Opera Baltimore’s The Turn of the Screw: Ghosts are real, aren’t they?

I woke up pondering an odd question Monday morning: what if ghosts aren’t real?  What are the implications for ghost stories?

Photo of Benjamin Britten in 1968 by Hans Wild. Photo in public domain from Wikipedia. The statue in the background seems relevant to his opera The Turn of the Screw.

I attended Opera Baltimore’s performance Sunday afternoon of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.  It is a ghost story based on the eponymous 1898 novella by Henry James.  In addition to this opera, the James’ novella spawned a Broadway play (The Innocents), two films (The Innocents and The Turning), and a recent TV series (The Haunting of Bly Manor).  Over the years, the interpretation of the story by critics has expanded; some say the story is about real ghosts and some say they were imagined by the governess. This report will take the position that the ghosts in the story were real.  After all, I saw and heard them Sunday afternoon in Baltimore.

This was the first production of Opera Baltimore under its new name.  Last season, Baltimore Concert Opera produced its first fully staged opera (The Barber of Seville), and with the intent to continue including fully staged productions in its seasonal lineups, the less restrictive name was chosen.  OB also launched some new community efforts over the summer; a new civic practice division held a festival in the Old West Baltimore area and continued their free outdoor concert series around the city.  Despite the new name, OB’s performance of The Turn of the Screw seemed like old times, a partially staged concert performance in the audacious Engineers Club in the Mt. Vernon area, still one of the best artistic and entertainment values in the mid-Atlantic area.

Colleen Daly as the governess and Norma Shankle in Prologue and as Peter Quint. Photos by Kiirstn Pagan; courtesy of Opera Baltimore.

The storyline for The Turn of the Screw, drawn from the novella by librettist Myfanwy Piper, involves a young governess sent to a country manor to take care of two children, Flora and Miles, whose family has passed; she was hired by their uncle in the city who did not want to take on the responsibility directly, nor to be bothered by reports or requests.  The housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, also helps with the children.  Soon the governess encounters ghosts of the former governess, Mrs. Jessel, and the former manservant, Peter Quint, who had a sexual relationship at the manor while alive, both of whom died under unusual circumstances.  She discovers that these two had unhealthy, perhaps sexual, relationships with the children and now appear to be trying to claim their souls.  Only the governess can see the ghosts, and she takes responsibility for fighting the ghosts for the children.  I won’t reveal the ending, but I must report that the story is about the power of attraction and lost innocence.  Both ghosts quote a line from a poem by Yeats: “The ceremony of innocence is drowned.”  One can certainly imagine that the children had been traumatized without ghosts, and author James never revealed whether the ghosts were real or the creation of the governess’s neuroses; reportedly when asked, he replied, “Assume the worst!”.  I believe the ghosts were real, assuming the worst.

Robin Steitz as Flora, Annie Chester as Mrs. Grose, and Brynn Blair as Miles. Photo by Kiirstn Pagan; courtesy of Opera Baltimore.

Benjamin Britten wrote fifteen operas in a modern opera style, many with troubling stories such as Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, and Billy Budd; he has been credited with establishing an English opera genre.  My current favorite Britten opera, the charming and delighful A Midsummer Night’s Dream, stands in contradistinction to those.  Musicologists hold Britten’s methodical construction of this opera in high esteem, a signature theme for the ghosts is used in the background before being fully exposed when the ghosts make their statements.  As a listener, I can only say that the music was engaging and supportive of the story.  Including both dissonance and melody, I think of it as beautiful in a sense, but largely unnerving.  The different scenes were connected by musical interludes.  Britten’s music was critical in the storytelling.  Pianist Joy Schreier did her typically excellent job of delivering the accompaniment for OB’s concert productions.  Conductor Michael Sakir keep the singers and music flowing together.  While I enjoyed the accompaniment by Ms. Schreier, Britten wrote this chamber work for a 13-piece orchestra; of course, coloration provided by other instruments is lost, but it keeps the focus on the singing.

OB’s fine cast of singer/actors did well under Caitrin Davies’ direction, in presenting this drama without costumes or a set and with limited moving about.  Soprano Colleen Daly sang well and made for a believable governess.  She has performed in several operas with Baltimore Concert Opera previously; I recently saw her impressive performance in Annapolis Opera’s Into the Woods; she is a talented actress in addition to being a talented singer.  Tenor Norman Shankle was a stalwart in singing in the prologue and as Peter Quint.  Mezzo-soprano Annie Chester was a perfect housekeeper, acting and singing, officious in her duties and protective of the children.  In Sunday’s performance, soprano Denique Isaac made a statement in singing the role of Mrs. Jessel as a substitute for soprano Amanda Sheriff.  I found her singing to be a highlight of the performance; I hope to see her in future OB productions.  The children were also a highlight of the opera and offered some surprises.  The role of Flora was sung with emotion by soprano Robin Steitz, who is young but not a child.  The role of Miles was sung by seventh grader Brynn Blair in what must be one of the youngest pants roles ever.  The purity of her voice and innocence in her singing were perfect, adding an important element to the story.

Colleen Daly as the governess holds a fallen Brynn Blair as Miles. Photo by Kiirstn Pagan; courtesy of Opera Baltimore.

Clearly, something more sinister than just trying to scare us was afoot in this ghost story.  What if ghosts aren’t real and yet Mr. James put them in his story as real?  Then, maybe the purpose of the portrayal of ghosts as characters in dramas and operas gives us momentary deniability, so we don’t turn away when we encounter the dark part of human nature reflected in the ghosts; we see ghosts, not people, rob children of their innocence.  But its troubling even when ghosts do it, very troubling indeed if ghosts aren’t real.  Art causes us to confront the good and the bad in human character.  Tough love.

I have to admire Opera Baltimore’s artistic standards.  For their first opera under the new name, I might have expected them to offer up something pleasant and ingratiating, like Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro or Puccini’s La Bohème.  But no, they went with a modern opera first performed in 1954 built on a 12-note scale (a little dissonance there) and based on one of the most troubling ghost stories of all time.  I jest, but Artistic and General Director Julia Cooke is committed to bringing OB’s audiences a variety of opera genres.  In closing her opening remarks addressing the audience, she wanted to say to enjoy the performance but had to admit that for this opera “enjoy” might not be the right word.  I agree, but it was a very worthwhile artistic and human experience; it was real. 

And it introduced me to an important work I might have missed, and it has whetted my appetite for seeing the fully staged version.  Thank you once more, Opera Baltimore.

The Fan Attraction: The two performances of The Turn of the Screw were given on Friday night and the following Sunday afternoon, in the Engineers Club as is the usual practice of OB.  The Engineers Club in the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion is a palatial, intimate venue for concert opera, well worth a visit on its own.  There was no current COVID requirements for this production.  I typically utilize on street parking close to the Engineers Club for performances, but valet parking is available. The current venue for OB’s fully staged operas is Stephen’s Hall at Towson University.  Ticket prices for OB performances remain a bargain, and be forewarned, performances are typically selling out in the small 200-seat theater of the Engineers Club.  Last year’s fully staged The Barber of Seville was also a sellout; best to get your tickets early for March 23 and 24 when OB presents Verdi’s La Traviata. 

Dr. Aaron Ziegel, OB’s Scholar-in-Residence provides a pre-opera talk one hour before each performance.  He also provides four one-hour, highly informative Zoom classes for ticket holders on each upcoming opera.  These lectures are maintained and available online to all at this link. 

For this production, Opera Baltimore offered ticket holders a limited tour of the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion prior to the performance.  Apparently, the guide for the tour when I was there was unavailable, so Artistic and General Director Joyce Cook led the tour.  Of course she did, and now you know one of the main reasons why Opera Baltimore is such a success.

Opera Lafayette’s 2022-2023 Season: Enjoy the History, Relish the Music

Opera Lafayette’s mission is finding neglected opera gems of the 17th-19th centuries and performing them authentically on period instruments; there is an emphasis on French compositions of the 18th century.  If you look closely, you will see that their new season is filled with such treasures.  I say look closely because the works to be performed are offered under the umbrella of a theme this season as last.  As part of the research done to find these gems, OL staff encounters examples of how the history of an era affects the music of that era, and significantly, how music influences history.  For the first time last year, OL officially gave their season a theme, and revealed the themes for the following two years as well.  Last season’s theme was the “Era of Marie Antoinette”, and the works of that era that were presented dealt in part with 18th century land ownership issues and the role of French music in colonialism.  This year’s theme moves a few years back from Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI to the era of Madame de Pompadour and Louis XV, highlighting how music enabled musically talented French women to become influencers in the king’s court and in society beyond.  In my comments below, I report some of the details I learned in a telephone conversation with OL’s Artistic Director, Ryan Brown.  Enjoy the history lessons that will be offered by Opera Lafayette but go for the extraordinarily beautiful music you will hear in musical compositions you have not likely heard before. 

Charles André Van Loo - Madame de Pompadour en belle jardinière - v.1754-1755. Image from Wikipedia is in the public domain.

Opera Lafayette’s 2022-2023 Season, the “Era of Madame Pompadour”:

In the Salons of Versailles (DC: Dec 2/NYC: May 10)

Pergolesi! (DC: Feb 2/NYC: May 11)

Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro (DC: May 2,3/NYC: May 9)

What first caught my eye for this year was the theme, the “Era of Madame de Pompadour”.  I knew little about her beyond that she was famous as a celebrity in French history, and a hair style was named after her that Elvis wore; if you are over 50, you knew that.  I had no idea that she had influenced French music, much less how.  She was officially known as Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour and got her title from doing a swell job as chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751.  Chief mistress?  Yep, officially titled maîtresse-en-titre.  As an aside, the king’s unofficial mistresses were known as petit-maîtresses; it must have stung to not only be labeled a consort, but a minor consort.  If we had been a French colony, so much about America might have been different - croissants, not biscuits for example, but I digress. 

So, it turns out that Madame de Pompadour was a more than passable soprano and musician; she played the harpsichord and enjoyed performing as a singer; these talents were enabling for her.  Artistic Director Brown was familiar with her; she had performed in her day in an opera by composers Rebel and Francoeur named Zélindor roi des sylphs which OL performed in 2007.  She also was a strong patron of the arts who wielded a lot of unofficial power because she had the ear of the king; even after her tenure as maîtresse-en-titre, her influence continued.  Her ingratiating musicianship and patronage of the arts helped diffuse some of the grief directed towards her for being a commoner, a serious issue for some of the encrusted members of the court.  Opera Lafayette’s theme is a celebration of the era, and only partially Madame Pompadour.  Her support of the arts helped her gain acceptance and influence, but it was also valuable to the arts.

Logo courtesy of Opera Lafayette

In the Salons of Versailles:

Opera Lafayette leads off this season with “In the Salons of Versailles”.  Invitations to salons in 18th century were coveted.  OL’s program will present French salons as two different salonnières (organizers of the salon) might have organized them.  The salons of that time were one area where women could hold the leadership position.  The first salon will feature a bill of music that Madame de Pompadour might have selected.  Mme. Pompadour was not the only influencer of her day.  Another salonnière in the French court at that time who liked to organize salons in order to extend her favor and influence with the power brokers of the day was the Dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe.  She was an import from Dresden, the daughter of Augustus III of Poland, who had married Louis XV’s son, the Dauphin Louis, a marriage arranged to cement the alliance between France and Saxony; she also played the harpsichord. 

Cast photo from OL’s performance in 2012 of Le Roi et le fermier by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny; this production included a performance at Opéra Royal de Versailles. Photo by Louis Forget; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Though both were talented musicians, Dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe and Madame Pompadour were quite different in tastes and background; she was a cosmopolitan from upper crust nobility, and Mme. Pompadour was a French commoner with an unfashionable job.  The program will begin with a Pompadour salon section featuring French composers, whom she favored rather strictly.  Then, we will be presented with a Marie-Josèphe de Saxe salon with works from a multinational cast of composers such as Mozart, Hasse, and Pergolesi.  Near the program’s end, the selections will revert again to Madame de Pompadour.  The recitals will feature renown soprano Emmanuelle de Negri (for a treat and a sampling of her beautiful voice and artistry, click on this link) and will be under the musical direction of violinist Jacob Ashworth directing an ensemble of well-known early music specialists playing the harpsichord (Justin Jonathan Taylor), violin (June Huang), viola (Isaiah Chapman), and cello (Serafim Smigelskiy); the program was designed by Mr. Ashworth. 

During Madame Pompadour’s era, a controversy known as the Guerre des Bouffons was brewing in Paris; the disagreement was over which was superior, French or Italian music.  For OL’s exemplary salons, I don’t think scorecards will be handed out, but you can take mental notes for arguments on the way home.  For me, I suspect it will be a tie; I like ciabatta and croissants.

Pergolesi!

Opera Lafayette’s second production planned this season is titled “Pergolesi!” and will present two compositions by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi; keep in mind that even though Italian, his music was quite the rage and had influence in Paris during Mme. Pompadour’s era.  OL will first present a semi-staged performance of Pergolesi’s hit comedic opera, La serva padrona to be performed in the French version, La Servante maîtresse (The Maid Turned Mistress); in the opera, a trick by a servant woman leads to the discovery of true love.  This 40-minute opera was created to play as an entertainment during the intermission of another opera by Pergolesi but came to be successful on its own.  The opera helped kick off the Guerre des Bouffons when it became a hit after being used in Paris as an intermezzo for the performance of an opera by Lully as well as other performances.  OL’s performance will be sung in French, but it will have a novel feature - Director Nick Olcott has composed rhymed dialog in English meant to better approximate rhymes of the original recitatives in order to recapture the humor for an English-speaking audience.

Personally, I am most excited about the second part of this program, a chance to hear in person Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater performed by Opera Lafayette.  I find this piece extraordinarily beautiful and have listened to recordings of it multiple times every year since discovering it a few years ago.  The concert rendition of Stabat Mater will be conducted by Patrick Dupré Quigley and feature soprano Gwendoline Blondeel and mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko.  La Servante Maîtresse will have musical direction by Conductor Quigley and feature soprano Hannah De Priest, bass-baritone Jonathan Woody, and tenor Patrick Kilbride.

Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro

The third OL production for this season will be two fully-staged actes des ballets, one-act operas that include divertissements with dancing and choruses at the end.  The first will be a world premiere of the famous French composer Jean Phillipe Rameau’s Io.  Rameau was a favorite of both Madame Pompadour and Marie-Josèphe de Saxe.  This opera was unfinished by Rameau, as he set it aside to work on his opera Platée, his most famous comedy, and it has never been performed.  Both plots deal with Jupiter’s philandering and Juno’s jealously and create the character of Folly (La Folie).  Musicologist Sylvie Bouissou, who has written a biography of Rameau, completed this work with similar plotlines, principally by adding dancing and a chorus at the end taken from Platée. 

Madame de Pompadour had an opera theater, the Théâtre des Petits Cabinets, constructed at Versailles early in her reign as chief mistress, where she frequently performed.  The second opéra-ballet will be composer Pierre de la Garde’s Léandre et Héro.  The composer taught music to Louis LXV, and this is an opera that Madame Pompadour played the lead in when performed at court.  Both operas will be conducted by harpsichordist Avi Stein, with stage direction by Nick Olcott, and will have lead roles played by soprano Emmanuelle de Negri and tenor Maxime Melnik, his in American debut.  The New York Baroque Dance Company and the Sean Curran Dance Company will both be performing in Léandre et Héro, and the Sean Curran Company will perform in Io.

Photo of Artistic Director, Conductor, and Violinist Ryan Brown. Photo courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

In concluding, let me ask if you have been aware of an apparent glaring omission thus far.  Opera Lafayette’s Artistic Director and founder, Ryan Brown typically conducts these performances and most often is also featured as a violinist.  For this season, he has chosen to remain on the sidelines to give additional leaders and conductors opportunities to gain experience and continue this work, perhaps also a concession to the COVID pandemic which limited opportunities for so many, with audiences still down over pre-pandemic levels.  He also pointed out that Opera Lafayette has recently added three Artistic Associates: Jacob Ashworth who put together the opening recital for this season; Jonathan Woody who sings in La Servante Maîtresse and also organized the choruses for the operas to be performed in the Spring; and Columbia University musicologist, Julia Doe, who now is overseeing OL’s educational programs.

I hope this overview of Opera Lafayette’s 2022-2023 season has been helpful, but personally, I don’t need to know what’s playing when Opera Lafayette is performing.  I just go, knowing that it will be played with the wholesomeness of authenticity and that I’m going to enjoy it.  This has been true since I attended my first performance by Opera Lafayette over five years ago.  Heck, if you don’t like Opera Lafayette performances, you don’t like ice cream (or sorbet). 

The Fan Experience: All of Opera Lafayette’s productions for 2022-2023 will be performed in both Washington, DC (Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center) and New York City (El Museo del Barrio).  In DC, they will be spread over the entire season and in NYC performed as a festival.

Washington, DC:

In the Salons of Versailles – December 2

Pergolesi! - February 2

Opéra-ballet - Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro  - May 2,3

New York City:

Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro - May 9

In the Salons of Versailles - May 10

Pergolesi! - May 11

I have not attended an OL performance in NYC, but my experience attending performances at the Kennedy Center is that they sometimes sell out; best to purchase tickets early to have the better choice of seating.  OL’s next season will also be themed based, covering the “The Era of Madame de Maintenon” in 2023-2024. 

Virginia Opera’s Pirates of Penzance: Charming and Fun from Before the Beginning

The stage was set for The Pirates of Penzance before the curtains opened.  Have a look at the photo below of the stage before the beginning of the opera.  The colorful frame around the Mason Center for the Arts stage put me in a good mood before I sat down.  Then as the Virginia Symphony Orchestra began the overture led by VO’s Conductor and Artistic Director Adam Turner, the lights in the frame began to change, reminding me of old-time nickelodeons, signaling we were returning to the fun of days gone by.  The Pirates of Penzance premiered in New York in 1879, but while being dated, in Virginia Opera’s hands it remained charming, funny, and fun from beginning to end.  This production is a gem.

Photo of stage at the Mason Center for the Arts at George Mason University. Photo by author, posted with permission from Virginia and Mason Center for the Arts.

A short plot summary (with as few spoilers as I can make): Young Frederic was indentured to a band of pirates from childhood by his nanny who remains by his side.  It is his 21st birthday which frees him of his obligation to the pirates.  Now, his overarching commitment to duty requires that he become their enemy.  Leaving his nanny behind, he is set ashore on an island and is looking for a young woman to marry.  He finds Mabel among a host of her young sisters in a deserted spot.  Then, they are accosted by the band of pirates who are now his enemy.  The sisters call on their father, a major general, to save them, which he does by fabricating a lie.  The major general, an honorable man, feels guilty about his deception, and his lie is discovered.  Frederic and a band of policeman plan to attack the pirates, but the pirates learn of the plan and will attack first. Subsequently, Frederic finds his contract has not run out and must rejoin the pirates and leave Mabel to wait for him.  As mayhem is about to break out, all are reminded of their common cause and all ends happily.  Yes, that is a boring summary, but as you learn the details, you will laugh out loud, I promise.  Like how Frederic became a pirate – his parents told the nanny they wanted him to become a pilot, but she claims she misheard them, believing they said a pirate, and the zaniness increases from there.

Martin Bakari as Frederic and Amy Owens as Mabel. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

The Pirates of Penzance was the 5th operetta (or light opera) of fourteen by composer Arthur Sullivan and librettist W. S. Gilbert.  Their works were enormously popular from the mid 19th to the mid 20th centuries, and many are still performed today, especially Pirates and The Mikado.  A 1981 Broadway production of Pirates ran for almost 800 performances and a film version in 1983 was quite popular, still available via streaming services.  These two men with very different personalities, who were often at odds with each other, managed to blend Sullivan’s extraordinary musicality with Gilbert’s extraordinary wit and gift for satire into something new, a British genre of opera called operetta.  Their work was a forerunner of American musicals.  Both were knighted in England; interestingly Sullivan twenty-four years before Gilbert.  One might guess satire makes enemies.

There was a serious side to Gilbert’s comedic barbs; this was a permissible way for Victorian society to mock itself during a period of great societal change.  Not that the satire of Pirates no longer applies to today.  The famous modern, major general in Pirates knows everything except what a general ought to know; the policeman would rather not engage the criminals; there are honest pirates and then there are those pirates that present themselves as something else; and perhaps most important in Pirates, a slavish devotion to duty can lead you astray.  The full title of the opera is The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty.  But don’t worry, the tuneful music and the zany comedy make it all enjoyable today as it did back then.

