbaritone.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kyle Oliver</font></a> (Cinna), <a href="https://www.ericlindseyoperabass.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Eric Lindsey</font></a> (Il sommo Sacerdote), <a href="http://www.rickagster.com/bio.asp" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Rick Agster</font></a> (Un aruspice), <a href="https://cameratabardi.org/en/young-artists/bio/hyunsoon-kim" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">HyunSoon Kim</font></a> (Un console); Teatro Grattacielo Chorus and Orchestra; <a href="https://www.christiancapocaccia.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Christian Capocaccia</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://stefanoskoroneos.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Stefanos Koroneos</font></a>, director and concept curator; <a href="https://www.venieri.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Lydia Venieri</font></a>, multidisciplinary artwork designer; <a href="https://matthewdeinhart.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Matthew Deinhart</font></a>, lighting designer; Vaibhavi Deo, visual effects designer; Angela Huff, costume designer; Tiger Lily Moreno, makeup designer; <a href="https://grattacielo.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Teatro Grattacielo</font></a>, Gerald W. Lynch Theater, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, New York, USA; Saturday, 28 October 2023]</p>
<p>There is perhaps no rôle in opera more inextricably associated with a single singer than the heroine of Gaspare Spontini’s <i>La vestale</i> is with Maria Callas. Though created in the opera’s 1807 Paris première by the Haitian-born soprano Caroline Branchu, remembered both for her musical prowess and for her short-lived but well-documented romantic liaison with Napoléon, and respectively interpreted to acclaim in the first and third quarters of the Twentieth Century by Rosa Ponselle and Leyla Gencer, the part of the Vestālis Julia might have been specially tailored to Callas’s singular musical capabilities and dramatic sensibilities. With many similarities to the title rôle in Vincenzo Bellini’s <i>Norma</i>, a part in discussions of which Callas is still mentioned with reverence, Julia—or, as Callas knew her, Giulia—provided Callas with the sort of interpretive challenges upon which she thrived. Commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the legendary soprano’s birth by presenting in Callas’s native city a rare performance of <i>La vestale</i>, <b>Teatro Grattacielo</b> honored Callas’s enduring influence on standards of operatic expression by resurrecting the shades of Callas’s unique histrionic prowess that still inhabit every page of Spontini’s score.</p>
<p>Unlike other rôles in which her legacy continues to influence—and intimidate—Twenty-First-Century interpreters, La Divina sang Giulia in <i>La vestale</i> in only five performances of a sole production, Luchino Visconti’s 1954 staging at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. Working with Visconti for the first time and partnered by Franco Corelli, Ebe Stignani, and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, Callas unquestionably appreciated the parallels between Giulia and the <i>bel canto</i> rôle with which she arguably remains most identified, Bellini’s Norma. Regrettably, the surviving recording of the La Scala broadcast of the <i>Vestale</i> performance of 7 December 1954, widely circulated in commercial and clandestine releases, is of frustratingly poor audio quality, the sonic murk obscuring much of Spontini’s orchestral writing and crucial elements of the story. Nonetheless, the unerring musicality of Callas’s portrayal of Giulia is perceptible, the recording’s debilitating limitations fading into insignificance whenever she sings.</p>
<p>Utilizing the Italian translation of Étienne de Jouy’s libretto prepared for an 1811 production at Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli by Giovanni Schmidt, whose work in Naples included penning the texts for Paer’s <i>Leonora</i> and Rossini’s <i>Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra</i>, <i>Armida</i>, <i>Adelaide di Borgogna</i>, and <i>Eduardo e Cristina</i>, Teatro Grattacielo closely reproduced the edition of <i>La vestale</i> staged by Visconti in 1954, excisions primarily focused on the extensive sequences of dances in Acts One and Three and Cinna’s Act Three aria ‘Ascoltar i vani accenti.’</p>
<p>Evocatively accentuated by <b>Matthew Deinhart</b>’s lighting designs, aptly conflagratory imagery dominated Artistic Director <b>Stefanos Koroneos</b>’s and visual effects designer <b>Vaibhavi Deo</b>’s concept, alternately symbolizing romantic ardor, religious zeal, and divine absolution. With the choristers and male principals in modern dress, contrasting markedly with the sumptuous, flowing gowns in which Giulia and La Gran Vestale appeared, the costume designs by <b>Angela Huff</b> and multidisciplinary artist <b>Lydia Venieri</b> and <b>Tiger Lily Moreno</b>’s flatteringly natural makeup enhanced the performance’s sense of occasion without interfering with the physical act of singing. Movement recalled the understated gesturing favored by Callas in the surviving film footage of her 1964 Covent Garden <i>Tosca</i>, ideally suiting both the performance’s prevailing ethos and the gravitas of the music.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano INDRA THOMAS as Giulia (left) and mezz-soprano TAHANEE ALUWIHARE as la Gran Vestale (right) in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano INDRA THOMAS as Giulia (left) and mezz-soprano TAHANEE ALUWIHARE as la Gran Vestale (right) in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiqOpqboRR1Hd-tARGVtMeL6Y3ySLBX4L7yJ5QnY4udIFtYx_hB_iVZOpuc-DQHB2DWuSJ4UZKiGlzujmqrncCjgSgRHIMC9F9TpTVojZ8CA9EZnR5OQ7-9AnycxhAMA0XVmzAEn5lE2XCtdkcyD61Pdy5404at8gE68YwHcROrB1eNqXJDYAeSLwh_UI/s1600/Spontini_VESTALE_NYC_2023_04_Thomas-Aluwihare_Gustavo-Mirabile.jpeg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Addio, la mia sorella</em></u>: soprano <strong>Indra Thomas</strong> as Giulia (<em>left</em>) and mezzo-soprano <strong>Tahanee Aluwihare</strong> as la Gran Vestale (<em>right</em>) in Teatro Grattacielo’s performance of Gaspare Spontini’s <em>La vestale</em>, 28 October 2023<br>[Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]</font></p>
<p>Conductor <b>Christian Capocaccia</b> and the orchestra assembled by Teatro Grattacielo created a musical foundation for this <i>Vestale</i> that compared favorably with the work of their Milanese counterparts both in 1954 and in the later, commercially-recorded production of the French version conducted by Riccardo Muti. Pacing the score with discernible cognizance of its historical context, Capocaccia sagaciously integrated reminiscences of Haydn, Salieri, Mozart, and Cimarosa with suggestions of later works by Bellini, Weber, and Wagner. Kinships with Cherubini’s <i>Medea</i>—in the title rôle of which Callas also excelled—and Beethoven’s <i>Fidelio</i> were especially apparent, not least in the immediacy with which Capocaccia shaped transitions from declamatory passages to currents of lyricism. From the start of the opera’s episodic Overture, which owes much to the models of Gluck’s operatic preludes, the orchestral musicians played with verve and virtuosity, aiding Capocaccia in achieving equilibrium between Classical poise and Romantic passion. The conductor’s tempi capitalized on the singers’—and the score’s—strengths, facilitating dramatic involvement by adhering to the theatrical confines of Spontini’s carefully-wrought musical structures.</p>
<p>Comprised of professional singers and students from Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, Teatro Grattacielo’s chorus sang with musical and verbal clarity that demonstrated the effectiveness of the training that they received from chorus master <b>Jason Tramm</b>. Joining La Gran Vestale in the Inno mattutino in Act One, the choristers intoned ‘Alma Vesta del cielo pura figlia’ reverently, their sound well balanced despite the comparative weakness of the lower voices. Both in its initial statement and its later reprise, ‘Di lauri il suol spargiamo’ was strongly sung, and the evolving sentiments of ‘Della Dea pura seguace’ and ‘La pace in questo giorno è il fruto del valore’ were enacted with subtle gradations of volume and intensity.</p>
<p>In Act Two, the Inno della sera was radiantly voiced, the chorus crafting diaphanous aural textures. In the act’s charged finale, the discovery of Giulia having allowed the sacred flame to be extinguished plunging the drama into crisis, the choristers’ forceful singing heightened the tension. The theatrical efficacy of Act Three was also bolstered by their work, the very different moods of ‘La Vestale infida mora’ and ‘Licinio! Oh Numi!’ vividly communicated. Rejoicing in catastrophe being averted by the miraculous restoration of the altar fire, the catharsis of the opera’s final scene surged in ‘Lieti concenti, dolci momenti,’ voiced with emotional engagement.</p>
<p>As un aruspice, bass <b>Rick Agster</b> uttered ‘Differir vi consiglio il sacrifizio’ in Act Three with urgency, the flinty timbre of his voice keenly imparting the significance of the stern haruspex’s auguring. The sole disappointment of baritone <b>HyunSoon Kim</b>’s performance as un console was the brevity of his part: so incisive and handsomely-voiced was his enunciation of ‘La pace in questo giorno è il frutto del valor’ in the Act One finale that more music for the character would have been most welcome.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano INDRA THOMAS as Giulia, bass ERIC LINDSEY as Il sommo Sacerdote, and mezzo-soprano TAHANEE ALUWIHARE as la Gran Vestale in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano INDRA THOMAS as Giulia, bass ERIC LINDSEY as Il sommo Sacerdote, and mezzo-soprano TAHANEE ALUWIHARE as la Gran Vestale in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpaex_qy13pRGxLAL8MiLSuY96yhB8X-PdjUAXeiz7e10quEtrgMbbKQ5PBdI-O4-291QlVEODpoFPvueU6r5aUl7JHWPCvhMAZBQU-mHzkkzsMuD7UDLoCN93KctwOsGpzetzHOKqjOQEZNWtV4SYpqfcllgywBTS6BjY9uCY3MCNjmmbGR9IuVgknHA/s1600/Spontini_VESTALE_NYC_2023_05_Thomas-Lindsey-Aluwihare_Gustavo-Mirabile.jpeg" width="480" height="300"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Sul precipizio della giustizia</em></u>: (<em>from left to right</em>) soprano <strong>Indra Thomas</strong> as Giulia, bass <strong>Eric Lindsey</strong> as Il sommo Sacerdote, and mezzo-soprano <strong>Tahanee Aluwihare</strong> as la Gran Vestale in TeatroGrattacielo’s performance of Gaspare Spontini’s <em>La vestale</em>, 28 October 2023<br>[Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]</font></p>
<p>The extent to which the rôle of il sommo Sacerdote, the irascible guardian of the sanctity of the temple of Vesta, fell victim to the pruning to which Spontini’s score was subjected in Teatro Grattacielo’s performance of <i>La vestale</i> seemed especially injurious with a singer of the exceptional caliber exemplified by bass <b>Eric Lindsey</b> interpreting the part. The character’s commanding ‘Ormai cessi il tripudio’ in the Act One finale was unfortunately suppressed, reducing him to a figure who was seen but not heard in the opera’s first act. When Lindsey’s voice was unleashed in Act Two, the Sacerdote’s authority thundered thrillingly. He sang ‘Grida vendetta il cielo contro la coppia’ explosively and launched the Act Two finale with an anguished ‘Oh delitto!’ before voicing ‘O perfida ministra’ with sonorous solemnity. In the Act Three duetto with Licinio, Lindsey sang ‘Tal’è il voler de’ Numi’ fervently, revealing the psychological toll of inviolable duty. The voice shimmered with relief in an account of ‘Olà, tutti fermate spettacol di contento!’ that exhibited the insightfulness of his portrayal, Lindsey’s vocal assurance elucidating the subtleties of his use of words.</p>
<p>As Cinna, the captain of a Roman legion under Licinio’s command, baritone <b>Kyle Oliver</b> sang boldly and acted with conviction that credibly projected the character’s martial bravado. At his entrance in Act One, Oliver voiced ‘Presso il sublime tempio a Vesta sacro’ robustly, establishing Cinna as a consequential participant in the opera’s narrative, and the aria ‘Tu nascondi a un fido core’ was sung with panache, the baritone’s vocal security undermined only by a few effortful notes at the top of the range. In the duetto with Licinio, Oliver sang ‘Ah! sgombri il ciel si rio presentimento’ pointedly, the captain’s growing unease coloring the voice. The verbal acuity with which Cinna’s lines in the Act Two terzetto with Giulia and Licinio were articulated was equaled by the musicality of the baritone’s vocalism. The loss of his aria ‘Ascoltar i vani accenti’ left Cinna with little to do in Act Three, but, here and throughout the performance, Oliver made much of each note and word.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano TAHANEE ALUWIHARE as La Gran Vestale (left) and soprano INDRA THOMAS as Giulia in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano TAHANEE ALUWIHARE as La Gran Vestale (left) and soprano INDRA THOMAS as Giulia in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI1N5PRvaVdqxFkuSRRb9Y_tpakkR9aQO9fZMKoFmC8UTC_NbtkucVje9cOLKOH6cRXjaoLy1c9qHLB8VdhyyO9p1DNr5NJMsHm7E4fWkGwsx93zgT1dlwNLeJdbcTvMdcWPfw4clIAtCVWxcIJEugaLd7s5r6o77rcIC1HiySYC8ANh8YlRDTS7gToEQ/s1600/Spontini_VESTALE_NYC_2023_03_Thomas-Aluwihare_Gustavo-Mirabile.jpeg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Le guardiane della fiamma</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Tahanee Aluwihare</strong> as La Gran Vestale (<em>left</em>) and soprano <strong>Indra Thomas</strong> as Giulia (<em>right</em>) in Teatro Grattacielo’s performance of Gaspare Spontini’s <em>La vestale</em>, 28 October 2023<br>[Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]:</font></p>
<p>Ebe Stignani was nearing the end of her storied career when she partnered Callas in <i>La vestale</i> at La Scala in 1954, but the broadcast recording confirms that she remained a worthy collaborator, her portrayal of la Gran Vestale vocally confident and emotionally affecting. Teatro Grattacielo’s Gran Vestale, mezzo-soprano <b>Tahanee Aluwihare</b>, was also a superbly-qualified companiom for her Giulia. In Act One, ‘Alma Vesta del ciel pura figlia’ in the Inno mattutino was phrased with true dignity, the text used as the source of musical momentum. Like Stignani, Aluwihare was tested by the top Gs and As in the largo con moto aria ‘È l’Amore un mostro,’ but this and the andante espressivo ‘Il tuo cor si perde’ were handled intrepidly. ‘Tu dell’immortal face vigil custode’ in the Act One finale was nobly voiced. La Gran Vestale’s music in Act Two was also sung majestically, ‘O Giulia, è questa l’ora solenne’ sculpted with effortless Classical line. Aluwihare’s singing in Act Three reached a new pinnacle of grandeur, the sincerity of the character’s affection for Giulia permeating her work in their duetto. The serenity of Aluwihare’s portrayal was consistently allied with musical eloquence, her vocal acting touchingly disclosing la Gran Vestale’s devotion to Giulia as both hierarchical superior and friend.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor THOMAS KINCH as Licinio in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor THOMAS KINCH as Licinio in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggVDRR_RllKWsGvD1I7p11-24dW5oFKShvQQsPFpvd1u8dGF6B_rd5LZYotdOkmUkDfBihQ7q2iC6OJd0ssbaQBpEbUbDG37cnIUpEhF1fSO7A8u8lLPcdDx6BkP3Lk2pQCuUHfR4laXRxX54enUbzfwp68ihnaf4OBXubW_tZgxAkpjzTYvThzNKoPqQ/s1600/Spontini_VESTALE_NYC_2023_02_Kinch_Gustavo-Mirabile.jpeg" width="480" height="300"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>L’amante trionfante</em></u>: tenor <strong>Thomas Kinch</strong> as Licinio in Teatro Grattacielo’s performance of Gaspare Spontini’s <em>La vestale</em>, 28 October 2023<br>[Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]</font></p>
<p>It is justly Callas whose brief acquaintance with <i>La vestale</i> is celebrated, but Franco Corelli’s depiction of the Roman general Licinio in the 1954 Visconti production is no less important in the opera’s performance history. Rarely a paragon of style in any repertoire other than <i>verismo</i>, Corelli ably followed Callas’s lead, singing Spontini’s music with surprising restraint. Cladding Licinio in gallant vocal attire hewn from a bronze-hued, baritonal timbre, tenor <b>Thomas Kinch</b> rivaled Corelli as an enthralling paramour for his Giulia. His opening recitative in Act One was delivered with conversational response to the text. Concentration on limning the meaning of the words was a defining aspect of his singing of ‘Quando amistà seconda il mio ardimento’ in the maestoso marziale duetto with Cinna, and the Act One finale was begun with a galvanizing ‘Trionfan l’armi nostre,’ the voice dominating the ensemble without pushing.</p>
<p>Assiduously duetting with Giulia in Act Two, Kinch articulated ‘Avran pietà gli Dei’ energetically, rising with his soprano colleague to an electrifying top B♭. No less pulse-quickening was his vocalism in the terzetto with Giulia and Cinna, the general’s psyche made audible. Kinch’s traversal of Licinio’s aria in Act Three, ‘Ah! no, s’io vivo ancora,’ was arresting, the tenor’s interpolated top B♭ blossoming in the theater’s acoustic. ‘D’un sacrifizio orrendo’ in the riveting duetto with il sommo Sacerdote surged with expressive brawn, but it was with ‘Vieni colà’ in the opera’s final scene that Kinch fully affirmed his mastery of Licinio’s dramatic predicament and Spontini’s musical language. Corelli’s voice was as extraordinary an instrument as Callas’s, and Kinch resisted any temptation to mimic his predecessor, instead crafting a portrayal of Licinio from which, were it preserved for posterity as Corelli’s was, future exponents of the rôle might learn.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano INDRA THOMAS as Giulia in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano INDRA THOMAS as Giulia in Teatro Grattacielo's performance of Gaspare Spontini's LA VESTALE, 28 October 2023 [Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJl6jF1xkwLScSQJ6iZZzY6g0uFdwye-Uir-IMeMuUKnSZkx7ajM6ZSYuQfXDgoaFinYe67KWE-4zuOsgEEIsRJDcpD-HSt807l4ZfF1n4BJIBFWbY-E-Bb5-c067HibpwMtZdVs02OxmzFzKoFVeSQsgNPiUKOPgd48rlWnPAfeQk53owovex5vs5ww4/s1600/Spontini_VESTALE_NYC_2023_01_Thomas_Gustavo-Mirabile.jpeg" width="480" height="300"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La donna del fuoco sacro</em></u>: soprano <strong>Indra Thomas</strong> as Giulia in Teatro Grattacielo’s performance of Gaspare Spontini’s <em>La vestale</em>, 28 October 2023<br>[Photograph by Gustavo Mirabile, © by Teatro Grattacielo]</font></p>
<p>Soprano <b>Indra Thomas</b> was no novice in paying homage to Callas’s musical relationship with the New York metropolitan area, having sung Imogene in Bellini’s <i>Il pirata</i>—a rôle famously interpreted by Callas at Carnegie Hall in 1959—in a 2000 Bel Canto at Caramoor performance. Her portrayal of Giulia in Teatro Grattacielo’s <i>La vestale</i> intimated that, owing to her meticulously-honed technique, the intervening years have been uncommonly kind to Thomas’s voice. There were passages in which shifts among the lower, middle, and upper registers were toilsome, but intonation was largely unimpeded. The sound of the voice as she sang ‘Fremo al nome di Vesta’ and Giulia’s music in the animated scene with la Gran Vestale in Act One fleetingly brought Jessye Norman’s timbre to mind, but both the sonic impact and the dramatic accents of her reading of the aria ‘Ti vedrò, ti vedrò fra momenti’ and Giulia’s music in the Act One finale were entirely her own.</p>
<p>Joining la Gran Vestale and the chorus in the Inno della sera in Act Two, Thomas sang limpidly. The tranquility of Giulia’s cloistered life disrupted by her love for Licinio, Thomas started the andante sostenuto opening of the aria ‘Tu che invoco orrore’ with finesse, her repeated top A♭s and cadenza ascending to top B♭ evincing the young lady’s innate honor. ‘Su questo sacro altare’ was declaimed with burgeoning self-recrimination, Giulia’s dedication to her vows undermined by doubt, and her voicing of the <i>de facto</i> cabaletta ‘Sospendete qualche istante,’ resolved with a long-sustained top C, electrified the atmosphere for her scorching singing of ‘Di Saturno la figlia i nostri prieghi ascotla’ in the duetto with Licinio and Giulia’s agonized lines in the subsequent terzetto. The lovely andante sostenuto ‘O Nume tutelar degl’infelici’ in the act’s final scene received dulcet handling, the soprano reminding the listener of the <i>bel canto</i> delicacy with which Callas caressed this music.</p>
<p>The gentle sorrow of ‘Addio, addio, tenere suore’ in the Act Three duetto with la Gran Vestale simmered in Thomas’s voice, her vowels darkened by despair. The larghetto aria ‘Caro oggetto, il di cui nome’ was sung with grace and simplicity, Giulia’s acceptance of her fate communicated with hushed contrition. The sacred cauldron reignited by lightning, the earnestness with which Thomas conveyed Giulia’s awe at the show of divine favor was deeply moving. Her euphonious ‘Oh clemenza del ciel!’ gleamed, and she matched her Licinio’s exuberance in ‘Vieni colà.’ Shouldering much of the responsibility for the outcome of Teatro Grattacielo’s venture, Thomas wisely eschewed musical pontificating, attempting neither to replicate Callas’s portrayal of Giulia nor to proclaim <i>La vestale</i> a neglected masterwork. Along with her colleagues on stage, in the pit, and behind the scenes, she executed her part with understanding of the words and fidelity to the score, allowing Spontini’s music to advocate on its own behalf. That advocacy proved to be incredibly persuasive.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-74984989378353366692023-10-23T19:46:00.001-04:002023-10-24T15:17:50.096-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Giuseppe Verdi — IL TROVATORE (B. Gulley, Y. Lysenko, T. Vaughn, M. Redding, B. Banion, C. Orr, T. Bradford, D. Arnold Paris, J. Ray; Piedmont Opera, 20 October 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor BEN GULLEY as Manrico (left) and mezzo-soprano TICHINA VAUGHN as Azucena (right) in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor BEN GULLEY as Manrico (left) and mezzo-soprano TICHINA VAUGHN as Azucena (right) in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7BD_MTxDvqxueGrCXN3gvTeVpMCfrCgAa9Fl1N-e85Sqd2oqTick_bw-hR3m_hGGBSqv46SVN7_zU4vG4Ch43OwmBeYggrZr35XHsXZTlvM_UsBlFFWSBCs-nPqekAFsv6lBu-Phd8VuK9RVC6m8j5qgiBNWLh4pcyBFgtTosDCATq2ZUx-lPjMFvTJs/s1600/Verdi_TROVATORE_Piedmont-Opera_2023_05_Gulley-Vaughn.jpg" width="480" height="320"><u>GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813 – 1901)</u>: <strong><em>Il trovatore</em></strong> — <a href="https://www.bengulley.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Ben Gulley</font></a> (Manrico), <a href="http://www.musicagrandeartists.com/yulia-lysenko---soprano.html" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Yulia Lysenko</font></a> (Leonora), <a href="https://www.tichinavaughnsings.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Tichina Vaughn</font></a> (Azucena), Michael Redding (Il conte di Luna), <a href="https://www.brianbanion.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Brian Banion</font></a> (Ferrando), <a href="https://www.carolynorr.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Carolyn Orr</font></a> (Ines), Thomas Bradford (Ruiz), David Arnold Paris (Un vecchio zingaro), Jackson Ray (Un messo); Piedmont Opera Chorus, <a href="https://www.wssymphony.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra</font></a>; James Allbritten, conductor [<a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/faculty-staff/steven-lacosse.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Steven LaCosse</font></a>, director; <a href="https://www.msportfolio.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Michael Schweikardt</font></a>, scenery designer; Howard Tsvi Kaplan, costume designer; Norman Coates, lighting designer; <a href="https://www.brittanyrappise.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Brittany Rappise</font></a>, wig and makeup and designer; <a href="https://www.piedmontopera.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Piedmont Opera</font></a>, Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; Friday, October 2023]</p>
<p>By the time of the world-première performance of <i>Il trovatore</i> in Rome’s Teatro Apollo on 19 January 1853, the thirty-nine-year-old Giuseppe Verdi was widely acclaimed as the principal steward of the Italian operatic tradition fostered by Gioachino Rossini and advanced by Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti. Having experienced personal tragedies and an extended period of relentless composition that yielded early successes including <i>Nabucco</i> and <i>Macbeth</i>, Verdi launched the 1850s with a progression of three new works that continue to be performed frequently 122 years after his death: <i>Rigoletto</i> (1851), <i>Il trovatore</i>, and <i>La traviata</i> (1853). The second of these, a setting of librettists Salvadore Cammarano’s and Leone Enanuele Bardare’s adaptation of Spanish writer Antonio García Gutiérrez’s 1836 play <i>El trovador</i>, was in some ways the most musically conservative of the three, but Verdi’s adherence to the conventions of Donizettian <i>bel canto</i> was integrated with innovations that prefigured later works like <i>Don Carlos</i> and <i>La forza del destino</i>. <i>Il trovatore</i> proved to be a turning point not only in Verdi’s career but equally in the development of Nineteenth-Century Italian opera, its romantic—and Romantic—angst as compelling in 2023 as it was in the tumultuous years of the Risorgimento.</p>
<p>As noteworthy an exponent of Verdi repertoire as Enrico Caruso having observed after his 1908 rôle début as the titular troubadour that performing <i>Il trovatore</i> requires nothing short of engaging the world’s four best singers, staging the piece poses formidable challenges to opera companies of all sizes. Seldom absent for more than a few seasons from the repertories of large houses, <i>Il trovatore</i> is mounted less frequently by smaller companies with more limited resources. Lavishly occupying the stage of Winston-Salem’s Stevens Center, <b>Piedmont Opera</b>’s production of <i>Il trovatore</i> exhibited no suggestion of <i>this</i> company being intimidated by the work’s musical and theatrical demands. Rather, guided by the unassailable theatrical intuitiveness of director <b>Steven LaCosse</b>, the performance elucidated the dramatic subtleties of the opera’s contrasting intimacy and grandeur.</p>
<p>Frequently disparaged for plot elements considered absurd by some observers even at the time of its première, <i>Il trovatore</i> has often been parodied, not least by Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan in their <i>Pirates of Penzance</i>. There was no satirical agenda in LaCosse’s concept for Piedmont Opera’s production, however. Particular care was devoted to deepening the production’s depiction of the duplicitous Conte di Luna, his inner conflict discernibly spurred by vengeful ferocity that only partly masked unnerving vulnerability. Like Barnaba in Ponchielli’s <i>La gioconda</i>, di Luna here wrought destruction when his quest for retribution and carnal gratification was thwarted by his quarry’s suicide. Learning as the axe fell on Manrico that the executed man was his brother, di Luna brutally slashed Azucena’s throat, ending the opera in stark isolation of his own making, yet LaCosse’s direction inspired empathy for the Count falling victim more to his own demons than to external forces. Throughout the performance, actions and gestures were faithful to both the libretto and the rhythms of the music, LaCosse’s respect for the score manifested in every detail of his staging.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano TICHINA VAUGHN as Azucena (center left), bass-baritone BRIAN BANION as Ferrando (center right), and the ensemble of Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano TICHINA VAUGHN as Azucena (center left), bass-baritone BRIAN BANION as Ferrando (center right), and the ensemble of Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpyDEx3rQAJfMo-qdO8Oi4X-DoXWe1lWg1yDLIfb8ZrL717Pl8Sas6gJ1o6UDErtU6no2Vem8AaYbFDFgOGB6Jwi-zkD9iWnt3CJjE93_UeQLg63HzlPLDPk-aRrYkCNDTpIOMMC13cxJmvlSg6gKODBxJN0RR7csMBJAC12ERrEErVZi2EbMZEJ7vKg/s1600/Verdi_TROVATORE_Piedmont-Opera_2023_07_Vaughn-Ensemble.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La zingara nel campo marziale</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Tichina Vaughn</strong> as Azuena (<em>center left</em>), bass-baritone <strong>Brian Banion</strong> as Ferrando (<em>center right</em>), and the ensemble of Piedmont Opera’s October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>Il trovatore</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>From first sight, <b>Michael Schweikardt</b>’s attractive, sensibly-proportioned scenic designs, created for Sarasota Opera, and <b>Howard Tsvi Kaplan</b>’s opulent costumes evoked the opera’s Spanish setting. Cleverly imparting the passage of time via interplay between brightness and shadow, <b>Norman Coates</b>’s lighting heightened the drama’s moroseness and unpredictability, qualities that <b>Brittany Rappise</b>’s wig and makeup designs accentuated by giving an unmistakable visual dimension to the class differences among characters. Vitally, characters could always be identified by appearance, enabling the audience to concentrate on their musical exchanges and the ways in which Verdi used them to advance the story.</p>
<p>In Piedmont Opera’s most recent productions of <i>Il trovatore</i>’s middle-period brethren <i>Rigoletto</i> (2015) and <i>La traviata</i> (2022), conductor <b>James Allbritten</b> proved to be the ideal collaborator for LaCosse’s innately musical productions, the fidelity to the composer’s score in the pit matching that on the stage. Allbritten’s pacing of <i>Il trovatore</i> balanced the dramatic momentum characteristic of Verdi’s post-1850 works with observance of the tenets of <i>bel canto</i> that permeate the opera. Tempi provided requisite excitement, building thrillingly to climaxes, but cadences were never rushed. Their playing consistent in intonation and precision of ensemble, with only an occasional wiriness from the violins adversely affecting their sound, the <b>Winston-Salem Symphony</b> musicians engrossingly brought Allbritten’s approach to fruition. Verdi was indisputably acquitted of the accusations of banality that are often made of his orchestral writing, conductor and orchestra disclosing the ingenuity in the seeming conventionality. Conducting of the caliber attained by Allbritten in this performance is never conventional but is now exceedingly rare in Verdi repertoire.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano CAROLYN ORR as Ines in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano CAROLYN ORR as Ines in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsQ1rGRI94JywiRNIgjVmntTbyX8wdrpRWk6MLGat38yZJqXpoUSxSHXuCmtoagzymuRsTeKDALASeX9te3le_xDBJD0hwQG3m4EMo-lPRAjJqMSOg8lJsjI8nDJBX1VwoCbRq75Sz6WPPmBoqChp94pFsft0vjP_5yWQjtsp8g1RPlt3fNkLmGFEhXk/s1600/Verdi_TROVATORE_Piedmont-Opera_2023_02_Orr.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La confidente rispettosa</em></u>: soprano <strong>Carolyn Orr</strong> as Ines in Piedmont Opera’s October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>Il trovatore</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p><p>Portraying Conte di Luna’s troops, Azucena’s gypsy community, and denizens of sacred cloisters as the opera progresses, the choristers are entrusted with conjuring the shifting moods in which <i>Trovatore</i>’s drama transpires. In the martial scenes in Acts One and Three, Piedmont Opera’s chorus sang boldly, the gentlemen’s voices blending artfully but maintaining an apt aura of rough-edged bravado. The widely-known Coro di zingari that launches Act Two, ‘Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie,’ harkens back to the grand choruses in Verdi’s earlier operas, namely <i>Nabucco</i>’s ‘Va, pensiero’ and <i>Macbeth</i>’s ‘Patria oppressa,’ and was delivered in this performance with gusto. Entreating his fellow Romany to continue their work as the chorus faded, <b>David Arnold Paris</b> declaimed the Vecchio zingaro’s ‘Compagni, avanza il giorno’ commandingly. Singing ‘Ah! se l’error t’ingombra’ in the convent scene at the end of Act Two and the inventive, haunting ‘Miserere d’un’alma già vicina’ in Act Four captivatingly, the choristers lent each of their appearances dramatic significance and musical excellence.</p>
<p>Proximity to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts often yields felicitous casting of supporting rôles in Piedmont Opera productions, providing opportunities for fellows of UNCSA’s Fletcher Opera Institute to gain invaluable on-stage experience in high-quality professional stagings. In this <i>Trovatore</i>, tenor <b>Jackson Ray</b> delivered the Messo’s fateful news of Leonora’s impending taking of the veil in Act Two portentously, enunciating ‘Risponda il foglio che reco a te’ with urgency. Manrico’s comrade Ruiz received a performance of similar immediacy from tenor <b>Thomas Bradford</b>, who brought tidings of Azucena’s capture in Act Three with alarm and voiced ‘Siam giunti’ in the brief exchange with Leonora at the beginning of Act Four incisively. Soprano <b>Carolyn Orr</b> sang alluringly as Ines, communicating a friend’s concern for Leonora in Act One, first with ‘Che più t’arresti?’ and then ‘Quanto narrasti di turbamento,’ and in the final scene of Act Two.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: bass-baritone BRIAN BANION as Ferrando in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: bass-baritone BRIAN BANION as Ferrando in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRBCorSXwXvbjUCRxnx-KSN8tB6sk-ONSrNYGeBvv0XnJqqPJkscWKoqaBvzcRoxQFPkmxxnFGb54vJANiGyjRHvQt1B0-rLlSCbKVy67GyZkOjSLNN85VaFOXYOWXkUGofZ3GKqvLabThdNOiQ5k3S161wQjKv970g_MwR4oKV6jWgksB9SVMctg-8o/s1600/Verdi_TROVATORE_Piedmont-Opera_2023_04_Bannion.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Il capitano fedele</em></u>: bass-baritone <strong>Brian Banion</strong> as Ferrando in Piedmont Opera’s October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>Il trovatore</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>In the first published score of <i>Il trovatore</i>, Verdi and the publisher Ricordi designated the battle-hardened captain Ferrando as a rôle for basso profondo. Triumphantly resuming his career after endured life-threatening illness, bass-baritone <b>Brian Banion</b> was a riveting Ferrando whose storytelling and vocal presence were indeed profound. In Act One, his cries of ‘All’erta! all’erta!’ were eerily disquieting, and he recounted the harrowing tale of the fiery execution of Azucena’s mother spellbindingly, articulating each syllable of ‘Di due figli vivea padre beato’ with clarity and purpose. Ferrando’s words in the Act Two scene with di Luna were uttered with ominous shading, and each line of the terzetto in Act Three in which Ferrando recognizes Azucena as the daughter of the gypsy whose death he described in Act One was sung with vehemence and focused, flinty tone. Pretense is an integral component of opera, but this performance demonstrated that time away from the stage reinvigorated Banion’s passion for it.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: baritone MICHAEL REDDING as Il conte di Luna in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: baritone MICHAEL REDDING as Il conte di Luna in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg6Z50JHw1BRS3Y4HxcQA2ikw2EgbISRzi3dTs6m3KJUt2pMjaEkTa348390iVOH7kmDHyw7PgRPZ9xDWqZO_1sF6s7UZ16G4TJNwbqtSeUeJKbtZ1STpYwocBFG9e7gLTCS5ZJPgAwZQ4Kfbha9Lr12FDLVOenhv-_9HOicgyMCXPPyNVLwEJCEQX5Is/s1600/Verdi_TROVATORE_Piedemont-Opera_2023_01_Redding.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>L’agente della vendetta</em></u>: baritone <strong>Michael Redding</strong> as Il conte di Luna in Piedmont Opera’s October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>Il trovatore</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>With his hushed but heated voicing of the line ‘Tacea la notte!’ at his entrance in Act One, baritone <b>Michael Redding</b> created a sinister characterization of Conte di Luna that grew more chilling in each subsequent scene. The rejected lover’s rage upon hearing the offstage voice of his rival was palpable, and his demeanor was little impacted by the pleas of the object of his desire. Redding sang ‘Di geloso amor sprezzato’ in the terzetto with Leonora and Manrico forcefully, but his upper register was compromised by intermittent hoarseness and faltering breath control. These difficulties persisted in the baritone’s account of the Act Two aria ‘Il balen del suo sorriso,’ the filigree inexact and the top G steady but pushed. Redding was more comfortable in the cabaletta ‘Per me, ora fatale,’ singing lustily, and his vocalism in the Act Two finale exuded incendiary fury.</p>
<p>Preparing to besiege the rebel stronghold that sheltered Manrico in Act Three, Redding’s di Luna reacted with sadistic elation to Azucena’s apprehension and the discovery that she is the woman his dying father instructed him to pursue. Firing ‘Dunque gli estinti lasciano’ in the terzetto into the auditorium, this di Luna embarked upon the final phase of his trek to annihilation. The implacable Count dismissing Leonora’s requests for mercy for Manrico in Act Four until she offered herself as ransom, Redding voiced ‘Ah! dell’indegno rendere’ viciously, and his singing of ‘Fra te che parli?’ seethed with contempt.</p>
<p>In the opera’s final scene, di Luna’s initial shock at perceiving that Leonora had poisoned herself after making her bargain with him giving way to all-consuming ire, the knell of his wrath resounded in ‘Ah! volle me deludere, e per costui morir!’ Having destroyed the woman he claimed to love and the brother he knew only as an adversary, Redding’s di Luna knew no recourse other than further slaughter, turning his blade on Azucena. Despite the character’s unwavering depravity, Redding’s portrayal offered flashes of humanity amidst the repulsing villainy.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano TICHINA VAUGHN as Azucena in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano TICHINA VAUGHN as Azucena in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl7_3hFdsgQTaVJzV1ADRrzMP8G6uIfNiTGgH933vWxRgUQJH3mH87laXLEaMWirpcnuIY-1d8huZAXdZzc2RxGah2dU9rlvXHbJI3UA1hwvdygixyqkb5x57HHE0mBECLE_WfT7okKfqm6-DYQW8s3m7n8iyKbp9oWaRU7pp2qHk159AajabZDHQBrfI/s1600/Verdi_TROVATORE_Piedmont-Opera_2023_06_Vaughn.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La madre tormentata</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Tichina Vaughn</strong> as Azucena in Piedmont Opera’s October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>Il trovatore</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>Verdi’s correspondence reflects that, when considering <i>El trovador</i> as a possible operatic subject, it was the character who became the gypsy woman Azucena who convinced the composer to set the story to music. Mezzo-soprano <b>Tichina Vaughn</b>, a resident of Winston-Salem during her childhood and one of UNCSA’s most distinguished alumni, interpreted the rôle with boundless fervor and musical potency that fully realized Azucena’s dramatic potential. Dominating the stage in Act Two, her vocal acting mesmerizing the audience. The trills in the canzone ‘Stride la vampa’ were more suggested than truly sung, but the histrionic acumen that enlivened this scene and the racconto ‘Condotta ell’era in ceppi al suo destin tremendo’ was galvanizing. In the duetto with Manrico, Vaughn intoned ‘Ma nell’alma dell’ingrato’ vehemently but with tenderness. She avoided the top C in ‘Perigliarti ancor languente’ but left no other demand of the music unmet.</p>
<p>Dragged into Conte di Luna’s camp at the start of Act Three, Vaughn’s Azucena was bound physically but irrepressibly free of spirit. Her singing of ‘Giorni poveri vivea’ beguiled, her handling of the music’s evolution from lyricism to the frenetic energy of ‘Deh! rallentate, o barbari’—shortened by half—and the terzetto spotlighting the presages of Verdi’s writing for Amneris in <i>Aida</i>. In the Act Four prison scene with Manrico, Vaughn’s voicing of ‘Un giorno turba feroce l’ava tua condusse’ shuddered with fear, making the serenity of her dulcet ‘Ai nostri monti, ritorneremo!’ all the more stirring.</p>
<p>The transformation of Azucena’s grief into exultant vindication as she revealed in the final scene that the slain Manrico was di Luna’s brother was depicted with startling realism, Vaughn exclaiming ‘Sei vendicata, o madre!’ with abandon and an explosive top B♭. Di Luna’s impulsive murder of Azucena was jolting, but the mysticism of Vaughn’s stunningly-sung portrayal made the character’s demise seem inevitable, as though she, like di Luna, was an instrument of unalterable destiny.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano YULIA LYSENKO as Leonora in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano YULIA LYSENKO as Leonora in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWLgrG2tA3V_AFvoV16fo0vnjCX3Fvpt9EPUEyXxpyMSO6jCtiNleQ56BP4Q7kp4dxTtRoATglHmDhrJUXVQSYr1-7nS0IRf-KrDBD9deDCAZrRvaU89u6C_mYpB71S32YLbZM7frYDRgdq6vuytsU3_hxUnoTXvO_zyZYNxnYvlpOO7BU_c0psxrZMc/s1600/Verdi_TROVATORE_Piedmont-Opera_2023_08_Lysenko.jpg" width="308" height="480"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="2"><u><em>La donna senza pace</em></u>: soprano <strong>Yulia Lysenko</strong> as Leonora in Piedmont Opera’s October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>Il trovatore</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></font></p>
<p>Returning to the stage on which she earned acclaim for her performances as Elisabetta in Donizetti’s <i>Maria Stuarda</i> and Violetta in <i>La traviata</i>, soprano <b>Yulia Lysenko</b> traded Elizabethan Britain and consumption-ridden Paris for war-torn Spain with an exquisite, expressive portrayal of Leonora in <i>Il trovatore</i>. Phrasing the Act One cavatina ‘Tacea la notte placida’ with innate grasp of Verdi’s style, she seamlessly integrated the top B♭s and C into the line. Likewise, the trills and ascents above the stave in the cabaletta ‘Di tale amor che dirsi,’ denied its repeat, were executed with technical acumen that facilitated emotional engagement with the significance of each note and word. ‘Ah! dalle tenebre tratta in errore io fui!’ in the terzetto was rousingly sung, the soprano ending the act with a blazing interpolated top D♭.</p>
<p>Believing Manrico to have died in battle, Leonora resolves to seek refuge in a life of religious contemplation, committing herself to a convent in the final scene of Act Two. Her motions and her vocalism exhibiting poise befitting a noble lady, Lysenko sang the cantabile ‘Degg’io volgemi a quei’ delicately. Bliss blossomed in Lysenko’s voicing of ‘L’onda de’ suoni mistici’ in the Act Three duettino with Manrico, but the tranquility was short-lived, the lovers’ reunion interrupted by the news of Azucena’s detainment.</p>
<p>Leonora’s Act Four aria ‘D’amor sull’ali rosee’ is one of the most daunting pieces in the Verdi canon, its trills and arching lines necessitating unassailable <i>bel canto</i> technique. Lysenko’s traversal of the aria succeeded musically and dramatically. Like many celebrated Leonore, Lysenko omitted the aria’s treacherous written top D♭ but interpolated the note to tremendous effect in the cadenza. The traditional interpolation of a C in the ‘Miserere’ raised the scene’s emotional stakes. Cutting the cabaletta ‘Tu vedrai che amore in terra’ remains common practice but was regrettable in a performance with so capable a Leonora.</p>
<p>There were oddities in the soprano’s approaches to staccati and intervals in ‘Mira, di acerbe lagrime’ and ‘Vivrà! contende il giubilo,’ but the earnestness of her singing heightened the tension of the confrontation with di Luna. As the dying Leonora begged Manrico to flee from his captivity, Lysenko voiced ‘Oh, come l’ira ti rende cieco!’ with wrenching dejection. The eloquence of her singing was ideally suited to the deceptive simplicity of ‘Prima che d’altri vivere,’ Leonora’s death acted with restraint. The beauty of Lysenko’s timbre enchanted, but tonal luster was only one facet of her incandescent Leonora.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor BEN GULLEY as Manrico in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor BEN GULLEY as Manrico in Piedmont Opera's October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi's IL TROVATORE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVa0qSGkYQpa8IPa1uxLmHbSGqRZmSFfEob5jvvMU19hohFEjQb-mqF1SBAa8RDrSgfU1RCVGZ8DCdqZPTdyBD1oHJyozDWHPQSSrSI61aZpmbM5MijZLtiFHHynmIUVCn3d3MFOqrPo8qVSLWfyw1lzVJH_wzkUTABOTrv6UrSMDoawpdCCRt4ebG3q4/s1600/Verdi_TROVATORE_Piedmont-Opera_2023_03_Gulley.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>L’eroe della serenata</em></u>: tenor <strong>Ben Gulley</strong> as Manrico in Piedmont Opera’s October 2023 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>Il trovatore</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>115 years after the Metropolitan Opera audience welcomed Caruso’s inaugural portrayal of Manrico, tenor <b>Ben Gulley</b> unveiled a portrayal of Verdi’s heroic jongleur that disclosed the fruits of thorough preparation. Reminiscent of the work of one of Spain’s foremost exponents of the rôle, Pedro Lavirgén, Gulley’s performance allied vocal amplitude with stylistic finesse, reminding the Winston-Salem audience than Manrico shares as close a musical kinship with Edgardo in Donizetti’s <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i> as with Verdi’s Otello. Even from offstage, Gulley’s voice filled the theater in his opening scene, his voicing of the romanza ‘Deserto sulla terra’ seductive and his interpolated top B♭ gleaming. Protecting Leonora whilst sparring with di Luna in the terzetto, this Manrico battled as intrepidly with his voice as with his sword, defending his beloved with a brilliant top D♭.</p>
<p>Upset by the implication in Azucena’s Act Two narrative that he is not her son by birth, Manrico expressed his confusion and consternation in a statement of ‘Non son tuo figlio!’ suffused by Gulley with doubt. The sincerity with which devotion to Azucena and affection for Leonora were conveyed in ‘Mal reggendo alt’a sprossalto’ was uncanny, increasing the tenacity with which Manrico determined to reach Leonora before she took holy vows. ‘Né m’ebbe il ciel’ in the terzetto was sung with unflagging energy and unflappable security, traits that distinguished the tenor’s vocalism from start to finish.</p>
<p>Gulley phrased the Mozartian aria ‘Ah sì, ben mio, coll’essere’ in Act Three raptly, his deft control of the voice encompassing elegant tonal coloring and crisply-sung trills. Romantic attachment to Leonora corruscated in the brief duettino before being supplanted by iron-willed surrender to filial duty. Sung in Verdi’s original key and capped with effortless top Cs, the cabaletta ‘Di quella pira’ rightly provoked a frenzied ovation.</p>
<p>Manrico’s voice heard from his prison cell in the Act Four ‘Miserere,’ each word was sung with expressive weight. In the scene with Azucena, Gulley voiced ‘Riposa, o madre: io prono e muto’ lovingly, caressing the line. The disdain with which Manrico rebuked Leonora for securing his freedom by pledging herself to di Luna surged in Gulley’s singing, but the character’s scorn was soon redirected at himself as he understood the scope of Leonora’s sacrifice. Gulley sang ‘Insano! ed i quest’angelo osava maledir!’ assiduously, heartbreak flooding his tones. Capitulating to inexorable fate, Manrico went to the block with little resistance, only his despondent farewell to Azucena divulging ruefulness.</p>
<p>Too many productions of <i>Il trovatore</i> in recent years have been assembled around tenors who lack the technical skill and vocal resilience needed to bring Manrico to life as tenors like Aureliano Pertile and Giovanni Martinelli did in years past. Perhaps the most notable achievement of Piedmont Opera’s masterful <i>Trovatore</i> was the participation of a Manrico who, though singing the rôle for the first time, sang some of Verdi’s most corpuscular music as though the blood of Caruso, Björling, and del Monaco flowed in his veins.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-33329793020914029252023-10-07T12:24:00.000-04:002023-10-07T12:24:27.781-04:00ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: from Oz to Walhalla — Australian mezzo-soprano Deborah Humble goes over the rainbow with rôle début as Fricka in Opera Australia's December 2023 production of Der Ring des Nibelungen<p align="center"><img title="ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: mezzo-soprano DEBORAH HUMBLE as Erda in Melbourne Opera's 2023 production of Richard Wagner's SIEGFRIED [Photograph © by Robin Halls]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: mezzo-soprano DEBORAH HUMBLE as Erda in Melbourne Opera's 2023 production of Richard Wagner's SIEGFRIED [Photograph © by Robin Halls]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nAf7AZX5YS_7sFWEtc64aIBzPoI1RHglUl9A6FwRj1-TT1vVSeBty2Ruh7nSLCluPBD2mUm1rKxyYaTHzBTeQuD1NTMTCmSG5anpcnzG3bd9qzRfQkWpZTYmI3J7ElN1I_P0x6yXZYFrShzpnpzmJVRxdJ3_nG4CEWqIaljxvbf9xl47zozhTIf26QQ/s1600/Deborah-Humble_Erda_SIEGFRIED_Melboune_2023.jpg" width="480" height="328"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><i>De profundis</i></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Deborah Humble</strong> as Erda in Melbourne Opera’s 2023 production of Richard Wagner’s <em>Siegfried</em><br>[Photograph © by Robin Halls]</font></p>
<p>Not even the finest conservatory education and most thoughtful private tutelage can thoroughly prepare a conscientious singer to manage the evolution that a voice experiences over the course of a career. For singers whose artistry incorporates cognizance of vocal metamorphoses, this is a continuous process of self-discovery, a trek along which one can receive guidance but for which there are no failsafe directions or templates. To today’s singers’ navigation of this consequential journey was added the unexpected obstacle of a global pandemic, a prolonged hiatus in which the rôles of Art in society and individual lives were imperiled, yet this time of involuntary silence compelled insightful singers to ask difficult but necessary questions, querying both themselves and the art form to which their lives are devoted. How will the Arts recover from the devastation of this crisis? Is mine the right path? Can I survive as a singer when there is no singing? Who am I as an artist and an individual?</p>
<p>Before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic, answering these questions has been an integral component of mezzo-soprano <b>Deborah Humble</b>’s artistic development. Recipient of the 2004 Dame Joan Sutherland Prize, she has cultivated a career that, during the past two decades, has encompassed performances of an expansive array of operatic, concert, and Art Song repertoire. Destined to shelter in her native Australia as COVID relentlessly ravaged the planet, Humble allayed the fears that plagued virtually all artists by focusing not on the losses imposed by the cancellation of performances but on how the time away from the stage could facilitate personal and artistic growth. With coveted engagements and momentous rôle débuts on the horizon, she has emerged from COVID’s exile with heightened self-awareness, both her vocal technique and her vision for the trajectory of her career refined with intelligence and intuitiveness.</p>
<p>Ever a resourceful artist possessing a voice of superlative quality, Humble entered the pandemic in the midst of an artistic journey along the course of which she has been heard in many of the world’s most prestigious venues. Extolled in the <i>Voix des Arts</i> <a href="https://www.voix-des-arts.com/2015/11/cd-review-richard-wagner-das-rheingold.html" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><br><u>review</u></font></a> of the Hong Kong Philharmonic recording of Wagner’s <i>Das Rheingold</i> (Naxos) as a peer of Lili Chookasian and Oralia Domímguez who achieved ‘one of the most compelling recorded accounts’ of Wagner’s music for Erda, a part in which she is also heard in the Hong Kong <i>Siegfried</i> and the Oehms Classics recording of a Staatsoper Hamburg <i>Ring</i> conducted by Simone Young, she is widely acknowledged as one of her generation’s best-qualified Wagnerians.</p>
<p>Her meticulously-honed technique complementing the natural beauty, range, and security of the voice, her affinity for not merely singing but wholly inhabiting Wagner rôles shone in Melbourne Opera’s 2023 staging of <i>Der Ring des Nibelungen</i>. Writing in his review of <i>Siegfried</i> for <i>Australian Book Review</i>, Peter Rose commented that she ‘moved with grace [as Erda] – a bravura, almost balletic performance – and she sang magnificently.’ Later in this <i>Ring</i>, <i>Australian Arts Review</i> critic Paul Selar declared her ‘a luxury addition to <i>Götterdämmerung</i> in the role of Brünnhilde’s imploring sister Waltraute,’ commending her for ‘creating one of the great highlights of the cycle.’</p>
<p>Whether she is singing Schubert Lieder, Mahler symphonies, dramatic Italian rôles like Amneris in Verdi’s <i>Aida</i>, or Wagner characters, creating highlights of performances is a hallmark of Humble’s artistry. She achieves this distinction not by employing overwrought histrionics but by surrendering her vocal and interpretive gifts to serving composers and librettists and to interacting with colleagues in a manner that intensifies the theatrical impact of their performances. Humble cites this camaraderie with fellow artists as one of the fundamental motivations of her career. Reflecting on the solitude imposed by the pandemic, she said, ‘It’s really nice to be back with colleagues. It’s sociable, musically gratifying, and challenging.’</p>
<p>A particular challenge amongst recent assignments was finding the right niche within the cast of Victorian Opera’s semi-staged performance of Richard Strauss’s <i>Elektra</i> for her portrayal of Klytämnestra, a characterization shaped, in part, by understudying the rôle in a Stastsoper Hamburg production in which the formidable queen—‘the architect of vengeance,’ Humble calls her—was sung by Agnes Baltsa. ‘When I was studying the rôle,’ she recalled, ‘I was told it must not be “beautiful” as it’s not a beautiful rôle. The challenge for me is to make it as characterful as possible without losing all the tonal beauty.’ She explained that she executes this strategy ‘by using the text and the consonants and running the storyline in my mind.’</p>
<p align="center"><img title="ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: mezzo-soprano DEBORAH HUMBLE as Waltraute (left) and soprano ANTOINETTE HALLORAN as Brünnhilde (right) in Melbourne Opera's 2023 production of Richard Wagner's GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG [Photograph © by Robin Halls]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: mezzo-soprano DEBORAH HUMBLE as Waltraute (left) and soprano ANTOINETTE HALLORAN as Brünnhilde (right) in Melbourne Opera's 2023 production of Richard Wagner's GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG [Photograph © by Robin Halls]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82_H0EadIcIpMvogexNXOaUyvVySQDWo1597POGJT3EYqPI8EG65oz97c97XMKuPgnMkitqDj9_6_apuRq2ryWx2DNZgUrEXKRpAF1lsQY4w4t-VMTssuyOw9dTLEB4RrpqxKbvYvds0eak6U8VbzYAcMTzOCMa3BJIovag50JL5XOcn0U9waGS9NZek/s1600/Deborah-Humble_Waltraute_GOETTERDAEMMERUNG_Melbourne_2023.jpg" width="480" height="270"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Die flehende Schwester</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Deborah Humble</strong> as Erda (<em>left</em>) and soprano <strong>Antoinette Halloran</strong> as Brünnhilde (<em>right</em>) in Melbourne Opera’s 2023 production of Richard Wagner’s <em>Götterdämmerung</em><br>[Photograph © by Robin Halls]</font></p>
<p>It is her emphasis on breathing life into music and words that fuels Humble’s performances of Wagner repertoire. Whereas some singers audibly approach the composer’s work with dangerous vocal abandon, Humble concentrates on the serenity that exists within even the most tumultuous pages of Wagner’s scores. ‘He composes the music with such stillness,’ she shared. Contemplating the ‘stillness’ in Wagner’s writing proved to be a critical element of her study during the pandemic—and a source of hope for the future. ‘I spent most of my adult life in Europe, studying and performing, so I feel very comfortable in the Northern Hemisphere,’ Humble stated. ‘Spending the pandemic years in Australia has been a true privilege, and working in Australia with colleagues and friends I have known for a lifetime has been rejuvenating and rewarding.’ These joys notwithstanding, an inexorable quest to probe the nuances of new characters—Eboli in Verdi’s <i>Don Carlos</i>, Venus in Wagner’s <i>Tannhäuser</i>, Saint-Saëns’s Dalila, Strauss’s Herodias in <i>Salome</i> and Die Amme in <i>Die Frau ohne Schatten</i>—leads her back to Europe. ‘I miss the opportunities that operatic and musical life in Europe can provide, especially for my dramatic voice type,’ she noted. ‘I look forward to returning—and to utilizing the languages I spent so many years learning!’</p>
