Washington National Opera's Fidelio: Excellence That Stops Short of Being Great

Can we talk?  I cannot report on this production objectively, and my wife takes exception to my central opinion.  Fidelio is a work with a rich history that stirs the soul and the senses.  I know too much about this opera and not enough.  One of the pleasures of attending WNO productions is seeing what their great artistic director Francesca Zambello will have envisioned, typically an original spin, often a more socially conscious updating.  Four composers took on telling the story of Leonore and Florestan.  I have seen the first, Leonore, ou L’Amour du conjugal (1798), by composer Pierre Gaveaux and librettist Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, performed by Opera Lafayette in 2017, and the last, Fidelio (1814) by Beethoven at the Met in 2017, and one in between, Leonore (1805), an earlier version of Beethoven’s opera (there are three in all), performed by Washington Concert Opera also in 2017.  It’s not that I didn’t like this production.  I enjoyed this WNO performance, especially the singing and Beethoven’s music, and the new production was interesting.  So, thumbs up on going.  But my bottom line on this production is this: If you are going to modify a great Beethoven work, then swing for the fences.  Ms. Zambello wanted to present a “spartan visual version” that allowed the opera’s heroes to shine but chose to add some context to the beginning, meant to be helpful.  I think she left her new opening hanging at odds with the spartan approach. 

All are grateful to Lenore/Fidelio (Sinéad Campbell Wallace) for her marital fidelity and courage in the face of corrupt authority. Photo by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Brouilly’s libretto served as the basis for Fidelio, and Beethoven’s chosen librettist for this final version was Joseph Von Sonnleithner.  It tells the story of Leonore, who dresses as a man to get work inside a prison where her husband Florestan has been unjustly imprisoned by a corrupt official named Pizarro who wants Florestan dead.  She ingratiates herself to the warden Rocco to visit the lower levels of the prison with him.  Rocco’s daughter Marzelline has fallen in love with Fidelio whom she believes to be a man, and she shoves her suitor Jaquino away.  (Warning: spoilers ahead.)  Fidelio/Leonore saves her husband’s life, just as the Prime Minister, an emissary of God and a new administration, arrives to right injustices and save all, except Pizarro who is escorted off to prison.  The characters are more archetypes than flesh and blood characters and we are given a type of deux machina ending, but it makes for a compelling story and a powerful statement about the evils of authoritarian rule and political oppression.  Everyone praises the triumph of love over authority.  One suspects that its political statement was the compelling reason for its selection for production by Washington National Opera at this time. For Beethoven, the ending reflected his belief in the possibility of a just world order respecting the brotherhood of mankind.

photo 1: Prisoner Florestan (Jamez McCorkle) in his cell. photo 2: Rocco (David Leigh), center, approves the marraige of Fidelio (Sinéad Campbell Wallace) to his daughter Marzelline (Tiffany Choe). Photos by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

A question that has lingered in my mind since first encountering Fidelio is why Beethoven, one of the greatest composers, a highly prolific composer, write one but only one opera, a successful work that has endured in its popularity.  (My question is tinged with my personal disappointment.)  He was familiar with opera.  He received voice composition instruction by Salieri early in his development.  Starting when he was eighteen, he spent four years playing viola for a Bonn opera company.  His one opera he wrote two revisions for after its unsuccessful premiere in 1804, named Leonore.  A more successful, revised Leonore was performed in 1805, and the famous version renamed Fidelio premiered in 1814.  He penned four overtures for these three versions, a bit of a perfectionist that one.  This opera was a statement of Enlightenment ideals held by Beethoven and many in Europe after the French Revolution and while the defeat of Napoleon was in progress.  Themes of hope for universal liberty, equality, and fraternity are the basis for the opera.  The story also offers themes of goodness of marital fidelity and the emergence of powerful women, a theme close to Ms. Zambello’s heart.  Though he was unlucky in love and never married, Beethoven was in love on occasion and held an idealistic view of marriage.  But, back to why only one opera.  Living an additional 13 years after Fidelio was first performed, Beethoven toyed with ideas for a few more operas but brought none to fruition.  Maybe his approach to opera required too much of him, or maybe the reason was his loss of hearing or that he loved composing music more, but maybe Leonore was his soul mate and maybe no other story was able to compel him to leave her for another.

photo 1: Pizzaro (Derek Walton) in the prison courtyard. photo 2: Marzelline (Tiffany Choe) rejects Jaquino (Sahel Salam). Photos by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Director Zambello chose to add, while the opening overture played, a montage of images projected onto a scrim displaying the family and community life of Leonore and Florestan with their children, followed by a scene without singing shown behind the scrim of an authoritarian crackdown and arrest of Florestan, creatively arranged by Projection Designer S. Katy Tucker and co-Projection Designer Kylee Loera.  These were largely the limit of the use of special effects in this spartan production.  The evil portrayed in Fidelio occurs worldwide; having recently visited Chile and Argentina, I thought this gave this German opera based on a French revolution a Pinochet feel, a bit distracting from the opera.  The action takes place in a drab gray prison office, a courtyard, and a dungeon with drab grey prison attire for costumes, black for police uniforms, effectively contributing to the drama and storytelling; kudos to Set Designer Erhard Rom, Costume Designer Anita Yavich, and Lighting Designer Jane Cox. 

The spartan approach for Fidelio is entirely appropriate.  While the added introduction provides context for the storyline, adding warmth to the marital relationship and background for the imprisonment, for me it tells the story rather than requiring the audience to get involved in the story, confronting questions about what is going on.  While I personally would have preferred the production start without the new opening, by the end of the first act of the two-act drama, I had the thought that given how the opera was begun, there was an opportunity for Director Zambello to unify the production using more images and high tech features.  One of the past criticisms of the work is that in the Fidelio version the characters are less human and more one dimensional.  If we are being given a new preamble to the opera believing it would be helpful for us to know this, then why not unify the approach throughout, adding human depth to the characters and scenes with additional images and special effects.  For the record, my wife thought the intro was helpful; leave it alone.

Leonore (Sinéad Campbell Wallace) reveals her true identify as she saves her husband Florestan (Jamez McCorkle) from Pizarro (Derek Walton) as a stunned Rocco (David Leigh) observes. Photo by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

We agreed on what an excellent job the singers did and that the music was pleasurable and at times thrilling.  The Washington National Opera was led by WNO Music Director Designate Robert Spano who will become official in that role in 2025.  The music was played excellently, though I thought the sound seemed a bit thin.  For me, the new opening totally distracted my attention away from the Beethoven’s overture. Steven Gathman led WNO Chorus who played prisoners in the courtyard and sounded great in most of the opera.  Oddly, the song sung by the prisoners treasuring freedom, which is a highlight of the opera, was less stirring than I expected.  The Chorus was terrific in the ending scene.  I find the music in Fidelio to be great, but if you want to hear extra great, check out Leonore.

The Prime Minister (Denyce Graves) arrives to right the injustices of the past. Photo by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

There are seven soloists in Fidelio.  Irish soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace as Leonore effectively portrayed a young man and was vocally excellent.  For me, the most emotionally effective scene was Florestan’s aria that opens act two.  Tenor Jamez McCorkle’s beautiful portrayal of a tortured soul was deeply affecting.  David Leigh as Rocco displayed one of the more lyrically beautiful bass voices I have heard, giving us a soft edged warden displaying love for his daughter, respect for his staff, and a limit to his corruptibility.  Bass-baritone Derek Welton as Pizarro sang well but never seemed quite as menacing as his role requires.  A highlight of the evening was the singing of the charming soprano Tiffany Choe as Marzelline; she is currently a WNO Cafritz Young Artist.  Florestan was lucky Leonore didn’t go that way.  Tenor Salem Salam was effective as usual as the rejected boyfriend Jaquino.  As a promising Cafritz Young Artist, Mr. Salam has appeared in several WNO operas.  Always welcomed and loved on Washington area stages, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves was stunningly adorned as the Prime Minister, an emissary from God and country.

After reading my report, I’m thinking maybe I liked it even better than I thought.  I just let myself be distracted by and resistant to the new opening.  Nah, I’ll stick with if you are going to mess with Beethoven, finish the job.

Fan Experience: WNO scheduled performances of Fidelio on October 25, 27, 29, 31, Nov 2, 4.  The opera is sung in German with subtitles in English projected overhead.  The performance lasts about two and half hours with one twenty-minute intermission.  A pre-opera talk is available one hour before curtain time for ticket holders.  Tickets remain available and can be accessed at this link. The digital program book for Fidelio can be accessed at this link.

During the intermission, the articles of the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights were shown on the stage scrim.  I would like to add that if you visit Chile, I recommend the Museum Memory and Human Rights in Santiago.

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 running every 15 minutes, are an excellent option.  There is an advantage in getting there a bit early.  KC frequently has multiple performances on its different stages overlapping that can create traffic jams.

There are snack stands in the main lobby, and on the Terrace level, the KC Café offers food cafeteria style at moderate prices; fine dining is available on the Terrace level in the Roof Terrace Restaurant; a discount is available to KC members.  Food and drinks except water are not allowed inside the opera house, but you can purchase reusable capped containers with your drinks that you can take inside. Take the container back with you on your next KC visit to get a discount on your drink.

Opera Philadelphia's The Listeners: American Verismo

The Listeners, a new opera by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Roy Vavrek is raw and familiar.  At its American premiere in the Academy of Music, despite the company abandoning its fall opera festival this year, Opera Philadelphia continued its leadership in presenting contemporary works and established works in novel formats, probing the future of opera.  Under recent new leadership by international star counter tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, the company put its money where its mouth is when saying opera is for everybody.  In a bold move, Opera Philadelphia invited everyone to experience opera, offering any seat in the house in the 2024-2025 season for as low as $11!  The result thus far has been rewarding with over 10,000 seats sold in a two-week period since the announcement, and the majority purchased by first time OP attendees.  The more youthful-looking audience at the opening on Wednesday night was treated to an American work, one that presented disturbing themes affecting everyday people in modern America and the righting effect of unconditional love, truly American verismo.

A vulnerable Claire (Nicole Heaston) is preyed upon by cult leader Howard (Kevin Burdette). Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Composer Mazzoli and librettist Vavrek’s previous works together, especially Breaking the Waves (2016) and Proving Up (2018) have garnered a great deal of attention and praise.  The team’s works are not uplifting stories about happy people leading the good life.  Their primary theme has been human suffering and its causes.  The Listeners is based on an original story by Jordan Tannahill, created through discussions with the composer and librettist about themes in modern life that they wished to work on, including women in pain not being listened to, the vulnerability of isolated people, and the dangerous power of charismatic leaders and conspiracy theories.  The opera’s American premiere was delayed by the COVID pandemic, so it was first performed by the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo in 2022. It will now move to a spring 2025 production by Lyric Opera of Chicago.  The opera was co-commissioned by those three companies. 