Aubrey Allicock (center) as The Pirate King amid his band of pirates. hoto by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Humor is a serious business: you must play to your audience and the timing in delivering the jokes must be quick and spot on, even more difficult in opera where legato rules. The jokes can become problematic when passed down to future generations with a different frame of reference.  To get a fuller recognition of the humor in Pirates and gain a better appreciation of the spirit of the times, I strongly recommend the excellent lecture by Joshua Borths, VO’s scholar in residence, given both as the pre-opera talk and in a “Let’s Talk About Opera” video on Youtube.  For example, you will learn that the title The Pirates of Penzance is itself humorous: Penzance was a seaside resort in England at the time, so the title is like calling it The Pirates of Disneyland.  You will have to go with the flow in abiding Victorian society’s treatment of women.  Mr. Borths also takes on explaining where operetta fits among similar genres, i.e., opera comique, singspiel, opera buffa, and opera comique among others.  You will learn interesting anecdotes such as Gilbert’s kidnapping as a child.  From the lecture, you will also learn more about Sullivan’s talent for opera and how he uses that humorously to make fun of opera in this operetta.  Virginia Opera adds to the currency of the humor with a few additions of its own, such as an amusing reference to COVID.

Virginia Opera has assembled a talented and ingratiating cast for this production.  At the performance I attended, the audience was clearly stoked for a good Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, and VO’s cast delivered the goods; the audience singer/actor connection was very strong.  Tenor Martin Bakari made a natural Frederic, committed to duty but not officious, a tender young man longing for love.  Mabel, the object of his affections was played to perfection by soprano Amy Owens.  Her beautiful light, lilting voice and vocal agility added the right touch of humor in spoofing Mr. Verdi and Mr. Puccini.  Bass-baritone Aubrey Allicock was a good-natured Pirate King, and Bass Jeremy Harr was hilarious with his staccato movements and singing.  Baritone Troy Cook as Major-General Stanley delivered in satisfying fashion the work’s best known song – “I am the very model of a modern major-general”.  Mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer, who played Ruth, the nanny, sang well and had a deft comic touch.  The supporting cast of pirate Kyle White, and sisters, Katherine Sanford, Taylor-Alexis DuPont, and Kaileigh Riess added admirably to the performance.

Troy Cook (left) as Major-General Stanley and ensemble. hoto by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Kyle Lang deserves special kudos for his taut direction and splendid choreography of the performance.  As I have said before, comedy especially in opera is difficult.  This production was genuinely funny.  The sustained undercurrent of humor erupted frequently into the laugh out loud type.  Director Lang made it all work with the assistance of Driscoll Otto for lighting design and James P. McGough for wigs and make up.  The period costumes previously designed by James Schuette were a boon to the performance.

Mr. Sullivan’s playful music is complex, displaying elements from several sources, bel canto operas, hymns, and popular songs.  It contains double choruses singing at the same time.  The music was beautifully played with spirit by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Turner’s direction.  Choral direction was by Associate Conductor Brandon Eldredge.  The performance is filled with many delightful and often amusing songs and music you might put on just to listen to, sometimes containing familiar themes found in later songs. 

Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Gilbert were gifted, as evidenced by how their operas still bring in audiences today.  Virginia Opera’s performance of The Pirates of Penzance in Fairfax was both an homage to them and a gem of its own, all very proper I assure you.

 The Fan Experience: Performances of The Pirates of Penzance was scheduled for performances in Norfolk on November 4, 5, 6; in Fairfax on November 12, 13; and in Richmond on November 18, 20.  The opera has two acts and is sung in English with supertitles in English shown on an overhead screen, spoken dialog not shown on the screen.  There was a refreshments bar on the entrance level during the intermission between acts.  Masking and proof of vaccinations were not required for the audience. 

Again, I highly recommend the outstanding pre-opera talk on The Pirates of Penzance, given by Joshua Borths, Virginia Opera’s scholar in residence, which starts 45 minutes before the beginning of the opera. Get there early to get a good seat. If you can’t make a performance but want to know more about the opera, Mr. Borths covers the same material and more in his “Let’s Talk Opera” lecture available at this link. 

Maryland Lyric Opera’s Un Ballo in Maschera: A Home Run

Maryland Lyric Opera is having a season of Verdi.  What a pleasure that the less often performed Un Ballo in Maschera (1859) was chosen for their next Verdi opera instead of the enormously popular La Traviata or Rigoletto or Aida.  Of course, I would have attended any of those, but I had not seen Un Ballo before, and it speaks well of MDLO’s commitment to providing performances of a variety of classic operas to its community.  In Verdi’s case, they have an array of operas to choose from.  He wrote 28, and at least half remain in today’s opera repertoire.  This one was Verdi’s 23rd, so an opera by a mature Verdi.  MDLO opened their 2022-2023 season with his Macbeth back in September, and more Verdi operas are planned for the coming year, including Falstaff on January 20 and 22.

l to r: Aleksey Bogdanov as Renato, Indira Mahajan as Amelia, and Arturo Chacón-Cruz as Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera. Photo by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

Giuseppe Verdi led an extraordinary life, and his Un Ballo in Maschera had a difficult path to the stage.  Verdi was familiar with tragedy; in a span of two years his first wife and his two children died.  He enjoyed enormous fame as perhaps the leading opera composer of his time, acquired substantial wealth, and became a popular figure in Italy’s Risorgimento, a movement to unify all of Italy.  His Un Ballo was shaped (or perhaps ‘deformed’ is a better word) by censors.  The libretto by Antonio Somma was based on a previous opera that dealt with the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden.  Censors found this too sensitive a topic for their day, with revolutions ongoing and other assassination attempts being made.  Somma became so frustrated that he initially refused to allow his name on the final libretto.  I gather that over the two years of development, the setting changed from Sweden to Poland and finally to Boston, with the opera’s name changing and the method by which the ruler is dispatched changing as transformations were required.  Today, different versions are frequently performed.  Since this was a concert version of Un Ballo, I can only say that it appeared that MDLO chose Boston and definitely had the Count shot.

Frankly, after reading a synopsis of the opera, my hopes for a great opera went down.  The Count is under threat of assassination and is in love with Amelia who is married to his friend Renato who is his secretary.  Amelia has also fallen in love with the Count but is pure-hearted and wants to expunge this love.  They are both very adult about this, but Renato when he finds out is not.  Ulrica, a gypsy woman fortune teller who worships Satan (Romani women stereotyped again), tells the Count he will be killed by the next person to shake his hand, and she tells Amelia to look in the graveyard by the gallows at night to find a plant that will cure her of this love; Riccardo overhears and plans to meet her to confront her with his love.  Renato appears to warn Riccardo again about plots.  He is instructed to escort the woman back to the city but not ask her anything; she has veiled her face, but the veil drops.  It gets even more contrived.  Yet…and yet, this cast and Verdi’s music made it work, turned the story into a gripping drama, and caused me to care about the characters. This achievement was made all the more amazing given that this was a partially staged, concert version of the opera without a set or period costumes.  Conclusion: Verdi never lost his touch as a superior dramatist; he saw the possibilities to communicate the human condition that I did not.  Bravi!

Arturo Chacón-Cruz as Riccardo and Indira Mahajan as Amelia. Photos by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

A couple of interesting historical notes: the great American contralto, Marian Anderson, made her first and only appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955 as the fortune teller Ulrica; she was the first black singer to appear at the Met (founded in 1883).  And eerily, it is thought that the first opera attended by President Abraham Lincoln was Un Ballo; he attended a total of 30 before his assassination.

This talented and accomplished cast was simply fabulous acting and singing, making all the characters believably human.  Mexican superstar tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz played Riccardo with such warmth and tenderness that we loved him, even though he was so idealistic that he refused to take safeguards and then pardoned all who plotted against him.  Mr. Chacón-Cruz has a beautifully burnished tenor voice and sang impressively all evening.  International opera star and former Marian Anderson Award winner, soprano Indira Mahajan played Amelia.  At first, I regretted she didn’t seem to want to show off her lovely voice with added trills and flourishes, but I was soon endeared with the emotionalism of her singing as she began to tear my heart out.  Their duets and ensemble numbers also drew me into their characters.  I thought baritone Aleksey Bogdanov as Renato sang brusquely in a low register in his initial vocals, but his voice mellowed out and was extraordinarily beautiful in his aria bemoaning his discovery of his wife’s affection for the Count.

Aleksey Bogdanov as Renato and Daryl Freedman as Ulrica. Photos by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

Mezzo-soprano Daryl Freedman who played Ulrica is a graduate of the Cafritz Young Artists program of Washington National Opera.  She has recently made a reputation for herself singing Wagner with the Virginia Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.  This young singer has a voice that will immediately make you sit up and take notice, and Ulrica is a drama queen – a perfect match.  Her acting and passionate singing breathed the necessary fire into Ulrica.  Another scene stealer in the performance was Spanish soprano Aitana Sanz as Oscar, who is Riccardo’s page, a pants role; this was her American debut.  This young soubrette had an ingratiating presence and sang beautifully; her aria defending the fortune teller was a delight.  She seemed to play to the audience and the audience responded most favorably.  Rounding out the cast effectively in supporting roles was bass-baritone Michael Pitocchi as Samuel, bass-baritone Adam Cioffari as Tom, baritone Javier Arrey as Silvano, and tenor Mauricio Miranda as a judge and servant.

left photo: Aitana Sanz as Oscar. right photo: Arturo Chacón-Cruz as Riccardo at the masked ball. Photos by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

One of the stars of this performance was Verdi’s music.  MDLO presents the music in Strathmore’s Music Center as well as you are likely to hear opera performed, by using a full orchestra on stage (75 members) and a full chorus (72 members) in the balconies around the stage.  Both are typically excellent, providing a lush, sonic experience not often rivaled by opera house productions.  The guest conductor for Un Ballo was Italian conductor Andrea Licata who has conducted in opera houses across the globe and is well known locally for many performances in Baltimore.  I had the impression there was tight control between the music and the singers and Verdi’s music was delivered beautifully.  A few times the softer voice singers had difficulty overcoming the volume of sound from the orchestra in this setting. The dramatic enhancement of the story telling by music in this production was striking.  Gloriously melodic in nature, the music provided some lighter moments to the opera, contrasting with the words which I felt lacked amusement due to the ultimately dark nature of the plot.  Husan Park who served as the conductor of the off stage banda also led the chorus as they gave an impressive performance.  Truly, this cast and the music made magic happen in bringing the story to life.

The partial staging of this performance, directed by Visual Supervisor David Gately, was also a star of this production in a supporting role.  The placement and movement added to the storytelling’s grip.  The storytelling was also enhanced by stage lighting by Stuart Duke and image projections on a screen overhead by Sarah Tundermann.  The images were selected from a deck of Tarot cards from 1909 intended to convey the power of fate and destiny on the characters.  Different cards were used to represent a character’s motivations or traits in a scene.  I thought the images helped add an unworldly atmosphere hovering over the action.

The Maryland Lyric Orchestra on stage and the Maryland Lyric Opera Chorus in the balconies behind with singers onstage including (l to r) Michael Pitocchi as Samuel, Adam Cioffari as Tom, Aleksey Bogdanov as Renato, Conductor Andrea Licata, Aitana Sanz as Oscar, Arturo Chacón-Cruz as Riccardo, and Daryl Freedman as Ulrica. Photo by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

According to Merriam Webster, the second definition of “home run” is “an impressive success”.  Yep, MDLO’s Un Ballo in Maschero was a home run.  In fact, I am adding it to my top ten list of opera performances that I have seen, which includes at least one other MDLO production.  Maryland Lyric Opera continues to bring world class classic opera to the Maryland suburban community.

The Fan Experience: Un Ballo in Maschera was performed on November 11 and 13 in the Strathmore Music Center.  Stay tuned, MDLO will soon open ticketing for the performance of Verdi’s Falstaff on January 20 and 22.  Mark your calendars.

The concert hall is a beautiful structure that has outstanding acoustics for concert performances.  For those of us whose vision is not the best, having the images and the English subtitles on separate screens would be welcomed. Strathmore is conveniently located close to the Grosvenor Metro Stop on the Rockville Pike.  Use of the parking deck is free on evenings and weekends.  I have found parking there to be easy in and easy out.  Cafeteria style food is offered again as pandemic restrictions have been limited, and there is a cash bar on lower level.

MDLO anticipates announcing the remainder of its “Season of Verdi” in the next couple of weeks; all operas are planned for performances at the Strathmore and will be concert presentations with full orchestra and chorus.  Thanks to Maryland Lyric Opera patrons and contributors, tickets for any seat in the house will remain $10 for students with a student ID. 

Washington National Opera’s Elektra: Nothing to Be Afraid Of

Opera aficionados seem to love Richard Strauss’ opera, Elektra (1909), but my perception is that a sizable segment of opera fans shy away, instead waiting for the next production of La Bohème or La Traviata.  Not having seen Elektra before, I was among the apprehensive ones.  If you have also been hesitant to attend this opera, relax; I can report that Elektra is an enjoyable opera, and Washington National Opera’s performance is an excellent show.  In fact, there is much to commend it.  I even considered going with “Triumphant” in the title of this report.  I should explain.  Let me speak to the reluctant fans.

Christine Goerke as Elektra. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

First, a brief synopsis of Elektra:  King Agamemnon has been slain by his wife Klytämnestra and her lover Aegisth; they marry and Aegisth becomes King.  Orest, son of Agamemnon and Klytämnestra, has been sent away to avoid retribution.  Their daughters, Elektra and Chrysothemis, remain under guard in the palace, though they can move about.  Chrysothemis wants to move past all this and longs to get married and have children.  Elektra stews in her rage, obsessed with planning for revenge, committed to the killing of her mother and stepfather.  Orest, rumored to be dead, sneaks back into the palace and carries out Elektra’s wishes, making himself King, and Elektra dances into a mad frenzy until she collapses on the floor, presumably dead.  Author Hugo von Hofmannsthal adapted the libretto from his successful play Elektra, which was based on the Greek tragedy by Sophocles.  One likely reason for Elektra’s only moderate succes with audiences is that it lacks a central love story. Instead, we are presented with a woman in pain, severe distress, and a theme of revenge, our need to right wrongs, to seek justice, and to strike back when hurt… and the damage it causes. A cautionary note - I knew the story from Greek history and literature and expected the opera version to be violent and bloody.  However, I found it to be not any more so than your average modern detective movie, or your average opera for that matter, and much less graphic than movies. 

Christine Goerke (left) as Elektra and Sara Jakubiak (right) as Chrysothemis. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Elektra’s stature in the opera canon made me want to attend, but I had read reviews that worried me, despite all the praise it receives.  What had caused me the most anxiety about attending this opera were the words avant-garde, dissonance, chromaticism, and polytonality that were used in many reviews in regard to Elektra’s music.  After all, this is a twentieth century opera; composers were trying out new forms of music in that period, not always well received by a significant portion of classical music fans.  I guess I’m still in my early stage of music appreciation; I want to hear music that is pleasing to the ear, at least for the most part, and I was worried about Elektra.  When his Salomé came out a few years earlier, Strauss was called avant-garde, and Elektra was said to use dissonance (weird sounding), chromaticism (use of notes foreign to the scale the work is composed in) and polytonality (different instruments playing the same tune in different keys at the same time).  Here is the pleasantly surprising deal with Elektra: it all works, and I really, really liked the music.  It was enjoyable throughout.  Any dissonance fit perfectly with the action on stage, and I found the music to be sometimes melodic and always engaging and powerful, rather terrific.  I think I can guarantee that you won’t be bored; at the very least, the violent eruptions of the percussion section will wake you up.  Strauss’ music played by the WNO Orchestra under the baton of Evan Rogister slayed my fears; the music was triumphant.

Katarina Dalayman (center) as Klytämnestra. with Alexandria Shiner as Trainbearer (left) and Alexandra Loutsion as Klytämnestra’s confidante. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Other than its stellar reputation, another thing that had drawn me to this opera was its appeal to great dramatic sopranos.  They all seem to want to sing it despite the demands it makes on a voice and the soprano’s stamina, not to mention requisite superior acting abilities.  The actress must almost constantly display extreme emotions of hatred, fear, anguish, and lust for revenge, while being the center of attention on stage for almost the entire one hundred minutes of the performance; Elektra has been facetiously referred to in the past as a “soprano breaker”.  WNO selected a Washington favorite for this role, soprano Christine Goerke, one of today’s leading dramatic sopranos.  Ms. Goerke has sung many times at the Metropolitan Opera and other leading opera houses, including this role for the San Francisco Opera in 2017.  I saw her outstanding Turandot a few years back at the Met.  She received early training with Wolf Trap Opera, and she has sung the roles of Isolde and Brunnhilda previously with WNO.  On Saturday night, she was smoking, in excellent form communicating Elektra’s anguish and rage with her singing and acting.  Is there a word that means music and singing combined?  If so, there is your reason to attend WNO’s Elektra.  And there’s more.

Ryan Speedo Green as Orest. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The cast around Ms. Goerke was also excellent.  I was particularly taken with soprano Sara Jakubiak who played Chrysothemis.  She has a beautiful voice and her acting presented an excellent counterpoint to Ms. Goerke’s Elektra.  Renown soprano Katarina Dalayman sang the role of Klytämnestra with depth in her acting and singing; she gave us a compelling murderess who was coming apart and needing the support of her daughters.  Base baritone Ryan Speedo Green gave WNO audiences another excellent performance, this time as Orest, portrayed as a strong, virile, action-oriented young man.  Tenor Štefan Margita was compelling in his brief appearance as King Aegisth, making the king an interesting character.  The singers in supporting roles embellished the performance.  The duets in this production were among the opera’s most touching and enjoyable aspects, especially with Elektra and Chrysothemis playing off each other’s character and with Elektra and Orest showing genuine familial love.

Štephan Margita as King Aegisth and Christine Goerke as Elektra. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The staging for this opera also worked, a back-to-back success in that regard with WNO’s Il Trovatore; running concurrently, it also has a theme of revenge, but includes a compelling love story.  WNO’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello directs Elektra with polish and symbolism.  The set by Erhard Rohm included columns on two sides of the palace courtyard, one broken in half and bearing Agamemnon’s name.  A balcony ran across the back of the stage with openings that allowed the characters to be seen moving back and forth while hiding the bloody aspects of the violence.  Overall, the set and its lighting (thanks to Mark McCullough) achieved a pleasing artistic effect.  The costumes by Bibhu Mohapatra were spectacular in color and design which gave a contrasting effect with the dark nature of the plot, but I guess in real life murderers don’t dress in dark hues to reflect the fact that they are sinister.  Chrysothemis’ blue evening gown would have befitted Cinderella at the Ball.  Only Elektra was clothed in drab grey.  There were a couple of minor glitches which I assume will be corrected in subsequent performances.  Overall, the elements of the staging, lighting, and costumes added to the believability of the story and provided some welcome lightness while a heavy drama was presented effectively.

Although I enjoyed Elektra as an artistic experience and superior entertainment, the story does give one pause; it addresses an important and disturbing theme.  The plot of Elektra is presented in Greek tragedy as predetermined by human nature (or the gods), encapsulated in the phrase ‘blood calls for blood’, something we are expected to recognize (and accept as our ancestors did?).  After all, do you think that Dr. Phil could have found a non-violent resolution for this family.  I don’t accept violence as the only way out and prefer culture and our system of laws for resolutions.  At the same time, I cannot deny that forfeiture of the lives of Klytämnestra and Aegisth felt right.  But then, where does it end?  Ms. Zambello in her Director’s Note says, “Even today, we see the same tragic cycle play out, again and again.  Can we ever see clearly enough to break free?”.  Well, if not, I think we are going to have to keep going to see Elektra until we get it right.  Hmmm.  Did I just say above that there is nothing to be afraid of?

The Fan Experience: Performances of Elektra are scheduled for October 29. 31, November 4, 6, 9, and 12; tickets for remaining performances can be purchased through this link.  The opera is sung in German with supertitles in English shown on a screen above the stage.  Parking in the Kennedy Center is typically plentiful at around $25 per day, with a small discount for Kennedy Center members when reserved ahead of the day.  The Metro to Foggy Bottom and the free Red Kennedy Center buses from there to the Kennedy Center which run every 15 minutes are an excellent option.  Always check with the venue of the performance you are attending for COVID restrictions; for Saturday’s performance, neither masking nor proof of vaccination was required. 

If you arrive early enough, check out Kennedy Center’s new permanent exhibit “Arts and Ideals: President John F. Kennedy” in the JFK Gallery located on the Terrace Level. It covers President Kennedy from childhood to his death with a focus on his commitment to the arts.

Washington National Opera’s Il Trovatore: the Exotic Pleasure of Empathy

Oh, how we love to empathize and sympathize with romantic heroes and villains spilling their guts, literally and figuratively, upon the opera stage while listening to world class singing and some of the most beautiful music in the world.  A Romani woman, wrongly accused of being a witch, burned at the stake, an innocent child thrown into the fire, one lover takes poison to avoid being possessed by a man she does not love, and another is beheaded at the command of his brother.  In other words, just another day at the opera.  Verdi strikes again in this engrossing tale, a cornucopia of tragedy, well done by Washington National Opera in a performance that builds from beginning to end.  This is the classic Italian opera that we crave.  Go see WNO’s Il trovatore.  Unless you are an opera curmudgeon focusing on its minor flaws, you won’t be disappointed; this is one to simply be enjoyed.  And what a pleasure it is to go to an opera and have it all work, a well-done artistic experience coupled with a very cool night’s entertainment!  Oh Leonora, Manrico, Azucena, and Count di Luna, I feel your pain…so deliciously. 