<p>Few rôles in the mezzo-soprano repertoire are more daunting than Fricka in <i>Der Ring des Nibelungen</i>. Over the course of <i>Das Rheingold</i> and a brief appearance in <i>Die Walküre</i>, the wronged consort of Wotan undergoes one of the most fascinating transformations in opera, from regal sensuality to ruthless pursuit of retribution. Preparing her inaugural portrayal of Fricka for Opera Australia’s December 2023 production of <i>Der Ring</i>, in which she will also appear as Waltraute in <i>Die Walküre</i> and <i>Götterdämmerung</i>, Humble has immersed herself in the musical depiction of the character’s complex emotional constitution. ‘There are moments in <i>Das Rheingold</i> [in which] I think she can still be perceived as a loving wife,’ Humble intimated. ‘Softer elements of her nature can be seen and heard in the music. By the end of the opera, however, she has reached her turning point, and, as soon as Act Two of <i>Die Walküre</i> begins, we know she is suffering and struggling.’ The anguish that afflicts the goddess is a product of the personal betrayal and societal irresponsibility of Wotan’s infidelity, she asserts. ‘Fricka is a very strong symbol of marriage in the <i>Ring</i> story and makes it clear from the beginning that she does not approve of Wotan’s desire for love and lust outside of their union. She makes her opinions on the institution clear in <i>Das Rheingold</i>, reminding Wotan to stay on the right path, and continues to advocate for marriage and its sanctity in <i>Die Walküre</i>.’</p>
<p align="center"><img title="ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: mezzo-soprano DEBORAH HUMBLE as Amneris in Opera Australia's 2013 production of Giuseppe Verdi's AIDA [Photograph © by Jeff Busby]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: mezzo-soprano DEBORAH HUMBLE as Amneris in Opera Australia's 2013 production of Giuseppe Verdi's AIDA [Photograph © by Jeff Busby]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rdr3wAWDH_FWXZ7L9kAnwdJKhx28nwV-1ttaBU3yVwi1ZrAm8KM4KgGng2QVRxWaSH7XRz0PrpJkv2wpiVnRCyMgC2yLUP88OiDmdDEwiAemqtbq1HuSYXBHqjcegdELWegYs5R6dAnU6nkDy2kl9rc59s82dJniGaG_ASHYbvj58K_0Cz5Ny3SlwW8/s1600/Deborah-Humble_Amneris_Opera-Australia_Jeff-Busby.jpg" width="480" height="270"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La principessa della gelosia</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Deborah Humble</strong> as Amneris in Opera Australia’s 2013 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>Aida</em><br>[Photograph © by Jeff Busby]</font></p>
<p>The mezzo-soprano’s holistic examination of Wagner’s music and text continues to reveal mesmerizing subtleties of Fricka’s psyche. ‘I’m still exploring the finer points of her character arc,’ Humble confided, ‘but I think she believes her actions are honorable. She works away at Wotan until he becomes torn between love and power. She firmly believes that, in order for the gods to survive and rule forever, they must follow the rules and regulations already laid out.’ The ways in which Fricka advances these ideals can be ferocious, Humble conceded. ‘As a character, she is somewhat rigid and unchanging, even unappealing at certain moments. She is severe, unbending, adamant, and blatantly honest. Unlike Wotan, who has already begun to imagine a new order, a new world where he might not be all-powerful, it seems that Fricka is still consumed with the old world and restoring family honor.</p>
<p>Acutely responsive to productions’ aesthetics and mindful of stagings’ effects on details of her characterizations, Humble is excited to introduce her Fricka in the context of Opera Australia’s <i>Ring</i>. ‘[This] <i>Ring</i> is directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and conducted by Philippe Augin. Shi-Zheng has been inspired by the five elements from Chinese philosophy—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—and has imagined a futuristic, timeless space featuring numerous kinetic LED panels,’ she said. ‘These create an open space resembling a Greek amphitheater. Costumes for the gods, including Fricka, are white trench coats which interact with the set according to each character’s emotions and activity.’ She feels that these physical stimuli, augmented by Auguin’s handling of the music, will provide a setting in which her Fricka will embody timeless but engrossingly relevant sensibilities.</p>
<p>Three years ago, the prospect of singing Fricka seemed remote to Humble. ‘By the end of 2020, I realized, in a way I had never really had to confront before, just how much my personal self-worth and identity are tied up in my singing career,’ she admitted. ‘I really missed the adrenaline rush and excitement that performing always gives me, as well as the actual physical and mental benefits and challenges of singing itself; to say nothing of interacting with audiences and colleagues.’ As the imaginative vividness of her performances demonstrates, idleness is not part of Humble’s personality. ‘I found the unusual amount of free time I had on my hands [during the pandemic] the perfect space [in which] to think creatively and start other projects,’ she mused. ‘I opened Brycefield Estate, a bed and breakfast at my home in the Hunter Valley [in New South Wales’s trendy wine region], and initiated a local music festival. Both ventures were very well received, and, most importantly, gave me and many other local artists a forum for small-scale performance in those difficult times.’</p>
<p align="center"><img title="ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: mezzo-soprano DEBORAH HUMBLE. singing her first Fricka in Opera Australia's December 2023 production of Richard Wagner's DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN [Photograph © by Rachel Calvo]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: mezzo-soprano DEBORAH HUMBLE. singing her first Fricka in Opera Australia's December 2023 production of Richard Wagner's DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN [Photograph © by Rachel Calvo]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibaIxlY6nHDgoms71zF2EYG0ysWklNMUxk-_Zh50yThSR5xqLLIg7DLZ47tuuas-nGMyYkdFEdDQTSSH7H5Ux23lUhEwpizG07KejrCIgq73ACEC3bVBM8Dh_JBeNr-YOWknxvFYYzvC1exJiAORaWylRgU677JD8y2lsGKqi-hVCpKLdiUYrzpbXfs9o/s1600/Deborah-Humble_Rachel-Calvo.jpg" width="480" height="386"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Heil, neue Fricka</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Deborah Humble</strong>, whose inaugural portrayal of Fricka will be featured in Opera Australia’s December 2023 production of Richard Wagner’s <em>Der Ring des Nibelungen</em><br>[Photograph © by Rachel Calvo]</font></p>
<p>As is so often the case, Art parallels life. In Humble’s life, Art after COVID has reawakened thrillingly. ‘2022 and 2023 have turned out to be the busiest time I’ve had as a singer since returning to Australia,’ she enthused. ‘I was surprised [by] how quickly music and opera returned to the stage—and, luckily for me, there was plenty of dramatic repertoire in local programming!’ Indeed, 2023 is a year of rôle débuts for Humble: in addition to Klytämnestra and Fricka, she sang her first La Cieca in Opera Australia’s production of Ponchielli’s <i>La gioconda</i>, opppsite Saioa Hernández, Jonas Kaufmann, and Ludovic Tézier, and Clairon in Victorian Opera’s concert performance of Richard Strauss’s <i>Capriccio</i>, conducted by Simone Young.</p>
<p>Her description of a defining aspect of Fricka’s character is likewise an apt assessment of Deborah Humble’s artistry. Blatantly honest with collaborators, audiences, and, above all, herself, she is a beacon of truth in an art form that thrives on artifice.</p>
<p><br><br></p>
<p align="center"><b><font face="Georgia" size="2">To learn more about Deborah Humble, and for updates on her upcoming engagements, please visit her <a href="https://www.deborahhumble.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>website</u></font></a> and follow her on <a href-"https://www.facebook.com/DHumbleMezzo" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>Facebook</u></font></a>.<br><br>Click <a href="https://opera.org.au/brisbane/ring-cycle/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>here</u></font></a> to purchase tickets for Opera Australia’s December 2023 production of <i>Der Ring des Nibelungen</i>, running 1 - 21 December at Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane.<br><br><i>Sincerest thanks to Ms. Humble for her time and perceptive responses.</i></b></p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-45009463839936249302023-10-01T19:18:00.003-04:002023-10-01T20:59:58.236-04:00PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES: broadcast blacklisting — WCPE to exclude six contemporary operas from 2023 – 2024 Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinée broadcasts<p align="center"><img title="PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES: The Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York City; March 2022 [Photograph © by Joseph Newsome & Voix des Arts]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES: The Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York City; March 2022 [Photograph © by Joseph Newsome & Voix des Arts]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9qMTofnkKq6-N2Hrtf-YYT-QTS22_KLgAI9Q1NxNgV5VGKlnHy6TQesb_eCblic26klcOaceuqckz5jxn_L8wTFalLu9ktwutJKfgO2VNFCO32zw0BKpTgaHLFFbemjCQy-qJx8S53_tQy-oVdVWtHWhP-axLIICDo3Z9AB5uXYjxSYv-yRx1sQ6NaQ/s1600/Metropolitan-Opera_03-2022.jpg" width="480" height="356"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>House of vice or temple of Art</em></u>: the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York City; March 2022<br>[Photograph © by Joseph Newsome and <em>Voix des Arts</em>]</font></p>
<p>As has been widely reported in the press and heatedly discussed in musical circles, North Carolina-based Classical Music broadcaster WCPE, operating online as The Classical Station and on the local FM frequency 89.7, informed ‘friends and listeners’ via a letter dated 31 August and signed by General Manager Deborah Proctor of the intention to exclude six operas featured in The Metropolitan Opera’s 2023 – 2024 Season of Saturday matinée broadcasts from WCPE’s schedule owing to concerns regarding the suitability of these works for airing to the station’s audience. Citing objections to strong language and adult content, the suppression of this sextet of works is presented as a defense of morality, aimed particularly at protecting the youth among WCPE’s listeners from material deemed to be too vile for their level of maturity.</p>
<p>No one could contend with any degree of credibility that children in Twenty-First-Century America are not subjected to situations that exceed the limits of their still-developing comprehension. With active shooters and deadly fentanyl invading their schools, how could American children fully understand the perils to which their society exposes them? However, one aspect of humanity that should never be underestimated is a child’s capacity to learn from and adapt to even the most difficult circumstances and surroundings. Those parties who justify their actions with allusions to Scripture should be reminded that Deuteronomy 4:9 records that Moses instructed that an adherent to a righteous path should ‘keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons.’ Children learn by experiencing and communicating, not by being sheltered and lectured. Rather than safeguarding innocence, silencing artistic expression in any form teaches children to reject what they do not know or understand.</p>
<p>WCPE’s business model, whereby the station’s operations are funded wholly by financial contributions from listeners and community supporters, necessitates involving or at least considering the interests of those benefactors in deliberations about programming. Still, managing an entity like WCPE entails a responsibility to serve—the distinction of service here being extraordinarily important—as a conduit for conversation. Imposing one’s own biases and/or those of a group of listeners upon the total population is contrary to the most basic tenets of artistic leadership. With dedication to service to community comes a critical responsibility to represent that community in decisions and deeds. Willfully endeavoring to sanitize the creative products of some sectors of the community asserts that others within the community lack the intelligence and intuition to make their own choices.</p>
<p>There is a fundamental difference between a supporter-funded, free-access broadcaster and a subscription-based service. The exasperating prevalence of the same names and same pieces in WCPE’s listener-request programs on Fridays and Saturday evenings suggests that the station permits some contributing listeners to use the station as a personal playlist. Problematic though this is, it is not an unreasonable display of gratitude when confined to those specific broadcast slots. When allowed to affect a cornerstone of WCPE’s programming like the MET’s Saturday matinée broadcasts, this subjugation of universal free will to personal opinion betrays the trust of all listeners, whether or not they are contributors to the station.</p>
<p>The inclusion of the operas targeted by WCPE—and, make no mistake, the station’s action is tantamount to a focused assault on freedom of expression as egregious and reprehensible as the censorship that occurs with regularity in cultures considered inimical to American ideals—in the MET’s Season has spurred discourse on which musical styles and dramatic elements should be granted places in the MET repertory. Such discourse is invaluable, but depriving listeners of opportunities to hear and assess controversial works yields uninformed disputes and wholesale dismissals that damage and ultimately destroy Art and undermine the unity that Art fosters. Each listener exercises the authority to embrace or renounce these operas. By seeking to usurp that authority, WCPE’s General Manager demonstrates appallingly poor judgment, signaling to the station’s listeners that their competence ends at tuning in to WCPE.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP2SgPNM5vXd8Rf5Xo2FBSeSshcOJWwOctHLn7tNBZEmrlURrf5bnmXmA-nCDc4lLHDcxBcBzBbK1afwLLWh1EEYx63Uo_ZipB-RfCH4Y6d-c7-sON_xGedNtF1PJzaNqshY6Y9tyMreAn3KMSFm0oaMcq4tieinQZZA6YTI23YSNTn_NqUWjQctogKQI/s1600/WCPE-Letter-Page-1.jpg"><img title="WCPE Letter (31 August 2023), page (1)" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="WCPE Letter (31 August 2023), page (1)" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP2SgPNM5vXd8Rf5Xo2FBSeSshcOJWwOctHLn7tNBZEmrlURrf5bnmXmA-nCDc4lLHDcxBcBzBbK1afwLLWh1EEYx63Uo_ZipB-RfCH4Y6d-c7-sON_xGedNtF1PJzaNqshY6Y9tyMreAn3KMSFm0oaMcq4tieinQZZA6YTI23YSNTn_NqUWjQctogKQI/s1600/WCPE-Letter-Page-1.jpg" width="415" height="500"></a><font size="2" face="Times New Roman">Page (1) of WCPE’s 31 August letter to ‘friends and listeners’<br>[click on image to enlarge]</font><br><br>
<p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hDdlSXNOTiiCNHuVi6UlFtTnacieRTFXANLjXEvl0ASppi046bHLSyDBZscuVig3GeLyGkpsgg-9K4bnzPF3250hCLoN095y54qSTiwYmOfz_kVy9LrewA25Cyae6TLk8j1anUTBdC0rOZX70E0RbEqqJ9BosUhkJmNedcwFpz4YbXzwuqpUtSG-ILY/s1600/WCPE-Letter-Page-2.jpg"><img title="WCPE Letter (31 August 2023), page (2)" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="WCPE Letter (31 August 2023), page (2)" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hDdlSXNOTiiCNHuVi6UlFtTnacieRTFXANLjXEvl0ASppi046bHLSyDBZscuVig3GeLyGkpsgg-9K4bnzPF3250hCLoN095y54qSTiwYmOfz_kVy9LrewA25Cyae6TLk8j1anUTBdC0rOZX70E0RbEqqJ9BosUhkJmNedcwFpz4YbXzwuqpUtSG-ILY/s1600/WCPE-Letter-Page-2.jpg" width="406" height="500"></a><font size="2" face="Times New Roman">Page (2) of WCPE’s 31 August letter to ‘friends and listeners’<br>[click on image to enlarge]</font></p>
<p>Among the many absurdities included in WCPE’s communication to ‘friends and listeners,’ none is more indefensible than the argument that Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera <i>Florencia en el Amazonas</i>—a title that the letter’s author mangled whilst purporting to have become acquainted with the piece for the purpose of rejecting it—violates the station’s undefined ‘musical format guidelines.’ Is Schoenberg’s Sprechstimme in <i>Moses und Aron</i> more palatable? Did the innovative sounds heard in Tan Dun’s <i>The First Emperor</i>, Matthew Aucoin’s <i>Eurydice</i>, and Brett Dean’s <i>Hamlet</i>—operas aired by WCPE—conform to the station’s standards?</p>
<p>The violent rape and murder central to the storyline of Jake Heggie’s <i>Dead Man Walking</i> are undeniably abhorrent, but is the opening scene of Mozart’s <i>Don Giovanni</i> less revolting for being set to music of typical Eighteenth-Century refinement? Mozart’s unrepentant Giovanni is dragged to hell in the opera’s penultimate scene. De Rocher, the monstrous killer in <i>Dead Man Walking</i>, is executed for his crimes. The WCPE letter complains of the screams of a young girl enduring sexual assault being heard in <i>Dead Man Walking</i>. What, then, are the repeated top As in Donna Anna’s ‘Or sai chi l’onore,’ in which she recounts her own trauma, and the top B with which Puccini’s Turandot relives her ancestor Lou-Ling’s ‘quel grido e quella morte’?</p>
<p>John Adams’s <i>El Niño</i> is condemned because its libretto makes use of ‘non-biblical sources.’ Should Bellini’s <i>I Capuleti ed i Montecchi</i> be similarly denied airtime because its libretto is not derived from Shakespeare? Should the many Nineteenth-Century scores with plots taken from the writings of Schiller be shelved in protest of their librettists’ neglect of ‘correct’ original source material?</p>
<p>It is stated that objection to the subject matter in Kevin Puts’s <i>The Hours</i> relates to the opera’s depictions of contemplations and acts of suicide, yet Puccini’s <i>Madama Butterfly</i> and <i>Turandot</i>, in which Cio-Cio San and Liù respectively end their own lives, are deemed to adhere to the station’s standards of decency. Is it better, then, to slaughter oneself in Italian than to perish in English?</p>
<p>At issue in Anthony Davis’s <i>X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X</i> and Terence Blanchard’s <i>Fire Shut Up in My Bones</i> is vulgar language which the composers and their linguistic collaborators failed to render tolerable to WCPE by translating it into French, German, or Italian. What might WCPE management have thought of some of Beverly Sills’s colorful interjections into Marie’s dialogue in her English-language performances of <i>La fille du régiment</i>? Natalie Dessay was not banned from the station for exclaiming ‘Merde!’ in the broadcast of the MET’s Laurent Pelly production of <i>Fille</i>, but she had the good manners to swear <i>en français</i>.</p>
<p>With a grammatical misstep, the author of WCPE’s haphazardly-written letter unintentionally got one thing right: indeed, ‘not airing modern, discordant, and difficult music is [a] concern.’ It is true that the majority of people who purchase tickets for Rolling Stones concerts do so with the expectation of hearing ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash,’ ‘Ruby Tuesday,’ and ‘Satisfaction,’ but few of them boo when new material is performed alongside the classic hits. WCPE’s weekly, one-hour Wavelengths program—dropped by the station earlier in 2023—featured contemporary music, but advancing this as genuine open-mindedness and advocacy for new works was akin to an opera company occasionally staging <i>Porgy and Bess</i> as evidence of its diversity rather than regularly auditioning and engaging artists of color. WCPE’s stated emphasis on Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic works could perhaps be respected as a valid reflection of listeners’ preferences were it not so obviously belied by frequent airings of music by Mahler and Debussy and excerpts from film scores.</p>
<p>What is all too apparent in WCPE’s letter is a regrettable prejudice against contemporary modes of operatic expression, particularly those that tell the stories of marginalized peoples who have been traditionally victimized or ignored by the Arts. Art is inherently political, but the enjoyment and celebration of Art and the artists who create it should never be politicized in the pursuit of a personal agenda. Should those who are disturbed by the graphic violence in <i>Dead Man Walking</i>, which is no more distressing than reporting on the evening news, also be denied the chance to contemplate the redemption engendered by the ‘face of love’ and forgiveness? WCPE’s action is censorship not of offensive material but of glimpses of situations too honest and human to be depicted with pretty tunes.</p>
<p>Had Abraham Lincoln—an opera lover who wrote of a special fondness for Gounod’s <i>Faust</i>—been the director of an opera company, he might have said that one can please some operaphiles some of the time and all of them some of the time but never all of them all of the time. Would he have liked the operas composed since his assassination? That cannot be known, but it is unlikely that he would have supported the repression of music that he did not like. Surely it is better to honor the right of all work to be heard, ‘with malice toward none, with charity for all.’</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-12045639768203788802023-09-30T21:12:00.000-04:002023-09-30T21:12:05.838-04:00RECORDING REVIEW: J. S. Bach, G. Donizetti, G. F. Händel, J. Heggie, R. Leoncavallo, J. Massenet, F. Mendelssohn, W. A. Mozart, C. Orff, G. Rossini, R. Strauss, & G. Verdi — ARCHETYPE - Arias for Baritone (Stephen Powell, baritone; Lexicon Classics LC2307)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: ARCHETYPE - Arias for Baritone (Stephen Powell, baritone; Lexicon Classics LC2307)" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: ARCHETYPE - Arias for Baritone (Stephen Powell, baritone; Lexicon Classics LC2307)" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3lK3B2_myH0L9QfsiKimOin63WuEwEHUEq8sTZI4hT1EkvBIVqSRRuWBMbuWDL3jTg8__sQgmG7ukAFNaEKz1puxzm65QaGZYp6Fhe3TLeQG-ci4rwqaNVzPizcalNwBu3r1mdRrbbZ4PaH7nNv9NSpVIQ4S5ljeTaPkpvJT5Qra2JCf284qXo2Hs2s/s1600/Archetype_Stephen-Powell_Lexicon_2023_Cover-Art.jp" width="400" height="347"><u>JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685 – 1750), GAETANO DONIZETTI (1797 – 1848), GEORG FRIEDRICH HÄNDEL (1685 – 1759), JAKE HEGGIE (born 1961), RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO (1857 – 1919), JULES MASSENET (1842 – 1912), FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809 – 1847), WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 – 1791), CARL ORFF (1895 – 1982), GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792 – 1868), RICHARD STRAUSS (1864 – 1949), and GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813 – 1901)</u>: <strong><em>Archetype – Arias for Baritone</em></strong> — <a href="https://stephenpowell.us/"><font color="#800000">Stephen Powell</font></a>, baritone; Nashville Sinfonia; <a href="https://www.stevenwhiteconductor.com/"><font color="#800000">Steven White</font></a>, conductor [Recorded in Ocean Way Nashville Recording Studios, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, on 9, 11, and 12 January 2023; <a href="https://www.lexiconclassics.com/archetype"><font color="#800000">Lexicon Classics LC2307</font></a>; 1 CD, 63:07; Available from <a href="https://www.lexiconclassics.com/product-page/achetype"><font color="#800000">Lexicon Classics</font></a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5ZN6FMV/"><font color="#800000">Amazon</font></a>, <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/archetype/1689075155"><font color="#800000">Apple Music</font></a>, and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7pZghV45AO8IH1k8u8x0nF?si=ivd8lggzSE22ACOvsAP-hg&nd=1"><font color="#800000">Spotify</font></a>]</p>
<p>In opera, concert, and recital, one of America’s most storied musical legacies is the native-born baritone. A century after his house début as Lavitsky in Mussorgsky’s <i>Boris Godunov</i>, Lawrence Tibbett’s tenure at the Metropolitan Opera continues to inspire reverence rivaled in zeal by lamentation for the loss to music inflicted by the onstage death of Leonard Warren during a 1960 performance of Verdi’s <i>La forza del destino</i>. Since the passing of the era in which the world’s theaters resounded with the voices of Robert Merrill, Cornell MacNeil, and Sherrill Milnes, the American baritone of their caliber has been dispiritingly elusive, more often rumored than encountered. There is no shortage of fine baritones, but to whom does the aficionado turn in 2023—particularly in Verdi repertoire—for reminders of the visceral thrills of Tibbett, Warren, and MacNeil, the consistency of Merrill, and the elegance of Milnes?</p>
<p>Especially in this age of technological wizardry and digital manipulation, recordings cannot always be trusted to offer listeners aural representations that are faithful to voices’ sonic profiles and singers’ artistic nuances. A voice’s impact in a congenial performance venue is often very different from its sound on recordings. In previous releases featuring the very different voices of spinto soprano Tamara Wilson and lyric tenor Eric Ferring, <b>Lexicon Classics</b> recordings disclosed a rare affinity for capturing these voices with uncanny fidelity. This proves to also be true of <i>Archetype</i>, Lexicon’s recital of arias featuring baritone <b>Stephen Powell</b>. Supported with avidity and unfailing musicality by <b>Nashville Sinfonia</b> and renowned conductor <b>Steven White</b>, with whom he collaborated in Opera Roanoke’s superb 2020 streamed performance of Mahler’s <i>Das Lied von der Erde</i> [reviewed <a href="https://www.voix-des-arts.com/2020/12/performance-review-gustav-mahler-das.html" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">here</font></a>], Powell introduces himself to listeners who are not acquainted with his artistry as a peer of singers like Tibbett, Merrill, and Milnes. Exploring diverse repertoire, honoring the disc’s title by sampling an array of archetypical rôles written for the baritone voice, Powell rejuvenates the storied legacy of the American baritone.</p>
<p>Musically and conceptually, the Prologo from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s <i>Pagliacci</i> is a logical point of departure for Powell’s musical expedition. Sung by Tonio, one of opera’s iconic antagonists, the Prologo extols opera as ‘uno squarcio di vita,’ a phrase sung by Powell with particular fervor that emphasizes its symbolic significance. The opening utterances of ‘Si può? Si può?’ are delivered with apt dramatic concentration that evolves as the Prologo progresses, each subsequent detail of Tonio’s description of the narrative to come imparted with ever-shifting vocal colors. The traditional interpolated top A♭ and G thrill, but still more fascinating is the contrast of Powell’s conversational banter with his legato lyricism, controlled but never crooned. Even isolated from its context, the Prologo here traverses <i>Pagliacci</i>’s full theatrical panoply whilst exhibiting the range, power, and sensitivity of Powell’s vocalism.</p>
<p>Harlekin’s brief aria ‘Lieben, Hassen, Hoffen, Zagen’ from the Oper of Richard Strauss’s <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i> is typically sung by voices of amplitudes leaner than that of Powell’s instrument, Hermann Prey having been a paragon amongst interpreters of the rôle on stage and on recordings. In his performance, Powell makes no effort to artificially lighten his voice: rather, he employs a conversational approach to the text and effortless ascent to top F to realize the ebullience of the music. Strauss’s writing sometimes seems to baffle singers who do not recognize that the vocal lines are often dialogues with the orchestra, the music for which imparts the emotional essence of scenes. Powell grasps this intuitively and, despite the studio setting, converses with the orchestra instead of merely singing over accompaniment. Harlekin’s attempt at lifting the despondent Ariadne’s spirits fails, but Powell succeeds splendidly in evincing the character’s resilient humanity.</p>
<p>The Cenobite friar Athanaël in Jules Massenet’s <i>Thaïs</i> is an ambiguous figure whose seemingly evangelical interest in the opera’s heroine is actually motivated not by faith but by carnal desire. Massenet’s gift for setting the words of duplicitous characters to music of exquisite beauty is apparent in Athanaël’s Act One aria ‘Voilà donc la terrible cité,’ here sung by Powell with finesse and gratifyingly full-throated tone. The nasalized vowels of French do not suit his vocal production as ideally as the more open sounds of Italian, but Powell’s phrasing is elegant in both dulcet and spirited passages. The libidinous subtext of Athanaël’s persona lurks in this performance of the aria, the baritone’s timbre darkly licentious.</p>
<p>Prior to the advent of <i>bel canto</i> in the first decades of the Nineteenth Century, distinctions among respective baritone, bass-baritone, and bass Fächer were rare, not least in sacred music. As Powell cogently demonstrates with three selections on <i>Archetype</i>, much of composers’ writing for low voices in cantatas, masses, oratorios, and other liturgical works is congenial for today’s baritones and constitutes a substantial portion of their collective concert repertoire.</p>
<p>Presumably sung in the oratorio’s 1742 Dublin première by a chorister, there being no record of male soloists having been engaged, and assigned in the first London performance a year later to the esteemed Dresden-born bass Thomas Reinhold, the air ‘The trumpet shall sound’ from Part Three of Georg Friedrich Händel’s <i>Messiah</i> (HWV 56) is brilliantly sung by Powell, White aiding his clear execution of the divisions with a sensible realization of the Pomposo, ma non allegro tempo. The excellent playing of Strauss’s writing for the piano in Harlekin’s aria is matched by the rendering of the harpsichord continuo in Händel’s music, the propulsive rhythmic figurations and cadences complementing the verbal immediacy of Powell’s singing.</p>
<p>The pious nobility of his voicing of Händel’s music transforms into devout contemplation in ‘Mache dich, mein Herze, rein’ from Johann Sebastian Bach’s <i>Matthäus-Passion</i> (BWV 244), his voicing of the entreaty ‘Welt, geh aus’ communicating the meaning of the text with tremendous emotional power. In this selection and in his performance of the air ‘It is enough’ from Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio <i>Elijah</i> (MWV A 25), tonal beauty is employed as an expressive tool, Powell using the timbre of his voice to underscore subtleties of the texts. Mendelssohn exercised in <i>Elijah</i> a Schubert-like gift for setting words with melodic lines of touching eloquence, and Powell’s breath control facilitates phrasing that elucidates the composer’s ingenious tone painting. The baritone’s singing of these Händel, Bach, and Mendelssohn arias gloriously harkens back to the Victorian choral tradition, in which no apologies were made for refulgent, open-hearted vocalism of music now too often approached with persnickety aloofness masquerading as scholarship.</p>
<p>Powell confirmed in his recent Costa Mesa performances with Pacific Symphony Orchestra that he is one of the Twenty-First-Century’s best-qualified interpreters of the title rôle in Giuseppe Verdi’s <i>Rigoletto</i>. Here singing ‘Pari siamo,’ the Act One monologue in which, after being offered the service of the murderer Sparafucile’s dagger, Rigoletto reflects upon the weaponization of his own wit, Powell brings to his portrayal of the conflicted jester a singular balance of unique sensibilities and comprehensive knowledge of the rôle’s history, adding his own portrait to the gallery populated by his most illustrious predecessors. In the performance of ‘Pari siamo’ on <i>Archetype</i>, molded by the febrile intensity of White’s conducting, Powell’s musical and dramatic delivery recall the work of Richard Bonelli and Robert Weede, fellow Americans whose characterizations of Rigoletto are now perhaps less remembered than those of Tibbett, Warren, Merrill, MacNeil, and Milnes but were uncommonly successful in blending vocal force with histrionic savvy. Powell’s voicing of declamatory passages bristles with vehemence and self-loathing, contrasting tellingly with the elegance of his singing of lyrical phrases. Even in the context of this single episode from the opera, numerous facets of Rigoletto’s constitution are manifested in Powell’s vocal colorations, revealing the vulnerability and fear that precipitate the opera’s tragic conclusion.</p>
<p>Further validating his Verdian credentials, the baritone’s account of Conte di Luna’s late-<i>bel-canto</i> aria from Act Two of <i>Il trovatore</i>, ‘Il balen del suo sorriso,’ affirms the inviolable solidity of his technique. The undercurrent of paternal tenderness that permeates Powell’s performance of Rigoletto’s monologue is supplanted in Conte di Luna’s aria by salacious seduction. Neither the piece’s vocal filigree nor its wide range troubles this singer, whose upper register is placed with the ease that Verdi’s music demands. Wholly credible as an unscrupulous womanizer, Powell’s Conte is also audibly an aristocrat, the character’s noble pedigree evident in the singer’s sophisticated articulation.</p>
<p>The scope of Powell’s stylistic adaptability is widened by his riveting voicing of ‘Estuans interius’ from Part Two (‘In Taberna’) of Carl Orff’s genre-defying cantata <i>Carmina Burana</i>. First performed in 1937, this music integrates reminiscences of Renaissance monophony with modernist writing for orchestral influenced by Ravel and Stravinsky. The punishing tessitura is navigated with skill and intonational accuracy, and the Latin text is enunciated with clarity and imagination. When Powell sings ‘Feror ego veluti sine nauta navis,’ the stark realism of Orff’s musical tableau emerges with arresting impact. Not even in the most tempestuous moments is poise abandoned: every dramatic accent is imparted with uncompromising musical integrity.</p>
<p>Commissioned to inaugurate Dallas Opera’s Winspear Opera House, where it premièred in 2010, Jake Heggie’s <i>Moby-Dick</i> artfully distills the universal themes of a novel of behemoth proportions into musical language that is surprisingly personal. The first mate Starbuck’s soliloquy from <i>Moby-Dick</i>’s musket scene here receives a performance in which the character’s angst darkens the baritone’s timbre. In the passage beginning with ‘He would have killed me,’ Powell’s approach spotlights in Heggie’s writing an emotional kinship with Orff’s ‘Estuans interius,’ the disquieting inscrutability of the sea flooding the vocal lines. Like his Verdi portrayals, Powell’s brief survey of Starbuck achieves surprising depth, his vocalism as committed to serving character and librettist as to breathing life into the composer’s music.</p>
<p>Figaro’s ‘Largo al factorum’ from Act One of Gioachino Rossini’s ever-popular comic masterwork <i>Il barbiere di Siviglia</i> is arguably the most familiar aria in the baritone repertoire, its frequent appearances in media ranging from cinema to cartoons introducing generations of listeners with no other exposure to opera to Rossini’s uproarious bravura showpiece. In his performance of the aria, Powell gives each syllable of the text its due, his singing unmistakably well-prepared yet seemingly spontaneous. Figaro’s delight in his own cunning—and his gleaming too G—emanates from the voice. The emotional potency of <i>Archetype</i>’s serious selections gives way to pure joy, the tongue-twisting patter dispatched with exhilarating panache.</p>
<p>A sprawling <i>grand opéra</i> in the manner of Auber, Halévy, and Meyerbeer, Gaetano Donizetti’s <i>Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal</i> remains overshadowed by its creator’s better-known works. The arias for the tenor protagonist are the opera’s most familiar excerpts, but it can be justly argued that the poet Le Camoëns’s Act Three aria ‘Ô Lisbonne, ô ma patrie’ is the score’s most inspired number. Powell’s singing professes the quality of the music, his innately patrician phrasing movingly sculpting arching lines rather than merely sounding individual notes and words. Nevertheless, the importance of each word is meaningfully conveyed, the voice’s tonal beauty heightening the earnestness of Powell’s elocution.</p>
<p>The eponymous libertine’s serenade from Act Two of Wolfgang Anadeus Mozart’s <i>Don Giovanni</i> (K. 527), ‘Deh, vieni alla finestra,’ is deceptively simple, its lilting melody disguising the music’s tests of a singer’s breath control. Sung in the modern era by voices spanning the spectrum from the dark-hued basses of Ezio Pinza and Cesare Siepi to the lyric baritones of Renato Capecchi and Sir Thomas Allen, Don Giovanni is a point of intersection for the baritone archetypes represented on this recording. Singing with refinement and sensuality, Powell serenades the listener—gratefully standing in for Donna Elvira’s maid—beguilingly, his management of breath fulfilling Mozart’s goal of seamless enchantment. As in all of the performances in this recital, a natural equilibrium between words and music is achieved without artifice. Finding in White and the Nashville musicians like-minded companions for his journey through these archetypes of the baritone repertoire, Powell sings with intelligence, understanding, and imperturbable security. He is a persuasive exponent of these archetypes of his Fach, but singing such as his is anything but typical.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-70717912562558236332023-09-13T18:22:00.000-04:002023-09-13T18:22:32.032-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Johann Strauss II — DIE FLEDERMAUS (S. Hellman Spatafora, K. Pfortmiller, M. Liu, K. Richardson, L. Chavez, O. Poveda-Zavala, P. Suliandziga, B. Fields, K. Ely; Opera in Williamsburg, 9 September 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano SUSAN HELLMAN SPATAFORA as Rosalinde, tenor PAVEL SULAINDZIGA as Doktor Blind, and baritone KYLE PFORTMILLER as Gabriel von Eisenstein in Opera in Williamsburg's September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II's DIE FLEDERMAUS [Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano SUSAN HELLMAN SPATAFORA as Rosalinde, tenor PAVEL SULAINDZIGA as Doktor Blind, and baritone KYLE PFORTMILLER as Gabriel von Eisenstein in Opera in Williamsburg's September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II's DIE FLEDERMAUS [Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinWxpLDMaZvZmxPMrjB4_RW3IqYRNSBYUpJJ25qyfnE1mgPMHXxRuBEWaVoQzTWg2jbqetqZWrwaZTwhLUcqwCrKMz1Wp_HJygwlZu7UUq34pU6ck0zFao-5ToziSjWkvfYF1cdBa1v2ep7-tStGxn-DPsDBGBH9P1v3JyFVH-RJOmz-WK9_ZbzNAzY7k/s1600/Strauss_FLEDERMAUS_Williamsburg_2023_03.jpg" width="480" height="430"><u>JOHANN STRAUSS II (1825 – 1899)</u>: <strong><em>Die Fledermaus</em></strong> — <a href="https://www.hellmanspatafora.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Susan Hellman Spatafora</font></a> (Rosalinde), <a href="https://www.kylepfortmiller.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kyle Pfortmiller</font></a> (Gabriel von Eisenstein), <a href="https://www.tenorminghaoliu.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Minghao Liu</font></a> (Alfred), <a href="http://www.kyaunneerichardson.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kyaunnee Richardson</font></a> (Adele), <a href="https://www.lisachavez.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Lisa Chavez</font></a> (Prinz Orlofsky), <a href="http://www.oliverpovedabass.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Oliver Poveda-Zavala</font></a> (Doktor Falke), <a href="https://www.zinnartists.com/artists/pavel-suliandziga" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Pavel Suliandziga</font></a> (Doktor Blind), Branch Fields (Frank), <a href="http://www.kinneretely.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kinneret Ely</font></a> (Ida), John Cauthen (Frosch); Opera in Williamsburg Orchestra; <a href="http://jorgeparodi.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Jorge Parodi</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://www.randsman.com/adamcioffari" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Adam Cioffari</font></a>, stage director; <a href="https://www.operainwilliamsburg.org/new-page-53" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Naama Zahavi-Ely</font></a>, producer; Eric Lamp, costume designer; DJ Knopick-Barrett, lighting designer; Robert Kyle, makeup and hair stylist; <a href="https://www.operainwilliamsburg.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Opera in Williamsburg</font></a>, Crosswalk Auditorium at Norge, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA; Saturday, 9 September 2023]</p>
<p>Opera is rarely a realm of absolutes. Asking opera lovers to name the quintessential Italian opera is to risk instigating battles amongst the proponents of <i>bel canto</i>, the ardent admirers of Verdi, and the unapologetic Puccini fanciers. Händel was a Saxon who wrote many of his operas for London, but they use Italian libretti, as do most of Mozart’s operas: are they disqualified from contention? If the subject of queries is <i>the</i> iconic Viennese operetta, however, not even the most contrary music lovers would be likely to object to the selection of Johann Strauss II’s <i>Die Fledermaus</i>. Since its first performance in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on 5 April 1874, Strauss’s setting of librettists Karl Haffner’s and Richard Genée’s adaptation of Roderich Benedix’s little-remembered 1851 farce <i>Das Gefängnis</i> has been a beloved ambassador for its genre, enchanting audiences in parts of the world to which Viennese operetta is an infrequent visitor.</p>
<p>Like the waltzes for which Johann Strauss Vater and his sons are celebrated, the effervescence of which is often tempered by an undercurrent of melancholy, the music and plot of <i>Die Fledermaus</i> are not all Sachertorte and Trockenbeerenauslese. Though many productions focus primarily or solely on the jocular consequences of deception, disguises, and marital infidelity, vestiges of insecurity, self-delusion, and vulnerability dance to Strauss’s sparkling waltzes, polkas, and quadrilles. Presented in the lovely space and vibrant acoustic of Crosswalk Auditorium at Norge whilst the Kimball Theatre, the company’s home at Merchants Square, undergoes renovations, <b>Opera in Williamsburg</b>’s staging of <i>Die Fledermaus</i> fused fast-paced comedy with emotional sincerity, every action accomplished with theatrical flair and musical integrity.</p>
<p>The irrepressibly wily Leporello in Opera in Williamsburg’s May 2023 production of Mozart’s <i>Don Giovanni</i>, bass-baritone <b>Adam Cioffari</b> returned to the Historic Triangle to direct <i>Die Fledermaus</i>, proving to be as clever in devising stage antics as in executing them. Supported by the company’s founder, Artistic Director, and producer <b>Naama Zahavi-Ely</b>, Cioffari earned the audience’s laughter with stage action that manifested comprehensive knowledge of the score and consummate comedic timing. Unlike productions filled with staging business that competes with the music, this <i>Fledermaus</i> was propelled by direction guided by the rhythms, textures, and moods of the score.</p>
<p>Costume designer <b>Eric Lamp</b> unfailingly transforms limited resources into memorably imaginative fashions in Opera in Williamsburg productions, but he achieved particular marvels in this <i>Fledermaus</i> with lavish attire worthy of Vienna’s most refined stages. With the added boons of expert makeup and hair stylings by <b>Robert Kyle</b> and stage manager <b>DJ Knopick-Barrett</b>’s well-managed lighting designs, the production achieved Opera in Williamsburg’s goal of showcasing world-class vocal talent in tasteful surroundings, Cioffari’s direction engendering scenarios notable both for their uncompromising fidelity to score and libretto—and to <b>Michael Patrick Albano</b>’s sharp-witted English translations of the dialogue—and for avoidance of the sort of nonsensical mayhem that afflicts some <i>Fledermäuse</i>.</p>
<p>As integral as the efforts of Cioffari and the production team to the success of this <i>Fledermaus</i>, the energy and ebullience with which the orchestral musicians assembled under the baton of Music Director <b>Jorge Parodi</b> animated Strauss’s music thrilled from the first strains of the celebrated Ouvertüre to the operetta’s final D-major chord. Numbering fifteen for this production, including assistant conductor and pianist <b>Evgenia Trukša</b>, whose playing of tambourine and triangle rousingly reinforced the rhythmic pulse of Parodi’s conducting, the instrumentalists’ performance of <b>Jonathan Lyness</b>’s reduction of Strauss’s orchestrations scintillated. Typically, Parodi paced each number, not least the mercurial Frischka of Rosalinde’s Csárdás, with a tempo that respected the composer and the principals, integrating inalienable dramatic sensibility with practiced coordination with the cast. Parodi’s work in Williamsburg consistently demonstrates remarkable stylistic versatility and an incredible affinity for nurturing ensembles that illuminate details of scores that too often remain in the shadows. His conducting of <i>Die Fledermaus</i> added to these qualities noteworthy accumen for finding the genuine emotions among the guffaws of Viennese operetta.</p>
<p>Portraying the bungling jailer Frosch—the figurative amphibious counterpart to the work’s eponymous bat, dwelling on land but thoroughly comfortable in the aqueous environment of drink—with raucous humor, <b>John Cauthen</b> delivered his lines in Act Three in a deadpan drawl that imparted the official’s ennui and exasperation at Alfred’s indefatigable singing. His droll articulations of Frosch’s lost-in-translation linguistic mishaps—Chevrolet for Chevalier, avocado for avvocato, et cetera—were all the funnier for being uttered without excessive histrionics. Large opera companies sometimes cast famous thespians as Frosch, but Cauthen inhabited the part with the intuitive grasp of Frosch’s function in the plot that eludes some interpreters.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: bass OLIVER POVEDA-ZAVALA as Doktor Falke (left) and baritone KYLE PFORTMILLER as Gabriel von Eisenstein (right) in Opera in Williamsburg's September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II's DIE FLEDERMAUS [Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: bass OLIVER POVEDA-ZAVALA as Doktor Falke (left) and baritone KYLE PFORTMILLER as Gabriel von Eisenstein (right) in Opera in Williamsburg's September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II's DIE FLEDERMAUS [Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2CB0OBQYRAW_lE00iwfEcJ43uryp3vWqsEBpzf8dcFa11s61nYM2XSIPiAKTAo2SziRs6ZP-8G-T5chKGiXhTAX4HyR-LIUdGoETM4HZTxvYLxGNq_SbQDGAj9OXHEDaI79ISykssGqDFchja9eW-jpaX_kOxKB12CeekKtKUvBM9ZFjANK0hoETDaYg/s1600/Strauss_FLEDERMAUS_Williamsburg_2023_01.jpg" width="480" height="362"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Die Fledermaus nimmt Flügel</em></u>: bass <strong>Oliver Poveda-Zavala</strong> as Doktor Falke (<em>left</em>) and baritone <strong>Kyle Pfortmiller</strong> as Gabriel von Eisenstein (<em>right</em>) in Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II’s <em>Die Fledermaus</em><br>[Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]</font></p>
<p>Identified by her sister Adele at Orlofsky’s ball as a member of the ‘<i>corpse</i> de ballet, the spirited Ida was portrayed with terpsichorean grace and vocal elegance by soprano <b>Kinneret Ely</b>. Astonished by Adele’s whirlwind entrance at Orlofsky’s villa in Act Two, this Ida’s critiques of her sister’s gown—borrowed from Rosalinde’s wardrobe—and uncouth behavior were piquant but good-natured. Both at the party and in the scene with Adele and Frank in Act Three, Ely’s voice shimmered as radiantly as her costume. In dialogue, too, Ely was a vivacious presence, her acting skills combining with her vocal prowess to give Ida a wonderfully cosmopolitan personality.</p>
<p>As the none-too-correct corrections officer Frank, bass <b>Branch Fields</b> donned the warden’s uniform with unmistakable delight. Arriving chez von Eisenstein to escort the master of the house to prison in Act One, Fields’s deportment evinced Frank’s inflated pride in his position, but the offer of fermented refreshment quickly diluted his professional demeanor. ‘Drum fort, drum fort nur schnell’ voiced captivatingly, Frank’s reaction to the assumed husband’s—it was of course the heroine’s determined swain Alfred rather than Eisenstein—heartfelt farewell to his doting wife was amusingly saccharine. Disguised at Orlofsky’s ball in Act Two as Chevalier Chagrin, as proficient a Frenchman as his Frank was a prison warden, Fields personified awkward charm, spouting <i>faux mots</i> en français with aplomb and singing strikingly. Both enraptured and embarrassed when Adele and Ida turned up at the prison after the ball, Fields’s Frank voiced ‘Die Majestät wird anerkannt rings im Land’ in the Act Three melodram boisterously. The contrast between Fields’s endearingly gauche Frank and his grave, portentous Commendatore in Opera in Williamsburg’s <i>Don Giovanni</i> could nor have been greater—or more gratifyingly effective.</p>
<p>Whether portraying romantic leads as in <i>L’elisir d’amore</i>, <i>Così fan tutte</i>, and <i>Don Giovanni</i> or enlivening supporting parts like Beppe in <i>Pagliacci</i> and Parpignol in <i>La bohème</i>, tenor <b>Pavel Suliandziga</b> brightens Opera in Williamsburg performances with unflappable musicality and affecting sincerity. His Doktor Blind in <i>Die Fledermaus</i> was a study in the art of acting with the voice. The core of the part is the terzett with Rosalinde and Eisenstein in Act One, in which the latter’s prison sentence is attributed to Blind’s legal incompetence. Suliandziga dispatched the Rossinian patter deftly, every syllable clear and every note given its due. His clothing preferred to his counsel in Act Three, this Blind was all too happy to relinquish his duties (and his robe and wig) and allow his clients to settle their own affairs. Suliandziga’s artistry lent Blind’s participation in <i>Fledermaus</i>’s plot uncommon significance, his time on stage beguiling the audience.</p>
<p>The impetus for the events that transpire in <i>Die Fledermaus</i> is the notary Doktor Falke’s quest for revenge on his friend Eisenstein for a prank that left Herr Notar in a public space, hungover and in a bat costume. The sheer pleasure that bass <b>Oliver Zavala-Poveda</b>’s Falke derived from his own stratagems resounded in his singing, the words artfully inflected. In the scene with Eisenstein in Act One, Falke enticed his prison-bound pal with a cunning account of ‘Komm mit mir zum Souper,’ the invitation to Orlofsky’s specially-arranged ball communicated with ebullient persuasiveness. Sharing the details of his plan with Orlofsky in Act Two, Poveda-Zavala imbued Falke’s lines with conspiratorial mirth. The high tessitura of Falke’s launching of the ‘Brüderlein und Schwesteelein’ ensemble in the Act Two finale challenged the bass vocally, but the dramatic potency of his singing was uninhibited. In Act Three, Falke himself seemed surprised by the total success of his scheme, Poveda-Zavala voicing his lines with unfettered jubilation. The gaiety of his depiction of the notary’s satisfaction upon claiming vengeance vindicated him of any suspicion of ill intent, but any Eisenstein would be wise to think twice before playing tricks on Poveda-Zavala’s Falke.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) sopranos SUSAN HELLMAN SPATAFORA as Rosalinde and KYAUNNEE RICHARDSON as Adele and baritone KYLE PFORTMILLER as Gabriel von Eisenstein in Opera in Williamsburg's September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II's DIE FLEDERMAUS [Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) sopranos SUSAN HELLMAN SPATAFORA as Rosalinde and KYAUNNEE RICHARDSON as Adele and baritone KYLE PFORTMILLER as Gabriel von Eisenstein in Opera in Williamsburg's September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II's DIE FLEDERMAUS [Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvTTrbqHij1jScsUn3qL-SjQbmeZjBe-A4d5gLuHE5sZ0zgHOaWLAJ6NQSmIgUuqlFjakT5uG_K4WUhbPNbTXNfcnNZtDtlDx15WiO4-3s6gcmpkqCNMlUxyWGgQqwjUg_M1Hh3sLzJ3s_dWrI51wzZubsafJCLhMuWdWXOm69Z50_9my42fa9UQEfI1w/s1600/Strauss_FLEDERMAUS_Williamsburg_2023_02.jpg" width="480" height="438"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman">Das häusliche Glück: (<em>from left to right</em>) sopranos <strong>Susan Hellman Spatafora</strong> as Rosalinde and <strong>Kyaunnee Richardson</strong> as Adele and baritone <strong>Kyle Pfortmiller</strong> as Gabriel von Eisenstein in Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II’s <em>Die Fledermaus</em><br>[Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]</font></p>
<p>Last seen on the Opera in Williamsburg stage as the iron-willed Dorabella in <i>Così fan tutte</i>, mezzo-soprano <b>Lisa Chavez</b> found in Strauss’s Prinz Orlofsky another splendidly congenial rôle, the music wholly in the voice and the comedy suiting her innate theatricality. Even in a powerhouse cast, Chavez dominated Act Two, her exaggerated Russian accent elating the audience before she sang a note. [Especially ingenious in Chavez’s wordplay was a fleeting reference to <i>Sesame Street</i>’s Count von Count (‘One—ah, ah, ah’)]. The famous couplets ‘Ich lade gern mir Gäste ein’ were sung dashingly, the credo ‘Chacun à son goût!’ enunciated with devil-may-care suavity. No less entrancing was her singing of Orlofsky’s paean to champagne, in which the voice corruscated intoxicatingly. A handful of notes at the top of the range were effortful, but intonation was inviolably solid. Resolving the joke of Orlofsky’s years-long abstinence from laughing with a single gutteral ‘ha’ in Act Three, Chavez projected aristocratic bemusement, accentuating the parallel of the prince’s well-timed arrival at the prison with the fortuitous appearance of Richard Strauss’s Marschallin at the inn in Act Three of <i>Der Rosenkavalier</i>. In speech and song, Chavez made Orlofsky a character rather than a caricature.</p>
<p>The wiry, soubrettish voices to which the rôle of Rosalinde’s feisty chambermaid Adele is too often entrusted can inspire dread of the character’s numbers, but soprano <b>Kyaunnee Richardson</b> made Adele’s scenes mesmerizing. Blissfully untroubled by her very first note being a top B, Richardson voiced ‘Was schreibt meine Schwester Ida?’ entrancingly, and each emotionally-charged phrase of Adele’s part in the terzett with Rosalinde and Eisenstein was shaped with vocal finesse and shrewdness. In this performance, Adele’s arrival at the ball in Act Two, clad in Rosalinde’s dress, was delectably reminiscent of Carol Burnett’s legendary curtain dress scene in her ‘Went with the Wind!’ sketch, and Richardson’s voicing of the oft-excerpted couplets ‘Mein Herr Marquis, ein Mann wie Sie,’ her trills and top D lustrous, recalled the singing of Burnett’s friend Beverly Sills. As Adele exhibited her fledgling talent for the stage, seeking sponsorship for a career in the theater, the couplets in Act Three, ‘Spiel ich die Unschuld vom Lande,’ were intoned with musical and comedic virtuosity. In fantastic voice throughout the performance, Richardson reserved her best effort for the final scene, bringing down the curtain with a phenomenal interpolated top D, and her uncontainable smile brought sunlight to the auditorium on a stormy afternoon.</p>
<p>The opera singer and vocal pedagogue who won Rosalinde’s heart before she was Frau von Eisenstein is hardly credible if his portrayer does not possess an attractive, pliant voice. Treating the audience not only to a bewitchingly-sung traversal of Strauss’s music but also to tantalizing fragments of arias by composers including Rossini, Verdi, Gounod, and Puccini, Opera in Williamsburg’s Alfred, tenor <b>Minghao Liu</b>, wooed Rosalinde with the sophistication of Tito Schipa and the upper register of Alfredo Kraus. Serenading his former paramour from offstage at the start of Act One, he phrased ‘Täubchen, das entflattert ist’ lovingly, and both ‘Ach, ich darf nicht hin zu dir’ and ‘Trinke, Liebchen, trinke schnell’ were rousingly sung, Alfred joining Rosalinde on the top C that ended the act.</p>
<p>So ardent was Liu’s voicing of ‘Dein ist mein ganzes Herz’ from Franz Lehár’s 1929 operetta <i>Das Land des Lächelns</i> at the beginning of Act Three that the anachronism of its inclusion was easily forgiven. In the frenetic terzett with Rosalinde and Eisenstein, Alfred’s ‘Um Rat ihn zu fragen’ was sung with vigor, Liu’s Italianate timbre spotlighting the music’s kinship with Donizetti’s <i>Don Pasquale</i>. Such a winsome Alfred made Rosalinde’s reconciliation with Eisenstein slightly regrettable, but there was little doubt that the tenor’s ‘high D that [Rosalinde would] know anywhere’ had not been heard for the last time beneath Rosalinde’s window.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano SUSAN HELLMAN SPATAFORA as Rosalinde in Opera in Williamsburg's September 2023 production of Johann Strauß II's DIE FLEDERMAUS [Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano SUSAN HELLMAN SPATAFORA as Rosalinde in Opera in Williamsburg's September 2023 production of Johann Strauß II's DIE FLEDERMAUS [Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvSjnWcxbxPuMHKX5r5naJ2WZgx8SAhXIwa_IMsHW_CB6MzyMfzLTl3EduYGfVNGZ8LTZqsdkFSfkuv6VdSM6oHmNSAdsrQO3NfojBoFYOOrmlMnVb2y9w9QL3x3JekrzJT1Nt1BZDUduzmUYSZebRND_HBIEwOvB0H8i4N9JmqzxYX3_6_2Yrkvb_IA/s1600/Strauss_FLEDERMAUS_Williamsburg_2023_04.jpg" width="360" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><i>Die ungarische Gräfin beim Maskenball</i></u>: soprano <strong>Susan Hellman Spatafora</strong> as Rosalinde in Opera in Williamsburg’s September 2023 production of Johann Strauss II’s <em>Die Fledermaus</em><br>[Photograph © by Opera in Williamsburg]</font></p>
<p>With a voice and keen dramatic instincts worthy of the famed stages upon which he has appeared, baritone <b>Kyle Pfortmiller</b> rightly established the target of Falke’s retaliatory subterfuge, the rakish but amiable Gabriel von Eisenstein, as the plot’s focal point. The errant spouse informing Rosalinde of the extension of his prison sentence from five to eight days, ‘Nein, mit solchen Advokaten’ in the Act One terzett was sung with rollicking bluster, frustration with Blind’s legal floundering surging from the vocal line. A very different, altogether giddy Eisenstein emerged in the duo with Falke, Pfortmiller’s voicing of ‘Das seh ich ein’ conveying a reawakened sense of adventure. The master proved to be no more savvy a liar than his servant in the terzett with Rosalinde and Adele, the inexplicable changes in Eisenstein’s mood and intended mode of dress—both depicted by Pfortmiller with dapper merriment—intimating that some clandestine escapade was afoot.</p>
