Wolf Trap Opera’s 2019 Summer Season: Here Comes the Judge!

Logo courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Remember Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh In” and its oft repeated comedic line, “Here comes the judge!”, made famous by Sammy Davis, Jr.; great fun, right?  Like trips to the pool and backyard barbecues, Wolf Trap Opera’s summer season rolls around every June lasting to August.  While the large opera houses are in between seasons, WTO is making a splash and cooking up a storm.  It’s more like a festival really, than a season, and my oft repeated line is that “Wolf Trap Opera makes opera fun!”.  The WTO Filene Artists, a competitive selection of emerging artists from around the country, are readying their roles and will be supported by a team of young Studio Artists; these folks are all here for the summer to get as much performance experience and opera learnin’ as they can.  It is a chance for us to hear some of the best new talent in the US bring their energy and enthusiasm and fresh voices to the air-conditioned Barns and the open-air Filene Center.  For the best seats get your tickets now (Special warning: only a few seats remain for “Aria Jukebox” on July 28 (see below), my favorite Wolf Trap fun event of each year).

WTO’s 2019 Summer Season:

Operas -

June 22, 26, 28, 30 – Merlin’s Island by Gluck/The Emperor of Atlantis by Ullman

June 22 – L’heure Espagnole by Ravel

July 19, 21, 24, 27 – Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss

August 9 – The Barber of Seville by Rossini 

Opera events: June 1, 2, “Steven Blier: 25th Anniversary Concert”; June 1, “Porgy and Bess: A Concert of Songs”; June 13 and July 11, “Vocal Colors”; July 23, “Master Class with Lawrence Brownlee”; July 28, “Aria Jukebox”; Aug 1, 2, “Studio Spotlight”.

Merlin’s Island and The Emperor of Atlantis - ever heard of them?  Me neither, I regret to say,…but hold on.  Both of these are fantasies, one light, one dark.  One of the things I love about Wolf Trap Opera and other smaller companies is that they can take chances on pulling forward lesser known, sometimes shorter works, for production, and this team is expert at finding the gems among the lesser known works.  It is also worth noting that WTO selects its operas to match the singers who have come to Wolf Trap for three months of intensive training.  And of course, we get to hear something new and different.  After reading the story lines, I’m thinking these two are not to be missed.

So, what are these two smaller pieces all about?  WTO bills them as “The World Turned Upside Down”.   In some sources, the name of Gluck’s opera is listed as Merlin’s Island, or The World Turned Upside Down (1758).  Speaking of Gluck, Mr. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) that is, started a movement in opera to focus the music in operas on serving the poetry and not the singer’s vanity.  Best known perhaps for his opera Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), his influence was so great he is considered a father figure for Mozart.  The librettist for Merlin is Louis Anseaume, and the poetry in Merlin is satirical and amusing.  Two guys land on an island of plenty with all the food, drink, and young ladies they might want.  Further, the girls are rich and have to marry poor men, and they are always faithful.  Even more further, fighting is forbidden, and the lawyers are all honest.  See, the world is turned upside down.  If the music must serve the poetry for Gluck, it will be light hearted and enjoyable.

We cannot expect the same for Ullmann’s Emperor where a much darker world is turned upside down, though it includes a love story and some humor.  The opera’s full name is The Emperor of Atlantis, or The Refusal to Die (1975).  The opera was written in 1943 when composer Viktor Ullmann and librettist Peter Kien were held in the Theresienstadt ghetto/concentration camp, but the German authorities would not allow the work to be performed, viewing it as anti-Hitler.  The underlying story line is that Death in a feud with the Kaiser of Atlantis goes on strike.  As you can imagine, things do not go well, the Kaiser’s authority is undermined, and Death has a stringent demand for returning to work.  Important philosophical questions are posed.  Both Ullmann and Kien were later transferred to Auschwitz and died in the gas chambers there.  Since its (re)discovery and later premiere in 1975, the opera has drawn praise for both its poetry and its music and has regularly been performed worldwide.  There are 20 musical sections that mix genres somewhat and 14 instruments, including a banjo, that may represent what was available in the ghetto.