Latonia Moore as Leonora and Gwyn Hughes Jones as Manrico in Washington National Opera’s Il trovatore. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The story of Il trovatore (The Troubadour, 1853) was taken from a play, El trovador (1836), by Spanish playwright Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez.  The opera was an immediate success and has remained in the repertoire to present day; the play lifted its author from obscurity to become a celebrated playwright.  Why such success for a plot that has been criticized for stretching credulity too far?  The characters are human archetypes exploring the very human question of which will prevail between love, jealousy, and revenge.  Washington National Opera has placed the action in its intended period and place, fifteenth century Spain, but these emotions and forces play out everywhere in every time period.  Mr. Gutiérrez managed to use them to weave together an engaging story of a wrongful execution with a love story that features a jolt at the end. 

Raehann Bryce-Davis as Azucena and Christopher Maltman as Count di Luna. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Giuseppe Verdi, the leading opera composer in Italy at the time, worked with his librettist Salvadore Cammarano, with help after his death from the young librettist Leone Emanuele Bardare.  Together they bring the story vividly to life in an opera format; transforming prose to poetry that works with music is challenging.  And of course, Verdi created more of his beautiful, highly melodic music to participate in telling the tale.  The composer also used his uncanny sense of what works in opera to adjust the plot, such as increasing Leonora’s role while keeping a focus on Azucena, balancing the female roles similar to the balance between the male principals. 

Verdi operas are usually divided into three periods, based on changes in their sophistication.  The composer had just entered his second period with the premiere of his great Rigoletto in 1851; then, Il trovatore premiered in January 1853 and shortly thereafter, in March 1853 he premiered his summa cum laude, La Traviata.  Rigoletto is about dad’s suffering, while Il trovatore is about mom’s; an interesting progression for Verdi.  Musicologists suggest that Il trovatore was the summation of all that Verdi had learned about writing opera in his first period, while La Traviata represented a hyper jump into a new realm for the maestro.

Ryan Speedo Green as Ferrando. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

WNO cast the four principal roles in Il trovatore with a bevy of highly accomplished singers, all of whom have starred on the top stages in the U.S. and Europe.  Tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones played rebel commander Manrico who was raised by Azucena, the daughter of the Romani woman burned at the stake, and who was in love with Leonora.  Leonora was played by soprano Latonia Moore, a noblewoman of the court who rejected another suitor, Count di Luna.  The Count, compelled by jealousy to eliminate his rival Manrico, was played by baritone Christopher Maltman.  Azucena, who mothered Manrico and sought revenge against the Count for the killing of her mother, was played by mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis.  The supporting role of Ferrando, the Count’s first officer, was played by bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green.  Mr. Jones gave a highly professional performance as Manrico, with some scrumptious arias.  Ms. Moore, our Leonora, showed bright coloratura passages throughout; though a few phrases seemed broken off early, she sang with convincing emotionality building throughout the performance.  Mr. Maltman was steady and assured in his performance as the authoritative Count.  The standout performance was, as it should be, by the performer who played Azucena, and Ms. Bryce-Davis fit the role perfectly, bringing added drama with engrossing singing to every scene she was in.  Mr. Green as Ferrando set a high standard for the rest of the cast, and soprano Amber Monroe, as Leonara’s confidant, added to the excellence.  All sang beautifully in their showcase arias, but I thought it was in duets and trios that the most affecting singing was delivered.  Most compelling were duets between Manrico and Azucena, especially the scene where Azucena reveals her mother’s story.  Kudos to Verdi and kudos to the excellent cast.

The Washington National Opera Orchestra, under the direction of guest Conductor Michele Gamba, delivered Verdi’s score the way I hope to hear Verdi music played.  The famous “Anvil Chorus” could have used a little less anvil for my tastes (actually swords clanking together in this case; above WNO video), but the music sounded beautiful and right on target throughout.  Speaking of the chorus, the WNO Chorus, under Chorus Master Steven Gathman, was an important element of this opera, and as always, this ensemble’s singing was a special joy.

Director Brenna Corner devised an excellent presentation of complicated scenarios, keeping the action moving appropriately through four acts and eight scenes.  Scenes often had shifts in time and place; comments in script displayed on screens, as though missive entries, were used effectively to connect the scenes.  Costumes by Martin Pakledinaz from WNO’s 2004 production were excellent in representing time and place and made most characters look beautifully dressed; poor Azucena, dressed in sack cloth.  The set design and lighting were clever, if simple, and were used effectively to center the action.  An exciting new element was the use of shadows on screens to convey a visual of what the characters were describing on stage. 

In his book, “The Impossible Art”, Matthew Aucoin makes the point that directors must make suffering pleasurable without going too far, all the way into exploitation. In this production, the use of panels in angular geometric designs, prettily lit, added an interesting dimension to this staging.  Typically, directors use dark elements to portray this opera with dark story lines.  Set designer Erhard Rom, Projection Designer S. Katy Tucker, and Lighting Designer A. J. Guban used beautiful colors and designs to add to our pleasure in all that sorrow.  It worked for me.  I don’t know when I have enjoyed tragedy so much.  The secret revealed at the end, punctuated with special effects, provided just the capping needed for a delightful evening. 

Overall, the music was well played, the singing impressive, and the staging was effective.  However, one additional element needs mentioning.  This was a presentation where the singing and music had a cumulative effect that began to take over at the end of Act III, beginning with Mr. Jones’ beautifully rendered “Di quella pira” (above WNO video) and continued at the beginning of Act IV’s Aria e Miserere scene with Ms. Moore’s heart wrenching vocals, all the way to the finale’s fabulous ensemble singing.  The performance achieved transcendence at the end, such that the music and singing were all that mattered.  Bravi!

The Fan Experience: Performances of Il trovatare are scheduled for October 22. 28, 30, November 2, 5, and 7; tickets for remaining performances can be purchased through this link..  The opera is sung in Italian with supertitles in English shown on a screen above the stage.  Parking in the Kennedy Center is typically plentiful at around $25 per day, with a small discount for Kennedy Center members.  The Metro to Foggy Bottom and the free Red Kennedy Center buses from there to the Kennedy Center which run every 15 minutes are an excellent option.  Always check with the venue of the performance you are attending for COVID restrictions; for Saturday’s performance, neither masking nor proof of vaccination was required.

Virginia Opera’s The Valkyrie: Great Opera and Singing, Uneven Staging

Virginia Opera opened its 2022-2023 season with The Valkyrie (Die Walküre), the second opera in Richard Wagner’s monumental The Ring of the Nibelung (Der Ring des Nibelungen).  VO took a bold step to bring live opera to its fans during last fall’s COVID-restricted period.  They presented a shortened version of The Rhinegold (Das Rheingold), the first opera in the Ring Cycle, at Topgolf facilities in Norfolk and Richmond; these are open air facilities that met COVID restrictions in place at the time.  VO normally presents their productions in theaters in Norfolk, Fairfax, and Richmond on consecutive weekends, but Fairfax does not have a Topgolf.  Audiences, including myself, responded enthusiastically and appreciatively to their herculean efforts.  Virginia Opera plans to present all four episodes of the Ring Cycle over a four-year span.  The Valkyrie is a strong thumbs up for attending, and Virginia Opera’s production has much to recommend it, though uneven staging can at times be a distraction.

The stories in the Ring Cycle are based on Norse mythology that features gods on high and demons and magic in the underworld, with humankind in the middle.  Wagner, who wrote the librettos as well as composing the music, used the stories to examine and express his world view of the condition of man, a view which evolved over the 28 years he took to create the entire set of operas, thus the stories are intricate and multilayered with profound meaning at every turn.  Joshua Borths, Virginia Opera’s scholar in residence, gave an outstanding pre-opera talk on The Valkyrie in which he argues that the central scenario in this opera confronts audience members with their feelings about a choice between law and love, between competing moralities that support the different choices, difficult choices that life forces upon us all the time.

Wotan (Kyle Albertson, at the top of the stage) confronts the Valkyries, especially Brünnhilde (Alexandra Loutsion, lower left). Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opara.

A brief outline of the plot in The Rhinegold: Wotan the head of the gods and keeper of the law and order errs his way into a seemingly impossible situation.  He used a gold ring with magic powers, stolen by trickery, to pay twin giants for building Valhalla, home of the gods.  The ring gave power over the world to any who possessed it and thus posed a mortal threat to the gods, especially if it got back into the hands of his foes, the Nibelungs in the underworld.  Wotan needed to get the ring back, even though it was cursed to cause trouble and death for any who possessed it; one of the twin giants killed the other to keep the gold for himself.  As the keeper of law and order, Wotan could not take back the ring himself, so he schemed to have a hero beyond his control but loyal to him retrieve the ring.  His illegitimate son Siegmund was chosen as that hero without his knowing.  Siegmund had a twin sister, Sieglinde; their mother was a mortal.  Wotan had separated them when young to keep the boy on track for his plans; Sieglinde was forced into an unwanted marriage.  At the end, the gods walk into Valhalla, but Loge, the god of fire, hangs back pondering whether this group of gods deserved to live, much less reside in Valhalla.

Their story continues in The Valkyrie: Siegmund has lost his weapons and is being chased by angry villagers.  He takes refuge in Sieglinde’s home without them recognizing each other, and soon they fall in love.  Her cruel and abusive husband Hunding arrives home.  The villagers are Hunding’s people, and he challenges the unarmed Siegmund to a duel to the death for the next day.  Sieglinde tells Siegmund of a sword, Nothung, embedded in a tree that no one can remove but a great hero, planted of course by Wotan.  He removes it and is armed for his duel.  Back at Valhalla, Wotan who has a great love for Siegmund and his scheme, tells his daughter Brunhilde, a Valkyrie, to go to the forest to give the victory to Siegmund.  However, his wife Fricka, goddess of love and marriage is incensed over the incest Wotan is permitting and forces Wotan to accept that planting the sword violates his vow not to help.  Wotan reverses his order to Brünnhilde.  She is to let him die. When Brünnhilde arrives, she witnesses the deep love Siegmund has for Sieglinde and knowing that his death is not what Wotan really wants, she decides to help him win.  However, Wotan shows up during the duel and assists Siegmund’s death.  Outraged that she did not carryout his command and despite his great love for Brünnhilde, his favorite, he changes her to a mere mortal and leaves her sleeping on a mountain top surrounded by a fire that cannot be crossed by anyone who fears his spear and decrees she will have to marry whoever wakes her.  Meanwhile, Sieglinde has escaped to the woods and is carrying Siegmund’s child who will become the greatest hero, who is without fear of anything.  How do you feel about a father banishing his daughter for disobedience?  Would you have made the choice that Brûnnhilde made?  The story continues in the third chapter, Siegfried.

Siegmund (Richard Trey Smagur) and Sieglinde (Meghan Kasanders). Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opara.

Let’s talk about Virginia Opera’s production on Sunday afternoon in Fairfax.  The Ring is resource intensive even for large opera companies, a large cast, orchestras up to 90 members, and four operas running for 16 hours in total.  VO performed the highly regarded adaptation of The Valkyrie by Jonathan Dove and Graham Vick, reduced in length (about 3 hours) and scored for a smaller orchestra by Mr. Dove; the essential elements of the story are retained.  Conductor Adam Turner and the 22 players of the Virginia Opera Orchestra delivered Wagner’s music admirably.  Wagner’s music is glorious.  His innovation, the use of leitmotifs or themes to tag characters and situations, forges an even stronger bond between the music and the storytelling.

The strongest element in the production was the outstanding cast.  Experienced Wagnerian, baritone Kyle Albertson played Wotan again, the only returning member from VO’s production of The Rhinedold last year.  In my report on that performance, I stated that if Mr. Albertson continued in the role, I’d attend.  After this performance, I am changing my tune - I request that Virginia Opera bring him back. I think his singing might have been even more beautiful this year, but perhaps I could just hear him better inside a theater.  He was joined by Pittsburgh native, soprano Alexandra Loutsion as Brünnhilde.  Ms. Loutsion played the role as a young, mostly subservient Brünnhilde who doted on her father; her scenes with her father were touching.  She is a highly accomplished singer who has played many lead operatic roles; last year she sang the role of Brünnhilde in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Twilight of the Gods, the final chapter of the Ring Cycle.  Tenor Richard Trey Smagur and soprano Meghan Kasanders were well matched as Siegmund and Sieglinde; both are promising young artists and brought magic to that pairing.  Mr. Smagur (remember Tybalt from Wolf Trap Opera’s 2018 Romeo and Juliette) brought a striking vocal and stage presence to his role.  Occasionally, a performer in a supporting role almost steals the show.  In The Valkyrie that singer was mezzo-soprano Claudia Chapa who sang the role of Fricka, perhaps the most impressive Fricka I have seen.  I sat up, took notice, wanted to hear more, and found the ruler of the god’s submission to her scolding totally believable.  Sopranos Lesley Anne Friend, Adriane S. Kerr, and Courtney Johnson made fine supporting Valkyries.

Fricka, wife of Wotan, goddess of marraige, played by Claudia Chapa standing above her husband Wotan played by Kyle Albertson.. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opara.

The Ring Cycle, first performed in 1876, has been a stalwart of the modern repertoire since then.  The Cycle and its operas have received many different treatments by directors wanting to offer something fresh that offers new insights into the operas.  Often great liberties are taken with the staging; one a few years back at Met Opera had the set as a giant undulating keyboard; Washington National Opera’s excellent Ring in 2016 moved the gods into corporate America; I saw a European production recently that looked like it was a grammar school production with cardboard cutouts used as wings for the Valkyries with little else.  The themes and conflicts are timeless and can be transferred to many settings. In my view, this is fair game and new presentations should be judged by whether they work. 

Virginia Opera’s performance began and ended in a promising direction and I give Director Joachim Schamberger and the production team credit for their efforts.  The use of highly creative lighting and images on screens to enhance stage sets has grown as modern technology has advanced; CGI rules!  VO’s staging was described as futuristic in concept.  The opening projections as the opera began were bright and colorful with a circular center section where actors could be seen.  There was a tiered, revolving center set that appeared clever in design.  As the action began, the lighting and images on the screen made me think this was going to be somewhere between a real and an animated production, which interested me.  However, soon the images on the screen were apparent on the actors as well as were the shadows cast by the actors on the screen, minor distractions.  More problematic were the multiple puzzling images that kept appearing on the screens as backgrounds – undulating geometric designs, stallions rearing without Valkyries on their backs, an airport transom with travelers going back and forth, and computer generated human outlines.  Frankly, for much of the opera I found these to be an annoying distraction, especially in the final tete a tete between Wotan and Brunnhilde.  This is a scene of both great tenderness and high drama.  I wanted my focus to be on the two singers but found myself constantly distracted by images on the screen that were of baffling relevance.  On the other hand, I thought the ending CGI effects worked effectively as Wotan ascended to the top of the mountain and surrounded it with flames.  The costumes chosen by Court Watson worked well for most characters, though I did not recognize a time or place they were to signify. An exception was the costumes of the Valkyries. Part of their costumes were shoulder pads meant I think to be armor similar to the Empire’s soldiers in Star Wars; however, bathed in the stage lighting I kept thinking they looked like football players without their jerseys - perhaps I was just missing NFL football that Sunday afternoon.  Nonetheless, those costumes needed some pizazz; women who gather up fallen heroes and carry them to Valhalla deserve better. 

Wotan played by Kyle Albertson winds up on top, at least for this episode of the Ring. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opara.

In conclusion, Virginia Opera’s The Valkyurie certainly worth attending for the Wagner’s music well played, outstanding singing, and its compelling storyline (and a chance to see Claudia Chapa perform). I found that some elements of the staging distracted my attention from an otherwise excellent production; perhaps you will react differently. I did find that it whet my appetite for some more Wagner, especially more of the Ring Cycle.

The Fan Experience: The Valkyrie was scheduled for performances in Norfolk on September 20, October 1, 2; in Fairfax on October 8 and 9; and in Richmond October 14 and 16.  The opera is sung in German with supertitles in English shown on an overhead screen.  Masking and proof of vaccinations were not required for the audience. 

I highly recommend the outstanding pre-opera talk on The Valkyrie, given by Joshua Borths, Virginia Opera’s scholar in residence, which starts 45 minutes before the beginning of the opera. Get there early to get a good seat. If you can’t make a performance but want to know more about the opera, Mr. Borths covers the same material and more in his Let’s Talk Opera lecture available on Youtube.com. 

Richard Wagner was a complicated person and held views that helped spread antisemitism in his day.  Virginia Opera, always interested in maintaining its connection to the communities that it serves, held a discussion on this topic with members of Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk, which is available on Facebook.

Opera Philadelphia’s The Raven (Participate!) and Black Lodge (Prepare!) at O22

Before Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22, there was O19, O18, and O17; sadly, O20 and O21 were precluded by the COVID-pandemic.  Festival O17 that began the 2017-2018 season was inspired by an OP analysis that suggested today’s audiences favored binge watching.  In moving to a Fall festival format to open their new seasons, OP not only wanted to provide an opera-binge opportunity, but a variety of options strategically selected to push the boundaries that would help define the coordinates for modern opera.  In this year’s program book, Opera Philadelphia’s Board Chair Stephen Klasko says that O22 is the company’s “fourth exploration of the future of opera”.  The Opera on Film addition to the festival was an example of OP pushing the boundaries; its inclusion in the future will depend on OP’s analysis of fan response to O22.  This blog post covers two productions in O22, The Raven and Black Lodge, where opera boundaries are pushed even further, maybe beyond the limits? 

Let’s start with The Raven (2012), “a staged, 40-minute chamber opera with 12 players”, by renown Japanese composer, Toshio Hosokawa; Edgar Allen Poe’s eponymous poem constitutes the entire libretto.  Both the audience and performers were on the stage of the Miller Theatre during the performance.  Not enough pushing?  Entering the theater each attendee was given the choice to participate in a greater or lesser degree in a 30-minute pre-performance exercise, and we were assigned to a small group, each led by a different Lenore, six in all.  My Lenore was a healing Lenore who questioned us about daemons in our lives that led us astray (including Matt Damon), and ways to seek forgiveness and healing.  I suspect pushing the boundary into an interactive area is likely on target as a direction of the future.  Audiences now have seen so many stories on television and the movies, there seems to be an undercurrent emerging of people wanting to be involved with their entertainment. 

Kristen Choi as the narrator/singer in Toshio Hosokawa’s The Raven. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The nature of the other Lenores was not revealed to us except for a daemonic one who led another audience group momentarily crashing through our space.  Given the real/otherworld tension in the poem, having spirits guide us seemed natural.  This lead-in was amusing and fun and did give cause to consider more deeply who Poe’s Lenore was; the poem only tells us she was a maiden who has died.  Director Aria Umezawa worked with a local company, Obvious Agency, to help conceive and staff the piece, demonstrating Opera Philadelphia’s emphasis on community connection.  They came to realize that we know little of Lenore, only that she was a rare and radiant maiden who the narrator of the poem had lost.  The creative team started to think of Lenore as everyone and each person as consisting of many Lenores.  The composer considered his work Noh-like (Noh is a classical Japanese theater style).  The creative team selected Noh-like elements to work with the music and vocal lines projecting the fear, suffering, and anguish of the poem narrator’s dream-state ruminations, having lost Lenore.

Photo 1: Dancer Muyu Ruba in Raven’s mask displaying in front of the narrator/singer Kristen Choi. Photo 2: Dancer Muyu Ruba (sans mask) as spirit Lenore attempting to console narrator/singer Kristen Choi. Photos by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The pre-performance was closed by the Lenores leading us from our curtained areas in the bowels of the Miller to the stage of the Miller where bleacher seating was arranged in a U-shape with the orchestra at the open end; the floor was swamped with sheets of paper covered with writing or typing and old photos, with some items torn, and had door frames at the corners where Lenores entered and exited.  The central characters on stage were the narrator played impressively by mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi and the Raven played by dancer Muyu Ruba.  By her movements on stage and her great vocal dexterity Ms. Choi sang the libretto, intermittently reciting the poem’s lines, varying pace and volume of each to display anguish over the loss of Lenore and the inability to move beyond it; doing this for about 40 minutes non-stop must present quite a challenge for an opera singer.  Despite the seriousness of the opera, it was quite a pleasure to see and hear Ms. Choi up close.  I had the pleasure recently of seeing her perform in OP’s Rigoletto and in OP’s film feature, “TakTakShoo”.  Ms. Muyu was convincing as she constantly displayed bird-like movements around the stage and in her confrontations with the narrator/singer.  She removed her mask for a brief period near the end, reverting to a Lenore, to confront the narrator, a move open to interpretation and maintaining the ambiguity of the poem.  The group of eight Lenores (Joseph Ahmed, Ang(ela) Bey, Vitche Boule-Ra, Makoto Hirano, Daniel Park, Minou Pourshariati, Pax Ressler, and Muyu Ruba) largely moved in the periphery to provide anchoring and framing for the two central characters.