<p>Disguised at Orlofsky’s ball in Act Two as Marquis de Renard, Pfortmiller’s Eisenstein was anything but vulpine in his mastery of his adopted persona. He was further befuddled by first Adele’s and then Rosalinde’s entrances, immediately recognizing the former and enamored of the latter. In the fareful encounter in which Eisenstein was deprived of his prized watch by the glamorous ‘Gräfin Hunyady,’ the baritone’s fervent singing of ‘Dieser Anstand, so manierlich’ hilariously imparted romantic infatuation. His Cinderella-like romp at Orlofsky’s residence ended by the reality of his looming prison sentence, this Eisenstein took his leave with jocular insouciance.</p>
<p>Reporting to prison in Act Three, the demoted marquis was surprised to discover the former chevalier, but this was supplanted by the shock of learning that his cell was already occupied by a gentleman retrieved from the arms of Rosalinde. The wounded husband demanding Blind’s clothes, Eisenstein angrily confronted Rosalinde and Alfred, Pfortmiller declaiming ‘Pack ich ihn beim Kragen’ with fury and, overcome by indignation, intermittently forgetting to impersonate Blind’s voice. His ego deflated by Rosalinde producing the coveted watch, acceptance of his defeat was Eisenstein’s only viable course, and Pfortmiller’s singing in the final scene gleamed with hearty confidence. The range of Eisenstein’s music is daunting, but moments of strain in Pfortmiller’s performance were offset by a bevy of spectacular top notes, crowning a characterization of rare depth.</p>
<p>Soprano <b>Susan Hellman Sparafora</b>’s Donna Anna in Opera in Williamsburg’s May production of <i>Don Giovanni</i> was musically and dramatically revelatory, divulging seldom-explored subtleties of the character and introducing a superb operatic talent to the Tidewater audience. The breadth of that talent shone anew in Spatafora’s portrayal of Rosalinde in <i>Die Fledermaus</i>, her singing of ‘Nein, du darfst heut nicht zu ihr’ in the operetta’s first scene proclaiming her as a peer of the most memorable past exponents of the part and disclosing susceptibility to the seductiveness of a good top D. Joining Eisenstein and Doktor Blind in their terzett, she sang ‘Beruh’ge endlich diese Wut’ commandingly. Vexation simmered in her voicing of ‘So muss allein ich bleiben’ in the scene with Eisenstein and Adele, climaxing on a forceful top C. Found by Frank in the company not of Eisenstein but of Alfred, this Rosalinde was a paragon of improvisation, uttering ‘Mein Herr, was dächten Sie von mir’ with unanswerable conviction and ending the act with a mighty top C.</p>
<p>Uncertain of the intention and implications of Falke’s invitation to Orlofsky’s soirée, Rosalinde donned the prescribed mask in Act Two with hesitation. The authenticity of the countess’s Hungarian identity questioned, Spatafora hysterically channeled Zsa Zsa Gabor, dazzling her fellow partygoers. Duetting with Eisenstein, her ‘Statt zu schmachten im Arreste’ was punctuated by trills that expressed Rosalinde’s ire. The well-known Csárdás, ‘Klänge der Heimat, ihr weckt mir das Sehnen,’ was the showpiece that it was meant to be, the soprano’s voice utterly secure even in the galloping Frischka and its ascent to top D.</p>
<p>In the final pages of Act Two and thr entirety of Act Three, Spatafora sang with abandon, pretense giving way to consternation in the terzett with Eisenstein and Alfred. The urgency of her ‘Ich stehe voll Zagen’ was galvanizing, Rosalinde’s predicament amusing but also touchingly human. Forgiving Eisenstein was here an act neither of necessity nor of magnanimity: the singer’s voice softened to a beautiful shimmer, this Rosalinde discernibly loved her husband. Portraying the rôle with emotional honesty as the foundation of the comedy, Spatafora was the ideal Rosalinde for Opera in Williamsburg’s <i>Fledermaus</i>, a triumph of artistry in a work too frequently debased by artifice.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-49843020145450413552023-08-13T19:23:00.000-04:002023-08-13T19:23:05.567-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Georg Friedrich Händel — ORLANDO, HWV 31 (D. Moody, M. Quinn, S. Dietrich, A. Young Smucker, P. Walker; Staunton Music Festival, 11 August 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: detail of Georg Friedrich Händel's conducting score of ORLANDO, HWV 31 [Image © by Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: detail of Georg Friedrich Händel's conducting score of ORLANDO, HWV 31 [Image © by Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5DZFwmdj3lezIVrggs3YfsX9eZgcxIae3V5hs_ZoWVdb9FpIPQ5FdgGv5iILXE03uQ4tOuHkbFle7TtV81WnqktqQSmePV6CrLyc9lfa5QbRNa3KzJnrO51saCacH5cvqnWlLBN-D_3hq6VuHyCg4FFlobhxM32yRbDyjQdbDAGOe06ylwsBqODg-pk/s1600/H%C3%A4ndel_ORLANDO_Score-Detail.jpg" width="480" height="386"><u>GEORG FRIEDRICH HÄNDEL (1685 – 1759)</u>: <strong><em>Orlando</em>, HWV 31</strong> — <a href="https://www.danielmoodycountertenor.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Daniel Moody</font></a> (Orlando), <a href="http://www.mollyquinn.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Molly Quinn</font></a> (Angelica), <a href="https://www.sheiladietrich.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Sheila Dietrich</font></a> (Dorinda), <a href="https://www.conspirare.org/angela-young-smucker/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Angela Young Smucker</font></a> (Medoro), <a href="https://www.tnrbaroque.org/musicians/peter-walker-bass-bagpipes/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Peter Walker</font></a> (Zoroastro); Staunton Music Festival Baroque Orchestra; <a href="https://www.stauntonmusicfestival.org/artists/carsten-schmidt" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Carsten Schmidt</font></a>, conductor [Timothy Nelson, stage director; <a href="https://www.stauntonmusicfestival.org/artists/emily-becher-mckeever" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Emily Becher-McKeever</font></a>, lighting designer; <font color="#800000">Ma</font><a href="https://mvbcostumes.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">ria Bissex</font></a>, costume designer; <a href="https://www.stauntonmusicfestival.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Staunton Music Festival</font></a>, Trinity Episcopal Church, Staunton, Virginia, USA; Friday, 11 August 2023]</p>
<p>As their careers progressed, prominent singers in the first half of the Eighteenth Century must have come to know the characters who populate Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem <i>Orlando furioso</i>, first published in fragmentary form in 1516, as well as they knew people with whom they interacted in their daily lives. So prevalent were operatic adaptations of Ariosto’s work that episodes like Orlando’s madness became fodder for parody, the excesses of composers’ depictions of the epic’s dramatic situations drawing derision as the Baroque era waned. Nevertheless, the appeal of Ariosto’s verses was so strong in the 1730s that they were the source for three of Georg Friedrich Händel’s operas for the London stage: <i>Orlando</i>, <i>Ariodante</i>, and <i>Alcina</i>. Appearing in rapid succession in 1735, the second and third of these were more successful than the first, which, following its inaugural production, was not revived until the Twentieth Century. Now regarded as one of Händel’s most original and stageworthy operas, <i>Orlando</i> accounts for much of today’s audiences’ acquaintance with Ariosto’s poem, the themes of which are thoughtfully expounded in Händel’s tautly-constructed score.</p>
<p>The cast assembled for the first performance of <i>Orlando</i> included five of the most renowned singers of the period, all of whom frequently collaborated with Händel. With the castrato Senesino in the title rôle, sopranos Anna Maria Strada del Pò and Celeste Gismondi as Angelica, the queen of Cathay, and the shepherdess Dorinda, contralto Francesca Bertolli as the Moorish prince Medoro, and bass Antonio Montagnana as the sorcerer Zoroastro, Händel would have been justified in expecting <i>Orlando</i> to be awarded a rapturous reception, but, despite a respectable tally of performances in its initial run, appreciation for the work was modest. Complex plots like <i>Orlando</i>’s were typical of Baroque opera and, if contemporary assessments by journalists and diarists can be believed, were accepted by Londoners with little complaint. Were the psychological nuances of these characters and their interactions the bricks in the wall that arose between <i>Orlando</i> and Händel’s patrons?</p>
<p>Bridging the chasms of time and sensibilities separating Twenty-First-Century theatergoers from <i>Orlando</i>’s marvels was a discernible goal and a notable achievement of <b>Staunton Music Festival</b>’s semi-staged prroduction of the opera. Presenting a work with theatrical effects as extravagant as those expected by audiences at the time of <i>Orlando</i>’s 1733 première at London’s King’s Theatre challenges any company, but performing <i>Orlando</i> in a space like Staunton’s Trinity Episcopal Church, the venue for SMF’s performance, begets obstacles that would have confounded even Händel’s storied creative shrewdness. Capitalizing on imaginative but wholly practical lighting designs by <b>Emily Becher-McKeever</b>, evocative artwork by violinist <b>Ingrid Matthews</b>, and straightforward costume designs by <b>Maria Bissex</b> that facilitated identification of each character, stage director <b>Timothy Nelson</b> conjured <i>Orlando</i>’s peculiar atmosphere with cleverness that minimized the venue’s disadvantages. The opera’s supernatural effects were handled with economy, but it was Nelson’s attention to the interplay among the characters that engendered the performances’s most memorable dramatic moments.</p>
<p>Nelson’s emphasis on the relationships that propel <i>Orlando</i>’s diegesis was mirrored by <b>SMF Baroque Orchestra</b>’s and conductor <b>Carsten Schmidt</b>’s focus on the intricate orchestral writing that contributes indelibly to the opera’s effectiveness. Schmidt both supported the singers and respected Händel’s directions by setting tempi that allowed textual and musical phrases to progress organically. Regrettably, adherence to Händel’s score was otherwise marred by numerous cuts and omission of the B sections and repeats of most of the opera’s <i>da capo</i> arias. [Orlando lost the accompagnato ‘Itene pur tremando, anime vili’ in Act One. Angelica was deprived of the Act One arias ‘Chi possessore è del mio core’ and ‘Se fede vuoi, ch'io ti creda’ and her aria ‘Non potrà dirmi ingrata’ in Act Two. Also absent from Act Two were Dorinda’s aria ‘Se mi rivolgo al prato’ and Medoro’s aria ‘Verdi allori sempre unito.’] The cast’s verbal intelligibility in recitatives, imperiled by the church’s acoustic, was substantially aided by lutenist and theorbist <b>Paul Holmes Morton</b>’s and harpsichordist <b>Gabe Shuford</b>’s deft handling of the continuo. Händel’s writing for wind instruments in <i>Orlando</i> is inventive, often recalling the operas of Campra and Montéclair, and SMF’s musicians performed their parts marvelously. In truth, there was no member of the orchestra whose playing deviated from the high standard established and sustained by Schmidt.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: the interior of Trinity Episcopal Church (Staunton, Virginia), venue for Staunton Music Festival's performance of Georg Friedrich Händel's ORLANDO, 11 August 2023 [Photograph © by Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: the interior of Trinity Episcopal Church (Staunton, Virginia), venue for Staunton Music Festival's performance of Georg Friedrich Händel's ORLANDO, 11 August 2023 [Photograph © by Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXK8Zr03coPytrRYz-2RZJM7J7jyzvuXDNU2G5mCmv_fXauPMViL_gZDS9G6ctNTZhVxw8-YqsyajjjkVmIUgTWB2MQP7GHC4W9TYv_MWlvPDVsX9c2ygCtc1XyRrBXWVIiZ3iNvlHwZ65ScS1gr3Lt0BiLbphvpcJ0aXVEy_Yd6rua5G4nvZNPoDuQ_I/s1600/Trinity-Episcopal-Church_StauntonVA_2023-08-11.jpg" width="480" height="360"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Opera in chiesa</em></u>: the interior of Trinity Episcopal Church (Staunton, Virginia), the venue for Staunton Music Festival’s performance of Georg Friedrich Händel’s <em>Orlando</em>, 11 August 2023<br>[Photograph © by Joseph Newsome, <em>Voix des Arts</em>]</font></p>
<p>In order to avoid the type of overwrought caricature that spurred the satirical spoofing of Baroque opera, the strategizing sorcerer Zoroastro—<i>Orlando</i>’s protector of true love and purveyor of reason—must be portrayed with ethical rectitude and vocal authority. From his first accompagnato in Act One, ‘Geroglifici eterni,’ powerfully declaimed, bass <b>Peter Walker</b> lent Zoroastro’s manipulation of the opera’s plot dramatic credibility and musical exhilaration. Entreating Orlando to abandon his amorous pursuits and resume his quest for martial glory, Walker’s Zoroastro voiced the aria ‘Lascia Amor, e segui Marte!’ commandingly, the divisions dispatched with ease. Zoroastro’s aria in Act Two, ‘Tra caligini profonde,’ was also sung with galvanizing bravado. The gravitas with which Walker declaimed the accompagnato ‘Impari ognun da Orlando’ in Act Three imparted the danger posed by Orlando’s psychological instability, and his thrilling account of the aria ‘Sorge infausta una procella’ palpitated with dramatic tension. Guiding the opera to its peaceful resolution, this Zoroastro’s noble singing of the accompagnato ’Tu che del gran tonante’ revealed the depth of his concern for Orlando. A few of Walker’s lowest notes disappeared into the sonic quagmire of the church sanctuary, but the voice’s burnished timbre and the singer’s skillful management of it were always audible.</p>
<p>Portraying the young prince Medoro, found injured in battle and nursed back to health by Angelica whilst concealed in Dorinda’s abode, mezzo-soprano <b>Angela Young Smucker</b> was more adversely affected than her colleagues by the over-resonant acoustic, yet the voice was projected with indomitable resourcefulness. Following Angelica into the fracas of Act One, his ‘E il mio cor da me diviso’ expanding her arioso into a duetto, Young Smucker’s Medoro was an eager but considerate paramour. The mezzo-soprano sang the aria ‘Se il cor mai ti dirà’ excitingly, her strong lower register reminding the audience of the character’s machismo, and ‘Consolati, o bella’ in the terzetto with Angelica and Dorinda was voiced with sincerity and glowing tone. The excision of Medoro’s aria in Act Two was unfortunate, but the prince’s words was uttered with significance. Young Smucker’s best singing of the evening was reserved for the aria ‘Vorrei poterti amar’ in Act Three, each note of which was produced with feeling and stylistic acumen. In this performance, Medoro’s reconciliation with Orlando was uncommonly sincere, Young Smucker having tempered the young Moor’s impulsiveness with inviolable integrity.</p>
<p>Surviving assessments of her singing by well-informed Eighteenth-Century operaphiles suggest that the epithet by which Händel’s first Dorinda was known, La Celestina, was appropriate. Her no-less-heavenly successor in the rôle, soprano <b>Sheila Dietrich</b>, enlivened SMF’s <i>Orlando</i> with a captivating, splendidly-sung characterization of Dorinda. In Act One, Dietrich voiced the accompagnato ‘Quanto diletto avea tra questi boschi’ with boundless charm, and, throughout the performance, the uncontrived lightness of her deportment differentiated the unpretentious Dorinda from the grander Angelica. The arias ‘Ho un certo rossore’ and ‘O care parolette, o dolci sguardi’ were sung with technical assurance and tonal shading that conveyed the shepherdess’s emotional transitions. Reacting to Angelica and Medoro, ‘Non so consolarmi’ in the terzetto divulged Dorinda’s dismay.</p>
<p>Dietrich’s voicing of the arioso ‘Quando spieghi i tuoi tormenti’ at the start of Act Two was sublime, exhibiting the theatrical genius that distinguishes Händel’s best operas. ‘Ed innestar tu vuoi’ in the duetto with Orlando in Act Three was delivered with urgency, but it was Dietrich’s singing of the rollicking aria ‘Amor è qual vento,’ its cadenza capped with a radiant interpolated top C♯, that won the performance’s most enthusiastic ovation. In the opera’s final scene, Dorinda’s joy and relief were palpable. Dietrich’s argent timbre was sporadically covered by the orchestra, but her avoidance of forcing tones allowed her voice to gleam untarnished.</p>
<p>The tonal purity and quick vibrato of soprano <b>Molly Quinn</b>’s voice arrayed Angelica’s music in aptly aristocratic colors and textures, the delicate subtlety of her interpretation of text not precluding fierce outbursts of temper. ‘Ritornava al suo bel viso’ in the Act One duetto with Medoro was sung with enchanting limpidity of line, the emotions as clear as the words, and ‘Consolati, o bella’ in the terzetto allied tender yearning with unnerving uncertainty, communicated by vocalism of unerring eloquence. Quinn’s time-halting performance of the hauntingly beautiful aria ‘Verdi piante, erbette liete’ in Act Two movingly evinced the inherent longing for tranquility that motivates Angelica. Bringing perceptible insight to Angelica’s dramatic development in Act Three, the soprano phrased the aria ‘Così giusta è questa speme’ with insurmountable assurance. In the duetto with Orlando, she articulated ‘Finché prendi ancora il sangue’ vividly. Likely falling victim to the unfavorable soundscape, Quinn’s intonation was fleetingly imprecise, but no momentary lapses in confidence undermined the prevailing poise of her performance.</p>
<p>The rôles written by Händel for Senesino pose a number of problems to modern singers of any gender. Most troublesome for some countertenor exponents of parts like Orlando are the strength and agility at the bottom of the range required by the music. One of the most noteworthy aspects of countertenor <b>Daniel Moody</b>’s performance as Orlando for SMF was the evenness of his voice across tbe part’s full range, no weakness compromising the lowest reaches of the compass. The ethereal sheen of his timbre immediately intimated an aura of mental vulnerability in the arioso ‘Stimolato dalla gloria’ in Act One. The accompagnato ‘Immagini funeste’ was acted as scintillatingly as it was sung, and ‘Non fu già men forte Alcide’ received a performance of engrossing theatricality. The famed aria ‘Fammi combattere’—its <i>da capo</i> observed, permitting Moody to venture demanding but tasteful ornamentation—was rightly a bravura tour de force, the fiorature sung with verve and virility. In the opera’s second act, the aria ‘Cielo! Se tu il consenti’ was voiced with élan, the words sensitively enunciated, and desolation echoed in ‘Dove, dove guidate, o Furie.’</p>
<p>The depiction of Orlando’s descent into madness that ends Act Two—and closed the first half of SMF’s two-part arrangement of the opera—is one of Händel’s most unique scenes, and Moody’s performance realized the music’s full expressive potential. Voicing the accompagnato ‘Ah stigie larve! Ah scellerati spettri’ with vehemence, his navigation of the alternating recitative and repetitions of ‘Vaghe pupille, non piangete, no’ manifesting the wanderings of Orlando’s mind with graphic realism. The warrior’s delirium persisted in Act Three, ‘Unisca amor in noi’ in the duetto with Dorinda and the aria ‘Già lo stringo, già l’abbraccio’ voiced with abandon. In the duetto with Angelica, Moody uttered ‘Sol ha sete di sangue il mio cor’ with anguished confusion.</p>
<p>Disbelief and self-recrimination surfaced in the accompagnato ‘Già per la man d’Orlando,’ and the magnificent aria ‘Già l'ebbro mio ciglio’ was sung with stunningly beautiful tone and touching introspection. ‘Per far, mia diletta’ and ‘Vinse incanti, battaglie, e fieri mostri’ traced the course of Orlando’s return to sanity, their texts accented with gradual awareness of the events that had transpired. Launching the opera’s closing ensemble, Moody sang ‘Trionfa oggi ’l mio cor’ jubilantly. Though the truncation of Hândel’s score was lamentable, Moody and his colleagues demonstrated that <i>Orlando</i>’s musical sophistication and dramatic cohesiveness rely not upon lavish staging but upon the earnest efforts of gifted singers and musicians who understand, respect, and dedicate themselves to serving the music.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-17735417656377855422023-08-11T11:13:00.005-04:002023-08-15T01:07:00.694-04:00RECORDING REVIEW: Brenda Portman, Marianne Kim, Tom Trenney, & Dan Locklair — PSALM-SONATA & SUITES (David von Behren, organ; David von Behren Music)<p><img title="RECORDING REVIEW: B. Portman, M. Kim, T. Trenney, D. Locklair - PSALM-SONATA & SUITES (David von Behren, organ; David von Behren Music 2023)" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="RECORDING REVIEW: B. Portman, M. Kim, T. Trenney, D. Locklair - PSALM-SONATA & SUITES (David von Behren, organ; David von Behren Music 2023)" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxE-YdNOj1lemf5_SfsPU4dTarxZ448yXaey_hFmj1Nxw5UO9GuFVj2qqEnDWm0hYDZ_Em2Byykad8b-4SzXCdtipPwe4RP9UWlm7bEJLRvkWb9tcPRInwKAEPqpVEHN38P_CwRnBqbUSlESg_8QyWPBqz4cWqy7ERFJyA3S1ByxZ0Gyg5VOVeuWjA_3E/s1600/von-Behren_PSALM-SONATA-SUITES_2023_Cover-Art.png" width="350" height="351.75"><a href="https://brendaportman.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>BRENDA PORTMAN</u></font></a><u> (born 1980)</u>, <u><a href="https://www.mariannekimmusic.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">MARIANNE KIM</font></a> (born 1972)</u>, <a href="http://tomtrenney.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>TOM TRENNEY</u></font></a><u> (born 1977)</u>, and <a href="https://www.locklair.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>DAN LOCKLAIR</u></font></a><u> (born 1949)</u>: <strong><em>Psalm-Sonata & Suites</em></strong> — <a href="https://www.davidvonbehren.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Dr. David von Behren</font></a>, organ [Recorded in First-Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, in July 2023; 1 CD, 39:43; David von Behren Music; Available from <a href="https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0CF4KHZNG" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Amazon Music</font></a>, <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/psalm-sonata-suites/1701740872" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Apple Music</font></a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6fypiTYPsmwovjVEGBAEtK "target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Spotify</font></a>, and <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nn9LOXbeje-HNvElfrgtwkmYPAYStOSsE" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">YouTube Music</font></a>]</p>
<p>By the start of his half-century tenure as organist at Virginia’s Bruton Parish in 1755, Peter Pelham was one of Colonial America’s most esteemed citizens, having already attained notoriety as both a pedagogue in Charleston, South Carolina, and principal organist at Boston’s Trinity Church. A pupil of Karl Theodor Pachelbel, son of the composer Johann Pachelbel, Pelham was renowned throughout the Colonies as an organ virtuoso, harpsichordist, composer, and conductor, his admirers including as discerning an aficionado as Thomas Jefferson, whose library at Monticello is known to have contained collections of music curated and published by Pelham. Though born in England, Pelham’s work embodied the essence of the fledgling American republic, his efforts in Williamsburg after the Revolution molding European influences and New-World innovations into an original musical ethos that paralleled the nation’s development of a distinct identity. Regrettably, Pelham’s own music for organ is lost, but his significance to America’s musical heritage is honored in every public and private moment in which the organ resounds.</p>
<p>In the 218 years since Pelham’s death in 1805, organists have continued to dedicate their lives and careers to serving their communities as teachers, worship leaders, concert artists, composers, and stewards of America’s musical evolution. Recently completing his Doctor of Music in Organ Performance degree at Boston University, <b>Dr. David von Behren</b> is as learned and tireless an advocate for the organ, the instrument’s ever-expanding contemporary repertoire, and music education today as Pelham was in his time. Recorded in First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, employing the church’s spectacular, custom-built Schoenstein Lied Chancel organ, von Behren’s new album <i>Psalm-Sonata & Suites</i> presents works by living composers, just as Pelham did when assembling music for his published compendia. Furthering the espousal of modern music manifested in his <i>American Adventures</i> and <i>Merry Melodies for Advent and Christmas</i> programmes, the pieces selected for <i>Psalm-Sonata & Suites</i> are remarkably diverse, reflecting the encouragingly bountiful trends in writing for the organ. The unifying element of the album—and the quality that elucidates the unique beauties of each work—is the heartfelt expressivity of von Behren’s playing, here communicated to the listener with unfeigned generosity of spirit.</p>
<p>The first of the album’s cornerstone works, Wisconsin-born <b>Brenda Portman</b>’s 2021 Psalm-Sonata No. 1, traverses a three-movement narrative derived from Psalms 13, 91, and 98, the music’s depictions of the emotional transitions among the texts yielding a basic structure that is at once symphonic, recalling Stravinsky’s 1930 <i>Symphony of Psalms</i>, and devoutly intimate in the manner of a Bach cantata. In von Behren’s performance, appreciation of the subtleties of which is owed in part to the fine work of sound engineer <b>Michael Raleigh</b>, the Sonata’s fluctuating moods assume hypnotic, perceptibly personal dimensions. The Psalmist’s lament of divine abandonment throbs in the Sonata’s first movement, the desperation of the words ‘How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?’ starkly communicated by the music’s jagged climaxes and retreats, realized in this account with absolute control.</p>
<p>The confidence of von Behren’s playing is tested not by the technical difficulty but by the psychological profundity of the Sonata’s second part, ‘He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.’ The accuracy and brilliance of his playing are consistent throughout the Sonata and its companions on this album, but the lyricism of his handling of the serene repose of Portman’s tone painting in this movement is especially exquisite. The exultation in the composer’s frenzied figurations in the Sonata’s final movement, ‘Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth burst into jubilant song,’ cascades from the instrument in fanfare-like surges, executed by von Behren with boundless energy and affecting sincerity of faith.</p>
<p>Born in Korea and based in Chicago, <b>Marianne Kim</b> assimilates musical influences from all corners of the globe into tonal language that echoes the diversity of her own experiences and the intersections of sundry cultures. In the three sections of her <i>Meditation Suite</i>, whispers of the styles of George Gershwin, Ernst Krenek, and Michael Nyman are interwoven with vestiges of the forms employed by Buxtehude, Lübeck, and Bach. The Suite’s first movement, marked ‘Gently,’ creates an aptly contemplative atmosphere, the organ’s voices employed as in a discordant anthem, but von Behren’s attention to accentuating the piece’s innate equilibrium discloses a latent playfulness thar frolics within the music’s textures.</p>
<p>Every note sounded on this recording is executed ‘with feeling,’ but this direction in the second movement of Kim’s Suite is observed with remarkable fidelity, the primary-color feelings of musical theater juxtaposed with sounds of haunting ambivalence. As von Behren animates its aural dioramas, the third movement’s description of ‘Moderately’ is as much an explication of its character as an indication of tempo. Kim exercises moderation in thematic development, eschewing the kind of exploitation of the organ’s myriad of effects used by some composers to disguise banality. There is also moderation in von Behren’s approach to the music: rather than relying upon the instrument’s ability to awe, he emphasizes the profundity with which Kim’s music engages the organist and the hearer in an unspoken dialogue.</p>
<p> Resembling a sequence of antiphons punctuating the inaugural entreaty of the Anaphora, the Eucharistic Prayer, the six variations of <b>Tom Trenney</b>’s Suite breve on SURSUM CORDA demonstrate command of musical metamorphosis akin to the transformational acuity found in sets of variations by Beethoven and Brahms. Its melodic line constructed with the elegance of Hildegard von Bingen’s monophony, the Petit Plein-jeu with which the Suite begins is played with vigor that provides an alluring contrast with the subsequent Andantino cantabile, phrased by von Behren with poetic grace. In the context of the music’s liturgical associations, the Scherzetto and Quickstep are perhaps unexpected, but Trenney’s mercurial writing and von Behren’s wittily-inflected playing remind that, as recorded in 2 Samuel 6:14, ‘David danced before the Lord with all his might.’ The exciting Toccata brevis is a whirlwind of compositional ideas that von Behren tames with technical panache. This performance reveals the Suite’s concluding Benediction to indeed be a blessing for organists and listeners, Trenney’s musical journey reaching a final destination made a welcoming refuge for the soul by von Behren’s earnest expressivity.</p>
<p>One of America’s most respected composers of contemporary sacred music, <b>Dan Locklair</b> creates scores that are equally adventurous and accessible—traits also embodied by von Behren’s musicianship. Dating from 2007, the four chorale preludes of Locklair’s <i>St. John’s Suite</i> reimagine in sound verses from the Gospel of John, fashioning a concise but compelling survey of the life of Christ. Treating John 12:13 (‘Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel’), the joyful first prelude is played with rousing immediacy, the contours and meaning of the text imparted by von Behren’s articulation of tonal clusters. The anxiety and foreboding that infiltrate the prelude based upon John 21:15 (‘...lovest thou me more than these?’) are heightened by the tension with which the piece is played, the harmonic symbolization of the promise of salvation sometimes fading but always present. The solemnity of John 10:11 (‘...the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep’) is evinced not with grandiose gravitas but with quiet simplicity. As it is played by von Behren, the final prelude, proclaiming ‘...blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed’ (John 20:29), is a cathartic resolution, the comfort of faith rewarded dissipating doubt and despair. The mutual faith among composers and organist is prodigiously rewarded in David von Behren’s performances on this album. So, too, is America’s unabating faith in the organ as the foundation of the nation’s musical life.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-29427856246365962532023-08-09T10:37:00.000-04:002023-08-09T10:37:56.156-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Henry Desmarest — CIRCÉ (K. Gauvin, A. Sheehan, T. Wakim, J. Blumberg, A. Forsythe, D. Williams; Boston Early Music Festival, 4 June 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano KARINA GAUVIN as Circé (left) and tenor AARON SHEEAN as Ulisse (right) in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano KARINA GAUVIN as Circé (left) and tenor AARON SHEEAN as Ulisse (right) in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRgPq5SDbj-wfTlyfo5KZ7neqJYD3tV4gfAdJhIQz9-07iRD9kjSEso613-cZpQHLAQszuTm8wSrVCEcNk8biaLRiViMR3xFjSiGuWJkFT51Hh0Gu7QuXeWbQNDeMw-NRsVafjmfwcZ8DCXRp9JN7kH_iAO7NwVkpdn5XqGMSGjd_agUMqU_mRwp_5/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_01_Gauvin-Sheehan.jpg" width="480" height="320"><u>HENRY DESMAREST (1661 – 1741)</u>: <strong><em>Circé</em></strong> — <a href="http://karinagauvin.com/"><font color="#800000">Karina Gauvin</font></a> (Circé), <a href="https://www.aaronsheehantenor.com/"><font color="#800000">Aaron Sheehan</font></a> (Ulisse), <a href="https://www.teresawakim.com/"><font color="#800000">Teresa Wakim</font></a> (Astérie), <a href="https://www.jesseblumberg.com/"><font color="#800000">Jesse Blumberg</font></a> (Elphénor), <a href="https://www.amandaforsythe.com/"><font color="#800000">Amanda Forsythe</font></a> (Éolie), <a href="https://www.douglasrwilliams.com/"><font color="#800000">Douglas Williams</font></a> (Polite), <a href="http://www.hannahdepriest.com/"><font color="#800000">Hannah De Priest</font></a> (L’Amour), <a href="https://www.nolarichardson.com/"><font color="#800000">Nola Richardson</font></a> (Une nymphe, Une prêtresse, Une néréide), <a href="https://www.mindyellachu.com/"><font color="#800000">Mindy Ella Chu</font></a> (Une prêtresse), <a href="https://www.mireillelebel.com/"><font color="#800000">Mireille Lebel</font></a> (Minerve), <a href="https://www.briangiebler.com/"><font color="#800000">Brian Giebler</font></a> (Un amant fortuné, Une euménide), <a href="https://jasonmcstoots.com/"><font color="#800000">Jason McStoots</font></a> (Phantase, Une euménide), <a href="http://jamesreesetenor.com/"><font color="#800000">James Reese</font></a> (Un amant fortuné, Mercure), <a href="https://www.kylestegall.com/"><font color="#800000">Kyle Stegall</font></a> (Une songe, Aquilon), <a href="https://www.thethirteenchoir.org/bios/daniel-fridley"><font color="#800000">Daniel Fridley</font></a> (Une euménide), <a href="https://www.michaelgalvinbass.com/"><font color="#800000">Michael Galvin</font></a> (Phaebétor), <a href="https://www.athloneartists.com/artists/jonathan-woody/"><font color="#800000">Jonathan Woody</font></a> (La grand prêtre du temple de l’Amour), <a href="https://www.ashleymulcahy.com/"><font color="#800000">Ashley Mulcahy</font></a> (ensemble), <a href="https://www.pegasusearlymusic.org/artist/david-evans/"><font color="#800000">David Evans</font></a> (ensemble); BEMF Dance Company; BEMF Orchestra; <a href="https://www.pegasusearlymusic.org/artist/paul-odette/"><font color="#800000">Paul O’Dette</font></a> and <a href="https://stephenstubbs.com/"><font color="#800000">Stephen Stubbs</font></a>, musical directors [<a href="https://gilbertblin.eu/"><font color="#800000">Gilbert Blin</font></a>, stage director and set designer; <a href="https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/mealy-robert"><font color="#800000">Robert Mealy</font></a>, orchestra director; <a href="http://www.melindasullivan.com/"><font color="#800000">Melinda Sullivan</font></a>, dance director; <a href="https://lesjardinschoregraphiques.org/compagnie/marie-nathalie-lacoursiere/"><font color="#800000">Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière</font></a> and <a href="https://pierrefrancoisdolle.com/"><font color="#800000">Pierre-François Dollé</font></a>, choreographers; <a href="http://www.jeromekaplan.com/"><font color="#800000">Jérôme Kaplan</font></a>, costume designer; <a href="https://www.kellymartinlighting.com/"><font color="#800000">Kelly Martin</font></a>, lighting director; <a href="https://bemf.org/about-us/executive-director/"><font color="#800000">Kathleen Fay</font></a>, executive producer; <a href="https://bemf.org/"><font color="#800000">Boston Early Music Festival</font></a>, Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Sunday, 4 June 2023]</p>
<p>The source of many stories that have been told upon the lyric stage, Ovid could have populated a vast tome with tales of the metamorphoses that have transformed opera since its inception in the final decades of the Sixteenth Century. From the recitative-driven model espoused by opera’s earliest exponents to Twenty-First-Century scores, in which sounds are participants in opera in their own right, the genre has evolved in some way with the creation of each new work. Repeatedly rejuvenated and reimagined via the initiatives of musical innovators including Jacopo Peri, Claudio Monteverdi, Luigi Rossi, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Jacques Offenbach, and Matthew Aucoin, a story like that of the mythological tunesmith Orpheus illustrates the capacity of opera to continually transform not only its own conventions but also the expectations and experiences of its audiences. The finest performances and productions affirm that opera is a strange and sublime realm in which reevaluation is often the most effective catalyst for creativity.</p>
<p>A peer of Ovid as an inspiration to opera composers and librettists, Homer provided in his <i>Iliad</i> and <i>Odyssey</i> comprehensive studies of the superstitions and social mores of ancient Greece, masterfully paralleling the actions of ordinary men and women in his accounts of the feats of legendary figures. Unsurprisingly, the denizens of his epics have often assumed operatic guises, their exploits enacted upon the stage both as exciting entertainment and as symbolic representations of diverse social and political situations. Louise-Geneviève Villot de Saintonge’s libretto for Henry Desmarest’s 1694 opera <i>Circé</i>, a <i>tragédie en musique</i> of the type popularized in France during the latter half of the Seventeebth Century by the Italian-born Jean-Baptiste Lully, with whom Desmarest likely studied in the 1670s, translated episodes from Homer’s accounts of the tribulations of Odysseus into the operatic dialect cultivated at the court of Louis XIV. Adhering to the custom of the era by launching their <i>Circé</i> with a prologue designed to flatter the opera’s royal audience, Desmarest and de Saintonge crafted a theatrical work in which, propelled by music of charm and variety, the gender paradigms of the age were examined and excoriated with perspicacity akin to that with which Jane Austen scrutinized the gender biases of Regency Britain </p>
<p>Though the product of Desmarest’s and de Saintonge’s collaboration undeniably exemplifies elements of the dramatic convolution typical of operas of its vintage, <i>Circé</i> also contains characterizations of near-Shakespearean depth. None of <i>Circé</i>’s principal characters is uniformly virtuous or maleficent in any conventional sense: each actor in the drama is motivated by disparate agendas, the clashes amongst which—in some instances in a single individual—intensify the opera’s histrionic discord. Providing the nucleus of the 2023 Festival’s celebration of women’s rôles as inspirations, subjects, creators, and practitioners, <b>Boston Early Music Festival</b>’s production of <i>Circé</i> glorified the proto-feminism of Desmarest’s and de Saintonge’s depictions of Circe, Ulysses, and their companions. In this staging, their woes, borrowed from the pages of Homer, were fascinatingly timely, vouchsafing that the monsters of myth lurk within the miscommunications and misunderstandings of the digital age.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: dancer and choreographer MARIE-NATHALIE LACOURSIÈRE as La Fureur (center) with the company of Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: dancer and choreographer MARIE-NATHALIE LACOURSIÈRE as La Fureur (center) with the company of Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bhxPCo4vmQF3cV_SmeXLaxfxdICdRKtJNywdbTCYpb78gJWiAybxK4n15Rp9FtIZT7d5-IakY4IA8RJIjNd1WWbQQaEMzJ0ldZaF7IGLzYLv0H2fAdlbc2MPhOUEqw1d7DRW85XAGose3g0Fmxi71dALqNv_8G144mV9LqXtpDaikQBLXPIbWufz/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_08_Dance.jpg" width="480" height="318"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Monstres d’Antiquité</em></u>: the company of Boston Early Music Festival’s 2023 production of Henry Desmarest’s <em>Circé</em>, with dancer and choreographer <strong>Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière</strong> as La Fureur (<em>center</em>)<br>[Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]</font></p>
<p>Grandiose spectacle was often as integral a component of Lullian <i>tragédie en musique</i> as it was of the Nineteenth-Century <i>grand opéra</i> of Auber, Halévy, and Meyerbeer, and contemporary documentation of the production team assembled for the première staging of <i>Circé</i> at the Académie Royale de Musique in November 1694 indicates that bountiful resources were lavished upon the opera’s inaugural showing. Under the guidance of the Festival’s Executive Director <b>Kathleen Fay</b>, BEMF transformed the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre into a hypnotic realization of Circé’s enchanted island in which the characters’ tempestuous inner and outward emotions intrigued and engaged the performers and their audience. Precepts of Seventeenth-Century stage deportment as modern scholarship interprets them were honored throughout the production, but <b >Gilbert Blin</b>’s stage direction and evocative set designs grounded even the most fanciful scenes in lavish but gritty realism. Their exalted ranks and supernatural abilities notwithstanding, the figures in Blin’s vivid tableaux behaved not as pantomime archetypes do but like living, feeling people.</p>
<p>Dazzlingly opulent, tastefully erotic, and strikingly phantasmagorical, <b>Jérôme Kaplan</b>’s costume designs lent visual appeal and lucidity to the opera’s narrative without impeding movement by singers and dancers. The latter, their ranks directed by <b>Melinda Sullivan</b> and including the production’s choreographers, <b>Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière</b> and <b>Pierre-François Dollé</b>, executed thoughtfully-conceived dance sequences with urbanity and athleticism, their gestures often undulating in tandem with the cadences of the text in the glowing ambience of <b>Kelly Martin</b>’s lighting. Unlike many of today’s productions of standard-repertory works, BEMF’s <i>Circé</i> exulted in the piece’s eccentricities rather than seeking to disguise them with incongruous stage business. Blin and BEMF’s team of artists and artisans demonstrated that <i>Circé</i> is a work that needs rejuvenation, not rehabilitation.</p>
<p>Their work in much-praised productions of operas by Lully and Marc-Antoine Charpentier ideally prepared BEMF’s Music Directors <b>Paul O’Dette</b> and <b>Stephen Stubbs</b> for successfully reawakening and energizing Desmarest’s episodic score. Guiding the continuo with the attention to detail for which they are renowned, the pair achieved commendable cohesion and consistent momentum, maintaining dramatic tension but avoiding anachronistic excesses. Led by violinist <b>Robert Mealy</b>, whose instinctual, almost linguistic phrasing engendered near-ideal support for the singers, BEMF’s orchestra met the challenges of Desmarest’s score with the virtuosity that frequent BEMF patrons might take for granted. Desmarest’s orchestral writing is predictably similar to Lully’s and Charpentier’s, but the playing of BEMF’s musicians illuminated <i>Circé</i>’s originality, particularly in abundant finely-wrought passages for winds. Sonically complementing the production’s visual splendor, O’Dette and Stubbs crafted a sumptuous instrumental gallery in which the kaleidoscopic hues of the cast’s character portraits shone.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor JASON MCSTOOTS as une Phantase in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor JASON MCSTOOTS as une Phantase in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx7S9ziER2T_L8fSwfy_3tkwugpJn7c_7JxFty8SP9xuXv9A3BHXsefXeGJXzCg53yzvrWjDZPaW_aHZW4EieUP_pSc9j6xA_DP8sAe3CS1-SV5a_rheIhuyZpi2y8knMgmZ2ZjStCB8Dgeu_ErUnu2sV5q0ZMC611PBt0YiJ_78Y64_wVEH_G29Vv/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_09_McStoots.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Une voix d’un autre monde</em></u>: tenor <strong>Jason McStoots</strong> as une Phantase in Boston Early Music Festival’s 2023 production of Henry Desmarest’s <em>Circé</em><br>[Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]</font></p>
<p>Embodying the Festival’s homage to powerful women, the rôle of L’Amour was depicted not as a male figure as in traditional mythology but as an unapologetically ebullient feminine presence, animated by the effervescent performance of soprano <b>Hannah De Priest</b>, whose sparkling voicing of ‘Je reçois vôtre hommage, il est tendre et sincère’ in the eighth scene of Act Two epitomized the mellifluous benevolence of her characterization throughout the show. Heard as a Nymphe, a Prêtresse, and a Néréide, soprano <b>Nola Richardson</b> also sang refulgently, and mezzo-soprano <b>Mindy Ella Chu</b> enunciated the portentous words of a Prêtresse with vocal poise. In the second scene of Act Three, mezzo-soprano <b>Mireille Lebel</b> voiced Minerve’s ‘Il n’est pas temps de paraitre’ arrestingly, and the goddess’s wise authority was powerfully conveyed in every scene in which she appeared. Enriching ensembles, the voices of mezzo-soprano <b>Ashley Mulcahy</b> and tenor <b>David Evans</b> blended euphoniously with thoss of their colleagues foretelling future success in larger assignments.</p>
<p>A quartet of uniformly capable tenors inspirited an array of secondary rôles with vocal elegance and incisive articulation of texts. As un Amant fortuné in the fourth scene of Act One and une Euménide in Act Four, <b>Brian Giebler</b> sang with impeccable control and tonal allure, imparting the dramatic significance of each word that he uttered. <b>Jason McStoots</b> effortlessly scaled the vocal heights of Desmarest’s writing for Phantase in Act Three and an Euménide in Acr Four, and, first appearing as un Amant fortuné in Act One, <b>James Reese</b> voiced Mercure’s ‘Fuis loin d’ici, troupe odieuse’ in Act Four with apt authority. <b>Kyle Stegall</b>’s ethereal timbre shimmered in the writing for une Songe in Act Three and as Aquilon in the fifth scene of Act Five, his refined singing of ‘De la fille d’Éole, il faut combler les vœux’ heightening the consequence of the words.</p>
<p>Extending the superlative caliber of the vocalism into the lower compass, bass <b>Daniel Fridley</b> sang une Euménide’s music in the fourth scene of Act Four with imperturbable assurance. In Act Three, bass <b>Michael Galvin</b> intoned Phæbétor’s ‘Ulisse, il faut quitter ces funestes climats’ with urgency, the voice viscerally evincing the import of the words. Both in the music for le Grand Prêtre du Temple de l’Amour in Act Two, ‘Approchez-vous, heureux mortels’ voiced with stirring sobriety and stylistic acumen, and in ensembles, bass-baritone <b>Jonathan Woody</b>’s voice reverberated rousingly in the auditorium’s acoustic, his descents to the depths of his range reliably audible.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: bass-baritone DOUGLAS WILLIAMS as Polite in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: bass-baritone DOUGLAS WILLIAMS as Polite in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGkWcuTiwAHRRj_EhCzeDKikWIDnnVZW8_iS47k2UYNmaVsKsb-jnE2HYiutu0eYIzMeNNk_I-B9aJpshLnexSDXm8UfzTFhzcw1iRi92JGC9I1SvA6791Amt8gEdynBLLfHW8lorYc1VLGVHiWb0r0D7aBWu5JmQ8I00MK0LnaR230inNcvTN2PUZ/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_05_Williams.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Le compagnon dévoué</em></u>: bass-baritone <strong>Douglas Williams</strong> as Polite in Boston Early Music Festival’s 2023 production of Henry Desmarest’s <em>Circé</em><br>[Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]</font></p>
<p>BEMF’s loyalty to artists whose work advances the Festival’s ideal of reintroducing neglected scores with a fusion of uninhibited imagination and fidelity to historical accuracy often begets fortuitous casting, and this production of <i>Circé</i> was distinguished by superb singing from artists who are much admired by Boston audiences. Returning to BEMF, where he will be heard in 2024 as Nero in Reinhard Keiser’s <i>Die römische Unruhe, oder Die edelmütige Octavia</i>, bass-baritone <b>Douglas Williams</b> portrayed the Greek prince Polite, a companion on Ulisse’s journeys who has fallen in love with Circé’s confidante Astrie, with characteristic suavity. Credible as both a rugged warrior and a tender lover, his Polite wooed with sultriness and warned with immediacy, voicing ‘Enfin, nous n’avons plus de témoins que l’Amour’ in Act Two with solemnity and electrifying vocal cogency.</p>
<p>Dueting with Astérie, Williams sang ‘Amour, que tes plaisirs sont doux!’ seductively, his phrasing limning the character’s emotional engagement and the singer’s command of verbal inflection. In the Act Five scene with Astérie, he again mastered the vocal and expressive ranges of Polite’s music, delivering ‘Ce héros m’a sauvé plus d’une fois la vie’ confidently. Uniting his voice with Astérie’s, his pronouncement of ‘Que ma joie est extrême!’ rightly ecstatic. Williams portrayed Polite with subtlety and depth greater than the character’s rôle in the opera’s action suggests that he possesses, but every choice was justified by score and libretto.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano AMANDA FORSYTHE as Éolie in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano AMANDA FORSYTHE as Éolie in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_08exyVlHx_1-_oPPIrB5TFNreSry2YCivjRhLFsgROa4Hr54D7XLyS4lp7cRE69xZSIYs31okQ9QztWOPb9EsBTg6g4HO17qSsxDjPcsXVNvGYFAmmtL3Ts4gnHF7HaCYWelyB7lcDX0LODc7HI7g8PXB314AL1I1wLDU5A6rXy2bQWK1wF900CD/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_06_Forsythe.jpg" width="370" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La fille du vent</em></u>: soprano <strong>Amanda Forsythe</strong> as Éolie in Boston Early Music Festival’s 2023 production of Henry Desmarest’s <em>Circé</em><br>[Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]</font></p>
<p>Rather than Penelope, the wife whose much-tested constancy is extolled by Homer and in operatic incarnations including Monteverdi’s <i>Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria</i> and Gabriel Fauré’s <i>Pénélopé</i>, Ulisse’s paramour in Desmarest’s and de Saintonge’s <i>Circé</i> is Éolie, a daughter of the queen of Ligari who has no counterpart in Homer. Regardless of the lady’s questionable literary provenance, she indisputably received an exquisite portrayal in BEMF’s <i>Circé</i> from soprano <b>Amanda Forsythe</b>. The diaphonous brilliance of Éolie’s first appearance in Act Three introduced a characterization distinguished by beguiling tonal beauty, verbal acuity, and artful ornamentation. The first words of ‘Désirs, transports, cruelle impatience’ revealed Forsythe’s Éolie to be a woman abused but by no means defeated by fate. No Ulisse could have been immune to the magnetism that emanated from Éolie in their first scene together, in which the soprano’s voice glistened throughout its compass. In the Act Four scene with Circé, in which the princess courageously faced her ferocious rival for Ulisse’s love, Forsythe intoned ‘J’ignore les détours de ce bois solitaire’ and ‘Moments où je dois voir l’objet de ma tendresse’ with contrasting distress and determination, ingenuously differentiated with shifting vocal colors.</p>
<p>Éolie’s daring mission to free Ulisse from Circé’s clutches coming to fruition in Act Five, Forsythe’s vocalism radiated the assertiveness of a noble spirit still enduring agonies but certain of the integrity of her goal. In her scene with Ulisse, ‘J’ai crû vôtre perte certaine’ communicated resolve that surged in Forsythe’s singing of ‘Ne nous quittons jamais, payons-nous des douceurs.’ Intuitively sculpting phrases with complete comprehension of the felicities of the composer’s settings of the librettist’s words but never over-accentuating a note or syllable, she garnered empathy for the unflappable lover she depicted. In lesser company, Forsythe might easily have dominated the performance: in this performance, she was a resplendent supernova in a gleaming constellation of fellow stars.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: baritone JESSE BLUMBERG as Elphénor in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: baritone JESSE BLUMBERG as Elphénor in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMfCUcrQYoXIsVzpw6RJDmZ0XCzUosmg6_CgPSDYbyqPBaLJm6Dea9hPzSVjUEYz8hOHGZNW8qS6uy5YKjSGqseIIWtssJffRUZpVS9SETH_gXPFEXZpp1vr3HmjbuRTbc6vKEiz-MCSJXt6lsnvXAnQMV4X53PXqhB79AteNaa5mPy2WqAyQBtgR/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_04_Blumberg.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>L’amant éconduit</em></u>: baritone <strong>Jesse Blumberg</strong> as Elphénor in Boston Early Music Festival’s 2023 production of Henry Desmarest’s <em>Circé</em><br>[Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]</font></p>
<p>If <i>Circé</i> can be said to have a villain in a conventional sense, he is Elphénor, a Greek prince and fellow traveler of Ulisse and Polite whose amorous ambitions supplant his allegiance to his comrades, yet his actions are spurred not by iniquity but by desire The character’s torturous duplicity was the cornerstone of baritone <b>Jesse Blumberg</b>’s portrayal. From Elphénor’s entrance in Act One, Blumberg lent burgeoning tension to each of the prince’s exchanges with Astérie, the object of his romantic obsession, singing ‘L’Inhumaine me fuit, rien ne peut l’attendrir’ in their scene together with a rejected lover’s ardor and frustration. A different facet of Elphénor’s persona emerged in his Act Two scene with Ulisse, in which Blumberg’s forceful voicing of ‘Quand le bruit de votre naufrage’ prefaced an incendiary, conspiratorial account of ‘Quand on aime tendrement.’</p>
<p>Elphénor’s plight reaches its zenith in Act Three, and Blumberg responded with skilled vocal acting, words insightfully shaped into piercing declarations of feeling as in his tormented singing of ‘Je lui suis suspect, l’infidèle.’ Cornered by the suspicious Circé, the baritone’s intimidated Elphénor sang ‘Quand on a tant d’amour avec tant de beauté’ with audible trepidation. The subsequent discourse with Astérie, disgusted by the prince’s unwelcome protestations of love, drew from Blumberg his most affecting singing of the afternoon, the slight hardness at the top of the range conveying the emotional toll of Astérie’s scorn. Declaiming ‘C’en est trop, barbare inhumaine’ wrenchingly, Blumberg intimated the gravitas of Elphénor’s despair, the fervor of his singing making the forlorn man’s suicide genuinely moving. Especially when he returned as a spirit summoned from Hades in Act Four, defying Circé’s command to betray Ulisse and Éolie by divulging their liaison, Elphénor’s vocal line intermittently descended beyond the lower extremity of the strongest portion of Blumberg’s range, but every note of the part was sung with conviction and musicality.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano TERESA WAKIM as Astérie in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano TERESA WAKIM as Astérie in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhEXD_bsfXhmW-qf181DZtNW4RIH6mzikUk1bCFiA6tss_o8kDaDRgscDh_7YmMpua7yQS5AXWLkxqGkZ1iZtV1bLz9vF3uXXclSE1U78yzv7s6_OQO7RCnjsU9TeYjLbPfYBvsHFimyBOCtGL-XZ7sF6sJTdT7OZbpuWADotc42CltiMSJQBEj21/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_03_Wakim.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>L’objet de deux amours</em></u>: soprano <strong>Teresa Wakim</strong> as Astérie in Boston Early Music Festival’s 2023 production of Henry Desmarest’s <em>Circé</em><br>[Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]</font></p>
<p>Although the proud woman’s disdain inadvertently precipitates Elphénor’s demise, Circé’s confidante Astérie was in soprano <b>Teresa Wakim</b>’s performance both pensive and fiery. At her entrance in Act One, innate conviviality resounded in her voicing of ‘Vous serez toujours jeune et belle,’ but, joined by Circé, ‘Pour les amants les plus heureux’ disclosed increasing uncertainty, evoked by the soprano’s tonal shading. A steely edge glinted in Wakim’s timbre in the scene with Elphénor, exasperation giving way to ire as the lovelorn prince pressed his suit. Building from her anguished ‘Ah! c’est trop retenir mes pleurs’ to a febrile performance of ‘L’inhumaine Circé, par un enchantement,’ the progression of Astérie’s disillusionment in Act One was realized with gripping directness. In the scenes with Ulisse and Polite that followed, Wakim deployed motivic vocal emphases to enliven each emotion, serenading her true love Polite with a caressing ‘Amour, que tes plaisirs sont doux!’ of unaffected zeal.</p>
<p>Wakim’s singing in the fateful scene with Elphénor in Act Three, Astérie’s contemptuous dismissal of his affection ultimately impelling him to take his life, coruscated with indignation and impetuosity, the clarity of her diction wielded like a dagger but lacking the savagery of true hatred. In the Act Five scene with Polite, the iron core of the soprano’s voice gave her reading of ‘Ah! vous allez périr sans délivrer Ulisse’ galvanizing potency, and she sang ‘Dieux! le cruel m’abandonne’ with insurmountable focus. Finally extricated from the strife of amorous entanglements and restored to her beloved, Wakim’s Astérie voiced ‘Que ma joie est extrême!’ with triumphant vigor. Instances of intonational occlusion in Wakim’s performance were laudably few, the technical accomplishment of her singing fostering a characterization that, while wholly authentic in style, heightened the surprising modernity of Astérie’s complex psychological development.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor AARON SHEEHAN as Ulisse in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor AARON SHEEHAN as Ulisse in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBVYG-u7diMors4MTZN-NzhhRIQq1iu40BmspLAhXezs3ed8xWjtWK0dqTBV8uVQzvMLNNZxeKMBLHtTzgsacxSmj-SVjoKn40rvhJ2PfdKCqu2_HPv8Kemkxs2haJCl6gu3h7Sm7w2uMINKMwy5NaFMkNOc12OpUBWQiil-P0XCh94UIVJ3JnPMR5/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_02_Sheehan.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Le grec enchanté</em></u>: tenor <strong>Aaron Sheehan</strong> as Ulisse in Boston Early Music Festival’s 2023 production of Henry Desmarest’s <em>Circé</em><br>[Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]</font></p>