Claire (Nicole Heaston) expressing her pain from the hum outside her home in the middle of the night with Coyote (Sydney Donovan) keeping her company. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Spoiler alert: In the story, Claire a high school teacher in today’s American southwest begins to hear and be profoundly disturbed by a hum that none of her immediate family and friends can hear (episodes of groups of people who hear sounds not perceived by the majority is well documented); instead of sympathy Claire is chastised by her husband and daughter for her irrational behavior and negative impact on the family.  She begins to bond with one of her students Kyle who also hears the hum; she receives community disapproval for this relationship, perceived as inappropriate.  She loses her job and finds a support group of other individuals who hear the hum.  Howard, the self-appointed leader of the group appears to offer love and understanding to the sufferers but soon reveals his dark side, putting down anyone who challenges his authority, turning the group into a cult doing his bidding.  Howard goes too far in berating Angela, his recently disposed #2, and the group rebels.  A newly empowered Claire emerges as the new leader.  Overall, the story moves in a straightforward direction, providing a mild surprise in the ending, poignant and ambiguous.

Ashley (Lindsey Reynolds) sings the aria "Bitch and Moan" to her mother Claire. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Ms. Mazzoli’s music was strikingly engaging and beautifully delivered by the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Conductor Corrado Rovaris.  The music supported and accented the action on stage.  Ms. Mazzoli’s color palette used in her operas is wider and more complex than most.  She mixed music that was at times dissonate and at times lovely with an array of sounds over the evening to display the hum in different fashions.  At times, part of me wanted to put the action on the stage on pause and just listen to the interesting music. 

 The arias in the score were largely impassioned and tension filled to reflect the suffering and inner turmoil the characters were feeling.  Some were more tender, reflecting the longings of the characters.  A group of soloists were featured in individual “confessionals”, where they sang their stories on the side of the stage being videotaped by Howard, while being shown in large-sized streaming close ups on a projection screen.  Additional named characters made up the remainder of the cult group which served as a chorus.  The choral music served to show the cohesiveness of the group and was particularly enjoyable, kudos to Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden. 

Leader Howard (Kevin Burdette) fashions his group. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

 The large cast was headed by soprano Nicole Heaston who also led the cast that performed in Oslo.  I saw her previously in a concert version of Turandot by Maryland Lyric Opera, where I called her an ideal Liu.  As an impressive Claire, she used her bright, clear voice to display vulnerability with a growing strength over the course of the performance.  Her husband Paul was played effectively by baritone Trey Cook; Paul viewed his relationship with Claire as an assigned role.  Claire’s spitfire daughter Ashley was played by Curtis Institute graduate, soprano Lindsey Reynolds in an attention-grabbing performance; I hope we will see more of Ms. Reynolds.  Another standout performance was given by outstanding mezzo-soprano Rehanna Thewell as Angela, the cult leader’s #2.  She sang beautifully, often endearingly, projecting a character both comical and tragic.  Cult leader Howard was played by veteran American bass Kevin Burdette.  I enjoyed his singing, though, as a non-member of the cult, I never felt the charisma he supposedly projected, making it hard to appreciate the spell he had on the group.  I will mention only three other performers among many who made an impression on me: tenor Aaron Crouch who portrayed endearingly the student Kyle who became attached to Claire, baritone Joseph Lim who played Thom who tried to bring science into the discussion of the hum, and baritone John Moore as the conspiracy obsessed Dillon.

Angela (Rehanna Thelwell) is a worried #2 to Howard. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The production is very well done.  Professionalism is in evidence in all aspects, beginning with the set design.  The action on stage is framed by panels on either side and above that move in and out to focus or expand our view.  In the middle is a rotating stage that assists in rapid scene changes from home to school to meeting hall.  Kudos to Adam Rigg for the set design, Kay Voyce for costume design, Yi Zhao for lighting design, Daniel Neuman for sound design, and Amanda Clark for hair and makeup design.  Opera audiences typically view the performers in character from a distance that blurs facial expressions; opera streaming has caused directors and performers to pay more attention to expressions in their acting.  The Listeners used a mixture of both, as the different characters had their expressions in close up in screen projections during the confessionals, more effectively conveying their emotions.  Kudos to Hannah Wasileski for projection design, and to Director Lileana Blain-Cruz for this added feature of the staging.  The story overall was told in a straightforward progression interspersing different vignettes, such as three high school girls discussing a parent’s infidelity, a screen broadcast of social media trolling, and sensational news reporting, replete with profanity, adding both comic touches and familiar elements of modernity, definitely American verismo.  Kudos also to librettist Vavrek for the vignettes and for the stories told in the many screen closeups, an impressively varied group that told a common story of isolation and vulnerability.  Another element I enjoyed was the appearance of a coyote, played by dancer Sydney Donovan, who enriched many of the scenes with wonder, emphasizing the element of nature, including human nature.

left photo: Student Kyle (Aaron Crouch) suffers from the hum. right photo: Group member Thom (Joseph Lim) tries to introduce a scientific study. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

I thought the opera suffered somewhat from its largely news reporting style.  It begins with the characters in crisis.  Suppose we had gotten to know and like the Claire before the hum changed her?  Suppose we had gotten a better sense of the charisma of the leader and his sexual appeal to Claire?

left photo: Dillon (John Moore) attacks a tower he believes the government is using to create the hum. right photo: Reporter (Guadalupe Paz) covers the sensational event. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The listeners was impressive on several fronts: the quality of the singers, the engaging music, and the professionalism of the production, as well as the timeliness of the story.  Charismatic leaders, cults, conspiracy theories, threats of violence, the increasing isolation of the people, and the impact of social media all characterize American life today.  The ending offered a ray of hope…empowerment through selfless love, but with an ambiguous element.  Will Claire’s empowerment yield a positive support group or a new version of the cult?  Power corrupts, or at least it’s been known to.  Nietzsche got it wrong; the opiate of the masses is charismatic leaders preying on the human need for acceptance and belonging.  Opiates can cause us not to clearly see what is in front of us.  It’s a dangerous mix.

In the end, the opera aligns with the aspects of modern life that it portrays.  Your reaction to the opera very likely depends on your reaction to those aspects of modern life.  A positive I can claim from a distressing plot is that it caused me to think about the important issues it raised, and I feel more sympathy and empathy for those individuals that suffer from pain, whether physical or emotional, not felt by other people, and more respect for human vulnerability.  Art has an impact, as Mr. Costanzo might say.  It certainly drew an enthusiastic response from the newish audience in attendance Wednesday night.

The Fan Experience:  Performances of The Listeners were scheduled for September 25, 27, 29.  The first performance was a near sell out and there was no ticket availability for the remaining two.  The opera was sung in English with supertitles in English shown overhead.  The performance lasted two and a half hours with a twenty-minute intermission.  An informative pre-opera talk by OP’s scholar in residence Lily Kass was held in the theater one hour before the performance time.  Hopes that the composer and librettist would be present for the pre-opera talk were not realized though they were present later at the performance itself!

The Pick Your Price format extends for the remainder of the opera season, though checking just now, there are only limited seats available for all performances of The Anonymous Lover and Don Giovanni which will be performed in 2025.  The pricing scheme for the next season remains to be determined.

Wolf Trap Opera's Silent Night: Creative, Immersive, Impactful

Want to visit a battlefield, be among the fighters, and witness the stories taking place, while putting yourself in no more danger than crying?  Wolf Trap Opera makes it possible with their immersive production of Silent Night, a tale based on a most amazing thing that happened in 1914 during the first year of World War I: spontaneous truces broke out among groups of combatants who had only the day before been shooting at each other in close proximity.  These events became known as the “Christmas Truce”; this partial description is taken from a Britannica webpage:

“On December 23 German soldiers began placing the [Christmas] trees outside their trenches. They sang hymns such as “Stille Nacht” (“Silent Night”), and voices from the Allied lines responded with Christmas carols of their own…As morning broke on Christmas Day, German soldiers emerged from their trenches, waving their arms to demonstrate that they had no ill intent. When it became clear that they were not carrying weapons, British soldiers soon joined them, meeting in No Man’s Land to socialize and exchange gifts.”  Fraternization with the enemy is a military crime.  Their commanders were not inclined to look the other way and soon put an end to truces.  WWI became one of the bloodiest, deadliest, most gruesome wars ever fought, but for a few moments, peace and humanity and Christmas triumphed, aided by music and singing.  The 2011 opera Silent Night by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell is based on a screenplay by Christian Carion for the 2005 film Joyeux Noël, which was based on the real “Christmas Truce”.

l to r seated: A truce allows enemy combatants Scottish Lieutenant Gordon (Ryan Wolfe), French Lieutenant Audebert (Jacob Scharfman), and German Lieutenant Horstmayer (Andrew Gilstrap) to share in a cup of tea, while aide de camp Ponchal (Charles H. Eaton) stands by. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

This is WTO’s first production of Silent Night and the 23rd production of the opera overall since its premiere in 2011.  The opera is a holiday season favorite; Washington National Opera’s production was staged during November 2018.  Wolf Trap Opera’s season is summer only, but the call to peace it embodies fits current times all too well.  In his comments in the program book, librettist Campbell recalls that his first foray into opera composition was a Wolf Trap Opera world premiere of his and composer John Musto’s comic opera, Volpone.  He reveals the WTO version of Silent Night is a new production, pared down in scale for WTO’s smaller, more intimate venue, The Barns.  He also discusses some of the changes from the screenplay in characters, themes, and songs. 

The Scottish, French, and German encampments adjacent to No Man’s Land in Wolf Trap Opera’s Silent Night. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

(Spoiler Alert) The opera’s story centers on three groups of combatants - the Scottish side, the French side, and the German side - but includes personal stories of individuals from each group.  Silent Night begins in August 1914 in an opera house in Berlin, where a performance by soprano Anna Sorensen and tenor Nicholaus Sprink is interrupted by an announcement of war.  Sprink is conscripted into military service, and they are separated.  In Scotland, William Dale urges his younger brother Jonathon to enlist in the military with him, a fatal decision.  In France, Madeleine confronts Lieutenant Audebert for going to war, leaving her and their unborn child alone.  These stories evolve: a brother grieves, a gentle soul makes a fatal mistake, and a couple flees to safety, while the combatant groups stop fighting each other, negotiate a Christmas Eve truce to celebrate together, and then a Christmas day ceasefire to bury their dead.  We witness the soldiers building comradery as friends, joking, sharing stories, and worshipping together in a Christmas Eve mass.  Then it ends with reassignments of all for having participated in the truces.  It is worth noting this was early in the war, within the first five months; the combatants expected the war to be over soon.  Thus, they had been exposed to hell, but had not yet gone through it.

