Last Friday night was the first performance in Wolf Trap’s 50th season and the first performance in the Filene Center in over a year after being closed by the pandemic in 2020. Wolf Trap Opera led off the new season with a performance of the romantic comedy The Anonymous Lover (L’Amant Anonyme; 1780) by 18th century, French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Wolf Trap still had to make some adjustments to comply with pandemic guidelines in place for June and July. They introduced pod seating to provide for social distancing of audience members. They also added livestreaming, a new feature limited to Wolf Trap members, for viewing select performances in the Filene Center. Wolf Trap recently announced that tickets for shows for August and September are offered at full capacity.
Mastro Geoffrey McDonald and the full company for Wolf Trap Opera’s The Anonymous Lover. Photo by A. E. Landis; courtesy of Wolf Trap.
I was curious about the new livestream option and watched WTO’s performance from home. I will comment more extensively about viewing the livestream in the Fan Experience section below. I also have some comments on WTO’s performance of The Anonymous Lover, but first a couple of recommendations for more information:
1) The pre-show lecture by Lee Anne Myslewski, Wolf Trap’s Vice President for Opera and Classical Programming, provides a brief history of the fascinating Mr. Bologne (1745-1799), borne to a white French planter and his wife’s African slave.
Composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Public domain image from Wikipedia.
2) The detailed review of WTO’s performance by Charles Downey, critic for the Washington Classical Review, is beautifully written.
The plot by librettist Madame de Genlis (1746-1830) is a compelling story of two people’s tentative steps on the path to realizing their love. This opéra comique includes spoken dialogue as well as vocals; duets and ensemble numbers were mixed with arias. Though billed as “in the concert format”, the production was partially staged, and the performers were dressed in bright period costumes. The partial staging by Director Kamille Howard clearly delineated the relationships of the characters, as well as provided some comedic moments. Somehow though, whether because of the libretto or the broad-brush staging or my inattentiveness, the important subtlety that the widow Léontine had grown to love her friend Valcour without being consciously aware of it seemed underplayed.
The National Symphony Orchestra for this production included conductor Geoffrey McDonald and a chamber-sized grouping of NSO players who sat on stage behind the performers, and of course, played well. Composer Bologne’s music was immensely likable, 18th century French classical music, complete with a few hummable melodies. The music played a part in telling the story. Some pleasing dance was included, choreographed by Michael Raine, but the ballet portion of the opera was curtailed for this performance. Mr. Bologne’s opera certainly merited “rediscovery”.
Photo 1: Chanáe Curtis as Léontine and Ricardo Garcia as Valcour. Photo 2: Johnathan as Orphémon and Gretchen Krupp as Dorothée. All photos by A.E. Landis; courtesy of Wolf Trap.
As always, the freshness, talent, and exuberance of Wolf Trap Opera’s emerging artists in training easily won the day. They were well matched to this romantic comedy by composer Bologne, who is little known today. His classical compositions achieved popular success in his day, but his opportunities for higher position and greater recognition were limited by racial prejudice, resulting in his place in history not being well recorded. The Anonymous Lover is the only surviving opera of six that he penned; a more extensive repertoire of his classical music works survived to the present day.
Photo 1: Yunuet Laguna as Jeanette. Photo 2: Joeseph Leppek as Colin. All photos by A. E. Leppek; courtesy of Wolf Trap.
All the WTO young artists performed well in their roles, including soprano Chanáe Curtis as the widow Léontine; tenor Ricardo Garcia as the secret lover Valcour; baritone Johnathan McCullough as Orphémon, Valcour’s friend and enabler; soprano Yunuet Laguna as Jeannette, Léontine’s friend getting married; tenor Joseph Leppek as Colin, Jeanette’s fiancé; and mezzo-soprano Gretchen Krupp as Dorothée, a friend of Léontine . The WTO Studio Artists participating as supernumeraries filled out the cast and joined in the choral numbers. I will just mention the two performers that made the strongest impression on me. Soprano Chanáe Curtis, a returning Filene Artist, sang the role of Léontine, a widow who had sworn off love. Her vocals grew more assured as the night progressed, finally showcasing her beautiful coloratura in an aria that begins “Such is love’s power…”. A new Filene Artist, soprano Yunuet Laguna played Jeannette, a friend of Léontine. Her aria with the phrase “to love well is to live well” has a very pretty melody. She displayed an engaging vocal color and vibrancy in her voice that made me eager to hear more. I also want to point out that third year Filene Artist, Johnathan McCullough initiated, directed, and starred last year in Opera Philadelphia’s powerful film production of Soldier Songs; this is the level of talent that Wolf Trap Opera attracts.