Photo 1: A healing Lenore (Pax Ressler) interacting with an audience group. Photo 2: Spirit Lenores sorting through papers and photos at the beginning of The Raven. Photos by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Composer Hosokawa’s music with built in silences tended to feature solo instruments or sections of the 12-piece ensemble to strike notes to color the modulating action on stage.  His music to me paints a series of threatening, rapidly changing murals colored with suffering and anguish.  There is a sense of emotional purity in the notes played by the featured instruments and orchestral sections.  Kudos to the ensemble and Conductor Eiki Isomura.  I thought that much of the natural musicality of Poe’s language seemed lost with this treatment.  On the other hand, whenever I read “The Raven” I am so impressed with the perfection of its rhyme and rhythm that I don’t connect completely with feelings evoked.  Hosokawa’s composition gives full vent to the emotional content of the poem.  If you have read the poem (who hasn’t?), experience the opera to complete your experience of the poem.  If you are lucky, there might even be an interactive pre-performance event.

Usually, I do some preparation for an opera performance before attending, at least reading the summary of the first act to make sure I have all the players straight.  I went into Opera Philadelphia’s premiere of Black Lodge only knowing that it was a rock opera that featured a man on film experiencing a Black Lodge moment, ala David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks”.  The event, held in the Philadelphia Film Center, combined a film with a live musical performance provided by an industrial, gothic rock band, Timur and the Dime Museum, and a string quartet from the Philadelphia Orchestra, plus some electronic sounds.  This production pushed right past the boundaries of both classic and most contemporary opera and invaded rock’s territory.  At one point late in the performance, I shared the sentiment of The Man on the screen; I just wanted to get out of there.  It might have gone better if I had prepared.  Honestly, this was a performance that I liked more after reading about it following the performance than I did during the performance.  Let me try to make sense of that; I will avoid the philosophical aspects of that assessment, i.e., would it really be better for me as a person having an encounter with art to prepare.  Regardless, I totally support its inclusion in OP’s Festival O22 this year.  Looking for boundaries, you must go past where they are, a technique known as successive approximations. 

Image from Black Lodge film with Timur on screen and with performers in front of screen, including Timur and the Dime Museum and the Opera Philadelphia String Quartet. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

What was going on in the film is not entirely defined, I think.  In fact, the music by David T. Little and libretto by poet Anne Waldman were written before Director Michael McQuilken developed the stage play.  Director Michael McQuilken reported, “So my task was three-fold: invent a narrative, invent an emotional arc for the lead character(s), and attach all of it to preexisting music (emotions) and lyrics (images and ideas). A deeply complex puzzle.”  Mr. McQuilken describes the plot as: “Trapped in a nightmarish Bardo, a place between death and rebirth, a tormented writer..faces down demons of his own making.  Forced to confront his darkest moment in his life, he mines fractured and repressed memories for a way out.”  Okay, that helps.  He continues: “The woman…is at the center of all the writer’s afterlife encounters.  She is the center of his life’s greatest regret, and she materializes everywhere in this Otherworld.”  Okay, that helps a lot.  In the film, the man accidentally shoots the woman.  It turns out that an inspiration for the film’s screenplay was William S. Burroughs, an influential American writer and visual artist who was revered by American subcultures rebelling against majority values, such as punk rockers.  Reportedly, Mr. Burroughs was a drug addict and was haunted by a seminal event in his life: he accidentally shot and killed his second wife.  Now the film makes even more sense. 

Jennifer Harrison Newman as The Woman. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The libretto was fragmented speech, sort of a stream of semi-conscious approach, and perhaps offered too much of that.  To get it all, I had to read the subtitles on small screens on either side of the theater (the font size made me realize that it’s time to change my glasses).  There seemed to be several key phrases: his desire to get out of there; the man was trying to write his way out of there; and he issued this warning to all, “Be careful what you need to know”.  The visuals ranged from an empty warehouse room to a bar to the desert to The Woman covering the Man with goop and then inserting tubes into the goop all the way into the man.  It’s a lot to make sense of if you only have a vague sense of what is going on.

Two images featuring Timur as The Man. Photos by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

I liked the music, maybe my first rock opera.  I accepted the ear plugs offered at check in but didn’t need them - okay for me in the back, but I noticed that the members of the string quartet on stage appeared to be wearing noise cancelling headphones.  I am not familiar with industrial rock but have a vague idea of gothic rock.  The lead singer was made up to look gothic.  The internet says industrial rock is a fusion genre combining industrial music and rock music.  Again, from the internet, “industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes.”  Now you know as much as I know, but I do give opera omposer David T. Little credit for boldness in adventuring into industrial rock.  The string quartet ( Luigi Mazzocchi, Elizabeth Kaderabek, Yoshihiko Nakano, and Jennie Lorenzo) played well when I could hear them.  I think the Dime Museum band (Hannah Dexter, Andrew Lessman, Matthew Setzer, and Milo Talwani) did an excellent job producing an appropriate sound; can rock music be brooding? There were a few brief solo riffs from the band; I would have enjoyed even more.  Singer Timur had an impressive vocal range, tenor, baritone, and gothic rocker who I thought did a great job; perhaps there was some opera technique in there somewhere.  Timur also played The Man in the film to great effect.  The Woman, dancer Jennifer Harrison Newman, was captivating in the many strange situations in which she was placed.  Place my misgivings in context: at the conclusion of the performance, the performers received an enthusiastic ovation.

In conclusion, if you have the opportunity to attend The Raven featuring an interactive pre-performance, by all means choose to participate; both activities will enhance your engagement with Poe’s “The Raven”.  If you have the opportunity to attend OP’s Black Lodge, I think your experience will be more complete and at least a little less baffling if you prepare; see The Fan Experience section below for an upcoming opportunity to view it.  I think both of these events were essential elements of Festival O22 as measures to exploare the boundaries of opera.  Also, I like opera fusion efforts, and there are some excellent jazz opera and blues opera fusions out there today.  My hope is that OP will continue to commission such efforts, though maybe put a little more opera in the rock opera ones.  In my comments reporting on Festival O17, I stated: “The brightest star in the U.S. opera universe this season is not in New York, but in Philadelphia.  Opera Philadelphia is bringing excitement and modern relevance to opera this year, in bucket loads”.  This year in O22, Opera Philadelphia restarted the bucket line.  Welcome back!

The Fan Experience: The Raven was performed on September 21, 24, 29, and October 1 in the Miller Theatre.  Black Lodge was performed on October 1 and 2 in the Philadelphia Film Center.  (Note: Beginning October 21, screening of Black Lodge will be available on the Opera Philadelphia Channel.

The two-week Festival O22 featured 42 events.  This is an annual festival that was in hiatus for the last two years due to the pandemic.  For O22, COVID-vaccinations and masking were strongly encouraged but not required; let’s pray that for O23 they need not even be a consideration.  OperaGene’s three previous blog reports covered events at O22:

Festival O22’s Opera on Film Fits Right In: Comments on Like, Share, Follow   

Opera Philadelphia’s Opera on Film: Art and Social Issues Night   

Opera Philadelphia’s The Copper Queen and Otello: A Day at the Opera Festival   

Some advice for next year: Be smart; get on OP’s email list to learn about O23 as soon as possible – at the bottom of their website page, you can enter your email address to receive notices from them.  Then will come the hard part – prioritizing which performances to see during a two-week period.  For Festival O22, OP offered 12 film events, three staged productions with multiple performances, concerts, and evening affairs.  There were both matinees and evening performances.  You will have your work cut out for you in deciding.  My wife and I have attended all the fall festivals so far, since 2017, and each has been a highlight of our year. 

Opera Philadelphia’s The Copper Queen and Otello: A Day at the Opera Festival

Our Friday at Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22 provided a surprise for me.  At 2 pm in the afternoon, my wife and I attended a showing of The Copper Queen (2021), a filmed version of a new opera originally scheduled for a staged production by Arizona Opera, but its staging was precluded by the shutdown due to the COVID pandemic.  In the evening at 8 pm, we attended OP’s production of Rossini’s Otello, the only fully staged, classic opera presented at O22.  Here is my surprise.  I thought they were equally meritorious, each in its own way.  My wife said picking a favorite was difficult, but she’d choose Otello, swayed by its historical aspects, Rossini’s music, and tenor Lawrence Brownlee’s performance.  Both operas were excellent, but I’m still not sure which opera I’d give the nod as my favorite.  Keep in mind, this is comparing a modern film with a fully staged classic opera, something you should never do; I expect to be trolled.

Photo 1: Vanessa Becerra as Julia in The Copper Queen; film still courtesy of Opera Philadelphia. Photo 2: Lawrence Brownlee as Rodrigo in Otello; photo by Steven Pisano, courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The Copper Queen, commissioned by Arizona Opera, with music by composer Clint Borzoni and librettist John de los Santos, was first offered last Fall as a film in Arizona screenings and online.  The staged premiere of The Copper Queen was performed in June 2022 by Marble City Opera in Knoxville; Mr. Santos who wrote the original screenplay directed that production.  The story line is based on a real-life figure, Julia Lowell, a prostitute who used rooms in the Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, AZ in the early 1900s to service miners at a time when that profession was legal in Arizona.  Ms. Lowell reportedly fell in love with a customer, was rejected, and committed suicide.  Her room in the hotel attracts tourists today, and some say it is haunted by her ghost.  The opera presents her death as a mystery, presenting a fictional Julia.  The opera begins in present day with a young woman, Addison Moore, who is recovering from the death of her grandmother.  She travels to Bisbee to stay in Julia’s room as part of her recovery.  The connection between the two women is eventually revealed as the story switches back and forth from 1915 to the present day.  Sorry, I so want to tell you the rest of the story but will resist to save some surprises for you should you get the chance to attend a performance or view a screening.  Warning - I found the film off-putting at first; it shows an ugly, very dark side of humanity, including sexual and physical abuse, including incest, but in the end, it won me over.  Julia and her visitor find redemption and represent inspiring tributes to the resilience of the human spirit.  Addison’s growth from this cathartic experience is evidenced when she tells the hotel manager who has been projecting veiled sexual threats to back off in no uncertain terms. The phrase from the movie, “as long as you are breathing…there is still time”, comes to mind and warms my heart whenever I think back on seeing the film.

Below is the official trailer for the The Copper Queen film, available on Youtube.

It is difficult to believe that this was Arizona Opera’s first film feature.  Making a film presents new challenges for the director and Crystal Mannich does an outstanding job; the staging with close ups and different camera angles adds to the impact of the drama.  The singer/actors gave marvelous performances singing and acting.  In films, because of the close ups the acting takes on more importance.  The role of Julia is played by Vanessa Becerra, an excellent soprano I have seen a couple of times with Washington National Opera.  The acting skills she demonstrated in this film were also impressive; lots of close ups and no place to hide.  Mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit, who played the role of Addison, also gave strong acting and singing performances.  Both she and Julia seemed like real people you might know; this made the film compelling and absorbing.  The guys also turned in convincing performances, especially Joshua Dennis as her beloved Theodore and baritone Keith Phares as her father (remembering her father makes my skin crawl).  Composer Borzoni’s music was melodious, using multiple musical styles to support the drama and produce arias reminiscent of past eras.  Arizona Opera worked with Manley Films to produce The Copper Queen and the film looks like a first-rate Hollywood western where the featured landscapes are human emotions and feelings.  I remember reading that those involved in making Casablanca thought they were making a grade B melodrama for stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, but all the quality elements fit together in just the right way to make this one of the all-time great films.  I honestly didn’t expect The Copper Queen to be as good as it was, but all the parts were very well done, and the film works as a whole, providing a opera on film that is a special work of art.  While it would be possible to nitpick certain aspects of the acting or staging, the overall quality of this work is so much greater than the sum of its parts, I’m not inclined to go there.  The impact of this film was stunning.  I felt pressed into my seat, and when it was over, I doubt there was a dry eye in the house.  Kudos to all involved! 

Desdemona (Daniela Mack, standing) expressing her fears to her maid Emilia (Sun-Ly Pierce). Photo by Steven Pisano, courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Festival O22’s Otello was the Rossini operatic version of Shakespeare’s Othello (1603) that premiered in Naples in 1816 and had several decades of popularity until Verdi’s Otello came along in 1887 and became more favored by fans and opera companies.  What a fickle opera world it is.  However, if you have a sense of opera history and three fine tenors, you can do Rossini.  And if you have superstar tenor Lawrence Brownlee on your staff as an artistic advisor and he wants to play the role of Rodrigo, you make the choice that Opera Philadelphia did, and we are all the better for it.  Librettist Francesco Berio de Salsa’s storyline departs significantly from Shakespeare’s, while Verdi’s librettist Arrigo Boito stayed truer to the play.  Shakespeare has the drama focused on Otello’s suspicions that his wife is untrue with Iago feeding those suspicions, while Othello’s wife Desdemona suffers innocently.  Salsa creates a love triangle between Otello, Desdemona, and Rodrigo with Iago fanning the flames of jealousy and Desdemona saying why can’t we all just get along.  Regardless, jealousy was ‘the green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on” still, and it still drove the denouement.  While the Rossini ending also packs a gut punch, it tempted me to laugh.  As soon as Otello strangles Desdemona, all their family and friends and townspeople rush in to tell them that Iago’s deception has been uncovered and he has been dealt with, plus Rodrigo and Desdemona’s father Elmiro are now okay with her being married to Otello.  Otello looks down from the stairs where the deed was done and realizes his error.  Somehow, I could not help imagining him saying “Whoops”.   This was not my reaction to Shakespeare’s play.

Iago (Alek Shrader, standing) fuels the anger of Otello (Khanyiso Gwenxane) towards Rodrigo who he fears has seduced Desdemona.

Director Emilio Sagi initiated this production in Liege a year ago. Everything about this production was pretty, pretty music and very pretty singing, an elegant set of one palatial room with pretty people dressed in upper class costumes of 1920s Italy.  It could have just as well served as a drawing room comedy as a Shakespearian tragedy.  The staging and the singing was like a spoonful of sugar helping the tragedy go down. Librettist Salsa’s version is a fine drama, but the reason to see this Otello is Rossini’s beautiful music and the singing by the outstanding cast that Opera Philadelphia assembled.  Lawrence Brownlee is an outstanding bel canto tenor, perhaps the best today, and he relished playing Rodrigo; Rodrigo and Desdemona are the meatiest roles in this version of Otello.  His solos and duets were events to treasure and remember for years.  In this version, Desdemona is the center of the story and star mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack acted with authority and sang captivatingly.  In his U.S. debut, South African tenor Khanyiso Gwenxane was impressive as Otello, perhaps only a step or two at this point behind Mr. Brownlee.  Tenor Alek Shrader as Iago gave his usual strong performance.  I was also impressed with the vocals of the supporting cast, especially mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce as servant Emilia, baritone Christian Pursell as Elmiro, and tenor Colin Doyle as the Doge.  Rossini’s music was delivered beautifully by Conductor Corrado Rovaris and the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Opera Philadelphia Chorus under Elizabeth Braden sang beautifully, especially adding depth and presence to Rossini’s marvelous ensemble numbers.

Otello (Khanyiso Gwenxane) finds Desdemona (Daniela Mack) sleeping and ruminates over her supposed infidelity.

So, two full operas in one day, one on film and one staged, both high impact in their own ways.  In my opinion, with Otello, Opera Philadelphia showed that there are many fine operas that have dropped from the modern repertoire that are worthy of performing and attending, especially with the right cast.  With The Copper Queen, OP shows us that operas properly presented on film can be outstanding as well, featuring gripping dramas and excellent vocal performances.  If both these works are playing in your town and you only have time to see one, what should you do?  Cry.  Well, let’s get practical.  Staged performances are one off, and films remain available and the same through time.  In this case, choose Brownlee.

The Fan Experience:  Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22 with its new Opera on Film addition is over.  The Copper Queen had one screening and Otello had four live performances.  Sadly, The Copper Queen film is not currently available for viewing, but Arizona Opera says it may be at some point in the future if demand arises.  I am sending them this report as a beginning. Any chance this could appear in the future on the Opera Philadelphia Channel?

The two-week Festival O22 featured 42 events.  This is an annual festival that was in hiatus for the last two years due to the pandemic.  For O22, COVID-vaccinations and masking were strongly encouraged but not required; let’s pray that for O23 they need not even be a consideration.

My advice: Be smart; get on OP’s email list to learn about O23 as soon as possible – at the bottom of their website page, you can enter your email address to receive notices from them.  Then will come the hard part – prioritizing which performances to see during a two-week period.  For Festival O22, OP offered 12 film events, three staged productions with multiple performances, concerts, and evening affairs.  There were both matinees and evening performances.  You will have your work cut out for you in deciding.  My wife and I have attended all the fall festivals so far, since 2017, and each has been a highlight of our year. 

Opera Philadelphia’s Opera on Film: Art and Social Issues Night

The fifth of twelve Opera on Film events (and second event I attended) of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22 was titled “dwb (driving while black) + Soul (Signs): Opera”.  The advertised program was opened by a short film about Opera Philadelphia’s “Resonant Philly” project; that performance was held in May of this year.  The program was developed by OP with Art Reach and Music: Not Impossible. The goals were to work towards making music more accessible and expanding the experience of sound for all, with the overriding goal of bringing people together.  The project involved developing wearable technology that allowed participants to sense and adjust sound experienced as music vibrations being transmitted to different parts of their bodies - hands, legs, and torso.  The immediate objective was to allow deaf and hearing people a more immersive way to experience sound and to allow people with autism more control over these sounds to adjust to their neuro atypical needs.  Opera Philadelphia reports that plans are underway to hold a second Resonant Philly event in 2023. This lead-in paired well with the Soul Signs portion of the night’s event.

Film still of Karen Slack in dwb (driving while black). Image courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

dwb (driving while black) is a forty minute film adaptation by Du’Bois A’Keen and Camry A’Keen of a one-woman opera by composer Susan Kander and librettist Roberta Gumbel.  The work was produced by Urban Arias, a company devoted to commissioning and presenting new chamber operas in the DC area.  The piece is a showcase for soprano Karen Slack who brings extraordinary vocal skills, charm, and pathos to the role.  The theme of the human cost of racial prejudice unfolds by having Ms. Slack sing through several scenes calling to mind black men abused during traffic stops and communicating the impact on mothers who love and worry about their ”beautiful brown boys”; when they see you, the mother sings, they won’t see “you”.  The vocal presentation is augmented by three dancers robed in white with their faces covered, with musical support by cello and percussion. If one thinks of it as a film that merges ballet and art song, a case can be made that merging of the artforms was not as effective as it might have been.  My personal response in remembering this opera is to remember the singing and to remember the dancing, but not so much to remember the combination; perhaps the white body coverings of the dancers pulled the dance into contradistinction for me from the story?  dwb (driving while black) is an excellent, connoisseurs’ art piece that will likely only attract a small audience, despite its excellence and the overarching need for its message to be widely felt and appreciated.  

“Soul (Signs): Opera” is a collection of three films, each a seven-minute, fully-staged and acted scene from an existing opera but performed by actors using American Sign Language (ASL); the vocals are supplied by singers off-camera, and subtitles in English are provided.  The collection was created by Up Until Now Collective and commissioned by Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Columbus, and Portland Opera; the films are currently available for viewing for free at Boston Lyric Opera’s operabox.tv.  The goal was to explore “new ways to enhance the artistic expression of opera” using ASL “as both a medium and a new language through which to interpret opera and bring it to new audiences”.

Photo 1: Film still of actress Monique Holt in “His Name Is Yan”. Photo 2: Film still of “Papageno & Papagena”. Images courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

“What Makes a Man?” is a scene from Terance Blanchard’s jazz opera, Champion.  The scene shows boxing champion Emile Griffith struggling with what it means to be a man while confronting his homosexuality.  Branden Kazen-Maddox signs the role of Griffith while baritone Markel Reed sings the aria.  I thought the addition of signing to this scene significantly enhanced my perception of Mr. Griffiths anguish in this scene, even though I don’t read sign language, an outstanding performance by Mr. Kazen-Maddox..

“His Name is Yan” features a scene from Breaking Waves by composer Missy Mizzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek where the tragic central character Bess pleads with church elders to accept the love of her life, an outsider, into their community.  This film brought back fond memories of Opera Philadelphia’s 2016 premiere of this outstanding opera.  Bess is signed by actress Monique Holt and the aria is sung by soprano Kiera Duffy, who premiered the role with OP.  Wow, it took me back there!