Singers Anna (Keely Futterer) and Nikolaus (Ricardo Garcia) sing for the Kronprinz, a short distance from the battlefield. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

The communication by WTO of the important themes and messages of the opera, particularly the insanity and destructive impact of war, was highly effective.  Well, how do you stage battle scenes, place three groups of soldiers on stage at the same time, and provide intimate close-ups of individuals, while also finding a place for a forty-piece orchestra in a venue that seats less than 400 attendees - with extraordinary talent and creativity.  Mr. Campbell commented that Wolf Trap Opera is not about spectacle or numbers, but about musical storytelling.  While I agree with that, I contend that in recent productions, WTO has moved very close to spectacle in a positive sense – with extraordinary talent and creativity.  This production is worth attending just to enjoy seeing how it was done. 

Father Palmer (Wm. Clay Thompson), Jonathan Dale (Martin Luther Clark), and William Dale (Kyle White) confront joining the war effort. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

The bleak landscape conveyed death and destruction, and the costumes were perfect for the different groups.  The lighting conveyed mood and focused attention where needed.  Kudos are in order for all, and especially for Directors Tonya and Ryan McKinny for keeping all the parts moving together to create such effective storytelling.  The orchestra was placed at the back of the stage behind two see through screens for projecting images.  This allowed the three groups of combatants to be placed in front of the stage where the orchestra pit would normally be. Many times the characters filed in and out down the aisles in the audience.  The effectiveness of the violent scenes was somewhat diminished by the scale of the production; No Man’s Land is rather crimped. The stage was framed as though it was a painting from a bygone era.  A very clever effect was to use the scrim at the opening of the stage to project individual close ups of the characters fully demonstrating the emotional trauma being experienced.  Kudos to Ryan McKinny, a WTO veteran, for filming these scenes; the program book included an insert crediting all the images and videos that were projected onto the screens during the performance.  Directors McKinny were extremely well supported by Lawrence Moten (scenic design), Lynly Saunders (costume design), Colin K. Bills (lighting design), Adam Larsen (video design), and Ann Nesmith (wig and makeup design), all contributing together to an excellent job of musical storytelling. 

Lieutenant Audebert (Jacob Scharfman) writes a letter to his wife Madeleine (Tivoli Treloar). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Composer Puts’ music was highly enjoyable, often beautiful, often emotive, and supremely reflective of the scenes taking place; it has often been described as cinematic.  The opera was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music.  The music is at times melodic for gentler moments and dissonant for combative ones, with softly repeated phrases that let the trauma seep in; it also includes breathtakingly beautiful arias and carols.  The music was expertly played by the Wolf Trap Orchestra under the direction of Conductor Geoffrey McDonald.  Despite the placement of the orchestra, Maestro McDonald kept the music in sync with the singers and at an engaging volume for the audience.  A bagpipe was played by Matthew Harriman on stage as a Scottish soldier.

Ponchal (Charles H. Eaton) remembers morning coffees with his mother. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

There were thirteen soloist roles in Silent Night, and as a group, WTO’s excellent, emerging young artists (Filene Artists and Studio Artists) sang well and were highly believable in their roles; additional soldiers were played by Studio Artists.  The opera couple, Anna and Nikolaus, were played by soprano Keely Futterer who sang with impressive precision and feeling and tenor Ricardo Garcia who also sang well, projecting anger at the absurdity of it all.  Ms. Futterer sang beautifully a very pretty carol at the Christmas service called “Dona nobis pacem”.  The Scottish brothers Jonathan and William were played and sung impressively by tenor Martin Luther Clark and baritone Kyle White.  Mr. Clark was touching, grieving over the loss of his brother.  Lieutenant Audebert and his pregnant wife Madeleine were played with passion and longing by baritone Jacob Scharfman and mezzo-soprano Tivoli Treloar.  Mr. Scharfman sang a beautiful ode to his wife after having lost his only photo of her.  The lieutenants of the German and Scottish sides, Lieutenant Horstmayer and Lieutenant Gordon, were played by bass-baritone Andrew Gilstrap and baritone Ryan Wolfe.  Wolfe’s Gordon seemed reasonable and self-assured while Gilstrap’s Horstmayer seemed conflicted in every direction.  There were three characters that were easy to dislike, despite their excellent vocals, including the French General played by bass Le Bu and the British Major played by bass-baritone Joseph Calzada, both of whom chastised their underlings for participating in the truce.  Then there was the Kronprinz, son of the Kaiser, played by Demetrius Sampson, Jr., safe in a luxurious estate, oblivious and unconcerned with the suffering going on just a few miles away.  I saved two of my personal favorites for last, the Scottish Father Palmer and Ponchel, Audebert’s aide de camp, played and well sung by bass Wm. Clay Thompson and baritone Charles H. Eaton.  Father Palmer exhibited such strong caring for his men, and Ponchel was such a likeable, gentle soul, clearly a casualty-in-waiting in a war. Overhall, the vocals were consistently good, and I thought this was one of Wolf Trap Opera’s best acted operas. The story here was the star, a tribute to the singer/actors I think.

l to r: The British Major (Joseph Calzada), the French General (Le Bu), and the Kronprinz (Demetrius Sampson Jr.) put an end to the truces inhibiting their war efforts.

Directors Tonya and Ryan McKinny in their program notes make the point that art is the opposite of war: art is about making connections and war is about destroying them.  Silent Night is a marvelous work of art that makes a powerful statement about our commonality and how much we have to enjoy through peaceful coexistence, and how much to lose, when resorting to violence.  Wolf Trap Opera’s production of it is creative, immersive, and impactful. This is a contemporary opera about the human heart, as are all operas I think, of a quality worthy of remaining in the repertoire, and more…a reminder of the past much needed today, even in August.  In a world where people can embrace each other one day and shoot at each other the next, let the word go out - make art, not war…at the very least, don’t make war.

The Fan Experience: Performances of Silent Night were scheduled for August 9, 11, 15, and 17. in The Barns at Wolf Trap.  The opera is sung in English, German, and French with English surtitles shown overhead.  The performance lasted about 3 hours including a 20-minute intermission.

The pre-opera talk for this production was given one hour prior to the performance by Fight Director Casey Kaleba.  He provided historical background for the opera and an interesting discussion on the challenges involved in staging fights and battles.  This was an excellent lecture, though more info introducing the opera itself might have been helpful.  An audio recording of “Silent Night” performed by the Minnesota Opera is available through retail and many music streaming services.

The Barns overall 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 very front and seats in the back on the floor lack a view of the surtitles.  The floor seats are not tiered but those in the balcony are; some balcony seats are restricted view by structural posts.  Food and beverages are available before the performances and during intermissions; drinks are allowed in the theater.  During DC’s hot and humid summers, it has excellent air-conditioning.  Parking is free, plentiful and is easy-in/easy-out. 

Santa Fe Opera's Der Rosenkavalier: Spectacular Plus

My, my Santa Fe Opera, you have outdone yourself, and that is quite a feat!  Oddly, despite its popularity, I had not seen a live production of Der Rosenkavalier (1909) by composer Ricard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, a team that had a run of big opera hits; I had seen Ariadne auf Naxos and Elektra by this team.  Somehow the snippets of Der Rosenkavalier I had seen in videos had not created an urgency in me to travel to take it in.  I did watch online more than once the first act with Renee Fleming in a Met Opera production; who wouldn’t watch Ms. Fleming?  The story line of that act had a sweet, bittersweet element of human truth and some appealing comedic touches, but Baron Ochs’ bluster seemed a bit much.  Impressions can be misleading.  Well, I wanted to see the world premiere of SFO’s The Righteous, and seeing Der Rosenkavalier would be a good excuse for staying a few more days in Santa Fe.  This report is tempered by my wife’s response to the opera.  I rated the performance as merely spectacular, but my wife rated it higher for its emotional depth.  I will explain.

The Marschallin (Rachel Willis-Sørensen) alone in her bed chamber. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

Der Rosenkavalier is a four-hour comedic opera including intermissions; if that had worried me, I could have left after the first act and still called it a win.  As I expected, SFO’s performance was sweet, bittersweet in both story and music, with impressive singers and an artistic set and staging as a bonus, and a surprisingly likeable Baron Ochs, who is very dis-likable; a quite good opera but not gripping for me (yet quite gripping for my wife).  Leaving was never a question, and if I had left, I would have missed some of the most enjoyable opera that I have seen and one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever witnessed on stage.

A troubled Marschallin (Rachel Willis-Sørensen) and a pleading Octavian (Paula Murrihy). Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

Let me back up a bit and tell you more about the story, with spoilers: there are four main characters and a cast of thousands…well, 31 named stage performers listed in the program.  The Marschallin, a mature (34 years-old) Princess and wife of the Field Marshal is having an affair with seventeen-year-old Count Octavian and struggling with a rising belief that he will eventually leave her for a younger woman.  Baron Ochs auf Lerchnau, a relative, shows up wanting the Marschallin to name a bearer of the rose (rosenkavalier) to take a silver rose to his betrothed, fifteen-year-old Sophie, as is the custom; well, you can see what’s coming.  Also, the Baron is a mix of Don Giovanni and Falstaff which adds another complication; his unexpected arrival has caused Octavian to disguise himself as a maid, who then becomes an object of the Baron’s lustful pursuit.  In Act 2, Octavian, still deeply attached to the Marschallin, presents the silver rose to Sophie and they fall in love.  A couple of shady detectives for hire reveal this scene to the Baron.  Defending Sophie’s choice, Octavian nicks the Baron in a sword duel.  Sophie’s father wanting to buy into nobility through the arranged marriage to the Baron takes the side of the Baron and declares the marriage will go forward.  In Act 3, a very funny plot unfolds, with Octavian, as the maid, exposing the Baron for what he is and causing him to exit when the Marschallin intercedes.  She and Octavian and Sophie must then confront who will wind up with whom; polyamory was not an accepted thing at that time.

Baron von Ochs (Matthew Rose) pursuing Octavian disguised as a maid (Paula Murrihy). Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

Later as I reflected on this production, it struck me that for Der Rosenkavalier the director and the singers matter a lot in a story where strong feelings of depth and subtlety must be exposed within a mad cap comedy; try to imagine a Marx brothers’ version of “Casablanca”.  Fortunately, SFO chose well.  Mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy as Octavian was the first of the major characters to appear on stage.  Yes, Octavian is a pants role, which adds humor when the singer dons a dress to disguise herself as a woman.  Ms. Murrihy sang and acted impressively as both a Count caught in a love triangle and as a maid eluding, then tricking her would be seducer.  Even though Octavian has the most time on stage in the opera, the Marshallin commands both Act 1 and the end of Act 3.  SFO’s Marshallin was soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen who was an SFO apprentice in 2010, and this season also plays Donna Anna in the later debuting Don Giovanni.  She sang beautifully with tender emotion and carried herself regally, an excellent Marschallin in a believable pairing with Ms. Murrihy. 

l to r in foreground: Baron von Ochs (Matthew Rose), Sophie (Ying Fang), Herr von Faninal (Zachary Nelson), and Marianne Leitmetzerin (Kathryn Henry) dealing with a reluctant Sophie. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

The surprise delight of the evening for me was baritone Matthew Rose as the Baron; he sang well, although much of his singing had so many words it sounded like dialog.  Somehow, he played this boorish, totally self-centered lecher with such naturalness and in such an amusing fashion that my admiration for the performance made it hard for me to dislike his character; the Baron simply assumed that anyone in his lofty status would do exactly what he did; can you blame a rat for being a rat, especially one that’s funny?  Knowing that soprano Ying Fang is in a production, makes it more likely I will attend, and her performance as Sophie validated that position.  Her vocals, especially in the duet with Octavian and the trio adding the Marschallin were highlights of the opera and likely of the SFO season, in fact, any season.

