Aria Jukebox: The Wolf Trap Family Singers Strut Their Stuff

The Wolf Trap Opera Filene Young Artists - learn their names for the future.

Wolf Trap Opera Filene Young Artists 2016. Top row, left to right: J'Nai Bridges, Timothy Bruno, Ben Edquist, Mane Galoyan, Jonas Hacker, Summer Hassan, Alasdair Kent. Middle row: Sarah Larsen, Will Liverman, D'Ana Lombard, Clarissa Lyons, Richard Ollarsaba, Kerriann Otano.  Bottom row: Amy Owens, Shea Owens, Brenton Ryan, Reginald Smith, Jr., Kihun Yoon, Yongzhao Yu, Christian Zaremba. Photo courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Wolf Trap Opera has several development programs to help young singers to further develop their careers.  WTO supports three types of young artists: Filene Young Artists, Studio Artists, and Fellows. The distinction among these categories is the point at which the young artists are in their careers.  There is also an Artist in Residence who is an alumnus/alumna of the company who returns during the summer season to mentor the young artists.  The term ‘resident artists’ get used for all these categories.  On Sunday, I chose to buy a ticket to attend the Wolf Trap Aria Jukebox Concert, performed by seventeen of the twenty Filene Young Artists.  The website says this about the FYAs: “They have recently finished graduate or professional degree programs from the top music schools in the country and have often participated in year-long young artist companies or summer apprenticeships. Many of them have already won prestigious awards and are on their way to significant careers. Approximately 15-20 singers are chosen annually from an initial pool of approximately 800 applicants.”  Most of the roles in WTO opera productions are played by members of this group.  Each singer for Sunday’s Jukebox had prepared four arias to sing and attendees voted prior to show time to decide which of the four would be sung.

Think of this like you might going to see an All Star sporting event; the FYAs are certainly among the ALL Stars at their level.  You want to see and enjoy the game, but you also want to see each player showcase their individual talents. For the major league baseball All-Star game, I want the National League to win, but I also want to see Bryce Harper hit a homerun.  I wanted to hear the arias on Sunday, but I also wanted to see who hit the ball the farthest.  It was truly delightful to be able to hear these young, but already accomplished, performers display their talents, both acting and singing, and sometimes, amusingly, their personalities.  And there were some home runs.

I now must run a risk to my reputation as someone who prefers sopranos.  After all, it was my newfound love of listening to great sopranos like Birgit Nilsson and Renata Scotto that drew me into opera some six years ago.  I’d also like to preface my comments about yesterday’s performances by reiterating that my likes or dislikes are those of an opera fan, not an opera expert.  I have an opinion and enjoy expressing it and encourage others to do the same, but it is just my opinion.  I should also say I did not take notes, preferring to just enjoy the performances, so I hope I don’t confuse any of the players.  Having listed all the caveats, here is the shocker, at least to me: I have to say that I was even more blown away by the guys than the gals on Sunday.  But to be fair, there were more guys than gals by 11-6.

Katherine Carter served as host and kept things moving at a good pace, staying in touch with and entertaining the audience with her comments, and WTO Director, Kim Witman, was impressive performing accompaniment on the piano for all of the arias.  When I heard the first aria, one from La Traviata , performed by Reginald Smith, Jr., who sings with a beautiful baritone, the impact of the emotion that he was expressing took me by surprise.  It is to be expected that the arias are sung in character, but the clear conveyance of the emotion without me knowing the words caught me off guard.  Mr. Smith will play Marcello in WTO's upcoming production of La Boheme.  Brenton Ryan, who played the Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia sang “The Aria of the Worm” with gusto and drama.  Among the other tenors, I thought Alastair Kent sang his aria with a voice that was unusually effective at conveying the emotion of the aria.  I am not sure such a sensitive voice will be able to fill the large opera houses with sound, but I feel strongly he could be a successful singer of popular ballads, along the lines of Andrea Bocelli or Enrique Inglesias.  Yongzhao Yu had a nicely resonating and attractive tenor voice, though I liked him much better singing Wagner in the encore.  He will play Rodolfo in the upcoming La Boheme.  I thought that perhaps Jonas Hacker had the strongest, most attractive tenor voice, and I expect a successful professional career in opera for him; and with the name Jonas he has a head start. 

My favorite among the male voices are the baritones.  I sort of agree with the sentiments of “I’m Glad I’m not a Tenor” performed by Shea Owens, who played Junius in The Rape of Lucretia.  His aria was the humorous highlight of the afternoon, and he was even joined for a few bars of Nessun Dorma interlude by a chorus of the FYAs sitting in the balcony.  He will play Schaunard in La Boheme.  Will Liverman who played Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia sang with dramatic conviction; I would like to hear him sing some softer numbers that allows us to hear the color of his voice.  Baritone Kihun Yoon has what is known in the opera world as a powerful instrument that will very likely power him to a successful singing career.  Richard Ollarsaba has tremendous stage presence and a clear, powerful bass-baritone voice; I feel he is destined for a successful career playing villains.  Christian Zaremba, who played Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, sang a very tender Russian song with such feeling that even this non-Russian was touched.  The last guy to mention is Timothy Bruno who would certainly be a finalist in any how low can you go competition.  His rendition of “Some Enchanted Evening” with that low bass voice was clearly an audience favorite.

The women were excellent; don’t misunderstand me.  Mezzo soprano Sarah Larsen, who played the nurse in The Rape of Lucretia has a voice of considerable color and warmth, well suited to her aria “Can’t help lovin’ dat man.”  Amy Owens who played the maid in The Rape of Lucretia sang a spirited "Zerbinetta’s Aria" by Strauss, which requires some difficult vocal gymnastics.  Summer Hassan who will sing Musetta in WTO’s upcoming performance of La Boheme sang a lovely version of Charpentier’s “Depuis le Jour,” one of my favorite arias.  Kerriann Otano who played the Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia sang Kurt Weill’s “The Saga of Jenny,” a good fit for her; I can certainly envision her singing that on Broadway in a revival of The Lady in the Dark.  The final two singers might have been my favorites of the sopranos.  Mane Galoyan has a lovely voice I’d like to hear more of, and Clarissa Lyons who sang an aria from Cosi Fan Tutte made me believe she would be excellent in that role and likely to play it sometime in the future in a major opera house.

In a fine finish to an afternoon of the WTO strutting its stuff, the concert was closed out with an encore performed by seven of the FYAs singing a selection from Richard Wagner’s Ring with WTO Artist in Residence, Alan Held.  Mr. Held played Wotan in the recent Washington National Opera’s production of the complete Ring. One was tempted to say, "Wow!".

Having now heard these young performers, I can follow their careers and look forward to hearing them again when they return to the mid-Atlantic region, as well as in upcoming WTO productions.  Let’s hope WTO does Aria Jukebox again next year. For this year: three cheers for the gals and the guys, but the guys earn a star!  And a big hoo rah for WTO!

Note to Readers

I have made a few tweaks to OperaGene.com in the last few days: 1) switched the homepage to the blog posts page, so that people who access operagene.com land on the blog page; 2) changed the font for the main text sections; and 3) changed the logo.  These changes are intended to make the site more appealing, user friendly, and helpful to the opera fan.  If you have suggestions on how to improve the website either in appearance or information or features provided, I would love to hear from you.

British Musicians and Singers Gather in Trafalgar Square Following BREXIT Vote to Play “Ode to Joy”

I was puzzled to read that a sizable group of individual British musicians and singers had gathered Thursday night in Trafalgar Square in London to play Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in response to the historic British vote to leave the European Union.  This story was first reported on June 26 in the website Slippedisc.com and was described as a spontaneous response to the vote; you can view a video of the affair on the Slipped Disc website.  It’s quite moving and my first thought was to wonder why the musicians and singers were happy that BREXIT passed, especially because I had read prior to the vote that British musicians were largely in favor of remaining.  Like many of my first reactions, the thought that this event was expressing approval of BREXIT’s passage was impulsive and uninformed. 

“Ode to Joy,” is of course the familiar, final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  It is a surprising piece in that it involves choral music in a classical music symphony.  The words for the piece are taken slightly-modified from a poem by the German poet Frederich Schiller.  So, the musicians and singers were playing a piece of European music.  Most telling is that “Ode to Joy” is also the Anthem of the European Union.  One phrase in the poem translated from German and copied from the Wikipedia entry for “Ode to Joy” helps explain the sentiment:

Joy, beautiful spark of divinity,

Daughter from Elysium,

We enter, drunk with fire,

Heavenly, thy sanctuary!

Your magics join again

What custom strictly divided;

All people become brothers,

Where your gentle wing abides.

It speaks to the brotherhood of man.  The musicians were playing the EU Anthem as a show of solidarity with their musician brothers in the EU. 

Philip Barrett on mixcloud.com offered a report that mixes music and comments from the participants: https://www.mixcloud.com/philip-barrett/an-ode-to-joy-solidarity-with-europe/.  It is clear that this was a case of musicians and singers expressing their brotherhood with other musicians and singers.  In fact, British musicians/singers are worried about how this will affect funds available to hold concerts, to construct new music halls, and to easily cross borders in Europe as well as whether British musicians/singers will be able to work in the EU nations and EU musicians/singers able to work in Britain.

We will see what unfolds, but I was touched by this outpouring of emotion and display of brotherhood.