“Papageno &Papagena” – do I really need to say who composed this one?  Yes, the opera is Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”.  The scene is done as a queer version of this popular duet, with feathered actor Dickie Hearts signing as Papageno and feathered actor Branden Kazen-Maddox signing as Papagena.  Papageno was sung by baritone John Taylor Young and Papagena was sung by countertenor Jordan Rutter.  If you can watch this film and not be charmed, I don’t know what to say.  Well, I will say it is a great demonstration of the power of music; it was like the lights came up and the show came on, and the magic of Mozart’s music brought us together. 

I thought these were excellent films with fine acting, singing, and staging.  I would have been happy to have each turned into a complete opera recording for viewing, including the same performers. This sampling was great.

The Fan Experience: The Opera on Film section of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22 ran September 27 to October 2 at the Philadelphia Film Center in Center City.  Matinee and evening showing times were utilized, but each film was only shown once.  The schedule can be found at this link.  COVID vaccinations and masking are no longer required, but are strongly recommended; some people were masked and some were not. 

I will close with a comment about the title I chose for this report: “Art and Social Issues Night”.  The choice reflects my ambiguity about whether the works presented should be grouped this way.  Opera Philadelphia is recognized for its efforts to address disparities of many types, and certainly other films in Opera on Film addressed social issues.  I applaud OP drawing attention to these issues by having this program, but I can’t help but wonder if they might have received greater attendance if included as part of other groupings.  I have no answer, only discomfort.  In a sense, we should all be required to watch these films until we test positive for understanding, but they also deserve to be viewed simply as works of art among other works of art.  Regardless, kudos to Opera Philadelphia for including them in Opera on Film at O22.

Festival O22’s Opera on Film Fits Right In: Comments on “Like, Share, Follow”

Hooray! Opera Philadelphia’s fall opera festival is back and is expanded. They’ve added an Opera on Film section this year to Festival O22.  OP’s innovative, annual opera festival was forced into hiatus by the pandemic for the last two years.  The film portion runs the last six days of two weeks of staged performances, September 22 – October 2.   Opera on Film seems a natural expansion given the existence now of its Opera Philadelphia Channel streaming service; the Channel was initiated as a creative response to the COVID shut down of live, in theater performances.  The first of three film events involving short films took place on Wednesday evening, named “Like, Share, and Follow”, a mixture of seven, recent 5 to 20-minute films of varying degrees of operatic nature.  Opera Philadelphia’s Frank Luzi and Sarah Williams working with a screening panel of film specialists received over 800 submissions of films to consider alongside ones from OP’s Channel.  Mr. Luzi explained in opening comments that the title for the evening’s short films derived from the first two films: the first premiered on Instagram and the second was about social media’s effects; he joked that the rest were chosen because the panel thought they were really neat.  After having spent many hours over the last couple of years viewing videos on the Channel, I was looking forward to this new part of the annual festival.

Here is Wednesday night’s line up with directors followed by producers listed after the titles; those titles highlighted have links to websites where the film can be viewed online as of this posting.

Among the Flowers  (2021) – Patrick Eakin Young; the Royal Opera House

Corsair (2020) – George Cederquist; Chicago Fringe Opera

Someone Like Me (2018) – Adam Taylor; Obadiah Baker

The Two Hot Shots (2021) - George Moïse; A Lab Studios  

A Jarful of Bees (2021) – Natalie Frank and Erin Pollock; Paola Prestini

Rumspringawakening (2019) - Adam Taylor; Obadiah Baker

Heroes of New York (Brian Gonzalez and Malena Dayen; Bare Opera

I offer a few comments about my initial reactions to each film seen once as part of a package of all seven, mainly intended to pique the reader’s interest in these and other filmed versions of opera.

Film still 1: A young man staring intently at his Facebook post in Someone Like Me. Film still 2: A painting from A Jarful of Bees. Images courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Among the Flowers is an “Instagram Opera” that confronts the viewer with a barrage of images, mostly flowers, some birds and hands and bleak scenery, with a poetic song by a woman whose life was once blest, and now using her phone, she revisits her memories.  The film left this viewer experiencing melancholy and wanting to cling tightly to the here and now.

Corsair was a very slick production complete with gorgeous people who could have stepped out of a fashion magazine photographed in Chicago, said to be based on a story from the “Decameron” as a sailor journeys “from greed to humility”.  The man is washed up on the shores of Lake Michigan and is a baritone and a hip-hop artist who is paired with an opera soprano.  For me it was the mix of opera and hip hop that provided the greatest interest.  I hope they explore more in this area.

Someone Like Me offers an interesting double entendre as young people search for people like themselves on the internet and hope that someone (in the thousands) will like their Facebook post.  Who knew breakfast could cause so much depression or elation or mating possibilities?  This film is both sheer fun and a caustic look at how social media exploits our vanity and self-doubts, controlling our lives in both obvious and insidious ways.  Of course, you are immune to all that, right?  Watch this film and profess it again, if you can.  Be sure to like this blog post.

The Two Hot Shots is a delightful modern comedy adapted from Rossini’s Otello, one of O22’s stage productions.  Two macho men waiting in a hospital room for their COVID shots have a verbal battle with each other over who will man up and go through with getting their arm punctured, while at the same time extolling the virtues of getting the shot.  The filmmaker found a clever way to encourage people to get vaccinated, while giving us an amusing opportunity to hear a little Rossini sung in a modern setting, perhaps a shade darker than if the rivals had been Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.  Why didn’t Warner Bros. think of that?

A Jarful of Bees begins with a painting of a woman who is singing.  As she sings, the patches of color appear on her face in motion, distorting her face.  While this film was highly colorful and artsy, I would have needed subtitles to follow the words and was baffled as to its intent, though viewed simply as visual art with shifting paintings and Claymation figures, it generated interest.  OP’s program notes state, “A multimedia, immersive short film on the transformation of memory and the mutability of familial relationships.”  I’d like to say more, especially since the libretto is by Royce Vavrek and is sung by mezzo-soprano Eve Gigliotti, but I’d have to see it again.

Film Still 1: The young couple experiencing New York City together in Rumspringawakening. Film still 2: A neighborhood shop owner in Heroes of New York. Images courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Rumspringawakening is a funny and heart-warming coming of age tale of a young Amish man, who is allowed to sin for a day in New York City and then decide if he wants to rejoin the Amish community.  His spouting of obscenities for the first time is amusing the same way it is when a child uses a “bad” word, and quite a few “bad” words are said.  It manages to exalt most of the arts while the young man and his newfound female more-than-a-friend roam around Times Square and Central Park.  The scene near the end with the young man and his girlfriend had a special charm.  It could only have been improved by having Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the roles with some top-notch dancing thrown in.

Heroes of New York was my favorite film of the evening, so last but not least.  It tells the tale of five New Yorkers that play important roles for the city but go about their business without public recognition, if appreciated at all – a young immigrant physician, an environmental activist, a store shop owner, a specialist in love for sale, and an aspiring singer.  The film presents their trials and reveals their importance to the fabric of the city.  As the young physician emphasized repeatedly, we have to take care of each other - her mother taught her that.  Whether new opera or old opera, love and connection are winning themes. 

The films, as a group, are a mixture of concepts in storytelling, some straightforward in telling their story and others less well defined, requiring more of the viewer.  A wide variety of musical styles are employed, most original with some borrowed, typically orchestrated effectively with relatively few instruments.  The films were presented one after the other without a break.  The overall impact for me was like circulating at a dinner party where each guest you talked to had an interesting story to tell or perspective to reveal…well, if each guest was a highly talented performing artist. 

Much is made about what is proper subject matter for an opera; an opera is supposed to focus on grand passions and the extremes of human behavior.  However, a major attraction for these operatic works for me is how fresh they feel. They are about people struggling with the problems and pressures of life today, my tribe.  And being films, they provide directors new artistic opportunities for creative expression not possible on the stage.  Shifts in location or time, no problem.  Watching a character’s face melting, no problem.  None of these films could have been presented in the same way, if at all, in staged performances.  I hope we see this area grow alongside staged opera;. In fact, these films were really neat and often affecting.

The Fan Experience: The Opera on Film section of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22 runs September 27 to October 2 at the Philadelphia Film Center in Center City.  Matinee and evening showing times were utilized, but each film was only shown once.  The schedule can be found at this link.  COVID vaccinations and masking are no longer required, but are strongly recommended; some people were masked and some were not. 

I liked the Philadelphia Film Center, and it was a short walk from the downtown hotel where my wife and I stayed, close to all the venues for Festival O22.  Admittedly, it would have been more challenging coming from the suburbs for a 6 pm start, dealing with rush hour traffic and parking.  On the other hand, restaurants downtown are a treat; we enjoyed the pizza from Alice’s once more; love that crust and the many, many pizzas available.

Maryland Lyric Opera’s Macbeth: Verdi is Back in the House and for the Season!

Maryland Lyric Opera delivered the first episode of its “Season of Verdi” on Friday night in Bethesda’s Strathmore Center, its first pandemic-free season in two years.  Their performance of Macbeth, partially staged, featured an excellent cast of singer/actors, full orchestra and chorus, delivering a drama closely based on Shakespeare’s tragedy, complete with witches and ghosts, murders, and mayhem, decrying the lust of leaders for position and power.  Most of all, what it offered up was the amazing music and arias that Giuseppe Verdi composed for this classic opera!  And more Verdi is on the way from MDLO.

Verdi and his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, with additional text by Andrea Maffei, closely followed the plotline of Shakespeare’s play (Verdi was so concerned with doing justice to the great Shakespeare that he asked his friend Maffei for substitute text).  Macbeth is a general in Scotland in the twelfth century whose lust for power, emboldened and abetted by his wife Lady Macbeth, murders King Duncan in his sleep to ascend to the throne.  They commit additional murders in their attempt to maintain the throne, and they begin to unravel under the weight of their guilt and the opposition of their countrymen.  All of this is foretold to Macbeth in riddles by a coven of witches employing ghostly apparitions, adding great suspense and an eerie atmosphere to a very dark tale.

Photo 1: Lester Lynch as Macbeth. Photo 2: Jill Gardner as Lady Macbeth. Photos by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

Verdi originally wrote Macbeth for performance in Italy in 1847, but he also wrote a version for performance in Paris in 1865, making changes and adding new material, including a ballet.  The expert consensus is that the Paris version is the better work, and that is the most often performed one.  Maryland Lyric Opera performed the 1865 version, without a ballet, but including Macbeth’s final aria from the 1847 version.  Verdi wrote two other operas based on Shakespeare’s plays, Otello and Falstaff; both also remain in the modern repertoire.

One element of productions by Maryland Lyric Opera is that they feel familiar and impart, at least to me, a family atmosphere, in that they frequently include singer/actors that they have employed before, often using former graduates and trainees from their outstanding training program.  Macbeth has four major roles, Macbeth; Lady Macbeth; Banco - Macbeth’s friend who comes to fear him; and Macduff - a nobleman who opposes Macbeth; the opera also has several minor roles.  All the performers for these roles had previously worked with MDLO except for baritone Lester Lynch in the role of Macbeth.

Photo 1: Macbeth (Lester Lynch) is shocked to see that the ghost of Banco (Andrea Silvestrelli) is seated in his chair. Photo 2: Yi Li as MacDuff. Photos by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

The renown Mr. Lynch was an inspired choice to play Macbeth.  He has a rich, powerful voice that commands the stage.  His singing and acting displayed well the many elements of Macbeth’s character, from a capable general to a cajoled husband to evil perpetrator to guilt-ridden murderer; he also had a few tender moments when his singing/acting and Verdi’s music actually made me feel a little sorry for him.  Lady Macbeth did not elicit much in the way of sympahty; for her, murder was simply a means to an end; she relished her ascension over those in her way.  MDLO’s Lady Macbeth was soprano Jill Gardner.  I have seen her give several excellent performances in lead roles for MDLO and for Virginia Opera.  As Lady Macbeth she was good, though not as good as I have seen her be previously.  I thought at times her vocal ornamentation lacked full definition.  However, she played the role of the alluring manipulator very well.  She seemed to relish playing this role, and her important sleep walking scene was effective and is critical to the opera.  Bass Andrea Silvestrelli was excellent as always, singing authoritatively and anchoring the drama as someone caught in the middle.  He displayed good acting skills, making an eerie presence when he returned as a ghost after his murder arranged by Macbeth.  Tenor Yi Li’s acting skills in the role of Macduff were not quite as impressive; however, he delivered a solo aria late in the opera that was one of the performance’s highlights.  Tenor Mauricio Miranda as Malcolm, mezzo-soprano Manli Deng as Lady-in-Waiting, and baritone Jose Sacin as Doctor contributed effectively in supporting roles.  The Maryland Lyric Opera Chorus led by Husan Park was excellent as always.  The ensemble numbers backed by the full chorus were outstanding.

The Maryland Lyric Opera Orchestra led by Conductor Joseph Colaneri with the women’s chorus portraying Macbeth’s witches in the balcony. Photo by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

The conductor for this performance was Joseph Colaneri who performs internationally and is well known for serving as the Music Director for the Glimmerglass Festival.  Under his direction, the excellent Maryland Lyric Opera Orchestra displayed great finesse in its delivery of Verdi’s music and its coordination with the singers.  I greatly enjoyed the orchestra and thought that it did full justice to Verdi’s magnificent music. 

Ghostly apparitions conjured up by witches further darken the mood and add to the eeriness of Maryland Lyric Opera’s performance of Verdi’s Macbeth. Photo by Julian Thomas Photography; courtesy of Maryland Lyric Opera.

The limited staging for this performance was effective in supporting the drama; kudos to Visual Supervisor David Gately.  Having the angelic sounding women’s chorus placed in the balcony while singing the part of the witches did take me a moment to adjust to the fact that this was a sinister group on this night.  Verdi had his witches bearded, but the balcony was too far away for that to be effective.  On the other hand, having the ghostly apparitions called up by the witches wear white masks enhanced the spookiness and dark nature of the play.  The use of colored lighting to enhance the moods of different scenes was also a nice touch as was the use of flashing lights for lightning effects; kudos to Lighting Designer Stuart Duke.

Overall, this was another fine effort by Maryland Lyric Opera to bring high quality classic opera to the Maryland suburbs.  MDLO seems to have settled in with a program of mostly concert versions of classic operas at Strathmore with the occasional fully staged opera in the Clarice at UMD.  I get the same vibe from MDLO’s weekend performances at the Strathmore now that one might have gotten from the Boston Pops Symphony; it has become a community thing.  It’s what you do on Friday night or Sunday afternoon in Bethesda. 

The Fan Experience:  Macbeth was performed on September 23 and 25 in the Strathmore Music Center.  The concert hall is a beautiful structure that has outstanding acoustics for concert performances.  Strathmore is conveniently located close to the Grosvenor Metro Stop on the Rockville Pike.  Use of the parking deck is free on evenings and weekends.  I have found parking there to be easy in and easy out.

MDLO anticipates announcing the remainder of its “Season of Verdi” in the next couple of weeks; all operas are planned for performances at the Strathmore and will be concert presentations with full orchestra and chorus.  Thanks to Maryland Lyric Opera patrons and contributors, tickets for any seat in the house will remain $10 for students!. 

For the first time, Conductor Louis Salemno was not in the pit for an MDLO performance.  According to MDLO, Maestro Salemno and the company “have decided to go their separate ways”.   I have enjoyed many fine performances with Mr. Salemno at the helm, performances that increased my appreciation of the music in operas, and I wish him the very best in his future endeavors. 

The Importance of Bernstein’s MASS and the Arts and the Kennedy Center

For me, Leonard Bernstein, the arts, the Kennedy Center…well, it’s personal.  David M. Rubenstein, Chairman of the Kennedy Center stated in the program notes that “Tonight’s performance of MASS celebrates not only the Kennedy Center, but the important role the arts and artists play in America, and will continue to play for years to come.”  While commonly referred to as Bernstein’s Mass, the composer formally named it “MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers”.   The three performances this past week were the last event in the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary celebration; the pandemic caused the delay to Center’s 51st year. 

Photo 1: Aerial view of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today. Photo by Richard Barnes; courtesy of the Kennedy Center. Photo 2: Composer Leonard Bernstein at the first performance of his work, MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers, the inaugural performance event of the Kennedy Center on September 8, 1971. Photo by Fletcher Drake; courtesy of the Kennedy Center.

Why are the arts and artists important?  I devoted my working life to scientific research and administration, medicinal chemistry to be specific, but in my retirement, I am exercising another part of my brain by writing an opera blog.  Why?  If I discover the answer to that question, I will report it.  But it has made me think about the importance of the arts, and here is where I am with that: science allows us to see our physical world and find the relationships between its parts, enabling us greater control in meeting our needs.  The arts I see as addressing the human question of who are we, really.  The arts allow us to see what is important to us as humans, to find our common ground in a way that is experiential but non-confrontational, and through the arts’ ability to find great beauty in form and truth, art becomes a cohesive force for humanity.  My son, the philosopher, says that science teaches us how to control our world while the arts teach us how to control ourselves.  The ancient Greek philosophers pointed out that art, and in particular music, is fundamental to a healthy society.  As Bernstein’s MASS calls for peace and coming together, all art has the effect of calling for peace by leading us to see ourselves in others and connect or re-connect with what is truly important in our lives.  

Will Liverman as the Celebrant, surrounded by dancers in Bernstein’s MASS. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of the Kennedy Center.

Why are discussions of Leonard Bernstein, a famous composer, conductor, and pianist personal to me?  Growing up, my family and friends were not into classical music; enjoying classical music for me was a lonely pursuit, but I could watch Mr. Bernstein’s television programs where he not only played and conducted classical music, he also explained classical music.  Looking back, while many classical music composers of the 20th century decided to write music for the sake of music, which appealed to a diminishing group, Mr. Bernstein was trying to maintain the connection with a more mainstream American audience.  I even watched one program where he explained the creativity and appeal of the Beatle’s songs and music.  The Kennedy Center and Mr. Bernstein’s stature as a composer were oblivious to this young Georgia boy at that time; all I knew was that I liked classical music, and he was helping me to connect with it.  He is a bit of a hero, and oh yeah, he composed one of my favorite Broadway musicals, West Side Story.

How did Leonard Bernstein become so connected to the Kennedy Center?  His genius, humanitarian efforts, and support of President Kennedy were widely recognized.  In the late sixties, the assassinated president’s widow Jacqueline Kennedy invited him to compose a work for the inauguration of the newly commissioned United States National Cultural Center which was still under construction, which in 1964 had received the name of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a memorial tribute to President Kennedy and his legacy, especially Kennedy’s strong support for the arts as a necessity for the spiritual health of the nation.  Composer Bernstein, who had devoted one of his symphonies to JFK’s memory and later conducted the funeral service for his brother Robert F. Kennedy, accepted the assignment which included a deadline; his new work premiered on the Kennedy Center’s opening night.  On September 8, 1971, this musical genius and extraordinary humanitarian offered up a fully-staged pageant of the arts, a musical wrapped around a mass as a celebration of a president’s legacy and the creation of the new National Cultural Center – the Kennedy Center. 

Photo 1: Will Liverman with Soloists and dancers. Photo 2: Street People Ensemble members, Soloists, and dancers. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of the Kennedy Center.

Why a mass?  JFK was a Roman Catholic; a new work built around a mass seemed appropriate, especially since he was the first member of the Catholic faith to be elected president.  This was also to be a celebration of the arts and the new center and its mission.  Rather than adhering strictly to the seventeen sections of the Tridentine Catholic Mass, Mr. Bernstein added secular text and music and dance; the musical works its way through the sections of the mass including its liturgy in the libretto.  Maestro Bernstein began work on the assignment in 1969, but when he began to feel deadline pressure in the spring of 1971, he recruited Steven Schwartz, known for the musical Godspell to work on the libretto with him.  They constructed a story centering on the Celebrant, a priest, who undergoes a crisis of faith in response to the existential crises of his flock and their questioning of God coupled with issues tearing apart society in the turbulent 1960s, especially conflicts over the Vietnam War.  In a very real sense, this work remains current and can be viewed as addressing present day issues.

Photo 1: Will Liverman and members of the Children’s Chorus of Washington. Photo 2: The Children’s Chorus of Washington. Photos by Scott Suchman; courtesy of the Kennedy Center.

The Kennedy Center performance of Mass on Saturday night was my first viewing of this work.  It is said that opera should overwhelm the senses.  By that criterion, Mass met the definition of opera; it also met the definition of wow!  There was staging, lighting and color shadings, storytelling, drama, costumes, music, singing, and dancing.  The vocal and musical styles switched often and easily among tonal and atonal classical music, rock, jazz, blues, and Broadway, with live music sometimes augmented by recorded music and singing.  Words were in Latin, Hebrew, and English.  There was gentle, soulful singing and quiet musical meditations between twelve tone clashes of voices and discordant music, music to support the liturgical procession and music to support the existential angst and angry clashes.  There was a lead singer, twelve street singer soloists, a street people ensemble, a children’s choir, an adult choir, dancers, and a full orchestra.  Two hundred and ten performers filled the stage of the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall and the balcony back of the stage and spilled out into the audience.  The mission of the Kennedy Center to support the arts broadly was embodied in Mr. Bernstein’s massive work.  If rap music had been a thing in the sixties, I’m sure Maestro Bernstein would have employed it.  (Hmmm, I wonder if Lin-Manuel Miranda might be interested in doing a version; KC will likely have a 60th year anniversary celebration).