Now with composer Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos (1916), we are back on familiar ground with one of his most popular operas, although this will be a new production.  This is one of seven operas Strauss composed with librettist Hugo von Hofmannthal, including his famous Elekra and Der Rosenkavalier.  Ariadne is a comedic opera within an opera: a wealthy employer requires two companies to perform at the same time in his home so that the evening’s fireworks can begin on time; one companies is to perform an opera seria and another a commedia dell’arte play. We can expect there will be fireworks before the fireworks.  The role of Ariadne is coveted by many sopranos, and the music is beautiful Strauss music.  I note that soprano Alexandria Shiner will sing in the role of Ariadne; if you heard her perform recently with The Chorale Society of Washington, you would not want to miss this performance.

Each year WTO performs one of the more popular operas in its Filene Center which pulls in an audience that might not be opera regulars, including a much younger crowd; maybe a few will be recruited over to our side.  This year it will be Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville; I think at any given time day or night this opera is playing somewhere in the world, and when you attend you will see and hear why.  Barber is a light-hearted comedy of love and deception, another comedic work based on commedia dell’arte.  Figaro, a barber/fixer undertakes helping Count Almavira secure the hand of Rosina, the ward of Dr. Bartolo who plans to marry Rosina himself.  Bartolo is assisted by the music teacher Don Basilio.  Disguises and plots abound until our two young lovers are united with a happy ending for everyone except Dr. Bartolo.  You might remember that in Marraige of Figaro, the Count and Figaro meet again with the Count chasing Figaro’s fiance. Barber has tunes you will go home singing.  For opera nerds, the Filene Center is not the ideal venue for opera.  Because of its size and open-air construction, the singers have to be miked, a no-no for the opera purist, but the performances I have attended have sounded good and WTO has provided some spectacular sets and costumes, plus you get that great, young talent bringing it.

It might appear there are conflicts in the schedule.  Last year Wolf Trap Opera started a program called “Untrapped”, a play on words to cover events where WTO singers are performing at other venues.  Active collaborations have developed between WTO and the National Orchestral Institute, part of the Clarice Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Maryland, and The Philips Collection in DC.  On June 1, WTO and NOI will present Porgy and Bess: A Concert of Songs at the Clarice Center, and on June 22, WTO and NOI will present a semi-staged performance of Maurice Ravel’s L’heure Espagnole at the Clarice Center, along with other program offerings.  These performances overlap with WTO performances at The Barns, but The Barns performances have alternate dates as well; so you can see both if you wish.  On June 11 and July 13, you can attend a popular program, Visual Colors, pairing visual art and music by WTO at The Philips Collection.

Among the many excellent opera events the WTO performers are doing this summer is one I will point out as my favorite, “Aria Jukebox” on July 28.  Essentially all the Filene Artists perform an aria for this event, and the audience gets to pick which one.  A party before the performances let’s attendees mingle with the singers and vote for which of several arias a singer has prepared will be performed.  Wow.  Act now; the last time I checked, there were very few seats remaining.  WTO should consider doing this event twice during the summer!

As always, the most compelling reason to attend WTO performances is the opportunity to hear the power house emerging talent that has successfully competed to spend a summer at Wolf Trap.  Former Wolf Trap Opera Filene Artists include Christine Goerke and Lawrence Brownlee, two regulars at the Met Opera.  See the next generation of Met stars now (and at bargain prices!).

Wolf Trap Opera’s new season – here comes the fun!  You be the judge.

The Fan Experience: Wolf Trap has a program I am excited about called Young at Arts.  For selected performances this summer, including WTO’s three fully-staged productions, adults who purchase a ticket can receive a youth ticket for free that allows them to bring someone with them who is 17 or under.  What a great way to introduce your youngsters and teens to concerts, especially opera.

The Barns deserves mention for its atmosphere and accessibility.  Indeed, I find it to be a significant factor in WTO’s making opera fun.  Opera in The Barns has a dinner theater vibe; there is good food and drinks available in a separate room and you can take your drinks to your seat in the auditorium, which is indeed rustic and barn-like on the inside.  You won’t find many suits and ties in The Barns, but you will find an enthusiastic crowd ready to enjoy an evening’s entertainment.  It’s relatively small and cozy, putting the audience and singers in close proximity, a great way to experience opera singing.  Another great thing about The Barns is the easy in/easy out (free) parking.  Going to the opera could hardly be less stressful.