Met Opera HD in Cinema Encore Broadcasts Over the Summer

here’s the deal,

I am a little late reporting on this item, but on the theory that late is better than never, here goes.  Metropolitan Opera announced encore performances of four of its HD in Cinema series this summer:  http://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/.  I covered the Met In Cinema Series in my blog post titled Affordable Opera, Part I.  The summer showings are not live; you will be watching a high quality recording – hence the use of the term ‘encore’.

detour to Philadelphia,

One surprise I received in doing some research on live opera being performed this summer in the mid-Atlantic region was an article in Philly.com (Philadelphia Inquirer’s website) by critic Peter Dobrin, titled “Classical Music In and Around Philly This Summer.”  For opera, he only listed the four Met HD in Cinema encore broadcasts.  I find it difficult to believe there is no live opera in Philadelphia this summer.  However, David Patrick Stearn, the Inquirer’s other classical music critic had a piece on Philly.com titled “Summer Preview: Classical Music Within a Day’s Drive,“ and there was no mention of live opera in Philadelphia this summer.  Too bad he only looked north of Philadelphia for his article; he is also associated with classical music station, WQXR in NYC, so maybe Philadelphia to New York is his area of focus. Regardless, I encourage Philadelphians to also venture south and west for some live opera this summer, and all of us to try live opera in different cities.  Opera fans in the DC area have Wolf Trap Opera and in Pittsburgh there is SummerFest 2016 (see Elizabeth Bloom’s recent article, “Opera Theater of Pittsburgh’s SummerFest Will Happen In Usual Places”).

back to the Met HD in Cinema Series,

To my chagrin, I must report that Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca was broadcast this past Wednesday and the cast with Patricia Racette and Robert Alagna looked terrific.  Ms. Racette starred in a Washington National Opera production of Tosca a few years ago and she was superb.  I have seen the final three encores in HD format and can recommend them all.  Tosca will be followed on June 29 by L’Elisir D’Amore (The Elixir of Love) by Gaetano Donizetti.  This is a fine production with power diva Anna Nebtrebko as Adina and Met Opera favorite Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino.  I think of this comedy as a slice of chiffon pie, something to be greatly enjoyed, though not too often.  I think Anna’s acting here is not commensurate with her singing but her singing is outstanding. 

Anna Netrebko as Adina and Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore.  Photo by Ken Howard; courtesy of Metropolitan Opera.

Next in the lineup is La Boheme by Puccini on July 13.  La Boheme is the most performed opera, and rightly so.  The story Is loaded with charm and pathos and the music is some of Puccini’s most beautiful.  This performance features a fine cast headed by Kristine Opolais as Mimi and Vittoria Grigolo as Rodolfo.  I tend to favor the sopranos but I must admit that Mr. Grigolo has a gorgeous voice.  In my opinion, it doesn’t have the gravitas of Pavaroti’s voice, but is more like a trumpet played beautifully.  I was anxious to hear Ms. Opolais because she has appeared in a number of recent Met productions and to very strong reviews.  Her performance in this opera was as a last minute fill-in for Anita Hartwig who came down with the flu.  Ms. Opolais starred in Madama Butterfly one night at the Met and the next morning was called upon to step in that night to play Mimi.  Wow!  I am so impressed she could do that.  She sang beautifully but was more effective at portraying a sickly woman than one enraptured by love.  If seeing this version of Boheme might prevent you from attending the Wolf Trap Opera production on August 5, by all means, put off seeing the HD version. 

Kristine Opolais as Mimi and Vittorio Grigolo as Rodolfo in La Boheme.  Photo by Marty Sohl; courtesy of Metropolitan Opera.

The final encore broadcast of the summer is the Mozart classic Cosi Fan Tutte, a comedy with a sexual edge, an edge I gather that Mr. Mozart liked to travel.  This production is especially fun because of a great cast.  It would be hard to pick a better current day one than Isabel Leonard, Daniel de Niese, Susanna Phillips, Rodion Pogossov, and Matthew Polenzani.  I will only comment on Susanna Philips: her star is rising, her smile is morning sunshine, and her voice is pure honey.  You can also catch her in Boheme above playing Musetta; her version of the aria Quando me'n vo is a show stopper. 

Matthew Polenzani as Ferrando, Susanna Phillips as Fiordiligi, Isabel Leonard as Dorabella, and Rodion Pogossov as Guglielmo in Cosi Fan Tutte.  Photo by Marty Sohl; courtesy of Metropolitan Opera.

however, consider this,

Ticket prices for these encore broadcasts are somewhat reduced compared to operas broadcast live. Nonetheless, you will still drop about $12-20 to see one, depending on the opera and theater.  That’s not bad given the price of movies these days, and you see it on a really big screen with great sound in a cloistered environment.  Plus, there is plenty of ticket availability compared to the live broadcasts.  There is another option to see these, however, if the timing or the setting doesn’t work for you.  You can rent any of these four operas by signing up for Met Opera on Demand.  You can sign up for the monthly or yearly plan, but you can also rent the operas individually for $4.99 each for a 48-hour period.  So, you can have your opera and cake (and eat it too).  Check out the Met Opera on Demand website for information on devices that can stream and play the videos.  http://www.metopera.org/Season/On-Demand/ 

And speaking of live opera this summer,

I noticed in the Washington Post Weekend Section these listings:

Beetovern’s Fidelio – June 25-26, Atlas Performing Arts Center (atlas arts.org), 202-399-7993

Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium – June 25, Bel Cantanti Opera (belcantanti.com), tickets online or at door

And speaking of live opera for the Fall season,

Ok, I was not speaking of that, but it is worth noting that single ticket sales for the Met's 2016-2017 season start on Sunday, June 26.  If you can get to the Met this year, do it!

Elegy Written On An Opera Guide

Name the composer of these operas: La Finta Semplice; Mitridate; Lucio Silla; and La Clemenza Di Tito.  If you are seriously into opera, or even music broadly, you might know or guess the answer.  I’d wager the typical opera fan will be baffled, except that the language the names are in may help you rule out a few composers.  While waiting on an appointment recently, I began perusing The New Penguin Opera Guide edited by Amanda Holden, 2001.  At 1168 pages, the Guide is an encyclopedia of opera composers with a fairly complete listing and discussion of their operatic works.  Amazon’s description of the Guide says, “Over 100 distinguished contributors have written on more than 800 composers and examined 1500 operas in detail.”

The New Penguin Opera Guide, edited by Amanda Holden, 2001.  Photo by Author.

Think about that for a moment.  Eight hundred composers – how many can you name?  The Guide begins with the listing of Antonio Maria Abbatini and ends with Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg.  Ever hear of those composers?  Fifteen hundred operas – how many have you seen?  I’m guessing you have not seen the four Mozart operas listed above.  And I’m not picking on Mozart.  How many of these Verdi operas have you seen – Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio; Jerusalem; or Aroldo?  And so it goes, not all of the great composers’ works were hits.

Somehow perusing the Guide made me remember one of my favorite poems, Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, which ponders how many of the parishioners lay in their graves with unrealized potential.  The Penguin Guide is in part a graveyard of forgotten composers who nevertheless had distinguished themselves while alive; yet, despite their ability and efforts, never achieved wide spread or lasting recognition.  Likely each one put their heart and soul into their work, but perhaps their operas just weren’t that good or maybe the composers gave up too quickly or maybe for some reason audiences overlooked them.  If one looks at the history of opera, many famous operas of famous composers were failures when first presented; sometimes fan appreciation grew with time and sometimes revisions made the works more accepted.  In many cases, lives and composing careers were cut short by untimely deaths due to accidents or disease. In Mozart’s case, the first three operas above were written early in his career.  Suppose his life had been cut even shorter – no Figaro, no Giovanni, no Cosi, and no Magic Flute.  What might some of these unknown composers have achieved with more time to develop their craft and operas? 

I also wonder if society settled on the hundred or so operas that get repeatedly performed too quickly.  Music professionals and audiences have winnowed the list over time, but if we started over and had a competition would some new ones emerge as favorites?  I’d guess not many, but I’d bet there would be some.  Some conductors/directors would find a way to stage them or singers would find a way to interpret their roles such that audiences would be won over and they would emerge from obscurity, or maybe we’d find that we had just overlooked a gem.  Operas are expensive experiments.  You don’t get that many times upon the stage to work it out or grow an audience.  And we must admit that we can only sustain interest in so many operas, with more than 1500 accumulated over time, and new ones coming along every year. 

Let me end this elegy by acknowledging not only the composers but all the librettists, singers, conductors, stage directors, managers, staff, critics, and financial benefactors that were necessary to establish and maintain this four-hundred-year enterprise. The genius, talent, dedication, and hard work that enabled the writing of Penguin Guide’s 1168 pages is a staggering testament to human creativity, ability, and teamwork.  It continues to the present day and will soon be playing at an opera house near you.  The reward is not only in the legacy which can be capricious, but is primarily in the moment when the music, the performers, and audience share the creative experience and musical connection that brings us together as human beings, those alive and those who went before us.

Back to Lucretia, the Barns, and Wolf Trap Opera

first, a little railing,

Here is the follow up to my initial discussion of Friday night’s performance of The Rape of Lucretia by Wolf Trap Opera at the Barns.  I am not the only one who found this production to have a powerful impact.  Washington Post critics, Philip Kennicott and Anne Midgette  posted a discussion of the performance on June 12 saying as much.  I noticed their article on June 14, and I was disappointed to see that after two days online there were no comments for a performance that is truly worth discussing.  I enjoy reading the comments to reviews as well as the reviews themselves.  I left a comment and as of the posting of this blog piece it remains the only comment.  I wonder what it means that the Washington area is blessed with two world-class classical music critics and they only attract one comment on an excellent local production.  I am also dismayed that such a fine production is not a complete sellout given the population of the DC area.  It is summer and there are many things vying for our attention, but I am concerned that the presentation of opera of this caliber by enthusiastic and talented young performers does not fill a small theater in a metropolitan locale. I think of attendance at music, drama, and arts events not only as entertainment but to be continuing education in citizenry.  I have been thinking about Lucretia since Friday, six days ago.  It has raised my awareness and made me think about our nature as a society of humans.  Right now I am pondering the meaning of a question that Collatinus asked his wife as he tried to comfort her and tell her the rape was not her fault.  He says, "I forgive you."  Huh?  For what?  If anyone is swayed, there is still one more performance of Lucretia on Saturday night.