Performances in KC’s production were uniformly excellent; however only one role has the spotlight for very long, the Celebrant around whom the action rotates; the actor/singer must evidence simple faith yielding to doubt, then a breakdown, and rebirth.  The reception of MASS absolutely depends on the singer who plays the Celebrant.  Fortunately, baritone Will Liverman was more than equal to the task; his performance was a tour-de-force.  The beautiful timber and power of his voice shone from the beginning, and he played the role as though it had been written for him.  I expected him to be good; he was great.  The street people soloists all sang well and delivered their songs with conviction.  The singers of the tropes questioning God and their faith were particularly effective.

The National Symphony Orchestra on stage led by Conductor James Gaffigan and in the balcony, the Heritage Signature Chorale led by Artistic Director Stanley J. Thurston. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of the Kennedy Center.

Kudos to Conductor James Gaffigan and the National Symphony Orchestra who managed to make this mélange of styles work with instrument pairings from full orchestra to individual solo accompaniments such as oboe and flute.  The dancers and the choreography were excellently woven into the drama; kudos to choreographer Hope Boykin.  The Heritage Signature Chorale was outstanding.  The Children’s Chorus of Washington led by Artistic Director Margaret Nomura Clark and the child soloists were excellent and added the element of innocence, especially in the closing “Simple Song” as the spent congregation revives, and reclaims their faith.  The ending seemed honest to me – after weathering the storm, though not resolving their issues, the people returned to a simple belief in God.

Director Alison Moritz worked with Conductor Gaffigan to update the work to the present day and chose the inside of a church for the setting.  Their work made this a memorable production.  After its initial performance in 1971, it was both praised and assailed by critics.  It was attacked by Catholic leaders and then later performed at the Vatican.  President Nixon declined to attend due to its presumed anti-war viewpoint.  Yet, the work remains relevant; over forty performances were staged worldwide in 2017-2018 for the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth.  At its premiere, the MASS received a standing ovation.  At Saturday night’s performance, the entire, packed house audience, as far as I could see, rose to its feet in unison to clap and cheer.  I can understand the criticisms of the work and see where they are relevant, or not, but after viewing just one performance I feel grateful for having seen it, both as an engaging work of art and as a piece of history close to my heart.  I think Leonard Bernstein achieved his goal of making the new U.S. National Culture Center stand out, and the Kennedy Center has made good on its mission to provide strong support for a broad spectrum of arts and artists. I am a Kennedy Center member; it’s personal.

The Fan Experience: This production of Bernstein’s MASS ran for three performances in the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall on September 15, 17, and 18.  The 2022-2023 season for the National Symphony begins on September 24 and the new season for Washington National Opera begins on October 22.  Parking in the Kennedy Center is typically plentiful at around $25 per day.  The Metro to Foggy Bottom and the free Red Kennedy Center buses from there to the Kennedy Center which run every 15 minutes are an excellent option.  Always check with the venue of the performance you are attending for COVID restrictions; for Saturday’s performance, masking was still required, but not proof of vaccination.

Interested in reading more about the Kennedy Center’s production of MASS? Washington Post critic Michael Andor Brodeur has written excellent preview and review articles, and in a pleasant surprise, KC’s production of MASS led former Post critic, Anne Midgette, to write her first review since leaving the Post to explore what this work has meant to her and how it has changed over time, posted on her website.

Coinciding with the performances of the MASS, the Kennedy Center opened a new permanent exhibition, “Arts and Ideals: President John F. Kennedy” in the JFK Gallery located on the Terrace Level.  It covers President Kennedy from childhood to his death with a focus on his commitment to the arts; it includes a display on Bernstein’s Mass.  We only had a few minutes to wander through but plan to spend more time there on our next trip down to KC.

Matthew Aucoin’s “The Impossible Art”: I’ll Have What He’s Having

Composer Matthew Aucoin; photo downloaded from matthewaucoin.com.

What a fantastical place is Matthew Aucoin’s brain!  Pianist, conductor, composer, and author, he invites us inside his gray matter for a tour in his recent book, “The Impossible Art”.  Mr. Aucoin, now 32, is a recipient of the MacArthur Award, commonly referred to as the genius award, and he is already viewed as one of America’s top composers – his composition Eurydice was performed in 2021 by Met Opera.  The book is written in first person, a highly opinionated first person, and thereby, it reveals much about the author, as well as his subject matter, which is opera.  “The Impossible Art” is worthy of consideration during your holiday shopping for anyone who loves opera or is interested in just finding out what it is all about.

I highly recommend this book mainly due to its most engaging characteristic.  As Doctor Frankenstein yelled about his monster when lightning struck: “It’s alive!”  Books on opera tend to be primarily studied and pedagogical.  This one brings opera to life.  Suppose Mozart had written a book discussing the composer’s task in his operas and those of his contemporaries, with its many attendant challenges and problems in combining singing, dancing, acting, music, costumes, and stage sets to tell a story made of dreams.  I think Mozart’s would be much like this one, communicating his enthusiasm as well as his knowledge, bringing the picture he paints to life, broadening the reader’s perception and understanding of this massive art form that at its best, never perfect, can transcend its elements to speak directly to the soul of its audience.  Thus, composer Aucoin calls opera impossible. 

Cover photo of “The Impossible Art” by Matthew Aucoin; photo by blog author.

This 299-page volume published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux is subtitled Adventures in Opera and contains eight chapters, plus a list of works cited and a list of recommended recordings for the works he discusses.  The author says in Chapter 1: “A Field Guide to the Impossible” that the remaining chapters are essays that can be read out of order, though I thought his order felt about right.  He discusses operas by Monteverdi, Charpentier, Birtwistle, Stravinsky, Verdi, Adès, Czernowin, and Mozart that have affected him deeply, as well as his own works, Crossings and Eurydice.  The works by the various composers are very different animals.   One of the charms of his book is that Mr. Aucoin seems open to anything except bad art.  He views opera as a generic term for a type of music much like ‘fiction’ is for books; his opera tent is very wide.  He embraces avant-garde operas and classical works with equal enthusiasm, and he views the current opera scene in the U.S. as a thriving wild, wild west. 

Another endearing feature of Mr. Aucoin’s book is that he advocates for loving opera from afar, that is, listening to recordings.  That is how he developed his love for opera.  As an author who advocates for listening to opera live, it helped restore a perspective for me that I needed to be reminded of.  He also understands that opera speaks to you or it doesn’t; he mentions that his own sister does not care for opera.  He also realizes our reception to opera can change.  He states that initially, “Operatic singing struck me as jarring and unpleasant”.  He gives as clear a description of the difference between opera and musical theater as I have read, and then proposes three laws of gravity for opera.  He asserts that the libretto and the music for an opera, along with its other elements should not blend but should bump into each other, each transforming the others.  If the book has a weakness, it is in being too often rational and reasonable, which as he states is the opposite of opera. Perhaps he should undertake the challenge to write an opera that would explain opera, but then, perhaps each opera is its own explanation, only using a language we can grasp but not fully articulate. 

Mr. Aucoin’s prose is lucid and clever.  He refers to opera as often being viewed in the US as “a kind of imported cheese, an especially pungent and funky one”.  He refers to the relationship between words and music in opera as “not just one of respectful deference: it is also a battle of wills”, with an illuminating discussion of the working relationship between composer Igor Stravinsky and poet W. H. Auden.  The main thrust of his book is a dissection of the operas he discusses, sometimes line by line, discussing changes in key and revealing the impact that the composer was trying to create in conveying the story being told.  It is here the reader must ride along with him, even if you do not have a background in music; what you get will still illuminate the composer’s task.

I found myself wanting to attend again, or for the first time, the operas that he discusses whether by his comments on Verdi’s Shakespeare operas or Mozart’s Figaro or Chaya Czernowin’s Heart Chamber, to hear them through his ears, or at least after being enlightened by the insights he shares.  In discussing Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers, his assertion that the opera makes “his depiction of suffering openly pleasurable, and exquisitely so” certainly makes me want to see this version of the Orpheus myth.  He sees making suffering pleasurable but not in an exploitative fashion as a bridled task composers must deal with. In discussing his own full operas, he bravely shares his misgivings about his work on Crossings, a work about Walt Whitman, and he discusses his working relationship with librettist Sara Ruhl for Eurydice.  I sometimes wondered in reading his opinions whether a particular one was expert opinion or a flight of the composer’s romantic imagination, or some mix.  Nor do I have the positive responses to all of the works that the author does, but still, he makes me want to give each another viewing.

Mr. Aucoin, a very busy performer, conductor, and composer, found the time to write the book due to the pandemic shutdown of 2020.  Making opera come alive in print is a gift.  I hope he will somehow find the time to write more commentary on additional operas.  Once I started reading the book, it quickly became a page turner.  For my final verdict on Aucoin’s book, I will borrow a line from Harry Met Sally.  When it comes to opera, I’ll have what he’s having

Wolf Trap Opera’s Susannah: A Powerful American Opera

I get caught up in the stories of today’s most popular operas, works from centuries ago, but the lives in those stories are typically far removed from mine.  During much of Wolf Trap Opera’s performance of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah (1955) on Friday night, I felt like a twelve-year old growing up in Georgia at one of the fundamentalist revivals I attended.  Indeed, the wooden-plank set blended perfectly with The Barns’ wood construction to make the entire venue seem a country church at times, especially with the bright, lit white cross that often dominated the center of the stage.  This is an American Opera, easily relatable to my life.  In measure, it was my relatives on stage; I could almost taste the potato salad and banana pudding at the church social, and its themes rang true.

The composer Carlisle Floyd, experienced in piano composition and creative writing, chose to be his own librettist.  He was raised in the south in South Carolina.  His mother gave him piano lessons and encouraged him to write short stories.  His father was a Methodist minister, and the composer-to-be attended many revival meetings where traveling charismatic preachers used inflamed and compelling dramatics in calling sinners to the alter to repent their sins and receive salvation.  Susannah reflects that upbringing.  Mr. Floyd’s music, tailored to support theatrical productions, includes folk songs, hymns, and dances.  With his compositions, Mr. Floyd sought to develop a popular form of high quality musical theater to fit the middle ground between commercial works with a broad audience and elitist high art with its small following, and to bring it under the tent of works doable by smaller companies and college music departments, where resources are more limited, but the willingness to take chances is greater.  Susannah was his most successful opera, receiving over 200 productions thus far; among American operas, second only to Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.  The composer died in 2021 at the age of 95.  I highly recommend critic Tim Page’s excellent obituary in the Washington Post.

Susannah (Ann Toomey, in the right foreground) has some innocent fun at the church square dance, while Elder McLean (Tshegofatso Clement Batoyi, farther to the right) observes. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

The story of Mr. Floyd’s Susannah is loosely based on the story of Susanna and the Elders in the Book of Daniel.  However, in the bible story, the prophet Daniel comes to the rescue of Susanna, which is not the ending of composer Floyd’s work.  Susannah Polk is an 18-year-old girl in a rural Appalachian region of Tennessee where she lives with her older brother Sam.  Sam cares deeply about his sister but spends his time fishing and hunting in the day and drinking too much in the evening.  Susannah has become an attractive young woman, a free spirit seeking innocent fun, but attracting the leering attention of the men and the jealousy of the women in the tight knit community.  Reverend Olin Blitch is about to arrive in town to lead a revival.  The community’s tolerance of Susannah ends when town elders, seeking a spot for baptisms to be performed by Blitch, spot Susannah bathing naked in a creek near her house in the woods.  Their lustful impulses quickly turn to shame at her perceived outrageous behavior.  They inform the other people in the community and force Little Bat McLean to say that his only real friend, Susannah, seduced him, which causes the community to refuse Susanna attendance at community events.  The situation continues to spiral downhill as Reverend Blitch, failing to “save” Susannah who maintains her innocence, forces himself on her sexually.  Sam shoots the Reverend, and the townspeople storm towards Susannah’s house demanding she leave the area.  Susannah, crushed and worn out by the constant rejection and Blitch’s sexual abuse, makes a stand, refusing to leave, and brandishing a rifle, drives her oppressors away. 

left photo: Reverend Blitch (Christian Pursell) chooses to dance with Susannah (Ann Toomey). right photo: Mrs. McLean (Winona Martin, seated), Mrs. Gleaton (Sophia Hunt), Mrs. Ott (Cecelia McKinley), and Mrs. Hayes (Hayley Maloney) observe and criticize Susannah’s behavior. Photos by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

As powerful as the story is and WTO’s telling of it was, it was the music that most impressed me.  When my attention occasionally shifted to the music, my response consistently was, “Wow, this music is really good.”  Conductor Stephanie Rhodes Russell led a 38-piece Wolf Trap Orchestra, placed behind the stage which had been extended towards the audience over the Barn’s orchestra pit.  The sound was excellent; kudos to Ms. Russell and her orchestra.  Floyd’s music is melodious and colorful in orchestration, but to me its most impressive aspect was how closely attuned to the drama it was, such as a bit of dissonance blending into the current melody as a scene becomes confrontational.  The music is also filled with gentle accents with solo instruments.  NY critics did not embrace Mr. Floyd’s opera, criticizing it as lacking innovation and complexity.  I found its beauty, drama, and the directness with which it speaks to the human heart to be more than enough.  Seeing Susannah and hearing its music made me interested in attending other operas by Mr. Floyd. 

Little Bat (Joseph Leppek) and Susannah (Ann Toomey) share a moment of friendship. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

A highlight of any Wolf Trap Opera is the extraordinary talent and high energy of Filene Artists and Studio Artists that it attracts to its training program each summer.  Lee Anne Myslewski, Vice President of Opera and Classical Programming, stated in her online pre-opera talk that the operas this year that were selected had fewer main performers to give the Filene Artists meatier roles since their career development had been interrupted by the COVID pandemic.  She also said she now felt comfortable with this crop of Studio Artists handling the roles of the older townspeople, making Susannah a good choice.  WTO always selects it operas after finalizing its list of successful competitors to spend a summer with WTO.

Reverend Blitch (Christian Pursell) calls on Susannah (Ann Toomey) to come forward to confess her sins and repent. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

One must begin with the excellent performance by soprano Ann Toomey as Susannah.  She displayed a lovely timbre in sections where a softer folk song voice was called for and great power and agility in reaching the high, emotionally intense, operatic sound that her arias often rose to.  Her “Trees on the Mountain” and “Ain’t It a Pretty Night” arias were the highlights expected.  Her acting fully supported Susannah’s transformation from innocent young girl to an embittered, distraught outcast from her community, while yet remaining true to herself.  Christian Pursell who portrayed Reverend Blitch is an outstanding bass-baritone who sang beautifully, but in this role also had challenging dramatic demands.  He met the demands both as the charismatic preacher and as the contrite sinner who had forced himself on Susannah.  Tenor Robert Stahley sang the role of Sam, who might have been my favorite character.  He sang the bouncy, fun “Jaybird” and more soulful arias with equal aplomb; his aria “It’s About the Way People Are Made” was especially touching.  His portrayal of a country boy was convincing, and he came across as perhaps the most Christian-like member of the community before his rage takes over.  He tries to console Susannah and sings about there being “too little loving kindness. It must make the good Lord sad”.  Bass Joseph Leppek also gave a convincing performance singing and acting as Little Bat, who cared about Susannah but could not defy his manipulating parents.

Susannah (Ann Toomey) wards off the angry townspeople, led by Elder McLean (Tshegofatso Clement Baloyi), who demand she leave the area. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

The Studio Artists in supporting roles (Tshegofatso Clement Baloyi, Tavon Walker, Hayden Smith, Dylan Gregg, Winona Martin, Sophia Hunt, Hayley Maloney, and Cecelia McKinley) contributed to the effectiveness of the story telling as Elders and their wives.  Considerable acting skills were required of them, especially in the dramatic revival scene.  I will single out two for special comment.  Mezzo-soprano Winona Martin who portrayed Ms. Mclean was very convincing as the small town busybody who sought to manipulate everyone and kept the pot stirred against Susannah.  Her counterpart as Mr. McLean was baritone Tshegofatso Clement Baloyi who seemed to anchor the performances of the townspeople.  Both were excellent.

In the final scene, Susannah (Ann Toomey), embittered by a life in ruins, rejects Little Bat’s (Joseph Leppek) pleas for forgiveness. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Director Dan Wallace Miller told the story well and kept the action flowing smoothly for the most part.  In a move that surprised me, he highlighted Susannah’s loss of innocence in the final scene by having her give Little Bat a blow with the butt of her rifle, refusing his pleas for forgiveness, jolting as well as effective.  The dialect selected was rustic and unobtrusive, though not southern.  The least effective scene in the production was the Susannah bathing scene where Susannah was placed off stage.  The possibilities for this scene were constrained by having a single set that covered the entire stage.   The audience was required to extend its sense of disbelief in several scenes, but it mattered in the bathing scene, and for me, it was distracting and muddled the motives of the Elders.  The set design by Christopher Mumaw was most effective when displaying the church scenes.  Marnie Cumings lighting design helped the transitions between scenes.  Special kudos to costume designer Candace Frank and hair & makeup designer Anne Nesmith who made the costumes and the period and place entirely believable, a highlight of the opera.  Choreographer Felicity Stiverson made the dancing at the social and the interactions between the Reverend and Susannah go smoothly.

I would like to close with something that was not in the opera.  It was in the pre-opera talk by Ms. Myslewski.  Mr. Floyd’s opera is an indictment of the destruction caused by the coercive power of groups. In her comments, without excusing the cruel and small-minded behavior of the townspeople, she points out the importance of community in those circumstances.  These people were poor and needed each other, depended on each other for survival.  A code of conduct was necessary to ensure the effective functioning of the community.  Human flaws and weaknesses caused it to go awry.  Susannah tells the tale of a tragedy for all of its characters.  Sam’s assertion that the world needs more loving kindness for everyone feels about right.

The Fan Experience: Susannah was scheduled for performances on August 12, 14, and 20.  The opera is in English with supertitles on a screen above the stage.  The performance is two hours with an additional 20-minute intermission between acts.  This production appears to be a sell out; I was unable to find any remaining tickets online.  Ms. Myslewski’s excellent pre-opera talk should be available online until the August 20 performance. 

The Barns is an excellent venue for opera, intimate with good acoustics.  Even the seats at the back and in the balcony are relatively close to the performers, but some of those in the back on the floor lack a view of the supertitles.  The floor seats are not tiered but those in the balcony are.  Food and beverages are available before the performances and during intermissions.  During DC’s hot and humid summers, it has excellent air-conditioning.  Parking is free, plentiful and is easy-in/easy-out.

Annapolis Opera’s Invitation to La Bohème’s Café Momus: August 13

Want an early start on the 2022-2023 opera season?  Let me bring an upcoming event to your attention because it is unusual in timing and filled with charm, and it is one of the niftiest ideas for beginning a season that I have run into - An Evening at Café Momus.

An Evening at Café Momus poster image, courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

As I have been listing opera company schedules in the Seasonal List section of OperaGene, I was surprised to see that Annapolis Opera will kick things off early, in August even.  Their production of La bohème runs August 26 (Friday) and 28 (Sunday), but that’s not all.  To get you prepared and in the mood for a return to opera, the company has arranged a preview for Saturday, August 13 titled, “An Evening at Café Momus”.  General Director Kathy Swekel describes “this colorful and opening event” as a “vivid recreation of Café Momus”.  She further reports:
“The decor is, of course, 19th century Parisian café. Guests will enjoy wine and hors d'oeuvres as National Gallery of Art Curator of French Painting, Kimberly Jones transports them to the world of 19th century France. Maestro Craig Kier speaks about Puccini's composition of the opera, and a cast member brings selections of La bohème's music to life. The evening also features the unveiling of the Annapolis Opera’s 50th Anniversary collectable poster.”

If you remember, Café Momus is featured in act 2 of La bohème, as the fun gathering spot for young bohemian artists who have come upon an enabling bit of cash.  During the evening, Mimi and Rodolfo continue to fall in love, and Musetta stokes Marcello’s jealousy in a hilarious attempt to reignite their love affair.  For fun, this scene is one of the best that opera has to offer.  An Evening at Café Momus arranged by Annapolis Opera gives fans a chance to experience the scene from the inside, and with Curator Jones and Maestro Kier speaking, it also promises to be both enlightening and deepening of one’s appreciation for La Bohème, many people’s favorite opera.