<p>Among <i>Circé</i>’s ambiguous players, the legendary hero Ulisse is given an especially equivocal ethical constitution: neither faithful nor faithless, he pursues a course that is at once opportunistic and inexorable. The journeyer’s inherent restlessness was omnipresent in tenor <b>Aaron Sheehan</b>’s entrancing performance of the rôle, in which unerring musicality was fused with sophisticated theatrical savvy. Singing ‘Quel reproche cruel pour mon cœur amoureux!’ in Act One with exceptional musical accuracy and dramatic involvement, he extracted the idealized figure of legend from de Saintonge’s distillation of Homer’s epic and, with the aid of Desmarest’s writing, molded him into a man of joltingly current sensibilities. In his scene with Astérie in Act Two, Sheehan’s poetic but pointed vocalism evidenced the confounding contradictions of Ulisse’s predicament. Suffusing his proclamation of ‘La conquête de votre cœur’ in the scene with Circé with caution, Ulisse’s loathing for Circé’s infatuation seethed in ‘Désir de se venger, inutile fureur.’</p>
<p>The expressive vitality of Sheehan’s singing fashioned a performance of ‘Faudra-t-il toujours me contraindre?’ in which the spectrum of Ulisse’s reactions to his circumstances could be discerned in the tenor’s understated gradations of tone, yet even in his fraught meeting with Elphénor the voice was lustrously attractive. Dashingly projecting ‘O Ciel! ô juste Ciel! j’implore ton secours’ in the scene with Éolie, he lavished a stream of mesmerizingly lovely tone on ‘Quand on aime tendrement.’ Sparring with the increasingly volatile Circé in Act Four, Sheehan’s Ulisse unleashed a deluge of disillusionment in a galvanizing voicing of ‘Dieux! quelle injustice effroyable!’ The Act Five scene with Éolie allowed Sheehan to shift from fierceness to finesse, and the effervescence of his singing of ‘Que ne vous dois-je pas, adorable Éolie?’ persisted in an ebullient account of ‘Ne nous quittons jamais, payons-nous des douceurs.’ Rather than depicting Ulisse as a caricatured protagonist, marginalizing his unsavory traits, Sheehan embraced all of the character’s dimensions, his fleet, fetching vocalism rendering the negative as enthralling as the positive.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano KARINA GAUVIN as Circé in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano KARINA GAUVIN as Circé in Boston Early Music Festival's 2023 production of Henry Desmarest's CIRCÉ [Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEyE9wyvRWoVf7Y_LZP5JLcOea0jECLPzJFgq5Z05Yp-hMKp56ie7Ewp2eqOe6pq_hJjb18z3GlcbZOGQQAxbJe3Yj0wZG9nAgc1ZqZCJBb5YOsKJcoIuyqN1Mcfo14_qdL89ggPIrhaZTuW97_UwCS3zifkCdf5E595ov43INdpRQY6c5-M5R4Rj/s1600/Desmarest_CIRC%C3%89_07_Gauvin.jpg" width="366" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La reine du rejet</em></u>: soprano <strong>Karina Gauvin</strong> as Circé in Boston Early Music Festival’s 2023 production of Henry Desmarest’s <em>Circé</em><br>[Photograph by Kathy Wittman, © by Boston Early Music Festival]</font></p>
<p>Separating the opera proper from its allegorical prologue, BEMF’s production accentuated the dramatic verisimilitude and musical equilibrium with which Desmarest and de Saintonge structured their depiction of Circé, qualities that were hallmarks of Québecoise soprano <b>Karina Gauvin</b>’s portrayal of the rôle. Although Circé’s tessitura is centered in some passages lower than the range in which Gauvin’s voice is most voluptuous, she characterized the protean sorceress as a sensitive, unapologetically sexual woman who maintained regal dignity in rage and repose. With her dulcet cry of ‘Ah! Que l’Amour aurait de charmes,’ Gauvin established her Circé as a woman unafraid of baring her vulnerabilities, but the doubt that undermined her joy in ‘Une secrète jalousie’ offered a glimpse of the severity of which she was capable.</p>
<p>Sharing her concerns with Astérie, ‘Pour les amants les plus heureux’ was sung with restraint, Circé seeming to distrust her own wisdom. Her statement of ‘Prince, vous connaissez jusqu’où va ma tendresse’ to Ulisse was as vehement in its way as her asseveration of ‘Votre amitié s’intéresse’ to his fellow Greeks was portentous. Gauvin sang ‘Changez-vous tristes lieux’ lustily, remorselessly bewitching Ulisse’s companions. Circé’s disquiet grew more pervasive in her Act Two scene with Ulisse, the simmering consternation in her ‘Quoi? vous n’avez rien à me dire?’ detonating in ‘Désir de se venger, inutile fureur.’ The scene with Elphénor in Act Three also bristled with incredulity, the soprano’s voicing of ‘Prince, je ne saurais vous cacher ma tristesse’ charged with vexation. The anger of Circé’s assertion of ‘Ulisse est inconstant’ to Astérie was tinged with sorrow, as was her poignant ‘Enfin il est donc vrai qu’Elphénor ne vit plus’ in the Act Four contest with Ulisse. Commanding Elphénor’s shade to rise from Hades and name her rival, ‘Dieu ténébreux du vaste empire’ was chanted with irrefutable authority, but, the name withheld, her desolation erupted into vitriol in the scene with Éolie, ‘Qu’ai-je entendu? c’est ma rivale, o Dieux!’ sung with abrasive bitterness. In Gauvin’s performance, Circé’s ‘Venez, Démons, empruntez les attraits’ was worthy of comparison with the frenzied outbursts of Cherubini’s Médée and Verdi’s Lady Macbeth.</p>
<p>The emotional gauntlet to which Circé is subjected in Act Five recalls the final afflictions suffered by the heroines of Lully’s <i>Armide</i> and Charpentier’s <i>Médée</i>. Acted without prudence and circumspection, Circé’s final scenes could educe parody instead of pathos, but it was in these scenes that Gauvin’s performance was most touchingly human. Deprived of her power to conquer by deceit, she was at last not a sovereign or a sorceress but only, fully a woman. Her exclamation of ‘O rage! ô douleur mortelle!’ was not shrieked but voiced with pained beauty. The venomous yearning for retribution that coursed through Gauvin’s singing of ‘Ah! quelle rigueur extrême!’ was terrifying, but it was Circé’s heartbreak that billowed most memorably from the singer’s vocal cords. For Gauvin’s Circé, the subjugation of her sorcery liberated her feminity, a declaration of independence as momentous in 2023 as it was in 1694.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-67051247988070746662023-05-31T06:38:00.000-04:002023-05-31T06:38:17.688-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: François Couperin, Tomás Luis de Victoria, & Thomas Tallis — LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH – TENEBRÆ FOR TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK (C. Humphries, Red Letter Consort; St. John’s Church, Richmond, Virginia; 4 April 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: historic St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, the venue for Red Letter Consort's Holy Week concert, 4 April 2023 [Photograph © by Joseph Newsome / Voix des Arts]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: historic St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, the venue for Red Letter Consort's Holy Week concert, 4 April 2023 [Photograph © by Joseph Newsome / Voix des Arts]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EZBd9ImNXO-OE_dGs-qUCyNawxS8RllSDAhFvKAz6LAT3Tcur2V1QdoQWtivWoPGHSm0TulBvutXARFolPfjsTOGwewU8fWJA0Q5g1k6ULlbfpJ8kRH4Yqbyapf0iwmDLXUS6QaRFDxbTTejqgKp1qUgL305qLKnxTFyAfMZ9DjoJpz84T4MLv3s/s1600/2023-04-04_St-Johns-Richmond-VA.jpg" width="480" height="360"><u>FRANÇOIS COUPERIN (1668 – 1733)</u>, <u>TOMÁS LUIS DE VICTORIA (circa 1548 – 1611)</u>, and <u>THOMAS TALLIS (circa 1505 – 1585)</u> – : <strong><em>Lamentations of Jeremiah – Tenebræ for Tuesday of Holy Week</em></strong> — Charles Humphries, countertenor and director; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/redletterconsort"><font color="#800000">Red Letter Consort</font></a>; Charles Lindsey, organ [<a href="https://www.saintjohnsrichmond.org/"><font color="#800000">St. John’s Church</font></a>, Richmond, Virginia, USA; Tuesday, 4 April 2023]</p>
<p>It is impossible to know from precisely which origins and stimuli human music first developed. Perhaps it was a desire to mimick birdcalls and other sounds of nature that inspired song, or the failure of speech to adequately communicate certain emotions may have engendered the development of melody as an interpretive intermediary. Throughout its evolution, music has unquestionably assumed a consequential rôle in celebration and commemoration of humankind’s milestones, a rôle confirmed by the forced isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic to gain meaning from unifying diverse listeners in shared experiences of heightened expression. The effectiveness of music as a therapeutic medium for reconnecting with individuals with cognitive and memory deficiencies demonstrates that music engages listeners and performers in ways that are still only partially understood, somehow transcending even the most basic tenets of consciousness and cognizance.</p>
<p>At least since the Middle Ages, when the development of tablature and standard notation facilitated the preservation of music in printed form, music has been an integral component of commemorations of Christian events, not least those of Holy Week that honor Christ’s persecution, death, and resurrection. Encompassing virtually all genres, music for Holy Week constitutes a substantial segment of the Western choral canon, liturgical remembrances of Christ’s Passion and responses thereto having inspired composers for centuries. Imparted in works for both solo voice and choir, the spirit of awed reflection that permeates much music for Holy Week filled the space in which <b>Red Letter Consort</b> performed music that splendidly showcased the ensemble’s innate musicality, preparedness, and commitment to conveying the joy of singing even when voicing music of tremendous gravitas.</p>
<p>The setting for the 1775 Second Virginia Convention, the meeting of delegates convened in Richmond to explore paths to freedom from Britain during which Patrick Henry uttered his famed ‘Give me liberty, or give me death!’ address, St. John’s Church is an apt home, historically and acoustically, for performances by Red Letter Consort, founded and directed by renowned countertenor <b>Charles Humphries</b>. Serving in the Consort’s performance of music for Holy Week as both soloist and choir leader, Humphries curated a compelling sequence of settings of dolorous texts steeped in the humanistic pathos of Old Testament accounts of the sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Both accentuating the parallels in these texts with the sorrows of Christ’s Passion, as composers have done for centuries, and finding in words and music poignant bonds with present adversities, Humphries and Red Letter Consort liberated the music from specific liturgical contexts, fomenting in St. John’s a pervasive spirit of communal renewal.</p>
<p>Composed for celebration of Holy Week at Abbaye royale de Longchamp in 1714, François Couperin’s three <i>Leçons de ténèbres pour mercredi saint</i> enliven the biblical texts with masterfully-wrought aural colorations. The stylistic ingenuity found in Couperin’s keyboard music also permeates the <i>Leçons de ténèbres</i>, in which the musical language of the great French and Flemish masters of Renaissance choral music is distilled into vocal lines that are at once touchingly lucid and rich with detail. Beautifully accompanied by organist <b>Charles Lindsey</b>, Humphries’s singing of the first and second <i>Leçons</i>—those written for a single voice—exhibited unwavering focus on psychological nuances of the texts, each emotional transition, affectingly realized by Couperin, animated with sincerity and subtlety.</p>
<p>The intimacy of the performance’s setting heightened perception of the music’s challenges and appreciation of the commitment with which Humphries approached them. Notably, his articulations of repeated words and phrases were managed with great imagination, the word ‘Jerusalem’ uttered with contrasting ecstasy, pain, and resignation as the narrative progressed. The singer’s carefully-honed breath control revealed Couperin to be a precursor of Vincenzo Bellini as a composer of expansive, delicately-ornamented, <i>bel canto</i>-esque melodic lines. The technical assurance of Humphries’s vocalism was apparent in the infrequency of intonational fluctuations and stylistic inconsistencies, none of which detracted—or distracted—from the pensiveness and pulchritude of these traversals of the <i>Leçons</i>.</p>
<p>Offering their second concert to the Richmond public, the Red Letter Consort singers—sopranos <b>Antonia Vassar</b> and <b>Kaitlyn Townsend</b>, contralto <b>Heather Jones</b>, tenor <b>Evan Heiter</b>, and basses <b>John Tyndall</b> and <b>Will Conn</b>—began their portion of the performance with soaring accounts of three of the eighteen Tenebræ responsory motets published in Rome in 1585 by Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria. One of a handful of Renaissance masters whose life and career are extensively documented, Victoria benefited from the patronage of some of the most powerful figures of his age, including Spain’s King Philip II, whose support enabled Victoria to study and work in Rome. A contemporary of one of his native region’s most revered citizens, Saint Teresa of Ávila, Victoria was an ordained priest whose vocation dominated his compositional output. Unmistakably influenced by the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, with whom he may have studied in the 1560s, Victoria’s Tenebræ responsories share with Couperin’s <i>Leçons</i> a profoundly personal atmosphere of rumination, invigorated in this performance by Red Letter Consort’s singing.</p>
<p>From the opening bars of ‘Amicus meus osculi me traddit signo,’ it was apparent that Humphries’s leadership yielded ensemble singing that honored the storied English traditions that shaped his musical constitution. Reminiscences of Coventry and Salisbury resounded in Red Letter Consort’s singing, but their delivery of Victoria’s music was distinguished by singular expressive intensity. The voices intertwined captivatingly in ‘Tamquam ad latronem,’ emphasizing the ingenuity of the composer’s part writing without distorting the piece’s meticulously-crafted polyphonic architecture. Foretokens of Passion music by Buxtehude and Bach emerged in the Consort’s phrasing of ‘Sepulto Domino, signatum est monumentum,’ in which the singers’ individual sounds were melded into a resilient thread by which the words were bound with evocative simplicity, the cathartic power of Victoria’s tone painting vividly projected to the listeners.</p>
<p>Unlike his Spanish colleague Victoria, the English composer Thomas Tallis is a towering figure in Renaissance music without a substantial biographical foundation. A defining presence in English liturgical composition throughout the reigns of the last four Tudor monarchs, Tallis gave England a body of work to rival the legacies of Continental composers, artfully tailoring his musical language first to the Catholic conservatism of Mary I and then to the Protestant progressivism of Elizabeth I without compromising the integrity of his work. Under Elizabeth’s aegis, Tallis and his pupil William Byrd were awarded exclusive rights to publish their works, an arrangement with few precedents that secured the survival of much of Tallis’s music. Whereas undisputed historical evidence creates a comprehensive portrait of Victoria, vestiges of Tallis’s character and experiences are primarily found in his music, in which a fascinating, sometimes melancholic, and often astonishingly modern voice is heard.</p>
<p>Red Letter Consort chose as the final selection for their Holy Week concert the first part of Tallis’s setting of the <i>Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet</i>. Dating from the 1560s, during Elizabeth I’s first decade on the throne, the work utilizes the same text employed in Couperin’s <i>Leçons</i>. Tallis’s manner of writing for the voices engenders sonic textures that are at once stark and lavish, each part requiring stamina, sensitivity, and security across a broad range. Guided by Humphries’s intuitive pacing, Red Letter Consort’s voices excelled at meeting Tallis’s demands, enunciating each line of Jeremiah’s elegiac text with stirring immediacy.</p>
<p>Despite the Consort’s relative newness, cooperation among the singers was faultless, the thoroughness of their preparation audible in each phrase of their singing. Fleeting moments of imperfect balance in the Victoria motets were largely absent from the Tallis. In this music, the Consort achieved an ethos that was appropriately solemn but movingly hopeful. Euphoniously limning the essence of Holy Week’s message of salvation through sacrifice with singing in which diligent rehearsal actuated expressive spontaneity, Humphries and Red Letter Consort reawakened in the hallowed space of St. John’s the quest for spiritual enlightenment that effected the church’s prominence in the annals of American history. Patrick Henry’s voice roused a revolution: the voices of Red Letter Consort roused music of centuries past with revolutionary eloquence.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-37712348086029616842023-03-29T17:25:00.000-04:002023-03-29T17:25:15.747-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Christoph Willibald Gluck — ORFEO ED EURIDICE (M. Moore, S. Stewart, M. Quinn; The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, 25 March 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: The Carolina Theatre of Durham, venue for The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle's performance of Christoph Willibald Gluck's ORFEO ED EURIDICE, 25 March 2023 [Photograph © by Joseph Newsome / Voix des Arts]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: The Carolina Theatre of Durham, venue for The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle's performance of Christoph Willibald Gluck's ORFEO ED EURIDICE, 25 March 2023 [Photograph © by Joseph Newsome / Voix des Arts]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWb_oYRWp3mINEALlRpxnPTXrvMfy2DAl328z-syC3PW6UrS-U0ZXptWUQ-cVwgBvtpGQwD6UxjPACCE6AKfAvoP-R-3Olh6eEu-bE2D1I7VLHgsjy_lKjqKwkkKprW9SWOSr_I6OUkSoRUqA6KJ-UBbaiBuDFygjBfkw55F477OsheOyMoUAwrI87/s1600/Carolina-Theatre-Durham_2023-03-25.jpg" width="480" height="360"><u>CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD VON GLUCK (1714 – 1787)</u>: <strong><em>Orfeo ed Euridice</em> [1762 Vienna version]</strong> — <a href="https://www.meganmooremezzo.com/"><font color="#800000">Megan Moore</font></a> (Orfeo), <a href="https://www.susannahstewartsoprano.com/"><font color="#800000">Susannah Stewart</font></a> (Euridice), <a href="http://www.mollyquinn.com/"><font color="#800000">Molly Quinn</font></a> (Amore); <a href="https://music.unc.edu/undergraduate/ensembles/choral/carolinachoir/"><font color="#800000">Carolina Choir</font></a>, <a href="https://www.chamberorchestraofthetriangle.org/"><font color="#800000">The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle</font></a>; <a href="https://www.chamberorchestraofthetriangle.org/conductors"><font color="#800000">Lorenzo Muti</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://www.chamberorchestraofthetriangle.org/conductors"><font color="#800000">Niccoló Muti</font></a>, Stage Director; <a href="https://loecarmen.com/"><font color="#800000">Lauren Carmen</font></a>, Costume Designer; The Carolina Theatre, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Saturday, 25 March 2023]</p>
<p>Opera is a celebration of excesses, one of which is a tendency among the art form’s most fervent admirers to assess works, performers, and performances with absolutes, proclaiming superlatives when discussing virtues and vices would be more productive. Justified though recognition of his genius emphatically is, citing Mozart as the defining musical innovator of the second half of the Eighteenth Century both belittles the work of other noteworthy composers and denies Mozart’s achievements the context required in order to properly appreciate them. In evaluations of the evolution of opera between Händel’s final contributions to the genre and the sublime scores of Mozart’s maturity, several of Christoph Willibald von Gluck’s operas are rightly esteemed as catalysts in the transition from Baroque to Classicism and early Romanticism. To suggest that Gluck’s ‘reform operas’ are without contemporary peers as groundbreaking works is an affront to Gluck and composers like Tommaso Traetta and Antonio Sacchini, but, even to Twenty-First-Century ears acquainted with operatic styles and innovations spanning six centuries, the operas that inspired Gluck’s reputation as a trailblazer still inhabit unique soundworlds more than two centuries after their composer’s death, shaped by music in which the <i>tragédies en musique</i> of Lully, Charpentier, and Rameau collide with the Romantic operas of Beethoven, Weber, and Berlioz.</p>
<p>Despite the persisting temptation to exaggerate the event’s significance at the expense of undervaluing the importance of similar works including Carl Heinrich Graun’s 1752 <i>Orfeo</i> and Ferdinando Bertoni’s 1776 setting of the same libretto by Ranieri de’ Calzabigi utilized by Gluck, the première of Gluck’s <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i> at Vienna’s Burgtheater on 5 October 1762, was unquestionably a momentous occasion, the Habsburg dynasty having bern represented on that first night by as illustrious an opera lover as the Empress herself, Maria Theresa. Casting renowned castrato Gaetano Guadagni, whose notoriety in London in the 1740s and ’50s encompassed both work with Händel and salacious libidinous escapades, as Orfeo, Gluck retained a vital component of the Baroque tradition, perhaps making his efforts at returning <i>opera seria</i> to the kinship with Greek drama envisioned by early exponents of the genre more palatable to the Viennese audience. Gluck’s later revisions to the score, the most drastic being the 1774 version for Paris in which the hero’s music was reassigned from alto castrato to high tenor, reflect both that his quest to liberate opera from Baroque excesses metamorphosed as it progressed and that even a committed reformer bowed to the necessity of conforming to prevailing tastes, at least in part.</p>
<p>From Jacopo Peri’s and Giulio Caccini’s <i>Euridice</i> (1600) [in addition to collaborating with Peri, Caccini penned his own <i>Euridice</i>, first performed in 1602] and Monteverdi’s <i>L’Orfeo</i> (1607) to Matthew Aucoin’s <i>Eurydice</i>, staged to considerable acclaim in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2021 – 2022 Season, Orphic subjects have been popular with composers and audiences, mythology’s tale of a musician using his lyre to open paths that were previously closed to him transformed into an ode to music’s capacities to heal individuals and communities. [Gluck’s <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i> returns to the Metropolitan Opera in the 2023 – 2024 Season, with Durham-born countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as Orfeo.] In both subject and the score’s musical dimensions, the 1762 version of Gluck’s <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i> was an ideal work for <b>The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle</b>’s inaugural foray into performing opera. Staging the performance in Durham’s historic Carolina Theatre was largely successful but also fitfully exasperating. The theatre’s warm, natural acoustic was fortuitous, especially with the orchestra on stage and the principals either on the floor or directly in front of the instrumentalists, but the building’s multi-purpose functionality presented challenges, the most disheartening of which was the first half-hour of the performance being marred by persistent lobby noise. Moreover, whilst concessions sales are undoubtedly an important source of revenue and are appropriate for the attached cinema, the constant crunching of patrons enjoying popcorn was distracting and an unfortunate disservice to the performers. These caveats notwithstanding, the performance was an impressive first effort that inspired the hope that opera will be included in future COT seasons.</p>
<p>COT’s performance of <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i> was a near-miraculous celebration of all that can be achieved by teams of musicians dedicating the best of their artistry to a common goal. Brought to the stage in only five days, without benefit of an in-depth Sitzprobe and extensive technical rehearsals, the performance was directed with imaginative use of space and the auditorium’s architecture, the latter employed by COT’s Executive Director and Principal Conductor <b>Niccoló Muti</b> to position a contingent of the chorus in the tier of boxes near the stage. <b>Lauren Carmen</b>’s simple but evocative costume designs would likely have been more effective had the lighting been brighter, but the flowing lines and contrasting colors and textures lent modernity and Classical poise to Muti’s storytelling. Reconfiguring Gluck’s three acts into two, the production made Orfeo’s descent into Hades a tempestuous voyage. Muti’s direction imposed nothing upon the drama that was not supported by score and libretto, fashioning a staging that exuded sincerity that is sometimes not found in more intricate productions.</p>
<p>COT’s Artistic Director <b>Lorenzo Muti</b> conducted Gluck’s score with discernible understanding of the style, avoiding the mistakes of approaching <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i> as though it were late Händel or early Mozart. Aptly, the style of Mondonville was recalled far more frequently than that of Mozart in Muti’s pacing, which relied upon moderate tempi and unexaggerated cadences. COT’s musicians played Gluck’s music superbly, their intonation laudably accurate throughout the performance. Their aural balance benefited the strings more than the winds, the flutes intermittently practically inaudible, but the ensemble’s sound bloomed in the auditorium. The absence of harpsichord continuo was regrettable in passages of recitative, the lack of linking music among the plodding chords causing the extended scene for Orfeo and Euridice at the beginning of Act Three to seem interminable. Nonetheless, Muti ensured that the performance’s pace maintained momentum but afforded passages of repose like Orfeo’s exquisite ‘Che puro ciel’ time in which to reveal their allures. The opera’s vivid Sinfonia and the familiar Dance of the Blessed Spirits, played as a de facto entr’acte, were beautifully done, and the music for the furies brayed with infernal intensity. Interpretive subtleties are born of long acquaintance, but weeks of rehearsals could not have yielded a more musical account of <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i> than Muti and the COT accomplished in this performance.</p>
<p>Comprised of students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the <b>Carolina Choir</b> sang Gluck’s music for chorus with impeccable musicality, professionalism, and preparedness. Whether depicting Thracian peasants mourning Euridice’s death, menacing Furies, or disembodied souls, their sounds demonstrated the excellence of <b>Susan Klebanow</b>’s training. ‘Ah! se intorno a quest’urna funesta’ in Act One movingly imparted the despair felt by Euridice’s companions, and the choral responses to Orfeo’s outpourings of grief were voiced with feeling and finesse. Compelling throughout the opera, Gluck’s writing for the chorus is uniquely powerful in Act Two, and Carolina Choir’s elocution elucidated every syllable and sentiment of the progression of choruses from ‘Chi mai dell’Erebo’ to ‘Vieni a’ regni del riposo.’ Their singing of ‘Torna, o bella, al tuo consorte’ was enthralling, and the choir’s work in Act Three was as dramatically impactful as it was musically entrancing. The sopranos and contraltos outnumbering their lower-voiced counterparts in the choir’s ranks occasionally caused the ensemble to be slightly top-heavy, but the tenors met the challenges of their music in Act Three intrepidly.</p>
<p>Amore, the opera’s <i>deus ex machina</i> and this performance’s beacon in the darkness, was depicted not as the male Cupid of mythology but as an unmistakably feminine figure, animated with delightful brio by soprano <b>Molly Quinn</b>. In her first appearance in Act One, this was an Amore whose cheeky vivacity was little affected by Euridice’s tragic demise and Orfeo’s mourning. Her opening pronouncements to the despondent Orfeo were comforting and cheering, and Quinn sang the aria ‘Gli sguardi trattieni’ effervescently, her timbre and vibrato reminiscent of Toti dal Monte. She returned in Act Three to reward Orfeo’s persistence by reuniting him with the errant Euridice, voicing each line of recitative with clarity of diction and purpose. Quinn sang Amore’s part in the final trio with boundless joy and a sly suggestion of self-satisfaction, the voice shimmering in the musical glow of the opera’s <i>lieto fine</i>.</p>
<p>Surviving the unenviable task of motionlessly portraying Euridice’s corpse in Act One, soprano <b>Susannah Stewart</b> subsequently emerged unscathed as a disenchanted denizen of the underworld. Finally heard in Act Three, Stewart articulated Euridice’s discourse with Orfeo insightfully, the character’s growing confusion, frustration, and fear credibly evinced. Her performance of the impassioned aria ‘Che fiero momento’ was one of the evening’s musical pinnacles, the soprano’s technique and temperament viscerally communicating the piece’s volatile emotions. Affection permeated Stewart’s phrasing of ‘Grande, o Numi è il dono vostro!’ in the duet with Orfeo, the tone gleaming, and each word in the final trio was sung with palpable exultation.</p>
<p>There are pages in <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i> in which the opera is virtually a solo cantata for Orfeo. To an even greater extent than in Monteverdi’s <i>L’Orfeo</i>, the protagonist’s sorrow and determination to defy fate are participants in the drama as consequential as Orfeo and Euridice themselves. Depicting Orfeo not as an archetypal artist battling adversity but as a deeply sensitive youth devastated by the loss of his beloved, mezzo-soprano <b>Megan Moore</b> sang Gluck’s music with stylistic authority and tonal beauty. The recitatives at the beginning of Act One were uttered with emotional specificity, ‘Amici, qual lamento aggrava il mio dolor’ dejected and ‘Lasciatemi!’ anguished. The sequence of brief arias—’Chiamo il mio ben così,’ ‘Cerco il mio ben così,’ and ‘Piango il mio ben così’—persuasively manifested the stages of Orfeo’s grieving and anger, only one false entry betraying the performance’s hurried preparation. ‘Deh! placatevi con me’ with chorus and the arias ‘Mille pene, ombre moleste’and ‘Men tiranne, ah! voi sareste’ in Act Two further projected Orfeo’s resilience and reliance upon music as a source of solace.</p>
<p>Moore’s dulcet singing of the arioso ‘Che puro ciel! che chiaro sol!’ limned the sense of wonder that gripped Orfeo, visually stimulated in this performance by whimsical, Julie Taymor-esque puppetry. In Act Three, the recitative ‘Vieni, segui i miei passi’ benefited from the unaffected directness of Moore’s delivery, a quality that also permeated the singer’s voicing of Orfeo’s charged words in the duet with Euridice. The famed aria ‘Che farò senza Euridice?’ was sung with beguiling simplicity, Moore preferring purity of line to ornamentation. Hesitant to trust in the permanence of Amore’s intervention, this Orfeo at last experienced—and expressed—happiness in the final trio. Like her colleagues in this performance, Moore brought an aura of catharsis to the opera’s final scene, Orfeo’s devotion to the power of music rewarded. The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle’s faith in the viability of opera was rewarded, too, this performance of <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i> affirming that the success of a performance is measured by its soul, not its scale.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-27549355782051674152023-03-22T22:12:00.000-04:002023-03-22T22:12:30.658-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Gaetano Donizetti — DON PASQUALE (B. Smoak, M. Redding, C. Carrico, K. Alston, J. Ray; Piedmont Opera, 19 March 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: bass-baritone BRAD SMOAK in the title rôle of Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: bass-baritone BRAD SMOAK in the title rôle of Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigfDNCBKO1FCQHWVudz6Fl5PjUvrlGJxXnrfRbq1NqNNTf0ifeHipq6QACW-AXZVxYqFTX1_pueIDJIs3sFM0saLiOEppK_eglkCmXV2YjO4V5imgJgCwpPtJP3l02mUkm5XGYI7NqhdP1hToC8hRDbSaxbjrBlGY1S49ljxWF_iZLdV--_N_HXzS6/s1600/Donizetti_DON-PASQUALE_WS_2023_01_Smoak.jpg" width="480" height="320"><u>GAETANO DONIZETTI (1797 – 1848)</u>: <strong><em>Don Pasquale</em></strong> — <a href="https://bradleysmoak.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Brad Smoak</font></a> (Don Pasquale), Michael Redding (Dottore Malatesta), <a href="https://www.creecarrico.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Cree Carrico</font></a> (Norina), <a href="https://www.kameronalston.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kameron Alston</font></a> (Ernesto), Jackson Ray (Carlino); Piedmont Opera Chorus, <a href="https://www.wssymphony.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra</font></a>, <a href="https://www.johnmckeeverconductor.com/"><font color="#800000">John McKeever</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/faculty-staff/james-allbritten.aspx"><font color="#800000">James Allbritten</font></a>, Stage Director; <a href="http://www.johnpascoe.com/"><font color="#800000">John Pascoe</font></a>, Scenic Designer; <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/kenan/artist-as-leader/norman-coates.aspx"><font color="#800000">Norman Coates</font></a>, Lighting Designer; Ann M. Bruskiewitz, Costume Designer; <a href="https://destineesteele.com/"><font color="#800000">Destinee Steele</font></a>, Wig and Makeup Designer; Elizabeth Fowle, Choreographer <a href="https://www.piedmontopera.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Piedmont Opera</font></a>, Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; Sunday, 19 March 2023]</p>
<p>The composer’s surviving correspondence intimates that the final decade of Gaetano Donizetti’s life were troubled by artistic frustration, progressing illness, and mental decline. Censorial impediments to staging new works in the forms in which they were conceived and other bureaucratic interference having soured his long-standing partnership with Naples’s Teatro di San Carlo, the house that witnessed the first performances of <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>, <i>Roberto Devereux</i>, and a number of his less-remembered operas, Donizetti turned his attention to Paris. Following the examples of both Rossini and Bellini, who created new works for the French capital, Donizetti sought to replicate the successful Paris première of his opera <i>Parisina d’Este</i> at the Théâtre-Italien by devising a wholly-new piece for the company. Working with librettist Giovanni Ruffini, he adapted Angelo Anelli’s text for Stefano Pavesi’s 1810 opera <i>Ser Marcantonio</i> into a delectable comedic confection that abounds with the finest ingredients of his artistry.</p>
<p>Contemporary accounts of the world première of <i>Don Pasquale</i> at the Théâtre-Italien on 3 January 1843, document the Parisian public’s immediate recognition of the extraordinary quality of Donizetti’s score. The opera’s farcical story of a pompous man of a certain age disinheriting his lovelorn nephew in order to take a young wife for himself stoked the composer’s imagination, yielding music that, despite its Rossinian elements, simmers with originality. Previous <b>Piedmont Opera</b> productions of <i>L’elisir d’amore</i> and <i>Maria Stuarda</i> masterfully realized the theatrical potency of both comic and serious Donizetti, meticulous handling of the scores’ musical demands engendering performances in which the aspects of his craft that differentiated Donizetti from Rossini, Bellini, the young Verdi, and other contemporaries were uncommonly discernible. Sharing its predecessors’ emphasis on maintaining high musical standards, the company’s <i>Don Pasquale</i> recaptured the wit and <i>bel canto</i> grace that captivated Parisians 180 years ago, making both the opera’s long-loved comedy and Donizetti’s oft-performed score seem wholly new.</p>
<p>Trading the podium for the director’s chair for this production, Piedmont Opera Artistic Director <b>James Allbritten</b> achieved in his staging of <i>Don Pasquale</i> the irreproachable musicality that distinguishes his work in the orchestra pit. Allied with <b>Elizabeth Fowle</b>’s suave choreography, delightfully executed by the singers, Allbritten’s direction avoided the pitfalls of comic opera, eschewing manic slapstick and physical comedy that distracts singers and audiences from the music in favor of stage action that was genuinely funny but also conducive to proper singing.</p>
<p>Recalling the recreations of Edwardian England in Merchant-Ivory films, <b>Ann M. Bruskiewitz</b>’s costume designs and <b>Destinee Steele</b>’s wigs and makeup complemented the aesthetics of Allbritten’s concept, enhancing the visual comedy without hindering movement or vocal production. With <i>bel canto</i> credentials encompassing many noteworthy productions, among the most significant of which is the 1989 Detroit <i>Norma</i> in which Dame Joan Sutherland sang her final performances of Bellini’s titular druidess, scenic designer <b>John Pascoe</b> devised a physical setting for <i>Don Pasquale</i> that manifested the eponymous curmudgeon’s past-his-prime pomposity. Artfully illuminated by lighting designer <b>Norman Coates</b>, Piedmont Opera’s staging provided vibrant tableaux in which the kaleidoscopic colors of Donizetti’s music danced alongside the cast.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor JACKSON RAY as Carlino in Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor JACKSON RAY as Carlino in Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6mhsd87CXRrIciLxBCb_0lLUzeFno577dIW26T5A7wXtq8kbAWPzWH3RDrjM25bHvrdJaMZkbf2pq2RBk2_q7uG3FSz84l6wCFTAZgXsawYrzQtt5ykVMdo7bkEamy3yLKJH32_GuTXwuNNWMPc8aSzBGx8Vh4WNYqKN_prfUMK9CJxnA4AWYtRL/s1600/Donizetti_DON-PASQUALE_WS_2023_03_Notaro.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Un notaio in famiglia</em></u>: tenor <strong>Jackson Ray</strong> as Carlino in Piedmont Opera’s March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Don Pasquale</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>Returning to the company he ably served as Assistant Conductor for several seasons, <b>John McKeever</b> led this performance of <i>Don Pasquale</i> idiomatically, shaping scenes with confident handling of tempi and dynamics. Ensembles crackled with propulsive energy under McKeever’s baton, the comedy moving at a rapid pace without leaving any of the principals gasping for breath, and the score’s lyrical passages were allowed ample time in which to cast their spells. The <b>Winston-Salem Symphony</b> musicians responded to the conductor’s effervescent leadership with a rollicking performance of the opera’s spirited Sinfonia and fine playing throughout the afternoon.</p>
<p><b>Ken Wilmot</b>’s splendid realization of the hauntingly beautiful trumpet obbligato in Ernesto’s scene in Act Two was undermined by only a very brief intonational falter, and the unerring rhythmic precision of percussionist <b>Isaac Pyatt</b>’s work excitingly reinforced the momentum of McKeever’s pacing. Piedmont Opera’s choristers sang rousingly, their performance of the servants’ chorus—an episode that is sometimes more to be endured than enjoyed—exhilarating and amusing. Only the opera’s final scene, shortened by cutting the repeat of Norina’s rondò and the characters’ reactions to the end of their game in the finale’s stretta, lacked continuity, the resolution of the comical entanglements feeling forced rather than organic. Nevertheless, the integrity of McKeever’s reading of the score was inviolable.</p>
<p>Appearing only in the final scene of Act Two, in which he plays the part of the notary engaged to prepare the marriage contract for Pasquale and the feigned Sofronia, Dottor Malatesta’s cousin Carlino was portrayed with faultless intonation, well-honed comedic timing, and an expert ‘et cetera’ by tenor <b>Jackson Ray</b>. Carlino’s few words were sung with brio, giving the momentary participant in the nuptial charade a distinct personality.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor KAMERON ALSTON as Ernesto in Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor KAMERON ALSTON as Ernesto in Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKw4Hd1WVbLLqcE9wb8t7itYLXYAOHcsO7ra8A62ZwHVTeVX9FrMLygbFMiJBebDGAVsgkl3pI_cYMX9UKKtssB-ypQMhmlJ991zOLLx2XmkuSkgoQxG5nWuucS7ek9Bpq9EQyamogJsMUL5mSm8LLTuCn2H60djc_TOt7o83iA4gWKMqQTqGztSox/s1600/Donizetti_DON-PASQUALE_WS_2023_02_Alston.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Ecco il nipote</em></u>: tenor <strong>Kameron Alston</strong> as Ernesto in Piedmont Opera’s March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Don Pasquale</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>In the rôle of Pasquale’s nephew Ernesto, whose love for the beguiling widow Norina is thwarted by his uncle’s grumbling disapproval, tenor <b>Kameron Alston</b> sang with theatrical conviction, convincing as both an ardent lover and a player in Malatesta’s stratagem to open Pasquale’s eyes to his own absurdity. Musically, the pliancy of his vocalism and his satin-textured timbre were reminiscent of the Ernesto of Cesare Valletti. His voicing of ‘Ci volea questa mania’ in the Act One duetto with Pasquale persuasively imparted the young man’s vexation at the ridiculousness of his uncle’s actions and arguments.</p>
<p>In the scene at the start of Act Two, Alston declaimed ‘Povero Ernesto!’ with heartfelt sincerity and lustrous tone, the young man’s despair touchingly conveyed. [The audience’s laughter reaffirmed that projected translations are sometimes the enemy of the intended sentiments of music and text.] The larghetto aria ‘Cercherò lontana terra’ was deftly sung, the tenor’s phrasing eloquently sculpting the line and effortlessly conquering the daunting tessitura, and his performance of the cabaletta, ‘E se fia che ad altro oggetto,’ ended with a courageous interpolated top D♭, was electrifying.</p>
<p>Each of Ernesto’s lines in the quartetto was enunciated with clarity and directness, and his singing in the brief scene with Malatesta in Act Three, in which Ernesto was apprised of his part in the final ruse, was unaffectedly ebullient. Quickly righting an early entry, Alston voiced the tuneful serenata ‘Com’è gentil a notte a mezzo april’ mesmerizingly and joined with Norina in a rapturous performance of the notturno, ‘Tornami a dir che m’ami.’ Ernesto finally obtaining Pasquale’s blessing of his relationship with Norina, the ecstatic lover’s joy emanated from Alston’s charismatic singing and acting.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano CREE CARRICO as Norina in Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano CREE CARRICO as Norina in Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZCI3b9nt3cmgFv3YV6yWOZuMXXOjx1j01HAzY8gO3L-Y9Ly91kjgluTn7tSB6JYSArW5iDgo3g7nCw0saVoGhc_hzGEx778KJ3GtLyaLLdnxPPEV6jSMQYlocbnp_z9jEG0aBM3ftuf-RKFpkreLD74b_NYBqUZPah18_gFBBUZG7l5GPuTJ3y5Rn/s1600/Donizetti_DON-PASQUALE_WS_2023_04_Carrico.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman">La suora laica: soprano <strong>Cree Carrico</strong> as Norina in Piedmont Opera’s March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Don Pasquale</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>Piedmont Opera equaled an exceptionally strong ensemble of male principals by casting scene-stealing soprano <b>Cree Carrico</b> as Norina, the clever widow who masquerades as the fresh-from-the-convent ingenue Sofronia in order to dupe Don Pasquale. From the start of her cavatina in Act One, ‘So anch’io la virtù magica,’ this Norina was a dynamo, each of her words articulated with dramatic intention that required no translations her trill and top C deployed with technical acumen and bewitching insouciance. The cabaletta ‘Ho testa bizzarra’ was charmingly sung, bringing the playful lady’s character into focus before she sparred dazzlingly with Malatesta in their duetto.</p>
<p>Largely avoiding soubrettish shrillness, Carrico was a Norina who weaponized her upper register, especially in Acts Two and Three: notes above the stave were fired like rockets, never missing their targets. Her utterance of ‘Come? Un uomo! Oh, me meschina’ in the terzetto with Malatesta and Pasquale was marvelously coy, and each phrase in the quartetto was delivered with panache. The voice scintillated in ‘A star cheto e non far scene’ in the Act Three duetto with Pasquale, and Carrico elucidated the wave of regret and empathy that swept over Norina after she slapped Pasquale. Her vocalism in the notturno with Ernesto was arrestingly lovely, and ‘La morale in tutto questo,’ the opera’s rondò finale, was sung with valedictory brilliance. Carrico’s Sofronia was aptly shrewish, but her Norina’s sunny nature always shone in voice and gesture.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: baritone MICHAEL REDDING as Dottor Malatesta in Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: baritone MICHAEL REDDING as Dottor Malatesta in Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjuCpvTCl2e4d7XO-lm2p3HBHXNPR66e7G7FMQYWE8txFxOLMHxPW7aA8guq5R1MpicV2qK23Eb8Eu2OtFGLvs9RBS0kvX74yPgpqb9qj3jsqwLDWnpe-83i72HrTTjT0t8TJKGE7k2JcSaJRZ09R6PXDVsEHa0cwVKNeJ3GOeEr8jREMz5E6G6fQ/s1600/Donizetti_DON-PASQUALE_WS_2023_06_Redding.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Il medico scaltro</em></u>: baritone <strong>Michael Redding</strong> as Dottor Malatesta in Piedmont Opera’s March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Don Pasquale</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p><b>Michael Redding</b>’s vivacious portrayal of the cunning Dottor Malatesta splendidly validated the baritone’s popularity with Piedmont Opera audiences. In the Dottor’s opening scene with Pasquale in Act One, Redding sang boldly, communicating Malatesta’s pleasure in his own shrewdness, and his ardent performance of the larghetto cantabile paean to Sofronia’s virtues, ‘Bella sicome un angelo,’ convinced Pasquale and the audience of the girl’s exquisite qualities. Briefing Norina on her rôle in his plan to deflate Pasquale’s ego, this Malatesta relished every word, machinating with irrepressible glee. Putting his plan into action in Act Two, Redding voiced ‘Fresca uscita di convento’ in the terzetto with Norina and Pasquale with perfect comedic suggestiveness, and his galvanizing singing of ‘Non oseris, son certo’ and Malatesta’s part in the quartetto exuded conspiratorial exuberance.</p>
<p>After apprising Ernesto of the final phase of Pasquale’s disgracing in their scene in Act Three, Redding’s Malatesta united with Pasquale in an uproarious traversal of their celebrated duetto, the baritone voicing ‘Noi due soli andiam sul loco’ forcefully and adroitly dispatching the daunting patter, meriting the traditional encore of the piece’s unison conclusion. In the final scene, too, Malatesta’s lines were sung with unmistakable and infectious joy. A couple of Redding’s highest notes sounded raspy (it was a windy afternoon in the hyper-pollenated South, after all), but the voice was as striking as the characterization, making his Malatesta an endearing prankster and an obvious ancestor of Ford in Verdi’s <i>Falstaff</i>.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: bass-baritone BRAD SMOAK in the title rôle of Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: bass-baritone BRAD SMOAK in the title rôle of Piedmont Opera's March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti's DON PASQUALE [Photograph © Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZEt3bxNxFORErjGR-TFciVbIIMWNFP2v9IXq_GdwKAJtAsOyDXY8rglypnJ3E8-uQgQyWHNMSEpTppJ0JJDuyQ18zjVhHhaBHJnHBpE4QJYZAgl-leZjA2plRpeYeyTnNfsG3qIqX2Plk0eMrpSJ5yRwAlPzKQmyDqX45fgvSFhyU2stREVcvAPu/s1600/Donizetti_DON-PASQUALE_WS_2023_05_Smoak.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Lo scapolo idoneo</em></u>: bass-baritone <strong>Brad Smoak</strong> in the title rôle of Piedmont Opera’s March 2023 production of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Don Pasquale</em><br>[Photograph © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>The scornful snobbery towards ‘regional companies’ by some opera aficionados was incontrovertibly defied by Piedmont Opera’s engagement of a Don Pasquale who possessed every quality demanded by the part, from a two-octave range without weakness to a bonafide trill. Luigi Lablache, the bass who created the title rôle, marked his forty-eighth birthday a month before the first performance of <i>Don Pasquale</i>—more dotardly by Nineteenth-Century standards than by today’s but hardly a musical Methuselah. Bass-baritone <b>Brad Smoak</b> was wholly credible as a man of advancing years, but hearing a voice on peak form in Pasquale’s music was incredibly gratifying. From his first appearance in Act One, Smoak’s Pasquale was unquestionably a crotchety codger but also proved to be one who sang ‘Son nov’ore’ and ‘Non, c’è ma, correte’ with absolute security and unflagging imagination. The duetto with Ernesto asked nothing of Smoak that he could not supply in spades, his voicing of ‘Scherzo un corno’ earning the audience’s mirth.</p>
<p>Smoak sang ‘Quando avrete introdotto’ in the Act Two terzetto with Norina and Malatesta incisively, Pasquale’s disbelief at the good fortune of finding a wife as attractive and accommodating as Sofronia zealously evinced. His singing in the quartetto was no less diverting, each word sounded with intelligence. ‘Per poco che la duri in questo modo’ at the beginning of Act Three was delivered with exasperation, and ‘È finita, Don Pasquale, hai bel romperti la testa!’ in the duetto with Norina was at once droll and affecting. In the famous duetto with Malatesta, ‘Cheti, cheti, immantinente,’ Smoak’s vocalism dazzled, the patter sung with bravado and unflappable accuracy. Palpably relieved to be parted from Sofronia, this Pasquale accepted defeat graciously. The character may have undergone a well-deserved humbling, but Smoak’s performance awed. Even a lackluster production of <i>Don Pasquale</i> with a protagonist like Smoak’s too-debonair-to-be-decrepit Don at its core would have moments of success, but there was no moment in Piedmont Opera’s <i>Don Pasquale</i> that failed to enchant.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-34526488437182089822023-03-16T21:12:00.004-04:002023-03-16T23:59:18.387-04:00PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES: raising my Voix des Arts — an origin story<p align="center"><img title="A room with a view: the set of Sir Jonathan Miller's production of Igor Stravinsky's THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, reviewed at The Metropolitan Opera in June 2022 [Photograph by the author; stage décor © by The Metropolitan Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="A room with a view: the set of Sir Jonathan Miller's production of Igor Stravinsky's THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, reviewed at The Metropolitan Opera in June 2022 [Photograph by the author; stage décor © by The Metropolitan Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMaXExV8MBA0M50rX8RAxpgxkZD3jUDAqYYjrH_YtryclfbU28tdyzccYfOzsKUUU6xVT2KJY-FIeG1WnXQeb_EmTtWPY1DTxMg8r571LnAQy8FDBlgYxsOcZckb_rotstCfAhgmCVnv9bV7dj8VzqNnWNDBaNDpqU3nPPSucyhWpDoO3N92XAfaE/s1600/Rake%27s-Progress_MET_JAN_06-2022.jpg" width="480" height="360"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>A room with a view</em></u>: the set of Sir Jonathan Miller’s production of Igor Stravinsky’s <em>The Rake’s Progress</em>, reviewed at The Metropolitan Opera in June 2022<br>[Photograph by the author; stage décor © by The Metropolitan Opera]</font></p>
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<p>In Autumn 2007, New York’s Lincoln Center hosted a much-lauded Les Arts Florissants touring production of Stefano Landi’s pioneering opera <i>Il sant’Alessio</i>. Featuring an ensemble of acclaimed countertenors including Philippe Jaroussky, Max Emanuel Cenčić, Xavier Sabata, and José Lemos, the production offered an extraordinary opportunity to hear a neglected work, performed by singers who were then rarely heard in North America.</p>
<p>I had the good fortune to attend the performance of <i>Il sant’Alessio</i> in Frederick P. Rose Hall on 29 October 2007. In the days thereafter, as I perused reviews of the production, I grew increasingly frustrated by what I read. Despite the existence of a studio recording by the same forces by whom <i>Il sant’Alessio</i> was performed in New York—Les Arts Florissants and William Christie—and the wide circulation of a Salzburger Festspiele broadcast with as noteworthy a singer as Edita Gruberová among the cast, a lack of familiarity with Landi’s music was expected, but the prevailing indifference to details of historically-informed performance practices evident in many critical assessments was maddening. His career has been primarily centered in Europe, but Christie is American, after all. Could his countrymen not spare the time required to assess his work with depth? Did so thoroughly prepared a production merit only generalities?</p>
<p>Contemplating these questions, I recalled the advice of an esteemed professor, academic advisor, and mentor, Dr. Charles Tisdale. ‘Joey,’ he once told me, ‘when you do not find scholarship of the quality that you expect, it is your responsibility to provide it.’ Dr. Tisdale was speaking of literary analysis of thematic links among Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, which would become the subject of my thesis, but the logic seemed no less applicable to music criticism. If my own musical training and sensibilities impelled the belief that performers deserve more informed analysis than they often receive in the mainstream press and from writers with wide followings but limited musical credentials, is it not my duty to add my voice to the critiquing chorus?</p>
<p>From this experience <i>Voix des Arts</i> was born. At the inception of my journey in writing criticism, I established as my foremost goal maintaining inviolable respect for artists and their endeavors. Artists make sacrifices of which audiences never know, often missing family occasions and milestones. Even in their weakest moments on stage, artists give of themselves in ways that those who have never performed before the public can only partially understand but which must always be valued and extolled.</p>
<p>As a writer, I perceive my most profound responsibility to be serving as an unwavering advocate for composers and librettists. Expressing whether I like or dislike a staging, a tempo, or a timbre is secondary to explicating performances’ fidelity to scores. Productions’ sights and sounds are subjective: tableaux and voices that enchant my eyes and ears repulses other observers. The principal questions that my reviews should answer therefore concern not the aesthetics of a performance, vital as they are, but the caliber of execution of music and words.</p>
<p>In my view, praising the positive aspects of a performance rather than reveling in condemning its deficiencies is not bias, as has sometimes been alleged, but celebration of music’s capacity to transcend adversity. Negativity pervades modern society but should not be welcomed in the Arts as a conduit for fleeting notoriety. There are absolutes, of course: a singer either emits the composer’s specified pitches or substitutes other tones, either by design or by mistake. This is relevant. All the same, singers are feeling, evolving beings. Perfection is an imperfect goal for even the most gifted singers. <i>My</i> goal is to evaluate the intentions behind the blemishes, encouraging artistic initiative whilst honestly documenting missteps.</p>
<p>I want singers to come to <i>Voix des Arts</i> with the expectation of reading earnest considerations of their work, knowing that every review is a safe haven in which their integrity is preserved. I want readers of all levels of musical knowledge to come to <i>Voix des Arts</i> with the expectation of reading reviews that recreate the visual, aural, and emotional experiences of performances without burdens of personal opinions, prejudices, and gossip. I unquestionably fail to achieve these aims more frequently than I would care to admit, but every error is committed with admiration.</p>