I Love Opera: Five Why Nots and Over 15 Crazy Ideas

A poster for the Warner Brothers animated musical short of the same name. Fun, isn’t it? Maybe opera could use some more of that?

I have been seriously into opera for about eight years now, and I have been writing this blog for four.  Those are the only credentials I can put forward in making these suggestions – I am led by a strong love of the genre.  I also have an innately curious mind and an inquisitive nature.  Even as an opera outsider looking in, I wonder about opera almost as much as I enjoy it.  What makes it tick?  Why is this done and not that?  Endlessly.  So, let’s get on with it.

One of the first observations I made when I started following opera is that opera professionals have a mostly pessimistic outlook about the survival of opera.  There was and is very little solid data available that I could find, but a general fear pervades the community that the public doesn’t want opera anymore.  Over several years, I have come to wonder why.  Sometimes attendance is disappointing, and companies sometimes fail, but there is also lots of creative activity occurring; premieres of new operas and start-ups of niche, small companies seem to be happening with regularity, and innovations popping up every now and then, such as Opera Philadelphia’s season-opening month-long festival and Wolf Trap Opera’s outside the barns performances.  For the field at large, I personally feel very optimistic about the future of opera. 

I do think opera attendance suffers from competition from the greatly expanded, good-quality entertainment options available now, especially via streaming; this is also true for movies and sports as well as classical music options.  The competition for time and entertainment dollars is massive in the US.  There is also a clear demographic issue.  When I look around the audience at any opera, I see a preponderance of attendees having the same hair color as mine, gray.  I wonder why but will save those thoughts for a different report.  I will point out that every year Wolf Trap Opera offers one of the more popular operas in its open-air Filene Center where picnic grounds and lawn seats, casual dress, cheaper tickets, and free parking abound.  It always draws a much younger crowd than typically seen in the opera houses.  I think the wrappings and logistics of attending opera matter even more to the younger crowd.  Opera companies are working hard to attract that younger, more diversified audience.  I hope they are successful.  But even if they are not successful, the US population is getting older, which augurs well for opera (tongue in cheek).

Here is my first why not?  Opera companies should advertise each other’s performances.

Why aren’t opera companies more supportive of each other?  Contrast that with the way opera performers are supportive of each other – just take a look at tweets of opera companies versus opera performers.  Washington Concert Opera and Opera Lafayette have recently recommended each other’s performances. Opera Philadelphia seems to have a special relationship with the Curtis Institute, as does Baltimore Concert Opera with Opera Delaware, but that is about all that I see in the mid-Atlantic in the way of opera companies advertising each other’s offerings.  I guess opera suffers the same downside of free market capitalism as medicine and news media.  High-minded goals, and the need to earn a living conflict in the real world.  The good of the provider influences what is recommended to the patient.  Opera companies feel they must focus on the good of their own company with some attention to the good of opera, but not directly to the good of other opera companies.  They approach opera fan recruitment as a zero-sum game.  An opposing view is that a rising tide lifts all boats.

It seems to me that it would cost opera companies very little to include in their mailings, or give mention on their website, a plug for a performance of another company, especially a non-conflicting performance.  For example, would it harm Washington National Opera to advertise Wolf Trap Opera’s summer season or advertise the Annapolis Opera’s annual vocal competition?  Here is where I, as an opera fan and the companies, as entrepreneurial entities, disagree.  I don’t think it would hurt their attendance to advertise other opera companies’ performances in low cost ways, and it would grow the audience for opera overall.  Interest generates interest.  Opera needs to make the effort to increase interest in opera for all opportunities.  I think it will increase the attendance overall for opera, which will feedback to benefit supportive companies. 

Here is my second why not, clearly related to the first?  The Metropolitan Opera Company should accept responsibility for being the leader of opera in the US.