J'Nai Bridges as Lucretia, Brenton Ryan as Male Chorus, Will Liverman as Tarquinius, and Kerriann Otano as Female Chorus.  Photo by Scott Suchman and courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

J'Nai Bridges as Lucretia, Christian Zaremba as Collatinus, Shea Owens as Junius, Sarah Larsen as Bianca, Amy Owens as Lucia, Brenton Ryan as Male Chorus, and Kerriann Otano as Female Chorus.  Photo by Scott Suchman and courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

more about Lucretia,

No question that The Rape of Lucretia performed by Wolf Trap Opera is in sum an elegant and emotionally powerful and intellectually engaging production.  But let me add a few minor criticisms as a fan.  For example, why are stage directors today replacing Roman soldiers with WWII GI’s to update settings?  The story of Lucretia is just as powerful in its original setting I would think and having three GI’s named Collatinus, Junius, and Tarquinius sitting around drinking Jack Black and yet talking about the merits of wine seems a little unusual.  And some aspects still have me wondering – the presence of an unnamed and unexplained child and the male chorus donning the clerical collar to bring Christianity into the the scene some 500 years before it appeared on the scene.  I got the feeling that perhaps Lucretia might have been a sacrificial lamb to ensnare the audience in Christianity; I’m just not sure if the libretto was pro or con.  And why was the female chorus dressed like the young woman you hope your daughter will not hang out with, even if she does have a good heart.  These are mostly small matters that passed by quickly in the viewing, but linger on reflection.

J'Nai Bridges as Lucretia (holding River Rogers as Child).  Photo by Scott Suchman and courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

I loved the young voices.  Sometimes they sounded like not completely tamed broncos showing their spirit, but they managed to add color to an opera that could become blandly didactic.  I also like the use of the male and female choruses to place the action in a larger context forward and backward in time.  I thought Brenton Ryan who played the male chorus was particularly effective maintaining drama throughout the evening. Perhaps he had the most engaging lines; Kerriann Otano as the female chorus also sang well.  Sarah Larsen and Amy Owens, who played nurse/maids for Lucretia had strong voices, with considerable color, enough to maintain the balance among the eight players.  The same can be said for Christian Zaremba and Shea Owens who played Collatinus and Junius.  Will Liverman who played Tarquinius, the rapist, was threatening and yet in a simple, beautiful aria as he looked upon the sleeping Lucretia displayed a rather beautiful voice; he is worth hearing more of I think.  J’Nai Bridges had one of the strongest voices; I would like to hear her with more opportunity to show it off.  I think there should be a website somewhere where every opera singer has to post one song every year so we can follow their development.  I think the energy of the young singers helped to glue this performance into the unified whole that it was. 

The opera was written for twelve soloist musicians.  There was relatively little playing together to produce an orchestral sound.  I am not a musician, but I was surprised at how well the individual instruments supported the players and the story.  Kudos to the conductor and musicians.

All of the singers in Lucretia are Young Filene Artists.  I found it interesting to peruse their brief bio sketches in the outstanding WTO program guide.  You can also find info on the artists on the WTO website.  I was impressed that most are pursuing advanced degrees in music, are affiliated with other opera house training programs, and have several opera performances already under their belts.  These folks are worth following.  WTO has a strong record of its graduates going on to successful opera careers.

comments on the Barns,

I have mixed feelings about the Barns as an opera venue.  It is cozy and does have charm. The theater is not large with maybe 20-30 rows of about 20 seats across each on the floor level and a small balcony.  One advantage is you are close to the action on stage almost regardless where you sit and the acoustics seem fine to me. One disadvantage of the seating is that it is not tiered.  If you have a tall person in front of you, you will spend time moving side to side to see the performers on stage.  The Barns does have a rustic barn look.  It may conflict somewhat with the more formal nature of opera, but if it encourages more casual dress, I’m for it.  The restaurant serves light fare and drinks.  Ask the price of the glass of wine you are considering.  We found out after we had ordered that two glasses of pinot grigio were $26.  On the other hand, parking is plentiful and free.  Getting out after a performance is fairly quick since the theater is small.

The pre performance talks are held in a lecture room in a building next door to the theater one hour before the show and there is usually plenty of seating for all who attend.  I most definitely recommend these!  They will enrich your experience.

comments on Wolf Trap Opera,

I think Wolf Trap Opera is a treasure.  It’s director, performers and staff, and productions reek of quality and a commitment to excellence and to its community.  Young singers around the country compete to be part of this program and the development opportunity it provides them, and the program is designed to take full advantage of their individual talents to provide an optimal cultural and entertainment package for local patrons.  WTO is a pretty safe bet for investing your entertainment dollar.  Check out the recital performances as well as the operas themselves.

Opera in Barcelona

the setting,

My wife arranged the travel for our recent family vacation to Spain so that the best was saved for last, a visit to Barcelona.  At least that was the theory, though in fact each place we visited - Lisbon, Tangier, Seville, Granada, and Madrid - had attractions and charms their own that made them not to be missed.  Still, Barcelona with its art and architecture, its food and charm, and laid back lifestyle in a sea side setting on the Mediterranean certainly qualifies as a highlight.  My wife enriched the experience even more by arranging tickets for us to attend the opera there. 

One of the first things we learned was that Barcelona is in Catalonia, an autonomous, though not independent region of Spain.  It occupies the northeast corner of Spain and is similar in shape to South Carolina, though less than half its size in square miles, but having more than twice its population, largely concentrated in Barcelona.  The region has its own language, Catalan, in addition to Spanish, and there is currently a push by many in the province and in the Catalan parliament to secede from Spain due to a feeling that Catalans pay more in taxes than they receive in services from the central government.  Not surprisingly, the central Spanish government in Madrid is opposing the breakaway.  A new referendum appears likely in the coming months and Catalans seem to be struggling with this decision and how it might affect them. 

One practical result for the opera goer in Barcelona is that, while the operas are performed in their native language, the supertitles above the stage are in Catalan, while the subtitles appearing on the backs of seats can be selected in Catalan, Spanish, or English.  The name of the opera house itself is listed in Catalan as Gran Teatre del Liceu or in Spanish as Gran Teatro del Liceo ; the switching of ending e and o is a main distinguishing feature of the two languages.  The opera house was built in the mid nineteenth century, but was decimated by a fire in 1994.  It was renovated into the beautiful building and interior it is today, situated on La Rambla, a central street in old Barcelona and a favorite shopping stroll for locals and tourists alike.

In my travels in Europe in the last 10-15 years I have developed the impression that opera is more basic or central to cultural life there.  The opera house seems to be a natural part of the landscape for a town of any size.  My impression of the audience in Barcelona was that they were younger on average than I most often see in the US and somewhat less formal, though there were still lots of coats and ties and evening gowns in the audience.  During the intermission, the hallways were lined with attendees eating baguette sandwiches of Iberian ham and cheese with their beverage of choice, quite often Cava.  The theater was close to full seating, and the audience responded enthusiastically to the performance.  There are two choices for taxis after the performance.  Hail one on the same side of La Rambla as the theater and have the taxi take you on a long ride to get back to your hotel, or try in vain for the next half hour or so to get an empty taxi on the opposite side of the street headed in the direction of the hotels.  Your choice. (Photos by author; immediately below is a gallery you can scroll by clicking)

the opera,

One surprise for us was that, even though American opera star Joyce DiDonato was billed as the star performer, in fact, the lead roles were rotated among the performances by two sets of singers.  The disappointment was that we did not get to see Ms. DiDonato; I failed to follow my own admonition to readers to check carefully the performers listed for the day you wish to attend, though in fairness to myself, I had assumed that a star of Ms. DiDonato’s fame would not be rotated.  The upside was that we got to hear an outstanding mezzo soprano, Silvia Tro Santafe, instead; she sang beautifully and her acting was spot on.  Perhaps in Europe her fame is equal to Ms. DiDonato’s?

The opera we attended was Vicenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi.  This is his and librettist Felice Romani’s version of Romeo and Juliet. It seems to have been a bit of a star-crossed opera.  The deadline for the commission was short.  Romani modified a libretto intended for another opera and Bellini used much music he had composed for a failed opera for this one, though the appropriated text and music were greatly re-worked.  Yet, the opera seems to be less often performed than I think justified by the beautiful music; perhaps it suffers from competition with Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet.  They did not use Shakespeare’s play as its basis but used original sources, so that the enmity in this version is not just between families, but between two political parties, the Guelphs and the Ghiberllines.  Politics in those days was to the death.  I will not comment on the direction our own are headed.

Some of the details are different, but the basics of the story remain the same.  A boy and a girl from opposing groups fall in love, and a sympathetic figure intervenes with a potion that causes a death like sleep and a plan for them to escape together; confusion intervenes and leads to both the boy and girl offing themselves to always be with the other.  There was one little wrinkle in this Romeo and Juliet that caused me difficulty.  Romeo was played by a mezzo soprano.  Here is what the program stated, “This is one of Bellini’s earlier operas and it has more in common with Rossini-style bel canto than romantic opera, the genre in which he excelled.  Thus a mezzo soprano is given the role of Romeo and the opera comprises an uninterrupted succession of recitative and arias that is still in the bel canto tradition.”  Okay, who am I to argue with their dramaturg.  I am confused, however, in calling this an early Bellini opera and with the implication that tenors don’t sing bel canto.  Nonetheless, this is the way the opera is typically presented and so called "pants" roles are not all that uncommon in opera.  I tried to accept Ms. Santafe’s Romeo as a guy.  I really did. However, for me she did not sound like a guy and she did not look like a guy, though I grant her acting movements portrayed masculinity quite effectively.  As the evening wore on, her love for Guiietta became convincing and the question of gender identity faded into the background.

Overall, I thought the singers were quite good.  Giulietta was portrayed by soprano Ekaterina Siurina, who has a pretty voice and sang well, though sometimes she seemed strained to hit the more powerful notes and her pleasure at having successfully navigated some of the more difficult passages was palpable.  The guys were adequate but, as a fan, none stood out to me.  The orchestra played well, but the sound seemed a little thin.  I would like to hear the Met orchestra give the score a try.

My feelings about the set and staging ranged from this is clever and creative in an artsy way to this is has moved into absurdity.  The set was minimalist and reasonably effective for some scenes, baffling for others such as having everyone walking up and down what seemed to be high school gym bleacher seats while face offs took place.  Most unnerving was a scene where Giulietta, to exhibit how distraught she was I suppose, climbed up upon a lavatory attached only to a wall; she then stood up and appeared for several minutes to be trying to scale the wall as she moved around on the lavatory and sang her aria.  Great aria, but one slip and we could have been dealing with a real tragedy.

Despite my critical comments, this evening spent at the Liceu/Liceu was great fun.  I only wish I could have gone back the next night to see whether Joyce DiDonato could have made me believe she was a guy.