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<p><img title="the interior of The Metropolitan Opera, June 2022 [Photograph by the author]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="the interior of The Metropolitan Opera, June 2022 [Photograph by the author]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQcn1mzMj0nxuaF5mbX0p5tVE26s3Mz5kRNNJJeF2HgkzRXubEaJxkCizZ6-L1HV-GfqiYLyxuSkiToyIiqEHRZjJ0cuxQbid_fJlrFLORPuCG3FVdYeiSC-vKqWdnijItN9pd4w1_-Z8MgpvMXcQjyctGitayBJGQSLLFni6MkgsLSBjVzHoNDP0/s1600/2022_08_MET_06-2022.jpg" width="330" height="248"></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Times New Roman">Your support via <a href="https://gofund.me/68ec7573" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>GoFundMe</u></font></a>, <a href="https://cash.me/$VoixDesArts" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>CashApp</u></font></a>, or <a href="https://paypal.me/voixdesarts" target-"_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>PayPal</u></font></a> is crucial to ensuring the continuing viability of <i>Voix des Arts</i>. I absorb seventy-five percent of the ever-increasing costs of traveling to review performances (fuel, tolls, parking, et cetera), but I rely upon the assistance of my readers to close the gaps. I remain committed to keeping <i>Voix des Arts</i> open for access by all, without paywalls or subscriptions, and free from advertising. Sponsorships are welcome, however.<br>Please note that <i>Voix des Arts</i> is <b><u>not</u></b> a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit entity.<br><br>Please do not hesitate to <a href="mailto:joseph.newsome@voix-dew-arts.com?Subject=Question/Suggestion re: Voix des Arts"><font color="#800000"><u>contact me</u></font></a> with your questions and/or suggestions.<br><b>Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting <i>Voix des Arts</i>.</b></font></p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-24343719132323236162023-02-21T12:47:00.003-05:002023-02-21T13:15:59.025-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Johannes Brahms — EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM (J. Sitkovetsky, A. Garland; Greensboro Symphony Master Chorale and Orchestra, 18 February 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano JULIA SITKOVETSKY, conductor DMITRY SITKOVETSKY, and baritone ANDREW GARLAND, cornerstones of Greensboro Symphony Master Chorale and Orchestra performance of Johannes Brahms's EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM, 18 February 2023 [Graphic © by Greensboro Symphony Orchestra; all rights reserved by original photographers]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano JULIA SITKOVETSKY, conductor DMITRY SITKOVETSKY, and baritone ANDREW GARLAND, cornerstones of Greensboro Symphony Master Chorale and Orchestra performance of Johannes Brahms's EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM, 18 February 2023 [Graphic © by Greensboro Symphony Orchestra; all rights reserved by original photographers]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6FnEgXb6HMrI5cQaaBzid3-SuofcGs7OAaz_N4rto-_fYw2dJZWcF7rXcJDoLuSlbUzfjRG4X01tmX0M7Lg6tlG-wVGJ1KmepB19fUQhmyqgOOwZlWzEhvkIcxRfRKCCRVAZUx8tKAHDUaOhpGuJqvyOUPCilSJNT38TURfKnL-7t6icb2cfFkaET/s1600/Sitkovetsky-Garland.png" width="480" height="272"><u>JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833 – 1897)</u>: <strong><em>Ein deutsches Requiem</em>, Opus 45</strong> — <a href="https://juliasitkovetsky.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Julia Sitkovetsky</font></a> (soprano), <a href="https://andrewgarland.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Andrew Garland</font></a> (baritone); <a href="https://greensborosymphony.org/about-the-symphony/master-chorale/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Greensboro Symphony Master Chorale</font></a> and <a href="https://greensborosymphony.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Orchestra</font></a>; <a href="https://www.dmitrysitkovetsky.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Dmitry Sitkovetsky</font></a>, conductor [Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA; Saturday, 18 February 2023]</p>
<p>Had Sigmund Freud sought a candidate for in-depth analysis of the effects on an artistic psyche of close attachments to both a mother and a maternal surrogate, he could have found no more ideal a candidate than Johannes Brahms. Born in Hamburg in 1833, Brahms learned music from his father, a renowned horn virtuoso, but was tutored in other disciplines by his mother, a woman two decades her husband’s senior and long acquainted with hardship. The lore of the young Brahms having demonstrated the fruits of his early piano studies with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel and Eduard Marxsen in dens of vice allegedly frequented by his father has limited historical corroboration at best, but all that is known of the composer’s life substantiates that his childhood engendered unconventional relationships with both of his parents, who grew estranged as the effects of their age disparity increased. Profoundly saddened by his mother’s death in February 1865, Brahms began composing what would become his most expansive work, the gestation of which may have extended back almost a decade to the mental deterioration and death of his idol Robert Schumann. Setting not the traditional Latin <i>Missa pro defunctis</i> but his own selection of verses from Martin Luther’s German Bible, Brahms crafted a Requiem in which prayer for comfort for the living supplanted entreaties for the departed soul’s repose.</p>
<p>Brahms’s surviving correspondence provides few indications of the extent to which conceptualization of his Opus 45 <i>Ein deutsches Requiem, nach Worten der heiligen Schrift</i> pre-dated his mother’s passing. Three of the work’s movements, originally planned to number six in total, being completed by the start of May 1865 suggests that the work had been devised in some form prior to 1865, a supposition that gains credence from Brahms’s use of music composed during the time of Schumann’s final decline in the <i>Requiem</i>’s second movement. Valuable as cognizance of a work’s genesis can be, the significance of the catalysts that spurred composition of the <i>Requiem</i> is eclipsed by the magnitude of the work itself. Omitting references to messianic redemption, a core component of Christian liturgy, Brahms accentuated the complexities of grieving and carrying on, utilizing passages from the biblical books of Matthew, Psalms, 1 Peter, James, Isaiah, the Wisdom of Solomon, John, Ecclesiastes, Hebrews, 1 Corinthians, and Revelation to yield a deeply affecting text that largely avoids denominational dogma. As in many of his works, Brahms’s innovations in <i>Ein deutsches Requiem</i> are partnered by near-academic adherence to prescribed musical structures, most notably the precepts of counterpoint inherited from Johann Sebastian Bach.</p>
<p>A vital aspect of Brahms’s genius was his uncanny ability to achieve novelty within the confines of tradition. The writing for both chorus and orchestra in the <i>Requiem</i> demonstrates the encyclopedic acquaintance with the music of Händel, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann that permeates Brahms’s work, here allying expressive devices derived from Bach’s Passions with the intensity of emotion found in Beethoven’s <i>Missa solemnis</i>. These unmistakable influences notwithstanding, the ingenuity of Brahms’s music complements the understated boldness of his textual choices, the voice that emerges most discernibly from the pages of <i>Ein deutsches Requiem</i> coming neither from composers of the past nor from any religious ideology but from Brahms himself—a voice seeking a path from the bleakness of grief to the comfort of hope.</p>
<p>Marking the 154<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the première of the final, seven-movement version of the work, first performed in Leipzig on 18
February 1869, with this performance of <i>Ein deutsches Requiem</i> in Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, the <b>Greensboro Symphony
Master Chorale</b> continued a journey started in December 2021 with the choir’s inaugural presentation, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Under the
direction of founding conductors <b>Jonathan Emmons</b> and <b>James Keith</b>, the choristers continue to refine their sound, tailoring the balances that they project to the music at hand and to the efforts of their <b>Greensboro Symphony Orchestra</b> colleagues. In this performance, GSO’s Music Director <b>Dmitry Sitkovetsky</b> led the combined choral and orchestral forces with unwavering concentration on the work’s intricate musical architecture, masterfully building to but avoiding over-accentuating climaxes. Even with pauses of several seconds separating the movements, thematic continuity was maintained throughout the performance. Sitkovetsky’s navigation of the score’s emotional currents often recalled Wolfgang Sawallisch’s conducting of the piece, the Greensboro performance exhibiting the profound but unsentimental breadth of expression heard in Sawallisch’s preserved traversals of the <i>Requiem</i>.</p>
<p>Fastidiously observing the Ziemlich langsam und mit Ausdruck marking of the <i>Requiem</i>’s opening movement, Sitkovetsky and the orchestra established a high standard of musicality from which the musicians’ playing never deviated. The choir’s hushed delivery of ‘Selig sind, die da Leid tragen’ movingly conveyed the meaning of the text and fostered an atmosphere of reverence and contemplation into which the work’s angry, anguished passages burst with tremendous force. Here and in the subsequent movement, (Langsam, marschmüssig), the absence of an organ in Tanger Center was particularly regrettable, as it also was in the <i>Requiem</i>’s two final movements, but Sitkovetsky’s shaping of orchestral textures provided the firm aural foundation needed by the chorus to articulate ‘Denn alles Fleisch ist wie Gras’ so stirringly. The theater’s acoustic, better suited to symphonic repertoire than to opera but ideal for neither, lessened the impact of the words in the choir’s singing of ‘Die Erlöseten des Herrn werden wieder kommen,’ but, owing to Sitkovetsky’s leadership and the choristers’ preparedness, musical potency was unimpeded.</p>
<p>In the third movement (Andante moderato), baritone soloist <b>Andrew Garland</b> intoned ‘Herr, lehre doch mich, daß ein Ende mit mir haben muß’ incisively and with shining vocal luster, his E and F at the top of the stave projected effortlessly but with dramatic purpose. Each of his words was matched with a vocal coloration that limned its meaning, and oft-neglected musical subtleties, one of the most intriguing of which is a brief reminiscence of a phrase in the Lied ‘Gute Nacht’ from Schubert’s <i>Winterreise</i>, were meticulously explored. In response to Garland’s superb diction, the chorus articulated ‘Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand und keine Qual rühret sie an’ with increased verbal clarity. The heightened interpretive acuity of their singing persisted in the fourth movement (Mässig bewegt), their singing of ‘Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth!’ evincing the awe that permeates both music and text. Sitkovetsky’s sagacious adherence to Brahms’s stipulated dynamics provided compelling interplay of gravitas and catharsis, the music paralleling the manner in which grief evolves, relenting at times but returning with renewed severity.</p>
<p>Heard only in the work’s fifth movement (Langsam), completed in May 1868 as a reaction to a performance of the <i>Requiem</i> in which the aria ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’ from Händel’s <i>Messiah</i> was inserted into the six-movement edition of the score, soprano soloist <b>Julia
Sitkovetsky</b> sang ‘Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit’ pensively, her vocalism disclosing little difficulty with the tessitura. When joined by the chorus, she shaded her timbre to shimmer above the cascades of sound. The choir voiced each line with deepening involvement, introducing an account of the Andante beginning of the sixth movement in which their singing of ‘Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt’ surged with earnestness. Garland lent each word of ‘Siehe, ich sage euch ein Geheimnis’ conviction, placing each tone with assurance. Sitkovetsky paced the transitions to Vivace and Allegro intelligently, escalating tension without jeopardizing contrapuntal precision.</p>
<p>The sustained forte F<sub>5</sub> with which the sopranos launched the <i>Requiem</i>’s seventh movement (Feierlich) propelled the choir’s affecting singing of ‘Selig sind die Toten,’ and both chorus and orchestra followed Sitkovetsky’s guide in fashioning an exalted realization of Brahms’s concluding sequence of musical and emotional trials. The kinship of this music with Gustav Mahler’s Second and Eighth Symphonies was apparent, Sitkovetsky resolving this performance of the <i>Requiem</i> with disciplined zeal that illuminated in Brahms’s music the tide of hurt and healing that courses through Mahler’s scores. The flaws in this performance of <i>Ein deutsches Requiem</i> were minor and fleeting, never undermining the vision of the piece that Sitkovetsky endeavored to manifest.</p>
<p>Brahms’s faith in salvation was centered not in redemptive theology but in the restorative capacity of music, and that faith inhabits every page of <i>Ein deutsches Requiem</i>. Uplifted by the palpable dedication of chorus, orchestra, soloists, and conductor, faith in the enduring eloquence of Brahms’s music was the defining ethos of Greensboro Symphony’s poignant performance of the <i>Requiem</i>.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-4016047812751091742023-02-12T22:30:00.000-05:002023-02-12T22:30:34.442-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Gregory Spears & Greg Pierce — FELLOW TRAVELERS (J. Lattanzi, A. Acosta, K. Pracht, K. Thurman, J. Jeremiah, J. Fulton, K. Riess, K. White, J. Harr; Virginia Opera, 12 February 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaIuLme-9mm6hi27ACdWH6ZDuZnupzcSeNKcw8j-TqZK2cFIMmp2zGF1oruYEY92YDD7jzxjLgTIzB_Ab2-Mwbl4VxPemVe56F-vOxSxgbqLlESryYngoUMP3vsOZE6vsveGWZm0H2jOxXp5TUaAR-RfijGMFt98IqQWOu5Jd4eeATb3sqscS2aro/s1600/Spears_FELLOW-TRAVELERS_VAOpera_2023_07_Acosta.jpg" width="480" height="270"><a href="https://gregoryspears.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>GREGORY SPEARS</u></font></a><u> (born 1977)</u> and <u>GREG PIERCE (born 1978)</u>: <strong><em>Fellow Travelers</em></strong> — <a href="https://www.josephlattanzibaritone.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Joseph Lattanzi</font></a> (Hawkins Fuller), <a href="https://www.andresacostatenor.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Andres Acosta</font></a> (Timothy Laughlin), <a href="http://www.katherinepracht.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Katherine Pracht</font></a> (Mary Johnson), <a href="http://www.katrinathurman.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Katrina Thurman</font></a> (Miss Lightfoot), <a href="https://www.joshuajeremiahbaritone.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Joshua Jeremiah</font></a> (Senator Joseph McCarthy, Estonian Frank, Interrogator), <a href="https://www.johnfultonbaritone.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">John Fulton</font></a> (Senator Charles Potter, General Arlie, Bartender), <a href="https://www.kaileighriess.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kaileigh Riess</font></a> (Lucy), <a href="https://www.kylewhitebaritone.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kyle White</font></a> (Tommy McIntyre), <a href="https://www.jeremyharrbass.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Jeremy Harr</font></a> (Senator Potter’s Assistant, Bookseller, Technician, French Priest, Party Guest); Virginia Opera Chorus, <a href="https://virginiasymphony.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Virginia Symphony Orchestra</font></a>; <a href="https://www.uiatalent.com/artists/adam-turner/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Adam Turner</font></a>, conductor [<a href="http://www.kevinnewbury.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kevin Newbury</font></a>, Director; <a href="https://www.vitavision.net/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Victoria Tzykun</font></a>, Scenic Designer; <a href="https://paulcareydesign.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Paul Carey</font></a>, Costume Designer; <a href="https://www.haseltd.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Thomas C. Hase</font></a>, Lighting Designer; James P. McGough, Wig and Makeup Designer; <a href="https://vaopera.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Virginia Opera</font></a>, Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center for the Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA; Sunday. 12 February 2023]</p>
<p>When their opera <i>Fellow Travelers</i> premièred at Cincinnati Opera in June 2016, composer <b>Gregory Spears</b> and librettist <b>Greg
Pierce</b> likely could not have envisioned that, six decades having passed since the Cold War-era ‘lavender scare’ persecuted gay and lesbian civil servants as alleged risks to national security, federal legislation would be required to safeguard Americans’ rights to wed according to the dictates of their hearts. In the contentious political climate and precarious fiscal battleground of this first quarter of the Twenty-First Century, the art form’s champions are continually challenged to reaffirm opera’s relevance. It can be argued that, from its modern inception in Sixteenth-Century Italy, opera has ever been more of a sublime diversion than a conduit for societal evolution, but is not uplifting souls relevant to the human condition of its own accord? In <i>Fellow Travelers</i>, though, composer and librettist intrepidly bared unhealed wounds through song, bringing to the operatic stage a harrowing parable of a love that in too many sectors of today’s America still dares not speak its name. The lamentable timeliness of the opera’s narrative notwithstanding, the concept of relevance is itself irrelevant in the context of <i>Fellow Travelers</i>. As a means of uniting diverse peoples, even if for no longer than the duration of a performance, and telling stories that might otherwise go unheard, opera is necessary.</p>
<p>Arrayed in sixteen scenes, Spears’s and Pierce’s opera is an adaptation of Thomas Mallon’s 2007 Lambda Literary Award-nominated novel of the same title, an absorbing book that traces the progression of a fictitious queer relationship in McCarthy-era Washington. Pierce’s libretto metamorphoses Mallon’s novel into a powerful text that is both intelligible when sung and faithful to the linguistic style of the 1950s. Eschewing easy integration of period-specific trends in popular and Classical idioms, Spears’s music creates an aural atmosphere that is in turn expansive and claustrophobic, heightening the tension of the drama as the protagonists’ romance progresses towards betrayal and disillusionment. The musical language is abidingly tonal but enriched by contrasting serialist and post-Romantic accents, at times fusing Pierre Boulez-like rhythmic structures with harmonic lushness reminiscent of Gian Carlo Menotti’s <i>Last Savage</i>. Whether intimating the burgeoning passion between the opera’s titular ‘fellow travelers,’ State Department official Hawkins Fuller and idealistic journalist Timothy Laughlin, or intensifying the torture of Hawk’s interrogation, the score viscerally amplifies the drama’s psychological shifts. <i>Fellow Travelers</i> is a daunting work, for orchestra and conductor as much as for singers, but the prevailing ethos of Spears’s music is clarity, his writing enabling words and feelings to engage performers and audiences.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin (left) and baritone JOSEPH LATTANZI as Hawkins Fuller (right) in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin (left) and baritone JOSEPH LATTANZI as Hawkins Fuller (right) in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixMcIz7awRsTcJZphHzCwCFa5m6Y5qYuw5Qxiv1z3BP5Bezz2b951N7l9wSGmLBxW42YohcRJrQ5yCwSV0oLBiGiye3DaubxhcQvD9mVlP9rLdp0iR4Yt2DxapqBXSPBs1opgaLsXx4-87p6Hmh9CLzR1CBPTzjJHw2LE2utK4jDkHJrRi4Uflhk_0/s1600/Spears_FELLOW-TRAVELERS_VAOpera_2023_05_Lattanzi-Acosta.jpg" width="480" height="270"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Dangerous passion</em></u>: tenor <strong>Andres Acosta</strong> as Timothy Laughlin (<em>left</em>) and baritone <strong>Joseph Lattanzi</strong> as Hawkins Fuller (<em>right</em>) in Virginia Opera’s 2023 production of Gregory Spears’s and Greg Pierce’s <em>Fellow Travelers</em><br>[Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]</font></p>
<p>Recreating his world-première staging for Cincinnati Opera, stage director <b>Kevin Newbury</b> reinvigorated <i>Fellow Travelers</i> for its
inaugural production by <b>Virginia Opera</b>, reclaiming the trailblazing spirit of the first performances and emphasizing with increased urgency the parallels between institutional oppression in the 1950s and today’s ongoing struggles against elitist and extremist movements. Framed and in some moments sharpened by <b>Victoria Tzykun</b>’s provocative but never distracting scenic designs and <b>Thomas C. Hase</b>’s lighting, exchanges anong characters were fraught but organic, their actions plausible within both the opera’s specific dramatic situations and its evocation of the Zeitgeist of 1950s Washington. <b>Paul Carey</b>’s costume designs and <b>James P. McGough</b>’s wigs and makeup augmented Newbury’s attention to manifesting the score’s musical transitions in its physical presentation. Accentuating not the aspects of the opera’s story that some observers may find objectionable but the intrinsic universality of the characters and their circumstances, Newbury’s vision yielded a performance of immense emotional impact.</p>
<p>During his tenure with Virginia Opera, the company’s Artistic Director <b>Adam Turner</b> has exhibited noteworthy versatility, conducting
acclaimed performances of standard-repertory and lesser-known works ranging from the effervescence of Rossini to the starkness of Kurt Weill. The focus on facilitating character development and comprehensible storytelling apparent in Turner’s conducting of Virginia Opera’s 2016 production of Wagner’s <i>Der fliegende Holländer</i> was heard to even greater advantage in this performance of <i>Fellow Travelers</i>. The sequence of scenes advanced with cinematic efficiency, each thread of the plot carefully spun and woven into the fabric of the story via tempi that suited indivudual scenes and the work’s cumulative flow. The <b>Virginia Symphony Orchestra</b> musicians played wonderfully under Turner’s leadership, realizing the gravity that the conductor sought to achieve in passages like the pulsing ostinato at the opera’s start. Employed much like the continuo in Baroque opera, Spears’s writing for the piano received fleet handling from Associate Conductor <b>Brandon Eldredge</b>. Bringing <i>Fellow Travelers</i> to Virginia Opera was unquestionably an act of advocacy, both for the opera itself and for the LGBTQ+ community that it honors, but the zeal that guided Turner’s conducting was musical, not political. In this performance, the opera was simply the song of Tim and Hawk, two very different people who happen to meet on a park bench and fall in love.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin, baritone KYLE WHITE as Tommy McIntyre, baritone JOSHUA JEREMIAH as Senator McCarthy, and baritone JOHN FULTON as Senator Porter in Virginia Opera’s 2023 production of Gregory Spears’s and Greg Pierce’s Fellow Travelers[Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin, baritone KYLE WHITE as Tommy McIntyre, baritone JOSHUA JEREMIAH as Senator McCarthy, and baritone JOHN FULTON as Senator Porter in Virginia Opera’s 2023 production of Gregory Spears’s and Greg Pierce’s Fellow Travelers[Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyngjqeYoKDOg0n4iQctprEM-AOmsVybGzawKKx7Gte0O_K40Hy8gZiwZw5fdNBjs11WnOn0SZE8-RgLnvg9ZN3wqo7YaxQnCMWxMPpjEShVArgeNYV8XKhSGtHKEIUGwgkCL2Q9cfUQ8fiPzrbX7JluJk-29pw9O76ZIkjNARnMiMmjxsKx0Mw3b/s1600/Spears_FELLOW-TRAVELERS_VAOpera_2023_04_Ensemble.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Cogs in the bureaucratic wheel</em></u>: (<em>from left to right</em>) tenor <strong>Andres Acosta</strong> as Timothy Laughlin, baritone <strong>Kyle White</strong> as Tommy McIntyre, baritone <strong>Joshua Jeremiah</strong> as Senator McCarthy, and baritone <strong>John Fulton</strong> as Senator Porter in Virginia Opera’s 2023 production of Gregory Spears’s and Greg Pierce’s <em>Fellow Travelers</em><br>[Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]</font></p>
<p>The caliber of the vocal ensemble engaged by Virginia Opera for <i>Fellow Travelers</i> reflected the meticulous attention to musical and theatrical values with which the production was planned. In the rôles of Senator Potter’s assistant, the bookseller, the technician, and the party guest, bass <b>Jeremy Harr</b> sang lustrously, but it was as the French priest to whom Tim confesses his inability to suppress his love for Hawk
that he was most memorable, the cleric’s unyielding disapprobation quaking in Harr’s voice. The reporter Tommy McIntyre, a friend of Senator Potter who schools Tim on the ways of Washington, was portrayed with conspiratorial collegiality and vocal suavity by baritone <b>Kyle White</b>. As Lucy, the flirtatious partygoer who becomes Hawk’s suburban-dwelling wife, soprano <b>Kaileigh Riess</b> sang appealingly, and baritone <b>John Fulton</b> voiced Spears’s and Pierce’s lines for Michigan Senator Charles E. Potter, General Arlie, and the bartender incisively.</p>
<p>Lending gravity to each word of the parts entrusted to him, baritone <b>Joshua Jeremiah</b> keenly differentiated his depictions of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, Estonian Frank, and the Interrogator, seeming to bring a unique, apt voice to each of them. The quintessential office gossip who makes all of her colleagues’ affairs her business, the secretary Miss Lightfoot was given unexpected depth by soprano <b>Katrina Thurman</b>, whose singing glistened even when the text that she sang was repulsive.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano KATHERINE PRACHT as Mary Johnson (left) and soprano KATRINA THURMAN as Miss Lightfoot (right) in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano KATHERINE PRACHT as Mary Johnson (left) and soprano KATRINA THURMAN as Miss Lightfoot (right) in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHqI9jb0opq4aaMU0XgQf-CT2LlQrcs2mIQzEJlYTfRiQG3Uz4DfbLGAYl7uB94US4964IvBT5FqrWih2yIUHydGWGfUcPaS5Xy12QshMLDeQZWx6KuR1G1_vU9oCV0CzTFBF0HMolcOEZnxU20dQoDDD_8lHjnBN6KpiKU9grp0HiySSp8n7J6PN/s1600/Spears_FELLOW-TRAVELERS_VAOpera_2023_02_Pracht-Thurman.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Ladies who listen</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Katherine Pracht</strong> as Mary Johnson (<em>left</em>) and soprano <strong>Katrina Thurman</strong> as Miss Lightfoot (<em>right</em>) in Virginia Opera’s 2023 production of Gregory Spears’s and Greg Pierce’s <em>Fellow Travelers</em><br>[Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]</font></p>
<p>Hawkins Fuller’s assistant Mary Johnson is the opera’s steward of decency amidst conniving and opportunism, and in Virginia Opera’s <i>Fellow Travelers</i> mezzo-soprano <b>Katherine Pracht</b> crafted an exquisitely sympathetic portrayal of the pragmatic New Orleansian. From the start, this Mary’s genuine affection for Hawk was perceptible: it was no surprise that she once thought that he could be ‘the one’ for her. Equally unmistakable was the sincerity of Mary’s fondness and concern for Tim, communicated through tender, tenacious singing. The expressivity of Pracht’s account of ‘I worry—that’s all—about you, Timmy’ was wrenching, the glint of her upper register here and in the scene in which Mary reacts with horror to Hawk’s admission of denouncing Tim imparting the profundity of her feelings. The pain of her exit after Tim learned of Hawk’s betrayal was palpable, and the momentousness of Mary being the sole witness to Tim’s humiliation who did not turn away from him was poignantly conveyed. Wholly comfortable with the part’s difficult vocal writing, which sometimes recalls Gluck’s demanding music for heroines like Iphigénie and Alceste, Pracht melded unerring musicality with Classical poise, Mary’s self-reliance and compassion limned with incredible tonal beauty.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSAhqceuwlldhAcTuwDigS_H2qDxdbl9uFyNzeC0L-rXWLcA46-IfFjmsZHBJ3u27esm5Oi5vOLWENOd1eIRpCCeL0FhXino9HmDTLAMRZyXUBO8V73Jgx0WcKJUt3cCpA5E7nAmcFAV8wTYbhIOqjbisNuwfjARAyfwaGVAuKo7b2ORW4an26evpR/s1600/Spears_FELLOW-TRAVELERS_VAOpera_2023_06_Acosta.jpg" width="480" height="270"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>From the heart</em></u>: tenor <strong>Andres Acosta</strong> as Timothy Laughlin in Virginia Opera’s 2023 production of Gregory Spears’s and Greg Pierce’s <em>Fellow Travelers</em><br>[Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]</font></p>
<p>In every scene in which he appeared, tenor <b>Andres Acosta</b> sang Spears’s music for the endearingly naïve writer Timothy Laughlin with youthful exuberance and technical fluency, his timbre sparkling throughout the rôle’s broad compass. Drinking milk and swinging his feet on the bench on which he first meets Hawk, Acosta’s Tim was sweetly boyish, his shy nervousness trembling in the voice. The contrast with the cascading passion of the Bermuda duet with Hawk and the resolve of his voicing of ‘Forgive me, Holy Father’ in the fifth scene was therefore all the more telling. Tim’s adoration of Hawk having supplanted his faith, his journey from infatuation to disenfranchisement and enlistment in the Army was gutting, Acosta’s unaffected singing of ‘I wasn’t enough’ in the rooftop scene devastating. The crying heard in the auditorium when Tim uttered ‘I feel like I never existed’ in the final scene was earned, the tenor’s voice colored by excruciating uncertainty. In truth, Acosta articulated Tim’s every word with clear emotional intent, though there were instances in which enunciation was sacrificed to emoting. Acosta’s performance was as much felt as it was sung and was felt as mesmerizingly as it was heard by the listener.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: baritone JOSEPH LATTANZI as Hawkins Fuller (left) and tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin (right) in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: baritone JOSEPH LATTANZI as Hawkins Fuller (left) and tenor ANDRES ACOSTA as Timothy Laughlin (right) in Virginia Opera's 2023 production of Gregory Spears's and Greg Pierce's FELLOW TRAVELERS [Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJqFL-B6GeYffR9mxFfzu8l_16LIf7TRyLa02ybGZ7qlRbJeSiH3-295-OK8Bl5xCzrg_B1-5Npq5l7P_lR5eo1Bb77BqClIzOc2u1Y2ZjClD4ltGCMevM-qejM8IHKQdFC5HYXQJ8HvxagvunXv25QNyOWEmkAW2_asiyJS0svnr1fgsXSXHmlvZ/s1600/Spears_FELLOW-TRAVELERS_VAOpera_2023_01_Lattanzi-Acosta.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Benched desires</em></u>: baritone <strong>Joseph Lattanzi</strong> as Hawkins Fuller (<em>left</em>) and tenor <strong>Andres Acosta</strong> as Timothy Laughlin (<em>right</em>) in Virginia Opera’s 2023 production of Gregory Spears’s and Greg Pierce’s <em>Fellow Travelers</em><br>[Photograph by Dave Pearson Photography, © by Virginia Opera]</font></p>
<p>Reprising the rôle that he created in Cincinnati in 2016, baritone
<b>Joseph Lattanzi</b> physically and vocally embodied the unignorable enchantment of Hawkins Fuller. No one-dimensional libertine, Hawk teased Tim with amiable cunning at their first meeting, his furtive glances at the quiet young man on the bench suggesting true interest mingled with carnal desire. His descriptions of the wonders of Bermuda also shimmered with feeling. Lattanzi persuasively depicted Hawk’s skill at playing the requisite part in every situation, whether manipulating his interrogator or courting Lucy. Only in his discourses with Mary were his emotions unguarded, touchingly revealing well-hidden vulnerability.</p>
<p>Reconciling with Tim after callously proposing that they supplement their liaison by engaging a third participant and reuniting after Tim’s military service in France, this Hawk was torn between love and fear, cruelly telling Tim of his honeymoon with Lucy in Bermuda. Heartbreakingly voiced by Lattanzi, the essence of Hawk’s emotional constitution was movingly manifested in the two small words with which he replied to Tim’s assertion of all-consuming love—‘same here.’ Truth finally penetrated the carefully-honed façade in Lattanzi’s stunning performance of the monologue ‘Our very own house, Skippy’ and, still more forcefully, when, responding to Tim’s feeling of never having existed, Lattanzi declaimed Hawk’s definitive ‘You did.’ The theater’s troublesome acoustic complicated projection of Hawk’s lowest notes, but the full range of the part was confidently traversed. Diligently following the map of Spears’s music, Lattanzi and his fellow travelers reached a devastating destination at which nothing was relevant except living and loving in the moment.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-26177381733432220752023-02-07T14:47:00.001-05:002023-02-08T12:36:26.251-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Franz Joseph Haydn — ORLANDO PALADINO (K. Alston, C. Orr, D. Maize, T. Bradford, G. Meinke, K. Spooner, D. Romano, E. Wood, J. Ray; A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, 5 February 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: the ensemble of A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute's February 2023 production of Franz Joseph Haydn's ORLANDO PALADINO [Photograph by Allison Lee Isley, © by A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute/University of North Carolina School of the Arts]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: the ensemble of A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute's February 2023 production of Franz Joseph Haydn's ORLANDO PALADINO [Photograph by Allison Lee Isley, © by A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute/University of North Carolina School of the Arts]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBzhnZoCDTBcKeInW-UZZI0SdjeP7SasiTAZ8iePd4nzf4AB35LzlhYC_xQ-Jpp5oPj9kUmgUNO35c4VR8yNdaRdYxThK5fcs-qMMgijaXTy86CkeKFEtghyPk7S1vQIK7OUCDj_IZDD7eRQqGzdr7GjBrFAUIjAtnPIyR83ch1k865xAPR6kMJlK/s1600/Haydn_ORLANDO-PALADINO_UNCSA_2023_03_Ensemble_Allison-Lee-Isley.JPG" width="480" height="320"><u>FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732 – 1809)</u>: <strong><em>Orlando paladino</em>, Hob. XXVIII:11</strong> – <a href="https://www.kameronalston.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kameron Alston</font></a> (Orlando), <a href="https://www.carolynorr.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Carolyn Orr</font></a> (Angelica), <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/students/david-maize.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">David Maize</font></a> (Medoro), <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/students/toby-bradford.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Toby Bradford</font></a> (Pasquale), Gabi Meinke (Eurilla), <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/students/kevin-spooner.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kevin Spooner</font></a> (Rodomonte), <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/students/danielle-romano.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Danielle Romano</font></a> (Alcina) Ethan Wood (Caronte), Jackson Ray (Licone); UNCSA School of Music Orchestra; <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/faculty-staff/james-allbritten.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">James Allbritten</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/faculty-staff/steven-lacosse.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Steven LaCosse</font></a>, Director; Gisela Estrada, Scenic Designer; <a href="https://bensonlogan02.wixsite.com/lbportfolio" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Logan Benson</font></a>, Costume Designer; Petko Novosad, Lighting Designer; Madi Pattillo, Wig and Makeup Designer; <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/music/graduate/fletcher-opera-institute/index.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute</font></a>, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Stevens Center of the UNCSA, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; Sunday, 5 February 2023]</p>
<p>Historians now theorize that the famous remark about the superlative quality of opera performances at Eszterháza, the country seat of the
princes Esterházy, attributed for generations to Habsburg empress Maria Theresa, is apocryphal, but the long-accepted legitimacy of the sentiment
is a testament to the artistic fecundity of Franz Joseph Haydn’s four-decade tenure in the Esterházy musical establishment. The theater
built at Eszterháza by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy transformed the rural estate, located in modern Hungary and at a considerable distance from the social and artistic milieux of both Vienna and Schloss Esterházy in the Bergenland, into a center of operatic activity in central Europe. The effects of Eszterháza’s geographical and cultural isolation on the stylistic evolution of Haydn’s music is documented in the composer’s own words and audible in the many pieces that he wrote as the Esterházy Kapellmeister. His operas are among the Haydn works that are least familiar to Twenty-First-Century audiences: aside from <i>Armida</i> and <i>Orfeo ed Euridice</i>, occasionally programmed as curiosities, these innovative pieces dwell in libraries and musicological tomes rather than in opera houses and concert halls. Imperial acclaim for opera at Eszterháza may have been exaggerated or invented, but has hyperbole not proved to be a key that opens doors in this new millennium?</p>
<p>Maria Theresa had been dead for nearly two years when Haydn’s opera <i>Orlando paladino</i> was first performed at Eszterháza on 6 December
1782, six months after the respective Munich and Vienna premières of Salieri’s <i>Semiramide</i> and Mozart’s <i>Die Entführung aus dem Serail</i>, with which works Haydn’s score shares elements of genre hybridization and exoticism. Its libretto adapted by Nunziato Porta, himself a composer, from an earlier operatic text by Carlo Francesco Badini, <i>Orlando paladino</i> brought one of the most widely-traveled sources of operatic inspiration in the Eighteenth Century, Ludovico Ariosto’s <i>Orlando furioso</i>, to Eszterháza in a setting in which Haydn both celebrated and satirized the <i>opera seria</i> conventions of Baroque opera. In <i>Orlando paladino</i>, the lovesick madness of the Frankish knight Roland is depicted with wry humor, parodying the emotional melodrama found in many settings of the tale, yet Haydn’s opera abounds with genuine pathos. This dichotomy seemingly resonated with audiences at and beyond Eszterháza, not least in Prague, where Mozart conducted performances of <i>Orlando paladino</i> whilst supervising the inaugural production of his <i>La clemenza di Tito</i> in 1791. In the years between its 1782 première and the composer’s death in 1809, <i>Orlando paladino</i> became the most performed of Haydn’s operas.</p>
<p>Boldly venturing where professional opera companies fear to tread, <b>A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute</b> of the University of North Carolina
School of the Arts furthered a legacy of staging demanding works like Händel’s <i>Rodelinda</i> and Donizetti’s <i>Linda di Chamounix</i> by
bringing Haydn’s <i>Orlando paladino</i> to Winston-Salem’s Stevens Center. With brilliantly creative scenic designs by <b>Gisela Estrada</b>, their visual depth enhanced by <b>Petko Novosad</b>’s lighting, Haydn’s captivating musical adventure was launched into the realm of science fiction. The action playing out in settings that might have been borrowed from the imagination of Gene Roddenberry, Fletcher Opera Institute’s
Artistic Director <b>Steven LaCosse</b> explored the psychological subtleties of Haydn’s music, Porta’s words, and Ariosto’s story with Twenty-First-Century sensibilities allied with respect for the opera’s historical context.</p>
<p>Like many of his stagings in Winston-Salem, LaCosse’s <i>Orlando paladino</i> was centered upon meaningful interactions among characters, their motivations elucidated by their gestures and postures. <b>Logan Benson</b>’s costume designs and <b>Madi Pattillo</b>’s wigs and makeup heightened the visual appeal of the concept, their whimsy accentuating the vividness of the opera’s dramatic confrontations. In LaCosse’s realization, the comedic episodes were often uproarious, and the silence that enveloped the theater in moments of fear and sorrow affirmed the immediacy with which the opera’s touches of tragedy were presented.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor TOBY BRADFORD as Pasquale in A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute's February 2023 production of Franz Joseph Haydn's ORLANDO PALADINO [Photograph by Allison Lee Isley, © by A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute/University of North Carolina School of the Arts]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor TOBY BRADFORD as Pasquale in A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute's February 2023 production of Franz Joseph Haydn's ORLANDO PALADINO [Photograph by Allison Lee Isley, © by A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute/University of North Carolina School of the Arts]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3UxZNALwOxMFSidb5btIyh2y0p1oUmAq-bg6mqUe8vAjrZiBMsVzohxtw8beIxIkhvVYFOaFgzmHtw2dGKFP3TEGaGT7wcTY91GvLul1tQBbolzuFdKJT1_dzcBTePQpbqz7v-BhXSta3VfW8wANLKtRjBaGvIziyQZQ1B8C93vOxRzW9i-amJDv/s1600/Haydn_ORLANDO-PALADINO_UNCSA_2023_02_Peter-Mueller-Photography.png" width="480" height="346"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Lo scudiero musicale</em></u>: tenor <strong>Toby Bradford</strong> as Pasquale in A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute’s February 2023 production of Franz Joseph Haydn’s <em>Orlando paladino</em><br>[Photograph by Allison Lee Isley, © by A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute/University of North Carolina School of the Arts]</font></p>
<p>Encompassing Baroque <i>bravura</i>, the Classicism that was his hallmark, and precursors of <i>bel canto</i>, Haydn’s writing for voices
and orchestra in <i>Orlando paladino</i> is remarkably varied. Perhaps accounting for the opera’s wide appeal to Eighteenth-Century audiences, the
stylistic heterogeneity of the music makes leading performances of <i>Orlando paladino</i> difficult for modern conductors, no matter how diverse their experience may be. An insightful interpreter of an uncommon breadth of repertoire, Fletcher Opera Institute’s Music Director <b>James
Allbritten</b> conducted this performance of <i>Orlando paladino</i> with flair and finesse. The musical structure of each number was emphasized in a manner that at once revealed its originality and occupied a finite place within the opera’s dramatic progression.</p>
<p>The organic pacing of recitatives, aided by <b>Lucas Wong</b>’s expert playing of the harpsichord continuo, complemented judicious tempi in arias and ensembles. The musicians of the UNCSA School of Music Orchestra demonstrated that any notions of Haydn’s music being easy are ridiculous, their work in this performance occasionally flawed but consistently spirited. Rather than approaching <i>Orlando paladino</i> as a piece that needs conductorial intervention in order to succeed with modern audiences, Allbritten conducted with the same confidence in the quality of the music that guides his performances of Verdi repertoire. It was Haydn’s music, not a conductor’s ego, that made this performance so engrossing.</p>
<p>Haydn did not write an aria for the shepherd Licone, who begins the opera with a frantic scene with his daughter Eurilla and the blustering
knight Rodomonte, but baritone <b>Jackson Ray</b> sang each of the character’s lines resiliently. Licone’s alarm trembled in Ray’s vocalism in the terzetto, and the meaning of each word of recitative was apparent, needing no projected translation.</p>
<p>His brief scene at the start of Act Three enacted before an eerily gorgeous backdrop that evoked Utah’s otherworldly Landscape Arch, the
mythical ferryman Caronte is a stylistic kinsman of the Commendatore in Mozart’s <i>Don Giovanni</i>, though Haydn’s character is the instrument of deliverance from doom rather than the harbinger of damnation. Lower voices often mature later and more slowly than their higher counterparts, and bass <b>Ethan Wood</b> did not yet possess the sepulchral resonance that Caronte’s music ideally requires. Still, his voicing of the hauntingly lovely aria ‘Ombre insepolte, di qua partite’ was stirring, and he declaimed Caronte’s lines, strangely menacing and benevolent, in the accompagnato ‘L’irremeabil onda’ with gravitas, capitalizing on the ingenuity of Haydn’s writing and the part’s significance in the drama.</p>
<p>A figure familiar from operas by Caccini, Vivaldi, and Händel, the sorceress Alcina is the moral force who safeguards true love in <i>Orlando
paladino</i>, protecting the imperiled Angelica and Medoro and ultimately curing Orlando of the madness of his infatuation with Angelica. Only in Act One did Haydn grant his Alcina an aria, the bracing ‘Ad un guardo, ad un ceddo solo,’ but, after singing the aria electrifyingly, mezzo-soprano <b>Danielle Romano</b> lorded over the performance with unforced sovereignty, acting with Sophia Loren-like glamor and declaiming each of the sorceress’s pronouncements with irrefutable authority. Her glowing-amber timbre shone in Haydn’s music, the voice shimmering from guttural low notes to a gleaming top.</p>
<p>Wielding a flinty timbre and a fabulous maniacal laugh, baritone <b>Kevin Spooner</b> enlivened the Barbarian king Rodomonte with forceful singing and stage savvy worthy of a blockbuster action film. Rushing onto the stage in Act One as though he were ejected from a neighboring galaxy, this Rodomonte terrorized Eurilla and Licone amusingly, his words slashing as threateningly as his sword. Spooner sang the aria ‘Temerario! Senti e trema’ commandingly, only the lowest notes lacking impact. ‘Dove si cela mai’ in the Act One finale was delivered with boundless energy, and Rodomonte’s aria in Act Two, ‘Mille lampi d’accese faville,’ was delivered with swaggering bravado. Setting a standard for his colleagues, Spooner enunciated every line in recitatives and ensembles incisively, the vigor of his performance enhancing the comedy of the contrast between Rodomonte’s bombast and the other characters’ plights.</p>
<p>A temperamental ancestress of Richard Strauss’s Zerbinetta in <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, Haydn’s flirtatious shepherdess Eurilla serves as a foil for the regal, melancholy Angelica. Soprano <b>Gabi Meinke</b> limned Eurilla’s capricious playfulness with great charm, evident at her first entrance with Licone in Act One. She sang the aria ‘Ah, se dice io vi potessi’ delightfully and voiced Eurilla’s lines in ensembles brightly and clearly. Meinke’s best singing came in the scenes with Pasquale, particularly the Act Two duetto, in which her account of ‘Quel tuo vinetto amabile’ beguiled. Occasional shrillness in the upper register in the first act was largely absent after the interval, the voice sounding more focused in the opera’s final scenes. Meinke’s theatrical instincts were unerring throughout the afternoon, making each of Eurilla’s appearances in the opera a joy.</p>
<p>A product of the tradition of Sancho Panza-esque servant figures in Baroque opera that also yielded Leporello in Mozart’s <i>Don Giovanni</i>, Orlando’s witty but none-too-valiant squire Pasquale was spectacularly portrayed by tenor <b>Toby Bradford</b>. Haydn wrote music of extraordinary difficulty for Pasquale, subjecting the singer to virtually every virtuosic feat that could have been expected of a tenor in the last quarter of the Eighteenth Century. Bradford not only coped but fully conquered, meeting every challenge of the part with astonishing sangfroid. Introducing the character in Act One with the cavatina ‘La mia bella m’ha detto di nò,’ Bradford sang fetchingly, his crisp phrasing imparting Pasquale’s irrepressible exuberance.</p>
<p>The cracking patter aria ‘Ho viaggiato in Francia, in Spagna’ and Act Two cavatina ‘Vittoria, vittoria’ were jubilantly dispatched, and Bradford voiced ‘Il cavallo ed il padrone’ in the duetto with Eurilla fetchingly. Relocated in this production from Act Two to Act Three, the celebrated aria ‘Ecco spiano, ecco il mio trillo’ was sung with dazzling techical aplomb, the long-sustained tone at the start of the aria, the ornaments, and the ascents into the vocal stratosphere adroitly handled. A depiction of Pasquale as accomplished as Bradford’s would be notable in any of the world’s great opera houses: in this university production, it was nothing short of sensational.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano CAROLYN ORR as Angelica (left) and tenor DAVID MAIZE as Medoro (right) in A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute's February 2023 production of Franz Joseph Haydn's ORLANDO PALADINO [Photograph by Allison Lee Isley, © by A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute/University of North Carolina School of the Arts]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano CAROLYN ORR as Angelica (left) and tenor DAVID MAIZE as Medoro (right) in A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute's February 2023 production of Franz Joseph Haydn's ORLANDO PALADINO [Photograph by Allison Lee Isley, © by A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute/University of North Carolina School of the Arts]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX9n0ye0RsS7FXA4WYzIMjNlzQVUBShOV4RFA58Mso7gmL9LT4qT8NnUGBYaTtZYA07FBl-vJLc_LSxnRbDAmvV-umXD9j8QpgMROrNnWbhHkCN0J4P8WurAgayvCMuObLESVtx-IFroiW_1IuLit7E1TGdc7usR30p0pIIMvfTLWqd7VqgBa3VeM/s1600/Haydn_ORLANDO-PALADINO_UNCSA_2023_01_Peter-Mueller-Photography.png" width="480" height="382"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>I teneri amanti</em></u>: soprano <strong>Carolyn Orr</strong> as Angelica (<em>left</em>) and tenor <strong>David Maize</strong> as Medoro (<em>right</em>) in A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute’s February 2023 production of Franz Joseph Haydn’s <em>Orlando paladino</em><br>[Photograph by Allison Lee Isley, © by A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute/University of North Carolina School of the Arts]</font></p>
<p>As in many of Händel’s operas, it is not the title character but the <i>secondo uomo</i> who is the romantic lead in <i>Orlando paladino</i>. In tenor <b>David Maize</b>’s performance of the rôle, the conflicted but faithful Medoro merited his Angelica’s devotion, his every doubt and pang of regret expressed with vocalism of incredible beauty. The Act One aria ‘Parto. Ma, oh dio, non posso’ was hauntingly sung, the character’s inner turmoil conveyed through the interplay of anguish and repose in the vocal line. Similar qualities permeated Maize’s traversal of Medoro’s aria in Act Two, ‘Dille che un infelice,’ the vocal shading paralleling the moods of the text. The duetto with Angelica, ‘Qual contento io provo in seno,’ displayed the depth of the tenor’s artistry, his mastery of florid writing equal to the music’s most demanding moments. So endearing was Maize’s portrayal that the barbarians’ unforeseen wounding of Medoro drew agonized gasps from the audience. Alcina’s <i>deus ex machina</i> healing of his injury resuscitated the heart of the performance, which beat most palpably when Maize was singing.</p>
<p>The tormented Queen of Cathay Angelica, madly in love with Medoro but relentlessly pursued by Orlando, was brought to life with passion and poise by soprano <b>Carolyn Orr</b>. In her entrancing cavatina in Act One, ‘Palpita ad ogni istante,’ Orr’s Angelica created an aura of noble suffering that persisted until the opera’s dénouement, when the queen’s suffering at last ended. The aria ‘Non partir, mia bella face’ disclosed the effort expended in singing Haydn’s music, the fiorature sounding labored but never dodged or simplified. Orr phrased the adagio in the Act One finale, ‘Sento nel seno, oh dio,’ gracefully, communicating the panoply of emotions by which Angelica is plagued. Her account of the aria ‘Aure chete, verdi allori’ throbbed with raw feeling, and yearning simmered in her voicing of the accompagnato ‘Fra queste selve invan.’</p>
<p>Orr sang ‘Non fia mai, che venga meno’ in the duetto with Medoro mesmerizingly, Angelica’s love soaring in the music, and her reading of the accompagnato ‘Implacabili numi!’ in Act Three was the work of a talented singing actress. Some sopranos would justly complain that it was cruel of Haydn to place an aria as difficult as ‘Dell’estreme sue voci dolenti’ so late in the opera, but Orr was inspired by the music’s obstacles, singing with abandon. In all of Angelica’s scenes, Orr sang intrepidly, the flickers of vocal strain integrated into a laudably thoughtful portrait of the beleaguered queen.</p>
<p>Tenor <b>Kameron Alston</b>, who will return to Stevens Center in March 2023 as Ernesto in Piedmont Opera’s production of Donizetti’s <i>Don
Pasquale</i>, enriched his portrayal of the unhinged Orlando with vocal sheen and psychological introspection, eschewing excessive caricature. The
excellent Carlo in Fletcher Opera Institute’s February 2022 staging of <i>Linda di Chamounix</i>, Alston found nothing in Haydn’s music that overwhelmed his technical resources. As in Händel’s <i>Orlando</i>, much of the eponymous paladin’s madness transpires in mercurial accompagnati rather than in arias. In Act One, Alston articulated the accompagnato ‘Angelica, mio ben’ urgently, the character’s mental instability obvious in his words but never undermining the tenor’s vocal security.</p>
<p>Alston voiced the aria ‘D’Angelica il nome!’ with angst befitting Orlando’s affliction, and the accompagnato ‘Oimè, qual tetro oggetto!’ and aria ‘Cosa vedo! Cosa sento!’ in Act Two were sculpted with the delicacy of a gifted <i>bel canto</i> singer, only a pair of <i>piano</i> notes above the stave that threatened to crack betraying the toil involved in singing this daunting music. In the scene with Caronte at the beginning of Act Three, Alston’s vocalism was shaded with tragic overtones. His singing of the accompagnato ‘Sogno? Veglio? Cos’è?’ was riveting, and the aria ‘Miei pensieri, dove siete?’ was sublime. The preternatural restoration of Orlando’s reason can perhaps never be believable for modern audiences, but Alston’s amusing depiction of the knight’s loss of any memory of his love for Angelica was cunningly credible. Alston was the keystone of a phenomenal ensemble of artists, musical and technical, who rousingly reincarnated Haydn’s score. Maria Theresa may not have actually said that it was to Eszterháza that she went to hear opera of the highest quality, but Fletcher Opera Institute’s performance of <i>Orlando paladino</i> would unquestionably have earned the royal approbation for Winston-Salem.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-79365667893762650502023-02-01T17:00:00.001-05:002023-02-22T11:06:20.027-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — DON GIOVANNI (T. Murray, Z. Nelson, M. Dunleavy, S. D’Eramo, A. McKissick, H. Huang, C. Blackburn, O. Gradus; North Carolina Opera, 29 January 2023)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) baritone ZACHARY NELSON as Leporello, baritone TIMOTHY MURRAY as Don Giovanni, and soprano SYLVIA D'ERAMO as Donna Elvira in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozrt's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) baritone ZACARY NELSON as Leporello, baritone TIMOTHY MURRAY as Don Giovanni, and soprano SYLVIA D'ERAMO as Donna Elvira in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozrt's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieC5nW0_xJHnX3jmswztmW2AbDiWKkozkcTySPo0p4JR6kKrdF5pq5sHuLZR71UGZCvcpi10nLIMVqeboKGQpp-K-jPYl1VUU6iPnNcvWgja20AAmpaKrtSARxitBhUXKPqtTZvkwi3LcPOREQJ72aKZATcEqpigkzeBomdaZZHo5mXdco_lL-Y5gM/s1600/Mozart_DON-GIOVANNI_NCOpera_2023_03_Ensemble_Eric-Waters-Photography.png" width="480" height="240"><u>WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 – 1791)</u>: <strong><em>Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni</em>, K. 527</strong> – <a href="https://www.timmurraybaritone.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Timothy Murray</font></a> (Don Giovanni), <a href="http://www.zacharynelsonbaritone.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Zachary Nelson</font></a> (Leporello), <a href="https://www.marydunleavy.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Mary Dunleavy</font></a> (Donna Anna), <a href="https://sylviaderamo.wixsite.com/website" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Sylvia D’Eramo</font></a> (Donna Elvira), <a href="https://alexandermckissick.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Alex McKissick</font></a> (Don Ottavio), <a href="https://helenhuangsoprano.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Helen Zhibing Huang</font></a> (Zerlina), <a href="https://christian-blackburn-xarf.squarespace.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Christian J. Blackburn</font></a> (Masetto), Oren Gradus (Il Commendatore); North Carolina Opera Chorus and Orchestra; <a href="http://arbourartists.com/roster/joseph-mechavich/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Joseph Mechavich</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://www.brennacorner.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Brenna Corner</font></a>, Director; <a href="https://www.erhardrom.com/" target-"_blank"><font color="#800000">Erhard Rom</font></a>, Scenic Designer; <a href="https://howardtsvikaplan.webs.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Howard Tsvi Kaplan</font></a>, Costume Designer; Ross Kolman, Lighting Designer; Brittany Rapise and Martha Ruskai, Wig and Makeup Designers; <a href="https://ncopera.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">North Carolina Opera</font></a>, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Sunday, 29 January 2023]</p>
<p>Politically and artistically, Prague was often overshadowed in the latter half of the Eighteenth Century by the imperial capital, Vienna, but, perhaps unknowingly, the sophisticated seat of Habsburg rule in Bohemia was indisputably the center of the operatic universe on 29 October 1787. On that auspicious day, the city’s Stavovské divadlo resounded with the sounds of the first performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s and Lorenzo da Ponte’s <i>Don Giovanni</i>. The success of the Prague première of their previous opera, <i>Le nozze di Figaro</i>, having outshone that of its inaugural Vienna production, an invitation to write a new opera for Prague doubtlessly appealed strongly to composer and librettist, offering a rare opportunity to create a work specifically for a sympathetic audience, without the intrigues and meddling to which producing opera in Vienna was subject. Capitalizing on the popularity with Pražané of artistic incarnations of the libidinous Don Juan, Mozart and da Ponte crafted a work in which the <i>opera seria</i> model refined by Händel and Hasse was ingeniously propelled into the Nineteenth Century, forging a path for the operas of Beethoven, Weber, and Marschner.</p>