Why doesn’t the Metropolitan Opera accept its role as the lead opera company in America?  De facto, they are.  They should be the leader in setting standards for equal opportunity employment and sexual harassment free workplaces,… and assume some responsibility for the well-being of other opera companies?  How you say?  Met Opera has clearly invaded the territory of local opera companies with its Met HD In Cinemas broadcasts, ten live broadcasts during their season with encores presented in the summer.  They offer local companies nothing as compensation for this.  The Met presented some early data suggesting attendance at local opera was not affected by the broadcasts.  I am skeptical.  These broadcasts are very popular in DC and are an easy way to enjoy opera without having to make the trek to the Kennedy Center or other downtown locations, not as good as live, but a palatable substitute for many.  Have you seen what happens to small town businesses when Walmart moves in?  Suppose the Met tried being supportive of local companies.  Perhaps they could offer a discount to their In Cinema broadcasts to those who hold season tickets to local opera companies.  At least they could advertise local opera company showings on the movie screens prior to their broadcasts.  They could even make a stronger effort where it is needed.  Suppose they scheduled a performance at the Lyric Theater in Baltimore to help generate interest there in opera and thereby improve the chances of a staged opera company being successful there.  Perhaps, Opera America could set up a committee to work with the Met to find ways to help other companies be successful.  I think such efforts would feedback positively on the Met.

Here is my third why not?  Opera critics should also accept responsibility for growing the enterprise.

I am reluctant to criticize any journalist given the pressure that newspapers are under these days, and critics’ plates are already overflowing, but this suggestion is in their best interest; their success is linked to opera’s.  I don’t mean they should stop being critical in their reviews or become advertising arms for opera companies, nor start dumbing it down, but I think they should give a greater priority to generating interest in the genre at large.  One recent attempt along these lines is Anne Midgette’s articles on how musicians approach a piece of music.  Anything that stimulates curiosity adds interest, which helps and education works.  When I heard that NSO will play all nine Beethoven symphonies next spring, I thought that’s nice for Beethoven aficionados.  Then I heard conductor Gianandrea Noseda talk about how one Beethoven symphony leads to the other and the impact on the field of music these works have had, and my thinking changed to I might just attend these.  Opera critics need to find and write about interest hooks that might bring people in.  Publish some must see lists.  Hold a live online discussion with attendees of a performance before posting the review.  List some good sources for opera news, entertainment, and reference materials?  Which music streaming service is best for opera? Criticize Apple Music’s opera offerings (somebody needs to)?  Who does the critic most often read other than themselves and journalists on the same paper?  Who are the favorite critics of a critic?  Best reference sources? Have an online debate among critics from different news sources over an opera production – remember Siskel and Ebert’s thumbs up or down?  Have Midgette, Dobrin, and Tommasini go toe to toe on a Met performance.  It takes a lot to get folks off the sofa and into the opera house.  One thing is not going to be the cure.  It will require everything.

Here is my fourth why not? Try some way-out ideas; add an element of fun.

It’s time for opera to back away from its deification just a bit…cue Bugs Bunny.  Going to opera now is just like going to church – dress up, sit still, and be quiet, even reverent.  How can some fun be interjected every now and then? Pittsburgh Opera’s recent Don Pasquale asked for an audience response when the scene called for an encore and the place erupted; I think there was a message there.  Opera Philadelphia’s beginning its seasons with a festival might have been thought of as far out.  Pittsburgh Opera in the Fall will start offering online content during performances for audience members to access via their cell phones, with a view to appealing to younger fans; that’s at least a willingness to take a risk (I plan to attend their first performance in the Fall to check this out).  Opera has a great product, but you have to get people into the opera house.  People want great arts experiences, but they also want fun and feeling involved and connected to the proceedings.  Opera folks like to say opera is for everybody, but it still has for most people the aura of elitism – the rich who want to be seen and the intellectuals who want to feel superior attend opera.  I was surprised when I started pursuing my interest in opera at the hostility I found in some people’s reactions to my new interest; it was like I had joined the snob demographic.  And frankly, opera needs to offer something new to generate some added excitement, and if it is fun, all the better.  Opera companies aren’t just selling opera; they are selling an opera experience (Baltimore Concert Opera’s Thirsty Thursdays are a hit).  Here are some crazy ideas for fun:

• ·Have local celebs and high-profile individuals from different walks of life open performances with five minutes speaking on their top opera experiences. Start with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and have one by Big Bird and one by a sports figure and a rock star. 