Wolf Trap Opera’s The Rape of Lucretia

Wolf Trap Opera’s performance of The Rape of Lucretia Friday night at the Barns was what art aspires to be, thought provoking by forcing us to confront ourselves.  In that regard, it achieved a goal or at least a prediction set forth by Kim Witman, WTO’s director, in her pre-performance talk.  By weaving together elements of personal tragedy with sexual violence, war, politics, lust for power, evil, and religion, the story draws us in or perhaps more accurately forces us in.  I felt like I found myself locked in a roller coaster headed for the dark tunnel where the crash would occur and I could not get out.  Evil was headed my way and it could not be avoided.  The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was my connection to my fellow humans in the audience, the world, and mankind from the beginning of our time.  Are we left to avoid, hide, only to be trapped by evil and plead for God’s protection and deliverance from its destruction, when love cannot save us?  And when the worst has happened and our dignity has been torn from us, can we go on?  How?  Why?

The impact of Benjamin Britten and Ronald Duncan’s opera is such that commenting on the elements of the production somehow seem irrelevant, unimportant.  And perhaps that fact is praise enough for the performers, musicians, and staff who were responsible for this elegant production, where the telling of the story, the singing, the music, and the delivery worked in unison.  Maybe I will comment more, another time, when I have sufficiently recovered.

Pittsburgh's SummerFest 2016: Opera to the People

Pittsburgh Opera’s 2015-2016 season wound down recently with their last production, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress; the libretto was written by W. H. Auden and the sets, now the property of Pittsburgh Opera, were designed by artist David Hockney.  It appears to have been a big hit; see Robert Croan’s review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for background on the opera and critical comments on the performance.  Only my attendance at the Washington National Opera’s American Ring kept me from attending Rake.  I hope it is repeated before too many years pass.

I reported on Pittsburgh Opera’s upcoming season in my blog post of April 5, which will include a world premiere of the opera, The Summer King by Daniel Sonenberg.  But the 2016-2017 season does not kick off until October.  What will keep the Pittsburgh opera fires stoked until then?

It turns out that not only will the fires be stoked, but the dishes being served are seasoned and offered in venues to make them more accessible to the community.  I sent an email to Elizabeth Bloom, classical music critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, telling her that in the Washington area we have Wolf Trap Opera to make our summers more fun and asking her what folks in Pittsburgh do.  She was kind enough to send the follow information:

"Opera Theater of Pittsburgh is a small company started by Mildred Miller Posvar, a former Met singer, almost four decades ago.  It prides itself on making opera accessible to everyone - via operas sung only in English, new work about contemporary issues, performances in bars and so on.  The productions are staged only over the summer, hence the (somewhat) recently added name "SummerFest"."

Take a look at their website, otsummerfest.org, and the ambitious and entertaining program for SummerFest 2016 here.  OT describes its program thusly:

SummerFest logo, courtesy of SummerFest

“SummerFest 2016 is five weeks of operas and musicals sung in English, a children's opera, vocal recitals, and more! The season begins June 22nd with performances of Carmen the Gypsy in unique and intimate venues in Oakland, West End, and Sewickley, and then continues in the newly-renovated Falk Auditorium on the campus of Winchester Thurston School in Shadyside from July 7–24.”

Sounds appealing, doesn’t it, reaching out to the community?  One of the first offerings is a touring production of Carmen the Gypsy, a new adaptation of Georges Bizet’s Carmen, scaled back and more intimate, but from the looks of the attached photo from SummerFest, retaining all the passion. 

Carmen the Gypsy photo by Patti Brahim.  Kara Cornell as Carmen and James Flora as Don Jose.  Photo courtesy of SummerFest.

Parents take note - one of the offerings is a children’s opera, Little Red Riding Hood.  Handel’s

Little Red Riding Hood; Valerie Hosler as Red Riding Hood and Jesse Davis as the Wolf/Huntsman.  Photo by Mark Ambramowitz.  Photo courtesy of SummerFest.

Julius Caesar is another of the offerings, a relatively rare chance to see a baroque opera. Also being produced is A Silent Woman by Richard Strauss; this is a comic opera, but has a dramatic back story involving Hitler and the Nazi's that deserves delving further into at some point.  This is the third opera of Strauss performed at Summerfest over the last three years and a fourth is planned for next year.  

These performances have been added to the sidebar on the right.  SummerFest also offers a number of concerts around town, some free.  They also produce an annual voice competition in the fall.  Note that a number of venues around Pittsburgh are used in an attempt to bring opera to the community.  Please check with the SummerFest website to confirm dates and venues and to purchase tickets; you can also call the box office at 412-326-9687 for assistance.  Ticket prices range from $25 to $75 with discounts available for subscription purchases.

Summer is a great time to take a vacation in Pittsburgh, and if you are thinking of going to try some new restaurants, visit the museums, enjoy the scenery, and take in the Pittsburgh Pirates, also take a look at the fresh opera offerings from SummerFest.

Addendum:  Also a reminder for fans in the Washington DC area - Wolf Trap Opera kicks off its summer season on Friday with the first of four performances of The Rape of Lucretia at the Barns - see link in the sidebar.

Spain: Two Transcendent Experiences

My family and I just returned from a two-and-a-half-week vacation traveling in Portugal, Morocco, and Spain, hence the break between OperaGene blog posts.  We learned a lot of history, experienced different cultures, ate some great food, viewed some world-class art, and heard some thrilling music.  Two experiences achieved the “transcendent” level for me.  My use of the word transcendent means that the sum of the elements contributing to the experience provided a deeply satisfying, uplifting experience greater than the sum of the parts.  For me, these experiences are very personal and spiritual in nature.  We attended a traditional Flamenco Dance demonstration, which was excellent, but for me was not transcendent.  Sometimes opera rises to this level for me, but it was not opera this time, though we attended the opera in Barcelona.

The first case occurred on our visit to the Basilica of Sagrada Familia, a temple in Barcelona begun over a hundred years ago and due to be finished in about ten years.  The outside of the temple is an immense Gothic structure built largely under the direction of the great Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi; the target date for completion is 2016, the centenary year of Gaudi's death.  The outside is striking in terms of both art and architecture.  It was, however, when we stepped inside that its true magnificence was revealed: the design of the ceiling, the interplay of the light coming through the stained glass windows of different colors, and the numerous columns rising up, up, up to heaven, branching along the way upward like trees supporting a canopy.  For me, it was stunning, as though I had wandered into a spiritual forest.

Front of the Basilica Sagrada Familia.  Photo courtesy of Debra Rogers.

View inside of the Basilica.  Photo courtesy of Ethan Rogers

The second experience involved singing and came on a visit to Montserrat, a multi-peak mountain, about 30 miles outside Barcelona.  The highest peak is about 4000 feet, but the rock formations surrounding the religious structures built into the mountain side provide a dramatic backdrop.  Beyond hiking the terrain, the highlight of Montserrat is the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat.  Through much of its history, a legend of the miraculous appearance of a black Madonna has sustained religious and tourist interest.  The abbey supports a boys’ choir of 50 boys ages 8-14 who live at the abbey during the week and spend weekends with their parents.  They are known internationally as the L'Escolania Choir.  They perform two songs in the chapel for visitors at one pm each day, except Saturday,  Performances are packed.  I love choirs and was very much looking forward to hearing this one.  As they began the first selection, I was enchanted by the beauty of their voices, but about thirty seconds into the performance, the different voices merged to produce a sound of such purity and power, I felt myself enveloped and bathed in spiritual beauty.  Thrilling is not too strong a word.

View from the visitor's center on Montserrat looking towards Barcelona.  Author's photo.

Approaching the Chapel.  Author's photo.

Partial photo of the choir.  An oft visited replica of the Black Madonna is center overhead.  Photo courtesy of Debra Rogers.

View coming out of the Chapel.  Photo courtesy of Debra Rogers.

I will report in a future post on our visit to the Teatro Del Liceo in Barcelona to see Bellini’s i Capuleti e i Montecchi.  It was excellent if not transcendent and English subtitles were an option.

Opera Live: Praise for the Local Options, More of Them Than You Might Think

I am late in life in becoming an opera fan, but am a lifelong baseball fan.  The Brooklyn Dodgers were my first love.  After the Washington Nationals started in 2005, they quickly weaned me away, though not completely, from the Baltimore Orioles.  One thing about baseball that is different from opera is its extraordinary organization.  Kids play Little League, Pony League, High School, and College.  The cream of the crop moves on to minor league ball and the very best are drawn up by the Major Leagues.  There is a movement from local to regional to national in the level of play in this process.  Today, spurred by so much availability electronically, we tend to focus on the top level of play in all performance activities.  However, the truth is that I like watching baseball in all of its venues. 

One of my goals for myself and for OperaGene is to learn more about opportunities to hear opera live on the local level.  Let’s get away from the electrons on a screen for an evening.  As baseball is a performance activity, opera is a performance activity.  Watching local performers display and grow their talent, seeing new talent being developed and seasoned performers show their ability and polish is entertaining and sometimes as thrilling as the major leagues.  Seeing a walk off home run is pretty exciting at any level; so is hearing developing singers nail an aria.  When I left junior college to matriculate at Berry College in northern Georgia, at that time Berry required all students to attend church on Sunday.  I was not a member of a church, but I didn’t mind; it was a good school that I could work my way through.  The next year the church requirement was removed, but I kept going because I was in love with the choir, still one of my fondest musical experiences.  They weren’t the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but they kept me coming back week after week.

Local options can be a little harder to find for opera because, I think, it lacks the organization of sports.  I am collecting information on local opera organizations and performances around the mid-Atlantic and will be bringing information to you about some of these in future posts as we go along.  And the prices are much, much more affordable.  There are a couple I recently became aware of that I want to bring to your attention in this post.