<p>When composition of <i>Don Giovanni</i> commenced, Mozart was the father of a young son. The all’s-well-that-ends-well ebullience that permeates Mozart’s early operas remains present, but, as in <i>Le nozze di Figaro</i>, the joviality that sparkles in <i>Don Giovanni</i> is tempered by pervasive senses of personal responsibility and retribution. These qualities were often obscured in director <b>Brenna Corner</b>’s staging for <b>North Carolina Opera</b>, which differed markedly from the company’s April 2015 production of <i>Don Giovanni</i>. Whereas the earlier production was housed in the intimate A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater, Corner’s concept was realized in the grander space of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. Emphasizing the opera’s <i>giacosa</i> elements at the expense of its life-altering drama, the production’s broad comedy was greatly enjoyed by the audience but marginalized too much of Mozart’s music and too many of da Ponte’s words, crucial exchanges among characters undermined by audience laughter. Donna Elvira and Leporello often seemed foolish rather than reactive to difficult situations, their actions at odds with the music that they were singing. Humor is a vital aspect of <i>Don Giovanni</i>, but, the prevalence of sight gags and exploitation of dated gender stereotypes distorting the balance of mirth and seriousness, this production too often strayed into farce. It was unquestionably an enjoyable show that delighted patrons, but it sometimes felt as though a Rossini <i>opera buffa</i> had been adapted to Mozart’s score.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano HELEN ZHIBING HUANG as Zerlina, baritone CHRISTIAN J. BLACKBURN as Masetto, and baritone TIMOTHY MURRAY as Don Giovanni in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano HELEN ZHIBING HUANG as Zerlina, baritone CHRISTIAN J. BLACKBURN as Masetto, and baritone TIMOTHY MURRAY as Don Giovanni in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuaDKzAlXqrFiw2Xh-csFhWdN_kEL4Aca9OexGBES1nJUT_Xv9iF-BR3X8hYJDtofsVlhkgfIrmnv-JYQpTrnCsRYERQiwkNuzACodeZ93_wy45na4uLLc4t1kBv3axFP4ydjaMuPHvlh6V01Xak7B2OVcMByHRtUc-6ntSzO7HpuUDt4-VINljcfj/s1600/Mozart_DON-GIOVANNI_NCOpera_2023_04_Ensemble_Eric-Waters-Photography.jpg" width="480" height="240"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Gli amanti ingannati</em></u>: (<em>from left to right</em>) soprano <strong>Helen Zhibing Huang</strong> as Zerlina, baritone <strong>Christian J. Blackburn</strong> as Masetto, and baritone <strong>Timothy Murray</strong> as Don Giovanni in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s <em>Don Giovanni</em><br>[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]</font></p>
<p>Visually, the staging was appealing despite lighting designs by <b>Ross Kolman</b> that were unrelentingly dark except in the banquet scene at the end of Act One. So dimly illuminated, <b>Erhard Rom</b>’s scenic designs, originally created for Virginia Opera, were foreboding, further conflicting with the abiding jocundity of the direction. [Memorial statuary etiquette may be unfamiliar to many Twenty-First-Century audiences, but Eighteenth-Century Spaniards would have known that riders depicted on rearing steeds typically died in battle. Why do so many productions of <i>Don Giovanni</i> place the Commendatore’s effigy astride a rearing horse when his vengeful epitaph is specifically referenced in the libretto?] Giovanni’s final descent into hell was unintentionally amusing, his disappearance into the base of the Commendatore’s monument too closely resembling the Knusperhexe’s demise in Humperdinck’s <i>Hänsel und Gretel</i>. The wigs and makeup designs of <b>Brittany Rapise</b> and <b>Martha Ruskai</b> ideally complemented <b>Howard Tsvi Kaplan</b>’s attractive and functional costumes, on loan from Sarasota Opera. A notable success of the production was the ease of identifying each of the principals, even in ensembles and in the scene in which Giovanni and Leporello impersonated one another.</p>
<p>Reprising associations with North Carolina Opera and Mozart repertoire that yielded an exhilarating production of <i>Die Zauberflöte</i> in April 2022, conductor <b>Joseph Mechavich</b> paced this performance of <i>Don Giovanni</i> with eloquence befitting the score’s Classicism and propulsive energy that supplied the dramatic thrust that the physical staging lacked. Under Mechavich’s baton, North Carolina Opera’s orchestra played superbly, their performance disrupted by commendably few mistakes, and the company’s choristers, marvelously trained by <b>Scott MacLeod</b>, sang brilliantly. Unfortunately, the demonic chorus accompanying Giovanni’s infernal journey was spoiled by amplification. The electronic keyboard used for the harpsichord continuo was not consistently audible, but the conductor’s accompaniment of the <i>secco</i> recitatives was imaginative and unfailingly musical. Mechavich guided the performance with gripping momentum whilst also being supportive of the singers, reliably choosing logical tempi that facilitated proper breath control and clear articulation of text. Though the orchestra of course utilized modern instruments, there were numerous passages in the performance in which the conductor’s approach exhibited acquaintance with historically-informed aesthetics, accentuating the inventiveness of Mozart’s music.</p>
<p>In the opera’s opening scene, in which the Commendatore interrupts Giovanni’s assault on Donna Anna, bass <b>Oren Gradus</b> declaimed the indignant father’s lines with paternal ferocity, the voice powerful throughout the range. Regrettably, the dreadful amplification employed to add ethereal resonance to the Commendatore’s utterances in the graveyard scene in Act Two robbed Gradus’s tones of impact. His singing in the fateful final encounter with Giovanni possessed ample aural presence but was occasionally covered by the trombones. His efforts at projecting over the orchestra caused his intonation and steadiness to falter. His Commendatore was nonetheless a chilling messenger of righteous condemnation.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: baritone CHRISTIAN J. BLACKBURN as Masetto (left) and baritone TIMOTHY MURRAY as Don Giovanni (right) in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: baritone CHRISTIAN J. BLACKBURN as Masetto (left) and baritone TIMOTHY MURRAY as Don Giovanni (right) in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7b8tj6qJPCXV2AIt2Vtd59P5_6onZ3Pp3-LdpSrkIpXuJJ9VN2Z4D9DyyD_E9nZGX1JShspxhoOwmj5rrSdauMEWsIJnlEmjMsmZylZkO5yxEY2PnmTs2iduKkIdfueQCF9BDp4M1a_fmS8JhRzSUaI4oTLfxj2E63aalER92G0m0NGzV-NUV0rgb/s1600/Mozart_DON-GIOVANNI_NCOpera_2023_02_Murray-Nelson_Eric-Waters-Photography.jpg" width="480" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>I fidanzati testati</em></u>: baritone <strong>Christian J. Blackburn</strong> as Masetto (<em>left</em>) and baritone <strong>Timothy Murray</strong> as Don Giovanni (<em>right</em>) in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s <em>Don Giovanni</em><br>[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]</font></p><p>Baritone <b>Christian J. Blackburn</b> was an exceptionally engaging and sympathetic Masetto, his vocalism burnished and his acting, though faithful to the production’s manic ethos, evincing the character’s innate good nature. His entrance with Zerlina in Act One was delightful, and Blackburn’s account of the aria ‘Ho capito, Signor, sì!’ was particularly distinguished. He launched the Act One finale excitingly, voicing ‘Presto, presto, pria ch’ei venga’ incisively. In the Act Two scene in which Masetto is beaten by the disguised Giovanni, Blackburn achieved the equilibrium between comedy and sobriety that eluded much of the staging. Credible as both a tender lover for Zerlina and a potent threat to Giovanni, Blackburn’s Masetto was a winningly intelligent, well-sung characterization.</p>
<p>The Zerlina of soprano <b>Helen Zhibing Huang</b> was endearingly
waifish but wielded inescapable emotional influence on her volatile but doting Masetto. Like Blackburn, Huang exuded charm in her first scene in Act One. Wooed by Giovanni in their beloved duettino, this Zerlina sang ‘Vorrei e non vorrei’ unaffectedly, persuasively imparting the flattered young girl’s conflicting emotions. Overcoming the production’s silliness, she made ‘Batti, batti, o bel Masetto’ genuinely touching by singing without coy artifice. Similarly, Zerlina’s aria in Act Two, ‘Vedrai, carino, se sei buonino,’ sung to comfort Masetto after his altercation with Giovanni, was delivered with beguiling affection. [To the noisy amusement of the audience, the projected translation of the aria exaggerated the text’s innuendo.] Her diminutive physique notwithstanding, Huang shone in ensembles, her vibrant stagecraft equaling the beauty of her singing.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano MARY DUNLEAVY as Donna Anna (left) and tenor ALEX MCKISSICK as Don Ottavio (right) in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano MARY DUNLEAVY as Donna Anna (left) and tenor ALEX MCKISSICK as Don Ottavio (right) in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTVqajM2BwsK1R5BVBngAXZzV5Dmyk0Mkbzoz8Lfa1UY4DmXmf2EGxbBCeY_5-DfLF5USEQwB7RjgxaifRkevVogOd46SYqKR1vMXXwy6FsVsHhJFnJ2o2qJO2ayiPysPeuUevPfsQEPo_8AI39Nbs1EobSKtFCcYyAuZWUgQDnX5iHf-je-XikIV/s1600/Mozart_DON-GIOVANNI_NCOpera_Dunleavy-McKissick.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Il giuramento</em></u>: soprano <strong>Mary Dunleavy</strong> as Donna Anna (<em>left</em>) and tenor <strong>Alex McKissick</strong> as Don Ottavio (<em>right</em>) in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s <em>Don Giovanni</em><br>[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]</font></p>
<p>In some productions of <i>Don Giovanni</i>, Donna Anna’s fiancé Don Ottavio lacks dramatic purpose, a flaw for which da Ponte’s libretto bears some culpability. Mozart allotted fine music to the part, however, and North Carolina Opera engaged a singer for the rôle who proved to be capable of dauntlessly meeting every challenge of Mozart’s writing. Possessing a voice with a more robust timbre than is sometimes heard in Ottavio’s music, tenor <b>Alex McKissick</b> animated each of the part’s lines with appealing tone and unerring theatrical instincts. Comforting Donna Anna after her discovery of her slain father’s corpse, he delivered ‘Senti, cor mio, deh senti’ with a musical caress. The vocal power at his disposal engendered an unusually rousing ‘Che giuramento, o Dei!’ and cogent singing in the quartet.</p>
<p>The company electing to perform <i>Don Giovanni</i> in the form in which it was first heard in Prague, Ottavio’s aria ‘Dalla sua pace la mia dipende,’ composed for the opera’s 1788 Vienna première and often included regardless of the edition being performed, was not sung. A firebrand in the Act One finale, McKissick voiced Ottavio’s words in the sublime masquers’ trio enthrallingly. No less engaging in Act Two, he sang vividly in the sestetto. Shaped by assured handling of the fiorature, his traversal of ‘Il mio tesoro intanto’ recalled the singing of Anton Dermota. Unlike some depictions, McKissick’s Ottavio conveyed not annoyance but loving acceptance of Anna’s postponement of their marriage, ending the opera with handsomely-voiced gentleness and gentility.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano SYLVIA D'ERAMO as Donna Elvira in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano SYLVIA D'ERAMO as Donna Elvira in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSl0G4DdY2LCaNn6jrMUJb0sgvABe1_oO9To353wbo2Eh0Z9Ca6crjmnz9lC4NFwXfGguv9N4tDsN4UeTOBtWVK3cLmweQ4xXeSkr8fi2FmqQzAnaqDS_Zvg0m2U59n7BRFDoODcvGMPZ3e51OdCZujKL8nnxbTgeTDnqirG4vBS4U5MBiRtvQ8gpi/s1600/Mozart_DON-GIOVANNI_NCOpera_2023_05_Sylvia-D%27Eramo_Eric-Waters-Photography.jpg" width="480" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La signora tradita</em></u>: soprano <strong>Sylvia D’Eramo</strong> as Donna Elvira in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s <em>Don Giovanni</em><br>[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]</font></p>
<p>Recently acclaimed as Kitty in the Metropolitan Opera’s triumphant world-première production of Kevin Puts’s <i>The Hours</i>, soprano
<b>Sylvia D’Eramo</b> transitioned from Puts’s modern musical language to Mozart’s writing for Donna Elvira, which often harkens back to Baroque heroines. Though subjected to distracting stage business with Elvira’s maid at her entrance in Act One, D’Eramo sang ‘Ah, chi mi dice mai’ captivatingly, intimating the lady’s erratic but profound feelings. The aria ‘Ah! fuggi il traditor!’ would not sound out of place in Händel’s <i>Rodelinda</i> or <i>Tamerlano</i>, and this Elvira articulated it with bracing intensity, the divisions imparting the direness of her warning to the hapless Zerlina. In both the quartet and the masquers’ trio in the Act One finale, D’Eramo sang forcefully, projecting Elvira’s frustration and despair into the auditorium.</p>
<p>Elvira’s emotions surging in Act Two, D’Eramo voiced ‘Ah taci, ingiusto core!’ in the terzetto fervently and began the sestetto with a febrile ‘Sola, sola in buio loco.’ Added to the score for the 1788 Vienna production, ‘Mi tradì quell’alma ingrata’ was not performed in this staging, but the aria’s ardent spirit permeated the soprano’s enunciation of ‘L’ultima prova dell’amor mio’ in the opera’s finale. Intermittent shrillness at the top of the range heightened the dramatic impetus of this Elvira’s singing, which efficaciously communicated the desperation of a woman in love with a man unworthy of her devotion.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano MARY DUNLEAVY as Donna Anna in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano MARY DUNLEAVY as Donna Anna in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjA64VetAtBMI_vxWH0uFabVbAljcRs7SlnrubvTxa8Ipih75zAwwk08e1W08yyfpMVjijvvcsgxAyU_kP288Wjr7Nv1MYpQtF0UHZUslFTeG3rx9OmtjrHdYnRe3SHMMpJkaItnlZmDzPp2sEUgoC3pTzAo9x6rybw92iJfNBwVVP-G_OWg1qqdJx/s1600/Mozart_DON-GIOVANNI_NCOpera_2023_01_Mary-Dunleavy_Eric-Waters-Photography.jpg" width="484" height="484"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La voce della giustizia</em></u>: soprano <strong>Mary Dunleavy</strong> as Donna Anna in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s <em>Don Giovanni</em><br>[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]</font></p>
<p>Casting the rôle of the proud but vulnerable Donna Anna is one of the foremost challenges of producing <i>Don Giovanni</i>. Aside from her
uncommon longevity and participation in the first performances of an array of operas by lesser-known composers, history documents little of the life and career of the first Donna Anna, Teresa Saporiti. It is conjectured that, nearly a half-century after the première of <i>Don Giovanni</i>, Verdi solicited her opinion of his writing for Abigaille in <i>Nabucco</i>, suggesting that she remained a respected authority on <i>bravura</i> singing. Bringing to North Carolina Opera’s <i>Don Giovanni</i> extensive experience in Mozart repertoire that encompasses lauded portrayals of both Mutter and Tochter, Die Königin der Nacht and Pamina, in <i>Die Zauberflöte</i> at the Metropolitan Opera, soprano <b>Mary Dunleavy</b> honored Saporiti’s legacy with a performance that fused technical prowess with theatrical savvy. In the opera’s opening scene, Dunleavy’s Anna was distraught but no passive victim, exclaiming ‘Fuggi, crudel, fuggi!’ with vehemence. Her confidence shattered by the discovery of her father’s murder, she pledged to avenge him in a galvanizing ‘Che giuramento, o Dei!’ that rang with sincerity, a trait that also resounded in the quartet.</p>
<p>The accompagnato ‘Don Ottavio, son morta!’ was delivered with tragic grandeur, leading to a momentous performance of ‘Or sai chi l’onore’ in which the voice pulsed with anger and determination. Dunleavy matched her colleagues’ poised singing in the masquers’ trio, and she excelled in the complex ensembles of Act Two. Her statement of ‘Crudele? Ah no, mio bene!’ expressed the sting of Ottavio’s bitter recrimination. Dunleavy’s formidable technique allowed her to concentrate on the psychological nuances of ‘Non mi dir, bell’idol mio,’ begetting a ruminative atmosphere. The foreshortened version of the final ensemble was preferred, eliminating the extended duet for Anna and Ottavio, but this Anna manifested an aura of resolution, bolstered by the confidence of Dunleavy’s vocalism.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: baritones ZACHARY NELSON as Leporello (left) and TIMOTHY MURRAY as Don Giovcanni (right) in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: baritones ZACHARY NELSON as Leporello (left) and TIMOTHY MURRAY as Don Giovcanni (right) in North Carolina Opera's January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's DON GIOVANNI [Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE8aqwscVMKQCmTnQWsWZX99LXMl8UlS2tm6bt3rYUre1serZTaROBk8vDjG4BRBHh7z5qfPhwxhkDWC_TnkK3rU55qs0Gj1CVC22SZroxlSzVLImC0VNUfPDoWMpBqNUWUvIO9iDECUEQBd4Tj2IHPKtcn5-6oU4q3Omkkw1ibzTHhl7irsFa7M-S/s1600/Mozart_DON-GIOVANNI_NCOpera_2023_06_Murray-Nelson_Eric-Waters-Photography.jpg" width="480" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Il servo ed il padrone</em></u>: baritones <strong>Zachary Nelson</strong> as Leporello (<em>left</em>) and <strong>Timothy Murray</strong> as Don Giovanni (<em>right</em>) in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s <em>Don Giovanni</em><br>[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]</font></p>
<p>Giovanni’s cunning servant Leporello was perhaps most adversely affected by the production’s focus on jocundity, what dignity Mozart and da Ponte gave the character sacrificed to slapstick, but baritone <b>Zachary Nelson</b> placed his trust in the music and fashioned an insightful characterization rather than a caricature. Beginning Act One with an effervescent voicing of ‘Notte e giorno faticar,’ Nelson exercised vocal restraint even in the production’s most madcap moments. The frenetic stage action sometimes reduced the clarity of his diction, yet he sang the celebrated ‘Madamina, il catalogo è questo’ and Leporello’s quips and asides in the act’s final scenes with commendable textual precision.</p>
<p>There were passages in both acts in which Nelson’s lowest notes did not have ideal amplitude and the staging instigated over-emphatic singing. His intonation was reliably sure, however, and his timbre lent requisite gravitas to the character’s flashes of panic and remorse. This clever Leporello joined his master in a rollicking performance of their duetto at the start of Act Two, intoning ‘No, no, padrone, non vo’ restar!’ engrossingly. His singing in the terzetto and sestetto was fantastic, but there was no portion of his performance that was more successful than his ‘Ah, pietà, signori miei,’ in which legitimate contrition was discernible. Both the duetto ‘O statua gentilissima’ and the final scenes inspired Nelson’s finest singing of the afternoon, Leporello’s terror and eventual relief upon being spared palpable. Throughout the performance, Nelson’s singing heightened the charisma that the production’s portrait of Leporello muted.</p>
<p>Making his rôle début as the eponymous cad in this production, baritone <b>Timothy Murray</b> reinvigorated the part with vocal allure and youthful élan. Portrayals of complex characters like Don Giovanni typically deepen with repetition, but Murray’s mastery of the rôle’s demands was already comprehensive. In the opening scene of Act One, he revealed Giovanni’s insouciance, and the unexpected encounter with Donna Elvira prompted him to regret the effectiveness of his own wiles. Murray depicted the sly duplicity of the nobleman’s perilous charm as he simultaneously seduced Zerlina and scorned Masetto. Zerlina’s surrender was understandable, the baritone’s singing of ‘Là ci darem la mano’ having bewitched the audience. The quartet found Giovanni hectoring in defense of his schemes, the voice glinting with arrogance. ‘Fin ch’han dal vino calda la testa’ has rarely been sung so marvelously in recent years, every note in place and the trill dutifully executed on par with a singer like Sir Thomas Allen, and each of Giovanni’s words in the Act One finale was emitted with bravado.</p>
<p>Murray’s fleet singing of ‘Eh via, buffone, non mi seccar!’ in the duetto with Leporello catapulted Act Two onto its inexorable course towards punishment for Giovanni’s misdeeds. Each phrase in the terzetto was pronounced with unmistakable cognizance of its significance. Tossing a purse to the mandolinist in the orchestra pit was a wise investment, Murray’s honeyed voicing of the canzonetta ‘Deh vieni alla finestra, o mio tesoro’ benefiting from the lovely accompaniment, and Murray voiced ‘Metà di voi qua vadano’ compellingly. Both the duetto ‘O statua gentilissima’ and ‘Già la mensa è preparata’ in his final scene were sung intrepidly, this Giovanni as defiant and unrepentant in the clutches of hell as on the streets of Spain. North Carolina Opera’s casting for this <i>Don Giovanni</i> assembled an ensemble that few of the world’s most renowned opera houses could rival and hosted a first interpretation of the title rôle that would surely have awed as unforgettably in Prague in 1787 as in Raleigh in 2023.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-44174151623492436662022-12-07T18:02:00.001-05:002022-12-08T21:08:23.540-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Gaetano Donizetti — ROBERTO DEVEREUX (A. Owens, R. Mantegna, E. DeShong, R. J. Rivera, D. O’Hearn, K. Wilkerson, A. Yergiyev, J. Sacín; Washington Concert Opera, 4 December 2022)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano ROBERTA MANTEGNA as Elisabetta, conductor ANTONY WALKER, and tenor ANDREW OWENS as Roberto in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © Washington Concert Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano ROBERTA MANTEGNA as Elisabetta, conductor ANTONY WALKER, and tenor ANDREW OWENS as Roberto in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © Washington Concert Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33esG9jSkfbbESMbdYoEzscybBgC576eyGQ1UY15xdrHDtBeoxvm4bwfMIEXIj_zQGJXI7V8YXf95Q_Nsr_pZmjH4IAcyACSGq8p2Cy2FQ0D-wFqPmF-ckbQklgRVtV-3xWj2ZOZeVG-cWshJT-MprlXDTPUpZQlYDlX4z2gH-iX85xnnGl_HbNFT/s1600/Donizetti_ROBERTO-DEVEREUX_WCO_2022_06_Mantegna-Owens_Caitlin-Oldham.jpg" width="480" height="320"><u>GAETANO DONIZETTI (1797 – 1848)</u>: <strong><em>Roberto Devereux; ossia Il conte di Essex</em></strong> — <font color="#800000"><a href="https://imgartists.com/roster/andrew-owens/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Andrew Owens</font></a> </font>(Roberto Devereux, conte di Essex), <a href="https://www.robertamantegna.it/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Roberta Mantegna</font></a> (Elisabetta prima, regina d’Inghilterra), <a href="http://www.elizabethdeshong.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Elizabeth DeShong</font></a> (Sara, duchessa di Nottingham), <a href="https://piperartists.com/portfolio/ricardo-jose-rivera/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Ricardo José Rivera</font></a> (Il duca di Nottingham), <a href="https://www.danielohearntenor.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Daniel O’Hearn</font></a> (Lord Cecil), <a href="https://kerrywilkerson.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kerry Wilkerson</font></a> (Sir Gualtiero Raleigh), <a href="https://www.andrewbawden.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Andrew Bawden Yergiyev</font></a> (Un paggio), <a href="https://www.operanova.net/jose-sacin" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">José Sacín</font></a> (Un familiare di Nottingham); <a href="https://concertopera.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Washington Concert Opera</font></a> Chorus and Orchestra; <a href="https://arbourartists.com/roster/antony-walker/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Antony Walker</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://concertopera.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Washington Concert Opera</font></a>, Lisner Auditorium, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA; Sunday, 4 December 2022]</p>
<p>The student of history who relies upon tutelage gleaned from opera is unlikely to be found at the head of the class. Fascinating and fantastical as history often is, many operatic depictions of historical events and personages are more fanciful than factual. The fateful confrontation between Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I that ends Act Two of Gaetano Donizetti’s <i>Maria Stuarda</i>, for example, is riveting theater but was devised by Friedrich von Schiller, from whose play <i>Mary Stuart</i> the libretto for Donizetti’s opera was derived. Surviving historical evidence indicates that Mary and Elizabeth never met, but their encounter in <i>Maria Stuarda</i> is a manifestation of a penchant for dramatizing the plights of historical figures that permeated literature and opera in the Nineteenth Century. Returning to Tudor England in <i>Roberto Devereux</i>, Donizetti again followed source material beyond the fringes of substantiated history. Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex, was executed for treason in 1601 after masterminding a rebellion intended to deprive Elizabeth of her throne, but, contrary to the events that transpire in Act Three of <i>Roberto Devereux</i>, his sentence neither hastened the Queen’s death nor precipitated abdication. Fact may well be stranger than fiction, but history is sometimes considerably more engrossing in the opera house than in academic tomes.</p>
<p>Commissioned by Teatro di San Carlo, at which theater the opera premièred on 27 October 1837, <i>Roberto Devereux</i> advanced a relationship with Naples that, by 1837, encompassed successful first stagings of new works, the most notable of which was <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>, not only at the San Carlo but also at the city᾿s Teatrp del Fondo and Teatro Nuovo. Following <i>Roberto Devereux</i>, Donizetti would write only another pair of operas for Naples, <i>Poliuto</i> and <i>Caterina Cornaro</i>, instead transitioning his attention to London, Paris, and Vienna. Composed during a time of tremendous personal strife, his young wife dying only a few weeks after delivering a child who died at birth, <i>Roberto Devereux</i> was perhaps a welcome distraction for Donizetti, its complicated genesis—upon the opera᾿s completion, an outbreak of cholera delayed rehearsals for the inaugural production—shaping the score᾿s dramatic confrontations and psychological perspicacity. Neapolitan audiences and critics responded enthusiastically to the theatrical vigor of Donizetti᾿s music, and the success of the first staging was repeated throughout Europe in the decade prior to the composer᾿s death in 1848. The extent to which this appreciative reception for <i>Roberto Devereux</i> was a source of consolation for its grieving composer can only be conjectured, but it can also be theorized that telling the story of a woman who, despite her dedication to duty, casts aside both life and crown when the pain inflicted by them overwhelm her must have been cathartic for the despairing Donizetti.</p>
<p>At the time of his collaboration on <i>Roberto Devereux</i>, Neapolitan poet and playwright Salvadore Cammarano had already provided Donizetti with libretti for <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>, <i>Belisario</i>, <i>L᾿assedio di Calais</i>, and <i>Pia de᾿ Tolomei</i>. Texts for <i>Maria de Rudenz</i>, <i>Poliuto</i>, and <i>Maria di Rohan</i> would follow in the final decade of Donizetti᾿s life. His work on <i>Alzira</i> in 1845 began a partnership with Giuseppe Verdi that, during the next eight years, would produce <i>La battaglia di Legnano</i>, <i>Luisa Miller</i>, and <i>Il trovatore</i>. In his adaptation of Jacques-François Ancelot᾿s 1829 drama <i>Elisabeth d᾿Angleterre</i>, itself derived from tragedies by Pierre Corneille and Gauthier de Costes, Cammarano transformed these literary treatments of the troubled liaison between Queen Elizabeth I and the second Earl of Essex into a libretto charged with heated conflicts and Italian <i>morbidezza</i>, qualities that unquestionably appealed to Donizetti in his state of anguish. The union of the composer᾿s music with the librettist᾿s words yielded a work that advanced <i>bel canto</i> from the Rossinian scores of the first half of Donizetti᾿s career to the Romantic intensity of Verdi᾿s middle period.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) bass-baritone KERRY WILKERSON as Lord Gualtiero Raleigh, tenor DANIEL O'HEARN as Lord Cecil, soprano ROBERTA MANTEGNA as Elisabetta, tenor ANDREW OWENS as Roberto, and baritone RICARDO JOSÉ RIVERA as Nottingham in Washinhton Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) bass-baritone KERRY WILKERSON as Lord Gualtiero Raleigh, tenor DANIEL O'HEARN as Lord Cecil, soprano ROBERTA MANTEGNA as Elisabetta, tenor ANDREW OWENS as Roberto, and baritone RICARDO JOSÉ RIVERA as Nottingham in Washinhton Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0fKiwTVzltiIWPOedsPrJp5kvvrUC1j-kP0tA74QFD6Inta1kU9SEVjm9w0trvh0mIDEDskiuBr0HnJmWmWWgHNCgh-psKN-5NMzZd0XPSo7PZfLax3unoGivTW8s5Y9UAODD8lZd9dqFumhrjunNDKgjya5gU5dwQMpl9OP5HbHw4plVgIMfhwH/s1600/Donizetti_ROBERTO-DEVEREUX_WCO_2022_05_Ensemble_Caitlin-Oldham.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Da Londra, con trama</em></u>: (<em>from left to right</em>) bass-baritone <strong>Kerry Wilkerson</strong> as Sir Gualtiero Raleigh, tenor <strong>Daniel O’Hearn</strong> as Lord Cecil, soprano <strong>Roberta Mantegna</strong> as Elisabetta, tenor <strong>Andrew Owens</strong> as Roberto, and baritone <strong>Ricardo José Rivera</strong> as Nottingham in Washington Concert Opera’s performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Roberto Devereux</em>, 4 December 2022<br>[Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]</font></p>
<p>The gestational accents of Verdian musical language that are heard in virtually every bar of <i>Roberto Devereux</i> proved to be ideal fodder for the vivid conducting of <b>Washington Concert Opera</b>’s Artistic Director <b>Antony Walker</b>. Even more acutely than in the company’s memorable 2004 performance of the opera, Walker asserted the efficacy of presenting <i>Roberto Devereux</i> in concert. The <i>bel canto</i> operas that have been the core of WCO’s repertoire since founder Stephen Crout’s 1990 performance of Bellini’s <i>I puritani</i> benefit tremendously from the heightened focus on musical values that concert performances facilitate, and this traversal of <i>Roberto Devereux</i> demonstrated the theatrical savvy with which Donizetti molded his music to the drama. From the first page of the opera’s overture, composed in 1838 for the piece’s Paris première, Walker established and sustained dramatic momentum. Gifted with a cast capable of meeting every challenge of his propulsive approach to the score, he chose tempi that were wholly apt for music and drama, his pacing fashioning a performance in which the characters’ emotional evolutions were captivatingly depicted. Walker’s conducting invariably excites, but this evening at Lisner Auditorium found him on best form, the power and pathos of Donizetti’s music and Cammarano’s words elucidated with uncompromising musicality.</p>
<p>In the eighteen years since Walker last conducted <i>Roberto Devereux</i> for WCO, the company’s orchestra and chorus, the latter
prepared for this 2022 performance by chorus master <b>David Hanlon</b>, have markedly elevated their standards of musical integrity and
reliability. In this performance, the orchestral playing was often very good, the limited rehearsal time that is an intrinsic aspect of WCO’s
endeavors fomenting few problems on this evening. The consistency of balances among sections of the orchestra permitted appreciation of details
of Donizetti’s part writing, not least in passages for woodwinds, which in the title character’s Act Three prison scene were in this performance unmistakably linked to Beethoven’s introduction to Florestan’s scene at the beginning of Act Two of <i>Fidelio</i>. The choral singing also exhibited the advantages of increased concentration on equalizing the sound, individual voices more integrated into the aural tableaux than in past WCO performances. Despite at times being confined to a stool by a knee energy, Walker marshaled the orchestral and choral forces with his usual vigor, drawing from them sounds both imposing and delicate, as <i>bel canto</i> requires.</p>
<p>Character development in <i>Roberto Devereux</i> ventures little beyond the quartet of principals, but Donizetti’s music for secondary rôles is not devoid of technical and theatrical demands. Bass-baritone <b>Andrew Bawden Yergiyev</b> sang forcefully in the Paggio’s brief appearance in Act One, and baritone <b>José Sacín</b> delivered the lines for un familiare di Nottingham in the scene at the start of Act Three powerfully. Not as intriguing a figure in <i>Roberto Devereux</i> as in history, Sir Gualtiero Raleigh was nonetheless animated by the spirited vocalism of bass-baritone <b>Kerry Wilkerson</b>, who sang ‘Fu disarmato’ in the Act Two scene with Elisabetta robustly. Stepping into the rôle of Lord Cecil at the proverbial eleventh hour, tenor <b>Daniel O’Hearn</b> voiced every note of the part eloquently, his timbre burnished throughout the range and his ease of navigating the passaggio indicating expert technical assurance.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) tenors DANIEL O'HEARN as Lord Cecil and ANDREW OWENS as Roberto and baritone RICARDO JOSÉ RIVERA as Nottingham in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) tenors DANIEL O'HEARN as Lord Cecil and ANDREW OWENS as Roberto and baritone RICARDO JOSÉ RIVERA as Nottingham in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJe2cWxcrL_y9DU3x1GFcUq-7bymEa-N5EaGHhtRNrVqlvf1ynF0H8flIlXDrt63-GrASy7SCPrgyGY1Lx4266CbZDJLiwNW-VGZhI662mJPW7iB649A_vYokTjV_7nvoF4wjP7R0cpasjUm3FzrenbIoaNIIRihZfoAuk2oHY7hgvwmtf7_HjiLI/s1600/Donizetti_ROBERTO-DEVEREUX_WCO_2022_03_Rivera_Caitlin-Oldham.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Il duca tradito</em></u>: (<em>from left to right</em>) tenors <strong>Daniel O’Hearn</strong> as Lord Cecil and <strong>Andrew Owens</strong> as Roberto and baritone <strong>Ricardo José Rivera</strong> as Nottingham in Washington Concert Opera’s performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Roberto Devereux</em>, 4 December 2022<br>[Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]</font></p>
<p>Bringing an instrument of fine quality to his singing of Donizetti’s music for Il duca di Nottingham, baritone <b>Ricardo José Rivera</b> convincingly imparted the Duke’s rampant pride, the trait that makes him first an ardent friend and later a dangerous enemy to Roberto. Rivera voiced Nottingham’s Act One cavatina ‘Forse in quel cor sensibile’ confidently, his tonal production as firm at the bottom of the range as at the exhilarating top. His account of the cabaletta ‘Qui ribelle ognun ti chiama’ was invigorating, the Duke’s musical kinship with Verdi’s Rigoletto and Conte di Luna especially apparent as the baritone ascended above the stave in the coda. Nottingham’s metamorphosis in Act Two from friend defending Essex from the Queen’s ire to wronged husband seeking revenge was persuasively depicted, Rivera’s plangent singing of ‘Non venni mai sì mesto’ in the duettino with Elisabetta contrasting tellingly with the vehemence with which he articulated ‘Ah! la spada, la spada un istante’ in the subsequent terzetto.</p>
<p>The full weight of Rivera’s voice was deployed in Act Three, when Nottingham accosts his wife and prevents her from delivering to the raging Queen the means of rescuing Roberto from the scaffold. In the duetto with Sara, Rivera sang ‘Noi sai, che un nume vindice’ with startling intensity, the unshakable security of his tones mitigating blustery delivery more suited to <i>verismo</i> than to <i>bel canto</i>. In the opera’s final scene, he declaimed Nottingham’s malicious declaration of responsibility for the subterfuge that prevented Sara from appealing to the Queen to save Roberto’s life with vitriol and a brief suggestion of regret. There were few subtleties in Rivera’s performance, but Nottingham is not a character upon whom Donizetti lavished an array of nuances. Even without significant variations of dynamics and vocal inflections, Rivera’s bold, bronzed singing lent Nottingham greater depth than stereotypical operatic villains often muster.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano ELIZABETH DESHONG as Sara in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano ELIZABETH DESHONG as Sara in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtI5mEotL7LtYPfCMo-dL9wtPxpsYVqK3_MLtO0c6dSKSvjI17skx2BRqOT8w7j1x2uh3vUKqRXoMKXPW233hcVuoZHeI6mglD0RaJOkkjjQudBK8RUcgNSzlxOKLUX8t4vxZxbVsIQZumIjLIA0qrFuyHFnVuT6pk3LmaOuTy2pBCB3sEC8tjSsf/s1600/Donizetti_ROBERTO-DEVEREUX_WCO_2022_01_DeShong_Caitlin-Oldham.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La duchessa refulgente</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Elizabeth DeShong</strong> as Sara in Washington Concert Opera’s performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Roberto Devereux</em>, 4 December 2022<br>[Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]</font></p>
<p>Mezzo-soprano <b>Elizabeth DeShong</b>’s portrayal of the general Calbo in WCO’s 2021 performance of Rossini’s <i>Maometto secondo</i> [reviewed <a href="https://www.voix-des-arts.com/2021/11/performance-review-gioachino-rossini.html" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">here</font></a>] was spectacular, but hearing her singing on that memorable evening was inadequate preparation for experiencing her rôle début as Sara, duchessa di Nottingham. Beginning the opera with her romanza ‘All’afflitto è dolce il pianto,’ Sara serves as the catalyst for the opera’s drama, her illicit love for the Queen’s favorite inadvertently begetting the jealousy that leads Roberto to the block. DeShong sang the romanza enchantingly, her phrasing of the arching melodic line limning the duchess’s private despair. Her true feelings hidden from Elisabetta and Nottingham, Sara first proclaims her fidelity to her love for Roberto and then realizes that they must not see one another again in one of Donizetti’s most gripping duets. DeShong voiced ‘Eri già lunge, quando si chiuse’ commandingly, communicating the character’s churning emotions but always maintaining an authentic <i>bel canto</i> line. In the duet’s cabaletta, she enunciated ‘Ah! Questo addio fatale‘ compellingly, the top B♭s utterly secure.</p>
<p>Rising intrepidly to top B, DeShong’s upper register inspired awe throughout the performance, but her singing in Act Three was particularly notable as a veritable masterclass in the art of acting through the voice. Sara’s duetto with Nottingham is another of Donizetti’s best ensembles, and DeShong voiced ‘Tanto il destin fremente’ blazingly, the meaning of every word imparted with specificity. Sara’s crucial lines in the opera’s final scene were also sung with immediacy, the singer’s shimmering timbre accentuating the sincerity of Sara’s dismay. In this concert setting, DeShong gave Sara emotional dimensions that she sometimes lacks in staged productions, her vocalism distinguishing her as a peer of Bruna Castagna, Ebe Stignani, and Giulietta Simionato as an exponent of dramatic <i>bel canto</i>.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor ANDREW OWENS as Roberto in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor ANDREW OWENS as Roberto in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVrqkyA8w5qkn3ZdRR-NU7aGzLSgolNcOLidFxsSMwYOr_krH1rS0CCD-0bpdLFWdVWMWx6KErevDU7H-w6HIFQpUyc_wc8CSK40T_LG9MUni_N5bTb_8NywpCQ6rB2soRumYnljvssCXZZfA13kA-wgjyeJcHz4GviknLOHH-SlnY62pbv1ozzId/s1600/Donizetti_ROBERTO-DEVEREUX_WCO_2022_02_Owens_Caitlin-Oldham.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Il conte di sospiri</em></u>: tenor <strong>Andrew Owens</strong> as Roberto in Washington Concert Opera’s performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Roberto Devereux</em>, 4 December 2022<br>[Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]</font></p>
<p>Tenor <b>Andrew Owens</b>’s rôle début as the eponymous Earl of Essex was a triumph over adversities. The stress of assuming such a daunting part on short notice was compounded in the performance by an indisposition that increasingly imperiled his vocal production as the evening progressed. He traversed Act One masterfully, voicing ‘Domata in campo la ribelle schiera’ in the duet with Elisabetta with stylistic fluency and dispatching ‘Nascondi, frena i palpiti’ in the cabaletta with vocal and dramatic bravado. Owens partnered DeShong splendidly in Roberto’s duet with Sara, delivering ‘Allor che tacita’ with urgency and capping ‘Ah! Questo addio fatale’ with his own brilliant top B♭s. The disintegration of the Earl’s safety introduced an aura of uncertainty into his characterization in the Act Two terzetto with Elisabetta and Nottingham, but his vocalism disclosed no vulnerability, the technique equal to every musical obstacle.</p>
<p>The ill effects of the malady that plagued Owens were most evident in Roberto’s prison scene in Act Three, in which the condemned Earl laments
his fate. ‘A ti dirò, fra gli ultimi singhiozzi’ was nobly sung despite the hoarseness that grew more pronounced in the aria’s closing bars. The voice constricted by throat congestion, his performance of the cabaletta ‘Bagnato il sen di lagrime’ was an example of an impeccably-trained singer artfully overcoming debilitating circumstances. Singing certain passages an octave lower than written, Owens conserved the voice sagaciously and rallied for a stretta in which he soared to an easy top C♯. The conditions with which he bravely contended notwithstanding, Owens achieved an auspicious rôle début, the excellence of his best singing matched by his courage in the Earl’s final moments.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano ROBERTA MANTEGNA as Elisabetta in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano ROBERTA MANTEGNA as Elisabetta in Washington Concert Opera's performance of Gaetano Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX, 4 December 2022 [Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11JWuPtGHXDQ8LX-dacwaepveU16YJu_9gWLpkGLTsm4NIb9O5WFJAW4blW3rJzKYzqqidZRPFPnSZ8mieBff03Fzn8nrqoAAcTVDr6OmDO9EmnOCu3QExxxasAJ9RoGp1GsTwa2iAySVp22kUqcxUADM7cHKTj94UWBNIQvhQXihxsxY3YcyCTrS/s1600/Donizetti_ROBERTO-DEVEREUX_WCO_2022_04_Mantegna_Caitlin-Oldham.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Non regno, non vivo</em></u>: soprano <strong>Roberta Mantegna</strong> as Elisabetta in Washington Concert Opera’s performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s <em>Roberto Devereux</em>, 4 December 2022<br>[Photograph by Caitlin Oldham, © by Washington Concert Opera]</font></p>
<p>Making her USA début in this performance, soprano <b>Roberta Mantegna</b> was experienced in her rôle, her portrayal of Elisabetta having been featured in a lauded 2020 semi-staged production of <i>Roberto Devereux</i> at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice. This acquaintance with the part was apparent in her performance in Washington. Upon her entrance in Act One, she was an Elisabetta already succumbing to doubt and insecurity, the lovely sheen of her voicing of the Larghetto cavatina ‘L’amor suo mi fe’ beata’ shaded by glimpses of darker sentiments that lurked still more prominently in the cabaletta ‘Ah! ritorna qual ti spero,’ in which the soprano’s top Bs and Cs evoked defiance. Girlish impetuosity remained a facet of the aging Queen’s constitution in her duet with Roberto, Mantegna singing ‘Un tenero core mi rese felice’ and the cabaletta ‘Un lampo orribile’ with passionate abandon.</p>
<p>The disconsolate monarch inwardly desiring to yield to Nottingham’s pleas for clemency for Essex in Act Two, sadness could be discerned in Mantegna’s vocalism in the duettino with the Duke, but fury and indignation resounded in her ‘D’una rivale occulta.’ Her cry of ‘Ecco l’indegno!’ as Roberto appeared was piercing, and the expressivity of her account of ‘Alma infida, ingrato core’ divulged the profundity of the Queen’s love for the errant Earl. Forsaking her score in order to act with body and voice, Mantegna movingly limned the tragic grandeur of Elisabetta’s grief-laden unraveling in the last scene of Act Three. The Bellinian line of ‘Vivi, ingrato, a lei d’accanto’ was voiced expansively and with special radiance above the stave. Often approached as a <i>de facto</i> mad scene, the engrossing cabaletta ‘Quel sangue versato’ was in Mantegna’s performance an exasperated surrender to a destiny over which even the most powerful queen had no dominion, the top Bs sonic gestures of liberating capitulation.</p>
<p>Though the opera has gradually gained a tenuous foothold in the repertoire owing to occasional performances by companies including New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera and espousal by organizations like American Opera Society, Opera Orchestra of New York, and Washington Concert Opera, American audiences have not yet embraced <i>Roberto Devereux</i> with the sort of affection with which <i>L’elisir d’amore</i>, <i>Don Pasquale</i>, <i>La fille du régiment</i>, and <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i> are regarded. Just as <i>Roberto Devereux</i> distorts history in pursuit of theatrical potency, Washington Concert Opera’s 2022 performance wrote an important new chapter in the opera’s story.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-91232801526140752642022-11-19T20:23:00.000-05:002022-11-19T20:23:24.226-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Giacomo Puccini — LA BOHÈME (S. Kantorski, A. Livingston Geis, D. Pershall, D. Thompson-Brewer, D. Hartmann, S. Outlaw, R. Wells, T. Gilliam, M. Williams, B. Kilpatrick; Greensboro Opera, 13 November 2022)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: the cast of Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by Alan Howell, © by Greensboro Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: the cast of Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by Alan Howell, © by Greensboro Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvKwAASWmrYeN5Afg0BqEuo4z9EkumKNagSURsoLktLSRYG_hwBD4qg8w5S7bw3wAoecKKDP96OJ-PpbUAf92SaqBXGnddNARcRZDlB999yGdeOj1_rRZ__GXj9_0BQVCNovF6DqvzbOSElSQysoIqO_MiaCd60iyWKhKS3uADLw0y5I8t9VKRuXx7/s1600/Puccini_BOH%C3%88ME_GSO_2022_01_Atto-II.jpg" width="480" height="268"><u>GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 – 1924)</u>: <strong><em>La bohème</em></strong> – Suzanne Kantorski (Mimì), <a href="https://www.arnoldlivingstongeis.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Arnold Livingston Geis</font></a> (Rodolfo), <a href="https://davidpershall.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">David Pershall</font></a> (Marcello), <a href="https://www.dianadarlenethompson.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Diana Thompson-Brewer</font></a> (Musetta), <a href="https://donaldhartmann.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Donald Hartmann</font></a> (Colline) <a href="http://sidneyoutlaw.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Sidney Outlaw</font></a> (Schaunard), <a href="https://vpa.uncg.edu/home/directory/bio-robertwells/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Robert Wells</font></a> (Benoît, Alcindoro), Travis Gilliam (Parpignol), Markel Rashad Williams (Un sergente dei doganieri), Brian Kilpatrick (Un doganiere); Greensboro Opera Chorus and Orchestra; <a href="https://www.joshuahorschconductor.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Joshua Horsch</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://greensboroopera.org/about/general-artistic-director/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">David Holley</font></a>, director; <a href="https://www.trentpdesigns.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Trent Pcenicni</font></a>, costume designer; Jeff Neubauer, lighting designer and technical director; <a href="https://greensboroopera.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Greensboro Opera</font></a>, UNCG Auditorium, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA; Sunday, 13 November 2022]</p>
<p>The art form’s complex emotions, convoluted dramatic situations, and confounding offstage politics sometimes distract those who create and consume opera from the most basic reasons for its four-century endurance. When any opera company announces a season that includes a production of Giacomo Puccini’s <i>La bohème</i>, there are invariably calls for justification of the opera’s prevalence in the repertory. 126 years after its première at Teatro Regio di Torino, why is <i>La bohème</i> performed so frequently and at the expense of neglected works that deserve reassessment? Proponents of the score propose thoughtful artistic rationalizations for staging <i>La bohème</i>, but the principal validation of the piece’s viability is gratingly banal. Yes, the characters are winsome, the melodies are memorable, and the tragedy is gripping, but the crucial motivation for producing <i>La bohème</i> is often more practical than poetic. For better or worse, companies perform <i>La bohème</i> because audiences want to hear it.</p>
<p>The ‘worse’ of the aforementioned conceit disfigures some performances of <i>La bohème</i>, intensifying objections to its regular appearances in operatic seasons, but <b>Greensboro Opera</b>’s production, transforming the UNCG Auditorium stage into the Parisian Quartier Latin in which the denizens of Puccini’s adaptation of Henri Murger’s <i>Scènes de la vie de bohème</i> live and love, demonstrated that the opera’s commercial
viability results not from nostalgia or audiences’ lack of imagination but from the still-poignant music. Revitalizing a well-travelled production
with set designs by <b>Robert Little</b> that originated at Tri-Cities Opera, the company’s General and Artistic Director <b>David Holley</b> guided a performance in which the much-maligned pathos of <i>La bohème</i> was imaginatively rekindled, the stage action engagingly vivid without being excessively hectic. As in a number of recent Greensboro Opera productions, <b>Trent Pcenicni</b>’s attractive wig and makeup designs and <b>Jeff Neubauer</b>’s expert lighting and technical direction ably complemented Holley’s concept, and the lovely costumes, those for the principals sourced from Sarasota Opera and the choristers’ from Pierre’s Mascots and Costumes, enhanced the performance’s lavish visual appeal. Holley’s stagings often impress by telling familiar stories with new perspectives, and this lovingly straightforward <i>Bohème</i> was representative of his most thoughtful, heartfelt work.</p>
<p>Often employing expansive tempi that facilitated appreciation of the skillfulness of Puccini’s orchestrations, conductor <b>Joshua Horsch</b>
led a performance in which scenes of tremendous poise alternated with moments of imprecise ensemble. Inconsistent cues yielded wrong entrances
and lack of coordination among singers, chorus, and orchestra, most disruptively in Act Two. There were nonetheless many passages in which
Horsch achieved true distinction. Under his baton, Greensboro Opera’s orchestra and choruses, the latter’s children trained by <b>LJ Martin</b> and the adults by <b>James Baumgardner</b>, delivered their parts with intensity and integrity. Despite momentary fluctuations in intonational accuracy and balances, the most jarring of which was the trumpet’s over-prominence at the start of Act Four, the musicians played with understanding of Puccini’s style. Similarly, the choral singing overcame fleeting instability to thrill in Act Two. Passing difficulties did not diminish the cumulative impact of Horsch’s handling of the performance, in which the well-known tragedy was realized with dignity, directness, and musical discernment.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) bass-baritone DONALD HARTMANN as Colline, tenor ARNOLD LIVINGSTON GEIS as Rodolfo, baritone ROBERT WELLS as Benoît, baritone DAVID PERSHALL as Marcello, and baritone SIDNEY OUTLAW as Schaunard in Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) bass-baritone DONALD HARTMANN as Colline, tenor ARNOLD LIVINGSTON GEIS as Rodolfo, baritone ROBERT WELLS as Benoît, baritone DAVID PERSHALL as Marcello, and baritone SIDNEY OUTLAW as Schaunard in Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPUsN9gFXGXkCeTKgDQnw7phUk8Yys8YE2waz82Tt3fsOKLmwcl_rmu5uwvgxM7Dksw_7b3Sgos4WX-8A0GPp_eRoP8_UKmsSo2P2jvfdnMxfgMTFEaIqoOaKxb0iIAPTphNmfj0nByc3PKZBgYWE4ngoxZInaF8L0uEjjVDjsQ3looR4kuWQCtElF/s1600/Puccini_BOH%C3%88ME_GSO_2022_04_Atto-I.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Gli amici e l’intruso</em></u>: (<em>from left to right</em>) bass-baritone <strong>Donald Hartmann</strong> as Colline, tenor <strong>Arnold Livingston Geis</strong> as Rodolfo, baritone <strong>Robert Wells</strong> as Benoît, baritone <strong>David Pershall</strong> as Marcello, and baritone <strong>Sidney Outlaw</strong> as Schaunard in Greensboro Opera’s November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini’s <em>La bohème</em><br>[Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]</font></p>
<p>Taking advantage of the wealth of talent that enriches the Triad community, this production of <i>La bohème</i> surrounded the artists at
the opera’s core with singers who brought vocal solidity and well-honed stagecraft to supporting rôles. The lines for the Doganiere and Sergente dei doganieri, the customs officer and his sergeant who patrol the gates of Paris in the first scene of Act Three, were commandingly sung by bass-baritones <b>Brian Kilpatrick</b> and <b>Markel Rashad Williams</b>. Tenor <b>Travis Gilliam</b> peddled the toyseller Parpignol’s wares with bright tone and clear words, heightening the festive atmosphere of the opera’s second act with his cheerful vociferations.</p>
<p>As the bohemians’ landlord Benoît in Act One and Musetta’s indulgent but indignant suitor Alcindoro in Act Two, baritone <b>Robert Wells</b> sang with deft comedic timing and vocal security but was occasionally inaudible, especially in the lower fifth of the range. Both Benoît’s ‘Timido in gioventù, ora me ne ripago’ and Alcindoro’s ‘Come un facchino correr di qua’ were voiced capably, Wells enunciating the words with panache, and his characterizations benefited from an absence of the over-the-top antics to which some exponents of these rôles resort.</p>
<p>Portraying the musician Schaunard, baritone <b>Sidney Outlaw</b> was in superlative voice, every note of the part placed with fluidity and projected with bravado. Declaiming ‘La Banca di Francia per voi si sbilancia’ in Act One with feigned grandiloquence, he established Schaunard as the bohemians’ impish instigator. His story of the exasperated Englishman and the noisy parrot failing to divert his friends from their ribaldry, this Schaunard uttered ‘Il diavolo vi porti tutti quanti’ with aggravation that did not conceal his own amusement. His characterization more pensive but still mirthful in Act Two, Outlaw voiced ‘Fra spintoni e pestate accorrendo’ captivatingly. In Act Four, Outlaw’s Schaunard pivoted from architect of merriment to emotional anchor, his alarm and grief subdued by his efforts at comforting and supporting his friends. Mimì’s death was more affecting for the spontaneity of Schaunard’s recognition of her passing, Outlaw viscerally imparting the anguish of the discovery. In every scene, the psychological immediacy of Outlaw’s performance was communicated by vocalism of uncompromising grace and gusto.</p>
<p>In the course of his esteemed career, bass-baritone <b>Donald Hartmann</b>’s acquaintance with <i>La bohème</i> has been shaped by singing Puccini’s music for Marcello, Colline, Schaunard, Benoît, and Alcindoro. Here returning to the rôle of Colline after a two-decade interval, Hartmann sang and acted masterfully, his experience engendering a circumspect characterization of the amiable philosopher. Voicing ‘Già dell'Apocalisse appariscono i segni’ with an ideal balance of wit and weight, he escalated the joviality of the opera’s opening act. Welcoming Mimì into the bohemians’s selective society in Act Two, the feigned gravitas of his proclamations was droll but also imparted abiding sincerity. Colline’s affection for his friends permeated Hartmann’s boisterous singing in the first half of Act Four, but Colline’s stoicism was upended by the dying Mimì’s arrival. The profound sorrow evinced by his magnificent account of ‘Vecchia zimarra, senti’ wholly justified singing the aria at a tempo somewhat slower than Puccini’s intended Allegretto moderato, and, in Hartmann’s performance, Colline’s understated act of charity, giving the proceeds of the sale of his coat to Musetta in reimbursement of her sacrifice for Mimì, was uncommonly touching.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) baritone ROBERT WELLS as Alcindoro, soprano DIANA THOMPSON-BREWER as Musetta, baritone DAVID PERSHALL as Marcello, tenor ARNOLD LIVINGSTON GEIS as Rodolfo, and soprano SUZANNE KANTORSKI as Mimì in Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) baritone ROBERT WELLS as Alcindoro, soprano DIANA THOMPSON-BREWER as Musetta, baritone DAVID PERSHALL as Marcello, tenor ARNOLD LIVINGSTON GEIS as Rodolfo, and soprano SUZANNE KANTORSKI as Mimì in Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1PR9vvW2SdBguRkqP0oZXqCjuBGHxhicidLMEi0UAEJ9pR3KbqA2_N7trnMfz-eMbYasoyTCQbyEIA3A0OgiLFsQ6xgGkgXAMwVWXu-xj6pnhF3Tr3qS2uXP2oglrUF6R9oWv2MaxhXPDtzvD08646ykBUGSkQ1GaxMNT0qjx2omh72V1OHOsgCOL/s1600/Puccini_BOH%C3%88ME_GSO_2022_02_ThompsonBrewer.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La regina del viale</em></u>: (<em>from left to right</em>) baritone <strong>Robert Wells</strong> as Alcindoro, soprano <strong>Diana Thompson-Brewer</strong> as Musetta, baritone <strong>David Pershall</strong> as Marcello, tenor <strong>Arnold Livingston Geis</strong> as Rodolfo, and soprano <strong>Suzanne Kantorski</strong> as Mimì in Greensboro Opera’s November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini’s <em>La bohème</em><br>[Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]</font></p>
<p>Some productions and performers depict Musetta as a foil for Mimì, a robust, flamboyant contrast to the frail Mimì’s docile introversion.