Sophie (Ying Fang) seeing Count Octavian (Paula Murrihy) for the first time. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

The supporting performances were also excellent, and I will mention three.  First, lyric baritone Zachary Wilson as Herr von Faninal was well sung and well played as the comedic stereotype of the status hungry father willing to sacrifice his young daughter for social climbing.  Another standout performance was mezzo-soprano Megan Marino as Annina, one of the shady detectives, well sung and well played.  Finally, tenor David Portillo gave an excellent musical portrayal of the Italian singer.  That Santa Fe Opera can employ a singer of Mr. Portillo’s stature in such a minor role is impressive.

photo 1: Annina (Megan Marino) connives with Baron von Ochs (Matthew Rose). photo 2: The Italian singer (David Portillo) performs. Photos by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

Composer Strauss’ music is mostly pleasant, romantic drawing room comedy music in the first Act, but for Acts 2 and 3, he stepped up his game, and the music became highly expressive for the characters and action on stage.  The Santa Fe Orchestra, a large orchestra, was led by acclaimed Conductor Karina Canellakis; she is currently the Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.  Led by Maestro Canellakis, the orchestra’s playing was a pleasure all evening, lively, expressive, and nuanced while supporting but not overwhelming the singers.  The Chorus under the direction of Chorus Master Susanne Sheston performed well.

Sophie (Ying Fang) and Octavian (Paula Murrihy) and the Marschallin (Rachel Willis-Sørensen) must deal with their issues. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

This elegant cast and beautiful music were matched, and maybe occasionally surpassed, by the outstanding staging by Director Bruno Ravella.  The opera was set forward to the 1950s but still felt like Vienna of the 18th century. The sets and scenic design were extraordinary.  The Marshallin’s chamber and the Faninal ballroom were evocative of nobility and gorgeous; kudos to Scenic and Costume Designer Gary McCann; the costumes were also extraordinary.  Lighting by Lighting Designer Malcolm Rippeth was well done, adding emotional depth of its own.  The rendezvous room in a brothel for Act 3 was cleverly designed with an in-wall bed and trap doors; the room was assembled for viewing in front of the audience during the second intermission.  

Octavian (Paula Murrihy) and Sophie (Ying Fang) are together. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

The beginning of Act 2 was special, first with beautifully attired servants scurrying about, and then, with the entrance of Count Octavian and his duet with Sophie.  I was immersed in one of the most beautiful moments in opera that I have experienced, now on a short list of transcendent experiences.  The staging for Act 3 with its fast-paced comedy of jokes as characters popped in and out, each carrying a message, was an absolute hoot.  I found the final scene with the Marschallin, Octavian, and Sophie to be affecting, understated and paced in a way that lay their hearts and souls out for everyone to see.  My wife said it created such strong emotion it hurt.  Director Ravella employed a young boy (Maxmilian Moore) to play Cupid who popped up at times along the way reminding us this was a comedy about love; his was an appropriately charming performance.

Cupid (Maximillian Moore) observes all. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

I hope I have conveyed to you that Santa Fe Opera’s production of Der Rosenkavalier is spectacular, even spectacular plus, with lovely singing, beautiful music, extraordinary staging, laugh out loud comedy, plus great emotional depth.  The speaker at the pre-opera talk likened the Marschallin/Octavian coupling to Tristan and Isolde.  The impetuosity of youth keeps me from going there, but my wife counters that our first true love can be very intense.  Ok, but then Sophie comes along.  I will grant that the last twenty minutes with the trio and then the duet of Octavian and Sophie is about as emotionally compelling as it gets, heavy with the conflict between what is desired and what must be.

Excuse me, I see Cupid is beckoning you to attend.  Are you game?

The Fan Experience: Santa Fe Opera scheduled performances of Der Rosenkavalier on July 20, 24, August 2, 8, 15. The opera is sung in German with subtitles in English and Spanish provided on individual screens on the backs of seats.  The performance I attended on July 20 lasted four hours plus, including a 20 and a 35-minute intermission.  During the long intermission as the final set was assembled on stage, SFO provided free coffee and tea for all attendees.

Many attendees arrive early for the excellent opera talks one and two hours before the performance.  The talk I attended for Der Rosenkavalier was provided by Oliver Prezant.  Attending his insightful lecture, delivered in a humorous style, had me much better prepared to understand and enjoy the opera – highly recommended.

The Crosby Theatre of the Santa Fe Opera, which seats about 2,000 patrons is an open-air structure on each side and at the back of the stage.  The design is modern and attractive.  Sunsets and thunderstorms become part of the opera experience.  See SFO’s detailed and helpful website for information on food/dining options available and for directions, and their performance schedule for the remainder of the summer. 

In general, the SFO patrons were dressed in a casual style.  There is a tailgating tradition at SFO, some astonishingly elegant.  Bring a sweater or light jacket; Santa Fe is seven thousand feet above sea level; nights can be chilly even in July and August, and breezes flowing through the opera house can make it feel cooler.

Santa Fe Opera's The Righteous: Stellar Team, Powerful Drama

The Righteous premiered at Santa Fe Opera on July 13; the title made me wonder if the opera would be taking a position in the cultural divide by disparaging religious faith.  Rest easy, it hits close to home and takes its theme from the biblical story of King David, but it is human nature, not faith that is the target.  The Righteous is a complex drama with multiple threads and levels shrouded in beautiful music.  The opera views its characters through a lens of human understanding, even a forgiving lens, recognizing that as humans, we are tossed about by conflicts between our desires and ambitions and our moral convictions, and worse, humans must live with uncertainty in knowing whether we and the people in our lives are genuine.  We must also live with the impact of wrong guesses about ourselves and others.  Religious or not, we are all humans on a path to self-discovery.  In the opera’s terms, life is messy and short, and wisdom is slow.  Let’s delve further into the story and performance (caution: spoilers lie ahead).

l to r: CM (Brenton Ryan) and Paul (Greer Grimsley) observe the sunset (the real sunset!) as David (Michael Mayes) sings an opening prayer aria. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

The story takes place in an unspecified state in the American Southwest over the period from 1979 to 1990; I was alive then, so I’m in.  This, like most decades in U.S. history, was a time of crisis and change.  The 1980s featured the AIDS crisis, the rise of feminism, the war on drugs, the Iran-Contra Affair, the arrival of CNN, the rise of televangelism, the arrival of the Mac, the Challenger explosion, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first American woman in space, and more.  The role of television was growing in our lives bringing these events into our homes, and broadcasters, advertisers, and politicians were learning how to influence our choices.  On one level the opera deals with how current events shape our lives. 

The genesis of the opera came about five years ago when Director Kevin Newbury consulted with composer Gregory Spears and librettist Tracy K. Smith about developing a new opera to be commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera.  Mr. Newbury directed the premiere of The R(e)volution of Steve Jobs in 2017 by SFO, an opera that will be produced by Washington National Opera in 2025.  The Santa Fe Opera has achieved status as a premier American opera company and an SFO premiere draws attention, covered by major news sources across the U.S., with their new opera receiving additional performances by other companies.  Composer Spears already has successful operas to his credit; I saw his excellent opera Fellow Travelers performed by the Virginia Opera two years ago.  Librettist and poet Smith has published six books of poetry, one a Pulitzer Prize winner, and has collaborated with Mr. Spears on a previous opera; she was the 22nd Poet Laureate of the U.S.  Such resumes create both anticipation and expectations.  In fact, my pre-performance worry over whether I would like the music, as I do with all new operas, had been partly assuaged by my previous exposure to Mr. Spears’ work.  SFO supported this pair with a star-studded cast and creative team.

l to r: Two friends talking - Paul (Greer Grimsley) and CM (Brenton Ryan) in the background and David (Michael Mayes) and Jonathan (Anthony Roth Constanzo) in the light. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

 Many character names in the opera recall names prominent in the Bible.  David is a young man who experienced a calling from God to become a preacher, and he wants to advocate for Samaritanism, love thy neighbor of all backgrounds and help thy neighbor.  Paul is a rich oil tycoon who wants to be governor and use David to get more votes; he has a wife Marilyn, a gay son Jonathan, a daughter Michelle, and a close colleague CM.  David and Jonathan are best friends.  Jonathan wants the relationship to be more, but David won’t go there.  David believes God wants him to marry his sister Michelle.  She accepts believing David’s primary commitment after God will be to her and their family; there is of course financial and prestige benefit to David from the union.  Sheila is a member of David’s church, and he asks her to run a bible study group.  Her husband has just shipped overseas, leaving her and their young daughter on their own. Now the dissonance.  Paul learns people are starting to want David to be a write-in candidate.  To Michelle’s surprise, David is considering whether he is meant for more than preaching.  In a chance meeting at the church, Sheila (aka Bathsheba?) reveals her true heart and a spiritual message that came to her and sustained her.  David and Sheila begin an affair believing God has brought them together.  Sheila’s daughter Shannon later adds an age gap level to the drama. After, Paul’s sudden death, David runs for office and begins to compromise his values for power and influence, weakening his relationship with God.  All relationships are going to change in these voyages of self-discovery.  Again, in terms of the opera, joy comes and joy goes.

l to r: Michelle (Jennifer Johnson Cano) sits worrying about her marraige while David (Michael Mayes) and Sheila (Elena Villalón) bond. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

The libretto for The Righteous is rich in poetry; I wish it was available for reading.  Ms. Smith constructed an opening prayer in the opera as a villanelle, a form of poetry.  Phrases abound that seem likely to be used as quotes, that raise points revealing complexities, and leave you wondering.  Importantly, her chosen words work in opera.  The music by Mr. Spears is also richly textured, interesting, and sometimes beautifully romantic.  The music shades and foreshadows the drama.  The beautiful, sometimes inspirational music tailored to each character, often has soft dissonance entering and lurking below the heart felt expressions, revealing the characters are unaware of or are hiding something signifcant.  In a film clip, composer Spears raises the question of whether the characters can hear the music or only the audience can; he writes music that informs the audience of what the characters must contend with that they cannot see and how that affects them. 

photo 1: Trouble between Sheila (Elena Villalón) and David (Michael Mayes). photo 2: David (Michael Mayes) ponders his relationship with God. Photos by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra playing under the direction of Conductor Jordan De Souza were engaging with horns and strings featured, many adornments, often with the pulsating music in support of the arias and drama.  Mr. Spears says the combination of poetry and music in the prayer arias makes them psalms.  The spiritual flair revealed in Mr. Spears music compels me to listen to his orchestral work, “A New Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei” for the Mozart Requiem; I would welcome more inspirational music by him. 