Annapolis Opera appears to be undergoing a renaissance under Artistic and Music Director and Conductor Craig Kier who joined AO in 2020, just as the COVID pandemic arrived.  My wife and I attended last year’s AO production of Into the Woods and greatly enjoyed the performance.  We were also highly impressed with the quality of the performance; we experienced the opera house as a true Broadway Stage.  Director Kier comments on the 2022-2023 season:

“Welcome to the Annapolis Opera's 50th anniversary season!  What a thrill it is to present a season that captures the full breadth of operatic storytelling as we celebrate our past 50 years and look to the future.  Our season features composers spanning nearly 200 years with mainstage performances of a new co-production of Puccini's beloved classic, La bohème, the company premiere of Kurt Weill's musical tragedy, Lost in the Stars, and the return of Mozart's comedic masterpiece, The Marriage of Figaro.  In addition, we welcome artists in concert with our annual Voices of Our Time performance alongside our 35th Annual Vocal Competition and offer countless free events throughout the year with our popular Insight Series education programming.”

All’s well that ends well, but it doesn’t hurt to have a great beginning, and this year, Annapolis Opera does.

The Fan Experience: An Evening at Café Momus will be held in the Bowen Theater in the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis on Saturday, August 13.  Tickets are available at this link.  Parking at the Hall is free.  Subscriptions for the 2022-2023 season are available.  These days, still always check a company’s website to find out what COVID policies will be in effect for events you plan to attend.

In closing, let me add that Annapolis is a wonderful town to visit.  It is the capital of Maryland and both the Naval Academy and St. John’s College are there.  It has a waterfront, historic buildings, and great restaurants.  In fact, just writing that sentence causes my mouth to water and long for another visit to Vin 909’s wine by the glass lists and gourmet cuisine, or chowing down on seafood at Boatyard Bar and Grill, or lunch at Eastport Kitchen with its creative menu, and fresh made donuts at breakfast at Ruth and Chick’s; I could go on and on.  Make it a weekend and enjoy the town as well as the opera!

The 2022-2023 Opera Season in the Mid-Atlantic: A Lookback and the New Normal

The trouble for opera began in the second half of the 2019-2020 season.  Starting with performances ongoing in the middle of March 2020, every opera company was forced to cancel the remainder of their season as COVID restrictions began that placed a strict size limit on indoor meetings.  Seasons had been scheduled; contracts had been signed; rehearsals were underway, and some performances were in mid-runs; then everything shut down.  COVID continued to prove problematic for opera companies for the next two seasons.  Small and large companies were similarly affected by the pandemic.  Singers everywhere were out of work.  Opera companies were without or had diminished income for two years.  As we look ahead to the 2022-2023 season, I decided to write a blog report on where we were, what we’ve been through, and how the future seems to be shaping up; admittedly, we may not be out of the woods with COVID yet.   For this report, I mainly focus on the four largest companies in the mid-Atlantic: Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Virginia Opera, and the Washington National Opera. 

Companies have moved back into the large opera houses, and the COVID recovery is well underway.  In 2021-2022, adjustments still needed to be made for mask wearing, checking vaccination status, and sometimes socially distanced seating as well as contingencies for COVID outbreaks.  Tensions still exist since it seems as though there is a new virus variant every six months with uncertain consequences.  However, schedules have been set to have full 2022-2023 seasons.  I will comment on this history, and I will also comment on the arrangement of each company’s season going forward, but I’d like to begin with some positive developments from the pandemic period as companies and singers rose to meet the challenges of those dark days by learning new skills and offering new works in different ways.

A Few Personal Highlights from 2020-2022

*Opera Philadelphia began a pay for view, streaming service in 2020, named the Opera Philadelphia Channel and spent their creative energies posting videos of previous performances and commissioning new works to be posted there.  There are several highlights here, but their wildly innovative TakTakShoo caused me to become a forever fan of mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi. 

*I was reminded of the advantages of film and how effectively it can be combined with opera by OP’s filmed versions of Soldier Songs and La Voix Humaine.

*I saw my first opera live with masked singers in Pittsburgh Opera’s Semele, with the audience also masked and in socially distanced seating in May 2021.  It was a marvelous performance by their young artists, and it seemed like heaven to be hearing live, fully staged opera in person again after more than a year without.

*I enjoyed the bold, adventurous spirit of Virginia Opera in the Fall of 2021 when, to contend with COVID restrictions they staged Wagner’s Das Rheingold on the outdoor driving range at Topgolfs in Norfolk and Richmond.  What fun at a time when we needed fun!

*I was initially saddened to find there would again be no new American Opera Initiative operas in January of 2021.  However, Washington National Opera’s AOI had kept the program running during the pandemic, providing a safe haven for their young artists to perform, and three new 20-min operas were posted online in March of that year.  It was a breath of fresh air, good new operas, and hope.

*WNO also sent their Pop-Up Opera Truck to locations around the city to present mini-concerts by their Cafritz Young Artists to all within earshot.

*Although Opera Lafayette is not a focus of this report, I must mention their production of The Blacksmith.  No in house performances allowed?  No problem!  Artistic Director Ryan Brown transformed an opera-comique, Le Maréchal Ferrant, into a Southwestern opera that was performed on a makeshift stage beside a barn on a ranch in Montana with the audience seated on socially distanced bales of hay.   Woooee!  Loved it.  A film was made for viewing, and eventually OL brought the live production to The Barns of Wolf Trap. 

*Wolf Trap Opera managed to keep their summer Filene Artists and Studio programs functioning, while following safety protocols for its young artists.  WTO offered a slate of online performances and tried out a new streaming service.

*Also not a focus of this report, my love-hate relationship with the Metropolitan Opera, while closed for new performances, turned towards love as the Met screened a different opera video of theirs every night of the pandemic.  That was a help; thank you Met.

*Individuals, groups, and companies learned new technological skills and put them to use.  One I especially enjoyed was the blending of individual performances into unified group performances for online streaming.  I especially enjoyed an online video performance of Copeland’s Fanfare for the Common Man by musicians from the National Philharmonic at Strathmore, done as a tribute to hospital workers and common Americans on the frontlines during pandemic.  Individual horn players and percussionists recorded their parts in their home offices and basements, which were synthesized together.  It is an inspired and inspirational performance.

 *Small companies with limited resources were especially hard it by the pandemic.  Some performed public service as well as finding ways to keep their programs going.  Maryland Lyric Opera responded immediately by purchasing and distributing medical masks to health care workers and first responders, at a time when they were in short supply.

To all the opera companies that made herculean efforts to keep opera alive and maintain connections with their audiences during a deadly pandemic, we salute you!!!

A Look at the Ghosts of Seasons Past and Yet To Be

For each company we will take a look at three COVID-impacted seasons and the new 2022-2023 season:

Opera Philadelphia (operaphila.org)

2022-2023

Otello -                        Festival O22 - Sep 23, 25, 30, Oct 2

The Raven -                Festival O22 - Sep 21, 24, 29, Oct 1

Black Lodge -             Festival O22 - Oct 1, 2

Afternoons at AVA - Festival O22 - Sep 24, Oct 1

Opera on Film -         Festival O22 - Sep 27, 28, 29, 30, Oct 1, 2

Carmina Burana –    Feb 3, 5

La Bohème  -             April 28, 30, May 5, 7

2021-2022 (COVID impacted)

Amici e Rivali - Evening of Vocal Fireworks

Oediipus Rex + Lilacs

Rigoletto

2020-2021 (COVID impacted)

The Drama of Tosca - outdoor concert

2019-2020 (COVID impacted)

Denis&Katya -                          Festival O19

Semele -                                    Festival O19

The Love of Three Oranges - Festival O19 

Let Me Die -                             Festival O19 

Curtis in Concert -                  Festival O19

Verdi’s Requiem

Madame Butterfly – cancelled

Opera Philadelphia’s primary response to the pandemic, as mentioned previously, was to create the streaming service Opera Philadelphia Channel and to commission several new works for the Channel.  An emphasis for the first two years was employing composers and performers of color to create and perform works that address cultural issues.  This theme of opera companies beginning a correction for its history of misogyny, racism, and sexual orientation discrimination played out in all of the companies.  Opera Philadelphia Channel now has a secure role as part of Opera Philadelphia.  Plans for additional new productions are in place, as well as the formation of collaborations with other companies to add to its online content to OPC. 

One of the most painful losses for me was two years without an Opera Philadelphia Fall festival, which had taken a leadership role in helping opera find its future.  I am so pleased to see that Festival O22 is part of the 2022-2023 season.  Festival O22 will take place at several venues around the city, many smaller halls.  Beyond that, OP’s new season reflects what can be seen for all the opera companies’ new seasons: the new normal is going to very much be the old normal.  In Opera Philadelphia’s case, the season will again be the festival, a winter concert vocal work, and a Spring top ten classic opera.  Fair enough, companies still have to make a profit and top ten operas are still most likely to fill large concert halls.  In Opera Philadelphia’s case, their seasons were already heavily balanced towards innovation. 

Pittsburgh Opera (pittsburghopera.org)

2022-2023

Rusalka -                              Sep 17, 20, 23, 25

The Marriage of Figaro -   Nov 5, 8, 11, 13

Ariodante -                          Jan 21, 24, 27, and 29

Il Trovatore -                       March 25, 28, 31, April 2

Denis & Katya -                  May 6, 9, 12, 14, 20

We Shall Not Be Moved - May 13, 16, 18, 19, and 21

2021-2022 (COVID impacted)

The Magic Flute

The Rose Elf

In A Grove

Carmen

Blue

2020-2021 (COVID impacted)

Così fan tutte

Soldier Songs, rescheduled for streaming

Semele

Charlie Parker’s Yardbird

2019-2020 (COVID impacted)

Don Giovanni

Florencia en el Amazonas

Alcina

The Last American Hammer

Carmen - Cancelled

Norma – Cancelled

After cancelling Norma and postponing Carmen in the first half of 2020, Pittsburg Opera was determined to bring it fans live, fully staged opera in the second half.  Indeed, as far as I can tell, PO was the only company to hold indoor opera performances in the 2020-2021 season, which required some substantial modifications for what was presented.  Four productions were scheduled for the 2020-2021 season using shortened classic operas and chamber-sized works performed in the small theater of the Pittsburgh Opera headquarters, using socially-distanced seating and masks for audience and performers.  Even so, in person performances of Soldier Songs had to be cancelled at the last minute.  Because fewer than 100 patrons could be accommodated per performance under the requirements, Pittsburgh Opera made videos of the performances, including a dress rehearsal of Soldier Songs, and screened them for free to reach their larger community. 

The new season returns to the typical format for PO seasons, three or four classic operas presented at their larger venue, the Benedum Center, and additional works of less often performed canonical works and contemporary works performed in smaller venues by their young artists.  The productions in the smaller venues are often my favorites; their young artists are outstanding.  PO will also present a modern production by a black composer and librettist, We Shall Not Be Moved.  This work which premiered as part of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O17 deals with a 1985 incident involving a standoff between MOVE, a black liberation group, and the Philadelphia police which ended with eleven dead, including five children, and a neighborhood destroyed.  PO’s performances of the most popular operas tend to be excellent, but their smaller works performed by their young artists in intimate settings can be really special.  Last season’s In the Grove, which received rave reviews is currently available online for free.

Virginia Opera (vaopera.org)

(Operas performed in Norfolk, Fairfax, and Richmond)

2022-2023

The Valkyrie – (Norfolk) Sep 30, Oct 1, 2, (Fairfax) 8, 9, (Richmond) 14, 16

The Pirates of Penzance – (Norfolk) Nov 4, 5, 6. (Fairfax) 12. 13, (Richmond) 18, 20

Fellow Travelers – (Norfolk) Jan 27, 28, 29, (Fairfax) Feb 4, 5, (Richmond) 10, 12

La Traviata – (Norfolk) Mar 3, 4, 5, (Fairfax) 11, 12, (Richmond) 17, 9

Will Liverman in Concert – Dec 1, 3

2021-2022 (COVID)

Das Rheingold

La Bohème: Rodolfo Remembers

Three Decembers

The Marriage of Figaro

2020-2021 (COVID)

La Voix Humaine/Gianni Schicchi - cancelled

The Marriage of Figaro – cancelled

Cold Mountain - cancelled

The Pirates of Penzance – cancelled

Rigoletto - cancelled

2019-2020 (COVID)

Tosca

Il Postino (The Postman)

Cinderella (La Cenerentola)

Aida - Cancelled

Virginia Opera was hit hard by COVID, especially in season 2020-2021 where the season was scheduled, then modified, then cancelled.  But the company pushed hard in the 2021-2022 season by scheduling, as mentioned earlier, the first opera of the season outdoors, then indoors using a modified, shortened La Bohème, which could be done under the restricitons of late Fall 2020.  Virginia Opera also utilized several online formats to reach out to their audience, including an online discussion/interview series with the artistic director and assistant Conductor called “Martinis, Manhattans, and Maestros” and online recitals by their young artists.  They also offered a program of traveling opera to any group who wanted to take advantage of the service.

For the 2022-2023 season, VA Opera will return to its usual format of four operas presented in the usual three Virginia cities, but with a decidedly more varied and adventurous flavor.  One of the new season offerings is Fellow Travelers which deals with the “lavendar scare” of the 1950s causing a witch hunt and the firing of gay employees from the federal government. VO has also been tending towards including a production with connections to Broadway. Artistic Director and Conductor Adam Turner has stated his desire to offer a mixture of classical operas and contemporary works. 

Washington National Opera 

2022-2023

Il Trovatore - Oct 22, 28, 30, Nov 2, 5, 7

Elektra - Oct 29, 31, Nov 4, 6, 9, 12

The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson - Jan 20, 22

AOI – Three 20-Min Operas – Jan 21

Blue - Mar 11, 13, 17, 19, 22, 25

La Bohème - Mar 13, 14, 15, 19, 21, 24, 26

Marian Anderson Award Recital - Leah Hawkins Feb 12

2021-2022 (COVID)

Come Home: A Celebration of Return

Written in Stone

Cosi fan tutte

Carmen

2020-2021 (COVID)

AOI – Three 20 Min Operas - online video

La Bohème - cancelled

Blue – cancelled

Nixon in China – cancelled

Fidelio – cancelled

Boris Godunov -cancelled

Rigoletto – cancelled

Cosí fan tutte – cancelled

2019-2020 (COVID)

Otello

The Magic Flute

AOI – Three 20 Min Operas

Don Giovanni - last three performances cancelled

Samson and Delilah - last three performances cancelled

Blue - cancelled

Porgy and Bess - cancelled

In January 2020, Washington National Opera announced six productions for the 2020-2021 season.  On March 12, the Kennedy Center sent out an alert that KC would be closed from March 13-31, a last gasp of hope the pandemic’s effects would be short lived.  They were forced to shut down two operas in mid run that month and then cancel the remainder of the 2019-2020 season.  In June, WNO cancelled all but one planned opera for 2020-2021 and added Blue for a Spring production; later, they were forced to cancel all productions for 2020-2021.  Their next fully staged opera in the Kennedy Center was performed in May 2022.   They did manage to keep the Cafritz Young Artist program and the American Opera Initiative going.  In general, the young professionals who got into young artist training programs during the pandemic were the lucky ones. 

WNO returns in 2022-2023 with three operas from the classic repertoire, the American Opera Initiative twenty-minute operas, and two modern works that address racial disparities.  The pattern is similar to the last fully scheduled season of 2019-2020.

Concluding Thoughts

Opera is changing.  Most of these changes started before the pandemic began.  Large opera companies are including more modern works in their seasons and including more works by composers and librettists of color.  Many black performers used online access to audiences during the pandemic to press for social change.  Companies appear to me to be making genuine efforts to begin to address racial and gender disparities as well as sexual misconduct; let’s hope that continues and is expanded.  Despite the devastation that the pandemic brought for companies and performers, it also unleashed a wave of innovation, especially in the use of technology and online productions, not viewed as a temporary substitute for live opera, but as a new realm of avenues for creative expression.  Will the development of online projects continue?  How will it be mixed with in person performances?  I think the pandemic also might have unleashed a wave of pent-up individuality as performers had to get by on their own.  How will that change roles going forward?  Most importantly, perhaps, is whether audiences will return in pre-pandemic numbers?  And what will they return to see in cost viable numbers?  For the large companies, they have set a full table for 2022-2023 of largely pre-pandemic fare.  What will audiences choose?

The 2022-2023 season looks varied and exciting.  However, the COVID pandemic was a mega event in the opera world, especially for singers, musicians, composers, and librettists.  I think its full meaning for opera’s future is yet to be revealed. 

OperaGene and WNO’s Timothy O’Leary: Hooked on Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

How did we arrive at today’s opera repertoire that we watch over and over?  A few brilliant composers penning masterpiece after masterpiece?  Hardly.  The “New Penguin Guide to Opera” (2001) lists over 800 composers and over 1500 operas, and it’s a partial list.  Giuseppe Verdi has thirty listed.  The lifeblood of any field of art is new works.  We should stop having new operas when we stop having new books and plays.  No one has answered the call more enthusiastically than Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; new opera and new editions of existing works are staples of each new festival, so far producing 33 world premieres and counting.  My wife and I visited the 2022 Festival, where we saw two world premieres and became hooked on OTSL.

left photo: The Gateway Arch of St. Louis, MO. right photo: Lobby of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, venue for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Photos by Debra Rogers (fiammatravels.com).

My first impression of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Festival 2022 was sparkle and how welcoming it all was.  The festival is held each Spring in the Loretto-Hilton Center on the campus of Webster University in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, MO.  OperaGene’s last two blog reports were on new operas (Awakenings and Harvey Milk) that premiered as part of this year’s Festival.  The operas were outstanding; yet, they were only part of the story.  I have been aware of OTSL’s stellar reputation for a few years.  There is even a connection to the Washington DC area.  In 2018, Timothy O’Leary, OTSL’s General Director, left his position after ten successful years in St. Louis to take the job of General Director of the Washington National Opera.  I thought it would be interesting if we could get the benefit of Mr. O’Leary’s personal reflections on his time with OTSL; his comments are further down.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis picnic grounds. Photo by Debra Rogers (fiammatravels.com).

OTSL’s mission statement is composed of goals with high aspirations: “…shape a vibrant future for opera…foster the next generation…of artists, artisans, and administrators…make opera accessible and inclusive…”.  They also have a fine list of values to accompany the mission statement, but it was the last value that stood out to me, and it likely explains their success as much as anything: “Fun – Last but never least, we at Opera Theatre believe in creating a joyful and stimulating environment in which artists, staff, volunteers, and audiences alike will thrive, laugh, and flourish.”  How can you not like an organization where fun is a core value?  I would have only expected that from Opera Bhutan (of course it’s a joke - Bhutan has a government official in charge of happiness but no opera to my knowledge).

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis picnic grounds. Photo by Debra Rogers (fiammatravels.com).

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis makes good on the fun part for the whole experience.  When one walks outside the side doors to the Loretto-Hilton Center, one is transported to the elegant 1920s with beautiful gardens and a picnic ground so inviting it requires will power to go back inside.  I didn’t see any gentlemen in broad-navy striped sports coats and straw hats, but I could imagine it.  The picnic grounds feature tables and chairs, many covered.  Visitors can bring their own food and drink or purchase boxed picnic meals (at least 24 hours in advance).  It is also a tradition for new operas to offer a champagne toast in the gardens after the premiere performance, and drinks in the garden are available after each opera performance.

Washington National Opera’s Timothy O’leary had a strong hand in creating OTSL’s welcoming environment.  Here are his reflections that I received by email from him in response to my questions (many thanks to Mr. O’Leary):

What led you to OTSL?  What did you like best about working there?

While working at the New York City Opera in 2007, I was fortunate to get a call from Charles MacKay, who was then the OTSL General Director, and who had been one of my heroes in the world of opera administrators since I’d heard him speak at Opera America conferences.  Charles had been leading Opera Theatre from strength to strength for 24 years, and he was beginning to plan his “exit.”  He invited me to breakfast, and this breakfast changed the course of my life!  I’d known about Opera Theatre’s reputation for artistic excellence and innovation, combined with values as a company focused on creating a positive environment for artists, staff, and audience.  As I got to know the company through first-hand experience, I found that it was as wonderful as advertised.

left photo: Gardens adjacent to the Loretto-Hilton Center. Photo by Debra Rogers (fiammatravels.com). right photo: Gardens adjacent to the Loretto-Hilton Center. Photo courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

What are your impressions now of OTSL’s annual festival?  Did you have a favorite production while you were there, and why was it your favorite?

I think the OTSL is going strong and probably better than ever.  It’s an extraordinary company, and remains committed to adventurousness and quality, as well as a kind of idealism about the role the arts can play in shaping community and working for justice. 

I had a lot of favorite productions during my ten years there, but one of the greatest nights of my life was the 2013 world premiere of Champion by Terence Blanchard, which we’d commissioned shortly after I began as General Director and James Robinson began as Artistic Director.  It was Terence’s first opera, and the project had been a labor of love for many of us for several years.  When it opened, it received the most vociferous standing ovation I’ve ever been a part of.  That night at the after-party, we commissioned Terence’s second opera, which became Fire Shut Up In My Bones [which premiered in 2021 at the Metropolitan Opera].