Greensboro Opera’s Musetta embodied this archetype, but soprano <b>Diana Thompson-Brewer</b> gave her a beguilingly unique personality. From her first appearance in Act Two, it was apparent that Musetta’s flirtation with the dull Alcindoro was solely a means to an end, but there were flickers of fondness in her banter with him. Thompson-Brewer’s voicing of ‘Marcello mi vide’ revealed that, as Mimì sensed, passion for her recalcitrant former lover motivated Musetta’s actions.</p>
<p>‘Quando me’n vo’ soletta per la via’ was radiantly sung, the top Bs resplendent. The quarreling in Act Three was spirited but avoided vocal harshness, affection tempering even the most heated exchanges. Helplessness shaded Thompson-Brewer’s voice in Act Four, her singing of ‘Intesi dire che Mimì’ and ‘Madonna benedetta, fate la grazia a questa poveretta’ disclosing the breadth of Musetta’s devotion to the bohemians. She alone seemed to accept that Mimì’s death was imminent yet was unprepared for it. Vocally and theatrically, Thompson-Brewer’s Musetta delighted, but it was as a humble woman holding the hand of her dying friend that she shone most brilliantly.</p>
<p>In the opera’s first minutes, his ‘Questo <i>Mar Rosso</i> mi ammollisce’ trembling with cold, baritone <b>David Pershall</b> seemed out of sorts in Marcello’s music, the middle of the range lacking focus and notes above the stave constricted. As the performance progressed, however, the voice settled, and Pershall’s burnished timbre filled the theater. Interacting first with Rodolfo and subsequently with Colline, Schaunard, and Benoît, Marcello’s lines were sung with humor and confidence. The evolution of Marcello’s feelings in Act Two was palpably evinced, Pershall intuitively differentiating his vocal inflections in ‘Facciamo insieme a vendere e a comprar’ and ‘Domandatelo a me’ and declaring ‘Gioventù mia, tu non sei morta’ with fervor that affirmed the resurgence of Marcello’s infatuation with Musetta.</p>
<p>Pershall’s most plangent singing of the afternoon coincided with the fateful confrontations of Act Three. Learning from the distraught Mimì of her estrangement from Rodolfo, this Marcello counseled without hectoring, even his ‘Per carità, non fate scene qua!’ delivered with tenderness. The gentleness of his discourse with Mimì gave way to frustration as Rodolfo falsely attributed his repudiation of Mimì to her coquetry, the baritone voicing ‘Non mi sembri sincer’ insistently. The sound of Musetta’s laughter from within the tavern ignited a blaze of mistrust that engulfed the stage as the lovers battled. The duet with Rodolfo in Act Four was handsomely sung, ‘Io non so come sia che il mio pennello lavori’ suffused with disenfranchisement, but Marcello’s true regard for Musetta emerged in the opera’s final moments, Pershall using his voice as a conduit for emotions too complex for words alone.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano SUZANNE KANTORSKI as Mimì (left) and tenor ARNOLD LIVINGSTON GEIS as Rodolfo (right) in Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano SUZANNE KANTORSKI as Mimì (left) and tenor ARNOLD LIVINGSTON GEIS as Rodolfo (right) in Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1cXxi8KsONi7at1X8VvmU0D7Dwwb6VLU7KCMTxICRGdYRvOidPMmGSBZh61BVLwQNOE--_p1tpFUedXFF5_w89Jnn5wo9hYxGSdqUGGvMuOt3qcD4l7GdnQ2mPRfdltOa5_Lbpa31CYSBGdOeS9gFoRf7TyKjbotBC2MacB14l1P3ShoVdg9ywYM/s1600/Puccini_BOH%C3%88ME_GSO_2022_05_Kantorski-Geis.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Nessuna chiave, qui</em></u>: soprano <strong>Suzanne Kantorski</strong> as Mimì (<em>left</em>) and tenor <strong>Arnold Livingston Geis</strong> as Rodolfo (<em>right</em>) in Greensboro Opera’s November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini’s <em>La bohème</em><br>[Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]</font></p>
<p>Enunciating each phrase of the rôle with linguistic clarity befitting a poet, tenor <b>Arnold Livingston Geis</b> portrayed Rodolfo with steadfast earnestness and vocal elegance, his upper register scintillating throughout the performance. His early scenes were marked by vocalism of youthful athleticism and animation, his account of ‘Nei cieli bigi guardo fumar dai mille comignoli Parigi’ filled with curiosity and awe. Rodolfo’s halfhearted attempt at writing interrupted by Mimì, the frigidity of the bohemians’ garret was warmed by Geis’s glowing vocalism. ‘Che gelida manina’ was the amorous reverie that Puccini intended it to be, persuasively evocative of burgeoning love, and the ascending lines of ‘O
soave fanciulla, o dolce viso’ soared above the orchestra as they were meant to do. The ardor with which Geis described Mimì to Rodolfo’s friends
in Act Two was stirring, ‘Questa è Mimì, gaia fioraia’ and ‘Perché son io il poeta, essa la poesia’ voiced engrossingly, but the dangerously jealous and suspicious elements of Rodolfo’s personality resounded in the tenor’s articulation of ‘Sappi per tuo governo che non darei perdono in sempiterno.’</p>
<p>The emotional maelstrom of <i>La bohème</i>’s third act swept through Geis’s performance but never altered the unerring course of his singing.
His utterance of ‘Mimì è una civetta’ was impassioned but unmistakably disingenuous, making the candor of ‘Mimì è tanto malata!’ crushing for both
the eavesdropping Mimì and the audience. Geis managed the demanding tessitura of the poignant scene with Mimì with astonishing ease, caressing
phrases that some tenors shout. In the same vein, his singing of ‘O Mimì, tu più non torni’ in the duet with Marcello in Act Four was expressive
rather than explosive, each note placed without forcing. Geis’s vocalism as Rodolfo endeavored to reinvigorate the fading Mimì was boyishly
effervescent, but guilt defeated his effort. In this performance, Rodolfo’s reaction to Mimì’s death fused the pain of loss with the sickening devastation of having failed her, arrestingly voiced.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor ARNOLD LIVINGSTON GEIS as Rodolfo (left) and soprano SUZANNE KANTORSKI as Mimì (right) in Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor ARNOLD LIVINGSTON GEIS as Rodolfo (left) and soprano SUZANNE KANTORSKI as Mimì (right) in Greensboro Opera's November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini's LA BOHÈME [Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbr3VtU1Usl0TzDub4Pw-qvHVe5DvaLZPvnmhfRGCzce594pynqYnLd1GkEhiKaQa0vB1Vblg_h0FWgnECgdkSRTYUMlb-9ixWSGdvPjbtZbRUx7voHb53cyT4O5axRO0PVFFjjMoagYmRHN70VNmOSqiOtix8ADsugvSZ1BKxvrt9rUDwAMfNRCwT/s1600/Puccini_BOH%C3%88ME_GSO_2022_03_Kantorski.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>La vera Lucia</em></u>: tenor <strong>Arnold Livingston Geis</strong> as Rodolfo (<em>left</em>) and soprano <strong>Suzanne Kantorski</strong> as Mimì (<em>right</em>) in Greensboro Opera’s November 2022 production of Giacomo Puccini’s <em>La bohème</em><br>[Photograph by VanderVeen Photographers, © by Greensboro Opera]</font></p>
<p>Before she was seen on stage, the voice of soprano <b>Suzanne Kantorski</b>’s Mimì enchanted listeners, particularly her Rodolfo, whose initial exclamation of ‘Una donna!’ exuded amazement. Bringing a vernal aura into the chilled garret, Kantorski sang ‘Oh! sventata, sventata!’ sweetly, shyly telling Rodolfo of her simple but fulfilling life. Rising to gleaming top As, she sang ‘Sì, mi chiamano Mimì’ gorgeously, and the lush
femininity of her ‘Oh! come dolci scendono le sue lusinghe al core’ and suggestive teasing of Rodolfo recalled the celebrated Mimì of Licia
Albanese. No Rodolfo could have resisted the charm of this Mimì’s ‘Una cuffietta a pizzi tutta rosa ricamata’ in Act Two, and Kantorski deepened her characterization by voicing Mimì’s sympathy and admiration for Musetta so beautifully.</p>
<p>Weariness weakened Mimì’s resolve in Act Three, but Kantorski sang ‘Sa dirmi, scusi’ and ‘O buona donna, mi fate il favore’ urgently. Pleading for Marcello’s help, her Mimì intoned ‘Rodolfo m’ama e mi fugge’ wrenchingly, and her interjections as she overheard Rodolfo’s tale of her deteriorating health demonstrated her innocent optimism. Realizing that her life was waning, her resilient ‘Donde lieta uscì al tuo grido d’amore torna sola Mimì’ aimed as much to reassure Rodolfo as to quiet her own fear. Without succumbing to lachrymose exaggeration, Kantorski’s singing in Act Four manifested the resigned sadness of a young woman seeking the company of people she loved in her final hours. Paralleling Rodolfo’s remorse, Mimì’s ‘O mio Rodolfo, mi vuoi qui con te?’ was genuinely inquisitive, and ‘Lascia ch’io guardi intorno’ and ‘Sono andati?’ were voiced with exquisite purity. The technical accomplishment of Kantorski’s singing was unfaltering, but it was the emotion of her performance, allied with the work of her colleagues in this production, that silenced cynicism about <i>La bohème</i>’s unabating relevance.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-24481054936958871462022-11-08T13:47:00.001-05:002022-11-08T22:00:48.077-05:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Nathan Hudson, Sarah Kirkland Snider, & Caber Smith — God: Autumn 2022 Concert (Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; Elon University, 26 September 2022)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: Nathan Hudson, Sarah Kirkland Snider, & Caber Smith - Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble Autumn 2022 Concert [Graphic © by Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: Nathan Hudson, Sarah Kirkland Snider, & Caber Smith - Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble Autumn 2022 Concert [Graphic © by Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDn6lJYSJ4gC1jRj5Z_SU-MBtw14oXRd7NVIxa4_psrrdbXp_xJuzD3MhWafWFVrmBlG7YrgjbFH-Y3KyNZaQ4ozuQm08BlCZ3tOcoBpAYC3WlJS9RC5t849Utk33LoYshOP_DNN25Q8DuFKQQVnAsmruKEtakdn7BaLC6344L_qcqvZ3JTjG2I45/s1600/ECCE_GOD_2022-09-27.jpg" width="291" height="450"><a href="https://www.nathanhudsonmusic.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>NATHAN HUDSON</u></font></a><u> (born 1992)</u>, <a href="https://www.sarahkirklandsnider.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER</u></font></a><u> (born 1973)</u>, and <a href="https://cabersmith.weebly.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000"><u>CABER SMITH</u></font></a><u> (born 2000)</u>: <strong>Contemporary works for chamber ensemble</strong> — <a href="https://www.nccu.edu/employee/rmack19" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Robert Anthony Mack</font></a>, tenor; <a href="https://donaldhartmann.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Donald Hartmann</font></a>, bass-baritone; Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; Jonathan Poquette, director [Whitley Auditorium, Elon University, Elon, North Carolina, USA; Monday, 26 September 2022]</p>
<p>History documents audiences’ reactions to the first performances of seminal works of music like Jean-Philippe Rameau’s <i>Hippolyte et
Aricie</i>, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Igor Stravinsky’s <i>Le sacre du printemps</i>, but, from the perspective of a time in which these pieces are so familiar as to no longer seem radical, it is difficult to imagine how such music must have sounded when it was truly <i>sui generis</i>. As Rameau, Beethoven, and Stravinsky defied the traditions from which their work emerged, composers in the Twenty-First Century continue to challenge listeners with music that creates its own contexts, striving to be heard with the sort of curiosity and contemplation that sparked musical revolutions of the past.</p>
<p>Whatever the circumstances, be they much-publicized premières of large-scale works in storied venues, débuts of compact pieces in
intimate settings, or first introductions to innovative sounds, there is considerable excitement in hearing new music springing to life. Sadly, contemporary Classical music and the artists who create and perform it in the United States struggle to find audiences and funding. Much admirable music is being written, but it often goes unheralded outside of large metropolitan centers. That <b>Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble</b>, based at Elon University, garners the resources necessary to bring new music to central North Carolina—no cultural wasteland, of course, but also no bastion of avant-garde music—is remarkable, but the advocacy, integrity, and musicianship of the ensemble’s performances are a testament to the galvanizing leadership of Elon’s Director of Bands, <b>Jonathan Poquette</b>. Under his direction, ECCE’s Autumn 2022 concert, <i>God</i>, offered recent works by three gifted composers, splendidly performed by a team of artists whose individual and collective virtuosity astonished.</p>
<p>Opening the programme, <b>Nathan Hudson</b>’s <i>Brace Yourselves!</i> for clarinet and piano earned its title, the demands of the writing for both instruments leaving listeners gasping in amazement. A tribute to the composer’s friendship and close working relationship with author <b>Ben Loory</b>, <i>Brace Yourselves!</i> is a stylistic compendium, its musical dialects, ranging from post-Romantic lyricism to original variants of post-modern atonality, encompassing influences as diverse as Mozart’s, Weber’s, and Brahms’s works for clarinet and a sly nod to Krzysztof Penderecki. Pianist <b>Annie Jeng</b> transformed the keyboard into a Mahlerian orchestra, thundering and whispering as required and coaxing a surprising spectrum of colors from the instrument. In his intrepid performance of this music, some of the most daunting written for his instrument, clarinetist <b>Andy Hudson</b> provided a rare exhibition of the ways in which dazzlingly demonstrative writing can wield unexpected expressivity. The piece’s pensive moments were played with measured sophistication and expansive phrasing. When the composer pushed the clarinet to the limits of its abilities, Hudson responded by extending the boundaries of his technique. The electrifying energy of the performance belied the grueling preparation required to engender it, but <i>Brace Yourselves!</i> made a thrilling impression for which none in the audience is likely to have been prepared.</p>
<p>Inhabiting a vastly different sound world, <b>Sarah Kirkland Snider</b>’s <i>You are Free</i> augmented the scoring of <i>Brace Yourselves!</i> by completing a <i>Pierrot</i> ensemble with the addition of violin, cello, and flute and incorporating marimba, played in ECCE’s performance by percussionist <b>Isaac Pyatt</b>. Joining Jeng and Hudson, whose work maintained the high standard set in the first piece, violinist <b>Nathan Southwick</b>, cellist <b>Meaghan Skogen</b>, and flautist <b>Linda Cykert</b> played their parts eloquently, each instrument’s timbre organically assimilated into the aural tableau. The work’s glorification of personal freedom, interpretive independence, and continuing initiatives to foster liberty and artistic autonomy echoed in the ensemble’s sounds, especially in the marimba’s enchanting tones, exquisitely managed by Pyatt. Snider’s diaphanous music journeys through countless moods, but its prevailing evocation of hope was realized with touching simplicity and sincerity.</p>
<p>Inspired by one of the best-known episodes in English-language theater, the appearance of the witches in the opening scene of Act Four of William Shakespeare’s <i>Macbeth</i>, <b>Caber Smith</b>’s <i>Toil and Trouble</i> is essentially a xylophone concerto in miniature, the instrument engaging in a raucous contest with the <i>Pierrot</i> ensemble. ECCE’s musicians again played marvelously, but, transitioning from marimba to xylophone, Pyatt excelled. Reminiscences of prominent writing for xylophone in Saint-Saëns’s <i>Danse macabre</i>, Act One of Puccini’s <i>Turandot</i> and works by Bartók and Ravel, as well as Britten’s use of the Balinese gamelan, are numerous, but Smith created unique sonorities and textures for the instrument in <i>Toil and Trouble</i>. Invigorated by the momentum generated by his colleagues, Pyatt traversed the xylophone’s full range with astounding acumen, his performance marked by flawless musicality and unapologetic showmanship. His command of the instrument displayed artistic sorcery, and, through his whirring mallets, Smith’s music entranced the audience.</p>
<p>The title of the concert’s programme was borrowed from Nathan Hudson’s imaginative cantata <i>God</i>, composed in 2019 and given its world première in this performance. Setting a story with text by Ben Loory, Hudson endeavored to honor the youthful exposure to liturgical music that guided him along the path to a musical career. Vestiges of Martin Luther’s ‘Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,’ Monteverdi motets, Bach chorales, Händel oratorios, and traditional hymns emerge as <i>God</i> progresses, but Hudson absorbs these memories into his own distinctive compositional voice. Increasing the <i>Pierrot</i> ensemble with an array of chimes, cymbals, and tom-tom, all vividly played by Pyatt, Hudson tells Loory’s story of a man who, wearied by the incessant exertion of enduring, yearns to stop breathing with compassion and wry humor, the music evincing the pathos of human ridiculousness.</p>
<p>Casting the instrumentalists as narrators and chorus viscerally involved them in the drama, and each musician spoke and sang cogently. As the voice of reason that, upon the despairing man’s attempt at ceasing to breathe, intones divine counsel, bass-baritone <b>Donald Hartmann</b> melded his merlot-hued timbre with debonair wit. This God’s benevolence did not preclude suggestions of bemused sarcasm, but Hartmann achieved an ideal balance of empathy and ennui. The incandescent voice of tenor <b>Robert Anthony Mack</b> shone in Hudson’s turbulent music for the man whose irrepressible need to sing overcomes his longing for silence. Uttering each word with conviction and glistening tone, Mack created a character in whose plight elements of Orpheus and Dædalus merged with the everyday stresses of ordinary people.</p>
<p>All music was once new, but no music grows old except by being allowed to decay through unfeeling, routine performances. Presenting works in their infancy compels artists to approach the music with careful study and fresh insights. These qualities abounded in Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble’s performances of pieces by Nathan Hudson, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Caber Smith, but any composer of any era would be grateful for music making of such enthusiasm and expertise.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-11705056567648357542022-11-07T09:44:00.000-05:002022-11-07T09:44:59.993-05:00RECORDING REVIEW: Artur Schnabel — COMPLETE VOCAL WORKS (Sara Couden, contralto; Jenny Lin, piano; Steinway & Sons STNS 30208)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: Artur Schnabel - COMPLETE VOCAL WORKS (Steinway & Sons STNS 30208)" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: Artur Schnabel - COMPLETE VOCAL WORKS (Steinway & Sons STNS 30208)" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh85QW4E7mnE_ZRfY80KDCAvBxZmvez_5FQyoypiIUafh1v1ws0TcnVcdfRzkxcWcyRSDo9w9LMgQLtICFbqJY7aT_SRVsFfih64c7xp7g1-HZ3J5RGq28EKXc5XNtT2pjIngGIzkXUMbDOxSF4wToUTOOGreXUsCbj9w-NhF85xeFV4ZTSoAip8N0/s1600/Schnabel_LIEDER_Steinway_2022_Cover-Art.jpg" width="400" height="400"><u>ARTUR SCHNABEL (1882 – 1951)</u>: <strong>Complete Vocal Works</strong> – <a href="https://www.saracouden.net/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Sara Couden</font></a>, contralto; <a href="http://jennylin.net/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Jenny Lin</font></a>, piano [Recorded in Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, Astoria, New York, USA, 23 – 25 April 2022; <a href="https://www.steinway.com/music-and-artists/label/artur-schnabel-complete-vocal-works" target="_blank">Steinway & Sons STNS 30208</a>; 1 CD, 77:52; Available from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Etudes-LIN-JENNY/dp/B0BGM7T1JY" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Amazon (USA)</font></a>, <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/artur-schnabel-complete-vocal-works/1650282981" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Apple Music</font></a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3ju53lNIG07y9i6zwsYF26" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Spotify</font></a>, and major music retailers and streaming services]</p>
<p>Virtually all admirers and students of the thirty-two canonical piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven have been exposed to the work of pianist Artur Schnabel. Born in the Silesian region of modern Poland as the Austro-Hungarian empire of Franz Joseph neared its end, Schnabel studied in Vienna with Theodor Leschetizky and his wife Anna Yesipova, inaugurating an artistic connection to Beethoven via Leschetizky’s teacher, Carl Czerny, and making the acquaintance of Johannes Brahms, into whose selective society the teenaged prodigy was welcomed. It can be theorized that early immersion in the then-little-remembered piano sonatas of Franz Schubert lured Schnabel into the Beethoven sonatas, upon his interpretations of which his renown would ultimately be founded. Fleeing the National Socialist regime in 1933, Schnabel entered British HMV studios to record music by Beethoven, producing the first complete cycle of Beethoven’s mature sonatas. Eighty-seven years after the 1935 completion of the sonata recordings, Schnabel’s accounts remain a benchmark to which every subsequent performance is compared.</p>
<p>Around the turn of the Twentieth Century, a meeting in Berlin, to which city he relocated in 1898, with contralto Therese Behr proved to be doubly fortuitous, in the personal sense that she became Schnabel’s wife and in enticing the pianist into the realm of Lieder. With Schnabel at the keyboard, Behr pioneered performance of Schubert’s <i>Winterreise</i> by a female voice, but she also spurred her husband to compose Lieder of his own to capitalize on the quality of her voice and celebrate their relationship. Schnabel was not a prolific composer in the manner of Haydn and Mozart, but his body of work surprises by containing relatively few pieces for solo piano. His catalogue of Lieder is also not extensive, but the songs contain some of his most original writing for the instrument of which he was one of history’s greatest exponents.</p>
<p>Recorded for the Steinway and Sons proprietary label in a close but warm acoustic, this recital of Schnabel’s complete Lieder partners Steinway ambassador <b>Jenny Lin</b> with one of the Twenty-First Century’s rarest vocal commodities—a true contralto. The highest-quality recordings of Therese Behr were made when she was in her mid-fifties and offer only suggestions of the amplitude, timbre, and range of the voice in its prime. The most reliable testaments to her vocal abilities are therefore found in the songs written for her by Schnabel, Richard Strauss, and other composers. In her performances of the Schnabel lieder on this disc, <b>Sara Couden</b> engages her own formidable abilities in an appraisal of Behr’s artistic persona. The spirit of her predecessor’s influence on the creation of this music is omnipresent, but Couden does not endeavor to portray Behr by singing her songs. Rather, these become <i>her</i> songs, and she sings them with insights unique to her journey.</p>
<p>Composed during a span of seven years, Schnabel’s Lieder are remarkably consistent in style. Written singly but published in collections, eschewing programmatic cycles like those created by Schubert and Schumann, the songs also demonstrate fidelity to a small number of poets. The set of five Lieder für Singtimme und Klavier written between 1902 and 1906 wields the greatest textual variety amongst the Lieder, the first song, ‘Sphärengesang,’ being Schnabel’s sole setting of verses by Hieronymus Lorm, the <i>nom de plume</i> of Austrian poet Heinrich Landesmann. The Lied’s subtle mysticism builds from a disquieting start, evocatively rendered by Lin, and Couden imbues the vocal line with ethereal tranquility.</p>
<p>Both ‘Frühlingsgruss’ and ‘Morgengruss’ use lines penned by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, whose work provided texts for composers throughout the Nineteenth Century. Couden and Lin mold their performances of the former Lied with apt anticipation and of the latter with unaffected awe. The words of ‘Das Mädchen mit den hellen Augen’ were authored by Theodor Storm, and they are uttered with undeviating concentration on Schnabel’s clever manipulations of their sounds. Friedrich Rückert’s ‘Abfindung’ oppresses the mood of uncomplicated happiness engendered by the first four songs, the unease that lurks in the piano realized by Lin with the controlled agitation heard in Schnabel’s performances of Beethoven’s tumultuous late sonatas. Momentary doubt shudders in Couden’s vocalism before being vanquished by the abiding confidence of her interpretation of the words.</p>
<p>Verifiable information concerning Behr’s career as a soloist is frustratingly elusive. It can be conjectured based upon chronological
possibility and vocal feasibility that she may have sung the part of the Waldtaube in Arnold Schoenberg’s <i>Gurre-Lieder</i> in the years between
the work’s 1913 première and her retirement, but only the presumed suitability of the voice for the music is documented. Nevertheless, there
are undeniable similarities between Schoenberg’s pre-<i>Moses und Aron</i> musical language and the structure of Schnabel’s Lieder. Dating from a period extending from 1899 to 1902, the ten Lieder für Stimme und Klavier published as Schnabel’s Opus 11 vary greatly in subject but are musically cohesive, intimating that, even before their marriage in 1905, the composer had gained thorough knowledge of the contours of Behr’s voice. Poems by Werner Wolffheim supplied the words for two of these songs, ‘Wunder’ and ‘Ein ferner Frauensang,’ and the texts also supply Couden and Lin with means via which to create their own poetry. Lin discerns the appropriate atmosphere for each Lied, honoring Schnabel’s markings but also listening carefully to the metamorphosing colors of Couden’s singing.</p>
<p>Schnabel turned to verses by Richard Dehmel for three of the Opus 11 Lieder. The evolving emotions of ‘Dann’ are limned by contralto and pianist with dauntless directness, and the contrasts between ‘Manche Nacht’ and ‘Waldnacht’ are intensified by the lightness of Lin’s pianism and the shadows that darken Couden’s vocalism. Only ‘Marienlied’ uses words by Novalis, né Friedrich von Hardenberg, but this performance affirms the efficacy of Schnabel’s treatment of the lines. Similarly, verses by Hanns Sachs and Otto Julius Bierbaum respectively appear once in Opus 11, the first in ‘Das Veilchen an den spanischen Flieder,’ bewitchingly sung, and the second in ‘Tanzlied,’ in which the dramatic thrust of every phrase is accentuated without being exaggerated. The writing of Stefan George seems to have appealed strongly to Schnabel, who sourced texts for several of his most deeply-felt Lieder from George’s work. Ideally partnered by Lin’s mercurial playing, Couden’s patrician phrasing lends ‘Dieses ist ein rechter Morgen’ particular persuasiveness. The fervor with which ‘Sieh mein Kind ich gehe’ is performed makes the love that Schnabel and Behr shared audible six decades after their deaths.</p>
<p>Especially in these Lieder’s most extroverted passages, the columnar voluptuousness of Couden’s voice sometimes needs greater aural space in which to reverberate than studio microphones afford, but full-voiced emoting is never sacrificed in the interest of singing to the microphone. The vocal power at Couden’s command is heard in her traversals of the seven Lieder of Schnabel’s Opus 14, their words extracted from works by Eichendorff, George, and Storm. Foreboding and resignation trouble the beauty of ‘Frühlingsdämmerung,’ Lin and Couden projecting faltering resolve, but they infuse ‘Oktoberlied’ with an air of relieved acceptance. Almost fifty years before Richard Strauss composed his <i>Vier letzte Lieder</i>, Schnabel addressed similar themes of battling and surrendering to time in ‘Abendständchen’ and ‘Abendlandschaft,’ two of his most affecting songs that receive two of this recording’s finest performances. The wistful serenity of Couden’s voicing of ‘Hyazinthen,’ facilitated by Lin’s wondrously Impressionistic playing, is supplanted in ‘Heisst es viel dich bitten?’ by apprehensive sobriety. These artists ensure that the gravitas of ‘Die Sperlinge’ does not become morose, never permitting tension to eclipse tenderness.</p>
<p>Built upon verses by Dehmel, the 1914 <i>Notturno für Singstimme und Klavier</i> (Opus 16) is at once an expansive, rhapsodic duet in which the
piano engages in a dialogue with the voice and a chamber piece that pairs the instruments on equal footing in a twenty-two-minute sonata with words. Meandering through shifting psychological landscapes, the text is akin to a stream-of-consciousness monologue to which Schnabel’s music grants narrative continuity. Lin articulates the piano’s proto-prologue with a deceptive attitude of spontaneity, the music’s improvisatory mien masking the accuracy of her playing. Couden’s singing is no less precise, her intonation and diction exact in the <i>Notturno</i> and all of the Lieder. The seamless integration of her registers and centered placement of vowels are reminiscent of the singing of Ernestine Schumann-Heink, heard on recordings good enough to substantiate that her reputation was warranted.</p>
<p>Compelling in every selection, Couden’s expressivity in the <i>Notturno</i> is incredible. Schnabel’s angular melodic lines, at times seeming to lack continuity on the page, are revealed in Couden’s performance to be diligently contoured to the emotional currents of the words. In each of Schnabel’s songs, Couden and Lin exhibit the manner in which the interactions between voice and piano parallel the marriage of music and words. Perhaps Schnabel did not purposefully glorify the symbolism of this interdependence, but a husband’s adoration for his wife permeates his vocal works. More than a century after their devotion inspired these songs, the Schnabels would surely rejoice in this unforeseen fruit of their union, a recital in which extraordinary artists of another generation rapturously reawaken their love </p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-49585420007597546642022-11-05T18:34:00.002-04:002022-11-06T15:45:59.047-05:00RECORDING REVIEW: W. Alexander III, B. Britten, M. de Falla, R. I. Gordon, J. Heggie, J. Higdon, B. Moore, F. Poulenc, E. Smyth, & M. É. Valverde — NO CHOICE BUT LOVE (Eric Ferring, tenor; Madeline Slettedahl, piano; Lexicon Classics LC2206)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: W. Alexander III, B. Britten, M. de Falla, R. I. Gordon, J. Heggie, J. Higdon, B. Moore, F. Poulenc, E. Smyth, & M. É. Valverde - NO CHOICE BUT LOVE (Lexicon Classics LC2206)" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: W. Alexander III, B. Britten, M. de Falla, R. I. Gordon, J. Heggie, J. Higdon, B. Moore, F. Poulenc, E. Smyth, & M. É. Valverde - NO CHOICE BUT LOVE (Lexicon Classics LC2206)" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9CkrH8VCBFFls8o03laFXdhxTfUajNZ0U5kSV1tci8NMm-yFTY5VcTWBtgizndakzwma2mAjqcqOruIh3BMq1pF25w-L_ZIhk0CckuL3aLX1gYejcekORK6ZOp2e88ATLkYE2mNhmOgH8dy0wWobSdbVZeg7iVH6_Fv0sD4fGVGU0suTLtR4pW6H/s1600/Ferring_NO-CHOICE-BUT-LOVE_Lexicon_2022_Cover-Art.jpg" width="400" height="363"><u><a href="https://www.instagram.com/williealexanderthethird/?hl=en" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">WILLIE ALEXANDER III</font></a> (born 1992)</u>, <u>BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913 – 1976)</u>, <u>MANUEL DE FALLA (1876 – 1946)</u>, <u><a href="https://www.rickyiangordon.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">RICKY IAN GORDON</font></a> (born 1956)</u>, <u><a href="https://jakeheggie.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">JAKE HEGGIE</font></a> (born 1961)</u>, <u><a href="http://jenniferhigdon.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">JENNIFER HIGDON</font></a> (born 1962)</u>, <u><a href="https://www.mooreart.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">BEN MOORE</font></a> (born 1960)</u>, <u>FRANCIS POULENC (1899 – 1963)</u>, <u>DAME ETHEL SMYTH (1858 – 1944)</u>, and <u><a href="https://marivalverde.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">MARI ÉSABEL VALVERDE</font></a> (born 1987)</u>: <strong><em>No Choice But Love – Songs of the LGBTQ+ Community</em></strong> – <a href="https://www.ericferring.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Eric Ferring</font></a>, tenor; <a href="https://www.madelineslettedahl.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Madeline Slettedahl</font></a>, piano [Recorded in WFMT Studios, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 4 – 7 June 2022; <a href="https://www.lexiconclassics.com/no-choice-but-love" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Lexicon Classics LC2206</font></a>; 2 CDs, 89:52; Available from <a href="https://emithastudios.limitedrun.com/products/731706-no-choice-but-love-eric-ferring-madeline-slettedahl" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Lexicon Classics</font></a>, <a href="https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0B8QB1R1V" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Amazon</font></a>, <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/no-choice-but-love-single/1638195561" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Apple Music</font></a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2jpV4gtD6dAWbEzZ2MbNFP?si=57ff800bba634685" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Spotify</font></a>, and major music retailers and streaming services]</p>
<p>The story of Western music encompasses many missing pages, the absence of which alters and in many instances perniciously diminishes understanding of the evolution of Art as both product and catalyst of cultural change. To some extent, it is possible to quantify the vast body of work lost to natural and human catastrophes, the Second World War alone responsible for the destruction of musical treasures ranging from irreplaceable manuscripts to priceless instruments. How, though, can the music that has been silenced by oppression be assessed and adequately lamented? Institutional assaults on the music of unique peoples like the Nazi Entartete Musik and Soviet suppression of dissenters’ work are well documented, but how many songs were never sung because the voices that yearned to give them life could not be heard?</p>
<p>The ravages of politics on culture are inescapable, but the part that culture itself can play in marginalizing communities and rejecting their artistic expression is frequently overlooked. More than a half-century after the Stonewall riots, LGBTQ+ individuals, their families and allies, and their artistic endeavors battle stigmas and prejudices perpetuated by popular culture, in some ways different but no less disenfranchising in 2022 than in 1969. Queer voices now sing with decreased fear of organized retribution, but some of their neighbors still refuse to listen, rejecting their work unheard based solely upon biased hate for its source. In the centuries before Jonathan Larson jolted musical theater with <i>Rent</i> and Rufus Wainwright composed an opera celebrating Hadrian’s love for Antinous, how many creators censored or ignored their own imaginations, knowing that their work was unwelcome in the cultures that inspired it?</p>
<p>Traversing a century of musical expression by composers of non-straight orientation, Lexicon Classics’ <i>No Choice But Love - Songs of the LGBTQ+ Community</i> engrossingly examines the ways in which queer artists shape and are shaped by the societies in which they live and work. The significance of this project and its dedication to telling the stories of lives subjected to bigotry and persecution demands uncompromising musical integrity and receives it from all participants in the recording, their work individually and collectively recounting their own narratives of emergence and acceptance. Since his 2021 company début as Pong in the iconic Franco Zeffirelli production of Puccini’s <i>Turandot</i>, tenor <b>Eric Ferring</b> has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera as Tamino in Mozart’s <i>Die Zauberflöte</i> and as the Héraut royal and Arturo in Sir David McVicar’s and Simon Stone’s provocative new productions of Verdi’s <i>Don Carlos</i> and Donizetti’s <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>. Here allied with collaborative pianist <b>Madeline Slettedahl</b>, whose exemplary credentials as a nurturer of voices include lauded tenures with Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Ferring acts as both raconteur and advocate, every word sung on these discs projecting unwavering immersion in the music and the intensely personal dramas of these songs and their contexts.</p>
<p>Each selection on <i>No Choice But Love</i> is performed with extraordinary emotional perspicacity, voice and piano melding into a single, singular interpretive force, but the performance of Ben Moore’s <i>Love Remained</i> with which the recital opens is uniquely poignant. With words drawn from a speech by Fort Worth city councilman Joel Burns, the first song, ‘Hold On,’ becomes an anthem for resilience in this reading, Ferring’s gleaming timbre extending the vocal line like an outreached hand seeking the grasp of a faltering friend. ‘Uncle Ronnie’ employs passages taken from a letter penned by Randy Robert Potts, grandson of evangelist Oral Roberts, and the momentous simplicity of the words permeates the tenor’s singing and the pianist’s playing. The text of the cycle’s titular song comes from a poem by baritone Michael Kelly, who sang the première of <i>Love Remained</i> in 2011. Ferring and Slettedahl use Moore’s music as the conduit for pointed delivery of Kelly’s verse.</p>
<p>The 1978 assassination of San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk was a pivotal event in the LGBTQ+ community’s slow progression towards
recognition and redressing of injustice, and his words continue to foment understanding and tolerance in ‘Hope,’ the final song of <i>Love
Remained</i>. Slettedahl’s gift for intuitively supporting singers’ phrasing was especially apparent, her playing begetting an atmosphere of
indomitable belief in the promise of brightening horizons. The voice enthrallingly beautiful, Ferring articulates Milk’s words not with the
mystical zeal of a prophet but with the guileless directness of a young man feeling acknowledged and represented. Meticulously crafted, Moore’s music amplifies the unifying message of the words, and Ferring and Slettedahl movingly commemorate Milk by disclosing the inherent melodiousness of his rhetoric.</p>
<p>Though an encouraging wave of progressivism has swept over the country in the Twenty-First Century, Spain in the decades between its civil war and the death of Francisco Franco was gripped by staunch conservatism that imposed spiritual exile upon artists like Manuel de Falla, whose
orientations were held in necessary secrecy. Seeking ‘signatures’ of unseen identities in artists’ work often yields performances that focus more on the performers than on the creators, but Ferring and Slettedahl approach de Falla’s ‘Preludios,’ a setting of lines by Antonio de Trueba, with no goal other than faithfully serving composer and poet. Here and in the composer’s treatment of poetry by María de la O Lejárraga García, ‘Oración de las madres que tienen a sus hijos en brazos,’ both instruments achieve unerring stylistic synchronicity, their joint shaping of melodic progressions, harmonic shifts, and rhythmic transitions exploring the subtleties of the music with eloquence. In Ferring’s refined but piquant performances of these songs, de Falla’s true voice sings as it perhaps never could during the composer’s life.</p>
<p>In the past quarter-century, Jake Heggie has written works for some of America’s most renowned singers. The melodic allure and emotional cogency of his <i>Friendly Persuasions</i>, a tender homage to Francis Poulenc with texts by Gene Scheer, exemplify the traits that inspire singers’ love for Heggie’s music, and Ferring’s detailed traversals of these songs exhibit sagacious musical portraiture. Slettedahl engages in vivid characterization of her own in ‘Wanda Landowska,’ recreating the tempestuous atmosphere of the Polish virtuoso’s playing whilst Ferring voices Scheer’s words with dramatic thrust. Their partnership yields a performance of ‘Pierre Bernac’ in which the baritone, whose close connection with Poulenc began with the 1935 première of <i>Cinq poèmes de Paul Éluard</i>, would have recognized the musical integrity and attention to textual subtleties that he espoused. Tenor and pianist touchingly memorialize the writer’s brief life in ‘Raymonde Linossier,’ Heggie’s music suggestive of unrealized promise. In a sense, the last of Heggie’s <i>Friendly Persuasions</i>, ‘Paul Éluard,’ is the point at which <i>No Choice But Love</i>’s paths of understanding past and reshaping present discourses on gender identities and orientations intersect. The symbiosis of Heggie’s music and Scheer’s words envelops Ferring and Slettedahl, bringing the listener into the heart of Poulenc’s relationship with Éluard with unmistakable empathy.</p>
<p>Éluard’s poetry provided Poulenc with texts for the nine <i>mélodies</i> published in 1937 under the title <i>Tel jour, telle nuit</i>. Slettedahl’s ability to fashion evocative sonic tableaux in which Ferring’s voice thrives finds an ideal outlet in Poulenc’s writing for the piano in these <i>mélodies</i>, the musical language of which is sophisticated but direct. Ferring voices ‘Bonne journée’ with warmth and charisma befitting the text, and he and Slettedahl fastidiously observe the dynamic markings that sculpt the lines in ‘Une ruine coquille’ and ‘Le front comme un drapeau perdu.’ The French texts receive from Ferring vocal and linguistic inflections reminiscent of the singing of Henri Legay, the interplay of vocal colorations in ‘Une roulotte couverte en tuiles’ governed by flawlessly-placed consonants.</p>
<p>The depths of Poulenc’s responses to Éluard’s verses and the brilliance with which he echoed their cadences in music are apparent in Ferring’s and Slettedahl’s performances of each of the <i>mélodies</i>, but ‘À toutes brides’ and ‘Une herbe pauvre’ here wield splendid Francophone authenticity, the pianist’s phrasing possessing musical <i>liaison</i> and the singer’s idiomatic vowels spotlighting the composer’s uncommon ear for the innate musicality of words. To their stylistic acumen Ferring and Slettedahl add heightened expressivity in ‘Je n’ai envie que de t’aimer’ and ‘Figure de force brûlante et farouche,’ the vocalism elucidating felicities of Poulenc’s word settings. ‘Nous avons fait la nuit’ is sung with stirring expressivity, the voice’s inviolable evenness and sheen throughout the range communicating an intimate connection with music and text.</p>
<p>Extracted from a collection of three songs published in 1913, Dame Ethel Smyth’s ‘On the Road’ treats Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s words with the
immediacy and ingenuity that have spurred a recent revival of interest in the composer’s powerful opera <i>The Wreckers</i>. The sexual ambiguity
that was so integral a component of Smyth’s personality can also be discerned in her music, and the account of ‘On the Road’ on <i>No Choice But Love</i> imparts ambivalence. Looking beyond the simplest meanings of the text, Ferring and Slettedahl interpret the song engrossingly, evincing both the vulnerability and the vanity of Smyth’s writing by executing the piece wholly without artifice.</p>
<p>Jennifer Higdon has earned the respect of many of America’s foremost exponents of Art Song by consistently deploying her considerable faculties as a composer of songs in arrangements of texts worthy of her music. This is indisputably true of her song ‘Lilacs,’ the words of which were drawn from Walt Whitman’s elegy for Abraham Lincoln, ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.’ Higdon’s musical recitation of some of the most familiar lines in American poetry is propelled by wonderfully emotive playing by Slettedahl, the pulse that she provides enlivening Ferring’s singing. As Hindemith did in his <i>Requiem for those we love</i>, Higdon extends the universality of Whitman’s words, giving Ferring and Slettedahl a platform from which they declaim the song’s paean to fallen idols and upended ideals with striking urgency.</p>
<p>With <i>Let Us Now Praise Famous Men</i>, his still-devastating survey of Depression-era poverty with haunting photographs by Walker Evans, and the autobiographical novel <i>A Death in the Family</i>, James Agee gave a voice to rural America, not only amplifying marginalized peoples’ cries for justice but also extolling the stark nobility of their struggles. Willie Alexander III’s music for Agee’s ‘Sure on this Shining Night’ simmers with reticent sensuality, stoked in this performance by Slettedahl’s flickering realizations of the piano figurations. Into this mood Ferring introduces his voice with great delicacy, the words sung on the breath and caressed by glistening tone.</p>
<p>As the title suggests, Mari Ésabel Valverde’s 2010 work <i>To digte af Tove Ditlevsen</i> draws upon a pair of poems by the eponymous author, whose work was as esteemed in Denmark during the Twentieth Century as that of her celebrated countrywoman Isak Dinesen. Enunciating the Danish texts suavely, Ferring voices Valverde’s settings of ‘Så tag mit Hjerte’ and ‘Mit hjerte er blevet borte’ radiantly, the voice rising with the melodic tides to understated but uplifting climaxes. Slettedahl’s playing of this music energizes its latent <i>bel canto</i>, interweaving harmonic strands with a gossamer touch that aggrandizes the composer’s utilization of the words as the driving force of the songs’ emotional development.</p>
<p>The first of Benjamin Britten’s five <i>Canticles</i>, his Opus 40 exegesis of Francis Quarles’s Seventeenth-Century paraphrase of text from the biblical Song of Solomon, was written in 1947 in memory of pacifist Dean of Canterbury Dick Sheppard. The eroticism of the words is distilled by Britten’s music—composed, as were many of his vocal works, for the voice of his partner, tenor Sir Peter Pears—into an intoxicating essence of subdued longing and the cathartic bliss of fulfillment. Britten’s writing for the piano recalls the viol consort music of Henry Purcell, and Slettedahl masters both the vestiges of Baroque form and the modernity, persuasively fusing the old and new aspects of the music. Vocally, Ferring’s perforrnance of <i>Canticle I</i> is marvelous, the difficult tessitura conquered without outward show of effort, and his interpretation of the piece is exquisite. There is no more moving passage on <i>No Choice But Love</i> than when Ferring sings ‘He is my Altar; I, his Holy Place.’ In these eight words and Ferring’s voicing of them is the soul of <i>No Choice But Love</i>: above all, the joys and sorrows of the LGBTQ+ community are those of every other community.</p>
<p>The work of few composers has been as indelibly influenced by the LGBTQ+ community’s heartbreaks as the vocal music of Ricky Ian Gordon. Choosing as his texts for <i>Genius Child</i> poems by Langton Hughes, Gordon amalgamates the post-Stonewall pursuit of acceptance with the Harlem Renaissance’s fight for social justice. The seventh of the ten songs of <i>Genius Child</i>, ‘Prayer,’ is sensitively sung by Ferring, the piercing uncertainty of his statement of ‘I do not know, Lord God, I do not know’ epitomizing the song’s representation of the continuing precariousness of progress. ‘Joy’ ends <i>Genius Child</i> equivocally, Hughes’s words and Gordon’s music grappling with the fickleness of happiness. Slettedahl plays magically, conjuring an ambiance of unsettling charm in which Ferring’s equally spirited and disspiriting singing of ‘Such company, such company, as keeps this young nymph, Joy!’ mesmerizes.</p>