May 21, Vienna Choral Society and Carmina Burana

Pointed out to me by John Schreffler, President of the Westbriar Civic Association, as an entry in wbcrier.com, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff is a scenic cantata to be performed by the Vienna Choral Society of Vienna, Virginia on Saturday, May 21.  Google defines cantata as “a medium-length narrative piece of music for voices with instrumental accompaniment, typically with solos, chorus, and orchestra.”  The VCS describes it this way: “Carmina Burana, however, is an entire world unto itself. It’s not an opera, a mass, or a requiem, but it has movements and a sequence. It is not a play or a musical, but it has a plot. Well, sort of…plus, we helped it along a little bit for this production.  Carmina is a work about extremes—of the ups and downs of life, fortune and fate, desire and despair.  The rises and falls are big, but you will recognize your human selves in them. The musicians (and by extension you, their audience) are literally scaling the full expanse of musical and human experience in one evening. It’s like the singer’s version of “shop ‘til you drop.” It’s the soap opera of the classical world.”

It is being performed at the Vienna Baptist Church and tickets go quickly; prices are quite reasonable, ranging from $25 to free with a paying patron for young students.

Wolf Trap Opera Recitals/Concerts  

Perhaps less well known, in addition to the full opera performances offered by Wolf Trap Opera, concerts/recitals performed by Wolf Trap artists are also scheduled.  Here is a list for the summer; details and tickets can be found through this link.

May 20 - Overtures – an evening of classical song

May 28,29 – From Lute Song to the Beatles – songs from the British Isles

June 17 – Improper Opera – an opera will be created by suggestions from the audience

June 19 – Studio Spotlight – opera scenes of Rossini, Donezetti, Bizet, and Verdi

June 26 – Aria Jukebox – audience has a vote in arias to be sung

June 30, Jul 28 – Vocal Colors – visual arts and music at the Phillips Collection

Venues and ticket prices vary, ranging from $20-65.

In Conclusion

So how does one go from Wagner’s Ring at the Kennedy Center to Carmina Burana at the Vienna Baptist Church.  Easy, how do you go from eating coquilles St. Jacques at L’Auberge Chez Francois to having a pizza or pot roast or coquilles St. Jacques at your favorite local restaurant?  Would you want to give up either?  Both are good; that’s why ‘eat where the locals eat’ is a good rule of thumb. And occasionally the local option is tastier and more satisfying, and the price is right – my Ring tickets for four operas cost over $800 .

Round Four, the Ring’s Final Round: Like Brunnhilde, Now We Know All

Simply put, the final episode of Wagner’s the Ring cycle, Twilight of the Gods is painful, even though we knew it was coming.  Disappointment follows disappointment.  The strands of fate unravel; our heroine is betrayed; and, our hero is drugged and led to his destruction.  Each hope for reversing the inevitable apocalypse is thwarted by man’s and woman’s selfish disregard for the greater good, even as they are manipulated by more evil men. As the known order goes up in flames, Brunnhilde’s redemptive self-immolation returns the Ring (and thereby the Rhinegold) to the care of the Rhinemaidens, and we are left with hope as a new Ash Tree is planted… but has mankind changed?  Noah had the same problem after the flood, did he not…do we not?  And disturbingly, for the community of the Ring and our own world, Alberich, the evil one, survives.  The message of the Ring has been sent to each of us.  At the end, Brunnhilde understands and says that she knows all.  Like her, we now know all, but will the knowledge rule our actions?

The salve, even the intoxicant, for the sadness of the last installment was again provided by the magnificent play of the orchestra led by Phillipe Auguin.  I’m wondering when my brain will stop replaying the leitmotifs.  If there were a best acting award for operas, this orchestra would be nominated.  Other especially bright spots for me included getting to hear Jamie Barton sing for the first time.  She played both one of the Norns to begin the opera and Waltraute, a Valkyrie sister, who pleads with Brunnhilde to return the Ring.  She is a rising star who has a clear, bright, strong voice that I hope to hear again in person.  Catherine Foster proved again to be a formidable Brunnhilde, even playing injured.  Daniel Brenna, who was a mild disappointment to me in Siegfried, rose to star status in his chance meeting with the Rhinemaidens and in his death scene, singing with power and emotion.  New players, Eric Halfvarson (Hagen), Ryan Mckinny (Gunther), and Melissa Citro (Gutrune) all had appropriate voices and sang well.  There was some amusing cleverness in staging.  The Norns are connecting computer of fate cables instead of weaving the thread of fate.  The opening of the dream sequence where Alberich visits Hagen begins with a see-through screen between the actors and the audience upon which images are shown. Hagen picks up a remote control and when he clicks it, the image on the screen changes; it becomes obvious that he and Gutrune are watching tv, and we are watching them.  For the most part the use of images on the stage-encompassing screen worked well.

And of course, there were some aspects that didn’t work for me.  Going for comic relief in such a serious drama can seem out of place.  Such was the case for me of Gutrune being played as a valley girl.  And some inconsistencies may have been caused by Catherine Foster’s injury; she hobbles off one corner of the stage out of sight some distance from where Siegfried was dropped out of sight and we imagine she must have had to circle back to jump on the fire, but small matter.  All of my complaints are tiny compared to the overall outstanding production we were given.

There were a few extras worth noting: two alpenhorns were played in the Great Hall fifteen minutes before the opera began; I saw these impressive ten-foot long horns played once before, on a vacation in Zermatt, Switzerland.  Right after the opera, there was a 30 min discussion period with Cranna and Zambello along with singers Barton, Hawkins, Foster, Brenna, and Citro. It is noteworthy that Foster had on a foot to knee orthopedic protective boot and admitted she had needed to take painkillers earlier in the day.  Zambello reported that this version of the Ring will be given again by the San Francisco Opera in June 2018.  Let me know if you hear of ticket sales before I do. 

Anne Midgette's review in the Washington Post provides a good overview of and mainly laudatory comments for this last installment, and of the overall DC American Ring.  I think it is somewhat restrained perhaps for the same reason my comments are; after so much greatness, it starts to be expected.  Let's hope WNO can build on this outstanding success.

I will give Cranna, the San Francisco Opera dramaturg, the final word.  He retold a joke that goes like this: there are three types of psychoses -  paranoia, schizophrenia, and opera.  Wagner’s Ring has caused more than its share of the latter; there were even a number of audience members wearing the traditional Viking helmet.

Round Three: Siegfried and the Best Darn Iron Dragon Ever

Siegfried rests pondering next steps after dispatching the dragon (the form taken by the giant, Fafner, who along with Mime, lies expired in front of the dragon).  Photo courtesy of the Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center.

Heads up: Me bad.  I have yet to point out to you that the Playbill for DC’s Ring is online and it has a synopsis of each opera, the listings of singers and their roles, and several really informative, background articles. Pages 52-53 have a complete chart of the characters and performers and their relationships in the entire Ring.  Washington National Opera put some extra time and money into this one.  The printed copy is souvenir quality. 

(You can skip the next paragraph if you are under 50.)

Let’s jump forward to the climax in Act III: “My, my ma’am, you sure are pretty,” the young John Wayne says to Brunnhilde, brought to you by Richard Wagner, as interpreted by Francesca Zambello, as totally altered by my imagination.  Admittedly, it is a little hard to imagine John Wayne kissing Brunnhilde, and even harder to imagine him singing.  At any rate, Brunnhilde says, “Howdy stranger.  Holy crap, I’m mortal, and I’m stuck with John Wayne!”.  But she is the only woman he has ever seen and she knows Wotan has willed it, and besides he did make it through the circle of fire, so eventually true love prevails.  Camera fades to black, but we know this happy ending will not last.  Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that Valhalla!

(Ok, those of you under 50, can come back.)

First of all, we have to think about this guy, Siegfried. I said in my last post I thought he could be an icon for America, at least the one of my younger years, a time of relative innocence, bravado, and naiveté; and yes, the gods of the industrial-government complex of the time set in motion the karma that would despoil those qualities.  And who was the American icon of that era? John Wayne (a later case might also be made for Jake in the movie, “Silverado”).  We can look back critically now at that time and that icon, but then there was a hopeful, optimistic spirit that was frankly kinda nice.  We were the good guys, at least we believed, and because we believed it for a while, some of us were.  And so it was with Siegfried; he thinks he is the good guy and because he believes it, he is for a while.

Do notice that, in honor of John Wayne, I used Darn in the title and not the other D word.  Kids could go to just about any movie in those days.

Ok guy, what about Wednesday night’s performance? Well, it was great and in a kind of hypnotic way.  The times are these for acts and intermissions:  70, 40, 95, 35, and 70 min; a total of 3 hrs and 55 min of opera.  It went by much faster.  In particular, I honestly felt surprised that Act 2 seemed to me about a half hour long.  This is highly unusual for Wagnerian opera.  It means I was totally absorbed in the action.  Kudos to singers, orchestra, stage managers, staff, and management!

Gone from the set were reminders of America.  The dystopian present-time set design for Acts one and two could be most places on earth.  Act two began a little annoyingly since those of us in the second tier were unable to see Wotan’s head on the ramp overhead that he was moving on.  I suppose the ramp had to be that high to give maximum effect to the dragon that was to enter below.  And oh, what a dragon!  Shaped like a large iron construction caterpillar, my boyhood fantasies were fulfilled.  Having heard what it was to be, I had expected to laugh at the contraption, but from where I sat it looked the part, formidable and scary.  Bruce Lee might have been intimidated; ok, not Bruce Lee.  I am thinking Iron Man III: Iron Man Meets Iron Dragon.  The more stark mountainous and rocky landscapes of the third Act were suitable.  Kudos to the set designers on this one for having the sets enhance and not distract from the story.  I will also mention here that the Giants were very imposing and Solomon Howard, who played Fafner, has an impressive deep, resonating voice.  If there is a Jack in the Beanstalk opera, he should play the giant.  I can hear him in my head singing, “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum…”.

