The COVID pandemic imposed caution on opera companies as they made decisions for returning to opera houses in the 2021-2022 season. OP’s new season typically starts with an innovative city-wide opera festival each September, last able to be held in 2019. Festival planning begins about a year in advance. Given the uncertainties of the COVID pandemic this time a year ago (the vaccines had not been deployed at that time) OP decided to forego the festival again this year. Opera Philadelphia’s reintroduction to audiences indoors will be in the Verizon Center in January for an opera-oratorio; the first for a staged opera indoors will be next April in the Academy of Music. However, Opera Philadelphia has by no means simply been riding it out; they have been busy restocking the Opera Philadelphia Channel for its second season, as well as planning for an indoor 2022.
Most opera companies made some online content available during the past year. Opera Philadelphia took it a step further. The company, recognized for its leadership in exploring new directions for opera, made substantial investments during the pandemic in launching and adding innovative content to a new subscription-based streaming service. Opera Philadelphia Channel is now one year old and continues to be filled with new filmed productions of short opera works, new concert videos, and videos of previous OP opera performances. So, let’s start with the OP Channel’s second season, its newest offerings and its continuing features from 2021.
Opera Philadelphia Channel logo; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
Opera Philadelphia Channel’s 2021-2022 season, available on demand:
Soprano Ying Fang as Susanna. Photo by Kelly&Massa; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
The Marriage of Figaro (1786), starting Oct 22: This is a video of OP’s May 2017 production, recorded to feature at “Opera in the Park” as part of the O17 festival. I am eagerly waiting for this one: Mozart’s great music, plus the OP debut of the marvelous soprano Ying Fang as Susanna, in what appears to be becoming a signature role for her. Composer Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte give us ten excellent singers in interesting and clever roles, in a fast paced comedy pitting true love against class privilege (my recommendation: read a synopsis of the plot beforehand, at least the first couple of acts). OP gives us the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Corrado Rovaris performing Mozart’s great music. Who doesn’t need some comedy these days, especially when true love triumphs in the end. Of course, the Mozart/Da Ponte team gives their pleasing comedy an edge, think an 18th century version of “Succession”. David Patrick Stearns review in the Inquirer was titled “Opera Philadelphia delivers Mozart with doors, beds, and heaps of fun”. And did I mention Mozart’s great music?
Soprano Patricia Racette as Elle in La Voix Humaine. Photo by Michael Elias Thomas; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
La Voix Humaine (1958): This is a filmed version of a short opera (ca. 45 minutes) that was composed by Francis Poulenc with a libretto by Jean Cocteau adapted from his eponymous play from thirty years earlier. The action consists of a telephone conversation between a woman and her estranged lover: she wants him back; he has pulled away for good, and she is suicidal. We only hear her side of the conversation. For me, OP has turned this opera into a tone poem with words. I found it painful to watch and, like most disasters, too arresting to turn away. The setting in an estate house bespeaks of glory days now in shadows, and the costumes bespeak of an edgy, unsettled occupant. While some items in the room are disheveled, nothing is out of place in terms of maintaining the mood in OP’s film. The sole singer in this one-person drama is played by the marvelous soprano, Patricia Racette, a role she now performs so convincingly, she owns it. Though written for a small orchestra, it has also been played over the years with only piano accompaniment, adapted by Poulenc himself; this is OP’s choice. Pianist Christopher Allen’s playing seems au naturel for this work, presenting Poulenc’s melodies and dissonance in deft counterpoint to the unfolding drama. To achieve this degree of intimacy with an orchestra would seem to me a monumental challenge, one perhaps for another day. OP’s film is a small masterpiece.
The Drama of Tosca (May, 2021), OP’s modified version of Puccini’s Tosca (1900), presented in concert at the open air Mann Center in May 2021: Don’t pass this one up! Enjoy this version and afterwards feel the pain: the pandemic prevented us from seeing these singers in the fully staged performance that was supposed to have been. Now, I love concert opera, even in open air theaters, with singers needing to wear microphones; I love Tosca and I love OP’s gamble in presenting it in a different way, given COVID requirements. That said, for me, it was a flawed production with the narration deflating the tension in the drama. That said, the singers on the video are fabulous, all four of them. This was my first encounter with soprano Ana María Martínez who sings Tosca, a jealous lover and singer in 1800 Rome. Hers is a rather pensive Tosca, but she has a beautiful voice revealing perfect emotion in very note; hers is one of my favorite Toscas. Tenor Brian Jagde brings a burnished, clear tenor voice to the role of Cavaradossi, the artist who loves Tosca and is involved in an underground fight for Italian liberty; he will reprise this role for the Met Opera in December. Baritone Quinn Kelsey sings so beautifully and portrays the diabolical villain Scarpia so convincingly that it’s a little scary. Alex Ramirez who sings the role of the Shepherd boy has a pure, beautiful voice. The singing is matched with equal beauty by the music from Conductor Corrado Rovaris and the OP Orchestra, which manages to always spring to life on cue from the narrator.
left photo: Soprano Ana María Martínez as Tosca. right photo: Bass-baritone Quinn Kelsey as Scarpia in middle, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradosi on right, and Conductor Corrado Rovaris on left. Photos by Dominic M. Mercier; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
OP chose to rearrange the story of Tosca and add narration. It’s easy to understand why; there are several important elements to the story that might get lost in a shortened concert version. Charlotte Blake Alston is a fine narrator, and the interplay between the orchestra and the narration was done effectively. Here’s the problem: Tosca is such a compelling story that I want to be immersed in it, not observing it. I perceived this production as two stories going on, competing with each other, one the drama of Tosca and her personal journey, and the other the narrator’s messages, finding other meanings and comments on the performance of Tosca. Perhaps my familiarity with Tosca causes me to resist the narration. Maybe you will respond differently? Nonetheless, you will be ill-served by missing the singing, and of course, Tosca’s aria “vissi d’arte (I lived for art)” is included.