<p>Commissioned by Ferring in 2021, Ben Moore’s ‘No Choice but Love’ utilizes an original text that recapitulates the themes that reverberate in every song to which Ferring and Slettedahl devote their talents. This valedictory fruit of their collaboration on this project juxtaposes the crystalline crispness of the pianist’s technique with the expressive elasticity of the tenor’s prevailing aesthetic. As in their performance of <i>Love Remained</i>, they animate Moore’s music with palpable personal and artistic accord. Ferring’s voice is that of every wayfarer, journeying to destinations to which there are no concrete directions. The ethos of this release, framed but in no way constrained by LGBTQ+ experiences, champions self-awareness and forbearance, but the listeners for whom this recording is intended are those who feel, regardless of what, how, and for whom they feel. Listening to this project with ears attuned to the glories of song and hearts open to emotions of startling honesty, there is no choice but love.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-6775474598363910612022-10-24T12:47:00.002-04:002022-10-24T13:15:30.212-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Giuseppe Verdi — LA TRAVIATA (Y. Lysenko, O. Van Gay II, R. Overman, K. Schwecke, D. Romano, D. Maize, S. MacLeod, K. Spooner, D. Hartmann; Piedmont Opera, 21 October 2022)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano YULIA LYSENKO as Violetta in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano YULIA LYSENKO as Violetta in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4nzRjWUXKQcFBJ9vJuK5nDn8BpHqRwE5EhVjXW72f0OvgZYP-bGh2FiRGIGjs9DGqBveUHkal62YNQMYQYbOUfLHmXZ5BKbB1NDcnygo-XZtPCW9g0OJ9CgUcsopgG0zXC3N3JY6QbyDRuZ8to2KFOBJiqFbx-rSLwbLtv_froRTyivoHNDsXRUD/s1600/Verdi_TRAVIATA_PiedmontOpera_2022_07_Lysenko.jpg" width="480" height="406"><u>GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813 – 1901)</u>: <strong><em>La traviata</em></strong> — <a href="http://www.musicagrandeartists.com/yulia-lysenko---soprano.html" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Yulia Lysenko</font></a> (Violetta Valéry), <a href="http://www.orsonvangay.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Orson Van Gay II</font></a> (Alfredo Germont), Robert Overman (Giorgio Germont). <a href="https://www.salem.edu/people/kristin-schwecke" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kristin Schwecke</font></a> (Flora Bervoix), <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/students/danielle-romano.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Danielle Romano</font></a> (Annina), <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/students/david-maize.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">David Maize</font></a> (Gastone, Visconte di Letorières), <a href="https://www.highpoint.edu/music/scott-macleod/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Scott MacLeod</font></a> (Il barone Douphol), <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/students/kevin-spooner.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Kevin Spooner</font></a> (Il marchese d’Obigny), <a href="https://donaldhartmann.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Donald Hartmann</font></a> (Il dottor Grenvil), Jackson Ray (Giuseppe), Lawrence Hall (Un commissionario); Piedmont Opera Chorus, <a href="https://www.wssymphony.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra</font></a>; <a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/faculty-staff/james-allbritten.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">James Allbritten</font></a>, conductor [<a href="https://www.uncsa.edu/faculty-staff/steven-lacosse.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Steven LaCosse</font></a>, stage director; <a href="https://cobaltstudios.net/training/instructors/howard-jones/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Howard Jones</font></a>, set designer; <a href="https://taylordance.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Gary Taylor</font></a>, choreographer; Norman Coates, lighting designer; Martha Ruskai, wig and makeup designer; <a href="https://www.piedmontopera.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Piedmont Opera</font></a>, Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; Friday, 21 October 2022]</p>
<p>The world première of Giuseppe Verdi’s <i>La traviata</i> at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice on 6 March 1853, failed to equal the success of the
house’s inaugural presentation of <i>Rigoletto</i> two years earlier. The rapturous reception given to <i>Rigoletto</i> by the Venetian public
prompted La Fenice’s management to commission Verdi to write an additional opera for the house, but derision of what the first-night audience regarded as infelicitous casting deprived <i>La traviata</i> of a triumphant introduction befitting the opera’s popularity with subsequent generations of opera lovers. Like other operas that survived inauspicious premières to later garner acclaim and affection, <i>La traviata</i> demonstrated its considerable musical and theatrical virtues to observers willing to ignore visual distractions and listen without prejudices, its memorable melodies and poignant tragedy soon applauded in virtually every opera house in the world.</p>
<p>Correspondence between Verdi and the librettist for his new opera for La Fenice, Francesco Maria Piave, with whom he had already
collaborated on scores including <i>Ernani</i>, <i>Macbeth</i>, and <i>Rigoletto</i>, documents the composer’s quest to choose a subject that
defied the prevailing conventions of the day. Though wary of the manner of censorial meddling that marred his adaptation of Victor Hugo’s <i>Le roi s’amuse</i>, Verdi was determined to find a contemporary subject rather than the typical operatic fare of mythological figures, tales of Antiquity, and Medieval pageantry. Scholars debate whether Verdi’s first exposure to Alexandre Dumas fils’s <i>La Dame aux camélias</i> was seeing a performance of its stage incarnation in Paris in February 1852 or reading the novel after its publication in 1848, but the story of a denizen of Parisian demimonde society sacrificing her happiness in order to preserve the honor of her paramour’s family indisputably captivated him. Misgivings about potential censorship did not deter Verdi and Piave from transforming Dumas’s dame aux camélias, Marguerite Gautier, into Violetta Valéry, the heroine of their <i>La traviata</i>. The contemporary setting of Verdi’s opera fell victim to official objection, but countless productions in the years since its première in 1853 have exhibited that the effectiveness of the opera’s tragedy does not depend upon visual stimuli. Whether she wears a hoop skirt, a bustle, or jeans, a Violetta who trusts Verdi’s music to guide her performance will earn tears and cheers.</p><p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: baritone ROBERT OVERMAN as Giorgio Germont (left) and soprano YULIA LYSENKO as Violetta (right) in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: baritone ROBERT OVERMAN as Giorgio Germont (left) and soprano YULIA LYSENKO as Violetta (right) in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzpXkY08k4Baa7lNPIHug-v0foPMVkd2nkQ6tOWc99Wq56RgMdXtOGBox5ktU7JPzCKW7XW7OvATXHtcUnzTSAFy9VRd_027D5G70DD1BYieSpSsHrPNuaxiyAcAXXwm5dHmLkwMruPVd_540l_JKPvAALjl_5-HViHWZ5jNgJbOzl97uuaH16FYU_/s1600/Verdi_TRAVIATA_PiedmontOpera_2022_06_Overman-Lysenko.jpg" width="328" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Sull’orlo della morte</em></u>: baritone <strong>Robert Overman</strong> as Giorgio Germont (<em>left</em>) and soprano <strong>Yulia Lysenko</strong> as Violetta (<em>right</em>) in Piedmont Opera’s October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>La traviata</em><br>[Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>That Verdi and Piave achieved their goal of making the tragedy of their setting of the Dumas drama universally affecting was apparent in every moment of <b>Piedmont Opera</b>’s staging of <i>La traviata</i>. Perpetuating an association with the company that proved splendidly
fruitful in Piedmont Opera’s 2019 and 2021 productions of Donizetti’s <i>Maria Stuarda</i> and Puccini’s <i>Suor Angelica</i> and <i>Gianni Schicchi</i>, <b>Steven LaCosse</b> directed this staging of <i>La traviata</i> with imagination fueled by unmistakable affection for the score. Unlike some of his directorial counterparts, whose work controverts even the most generalized animas of composers’ and librettists’ intentions,
LaCosse tasks himself with telling operas’ stories in his own ways rather than telling his own stories using the operas with which he is entrusted.</p>
<p>Aided in this production by elegant set designs by <b>Howard Jones</b>, the effectiveness of which was diminished only by the too-obvious symbolism of an oversized frame that held painted tableaux in the first and second act being empty in Act Three, <b>Norman Coates</b>’s atmospheric but often excessively dark lighting, opulent costumes borrowed from Sarasota Opera and coordinated in Winston-Salem by <b>Ann M. Bruskkiewitz</b>, and typically attractive but unobtrusive wigs and makeup by <b>Martha Ruskai</b>, LaCosse returned <i>La traviata</i> to the Nineteenth-Century setting that Verdi wanted but was denied by the Venetian censor. <b>Gary Taylor</b>’s choreography raucously brought the frenetic energy of Spanish fiestas to Flora’s party in Act Two. Fondly traditional but never stodgy, this <i>Traviata</i> was both familiar and fresh.</p>
<p>Alongside LaCosse’s insightful direction, the conducting of Music Director <b>James Allbritten</b> reliably integrates the constituent elements of Piedmont Opers productions into cohesive theatrical experiences. In recent seasons, Allbritten has demonstrated his mastery of a broad array of repertoire, and his conducting of this performance of <i>La traviata</i> was distinguished by particularly eloquent handling of a beloved score. Espousing neither the view that <i>La traviata</i> is too popular to require study and reevaluation nor the assertion that a conductor must approach Verdi’s music radically and idiosyncratically in order to manifest individuality, Allbritten paced the score with keen focus on permitting the opera’s crucial relationships to develop and evolve organically via the music. Unafraid of grand dramatic gestures and dulcet lyricism, he expertly accentuated the contrasts between outward appearances and inner feelings, a vital component of <i>La traviata</i> and of Verdi’s operas in general.</p>
<p>The wisdom of Allbritten’s management of this <i>Traviata</i>’s musical forces was abundantly apparent in the singing of the <b>Piedmont Opera
Chorus</b> and the playing of the <b>Winston-Salem Symphony</b>. As partygoers, jubilant in Act One and at first exultant and then shocked in Act Two, and offstage revelers in Act Three, the choristers sang excitingly, providing a sonorous musical backdrop before which the opera’s tragedy transpired. The Symphony musicians rendered their parts with gusto that amplified the aural impact of
Allbritten’s reading of the score. Instances of intonational insecurity were few, and Allbritten’s leadership facilitated a high level of musical excellence that was rapidly restored when precision of ensemble between stage and pit disintegrated. Without sacrificing intricate details of Verdi’s late <i>bel canto</i> language, the opera’s drama was recounted not in a series of interconnected sentences but in broadly-conceived paragraphs, the conductor imparting from the first bars of the work’s plaintive Preludio—sadly marred by a glaring wrong entry—an abiding sense of the frsgility of love and life.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: the ensemble of Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: the ensemble of Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbOXhVFnD6OR8QEY9Z82Q2FOa-4LPaxmRvqFp2FzTO4L_TqxKbL_pn_k6SXHq-JErHHammObDSLeXw4V7d6nEFnn56ksFknisntjjqHJ4EM8Gre6yKwrBdEWIZX7ixybi0tPOYE5i8YvaB68hYL8evvgpxdwqwjtdxaeHbXHf9qPjx-kp-UjGhWde/s1600/Verdi_TRAVIATA_PiedmontOpera_2022_04_Ensemble.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Donne al ballo</em></u>: the ensemble of Piedmont Opera’s October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>La traviata</em><br>[Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p><i>La traviata</i> is unique in the Verdi canon in placing the drama solely upon the backs of the opera’s three central characters. The figures who inhabit the periphery of the story serve clearly-defined functions within the plot but have few opportunities for characterization. Piedmont Opera nonetheless assembled a team of talented singing actors for supporting rôles in this <i>Traviata</i>. Appearing only in Act Two, Violetta’s servant Giuseppe and the Commissionario who delivers Violetta’s fateful letter to Alfredo were handsomely sung by tenor <b>Jackson Ray</b> and baritone <b>Lawrence Hall</b>. Similarly, baritone <b>Kevin Spooner</b> was an uncommonly noteworthy Marchese d’Obigny, and tenor <b>David Maize</b>, lustrously singing Verdi’s lines for Gastone, the Visconte di Letorières, introduced Alfredo to Violetta in Act One with an earnest ‘In Alfredo Germont, o signora.’ Baritone <b>Scott MacLeod</b> was aptly haughty as Barone Douphol, delivering the libidinous aristocrat’s admonitions to Violetta and threatening Alfredo with firm-toned vehemence.</p>
<p>Aside from the soprano and tenor protagonists, only Dottore Grenvil appears in each of <i>La traviata</i>’s three acts. A participant in Act
One’s festivities who witnesses Alfredo’s cruel denunciation of Violetta in Act Two and attends to her as she nears death in Act Three, he received genuine vocal and theatrical presence in this production from bass-baritone <b>Donald Hartmann</b>. Singing vividly in Acts One and Two, in which his imposing tones lent the ensembles a firm foundation, he voiced ’La tisi non le accorda che poche ore’ in Act Three with sonorous gravitas, shattering the illusion of Violetta’s desperate optimism.</p>
<p>Serving Violetta in her rural retreat with Alfredo in Act Two and steadfastly remaining at her mistress’s side in Act Three, Annina was depicted as a concerned, compassionate woman by mezzo-soprano <b>Danielle Romano</b>, her urgent singing often conveying the character’s concern and anguish. Soprano <b>Kristin Schwecke</b>’s Flora exuded glamour, both in Violetta’s salon in Act One and at her own rollicking soirée in Act Two, during which she voiced ‘Avrem lieta di maschere la notte’ compellingly, heightening the air of foreboding that detonates in Violetta’s confrontation with Alfredo. Romano and Schwecke sang appealingly, Annina’s humility contrasting tellingly with Flora’s worldliness.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: baritone ROBERT OVERMAN as Giorgio Germont in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: baritone ROBERT OVERMAN as Giorgio Germont in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-I3rwJA2Ejt5mFXaHLRlL5VDzThz5ATJLuctAfjJOt3S7wPJ-Nq9qh30A4T_MDTSZVC3p2xr5DfxfXlN4grO94D4d_WP15ns4KaAFjI791AaJwC4uMTwXLQUuGKWLCaLUJ5CfcHIWUJCxYZ985brdNLN0ePx2I_vOWOe9l5X-gA7li1FkUVw6nN4I/s1600/Verdi_TRAVIATA_PiedmontOpera_2022_01_Overman.jpg" width="480" height="320"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Il padre severo</em></u>: baritone <strong>Robert Overman</strong> as Giorgio Germont in Piedmont Opera’s October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>La traviata</em><br>[Photograp by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>Arturo Toscanini famously counseled the young Robert Merrill that his understanding of Act Two of <i>La traviata</i> would be transformed by
fatherhood, intimating that, in a wholly successful portrayal of the elder Germont, vocalism of even the finest caliber must be allied with paternal warmth. The consistent brilliance of baritone <b>Robert Overman</b>’s 2015 depiction of Rigoletto for Piedmont Opera was only fitfully replicated in his interpretation of Giorgio Germont. At his first entrance in Act Two, it was immediately discernible that Overman’s timbre remains well suited to Verdi repertoire, but the wide compass of Germont’s music exposed the voice’s lack of steadiness. In the extended duet with Violetta, he sang ‘Pura siccome un angelo’ nobly, touchingly invoking the father’s love for his daughter, and he phrased ‘Un dì, quando le veneri il tempo avrà fugate’ with true dignity. Overman voiced ‘Piangi, piangi, piangi, o misera’ gracefully, comforting rather than hectoring as Germont demanded that Violetta abandon Alfredo.</p>
<p>‘Di Provenza il mar, il suol’ is one of Verdi’s finest arias for baritone, and Overman’s account of it was admirable in skilled management
of the line and even projection throughout the range, but the tremulous tone disappointed. As in many productions, Germont’s cabaletta was suppressed, leaving him to end Act Two by reacting with exasperation to Alfredo’s hasty pursuit of Violetta. Overhearing his son’s merciless outburst at Flora’s fête, this Germont declaimed ‘Di sprezzo degno sè stesso rende’ fervently, his shame as great as Violetta’s. In Overman’s performance, Germont’s arrival at the dying Violetta’s flat in Act Three was understated, his ‘Di più non lacerarmi’ enunciated subtly as he withdrew into the shadows, making way for Alfredo to share Violetta’s final moments. The many virtues of Overman’s portrayal of Germont ultimately overcame the voice’s diminished security, his limning of the father’s journey from cold severity to remorse and reconciliation intensifying the opera’s pathos.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor ORSON VAN GAY II as Alfredo in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor ORSON VAN GAY II as Alfredo in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjApaddVExMoADp3JmB3ljZrmJDII6TcVx6bpIdo3M5DAhUCqHHjOJLFCtqbl2SqE6PKcH13h5mDIEqCWVDdd7bjnTvOgCQyKxq0DDJyZP_ubJWKaYQXMyuCQePIxvqAUnczCy0OZGpQ6ILiB6rdYfssGNElI56HZhv5wUawdKH2foQa1Jojtc2W1MN/s1600/Verdi_TRAVIATA_PiedmontOpera_2022_03_VanGay.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Solo, con il suo rimorso</em></u>: tenor <strong>Orson Van Gay II</strong> as Alfredo in Piedmont Opera’s October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>La traviata</em><br>[Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]</font></p>
<p>Bringing to his performance of Verdi’s music for the lovelorn Alfredo a flickering vibrato reminiscent of Miguel Fleta, tenor <b>Orson Van Gay
II</b> sang and acted ardently, his body language in the opening scene of Act One communicating the character’s devotion to Violetta before his first word was sung. Launhcing the celebrated Brindisi, Van Gay voiced ‘Libiamo, libiamo ne’ lieti calici’ ebulliently. His traversal of ‘Un dì, felice, eterea’ was properly amorous, but the ascent to ‘croce e delizia’ disclosed a tendency to forsake the correct vowels in the interest of engendering more congenial placement of tones above the passaggio. This was less apparent in Van Gay’s singing from offstage during Violetta’s cabaletta and in his impassioned articulation of ‘Lunge da lei per me non v’ha diletto!’ at the start of Act Two.</p>
<p>In Van Gay’s performance, Alfredo’s aria ‘De’ miei bollenti spiriti’ was a potent statement of personal conviction, the zealous lover proclaiming his total immersion in life with Violetta. Like his father, Germont <i>fils</i> lost his cabaletta, and the absence of ‘O mio rimorso! o infamia!’ made the shortened scene seem disconcertingly perfunctory. The scenes with Violetta and Germont that followed inspired the tenor to his best singing of the evening, the voice sounding focused and free. Bursting into Flora’s party, this Alfredo sparred insouciantly with Barone Douphol and heartlessly dismissed Violetta’s warnings. Van Gay uttered ‘Ogni suo aver tal femmina’ ruthlessly but convincingly evinced Alfredo’s horror and heartbreak when Germont castigated his behavior. Alfredo’s belated return to Violetta in Act Three was strangely pedestrian, Van Gay’s voicing of ‘Parigi, o cara’ sensitive but phlegmatic, as though Alfredo was aware that he had no more time with Violetta. He sang ‘O mio sospiro e palpito’ affectingly, but his demeanor betrayed cognizance of the inevitability of Violetta’s death. Van Gay was a romantic Alfredo whose heart-on-the-sleeve emoting in the opera’s first two acts intermittently robbed the voice of evenness, but the vitality of his work was gratifyingly unflappable.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: soprano YULIA LYSENKO as Violetta in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: soprano YULIA LYSENKO as Violetta in Piedmont Opera's October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA [Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYqeWCCvGq55xcIMbTEopjP3ollg4icCppQWEBmhFf1xnlDnTMtZJmDmpgMP_aE2pChZIeBdJ0Rv_zAdIi5jr6_tqmjzdTdlOUze--7LdKNYBMQAy-gCJ9S95EctqS2RlsnV0tug8ps0SKaKoga1rs8UiFbaeRq2N0WWgXQ1_gcPODtYhPfDbwnm5f/s1600/Verdi_TRAVIATA_PiedmontOpera_2022_05_Lysenko.jpg" width="480" height="292"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="2"><em><u>Una lettera d’un padre</u></em>: soprano <strong>Yulia Lysenko</strong> as Violetta in Piedmont Opera’s October 2022 production of Giuseppe Verdi’s <em>La traviata</em><br>[Photograph by Mariedith Appanaitis, © by Piedmont Opera]</font></font></p>
<p>When asked in an interview some years ago to share his thoughts on the dramatic structure of <i>La traviata</i>, a prominent tenor who frequently sang Alfredo replied, ‘It’s about Violetta.’ Whether on stage alone or in the company of the full ensemble, soprano <b>Yulia Lysenko</b> was indisputably the soul of Piedmont Opera’s <i>Traviata</i>. Her opening ‘Flora, amici, la notte che resta’ in Act One disclosed vocal allure and technical poise, recalling Victoria de los Ángeles’s Violetta despite diction that faltered in some passages. Joining Van Gay in the Brindisi, she voiced ‘Tra voi, tra voi saprò dividere’ effervescently, and her enunciation of ‘Ah, se ciò è ver, fuggitemi’ allied playfulness with yearning. Lysenko infused ‘È strano!’ with curiosity, but her mesmerizing traversal of ‘Ah, fors’è lui che l’anima,’ compromised only by a slight crack on the second top A, radiated burgeoning desire. The reverie was abruptly ended by her sparkling ‘Follie! follie! delirio vano è questo,’ bemused elation lightening the voice. ‘Sempre libera’ was splendidly sung, the top Cs and D♭s comfortably in the voice and the fiorature dispatched intrepidly.</p>
<p>Lysenko was a rare Violetta whose singing in all three of the opera’s acts was accomplished, but she rose to exalted heights of expressivity and musicality in Act Two. Having lovingly hidden the true source of her finances from Alfredo, Lysenko’s Violetta matured further in the momentous discourse with Germont. The avidity of her ‘Non sapete quale affetto vivo’ was as galvanizing as the simplicity of her ‘Dite alla giovine sì bella e pura’ was moving, and the resolve with which she voiced ‘Morrò! morrò! la mia memoria non fia ch’ei maledica’ was wrenching. Keeping her promise to leave Alfredo, she entreated ‘Amami, Alfredo, amami quant’io t’amo’ with overwhelming emotional power.</p>
<p>The depth of Violetta’s pain was audible in Lysenko’s statement of ‘Che fia? morir mi sento!’ at Flora’s ball, and fear trembled in her ‘Invitato a qui seguirmi’ when she encountered Alfredo. Silently enduring the humiliation of his public recriminations, her sorrow cascaded in a devastatingly beautiful ‘Alfredo, Alfredo, di questo core non puoi comprendere tutto l’amore.’ Lysenko eschewed overwrought histrionics in the spoken recitation of Germont’s letter in Act Three, and her cry of ‘È tardi!’ was chilling. The sublime resignation and soaring top As of Lysenko’s singing of ‘Addio, del passato bei sogni ridenti’ rendered the excision of its second half lamentable. Her hope rekindled by Alfredo’s return, ‘Parigi, o caro’ offered a crushing glimpse of renewed happiness, but the finality of ‘Ah! gran Dio! morir sì giovine’ codified the impending tragedy. Lysenko’s crisp trills as Violetta sang of feeling her will to live returning were a final, fleeting vocal manifestation of physical health. Exhausted by the effort, Lysenko’s Violetta expired as she lived, collapsing unsupported, seen by those around her but left to fight her own battle. Lysenko did not fight without aid in Piedmont Opera’s <i>La traviata</i>, for which the company enlisted a battalion of gifted artists, but hers was the victory that ensured this <i>Traviata</i>’s conquest.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-456198472041368305.post-67440134182271518652022-10-16T13:01:00.003-04:002022-10-16T13:40:33.145-04:00PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Riccardo Broschi — IDASPE (J. Holiday, V. Genaux, P. Beaudin, Z. Reams, S. Delijani, K. Sulayman, W.E. Chan; Quantum Theatre, 13 October 2022)<p><img title="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano PASCALE BEAUDIN as Berenice, tenor KARIM SULAYMAN as Artaserse, and mezzo-soprano ZOIE REAMS as Mandane, and dancers in Quantum Theatre's October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi's IDASPE [Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder & Quantum Theatre]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: (from left to right) soprano PASCALE BEAUDIN as Berenice, tenor KARIM SULAYMAN as Artaserse, and mezzo-soprano ZOIE REAMS as Mandane, and dancers in Quantum Theatre's October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi's IDASPE [Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder & Quantum Theatre]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggUei4n4oFsLFqG5elP1agqvAFSiGrUsh-nth5coSYlPsti2krGfE2JPu7jmZLTZ7JrjDBd-Mzbjf7mIBKlJPQl5YD3scoFYcJG1fGAEBWD0eFKC_1QjHTwzVinBcCXrjcgYP7AeExbzl1ymmKbFJHdRYX2Ryj7Iu7ZYCJbReS3eEk20iwpPeFhUvw/s1600/Broschi_IDASPE_Pittsburgh_2022_07_Ensemble_Jason-Snyder.jpg" width="382" height="480"><u>RICCARDO BROSCHI (circa 1698 – 1756)</u>: <strong><em>Idaspe</em></strong> [<font size="1" face="Times New Roman"><strong>MODERN WORLD PREMIÈRE</strong></font>]– <a href="https://www.johnholiday.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">John Holiday</font></a> (Idaspe), <a href="http://www.vivicagenaux.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Vivica Genaux</font></a> (Dario), <a href="http://www.pascalebeaudin.net/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Pascale Beaudin</font></a> (Berenice), <a href="https://imgartists.com/roster/zoie-reams/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Zoie Reams</font></a> (Mandane), <a href="https://www.shannondelijani.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Shannon Delijani</font></a> (Arbace), <a href="https://www.karimsulayman.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Karim Sulayman</font></a> (Artaserse), <a href="https://www.weienchancountertenor.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Wei En Chan</font></a> (Ircano); <a href="https://www.chathambaroque.org/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Chatham Baroque</font></a>; <a href="http://www.danielnestacurtis.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Daniel Nesta Curtis</font></a>, conductor [Claire van Kampen, director; <a href="https://www.antoniafranceschi.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Antonia Franceschi</font></a>, choreographer; <a href="https://www.narellesissons.design/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Narelle Sissons</font></a>, scenic designer; <a href="http://www.maryellenstebbinsdesign.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Mary Ellen Stebbins</font></a>, lighting designer; Ilona Somogyi, costume designer; <a href="https://www.quantumtheatre.com/idaspe/" target="_blank"><font color="#800000">Quantum Theatre</font></a>, Byham Theater, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Thursday, 13 October 2022]</p>
<p>Few fates are more dreaded by ambitious artists in the Twenty-First Century than being first ignored and then forgotten. What could be more
cruel than sacrificing so much of one’s life to the creation of art that battles to be heard and seen in the present and slumbers in neglect in future? Despite now being an indelible element of the artistic personality, the notion of a body of musical work enduring beyond the lifetime of its creator is relatively new, a product of the Nineteenth Century, during which composers like Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner cultivated continuing interest in their work by molding and promulgating their own mystique. Had he foreseen the company’s founding, might Luigi Cherubini have anticipated his <i>Medea</i> opening a Metropolitan Opera season in 2022? Could Händel have dreamed of his operas, tailored to the abilities of individual singers, being performed a quater-millennium after his death?</p>
<p>Riccardo Broschi would perhaps be one of the composers of his time who would be most surprised by hearing his music performed in 2022. Likely born in Naples in 1698, Broschi was the eldest son of musical parents. Surviving documentation of his musical education indicates that his talent manifested early in his life, but much of his music for the stage owes its preservation to the fame of his brother Carlo, the castrato Farinelli. Regarded by some musicologists as the first true musical celebrity, it is theorized that only Benjamin Franklin was as widely known as Farinelli in Europe during the Eighteenth Century. His surviving music demonstrates that the elder Broschi brother possessed considerable musical gifts in his own right, and he wisely capitalized on the boon of such a fortuitous familial association by composing music that flaunted his younger sibling’s extraordinary talent. During Broschi’s lifetime, writing operas for Farinelli was an act of business savvy. In the Twenty-First Century, their connection with Farinelli ensures the survival of scores that, like so many pieces, might otherwise now be lost.</p>
<p>Fully-staged productions of Baroque operas remain uncommon in the United States. Productions featuring period instruments are even rarer. First performed at Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo during the 1730 Venetian Carnevale, Broschi’s <i>Idaspe</i> is a surprising candidate for revival in the USA in 2022. Despite its first cast including three of the Eighteenth Century’s most celebrated singers (the castrato Nicolini—Händel’s first Rinaldo in 1711—in the title rôle, Francesca Cuzzoni as Berenice, and Farinelli as Dario), there is little evidence of <i>Idaspe</i> having endured beyond its inaugural production except as a source of <i>arie di baule</i> inserted into other scores, notably Vivaldi’s 1735 pasticcio <i>Bajazet</i>. Giovanni Pietro Candi’s libretto for <i>Idaspe</i> contains amorous and political convolutions of the sort that are typical of Baroque opera, but Broschi’s musical setting often transcends the conventionality of the words, not least in the writing for Farinelli and Cuzzoni. Broschi was not a peer of Händel, Telemann, and Rameau as a musical dramatist, yet <i>Idaspe</i>’s musical ingenuity merits modern reassessment.</p>
<p>Transitioning the opera’s drama from Antiquity to the middle of the Twentieth Century, <b>Claire van Kampen</b> applied her considerable experience in both music and theater to curating an incarnation of <i>Idaspe</i> in which elements of the opera’s drama proved to be astonishingly timely, its archetypal characters mired in conflicts that are all too relevant for today’s audiences. Not unexpectedly, some repeats of <i>da capo</i> arias and the libretto’s expanses of <i>secco</i> recitative were pruned, adhering to time constraints and mostly circumventing potential longueurs. The title character was arguably most adversely affected by modifications to the score, losing the fine spiritoso aria ‘Così mi piace’ in Act One, the aria ‘Bianca man tu sei di neve ma riceve’ in Act Two, and the affecting accompagnato ‘Infelice prigionero’ in Act Three. Reshaping works to maximize singers’ technical and histrionic faculties or meet audience expectations was common in the Eighteenth Century, fidelity to composers’ manuscripts becoming sacrosanct much later. Van Kampen’s concept was in many ways true to Baroque opera’s ethos of adaptability, her <i>Idaspe</i> recognizably Broschi’s but also unmistakably her own.</p>
<p>Bringing van Kampen’s vision to the stage of Pittsburgh’s historic Byham Theatre with palpable energy and focus, the production team assembled by <b>Quantum Theatre</b> <i>Idaspe</i>’s increased the linear progression of the opera’s intricate narrative. <b>Ilona Somogyi</b>’s elegant but provocative costumes amplified the piece’s social and gender divisions, a vital aspect of the plot that was also accentuated by van Kampen’s clear-sighted direction. Both <b>Narelle Sisson</b>’s scenic designs, dominated by stylized geometric figures and neon outlines of palm trees that artfully evoked thd glitzy, somewhat seedy Naples of Pasquale Sitieri films, and <b>Mary Ellen Stebbins</b>’s lighting emphasized interplay of light and shadow, paralleling the story’s examination of clashes of public façades and private feelings.</p>
<p>Often a prominent component of Baroque opera, dance assumed a central rôle in Quantum Theatre’s <i>Idaspe</i>. Though <b>Antonia Franceschi</b>’s inventive choreography, recalling Martha Graham, Jerome Kern, and Bob Fosse, was brilliantly executed by the production’s eight dancers, the visual profile of their work was reminiscent more of the Weimar Republic than of 1960s Naples and introduced an uncomfortable undercurrent of vaudeville into a tale of Machiavellian political machinations. Nevertheless, the audience reaction betrayed no objection to the stylistic incongruity, the production unquestionably delighting Pittsburghers despite often rendering the opera’s plot unintelligible.</p>
<p>Musical impetus for Quantum Theatre’s staging of <i>Idaspe</i> originated with <b>Chatham Baroque</b>, the period-instrument ensemble founded by violinist <b>Andrew Fouts</b>, gambist <b>Patricia Halverson</b>, and theorbist <b>Scott Pauley</b>. Their ranks expanded for this production by gifted musicians adept at integrating historically-informed performance practices with timeless musical integrity, Chatham Baroque allied with conductor <b>Daniel Nesta Curtis</b> to provide a musical foundation with few weaknesses. Pauley and harpsichordist <b>Justin Wallace</b> maintained rhythmic fluidity in the continuo, fomenting momentum in recitatives and following Curtis’s lead in shaping ritornelli poetically. Fleeting errant pitches from the winds detracted little from enjoyment of their work.</p>
<p>Curtis’s tempi brought welcome variety, avoiding tedium in a setting in which markings of Allegro proliferate the composer’s manuscript. Broschi’s music is not distinguished by the kind of psychological depth found in the operas of Händel and Hasse, but <i>Idaspe</i> displays musical characterization of a high order, bolstered by instrumental writing that discloses its composer’s careful study of his most accomplished contemporaries’ operas. Chatham Baroque’s playing silenced questions about the quality of <i>Idaspe</i>’s music by enabling the listener to perceive the care with which Broschi crafted the score.</p>
<p>Typifying the laudable consistency of Quantum Theatre’s casting of this production, countertenor <b>Wei En Chan</b> sang the part of Idaspe’s staunchly loyal lieutenant Ircano with vocal panache and youthful exuberance. Reliably vivid in recitatives, he voiced his aria in Act One, ‘Nel periglio dell’amico,’ engagingly, articulating fiorature cleanly and covering the full range of the music with minimal forcing at the extremities. His singing of the Largo aria ‘Trà l’affanno, e trà il periglio’ in Act Two communicated the character’s state of mind without dramatic excess, Chan allowing the music to speak directly to the listener. Making much of each of Ircano’s moments on stage, Chan lent the character distinctive musical and dramatic identities.</p>
<p>As the captain of the guard Arbace, depicted in this production as a sort of androgynous mafia enforcer with as much in common with the Aufseherin in Strauss’s <i>Elektra</i> as with similar characters in Baroque operas, mezzo-soprano <b>Shannon Delijani</b> sang strongly, the voice sounding most solid in the upper fifth of the part’s compass. Optimism resounded in her voicing of ‘Questo sia quel dì felice’ in Act One, descents below the stave managed with aplomb, but Delijani was most compelling in Arbace’s aria at the beginning of Act Two, ‘Sù gl’affetti del vassallo,’ the fiorature intuitively integrated into the line. Arbace’s conflict between the duty of his position and his innate sense of justice was evident in every note, word, and gesture of Delijani’s performance, the sincerity of her acting making the reversal of fortunes that begets the opera’s <i>lieto fine</i> surprisingly believable.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: mezzo-sopranos ZOIE REAMS as Mandane (left) and VIVICA GENAUX as Dario (right) in Quantum Theatre's October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi's IDASPE [Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder & Quantum Theatre]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: mezzo-sopranos ZOIE REAMS as Mandane (left) and VIVICA GENAUX as Dario (right) in Quantum Theatre's October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi's IDASPE [Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder & Quantum Theatre]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx-UTGiF1IOmVN8UNVVqgeSXqp4nNpFcT0VlsYNtEnDwBDFbDaZWykuv9JgpuWdrTcJkNXo_SUewF4A5p2lXyiY22zuoMukXR-s2eXbjCFihF0I_Gy5CvoIWxAP7QWaVLOXu-rnYNi9nfCDytxzzSbpPxnXUuXnpNu1yfMbPTDAf_lP_WXq8Avg373/s1600/Broschi_IDASPE_Pittsburgh_2022_04_Zoie-Reams-Vivica-Genaux_Jason-Snyder.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Gli amanti provati</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Zoie Reams</strong> as Mandane (<em>left</em>) and mezzo-soprano <strong>Vivica Genaux</strong> as Dario (<em>right</em>) in Quantum Theatre’s October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi’s <em>Idaspe</em><br>[Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder and Quantum Theatre]</font></p>
<p>Amongst <i>Idaspe</i>’s characters, Mandane—a princess of the house of Media who pines for Dario—was most maligned by the production. Neither her involvement in the drama nor her motivations were fully discernible. Nonetheless, mezzo-soprano <b>Zoie Reams</b> claimed for Mandane a place at the core of the drama, her opulent-toned, deeply-felt vocalism imparting the profundity of the princess’s passion for Dario. In Act One, Reams sang ‘Ch’io non sia felice un giorno?’ entrancingly, her sultry timbre illuminating textual subtleties. Her account of ‘Che bell’ardire’ in Act Three was similarly hypnotic, her phrasing again influenced as much by the meaning of the words as by musical cadences. The allure of the voice and the vigor of Reams’s utterance of recitative made the paucity of Mandane’s music especially regrettable, but her artistry prevailed by making every line of the part momentous.</p>
<p>The Persian king Artaxerxes I was a frequent visitor to operatic stages in the first half of the Eighteenth Century. The magnanimous change of heart in the opera’s final minutes notwithstanding, Broschi’s portrait of the Achaemenid monarch in <i>Idaspe</i> is decidedly unflattering, as is that in <i>Artaserse</i>, a 1734 London pasticcio to which Broschi contributed at least one aria. In Quantum Theatre’s production, tenor <b>Karim Sulayman</b>’s Artaserse was unquestionably a despot, but his tyranny was enacted with undeniable suavity and charisma. Throughout the evening, the fervor of his delivery of recitatives was complemented by the refinement of his singing of arias. ‘Pugnai per amore’ in Act One was declaimed with stinging intensity, the text enunciated with libidinous bravado.</p>
<p>Artaserse’s aria in Act Two, ‘Prestami i dardi, nume bendato,’ was approached with indefatigable confidence. the divisions boldly and accurately voiced. When Sulayman started to sing ‘Deh, ti piega’ in Act Three, an Artaserse capable of kindness and mercy was heard for the first time. Centered in the best part of his voice, the aria was phrased with delicacy and ornamented with great restraint, the trills crisp and the sotto voce at the top of the stave ideally projected. The touching beauty of Sulayman’s vocalism in this scene offered glimpses of the noble spirit that would later engender a metamorphosis from vengeance to reconciliation.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: tenor KARIM SULAYMAN as Artaserse (left) and soprano PASCALE BEAUDIN as Berenice (right) in Quantum Theatre's October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi's IDASPE [Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder & Quantum Theatre]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: tenor KARIM SULAYMAN as Artaserse (left) and soprano PASCALE BEAUDIN as Berenice (right) in Quantum Theatre's October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi's IDASPE [Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder & Quantum Theatre]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ3J-O0WAhTbSkyyvZtCyqzeF65VnGSjlqmq8DsAj2nK7c4h1KZrX4XUeIYY0CA8iiNWkL16FvMX54iH_c18MhxS4vb5Rx8-O_0tp_H1gJuNXhCEjG6ALjsBBCNxkbVPXX9jUpp60_hKYJ2pIoU4Q8v0kJQeN62GVaC_lkHukAdeXfGZ_WbSno_syx/s1600/Broschi_IDASPE_Pittsburgh_2022_03_Karim-Sulayman-Pascale-Beaudin_Jason-Snyder.jpg" width="320" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Il rè e la principessa</em></u>: tenor <strong>Karim Sulayman</strong> as Artaserse (<em>left</em>) and soprano <strong>Pascale Beaudin</strong> as Berenice (<em>right</em>) in Quantum Theatre’s October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi’s <em>Idaspe</em><br>[Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder and Quantum Theatre]</font></p>
<p>Händel composed some of the most iconic rôles in his London operas for soprano Francesca Cuzzoni, who won praise in the Eighteenth Century for the emotional immediacy of her portrayals. In his music for the princess Berenice in <i>Idaspe</i>, Broschi endeavored to exploit the qualities for which Cuzzoni was renowned, assigning her arias in slower tempi in which she could use the voice to enkindle pathos. In Quantum Theatre’s production, soprano <b>Pascale Beaudin</b> proved to be a superb Twenty-First-Century exponent of parts written for Cuzzoni, her performance of Berenice’s music reaching great heights of expressivity. The opening bars of ‘Un certo non sò’ in Act One disclosed the singer’s affinity for the rôle, the vocal line traversed with unaffected eloquence.</p>
<p>In Act Two, Beaudin sang ‘Vieni, o sonno, e le mie pene’ ravishingly, pronouncing each syllable of the text with purpose, and she joined with her Idaspe and Dario in an exhilarating voicing of their terzetto. The aria for Berenice in Act Three of this <i>Idaspe</i>, ‘Sì, traditor tu sei,’ was interpolated from Broschi’s <i>La Merope</i>, supplying Beaudin with a showcase for her gleaming navigation of triplets and exciting staccati. The music’s difficulties, confronted intrepidly, contributed to the indignant aloofness of her portrayal. If contemporary accounts can be trusted, Cuzzoni could not have rivaled Beaudin’s physical glamour, but Beaudin’s singing of Berenice’s music earned approbation similar to that inspired by Cuzzoni’s vocal virtues.</p>
<p align="center"><img title="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano VIVICA GENAUX as Dario in Quantum Theatre's October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi's IDASPE [Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder & Quantum Theatre]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="IN REVIEW: mezzo-soprano VIVICA GENAUX as Dario in Quantum Theatre's October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi's IDASPE [Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder & Quantum Theatre]" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwKU0g0ozI9fK0cV3KniNgt6bb8bF6nJcFfIYd3vjxaQQHRrGnKmAjowcZ2gdHxllZfhm86k_c-amEp6-kp4yYkHm9q9puIQC0qH9Qu4Bw0uiQGVs_AVvM6FHKsuAZGgJerCQTw63PW2T9YCmMvCQrSPTVaaFZ7D6PGH8mcUPpa5xEHSczyRISxbC/s1600/Broschi_IDASPE_Pittsburgh_2022_01_Vivica-Genaux_Jason-Snyder.jpg" width="358" height="480"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><u><em>Guerriero di bravura</em></u>: mezzo-soprano <strong>Vivica Genaux</strong> as Dario in Quantum Theatre’s October 2022 production of Riccardo Broschi’s <em>Idaspe</em><br>[Photograph by Jason Snyder, © by Jason Snyder and Quantum Theatre]</font></p>
<p>A sibling’s comprehensive knowledge of his brother’s vocal constitution yielded writing for the rôle of Artaserse’s brother Dario that surely tested even Farinelli’s technical prowess. Casting today’s singers in parts written for Farinelli is difficult, but Quantum Theatre triumphed by entrusting Dario to a singer whose performances of music composed for the great castrato—including two of Dario’s arias—are widely acclaimed, mezzo-soprano <b>Vivica Genaux</b>. The spectacular bravura singing expected of Genaux was astounding, but her depiction of Dario did not rely upon coloratura to captivate the audience. With Italian diction better than that of some native speakers, she ignited recitatives with theatricality and limned the pensiveness of the Largo aria in Act One, ‘Tutto amore al caro bene.’ Genaux has perhaps sung the daunting aria ‘Qual guerriero in campo armato’ more often than any other active singer, but her familiarity with the music effected no contempt in this performance, in which the dizzying fiorature were dispatched with awing mastery.</p>
<p>The contrast between Dario’s heroic resolve and his inner uncertainty was particularly apparent in Genaux’s portrayal. The Largo aria in Act Two, ‘Ombra fedele anch’io,’ was touchingly sung, the triplet figurations evincing the palpitations of Dario’s suffering heart, and she, too, enunciated her lines in the terzetto at the act’s end with poignancy. Even without the <i>da capo</i> of ‘Pastorel che trova alfine’ in Act Three, Genaux conveyed the full spectrum of Dario’s emotions, ultimately taming Artaserse’s fury by humbly divulging the character’s true identity. Listeners who anticipated pulse-quickening singing of divisions from Genaux were not disappointed, but the greater success of her performance was her deployment of virtuosity as a dramatic device.</p>
<p>The castrato’s collaborations with Händel and Nicola Porpora in the first decades of the Eighteenth Century having garnered acclaim in Europe’s
musical circles, it is possible that Broschi was nearly as cognizant of Nicolini’s vocal faculties as he was of Farinelli’s. As sung in Pittsburgh by countertenor <b>John Holiday</b>, Idaspe’s music matched Dario’s in theatrical effectiveness. The eponymous protagonist seemed remote in Act One until Holiday started to sing ‘All’ardir di questo brando,’ in which the disguised king’s pride and resilience coursed through the vocal line. The beauty of Holiday’s voice shone in Idaspe’s Largo aria in Act Two, ‘O bella mano sei come la seta,’ the mood of which impelled singing of beguiling lyricism, and in the dire exchanges with Berenice and Dario in the terzetto.</p>
<p>Facing execution in Act Three, Holiday’s Idaspe grew more determined as his tormentor, Artaserse, became desperate. The accompagnato ‘Artaserse, che pensi?’ was recited with Shakespearean gravity, Idaspe’s disdain for his captor’s oppression glinting in the singer’s voice. The indomitable hero denouncing Artaserse’s treachery, his singing of ‘Mostro crudel, che fai?’ was electrifying. In the opera’s penultimate and final scenes, Holiday’s vocalism, inviolably musical throughout the performance, burned with dramatic fire, his upper register gleaming. Like the opera itself, this Idaspe refused to accept oblivion, fighting unrelentingly to recover the status of which he was mercilessly deprived. Restored to his rightful rank and united with his true love, Idaspe’s joy radiated from Holiday’s singing.</p>
<p>Staging Baroque operas in the USA is a gamble—thankfully, one that more companies are willing to take. Even so, deviating from the small number of Händel works with which American operagoers are relatively acquainted is a still-greater risk. That Quantum Theatre’s Artistic Director <b>Karla Boos</b> selected not only a Baroque opera but one by a neglected composer as the company’s first foray into producing opera on a large scale is indicative of both artistic daring and trust in the adventurousness of the Pittsburgh community. Naysayers invariably argue that operas like Broschi’s <i>Idaspe</i> have been dormant for centuries because they are undeserving of revival. Quantum Theatre’s production affirmed that <i>Idaspe</i> was merely awaiting the gathering of a cast suited to its demands.</p>Joseph Newsomehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12775570447210391630noreply@blogger.com