Here is the bottom line: Wolf Trap Opera is back, once again performing live, at least partially-staged opera before an audience. Opera fans, the ball is in our court.
The Fan Experience: The Anonymous Lover was a one-off performance on June 18. Wolf Trap members watching the livestream had to do so during the live performance. Wolf Trap Opera’s next production will be Sweeney Todd on July 2 and 3; these performances will not be livestreamed. WTO’s popular “Jukebox Arias” will be online at 7 pm on July 10 for everyone, not just Wolf Trap members; voting for the arias has commenced.
I will cover the following aspects of The Anonymous Lover livestream broadcast: 1) the livestream experience; 2) further productions to be livestreamed; and 3) how to purchase a ticket.
The Livestream Experience: The video and audio quality of the livestream was excellent. I chose to watch the performance on my large screen TV using Airplay on my MacBook; the broadcast resolution was sufficient to provide excellent picture quality. Usually, I listen to online broadcasts using my AirPods, but this time I used the external speakers attached to my TV, and the sound was excellent. Being able to control the volume level is an advantage of watching online. The opera was sung in French, and the supertitles in English at the bottom of the screen were easy on the eyes. While watching online is no substitute for being there, viewing live performances on video does carry its own level of excitement.
A Facebook-type comment bar ran in real time beside the view of the performance. I find these can be enjoyable with some operas that I have seen many times, but for a work new, to me they tend to be too much of a distraction. I put the video of the performance on full screen and paid no attention to the comment bar.
I loved the opening scene from behind the orchestra showing Conductor McDonald and the socially distanced crowd in the audience all the way out to the lawn seats; I wanted to wave hello. Another advantage of online viewing is that you get close ups of the singers as individuals and groups not available when sitting in the audience, though the side screens in the Filene Center often show similar views from a distance. A disadvantage is that what you see online is what the video director chooses for you. I thought the shot selection for The Anonymous Lover was good but could have been better. There were times when I thought close ups could have been better used to highlight the feelings of the characters for one another, and a few times when I wanted to see what else was happening on stage away from the principal action. Also, I am personally not a fan of performer movement on the stage while the overture is playing; this staging approach was used by Director Howard. I was particularly bothered by it this time because I am not familiar with this composer’s music. If Wolf Trap Opera decides to make the video of the performance available at some point in the future, I will listen to it at least once without viewing it to better enjoy the music. I had the feeling the livestreaming is still a little experimental; there were no credits shown at the end of the performance. All in all, though, I was happy with the livestream. This is a great option if you can’t attend in person (for example, your mobility is limited) or prefer not to for a particular performance (for example, your babysitter cancelled). You can view from anywhere you have an internet connection ,and if in house tickets sell out, you can still see it.
Productions to be livestreamed: There are currently eleven more shows that Wolf Trap members can access through livestreaming. You can see the list using this link, but you need your Wolf Trap member username and password to see the page. Those that might be of interest to opera fans include:
July 1 – 50 Years Together: A Celebration of Wolf Trap (performers include soprano Christine Goerke)
July 9 – Beethoven and Bologne, National Symphony Orchestra (another chance to sample composer Joseph Bologne’s work)
July 17 – Preservation Hall Jazz Band (well, who doesn’t like New Orleans jazz?)
July 23 – STARias: Opera’s Most Powerful Moments, Wolf Trap Opera Artists and Alumni with the National Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets for the livestream are only available to Wolf Trap members, and my ticket for The Anonymous Lover was $17. WT memberships begin at $50 and are tiered; membership benefits increase as the donation point you choose increases. I have recommended memberships in the past as support for Wolf Trap Opera, as well as receiving the benefits of early ticket availability and an invitation to the season announcement party, but the new livestreaming benefit makes becoming a member an even more prudent choice.
How to purchase a livestream ticket: The first step in purchasing a livestream ticket is the hardest, especially for those of us who are technologically challenged and averse to following directions. First, I signed on at this link using my Wolf Trap username and password; then, I read the first part of the instructions telling me I had to create an account including password with mandolin.com, which handles Wolf Trap’s livestream ticketing. I quickly got to the step in signing up which asks for the “Wolf Trap access code”. I called WT customer service who doesn’t handle livestreaming and was transferred to “development” who did. The representative politely explained that buried in the instructions is the access code which she then supplied. I sheepishly thanked the representative and took it from there. There are five steps in the instructions; best to read them all. Once signed up, I managed to buy a ticket and received a confirmation from mandolin.com. They sent me an email before the performance with the link to join which requires signing in to mandolin.com. It’s not a difficult process but can be time consuming if you don’t read the instructions.