“Organ Stops”: This is a 40-min video of the Opera Philadelphia Chorus led by Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden, performing spiritual-themed modern and traditional songs, including works by opera composers, in three historic churches in Philadelphia with a focus on their extraordinary pipe organs. The concert was filmed in March as part of Philadelphia’s annual “Organ Day”, with COVID forcing this concert to be presented as a video. It includes brief discussions of the pipe organs and histories of the churches, plus comments from composer Melissa Dunphy about her political cantata. It includes interesting visuals of the churches, inside and outside. It feels like a religious experience and a history lesson at the same time. The music is excellent, and I enjoyed the show. Plus, did I mention that this one is free to all?
Many of the programs from Season One remain available in Season Two (for a limited time): a video of La Traviata (indefinite), featuring Lisette Oropesa, from 2015; a film version of Soldier Songs (until Jan 22), an OP premiere; Cycles of My Being with Lawrence Brownlee; three highly creative OP digital commissions (short works), including Save the Boys (until Feb 12), The Island We Made (until March 19), and We Need to Talk (April 16); also remaining is For the Love of Opera, a tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg on her 88th birthday (until March 15). You will also find previews and some educational videos on the Channel, many for free. A significant disappointment is that plans for two works scheduled to be added, a documentary/concert video of Glass Handel and a new film version of El Cimarron, did not work out, and these productions had to be cancelled.
Scene from TakTakShoo. Photo by Four/Ten Media; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
As with the first season, Opera Philadelphia Channel will be adding new features as the season progresses. OP just announced that their first new digital production for Season Two, TakTakShoo will become available on November 19: “TakTakShoo from composer Rene Orth, librettist Kanika Ambrose, and Director/Choreographer Jeffrey Page, combines opera, dance, percussion and electronics to imagine a joyful, post-pandemic emergence.”
I think you can see that the Opera Philadelphia Channel is still infused with the exploratory spirit we have come to expect from OP on stage and in its annual festivals. I especially like their choice when creating new works for streaming to not simply make videotapes of staged opera and concerts, but rather to employ the creative advantages of film to add new dimensions to great works of the past and entirely new imaginings.
Opera Philadelphia logo against a graphic of the Academy of Music; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
Opera Philadelphia’s 2022 season indoors:
January 21, 23 - Oedipus Rex (1927) + Lilacs (1996): Composer Igor Stravinsky wrote about a dozen operas that were performed, two remain in the current repertoire, A Rake’s Progress and Oedipus Rex, officially an opera-oratorio in two acts, with libretto by Jean Cocteau written in French and translated into Latin by Jean Daniélou; Oedipus Rex is sung in Latin (English supertitles) with narration in English. This opera-oratorio, based on the play “Oedipus tyrannus” by Sophocles, had been in OP’s plans for some time. It’s also a good choice in these uncertain times: limited staging, easy to social distance, and a relatively small cast. OP sweetens the pot by including Lilacs, a Walt Whitman poem and elegy for President Lincoln, set to music by composer George Walker, a graduate of Curtis Institute of Music; he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Lilacs, the first African American to win this prize. Oedipus Rex features five soloists in addition to the narrator, and Lilacs features a single soprano soloist, both works to be accompanied by the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus, led by Conductor Corrado Rovaris.
April 29, May 1, 6, 8 - Rigoletto (1851): Ahhhh, back to normalcy with a Giuseppe Verdi masterpiece performed in the house! Francesco Maria Paive’s libretto gives us a lecherous Duke, an overly protective father who as a court jester has made enemies, and a serious case of mistaken identity; who doesn’t like Rigoletto? The OP Orchestra and Chorus will be back in the Academy of Music, led by Maestro Corrado Rovaris. The cast features Anthony Clark Evans as Rigoletto, tenor Joshua Blue as the Duke, and Raven McMillon as Gilda. Ms. McMillon is a 2021 Grand Finals Winner in the Metropolitan Opera’s Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition; her coloratura is stratospheric. Verdi’s great music for Rigoletto is infused with some of the most popular arias ever composed.
And what about Festival O22, you may wonder? OP’s current planning and goal is for the festival to return in Fall 2022. If they build it, I will come.
The Fan Experience: Subscriptions for the Channel and single tickets for the 2022 in-house operas can be purchased at this link. An annual subscription for the Channel is a one-time cost of $99 for the season or $9.99 per month; seven day passes, usually in the $10-20 range, are available to view individual events on the Channel. The charges are per household, and events can be viewed on any internet connected device. Navigating around the Channel is intuitive, and I have found the video and sound quality of the events to be uniformly excellent.
Most opera companies now require vaccinations for eligible individuals and mask wearing in theaters. Opera Philadelphia continues to work with management and other resident companies of the Kimmel Center to create and enforce a policy of vaccination and mask requirement. Details are here: https://www.kimmelculturalcampus.org/plan-your-visit/safe-clean-commitment/#/close Best to check the OP website close to the date of your tickets for the latest requirements.