The excellent cast of soloists for The Righteous were led by star baritone Michael Mayes, an excellent choice for the role of David.  The opening prayer aria sung by Mr. Mayes clearly demonstrated the power and the beauty of his voice and singing, as well as his believability in the role.  I fondly remember attending the Washington National Opera’s 2017 production of Dead Man Walking starring Mr. Mayes, a role that helped establish his career and prominence.  Sheila was played by the rising star soprano Elena Villalón, who sings with clarity and great depth of feeling.  She is coming off her performance as Amore in Met Opera’s Orfeo ed Euridice.  Her well-played journey in the opera as Sheila was the most engrossing of the evening.  Michelle was beautifully played by mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano. Her plaintiff arias as the disillusioned and abandoned wife were touching, especially in an emotionally charged scene where she prays out loud, at one of David’s church services, for husbands who are unfaithful to their wives; in an especially poignant scene between her and Sheila, she reveals that at least at the end she has found a feeling of freedom.  

photo 1: Michelle (Jennifer Johnson Cano) talks with her mother Marilyn (Wendy Bryn Harmer). photo 2: David (Michael Mayes is confronted by Jacob (Nicholas Newton) with a community request. Photos by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

Countertenor Anthony Roth Constanzo, a current mega-star and newly appointed President and General Director of Opera Philadelphia, gave us a sympathetic Jonathan as a gay man unable to fit in or have the love he longs for, a highlight in the opera.  Mr. Constanzo’s singing, especially his clarion high notes, was a pleasure; his crystal-clear voice would sink into a low register and tail off when meeting with frequent disappointment.  Bass-baritone Greer Grimsley gave us a convincing Paul and tenor Brenton Ryan, as Paul’s friend and right-hand man. was a standout in the role.  Among several well-played, well-sung supporting role performers, I will only mention that soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer was the perfect wife to Paul and that bass-baritone Nicholas Newton gave an attention getting performance as Jacob, seeking and not getting help from David for his poor, drug-ravaged community.  Mr. Spears gave the Santa Fe Opera Chorus a lead role and they sang with power and passion; kudos to Chorus Master Sussane Sheston. 

The Righteous ensemble. Photo by Curtis Brown; courtesy of Santa Fe Opera.

There is a lot going on in this opera, and Director Newbury manages it well, keeping the focus on character development and illuminating the internal conflicts of the characters.  The opera tells its story well; rather than repeating all scenes one after another, Mr. Newbury often has two or three scenes on stage at the same time with the spotlight shifting back and forth among them, sometimes with ensemble singing.  This added to the cohesion of the storytelling and saved some time.  Also, kudos to Scenic Designer Mimi Lien as well-designed sets were moved into and out of place with flowing, unobtrusive precision.  Devario Simmons’ costumes clearly evoked the 1980s.  Lighting Designer Japhy Weideman did well but was no match for the stunning visuals provided by the Jemez Mountains and clouds framing the lighting effects of a setting sun whenever the back panels of the stage were open; this beautifully scenic setting is a special benefit of attending Santa Fe Opera performances, transcendent once again.

 The Righteous is powerful storytelling backed by beautiful music and singing.  At the end of this powerful drama, the entire cast was on stage to sing a final prayer, the convergence demonstrating that all the changed, partially broken players were in the same group, the humans.  I will be thinking about this world premiere for a long time to come. 

 The Fan Experience:  Santa Fe Opera scheduled performances of The Righteous for July 13, 17, 26, 30. August 7, 13.  The opera is sung in English with subtitles in English and Spanish provided on individual screens on the backs of seats.  The performance I attended on July 17 lasted three hours and included a 25-minute intermission.

The Crosby Theatre of the Santa Fe Opera, which seats about 2,000 patrons is an open-air structure on each side and at the back of the stage.  The design is modern and attractive.  Sunsets and thunderstorms become part of the opera experience.  See SFO’s detailed and helpful website for information on food/dining options available and for directions.

Santa Fe Opera is located about five miles north of the city with easy access via highways 285/84 or a couple of backroads, if you are adventurous.  As you move away from the heart of the city, you are quickly into the vast expanse of sky that New Mexico offers.  The SFO program book includes this statement, “We acknowledge and pay deep respect to the people, elders, and ancestors – past, present, and future – of the Tesuque Pueblo whose beautiful lands have provided the stunning backdrop for our theatre and performances for over sixty years.” 

Many attendees arrive early for the excellent opera talks one and two hours before the performance.  The talk I attended for The Righteous was provided by Oliver Prezant.  Attending his insightful lecture, delivered in a humorous style, had me much better prepared to understand and enjoy the opera – highly recommended.

The tailgating tradition at SFO, some were astonishingly elegant, could not be observed this trip as it was raining when we got there.  In general, the SFO patrons were dressed in a casual style.  Bring a sweater or light jacket; Santa Fe is seven thousand feet above sea level; nights can be chilly even in July and August, and breezes flowing through the opera house can make it feel cooler.

Shakespeare Opera Theatre's Macbeth: An Original Mix of the Bard and Verdi

Shakespeare Opera Theatre is a small community opera with rising expectations.  Founder and Managing Director Lori Lind has created a bold and ambitious new blending of elements of Shakespeare’s play with Verdi’s marvelous music from his Macbeth.  Unfortunately, Friday night’s opening could have been titled “toil and trouble”.  It was beset with a witch’s brew of problems leading up to its debut.  Half of the cast and staff came down with illness or injuries.  The ensemble was unable to practice together for the five days preceding the premiere.  Many last-minute role changes and staff changes had been required, leading to finicky special effects equipment and a failure of the subtitles to arrive.  Dr. Lind talked about these challenges in her opening comments; she said she had even gone so far as to stop encouraging people to attend the premiere, which de facto had become the dress rehearsal.  She encouraged the audience to enjoy the show as presented; after all, she said, “it’s just opera”.  Her straightforward honesty and down to earth attitude elicited understanding in the audience and an appreciation for the “show-must-go-on” spirit of everyone involved.  There were rough spots and mistakes to be sure, but even with the issues that arose, there was much to enjoy in this production.  It was an entertaining evening, and future audiences will of course get a more polished performance.

Cast scene in SOT’s Macbeth. Photo by Lori Lind; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Founder Lind originally trained to be a Shakespearean actor, but then became an opera singer (note: she won the Annapolis Opera annual singing competition in 2005 and is currently the Organist and Choirmaster for St. Thomas Episcopal Church in McLean, VA).  After touring the globe, she came to settle in northern Virginia and decided to start a company that combined her two loves, Shakespeare and opera; the company will be celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2025.  Macbeth tells a story of the corrupting influence of lust for power that compels Lady and Lord Macbeth to commit murder to ascend to become queen and king of Scotland in the 11th century.  Composer Giuseppe Verdi loved Shakespeare’s plays and worked with librettists Francesco Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei to translate the Bard’s work into opera, following the play as closely as they felt they could.  In opera, all or almost all of the dialog is sung.  Of necessity, this involved deletions and deviations from the source’s plot (singing takes much more time than dialog) and modifications (composing librettos for singing is different than composing dialog for speaking). 

JP Gorski as Macbeth and Monica Niemi as Lady Macbeth. Photo by Lori Lind; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Dr. Lind feels that a significant impact of Shakespeare’s words and storytelling is lost in this process.  For SOT’s Macbeth, she sought to combine sections of Shakespeare’s words with sections of Verdi’s vocals and music holding on to the most critical parts of each.  She stated, “My goal with Macbeth, as with all of the Shakespeare adaptations I arrange, is to keep to the original Shakespeare story as closely as I can while employing the enhancement of masterful opera composers’ works. Many opera composers cannibalize Shakespeare and add or take away characters. This serves the necessity of time, mostly, but sometimes it's to give an aria to someone or to wrap up a story more neatly in opera conventions. They mess up complex character arcs and leave out complete side plots or the most interesting speeches and couplets."

She mentioned several specific concerns with Macbeth: “Some things are best left unspoiled, like for instance, what I call Verdi's "dudley do-right" music of Malcolm coming in to save the day. That's not what Shakespeare wrote at all, he wrote Malcolm as a very young and untested soldier who needs Macduff, Ross and the Siwards to fight for him. He's hardly the heroic figure that Verdi portrays him to be in that music, and he does not fight Macbeth, but sends others. Macduff even has a tussle with him himself when Malcolm insensitively says: ‘let's get our revenge on that tyrant for killing your family’ without giving the poor man his moment of grief. In that way, Verdi's music for A la paterna mano is a brilliant addition, but it has to be coming out of the Shakespeare scene where he says I will do so like a man (take revenge,) but first, I must feel it like a man (meaning his grief.) Combining the two forces of Shakespeare and Verdi really gives you goosebumps and gets you right in the heart. Then there is something like Macbeth's Tomorrow and tomorrow speech. It's just so meaty in spoken word, adding music to it is gilding the lily!”

left to right: Rick Knight as Lennox, Justin Meyer as Seyton, Quaine Hogan as Macduff, Xavier Flory as Malcolm, and Gene Allen as Old Siward. Photo by Lori Lind; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Plenty of room there for debate I’m sure, but it is an interesting approach, creating something distinctively different from either work, combining brilliant elements of each.  With what modern directors are doing to classic operas these days, I find it an appealing alternative approach, turning classic opera into a classic opera musical, or as Shakespeare Opera Theatre calls it, without apologies, a mash-up.  If you like Shakespeare and Verdi, attend and see what you think. 

Dr. Lind also served as Stage Director, Production designer and Decorator for Macbeth.  SOT performances are fully staged with acting, costumes, sets, and piano accompaniment, the size of the venue places constraints on scene changes and the size of the chorus.  The cleverly designed, three part set for Macbeth included a castle wall, a banquet room, and a side chamber, well done.  The three witches conjure up their potions atop the castle wall.  Lighting and sound effects are created on site with some use of recorded sounds.  Shakespeare Opera Theatre utilizes interns backstage; kudos to 16-year-old Qasim Sabir who managed costumes and props and 16-year-old Samuel Lee who was in charge of lights and sounds.  Eleven-year-old Amelia Pixton (Mia) who has worked with the company since she was three-years-old performed the drumming and created some thunder sounds, as well as acting as Macduff’s son on stage.  The fight scenes were nicely choreographed by Casey Kaleba, though the large swords flying around made me a little anxious for the performers. The company does a lot with a small space to work with.  The actor/singers come and go through the sides of the set and down through the audience.  It is a very intimate setting, an excellent opportunity to experience the power of operatic singing up close.