This was also debut night for Catherine Foster, our new Brunnhilde.  Christine Goerke filled in for her on Monday night in The Valkyrie to give Ms. Foster more time to recover from an injury.  She has a powerful voice and an imposing stage presence, well suited to the role of Brunnhilde, and when the music was more melodious, a beautiful timbre was revealed.  I would be happy to hear her sing in The Valkyrie and I hope she comes back to DC.  Daniel Brenna sang the role of Siegfried.  He was good and I enjoyed his singing, but for me he was the weakest link in the chain, almost, but not quite at the level of the main players around him.  His acting portrayed the youthful impetuousness and the secret longing of Siegfried very well.  The vocal fireworks carried their scene, but the choreography needs work.  To me, this Brunnhilde and Siegfried too often looked like two roosters in a cock brawl, circling each other.  Their actions did not portray that well the feelings that were welling up, though the final run to the kiss was effective.  David Cangelosi, who played Mime sang well and was fun, moving between camp comedy and evil intentions.  Jacqueline Echols had a very fine and distinctive voice for the Forest Bird, but having her appear as a human was a questionable choice; she also sang impressively as a Rhine maiden earlier in The Rhinegold.

Finally, major kudos to the orchestra with Philippe Auquin conducting.  I marveled at their play and how important they were to the story all night.  In one of the pre-opera talks, Kip Cranna had pointed out that in constructing the Bayreuth Festivalhaus, an innovation of Wagner was to put the orchestra in a recessed pit and also to place a screen to further block the orchestra from view, so the focus would be totally on the stage.  Having sat in the second tier, I can attest to his wisdom.  You get an excellent view of the orchestra in the second tier as well as great sound.  Too often I found myself trying to pick out the sounds of the different performers as we went along.  However, mainly I became much more involved with the music in the way that it was supporting the drama.  This has become one of my favorites arts experiences.

Click here for Anne Midgette's review in the Washington Post.

Friday night, Round Four: intrigue, betrayal, lust, remorse, death, apocalypse, redemption, and maybe rebirth: Twilight of the Gods.

Round Two: Parachuting In with the Valkyries

Brunnhilde convinces Sieglinde to hide from Wotan for the sake of her child to be, while the other Valkyries look on.  Photo courtesy of Washington National Opera/ Kennedy Center.

Welcome to the The Valkyrie if you are American or Die Valkure if you are German. There is a lot going on in The Valkyrie.  Here is a good synopsis of the whole Ring. 

The Ring, as an intricate myth, requires a major suspension of disbelief.  So, why should not the Valkyries parachute in wearing WWII bombardier outfits to meet up with sister Brunnhilde who wore a Matrix style leather coat while her captive/ward, Sieglinde, wore a nice dress.  Why should Wotan’s office not be looking out at a city landscape with skyscrapers, and why should a barbecue, open flame pit not be sitting at the base of a wooden frame house belonging to Hunding, and then when the frame lifts out of sight, become the centerpiece of the room (gotta run up your insurance premium).  Why should Siegfried not plan to use a magic sword to duel Hunding when his adversary clearly has four rifles at his disposal, and finally why should a ring of fire to keep Brunnhilde safe from namby-pambies not be a rectangle of fire (bet that ran up the Kennedy Center’s premium).  Given all that, why should opera star Christine Goerke not step in at the last minute to play Brunnhilde for an injured opera star Catherine Foster.  With Wagner, just get into the fantasy and leave the driving to the director.  The truth will not appear on the surface, but it will seep into your bones and heart; you will be mystified, maybe even spell bound, but changed.

Somehow, the motives, honest ones and manipulative ones, grip us, and honorable intentions and the love so strongly felt wins our hearts and draws us in.  We ache for the long suffering Siegmund and Sieglinde, despite their love being incestuous.  We cannot like Wotan’s demanding wife Fricka, even though her position on their marriage is correct.  We both feel for Wotan’s inner turmoil in having to abandon his beloved son to death and having to exile his daughter, and feel frustrated and angry with his failings.  And mostly we feel for pure-hearted Brunnhilde, as she is torn between love and strictly honoring her father’s commands.  Fortunately, regardless of the creative choices for these performances the story goes forward unaltered. 

Plot comments aside, everybody kicked up their game for Round Two, starting with the first appearance of the twins and our young lovers to be, Siegfried, played by Christopher Ventris, and Sieglinde, played by Meagan Miller.  I thought both were excellent.  When Ventris sang his first aria, I relaxed.  At last, I was certain that I was in Wagnerian territory.  In a Post article    based on a discussion between Post critics Midgette and Kennicott, Ms. Midgette said Miller’s voice was light, though she praised her performance overall.  I may not understand exactly what light voice means; I clearly heard Miller powering over the orchestra as called for.  And the orchestra was terrific in Monday night’s performance, clearly taking its place in telling the story.

Ms. Goerke was coming off a performance two days ago in Siegfried in Houston and yet entered with energy and assurance that was impressive.  Catherine Foster, herself a highly acclaimed Wagnerian singer, will be back as Brunnhilde for Wednesday’s performance of Siegfried.  It will be fun to compare how she plays Brunnhilde with Goerke’s portrayal.

A couple of logistical comments: the Kennedy Center has gone to considerable lengths to help ticket holders navigate the terrain more easily with multiple emails giving advice and has enriched the experience for many by holding free pre-opera talks and several ticket-required workshops.  I learned a few things I didn’t know listening to the pre-opera talks, but Kip Cranna’s reviewing many of the leitmotifs helped me greatly to spot some of these in the performance; he is Dramaturg for the San Francisco Opera where this Ring premiered four years ago. The Kennedy Center is offering pre-ordered box dinners for the intermissions given the length of the operas.  On a personal note, I sat in the first tier balcony for The Rhinegold and in the second tier for The Valkyrie.  The sound in the second tier was the best I have heard at the Kennedy Center.  From there I could not see the faces that well, but I’d have no concern about buying the cheaper tickets there due to the outstanding acoustics.

Now it is time to meet Siegfried.  For me, if the Ring offers an icon for America it is Siegfried.  Siegfried is a hero, unafraid, honest, honorable, and yet assumes others are the same and is easily mislead; sort of a John Wayne type.  I greatly look forward to witnessing the DC Ring’s vision of him.

Round One: into the Ring with The Rhinegold

Courtesy of Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center

I guess the Washington National Opera is using English translations for the Ring operas because they call their version an “American” Ring.  Ok, fair enough, but to me Das Rhinegold sounds so much more authentic than The Rhinegold; it is still sung in German.  On the other hand, the last one in the cycle, Twilight of the Gods, sounds to my American ears much cooler than Gotterdammerung, so touche.  But I digress.  The point is that this Ring was developed by its director, Francesca Zambello, and her collaborators over ten years to place Wagner’s themes of man-made damage to nature, greed, corruption, consequences, and the redemptive power of love into a setting with costumed-players whom Americans would more readily connect with and serve to convey that these powerful currents in human affairs are playing out in modern day America.

How well did it work?  The main characters appeared dressed vintage 1920’s.  So now, imagine “The Great Gatsby” with zombies and vampires included.  Given what we are seeing in today’s movies and tv shows, I can make that leap.  Now cancel the zombies and vampires, and instead throw in some giants, dwarfs, monsters, dragons, a magic veil, and a ring that gives one power over the world.  For me, for whatever reason that requires a longer leap.  So, for most of last night’s Rhinegold, I had trouble jumping into the flow of the fantasy.  That changed, however, in the final scene when Wotan and the other gods were preparing to board the bridge to Valhalla, now paid for.  These gods had just stolen riches from someone who had stolen them to begin with, and they used this largess to ransom their perpetual beauty and youth and pay for Valhalla's completion.  In doing so, the bounty, part of which bore a deadly curse, ignited a lust for power that caused the clan head, Wotan, to ignore the advice of the Erda, goddess of wisdom and fate, to give back the goods to the rightful owners, and that provoked one kidnapper to immediately slay the other to keep all of the gold for himself.  Instead of solemn reflection, these 1920’s dandy-dressed elite pop the champagne cork and begin their joyous walk to their new mansion, Valhalla, showing no awareness of the stain upon their hands or the destructive forces they had put into play.  One of the coterie remained behind, Loge, demigod of fire, who had aided Wotan in capturing the mined gold and Rhinegold ring for himself; he finds that he no longer wishes to be part of this shameful group.  That scene resonated with me.  We will see if the connection holds for the remaining operas, but that scene rings true for my beloved country, America.

It is difficult to not start placing known Americans in the various roles – Trump as Wotan trying to renege on a contract for getting Trump Tower (Valhalla) built, the big banks as the giants demanding payment, the oil and gas companies as Alberich raping the Rhine, Sanders as Erda warning of the reckoning to come, …  Think about it and draw your own analogies.

Now for some details on the performance:  The opening sequence was spectacular, A-plus, no doubt about it.  Wagner’s music starts slow, almost inaudibly, and builds to a flowing, cascading Rhine river motif.  Images begin to appear shortly after the music begins on a stage-wide and stage-tall screen showing indistinct movement that builds into swirls and bubbles which seemingly project from inside a waterfall.  I thought it achieved the Gesamtkunstwerk, the complete integration of music and story, that Wagner was trying to achieve.  The Rhine maidens then appear behind the screen as the water images fade away.  Maintaining the see-through screen between the performers and the audience at this point created an other-worldly atmosphere that was very effective.  The maidens sang very well, displaying much charm, though the chasing around by Alberich seemed to go on a bit too long.  The staging of the initial meeting of the Wotan clan and  the initial scene with the Niberlungs mining the gold underground were also impressive.  On the other hand, the scene where the gods were bargaining with the giants to ransom Freia was too spread out and that diffused the emotional impact.  From a personal perspective, I was disappointed that sitting on the right side of the theater, one could not see whatever was used as the image for Valhalla.  I could only see the bridge that led up to it.

Among the singers, William Burden,who played Loge, had a loud and clear tenor voice.  It was the only voice that stood out for me, and the one who seemed to sing most true to Wagnerian style.  The singing by most performers seemed quite capable and professional, though none distinguished themselves for me other than Burden.  Overall, I had the feeling that an accomplished group that had sung Wagner many times didn’t sing with the sustained voice I expected.  It sounded too stopping and starting as a group.  At one point during the initial scene with Wotan's group, for a moment I thought I was listening to Verdi.  The acting was capable overall, although I thought Freia came across as a silly school girl, rather than a frightened young god.  The orchestra played well and strongly initially, but at times seem to lose their role in telling the story as the music dropped below the singing. 

For the review by Washington Post’s Ann Midgette, click here.

So, I thought this Rhinegold began spectacularly and ended with a punch to the American gut.  Good job, WNO and Francesca Zambello.  Now, let the Valkyries ride!