Overhead photo of the Loretto-Hilton Center theatre during a live performance. Photo courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Any performers you saw for the first time that you said to yourself, this singer is going to make it big?

In my time at Opera Theatre, I got to work with a LOT of extraordinary artists at the very beginnings of their careers.  In many cases, Opera Theatre was their first professional job.  Two luminaries I can think of actually began there as high school students as part of OTSL’s Artists-in-Training program for local teenagers -- those two are Julia Bullock and Derrell Acon!  Others who come to mind from my time there are Laura Wilde, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Corrinne Winters, and Aubrey Allicock.  There is a special joy to watching any human being reach their full potential, and when that potential is singing of extraordinary beauty, it is a thrill beyond words.

Any tips for opera lovers planning to attend OTSL’s festival next season?  Best place to sit in the Loretto-Hilton Center?  Good eats close by?

In St. Louis, I love to stay at the Chase Park Plaza.  To be honest, the best dining experience near the OTSL festival season is the pre-opera picnic in the garden outside the theater every night.  It’s part of the tradition of community-building for which the company is so well known.  One just has to wear clothes that can stand the heat, and get a spot early, so you can sit in the shade!  Also, the greatest ritual is the nightly after-party under the famous Opera Theatre “tent” – to which everyone is invited, and to which the artists always come after the performance.  There is no “velvet rope” – just everyone together, enjoying community and fellowship in the night air after each electrifying performance.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis picnic grounds. Photo by Debra Rogers (fiammatravels.com).

Any hidden treasures in St. Louis you’d point out to opera lovers visiting for the first time?

When I lived in St. Louis, I lived in the Tower Grove area of town, near the famous Missouri Botanical Garden, which is a stunningly beautiful place.  On Saturday mornings, there is a wonderful farmer’s market in Tower Grove Park.  And nearby is my favorite place for a meal or nightcap, Olio.  Except for my other favorite place, which is Brasserie by Niche in the Central West End!

What would you like for opera fans in the DC area to know about OTSL?

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis attracts a worldwide fan base of the most gung-ho opera lovers in the world.  The company has a very particular artistic signature – the greatest of the new and up-and-coming – and it’s just a very special place because of the intimacy of the venue, the tradition of welcoming hospitality, and the ritual of the food and drink experience before and after the performances.  It’s very much worth the trip to St. Louis in June.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis picnic grounds after the performance for a champagne toast. Photo by Debra Rogers (fiammatravels.com).

I will add just a few reflections of my own.  First, in addition to young and upcoming opera singers, established opera stars also perform; I was thrilled on this trip to get to hear soprano Susanna Phillips sing live in such an intimate venue. Regarding the operas presented, all operas are sung in English with English supertitles. My one regret from our trip is that I didn’t allow enough time to see OTSL’s Carmen.  It would have made for such an interesting comparison with Washington National Opera’s classic French production of Carmen that I saw in May.  If you attend next year’s festival, consider what you might regret not seeing.  It is also worth noting that the OTSL operas are accompanied by the renown St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.  Both operas I saw this year were marked by extraordinary excellence and professionalism of the highest order.  Frankly, I was impressed, and this aspect only burnished OTSL’s reputation for excellence.  Intrigued? Next year’s Spring Festival lineup is posted at this link and runs May to June. OSTL’s plan your visit webpage is excellent.

As I thought about visiting St. Louis for the first time, the images that came to mind were the signature Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team resides.  My wife knows my proclivities and booked us a room in the Westin Hotel across the street from Busch Stadium.  St. Louis loves their baseball; on game days, the area becomes a sea of Cardinal red.  We also found other enjoyable activities and missed out on quite a few.  Don’t miss the Botanical Gardens that Mr. O’Leary mentions.  Another is Forest Park, a huge, beautiful park, where one can find the St. Louis Zoo and the St. Louis Art Museum among other attractions – caution: most things are closed on Mondays; we got caught by that.  Ubers in St. Louis were timely and dependable.  My wife and I also rented a car and drove fifteen minutes across the Mississippi River into Illinois to visit the Cahokia Mounds, a fascinating bit of history,  where the largest settlement in the Southwest was thriving in the year 1100.

left photo: Pre-game field view of Busch Stadium with the Gateway Arch in the distance. right photo: The stadium after the game with fans streaming out; we walked across the street to our room in the Westin Hotel. Photos by Debra Rogers (fiammatravels.com).

Those are all certainly marvelous attractions, but now I know that St. Louis is also for fans of opera, especially for fans of new opera and inventive staging of operas performed in English.  Their Spring Festival each year has gained national and international prominence for good reason.  But you don’t have to take my word for it.  The next Festival starts on May 20, 2023.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ Reimagined Harvey Milk: A Mythic Celebration

OTSL’s “reimagined" Harvey Milk that premiered on June 11 is a revised version of the 1995 Harvey Milk opera by composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie presenting the remarkable life of gay activist Harvey Milk.  The three-hour original has been pared to two hours, with the music reworked and some scenes trimmed and some deleted; new music has not been added.  The composer states the goal remained the same as for the original version, “to create a mythic celebration of Harvey Milk’s life”.  I did not see the first version which had a limited run, though I did see the Gus Van Sant 2008 film “Milk”, which incorporated some elements from the opera.  Mr. Milk was an opera fan and is now himself the subject of an opera.  The reimagined opera (called the New Performing Edition) drives home the creative team’s goal with a focused, cogent opera, full of drama, pathos, supportive music, and showmanship.

Board Supervisor Milk (Thomas Glass) outlines where his body will lay while The Messenger (Kyle Sanchez Tingzon) looks on. Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Mr. Milk grew up in a period when being openly gay not only subjected you to a wall of prejudice but commonly might get you arrested and even brutalized by street gangs.  His life exemplified extraordinary courage and passionate dedication to the gay community that he loved, and who grew to love him back.  He gained national fame as a gay activist and as the first openly gay person elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.  His life was tragically cut short at the age of 48.  On November 27, 1978. Mr. Milk and his colleague San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were each shot multiple times and killed in their offices by Dan White, a former member of the Board seeking reappointment.  Mr. White was an antigay member of the Christian right who had had several clashes with Mr. Milk, conflicts where Mr. Milk persuaded Mayor Moscone to back him for political reasons.  Mr. White is a threatening presence throughout the opera, but what happens to him after the murders is not included.

left photo: Harvey Milk (Thomas Glass) looks down on his younger self (Mishael Eusebio). right photo, l to r: Horst (Nathan Stark), Friend 1 (Jesús V. Murillo), Harvey Milk (Thomas Glass), Friend 2 (Mack Wolz), Friend 3 (Xiao Xiao), Closet lover Jack (Nathaniel Sullivan), and Friend 4 (Jonathan Johnson). Photos by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Librettist Korie is a former journalist with the Village Voice, but the opera is a gift to art, not news reporting.  Any warts Mr. Milk may have had are not included.  Mr. Wallace and Mr. Korie have instead created a rolling menagerie of the seminal events and people in Mr. Milk’s life leading to his rise and success as a gay activist.  They have transposed time, mixed characters within the same scene, used his mother as a harbinger of Fate, emphasized poignant moments, added some show biz, and included an angelic figure in white called The Messenger.  They begin with the ending, the murders, enabling the audience to then focus on his life; we know what’s coming, so our primary interest is what came before. 

l to r: Scott Smith (Jonathan Johnson), Teamster (Nathan Stark), Harvey Milk (Thomas Glass), Henrietta Wong (Xiao Xiao), and Anne Kronenberg (Mack Wolz). Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

The first act focuses on the formative years of Mr. Milk’s largely conventional Jewish life.  He often went to the opera when he had an important decision to make.  In one of the many poignant scenes, we see the young Milk observing the standing only crowd at the Met Opera populated by men without their wives, and he ponders, “Who are these men without wives…men who cry in public and know the names of dead Polish sopranos”.  In another, he engages a walk-in closet of lovers and friends, where he defends his Jewish background while closeted as a homosexual…until a new romantic interest challenges him, “What have you got Harvey Milquetoast, without the right to walk down the street and be who you are?”  He comes out of the closet, takes part in the Stonewall uprising, leaves his job on Wall Street, and moves to the Castro District, a predominantly gay area of San Francisco.  He loses a campaign for the Board of Supervisors. Following some tender moments in bed, his lover tells him to cut his hair and wear a suit if he wants to be a successful politician.  He does.  Act II covers his life as a developing politician in SF until his murder and the subsequent vigil.  Among the well-known names in the opera are Diane Feinstein, who tries to school Dan White in the art of politics, but Mr. White remains rigid in his approach.  Mr. Milk learned the art of politics well, even gaining the support of the conservative Teamsters Union by initiating a gay boycott of Coors beer.  The opera includes a metaphysical or spiritual overtone: analogy is drawn to the story of Moses with the angelic Messenger telling Harvey Milk that he will see the promised land he has created but will not enter it.

Composer Wallace’s music for Harvey Milk is enjoyable, supporting the drama with a complex score, creating some unusual orchestral sounds to create mood effects; one listen is not enough to fully appreciate music of such complexity, especially with so much activity on stage.  He borrows slightly from Puccini’s Tosca with a modified Scarpia motif to announce the presence of Dan White.  The St. Louis Symphony led by Conductor Caroline Kuan played beautifully. 

l to r: A Board meeting with Ella Hill Hutch (Melissa Joseph), Gordon Lau (Zaikuan Song), Diane Feinstein (Raquel González), Harvey Milk (Thomas Glass), and Robert Gonzalez (Jesús Vicente Murillo). Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Harvey Milk has a large cast; sixteen performers are named, with three singers singing more than one role.  An overall strong cast of singers was led by young baritone Thomas Glass as adult Harvey Milk.  He sang well and had the stage presence to provide a convincing portrayal of a changing Mr. Milk.  I thought there were three other standout performances.  If there were Academy Awards for opera, outstanding tenor Alek Shrader would win one for his portrayal of Dan White.  Who knew a tenor could make such a sinister villain; maybe he should give Scarpia a spin.  Young tenor Jonathan Johnson as Mr. Milk’s lover, Scott Smith, sang beautifully and provided a compelling portrait of tenderness with a backbone.  Bass-baritone Nathan Stark gave bravura performances as three characters, closeted-lover Horst, a Teamster, and Mayor Moscone, played so well that I thought they were different singers until I read the credits.   I will also mention mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Sarian as Mama, soprano Raquel González as Diane Feinstein, Mishael Eusebio as young Milk, and Henrietta Wong as Xiao Xiao; all gave marvelous performances.

The felled body of Mayor Moscone (Nathan Stark) lays on his desk, as Dan White (Alek Shrader) kneels below. Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

The staging for this opera was a tour de force.  Challenges included moving multiple performers around a relatively small stage with an elevated walkway, even having some sing from the aisles, and multiple scenes staged in both acts, all very efficiently and effectively done.  Kudos to Seán Curran and James Robinson who shared stage director duties.  Kudos to Set Designer Allen Moyer and Costume Designer James Schuette for effective sets/costumes in scenes ranging from the Met Opera in NYC to a gay parade in San Francisco.  These were beautifully augmented by video projections and lighting; kudos to Video Projection Designer Greg Emetaz and Lighting Designer Christopher Akerlind.  Harvey Milk is far too rich in storyline, singing, music, and staging to fully appreciate in one serving.  It is one new opera I hope to see again.

The Chorus portrays a gay parade in the Castro district. Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

 I saw OTSL’s premiere of Awakenings just before attending Harvey Milk.  It was an interesting contrast.  Oliver Sacks, author of the book upon which Awakenings is based, is revealed in the opera to be homosexual, a fact he kept from the public until the last few years of his life.  He felt constrained, unable to reveal this aspect of who he was and allow that aspect of his personality to blossom.  By all reports, Harvey Milk was able finally to fully accept who he was and champion gay life for himself and others.  Yet, he was gunned down in the prime of his life by a disturbed man who opposed his lifestyle.  One life helps explain the greatness of the other.  In a recording to be played after his death, Mr. Milk reveals he knew the risks he was taking.  Yet, he took them, and not only for himself.  In 2020, Pete Buttigieg, a gay mayor, was able to mount a viable campaign for president, and later be appointed as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.  Harvey Milk celebrates well a life worth celebrating.

The Fan Experience: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ 2022 Spring Festival runs May 21-June 26.  Performances of Harvey Milk were scheduled for June 11, 15, 17, 19, 23, 25.  The opera runs for two and one-half hours.  The opera is sung in English with English supertitles projected.

The moderate size venue for the opera is the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts on the Webster University campus.  This is a modern facility with excellent acoustics; 763 seats are placed in a semicircle of seats around the stage.  A special appeal of the venue are the beautiful picnic grounds adjacent to the theater, where you may pre-order picnic boxed meals if ordered 24 hours in advance.  You can also choose to provide your own food and beverages to enjoy on the grass or using the tables and chairs provided, some under cover. Free parking is available.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Premiere of Awakenings: Tragedy, or Was It?

Regardless of the answer to the question posed in my title, Awakenings is extremely well done!  Kudos to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for as professional a production of an opera as I have seen.  Awakenings is a new opera composed by Tobias Picker with a libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman, commissioned by OTSL and Tulsa Opera.  The opera is based upon the 1973 nonfiction book “Awakenings” by neurologist Oliver Sacks, who had a gift for discovering meaning in rare, unusual neurological conditions and writing about them with understanding and sympathy.  In the opera, Mr. Sacks becomes part of the story.  One never knows how new operas will fare in the long run, but I believe Awakenings will stand the test of time.

l to r: Dr. Oliver Sacks (Jarrett Porter), Frank (Jared Esguerra), Dr. Podsnap (David Pittsinger), Physician 1 (Manfred Anaya),  Physician 2 (Mishael Eusebio), Physician 3 (Rachel Blaustein) consider Dr. Sacks’ request to treat patients with L-DOPA. Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

At first the plot seems to be a medical report of case studies of patients suffering from encephalitis lethargica, a pandemic that once afflicted millions in the 1920s.  In some survivors, the disease caused a state where victims were conscious and lived for decades but were speechless and motionless, causing the disease to be referred to as the sleeping sickness (not the same as the fly-caused disease).  The disease remains a mystery and is rarely seen today.  Dr. Sacks read a journal article where L-DOPA was used as a treatment for parkinsonism, a disease with some medical characteristics similar to sleeping sickness.  Dr. Sacks’ treatment of his patients with the drug worked, and he became famous for it.  However, the plot thickened.  Unfortunately, the drug’s effects wore off, and it caused complications of its own.  Dr. Sacks who led this effort, despite the skepticism of the hospital administration, enjoyed the ride up and suffered the ride down as did his patients.  While much was learned of medical value from the Sacks’ experiment, the opera is about the psychological and emotional parameters of human life.  The opera draws a parallel between the Sleeping Beauty fairytale and L-DOPA’s awakening of the patients with Dr. Sacks being the Prince.  Awakenings is deeply affecting; I found myself growing to care about each of the characters.

As his mother (Katherine Goeldner) looks on, patient Leonard (Marc Molomot) is helped by a nurse (Andres Acosta) and Dr. Sacks (Jarrett Porter). Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

As the medication effects start to wear off, one of the characters, Leonard, begins repeating this refrain: “The world is filled with devils. A world polluted. But I am still rising from the Ashes of Defeat/To the Glory of Greatness.”  Tragedy is in the wings, Greek-styled; Fate asserts itself as the drug’s benefits diminish.  Not having read the Sacks’ book, nor having seen the academy award nominated film by the same title, nor the play, nor the ballet, I found the opera rich in new meaning, posing questions.  Should the research have been done?  Was the return to normalcy for just a limited time followed by relapse a good thing for the patients?  And we the audience don’t get off even that lightly: do we all keep parts of ourselves in a sleeping state throughout our normal lives as did the real Dr. Sacks regarding his homosexuality?  Dr. Sacks was told by his mother when she discovered his homosexuality that she wished he had never been born; he hid this part of himself from the public for most of his life, never letting this important aspect of his personality blossom…to his dismay; this was not alluded to in the book or the film version.  Do we all have our own personal tragedies, repressing aspects of ourselves?  Are they made for us by ourselves or by Fate? Have we witnessed a tragedy, or not?

Rose (Susanna Phillips) has awakened and dances. Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Composer Picker was a close friend of Dr. Sacks, whom he credits with helping him deal with the shame he felt about his Tourette’s Syndrome, which includes tics similar to those of patients in Awakenings.  When Mr. Picker expressed interest to him in making an opera based on one of his books, Dr. Sacks recommended Awakenings.   Mr. Picker and Mr. Stollman are spouses, and the opera’s words and drama are as wedded as the opera’s composer is to its librettist.  They worked together as well as lived together throughout its creation, scene by scene.  The music was beautifully played by Conductor Roberto Kalb and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.  The varied score painted the tense scenes with dissonance and its tender moments with lovely melody, always steady in enhancing the emotions on stage.  While the music never competed with the drama for attention, the music did grow lush and especially beautiful in the scene where Dr. Sacks took his patients into the botanical garden, perhaps my favorite scene in the opera.

Miriam (Adrienne Danrich) and Rose (Susanna Philips) bond during their awake period. Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

OSTL assembled a fine cast for this production, with 15 named players, with many being soloists; all the performers added to the impact of the opera.  Part of my initial attraction to this production was the inclusion of soprano Susanna Phillips, my all-time favorite Musetta; although I have seen her in several Met Opera videos, this was my first time in person.  It had been a while since I had seen her work, and she was splendid as Rose, a patient much later in life who had been afflicted in her twenties, causing the loss of a suitor who seemed still there to her for over twenty years.  It was marvelous to become reacquainted with the beautiful timbre of Ms. Phillips’ voice.  She was matched with a powerful performance by soprano Adrienne Danrich.  She played Miriam who bonded with Rose when revived by the drug.  Her aria sung as she recognized the changes in Rose was quite touching.  During her awakening, Miriam was reunited with a daughter taken from her, causing her great pain that endured during her long illness.  Tenor Marc Molomot’s charismatic portrayal of Leonard, an immobile patient who could read was exceptional, and beautifully coupled with Katherine Goeldner’s excellent soprano vocals as his doting mother who turned the pages for him.  Tenor Andres Acosta, who played Nurse, sang beautifully and made a believable love interest for Dr. Sacks, a love interest he clearly wanted but could not accept or return, not at that point.  Another stand out for me was bass-baritone David Pittsinger as Dr. Podsnap, leader of the hospital who struggled with his conscience over conducting the experiment.  The focal point of the opera was Dr. Sacks, played to perfection by baritone Jarrett Porter.  His excellent singing was perhaps even overshadowed by impressive acting.  The thoughtfulness and deep humanity of Dr. Sacks, flaws and all, came across forcefully.

Dr. Sacks (Jarrett Porter) briefly touches the hand of Nurse (Andres Acosta). Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

The staging of this opera was a strong point of the production.  Remarkable in the staging were scenes with multiple foci, with singing and action around different patients taking place concurrently.  Kudos to stage director James Robinson.  Allen Moyer’s set using six large window frames to form walls and separations were effective both physically and symbolically as the patients opened and then closed again.  The movement of so many players around a small stage, including limited dancing, requires a deft touch; choreographer Seán Curran had the touch.  The singers and supernumeraries moved props around unobtrusively during scene changes; the forward motion never faltered.  The lighting and projections, adding background and context to the scenes, especially in the garden scene, were excellent; kudos to Greg Emetaz for video projections and Christopher Akerlind for lighting.  The costumes were sufficiently effective at setting the time and place of the story that I took them for granted; kudos to costume designer James Schuette.

Dr. Sacks (Jarrett Porter) is left to ponder and question what happened to his patients and himself, as the patients are again silent behind windows. Photo by Eric Woolsey; courtesy of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

I have sometimes wished I could see myself as a movie character, gaining the perspective of how others see me.  What if I could have viewed each day’s taping from the viewpoints of my friends and fellow workers?  Would my choices have changed?  Good operas do that in measure, adding emphasis with music.  Sometimes operas addressing important contemporary social issues, that need to be addressed, can come off as a bit preachy.  However, the best operas make it personal by giving us glimpses of ourselves in others.  I think Awakenings is among the best. 

The Fan Experience: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ 2022 Spring Festival runs May 21-June 26.  Performances of Awakenings were scheduled for June 5, 9, 11, 18, and 24.  The opera runs for two and one-half hours.  The opera is sung in English with English supertitles projected.

The moderate size venue for the opera is the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts on the Webster University campus.  This is a modern facility with excellent acoustics; 763 seats are placed in a semicircle of seats around the stage.  A special appeal of the venue are the beautiful picnic grounds adjacent to the theater, where you may pre-order boxed meals if ordered 24 hours in advance.  You can also choose to provide your own food and beverages to enjoy on the grass or using the tables and chairs provided, some under cover. Free parking is available.