Demi Vander Werff as Lady in Waiting and Justin Meyers as Seyton. Photo by Lori Lind; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Combining two versions of Macbeth increases the roles and players needed.  This cast has 14 performers, with many playing more than one role and/or covering other roles.  The singers/actors come from across the U.S. with one from Sweden; they all performed well in this “dress rehearsal”.  The three witches (soprano Christine Cummins, mezzo-soprano Demi Vander Werff, and Swedish mezzo-soprano Louisa Anderson) were perhaps more charming than scary that evening but were a delight.  There are five principal roles in Verdi that get arias: Macbeth, played by baritone JP Gorski; Lady Macbeth, by soprano Monica Niemi; Banquo, by bass-baritone Justin Ramm-Damron; Macduff, by tenor Quaine Hogan; and Malcolm, by tenor Xavier Flory.  Each gave a good performance, and I took particular note of Mr. Ramm-Damron and Mr. Hogan.  These singers warmed up and gave their most stirring performances later in the drama.  Additional performers were Gene Allen as Duncan and Siward, Bryanna Toll in five roles, Neema Meena in three roles, Rick Knight as Lennox and Assassin, Justin Meyer as Seyton, Donette Rimmer as Lady Lennox and Queen Elizabeth I, and of course, Amelia Pixton as Macduff’s son and the Child King.  I thought that Justin Meyer as Seyton showed a theatrical flair.

The pianist for the performance was provided by Anh Nguyen, a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at George Mason University, a recent newcomer to Shakespeare Opera Theatre.  I enjoyed the music, and it seemed well coordinated with the singers, though certain sections might have benefited from more finesse.  Kudos to the singers in the ensemble vocals and the chorus; these were perhaps my favorite parts of the evening.

JP Gorski as Macbeth confronting Louisa Anderson as Young Siward. Photo by Lori Lind; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

As I said, there was much to enjoy here; the mistakes in this “dress rehearsal” sort of became part of the fun.  Alas, scheduling won’t permit, but I wish that I could see it again just for enjoyment.  Dr. Lind calls this adaptation a jewel box opera; she has collected jewels from more than one source for a production.  Indeed, she has, and for all she does, kudos to Dr. Lori Lind.

The Fan Experience: Performances of Shakespeare Opera Theatre’s Macbeth were scheduled for July 12, 13, and 14 at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in McLean; additional performances were scheduled for July 20 and 21 at The Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains.  The production’s dialog is in English and the vocals are in Italian with subtitles in English.  The performance with Dr. Lind’s comments lasted about three hours, and the cast came out to mingle with attendees after the final applause.  Given the difficulties noted in the text above, Dr. Lind offered attendees a free ticket to another performance or to another SOT production.

Shakespeare Opera Theatre performs classic works not by Shakespeare as well.  Their next production will be another jewel box production, scheduled for December 6-15, titled La Vie de Bohéme, based of course on Puccini’s La Bohéme, which goes extremely well with the holiday season.

SOT’s performances have more of a party atmosphere rather than the church service atmosphere of our major opera halls.  I found little pretense with SOT; they readily own their limitations and still managed to engage us fully.  Dress is “as you like it” and seating is at tables.  Snacks and drinks are offered for sale which can be consumed before, during, or after performances.  After a meal of Shakespeare, I frequently recall these words by Puck at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

If we shadows have offended


Think but this and all is mended


That you have but slumbered here


While these visions did appear


And this weak and idle theme


No more yielding but a dream

Wolf Trap Opera's Così fan tutte: A Surprising New Ending, or Not?

Così fan tutte (1790) is an odd duck in the Mozart/Da Ponte’s great triple play that includes The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni; it was the last of their opera collaborations.  Così is the one I liked least on first viewing and that I now look forward to the most for seeing again.  On my first viewing, a Met Opera online video, I thought Così was a silly, unrealistic opera with a dismal ending, though with some good music and vocals; I was right, on one level.  Each viewing after that became more unsettling, causing me to ask myself what was going on.  I still look forward to seeing new productions of Figaro and Giovanni, mainly because of the opportunity to see new performers in new productions.  In the case of Così fan tutte, the opera alone is front and center in making me look forward to another viewing; it’s become an old friend.

It all begins with a bet, as Ferrando (left, Lunga Eric Hallam) and Gulielmo (right, Kyle White) confront Don Alfonso (center, Wm. Clay Thompson). Photo by Shannon Flack; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Two additional factors piqued my interest for this performance.  First, I have come to appreciate Lee Anne Myslewski, Vice President of Opera and Classical Programming at Wolf Trap, for her strong advocacy for gender and racial equity in opera productions; check out the diversity in WTO’s performers and creative staff assembled for each opera.  Così has a strong element of misogyny, beginning with the title meaning “all women are like that”, with the “like that” being unfaithful to their lovers.  Something new for this version of Così was bound to be afoot.  Secondly, a good Così requires six strong singer/actors and when I looked at the backgrounds and accomplishments of the cast of emerging artists assembled by Wolf Trap Opera, I became even more excited to be attending, and my instincts proved to be sound.

Dorabella (left, Erin Wagner) and Fiordiligi (right, Renée Richardson) are distraught while Despina (center, Emily Treigle) looks on. Photo by Shannon Flack; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Keep in mind this is a comedy, and in fact, it has many amusing moments.  The plot that librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and composer Amadeus Mozart assembled for Così has two young men, Guglielmo and Ferrando, agreeing to a plan to test their fiancées’ faithfulness as a bet with an older gentleman, Don Alfonso, who insists that faithful women are as real as the Phoenix.  The men pretend to go to war and come back disguised as Albanian gentlemen who will woo their loves, the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella in their absence.  With Alfonso’s planning and the aid of the sisters’ more worldly-wise maid Despina, the plan works; the ladies eventually succumb to the Albanians’ advances and deceptions.  Don Alfonso consoles the guys with words they should forgive and proceed to marry their girlfriends because they really love them, and they can’t do any better, i.e., all women are like that.  What led to my reaction on seeing Così for the first time was that all the action takes place in one day.  The one day was evidently a requirement of works of this type in their day, but the ladies are supposed to be in love and planning to marry the guys and then fall in love and agree to marry the Albanians in the same day?  Plus, the disguises employed by the guys and by Despina who appears as two other characters are obvious disguises used for humor; why can’t the people who know them better see through them?  All of this adds to the unreality of the opera, but the unreality may be a goal here; it allows us to see and laugh at our flaws.  One critic referred to Così as similar to a marionette show, unreal but still conveying a message.

Full cast of Così fan tutte including singers (Filene Artists) and chorus (Filene Studio Artists). Photo by Shannon Flack; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

The rub comes in Così fan tutte’s resolution found in classic productions.  Don Alfonso’s cynicism is validated.  Despina is disillusioned.  The young lovers are resigned to marry, a troubling fate given what just transpired.  This happy ending sits like a bit of undigested dinner in the stomachs of the audience.  We are left hanging, with the future ahead not clear, and Mozart and Da Ponte never composed Così: the Sequel.  But isn’t that ending as real or more real than Figaro’s love conquers all or Giovanni’s righteous resolution?  Ms. Myslewski in her program note says this is a battle of the sexes where neither gender wins.  Yes, but what is the war?  I think Conductor Brandes and Director Rigazzi were on target in seeing the story as being about the loss of innocence.  Isn’t the war the one taking place within ourselves, teaching us who we really are, more by defeats than victories?  When our situation changes and challenges are confronted, what can we count on from others, or from ourselves, for that matter.  The answers to those questions can be disillusioning and life changing.  Così’s happy ending is not so happy and life goes on.  While we are laughing, Mozart/Da Ponte have thrown us a curve.  Where are our genuine selves among our wants, needs, ambitions, and societal rules?  They place the ambiguities in our laps to take home; how do we deal with our failings?  Perhaps, they intended to spread a message of the need for forgiveness given human frailty and inconsistency, but we are left wondering if these young people are going to be alright?  Are we going to be alright?  For me, along with the music and vocals, this is what makes Così fan tutte great and has me addicted.  It’s always interesting to see what spin a new director will put on the ending.  From here on, there will be spoilers. 

Ferrando (left, Lunga Eric Hallam) and Gulielmo (right, Kyle White) disguised as Albanian strangers even fool Despina (center, Emily Treigle). Photo by Shannon Flack; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Let’s move on to the good stuff we can be happy with.  First, there is Mozart’s music which is fabulous throughout the opera.  The conductor for this production is Christine Brandes, formerly a performing soprano, who has turned her career completely to conducting.  Her debut as a conductor was with the Seattle Opera in 2023.  The Wolf Trap Opera Orchestra is chamber-sized, about 30 musicians placed in the small pit, with a harpsichordist and cellist, used for recitatives, placed outside the orchestra pit.  The music features many solo instruments and small groupings in supporting singers and the mood of the scenes.  I thought the relatively small size of the orchestra allowed me to hear and appreciate the different elements of Mozart’s composition more fully than I had in past.  I always felt the playing was spot on, delightful really, and that the singers were well supported.  I have to say I was impressed.  Kudos to Maestro Brandes and thank you to the players.  I also very much enjoyed the contributions of WTO’s Studio Artists, less experienced performers who served as an excellent chorus; kudos to Chorus Master Michelle Papenfuss.  Mozart’s music is definitely one of the elements that keeps me returning.

Mozart provided all six singers with the opportunity to sing both beautiful solos and ensemble pieces that ranged from duets to sextets.  I have always felt that Mozart was the champion of ensemble vocal composing, and Così is full of them.  The six soloists are Filene Artists and all but one are returning artists.  All of these young singers performed well both acting and singing.  The role of Fiordiligi was sung by soprano Renée Richardson.  She gave us a strong willed Fiordiligi who succumbed reluctantly and sang beautifully in her higher range, garnering applause for the opera’s best-known aria, “Como Scoglio” where Fiordiligi declares her resolve to remain faithful; she also showed an engaging lower range in several numbers.  She sang a touching, “Per pietà, ben mio, perdona" where she sings “pardon the error of a loving soul”.  Ms. Richardson was well paired with mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner as Dorabella, who portrayed the more romantically adventurous sister convincingly.  Her voice has an attractive timbre especially in the softer vocals, and her torment in “ah, Scotati…Smanie implacabili” conveyed the humor and pathos of the aria.  Ms. Wagner is a new Filene Artist.  Despina was played by mezzo-soprano Emily Treigle who was again a bit hammy, but an on-stage charmer and scene stealer.  As she has done in the past for WTO, she sang well with a lovely voice.