• Have the opera director come out and spend five minutes explaining her vision for the opera, or the conductor give us five minutes on musical features to be look for.  I was impressed at a recent performance of The Choral Arts Society of Washington that the artistic director spoke in detail about the performance at the beginning.

• Offer one performance of American Opera Initiative premieres at each of the Wolf Trap Barns and Strathmore venues in addition to the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater – engage a more diverse audience; the venues are close to each other, and the operas have light staging to move around.    

• My favorite – have pizza and beer Tuesdays with casual dress for a couple of the performances each year and make the intermissions long enough to consume the pizza.  Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona does this with Iberian ham and cheese subs at their performances.

• Hold some chamber opera performances in the round.

• Have dress-up Saturdays where, during intermissions, a spot light and camera will show best dressed couples on a screen.  Maybe pick a winner and invite them backstage.

• Experiment with opera two-packs where a single ticket gets you into a concert performance of an opera by young artists and then into the fully-stage version with established stars, or lead off a production run with such a concert performance.

• In a season of opera performances, for one of the well-known operas, give one performance with a surprise ending (i.e., we find out Mimi is pregnant and dies in childbirth as Musetta vows to raise her child)

• Have characters from the opera appear on stage during intermissions, and in character, defend their actions.

• Find a company that will sponsor a free glass-of-champagne-night.

• Draw seat numbers for prizes, like Francesca Zambello’s least favorite earrings.

• Borrow from baseball – have bobbleheads and t-shirt giveaway nights.  Make Ruth Bader Ginsburg the first bobblehead.  I want the Renee Fleming bobblehead.

• Sponsor vocal competitions and show the judges final scores like they do in Olympic competitions.  Give me some opera judges to boo.

• Opera companies should do online surveys of attendees immediately after reviews are out to see if patrons agree with specific points in the professional reviews or to rate the reviews and reviewers, maybe offer rebuttals themselves.  Risky? Perhaps, but people will appreciate the risk taking. 

• Send buses to major shopping centers offering round trip transportation to downtown opera houses (especially from Tyson’s Corner for me).  Have an attendant teach the riders a chorus from the opera on the way.

• Have opera stars do autograph signings of programs and tickets for a few minutes before or after performances.

• Sell reusable sippy cups with bugs bunny on them at cost in the gift shop that can be used at concession stands to hold drinks that can be taken into the theater. 

• Offer signed opera star photos to the people who buy the cheapest seats in the house, meant as an inducement to show folks that even the worst seats at live opera are good enough.

• Elect a president just on the basis of whether they like opera. Again, I offer Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

• Here is my fifth why not?  Somebody, please start a cable opera channel.

Opera fans need an opera channel like MTV for pop music, with opera news, quizzes, interviews, educational materials, and films (This is what Met Opera should have done).

Simply, the family of opera needs to work together to support each other and look for ways to heighten interest for all opera. I’m not suggesting that opera abandoned its refinement, nor lower its standards.  And, it’s ok if all you want to see is classic operas done as they were intended to be by quality performers, and if a company wants to be that company they should and should announce it.  But maybe add a new wrinkle every now and then - look what Opera Lafayette did recently: they collaborated on La Susanna with Heartbeat Opera.  A company highly focused on authentic 18th century opera collaborated with a company with a mission to alter performances to make them more relevant to modern audiences.  It generated interest.  Some new things, helping audiences feel connected to the event and to the opera tribe, loosening up a bit by adding some fun, and make it more comfortable.  I think audiences respond to that.  Maybe such gateway experiences will bring more folks into the totally serious, strait-laced, attempts-at-the-highest-art performances which we all love.

The Choral Arts Society of Washington Saves the Best for Last

Funny that my first trip down to the Kennedy Center to hear The Choral Arts Society of Washington turned out to be the most exciting musical experience of an excellent 2018-2019 season, and perhaps even more remarkable that it was not the piece I went to hear, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, that made it so.  I looked back at all the musical events I attended this past season and yep, Florent Schmitt’s Psalm 47 (1906), the last item on Sunday’s program, is my number one in terms of excitement, and easily among my favorite performances of the year.  Psalm 47 had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.