Saturday Roundup of Things Opera

Ready for the Ring

Ok, I have been practicing sitting for hours without looking at my iPhone.  I watched all four Met Opera videos of the Ring (Debra Voight played Brunnhilde, superb) and practiced the Valkyrie cry, HoJoToHo, to get in the spirit!  I reserved my parking spot at the Kennedy Center and saved $3, and printed my tickets; I tried not to look at the seat prices.  I have given thought to energy supplies easily consumable at breaks.  I have worked out a schedule for bathroom breaks.  I plan not to sit down on days between the operas.  I plan to be there by 5 pm to hear the pre-opera talks.  I am ready for Das Rhinegold Saturday night.

It’s a Big Deal

Evidence that a production of the Ring Cycle is a big deal can be found in the several articles published in the Washington Post in just the last week alone:

Apr 24, Peggy McGlone, “Wagner’s four-opera ‘Ring Cycle’ at Kennedy Center lures swarms of diehard ‘Ringers’,”  - About 25 percent of the ticket sales for the Ring have gone to buyers who live outside of the DC area.  Some aficionados travel to see every performance they can in the country and across the oceans.  Ok, I can see that for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” but the Ring?

Apr 28, Sadie Dingfelder, “6 ways to sample Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’, without sitting through 15 hours of opera,”   - From Cliff Notes to a silent movie, various ways to sample Wagner are presented.  The most notable, perhaps, is that highlights of the Ring will be presented for free on the Kennedy Center’s Millenium Stage on May 12.  Check it out.

Apr 29, Anne Midgette, “Wagner’s ‘Ring’: A Scorecard,“ – This is an article which is essentially program notes, a listing and description of the main characters.  It rises above being something strange for a newspaper to do by including audio clips of Wagner’s leitmotifs associated with the characters.  It’s worth listening to the examples if you are not familiar with the concept.

Apr 29, Anne Midgette, “The Long Journey of the American ‘Ring’,” -  This is an outstanding article that presents background on the Ring itself and all the efforts to bring this particular Ring to DC.  The budget for this Ring is about ten million dollars.  The typical opera budget is about one million.  This production is an “American” version; the story takes place in America.  Intrigued?  I am.

Apr 29, Philip Kennicott, “Put a lid on the operatic Viking helmet cliché,” - In an article likely inspired by all the attention going to the Ring, Mr. Kennicott makes the case that continuing to use the Viking helmet as an opera cliché is actually disrespectful and harmful to opera.

Other operas coming up this week

There is actually a smorgasbord of very good operas that will be playing in the the mid-Atlantic this coming week, all of which I would love to have been able to go see (see the side bar for dates):

The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky, Pittsburgh Opera – no question, I would be attending this modern opera were it not for the Ring.  Elisabeth Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote a piece this week about the set for this opera, which was designed by British artist David Hockney.

The Elixir of Love by Gaetano Donizetti, Opera Philadelphia – this is a romantic, comic Donizetti opera that depends on the sound and charm of its performers to make it special.  I’d love to see what the Opera Philadelphia will be able to do with it.

Elektra by Richard Strauss, Met Opera HD in cinemas – Ok, I admit this one scares me.  I am familiar with the story, not a pleasant one.  I am sure the music will be tense and sustained in that fashion.  If you are interested, Met Opera is trying to help folks prepare to listen to the opera with a podcast about it.  If anyone goes, please let me know what you thought of it.

Man versus Machines

In that battle, we are losing another one.  Though not about opera, I’d like to point out to you for your reading pleasure an amusing and nostalgic article that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer this week written by Peter Dobrin.  Titled “Classical page-turners turn the page into the modern era,” he reflects on the passing of the page-turner in classical music performances and the rise of iPads for turning pages.

On the Future of Opera: Tinder-ly Calling

I write this post with bemusement, so don’t take it too seriously.  I grew up attending a Christian fundamentalist church.  A hymn we often sang (not a great singer, I sort of hummed) had the sweet, heartfelt refrain that I still love, “Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling oh sinner, come home.”  Jesus and I are still on good terms, I trust; fundamentalist religion and I, not so much.  But, I think now Jesus has to text us, especially millennials and younger.  Linking to his Facebook page or Twitter feed might be the best way to respond.  <3u#comehome.BCNU.  Remember, just kidding!!

I have no idea if the texting abbreviations I just tried to use made any sense or not.  I am not a millennial or younger.  The origination of today’s post came from two separate ideas that bumped against each other in my brain this week.  First, wondering if you have to be over fifty to like opera, based on having scanned the crowds who attend them.  There are occasional signs of appealing to a younger group, but they don’t seem to be sustained.  Maybe opera is too much like history to the uninitiated.  What if operas were more current and addressed more topical issues for young people?  Then yesterday, I visited the opera website, Schmopera (schmopera.com) and found this clip of a ten minute opera, The Connection Lost, that seemed very timely, adhering to the preferred style of millennials, I am thinking.  Warning: it has a little language not proper and one very brief and not too revealing sex scene.  The clip can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imvYwZjJX0Q&feature=youtu.be, or watch below:

I hope you found the clip as funny as I did.  I need to check to see if there is an app that will sing my text messages to me.  In a more serious vein, I am collecting examples of new opera and different kinds of opera and ways of presenting opera that I will be reporting on in future posts.  B4N.

Biological Variation and the Man Who Didn’t Like Operas by Mozart

I once read a statement by a man who said that he didn’t like operas by Mozart!  He liked opera, just not Mozart operas.  My thought at the time was really?!  You like opera, but you don’t like Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, or The Magic Flute? How could he like opera and not like Mozart operas?  What is wrong with this guy?  I even suspected he was posturing for some reason, not really being honest about his preferences.  Reflecting back on this, I am surprised at my reaction. 

Here’s why:

If I were writing a blog about life’s lessons, my first post would be about this: people are different; no two are alike. Science will back me on this point.  As an example, let’s consider hands.  When the image of a hand comes into our minds, most of us see the standard five-fingered hand, but even there, we probably see that hand in different colors from each other.  Some might see a young hand, others an old hand.  Some might see a hand with colored nails; other might see a calloused hand.  Hands come in different sizes.  If we look more closely we see skin of different types on the hands.  We see some hands are deformed.  We see the ratio of the lengths of the fingers on the hand differ between individuals.  Some hands have joints that can bend further than other hands.  Some hands are missing fingers, deleted by lawnmowers or by a genetic mutation.  Some hands are frozen in place.  I have read there are rare hands with six fingers.  We could keep going in this vein for quite awhile, but just compare your hands with anyone else’s and they will be different. 

So, who has something wrong, you or the other person?

Let’s consider that question a little more deeply.  In most cases, these differences have not been deliberately chosen.  These differences are a combination of genetic and environmental influences.  It is simple biological variation.  Unless we have a twin, we all get a unique genome from our parents.  So most of us begin with built in differences from each other.  If you have kids, think about how different they are from each other, from the moment you first hold them in your arms.  Then, stuff happens.  Our genomes might suffer mutations that change whether individual genes work or not.  And importantly, there are also factors that determine how these genes get expressed.  Epigenetics is a field of study concerned with how genes get turned on and off. This process is highly influenced by environmental factors.  Even identical twins who share identical genetic make-up have variations in gene expression due to external influences changing their epigenome.  Think of a house and its light fixtures.  It has lights for every room as part of its basic make up.  However, the lights can be on or off in each room depending on the light switches that control them.  So it is with the genes in our bodies.  If you live in the Artic, the cold will serve as a switch that turns on certain genes and others off.  If you eat too much certain genes get turned on and off.  The NIH Director’s Blog recently had a post about how a mother’s smoking affects her baby’s epigenome, a truly cautionary tale about how our environment can shape not only the current, but future generations. 

It’s complicated.

The more deeply you look, the more complex the process gets with other internal processes  going on that I have not mentioned, and undoubtedly some we don’t even know about yet.  Now just as there is so much variation in hands, there is similar or even more levels of variation with other biological features or systems, including and especially our brains.  We share a lot of the human genome, but we all have our own variations.   I offer this scientific discussion because science is impersonal.  In some cases, like the deformed hand we might question what happened, but in none of the cases would we ask what is wrong with the person who has those hands.  And that translates to behavior and personal preferences as well.  Most often our behavior is dictated not by ulterior motives but simply by who we are.  We like what we like and we don’t like what we don’t like because that is who we are.  No amount of culturing will make the first George Bush like broccoli.  Gene therapy might, but that is a different topic.

It’s true, but we act like we don’t know it.

People are different.  We all know this but we frequently don’t act like we know it, like me when I encountered the guy who didn’t like Mozart operas.  We most frequently don’t act like we know it in how we judge ourselves.  This easily translates to opera.  We assume that if other people like or dislike something, especially knowledgeable individuals, then we should like or not like it accordingly.  In reality, our reaction to opera is highly subjective, and we, the reactors, are all different.  Whatever your opinion is, if it is genuine, it is valid.  So, do not fear to express your opinions.  Having differences is not a bad thing.  In fact, it is a great thing.  The differences allow us to hear and see things from a different perspective, and that helps us to grow and experience life in new ways.  At OperaGene I want to hear your opinions whether they agree with me or not, maybe even more so if you disagree.  If I ever meet the man who doesn’t like Mozart operas, instead of questioning his sanity or honesty, I will offer to buy him a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and ask him to please tell me about his opera preferences and share mine.  It just might enhance how we both listen to opera in the future. 

Virginia Opera’s The Flying Dutchman: Both Thrilling and Wildly Incoherent

These are my comments on Saturday (April 23) night’s Virginia Opera’s performance of The Flying Dutchman.  Notice I do not call this a review because I am not a qualified opera reviewer.  For a review by the Washington Post's Robert Battey, click here.  Nonetheless, I am a fan and have an opinion, and offer one fan’s opinion below, but first a few notes:

Note to opera fans: If you take away nothing else from this blog post, let it be this: attend the pre-opera talk.  The one last night was given by Dr. Glen Winters, Community Outreach Musical Director for the Virginia Opera (see his blog at dropera.blogspot.com) and someone who can talk authoritatively about opera.  His comments gave the audience valuable insight into the music and story, and his sense of humor and ability to demonstrate his points on the piano made for an enjoyable pre-opera talk.  I am still unsure of the correctness of his well-rationalized thesis that Senta is an archetype for empathy that can save the world from its suffering or whether this opera was simply about Wagner’s longing for a woman who would remain faithful to him.  Pick one.  Back to my point, you simply will enjoy the opera more and get more out of it if you attend the pre-opera talk.