Fiordiligi (Renée Richardson) and Dorabella (Erin Wagner) try to drown their sorrows. Photo by Shannon Flack; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Bass Wm. Clay Thompson sang the role of Don Alfonso authoritatively enough with a strong bass delivery, though his youth made me wonder how he could have become so jaded in his world view at that age; I am surprised that no one has attempted to compose an opera titled “Don Alfonso, the Early Years”.  Tenor Lunga Eric Hallam got onto my radar last year in WTO’s excellent Semele.  Mr. Hallam sang beautifully with deep emotion saying how much his love meant to him and then later when confessing he still loved Dorabella despite her infidelity.  Meaning it as a compliment, I am often reminded of Lawrence Brownlee when I hear Mr. Hallam sing.  Kyle White gave us an excellent Guglielmo, singing well, though more likeable as the young man in love than the macho man bragging of his conquest of Dorabella.

WTO’s staging of Così was excellent overall.  The one room set in white provided an attractive background focusing attention on the singers.  It was cleverly changed from saloon to drawing room, to dressing room, etc, needed for the different scenes; the stage’s frame even added its own adornments from time to time, minimizing disruption of the drama; kudos to Director Dan Rigazza and Scenic Designer Lawrence Moten.  The costume design by Lynly Saunders and lighting design by Colin K Bills added to the performance.  The displaying of scene titles on the stage frame such as Round One and Round Two were clever and amusing.  Mr. Rigazza effectively brought out the humor, keeping the audience amused.  I enjoyed the appearance of the Studio Artist as supernumeraries dressed in white costumes for the marriage scene, giving the scene a Midsummer Night’s Dream effect.

Fiordiligi (Renée Richardson) suffers facing her dilemma. Photo by Shannon Flack; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Now, let’s talk about the ending.  This was a fairly complete rendition, beginning at 7:30 and running until after 11 pm.  I was beginning to feel the need for sleep when the action took an unexpected turn.  After ladies expressed remorse for their infidelities, the guys revealed the Albanians were themselves in disguise.  Understanding their deception and abuse, Fiordiligi and Dorabella flew into a rage, cursing the guys, and even referring to Don Alfonso as a piece of excrement.  Profanity and obscene gestures flowed, and the ladies stormed off; wedding plans appeared canceled.  The final sextet had to be performed by the chorus rather than the principals.

It looked like these romances are ended, but who can say what tomorrow or next week might bring?  Believe what you wish, but “Così, the Sequel” still has not been written.  This stormy ending seemed right; it worked.  The women deserved it and it fit with the present times; it was fun to see the women kick some butt.  I had gone to sleep at the wheel and forgotten that this was WTO at work; I shouldn’t have been caught by surprise.  That said I was a little bothered by the profanity, and in retrospect, though it all seemed well justified and timely, I wonder what the audience members felt going home…that it added the appropriate balance to the ending?  That’s a good thing, but did the ending reprisal let the audience off the hook, to go home and forget about it. 

Ferrando (Lunga Eric Hallam) ponders the loss of love. Photo by Shannon Flack; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

BTW, dramaturg Cori Ellison had the following statement in her program notes: “Ultimately, the men were in love with mere images of their fiancées and the women were in love with love.”  Hmmm.  That’s a tidy statement that allows us to nod and put this work of art away, case closed.  Boys will be boys and girls will claim to love them anyway.  But is it that simple?  Was there really no genuine love felt by Fiordiligi who suffered so or by Ferrando who claimed he still loved Dorabella?  Are members of a gender all like that?  Così fan tutte…it’s complicated.  Put your worry caps back on.

The Fan Experience:  Performances of Così fan tutte were scheduled for June 21, 23, 27, and 29 in the Barns at Wolf Trap.  The opera is sung in Italian with English libretto shown overhead.  The performance lasted a little over 3.5 hours.

For this performance, the stage was extended out and around an opening for the orchestra pit.  I was seated close to the stage and with this arrangement the volume of the orchestra was fine where I sat.  The Barns is a relatively small theater.  The advantage of this arrangement was that the performers could move out almost close enough to touch the audience.  Most of the opening for the orchestra pit was netted in case anyone forgot where they were.  Occasionally one could see Conductor Brandes’s hands waving at stage level out of the orchestra pit.

The Barns overall 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 very front and in the back on the floor lack a view of the supertitles.  The floor seats are not tiered but those in the balcony are; some balcony seats are restricted view by structural posts.  Food and beverages are available before the performances and during intermissions; drinks are allowed in the theater.  During DC’s hot and humid summers, it has excellent air-conditioning.  Parking is free, plentiful and is easy-in/easy-out. 

Washington National Opera's Turandot: Turandot the Merciful Stirs the Fan Base

If you had a clear, simple response to WNO’s premiere of their new production including a new ending of Puccini’s Turandot, I envy you.  For me, this visually and emotionally engaging Turandot engendered a range of feelings, many changing over the course of the performance.  Washington National Opera sold out most of their performances this season, but not before the first performance of each opera in the season.  Turandot sold out before the first of seven performances: that’s Hamilton-like popularity.  Why this happened is an interesting question.  Maybe Washington National Opera’s reputation for quality productions coupled with an excellent cast (two actually; see below), combined with the hunger of today’s audiences for some pleasing new opera music and vocals?  Note that I said “pleasing”.  In that vein, WNO’s new production provides the security of all that Puccini wrote of Turandot before his death and an added attraction: a new ending with 18 minutes of new music and a new libretto. Also adding to the intrigue, the composer for the new ending is known for writing award-winning music for computer games; can a Turandot I game be far off?  Regardless, it was an exciting evening, and WNO has a major hit on its hands.

Prince Calaf (Yonghoon Lee) and Princess Turandot (Ewa Plonka) in front with Emperor Altoum (Neil Shicoff) at top of stairs. Photo by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The tale of this production is itself an interesting story.  Turandot was written in 1924 by composer Giacomo Puccini with a libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.  Following his death, Puccini’s family commissioned his student Franco Alfano to compose new music for the ending based on Puccini’s sketches; the new music begins with the Calaf/Turandot confrontation following Liu’s demise and processional.  When first performed in 1926, famous conductor Arturo Toscanini stopped where Puccini had left off and departed the stage in honor of his friend Puccini; subsequent performances included Alfano’s ending that uses the original libretto by Adami and Simoni.  While other companies have massaged the ending, Alfano’s is the one that is still primarily produced today.  At 100 years old, the opera has entered the public domain giving companies a freer hand in making changes.  Opera Delaware will produce Turandot with its own new ending next week, with some tickets remaining. 

The fairytale plot of Turandot is based on a commedia dell’arte play of Gozzi which is based on a Persian story.  The opera tells the story of a Chinese Princess from long ago who required any suitor seeking her hand in marriage to correctly answer three riddles; there was a catch, the punishment for failure was death.  Thirteen had tried and failed.  Enter Prince Calaf who answers the riddles correctly.  Turandot still resists but finally falls in love after a single, uninvited kiss from Calaf, who then reveals his name.  Puccini was still struggling when he died to come up with an ending that satisfactorily made sense of Turandot’s turn around.  My son, on experiencing the opera for the first time, said that only in opera can there be a love story about a mass murderer.  Other concerns in modern day audiences have been its historical misrepresentations and concerns with the opera reinforcing prejudicial stereotypes of Asian people, and importantly its treatment of women.  Personally, I have always viewed Turandot as a Grimm-like preposterous fairy tale where love conquers all in the end.  The plot was far-fetched and not satisfying, but oh my goodness, the music and vocals were out of this world.  Calaf’s aria “Nessun dorma” is perhaps the most famous in all of opera.

Timur (Peixin Chin) tries to comfort Liu (Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha). Photo by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

WNO’s artistic director of the last fourteen years, Francesca Zambello, had never been happy with Turandot’s ending, and it has not been performed by WNO since 2009.  With the opera entering the public domain, she decided to invest in and direct a new version.  Working with composer Christopher Tin and librettist Susan Soon He Stanton, the decision was made to make the background story of the brutal nature of the warlord control of China in that period more apparent in the opera and to change the ending to make it more understandable that Turandot, rather than being heartless, had a heart hardened by events – from Ms. Zambello’s program note, “She rules as she has been ruled: with brutal tyranny.”  To their credit, this new production and the new ending work.  I suspect it will be adopted by many other opera companies, especially given its bottom line of success for WNO. 

That said, far be it from me not to quibble as I meander through the issues.  I grant that names of ministers - Ping, Pang, and Pong - has always made me wince at the racial overtones.  However, they have provided the much-needed comic relief in this bloody tale.  Comic relief is in short supply in WNO’s version.  WNO’s calling them by their minister position name is accurate, but their portrayal as frustrated bureaucrats in a totalitarian regime was not that amusing.  Plus, the inaccurate portrayal of China allowed designer Franco Zeffirelli to create, and audiences to enjoy, his fabulous staging that adds a measure of charm to the opera.  In fact, I found WNO’s version to be rather dreary until the sure-footed female dancers in military outfits started dancing.  Somehow, WNO does make the redemption of a woman who bumped off 13 suitors more acceptable, and it does have more of a feel-good ending.  Let’s not forget that this is a fairy tale meant to convey a message overall.  Fairy tales have the charm of letting you get the moral feel good without believing the story.  Yes, if it also promulgates harmful messages, that needs to be addressed.  So, on the measure, I contend that Washington National Opera’s 2024 Turandot is the better version, though improving the story alone would not make it so overall.  We continue…

The three ministers at work: l to r - Chancellor (Ethan Vincent), Head Chef (Jonathan Pierce Rhodes), and Majordomo (Sahel Salam). Photo by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Francesca Zambello reliably gives great show; she is a Washington DC treasure.  She and WNO general director Timothy O’Leary displayed bravery in moving this project forward.  She noted in her pre-opera talk that this was Puccini’s largest effort in terms of people and staging involved – ten singers, ten dancers, a sixty-member adult chorus and a twenty-member children’s chorus, a 73-piece orchestra and a 14-piece off stage banda, in addition to creative staff for set design, costume design, hair and makeup, and production staff for staging.  There were over 250 individuals involved in this production.  I noted that at times the stage was as packed with performers as the sold-out theater was with audience members.  Bravi to all and kudos for a well-deserved success!

Composer Christopher Tin is a two-time Grammy award winner.  Perhaps that gave him the courage to compose new music in juxtaposition to some of Puccini’s greatest when this is his first opera composition; for insight into his approach to this task, check out his Youtube video at this link. My hearing was that it was a job well done, interesting in orchestration, pleasing to the ear, and working well coupled to the vocals containing the new libretto.  There is a video clip sample of the new ending at this link. Guest conductor Speranza Scappucci and the WNO Orchestra played the music of both Puccini and Tin beautifully, though a few times I would have preferred a bit more volume to match the power of the singers for this production.  The new libretto by Susan Soon He Stanton, an award winning screenwriter for the HBO series, Succession, included some beautiful poetry working well with Mr. Tin’s music, though more direct in messaging than that of Adami and Simoni, in creating Turandot the Merciful.  I especially liked Calaf pleading, “My love has broken everything except hope.”  Then, by will and courage Turandot rises above her dark side and turns a brutal military regime into an open and fair-minded democracy through the redemptive power of love.  Maybe it was a little over the top; as Turandot says to Calaf at one point, “Pretty words.” Yet, I accepted it because it is a fairytale, and I wanted to believe it, maybe I do believe it.  In this version, it is Turandot who initiates the first kiss, but not until Calaf has risked his life by divulging his name.  One line might have been better earlier in the scene: when Turandot hearing his name declares she has won and Calaf says, “I don’t have to lose for you to win”, there was a smattering of laughter from the audience in a highly dramatic moment.  Let me restate that I liked the new libretto a lot.