Conductor Scott Tucker facing the orchestra and chorus. Photo by Shannon Finney Photography; courtesy of The Choral Arts Society of Washington.

It turns out that Scott Tucker, Artistic Director for Choral Arts, used the famous Requiem to lure us into the Concert Hall to present Psalm 47 to us, a piece he recently discovered while listening to music on Spotify.  Well, when a plan works, it works.  Kudos to Mr. Tucker.  He also wound the remainder of the program around student-mentor relationships, pointing out how the best mentors inspire their students to pursue their own directions.  Third in the program was an orchestral piece, Sarabande (1892) by Fauré’s mentor, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Psalm 24 (1916) by Lili Boulanger was the initial offering.  Ms. Boulanger and Mr. Schmitt were both students of Fauré.  The musical selections were indeed quite different from one another.

Lili Boulanger was the younger sister of the famous composer, conductor, and teacher Nadine Boulanger.  According to Mr. Tucker the younger Boulanger sister is held in higher regard as a composer than her senior sibling.  Though she only lived to the age of 24, Lili was awarded the Prix de Rome, which Nadia coveted, but never won.  Nadia Boulanger is famous as arguably the most influential teacher of the twentieth century.  Psalm 24 is a piece for chorus, organ, and the brass and percussion sections of the orchestra.  This first piece was conducted by Brandon Straub, Associate Conductor and Pianist of the Choral Arts; the remaining parts of the program were conducted by Mr. Tucker.  The piece is gentle early in praising the Lord but concludes with the organ and chorus going full blast with the exhortation to open the doors and let the King of Glory come in.  My secular response to this short piece was okay, that’s good, but what else have you got.  Obviously, I will be spending some time on Apple Music searching on the Boulanger name.

Two views of the chorus. Photos by Shannon Finney Photography; courtesy of The Choral Arts Society of Washington.

I knew the Requiem mass by Gabriel Fauré was a highly regarded work, in fact in most people’s top five lists for requiems, and was anxious to hear it.  I heard my first Requiem last season, Verdi’s performed as a collaboration of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Chorus, and Choral Arts, and was enthralled.  Requiems, meant to be performed to honor someone who has died, have a set structure, that composers take some liberty with.  In Fauré’s case, he removed the Dies irae, a poem about the last judgment, that is so striking in the Verdi Requiem, and added the In Paradisum, a section usually not played in church but played as part of the processional moving the casket to the grave site.  Fauré did this because his view of death was more a restful slumber and less fire and brimstone.  His Requiem has been called ‘a lullaby of death’.  Choral Arts presented the final 1900 version that includes the chorus and full orchestra.  Baritone Trevor Scheunemann and soprano Laura Choi Stuart sang as soloists in sections of the Requiem.  Mr. Scheunemann with a gorgeous baritone voice sang in the Offertoire and Libera me.  Ms. Stuart added her colorful soprano voice to the Pie Jesu.  The choir and orchestra worked beautifully together.  Impressively, the chorus performed this piece by heart; no synchronized page-flipping in this performance.  The work was a kinder, gentler requiem than Verdi’s, which is more of a show piece.  Very melodic and pretty, Fauré’s Requiem is a piece you can push back and let the waves of pleasant warmth wash over you, sort of a lullaby. 

Third in the program was Sarabande by Saint-Saens.  The sarabande is a early dance form, one of many that become popular bases for orchestral dance suites.  It gave Concertmaster Karen Johnson a chance to shine as violin soloist.  She and the orchestra played this charming piece beautifully.

Which brings us to the focal point of the evening, the piece by Fauré’s prize student Florent Schmitt, Psalm 47.  Not familiar with the composer or the work, I had no expectations of this piece for chorus, organ, and orchestra which follows a psalm that basically repeats over and over, praise the Lord.  It is quite possible that I don’t get the undercurrents in such a psalm.  The music provided a great deal of drama, peaceful interludes, and triumphant crescendos.  I felt I was witnessing the unfolding of a dramatic story.  The middle section included a solo that was sung by soprano Alexandria Shiner, a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist.  For most of the piece she sat motionless, looking both beautiful and rather regal, but when she sang her powerful voice became majestic in a difficult role.  The music was complex with atonal shifts heightening the tension.  The chorus, organ, and orchestra each had their moments and conversations among them often included unexpected shifts.  Yet, it all worked to be interesting, even spellbinding.  Overall, it is a thrilling work with a big finish that was performed to the max by Choral Arts.  It came across to me as something new, not turn of the twentieth century.  Kudos to Conductor Tucker, the chorus, and the orchestra. 