Note to Virginia Opera: record this talk and offer it to your followers; it is that good and that informative.  It will help people who are only able to listen to a recording of the opera.  In fact, offer these talks online days ahead of the performance. 

Note to all Opera companies: most pre-opera talks are in rooms too small to accommodate all the people who attend, and quite a few 50-70 year-olds are made to stand for 30-45 min or forego the talk altogether after having made the effort to get there.  Present these talks in a section of the opera auditorium.  Opera Philadelphia did this for a production of Cold Mountain I attended, and it worked fine. 

Music

Liked:  Wagner’s expressive music is really another actor in the drama, or maybe is a substitute for the Greek chorus found in the ancient Greek plays.  Leitmotifs, short themes attached to characters or things, used by Wagner do help in integrating the music and drama.  His inventiveness in continually bringing these back in different ways in the music improves cohesion and is impressive.  This is one opera I’d attend just for the music.  I’m not an expert but certainly the conductor and musicians played well enough for me to truly enjoy the performance.  The orchestra was relatively large and produced a full sound.

Not liked: our seats were close to the side door and only seven or eight rows back.  Seated on our side of the auditorium was the brass section of the orchestra.  We definitely got the stereo effect, and Wagner uses a lot of horns, so the volume of the horns was a little more than desired in our spot.

Singing/Dancing

Liked: Soprano Christina Pier proved to have a voice very pleasant and very well matched to Senta’s song.  Sopranos are my favorites and she was quite pleasing.  The women’s and men’s choruses sang well and brought a sense of life and fun to the drama.  I enjoyed the limited choreography, but it only hinted at what fun it could have been.  I would have been willing to stay and listen to some encores from the choruses.  One of my favorite singers was David Blalock, the steersman, a quite enjoyable sounding, if soft-voiced, tenor who provided some comic relief.  Peter Volpe as Daland had a good, clear bass voice.

Not liked:  Wayne Tigges gave us an imposing Dutchman and sang forcefully, especially in the second act, but for me, his voice was too low for the part, equaling Volpe in its bass-ness. Tenor Corey Bix sang quite well as Erik, but again it was a low-voiced tenor, almost baritone, that made him seem stern. 

Acting

Liked: Ms. Pier played her role reasonably convincingly, as did Mr. Volpe, who played his avarice in an amusing fashion.  The steersman was good in a smaller role. Rachelle Pike who played nurse Mary was also good, though her part got lost in the shuffle. 

 Not liked: Only in the later scene with Senta, did Mr. Tigges begin to convince me he was really experiencing heartfelt suffering; mostly he just appeared brooding and not at all sympathetic.  Mr. Bix gave us a clear minded, mature Erik, but I was looking for one that was a more youthful boyfriend experiencing a disturbed innocence. 

Direction and Staging

Aye, here’s the rub, and why I found it incoherent.  I accept the concept that opera goers should seek to engage in the fantasy and not ask for realism, especially for an opera based on myth; and the Dutchman requires more than its share of suspension of disbelief.  Nonetheless, the director’s and audience’s fantasy worlds need to be on the same page or at least overlapping; the choices must have the possibility of working for both parties.  Sarah Widzer, the director, and Symanietz, the production stage manager made some choices that took me out of the fantasy.  First, the costume for the Dutchman did not work for me and was actually a distraction.  The crew cut hair and tattooed, bare chest look with a cape drawn over the shoulders made me think he was on the way to a championship match for the World Wrestling Federation; no sense of mystery there.  Also, I thought the choices for the spinning room scene failed to convey a sense of routine.  Instead I was kind of fascinated by the dangling ropes, lots of possibilities there, and the women seemed rather supportive of Senta, rather than questioning her choice.  To me, it came off as a rather happy affair.

Then it got weirder.  We had been told by Dr. Winters that there was little love/physical attraction between the Dutchman and Senta.  She simply wanted to make the sacrifice to relieve his suffering and that was what he wanted as well. Yet, we saw them making nice-nice to each other in three different places on the stage in the last scene, including on a bed.  Huh?  Furthermore, I thought these efforts were more awkward than convincing, and convincing of what?  Then for the denouement, Senta offs herself by strangling herself with a ship’s rope while on her bed.  I suppose we were supposed to get the idea she hung herself since the rope was attached to the bed, but I was so looking forward to her jumping off the cliff, a much more dramatic statement for the Dutchman.  Finally, the light shadows showing Senta and the Dutchman's rise up to heaven wasted no time in their ascension and looked much more like Ken and Barbie than Senta and the Dutchman.  I might also mention the lighting because many times the singing characters were in the dark, presumably this was a technical issue.  

In researching the The Flying Dutchman, I ran across an article by Ann Midgette of the Post who commented for a different Dutchman production that directors should only include/not include spinning wheels (she happens to own a spinning wheel and uses it) or other stage props based primarily on whether it helps tell the story effectively.  I laud the director’s attempts to do this, making purposeful choices.  But for me, the direction and staging was what you would call interesting.  The choices didn’t draw me into the drama, rather they made me think about what was going on and what might have worked better for me.  It’s good to be the fan – and have the right to criticize but no responsibility for the production.  So, if you saw it, what did you think?

One unfortunate take-away from the performance is that there were very few millennials in the audience.  This is of special concern, given that this performance was on a college campus.  When I saw The Marriage of Figaro at the same venue, young folks were present.  Virginia Opera should consider presenting an offering each year specifically targeted to a younger audience.  Has anyone surveyed millennials to get their thoughts on opera?

Saturday Roundup of Things Opera

Here are a few operas items of note to scan through at your weekend’s leisure:

A Backyard Discovery: Shakespeare Opera Theater

Remember the song “Strolling Through the Park” that starts “I was strolling through the Park one day.  It was in the merry month of May…”.  Sometimes that plays in the back of my mind when I am cruising the internet letting my mind/fingers wander and go where they may.  It is amazing what can turn up when you do that.  In this case, what turned up was a relatively new opera/theater company in Manassas, VA, the Shakespeare Opera Theater, not too far from me in Tyson’s Corner.  Their mission/dream is to bring theater and opera together to explore Shakespeare’s masterpieces.  Starting Sunday, they begin a four-performance run of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Verdi’s Falstaff, adapted by Verdi's librettist, Arrigo Boito, from Shakespeare's play.  At this point, I know nothing more about them than what is on their website, but it is a clever idea and they appear worth checking out.  One of my goals for OperaGene is to seek out and report on smaller opera companies in the mid-Atlantic.  I am finding more and more as I check out the mid-Atlantic region opera landscape.

An Evening of Puccini

Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts is presenting a production of two short Puccini operas by its highly regarded Resident Artists.  Gianni Schicchi and Il tabarro are being presented as a pair for six performances, beginning this Saturday and running through May 14.  Say Puccini and I am ready to listen.  I am also predisposed to want to hear young artists developing their voices and careers.  These evenings sound win-win to me.  I am not very familiar with these Puccini operas, but Schicchi has a famous aria, “O Mio Babbino Caro,” whose recording seems to be di rigueur for any diva.  Click here to hear it sung by modern day diva, Anna Nebtrebko.  I bring this up because if anyone is feeling romantic, an evening of Puccini is a perfect accompaniment, and you can feel good about supporting the development of young artists. 

"Beyonce" of Classical Music

This has nothing to do with opera and everything to do with having my interest piqued.  Maybe yours will be as well.  As I noted in the Opera Info/Websites/Blogs section, I subscribe to Slipped Disc and this headline on their website caught my eye, “The Beyonce of Classical Music Suggests Music for Pre-Sex.”  The performer thus labeled is Khatia Buniatishvili, an up and coming young concert pianist.  I was not so interested in the article, but I did want to get a look at Ms. Buniatishvili; presumably her attractiveness and sex appeal was much above most classical artists.  You can judge that point for yourself.  Click here for a clip of her performing.  I have to admit that watching her perform, I forgot her assigned Beyonce status, and the feature that fascinated me was her hands.  Watching those hands move across the keyboard caused me to believe in magic.  And the same is true for any other concert pianist I have ever watched.

Don’t Be a Daland, Be a Senta

I ran across an interesting blog titled titled Operation Opera that is sponsored by Virginia Opera and written by Dr. Glenn Winters, a trained musicologist and opera singer.  Here is someone who really knows opera.  He has written a number of blog posts leading up to the Virginia Opera production of The Flying Dutchman.  In his most recent post, titled “Flying Dutchman’s lesson: don’t be a Daland, be a Senta,” he talks about the tale of the Dutchman metaphorically.  In particular, he focuses on the role of Senta as an archetype of empathy and sacrifice, necessary to save the world.  Often critics present Senta merely as a slightly unhinged young woman in love and thereby miss the point.  He sees the message of the opera as don’t be an indifferent Daland (Senta's father), living a life of oblivion; be a Senta making sacrifices to ameliorate the suffering of others.  Interesting post; I recommend it, especially if you are going to see The Flying Dutchman.

Irregularity of Royal Opera House Live in Theaters Broadcasts

I covered these live broadcast of the Royal Opera House (London) operas in my blog post, “Affordable Opera, Part I”: “The Royal Opera House of London also broadcasts a live-in-cinemas series, though to only a very limited number of theaters in the mid-Atlantic region if I am reading the map correctly; click here to see a performance list and enter your address into the box to find theaters that carry these in your area.” I have checked more recently and the few theaters in the mid-Atlantic region aligned with ROH are not showing the productions live.  In fact, if you are near one of these theaters, you need to check with the theater to find out when the operas will broadcast.  For this reason, I will list the ROH broadcast link in the Seasonal Listings page, but not include them in the side-bar since the dates might be different for different theaters.  You can still track these down using the link above.  These are very good productions and I recommend you check them out if there is a theater near you.