Like a lot of people, I developed a love of choral music growing up by hearing it performed in church.  You can hear these great works on recordings, but a lot is lost in the translation.  I am so glad that I got to hear this performance live.  Not only is the sound far superior within the Concert Hall, but the majesty of hearing over 200 hundred performers on stage combining their talents to touch you with their music can only really be experienced fully by being there.  I came away impressed with The Choral Arts Society of Washington and looking forward to hearing more of their work. 

The Fan Experience: This was the final event for the season for the Choral Arts Society of Washington, but they will return in October to begin their 2019-2020 season, to be found at this link.

Washington National Opera’s Tosca: It’s Tosca And We Will Be Expecting You.

If Tosca is playing and you are an opera fan, you go.  It’s like your mother wants you to come for Sunday dinner. You feel guilty if you don’t go; you would be letting the family down.  You may be tired of Sundays with fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy (I grew up in the South), but you go, and in the end, you enjoy the damn fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy, and you are glad you did what you had to do.  At least with Tosca, it will likely be a different set of relatives each time.  Now if you are a new invitee to mom’s Sunday dinner, you will love it and wonder why anyone would want to skip it, even occasionally.

left to right: Keri Alkema as Tosca; Riccardo Massi as Cavaradossi; and Alan Held as Scarpia. Photos by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Tosca (1900), with its Hollywood storyline and melodramatic music, is a good opera for new invitees, so I won’t give away the ending or plot twists.  Let’s just say that Tosca, a singer, and her sweetie, the painter Cavaradossi, are in love, but a mean old Roman consul, Scarpia, has his lecherous eye on Tosca and his political eye on her lover.  The story takes place in 1800 in Rome, a tumultuous period before Italy was a unified country.  Over the course of just two days, there is lots of political intrigue and deception, threats, both sudden and planned violence, and beautiful arias.  Tosca is currently number five on the most performed opera list.  The composer Giacomo Puccini has two other familiar best sellers to his credit, La Boheme and Madama Butterfly, that also feature Tosca’s librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacoasa.  The opera is condensed from a play by Victorien Sardou that is a good deal longer, so some significant details may sail past you if are not familiar with the play, especially the historical context.  In particular, it is helpful to know that at the time the story takes place, Rome was under despotic Neapolitan rule, managed by a group of powerful consuls.  Napoleon had departed Rome as a republic a few years earlier but then the King of Naples added Rome to his holdings.  As the events of the opera unfold, Napoleon was fighting for control of Rome again.  During the opera, news arrives that he has been defeated, but later we learn that the earlier news was premature, and Napoleon has been victorious, significant because Scarpia is on the side of the monarchy, and Cavaradossi and his friend, the escaped, political prisoner Angelotti, are on the side of the great liberator.

Wei Wu as Sancristan and the Children’s Chorus. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

This Tosca has a fine cast, starting with soprano Keri Alkema who plays Tosca and Riccardo Massi who plays Cavaradossi; both have strong, colorful voices.  Ms. Alkema, who returns to the Kennedy Center after having been a member of the original group of Domingo Cafritz Young Artists, sings beautifully and makes a compelling Tosca.  One of the treats of attending yet another opera family dinner is getting to see another soprano’s portrayal of the remarkable transformation that Tosca undergoes in Act II, sort of like seeing another soprano’s mad scene in Lucia di Lammermoor.  She rendered a compelling “Vissi d’arte”, a truly stunning aria in both melody and lyrics at the end of Act II; she received a well-deserved enthusiastic round of applause.  Mr. Massi plays Tosca’s beau with a youthful vigor and Italian charm (he seems to be in the Italian version and everyone else is Anglophile) and delivers the goods with his big, Act III aria, “E lucevan le stelle“; he received a well-deserved enthusiastic round of applause.  A couple of times earlier he held his final notes so long he seemed to be saying look at me and what I can do.  At first, he reaffirmed my prejudice about tenors (pretty boy show-offs who always get the girl), but then it seemed to come to him so naturally he won me over.  The lover’s embraces seemed pro forma, lacking passion, but the banter back and forth to deal with Tosca’s jealousy was amusing and charming.

Michael Hewitt as Angelotti and Riccardo Massi as Cavaradossi. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Alan Held’s Scarpia was a mix for me.  He has the stature to be imposing and threatening, but at other times, as my son commented to me, he appeared more Scrooge-like than monster-like in a one-dimensional role.  He has a good voice and sings impressively.  I seem to remember liking him better in WNO’s 2011 Tosca than this one (though I loved him as Wotan in the DC Ring).  His awaited sacrilegious exclamation about his passion for Tosca and his joining in the Te Deum procession got rained on a bit by the early rise in volume by the orchestra on Saturday night (May 11).  Hopefully that will be adjusted in future performances.  The staging which was really quite good overall was startling to no good effect in having the back of the church lift away and the processional move towards the audience.  On the other hand, the ending we all await was handled very effectively.  Kudos to Director Ethan McSweeney.  The supporting performers sang well and added credibility to the story, especially baritone Michael Hewitt as Angelotti, bass Wei Wu as Sancristan, and tenor David Cangelosi as Spoletta.  The brief appearance of the Children’s Chorus in Act I directed by Steve Gathman was enjoyable.

Alan Held as Scarpia, Samson McCrady as Sciarrone, and David Cangelosi as Spoletta. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

I read that the music in Tosca is through-composed, trying to make the case to musicologists that this opera is more than simply a good melodrama.  Operas originally tended to be a series of arias held together by recitatives.  OK, whatever; this is great music and there are certainly some show stopping arias along the way.   A fun aspect is the use of musical motifs for the characters; most noticeably, you will hear an identifying musical phrase each time Scarpia appears or is mentioned, and his motif actually begins the overture.  The orchestra under conductor Speranza Scappucci did a good job of bringing Puccini’s beautiful music to life.  I liked their playing better though in Acts II and III.  I realized after a while in Act I that I had not noticed the music after the well-done overture, and then later, it seemed to overpower Mr. Held a bit near the end of Act I.  As an aside, in WNO’s recent Faust, I noticed the pony tail bobbing up and down at the head of the pit.  This time it was a French braid, meaning I feel good seeing evidence that decisions being made as to whom will lead the WNO orchestra are not gender-influenced.

The sets for this production of Tosca, which came from the Seattle Opera production, are beautiful and a perfect backdrop for the opera.   The costumes by Lena Rivkina are stunning and add to the romantic atmosphere. The church interior in Act I and the rather large statue of an angel in Act III are uncannily realistic.  The sets convey very well the grandeur and beauty of the actual sites in Rome.  Very well done and a production highlight.

Riccardo Massi and Keri Alkema as Cavaradossi and Tosca. Let’s remember them as lovers. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

I have no data, but I’d certainly guess that there were a lot of new attendees for this Tosca, judging by the unusually youthful appearance of the audience, and the younger groups seemed to be having a ball.  So, go; maybe you will meet somebody nice.  Besides, WNO serves up a mighty satisfying plate of Tosca that will be available for another week and a half.  Go, support the family.  Is that so much to ask?

The Fan Experience: There are six more performances - May 14, 17, 19, 20, 22, 25; note that the performance on May 19 (as did the one on May 12) will feature different singers for Tosca (Latonia Moore) and Cavaradossi (Robert Watson).  See the Downey Review of the second cast at this link. Also, heed the warnings about road construction affecting some routes getting to the Kennedy Center and allow plenty of extra time for your commute. In fact, get there early enough to have your supper (I told you I was from the South) at the Kennedy Center; I think the salad bar at the KC Café is a bargain.  The pre-opera talk by Robert Ainsley, Director of the Domingo Cafritz Young Artist program, given an hour before the performance, provides insights about the opera that will enhance your enjoyment.