A scene from WNO’s new production of Turandot with dancers in the front. Photo by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The powerful cast for Turandot for the first five performances features star soprano Ewa Plonka as Princess Turandot.  She has a high soprano voice, forced in this role to mainly sing at near maximum power, which she did well.  She sang beautifully but the outstanding feature of her performance was her acting, regal and confident in every way and more than that, projecting a heartless persona.  This is a performance not to miss, but there are no tickets left.  Calaf, also a demanding role to sing, was played by excellent tenor Yonghoon Lee who possesses a lovely resonant voice.  He met every challenge and turned in a fine “Nessun dorma”.  Mr. Lee previously appeared with WNO in their 2017 Aida.  Perhaps the most standout of several standout performances of the evening was given by soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha in the smaller role of servant girl Liu.  Her lovely voice was pitch perfect all evening.  The role of Liu is a known for being a potential scene stealer, and Ms. Rangwanasha took full advantage.  Another fine performance given was that of bass Peixin Chen as Timur, the disposed king of Tartary and father of Calaf.  He sang well with a strong, appealing bass voice.  His strength and power made him seem ready to retake the throne.

The remaining named singers were also a pleasure to see and hear.  I will only single out one more for comment, tenor Neil Shicoff who played the role of the Emperor.  This is a small role that usually passes me by, but it was a small, featured role in this performance performed by renown singer who Ms. Zambello convinced to return to the stage.  His singing and performance as an elderly ruler caused me to take notice of this role in the opera.  Also, there were eighty other singers, sixty in the WNO’s adult chorus and twenty in the children’s role.  In this opera, the choruses are featured in almost every scene, and these two were standouts.  Kudos to them and chorus master Steven Gathman. 

The stranded bands of Beijing outsiders huddle while awaiting thier fate. Photo by Corey Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

WNO’s staging of Turandot was updated from ancient China to something more mid-twentieh century China of a militaristic, authoritarian society.  The set by Wilsin Chin was an oppressive contruction of frame and flooring that wrapped around and from top to bottom of the stage until the ending scene.  The costumes by Linda Cho were mostly a serious grey both of the officials and the culturally mixed people in the courtyard who were stranded in Beijing after their prince’s head was chopped off.  For me, the dancers with choreography by Jessica Lang and Kanji Segawa were a delight, a bit of pleasure in an unfun society.  The movements of the performers and the flow of the story were well configured by Director Zambello, with her usual professional touches like having a follower brutally pushed back when trying to comfort the prince going to his execution and the placement of the guillotine scaffold against the backdrop of a full moon once the wrap around frame opens up at the final scene. Lighting design was by Amith Chandrashaker and projection design by S. Katy Tucker. Looking at photos to select for this blog report gave me a much higher appreciation for this work’s set, costume, lighting. and projection design than I had at the performance. They are exceptional.

Kudos to Washington National Opera for providing a much anticipated and rewarding night at the opera.  The new production with a new ending successfully achieved its goals.  After this one, you still may not like Princess Turandot, but you will understand her better, and the primary message of the opera, the redemptive power of love, comes through more clearly and thus, more powerfully in this version.  Now the challenge rests with us, to apply that force in our own lives.  One wonders what the ending might have been if Puccini had been given more time, likely striving for the same effect.  Judged as entertainment, this and Alfano’s version were closer in merit, but in meeting opera’s goal of being a humanizing influence, WNO’s is the winner. For the record, my wife was even more enthusiastic about the new production and ending than I was and feels I should have used more superlatives in describing the performance. Sigh…

The Fan Experience: WNO scheduled performances of Turandot for May 11, 13, 17, 19, 22, 24, 25.  Performances on May 24 and 25 will have a different cast.  The opera is sung in Italian with English subtitles shown overhead.  The performance lasts 2.5 hrs not including a 25 minute intermission.  This is a new production with a world premiere ending and is a coproduction of WNO, Opèra de Montrèal, and Dallas Opera.  May 11 was the WNO Gala performance of the opera.  A pre-opera talk is available one hour before curtain time for ticket holders. While performances are sold out, some tickets get returned to the Kennedy Center which are then made available; try checking the website or calling the box office frequently if you wish to snag a ticket.

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 running every 15 minutes, are an excellent option.  There is an advantage in getting there a bit early.  KC frequently has multiple performances on its different stages overlapping that can create traffic jams.

There are snack stands in the main lobby, and on the Terrace level, the KC Café offers food cafeteria style at moderate prices; fine dining is available on the Terrace level in the Roof Terrace Restaurant.  Food and drinks except water are not allowed inside the opera house, but you can purchase reusable capped containers with your drinks that you can take inside. Take the container back with you on your next KC visit to get a discount on your drink.

Opera Lafayette's Les Fêtes de Thalie: Entertainments Without Sadness

Opera Lafayette is an 18th century French opera company in present day, combining elements of the Paris Opera and the Opera Comique, often Americanized in presentation but always authentic in its approach to the music.  OL serves two metropolitan areas – Washington DC and New York City, while maintaining strong connections to performers and musicologists in France, even having performed at Versailles.  They are in the process this month of concluding their 2023-2024 season with their final production in DC and a festival including two of three productions from this season plus a gala in NYC.  Thus, with Mouret’s Les Fêtes de Thalie, they bring to an end a season whose theme has been the influence of Madame de Maintenon, the second wife of Louis XIV, on French music.  It also concludes three consecutive seasons of exploring the roles of famous French women in influencing French music; Madame de Pompadour and Marie Antionette were themes in the previous two years.  I’ve about run out of superlatives to use for a company that so consistently provides delightful and culturally enriching programs not often performed today or heard elsewhere, and Fêtes is no exception.  OL’s Les Fête de Thalie was a modern premiere of the work, not performed for the last 250 years according to Ryan Brown, the Founder and Artistic Director of Opera Lafayette. 

Cast ensemble at ending of Les Fêtes de Thalie. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Frankly, Madame de Maintenon was a bit of a buzz kill and Fêtes was a counter reaction to that dampening.  Her influence on the king gave her influence over presentations at court.  She also had strong influence on the education of young women.  More detail can be found in  OperaGene’s reports on OL’s two previous productions this season, Couperin le Grand and From Saint-Cyr to Cannons: Moreau and Handel’s Ester.  While she possessed fine qualities of high moral purpose, Madame de Maintenon persuaded a previously fun-loving king later in life to limit and largely restrict music and theater performances at Versailles to productions consistent with her views on morality, lacking sexual innuendo.  The music scene in Paris became more progressive and increasingly influenced by Italian composers and artists, becoming more distanced from the Royal Court.  In the opera-ballet, Les Fêtes de Thalie (1714), composer Jean-Joseph Mouret and librettist Joseph de La Font championed comedy in opera and introduced the audience to real life characters they could see as themselves rather than royalty and gods, the primary characters in previous French operas.  Mouret’s opera-ballet also strayed from the five-act continuous story plotline to a prologue and three scenes related only by theme, later revised to include an ending Critique scene in response to criticisms of the work’s progressive aspects.  Mouret’s opera-ballet enjoyed great success for the next fifty years.  While it did not completely change the Paris opera scene, it did have an impact due to that success.

Apollo (Jonathan Woody) tries to reason with Melpoméne (Angel Azzarra) on his right and Thalie (Paulina Francisco) on his left. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Composer Mouret is not well known today although one piece of his music is; he wrote the opening theme used by PBS’ series Masterpiece Theater, a rondeau from his Suite de Symphonies heard by millions worldwide.  He wrote a few other operas that achieved a measure of success and some that did not, none performed today.  He was very successful as a composer of music for salons and the theater.  His music and vocals are very tuneful and lively, some with pathos, very pleasing to the ear and quite representative of French baroque music, primarily featuring strings with flavorings from flute/recorder, woodwinds, and light percussion, and harpsichord for vocals and recitative.  The most attention-grabbing music in Fêtes to me was in the third vignette, a bit more demonstrative and colorful.  This version of the opera-ballet was created by harpsichordist Korneel Bernolet.  The 23-member Opera Lafayette Orchestra in the pit directed by renown conductor Christophe Rousset played Mouret’s music expertly and beautifully accompanying singers and dancers, making for an enjoyable, highly pleasing evening.  The Terrace Theater pit was quite deep and Mr. Rousset jumped up and down a few times to be seen and start the comedy.  Mr. Rousset also conducted and played harpsichord in OL’s Couperin le Grand.  

Captain Acaste (Jean-Bernard Cerin) receives entreaty from mother Belise (Patrick Kilbride). Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

This was Opera Lafayette’s most ambitious project of the season, taking some 5-6 years in conception, study, and delivery, according to Mr. Brown.  Fêtes tells three different stories of love and women in different stages of life (the Girl, the Coquettish Widow, and the Wife), in addition to a Prologue to explain the premise and an ending Critique to settle an operatic argument.  Nine singers are employed, most singing multiple roles and performing excellently as members of the chorus when off stage.  In addition, featured were eight dancers, including five choreographers, from two different dance companies, with each scene including a different style of dance.  Many singers also added some dance moves.  Director Catherine Turocy did a marvelous job staging the action, moving so many players around the modest size stage of the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, and enhancing comic elements that were not so subtle.  The set was limited to a few props (Deborah Thomas) and lighting effects (Christopher Brusberg) which sufficed with so much going on to capture our attention.  Each scene was a different setting (Jeffery Martin) and required different costumes (Marie Anne Chiment), covering a large swath of eras from the Greek muses to a modern-dressed emissary from Apollo laying down the law.  The subtitles in English shown overhead with some absenteeism, especially for a segment when the Widow was presumably explaining her feelings. 

A seated father Cléon (Jonathan Woody) and mother Belise (Patrick Kilbride) watch sailor dancers perform. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

(spoilers occur in the remainder of the report) The Prologue features an argument between the muses of tragedy, Melpomène, and comedy, Thalie, over which should control the opera stage.  Appearing first in a shimmering royal purple robe and commanding the stage briefly alone was soprano Angel Azzarra whose powerful, dramatic voice explained the seriousness of the situation.  This quickly turned seriously funny as soprano Paulina Francisco with a lighter, more lyrical sound and dressed in punk rock, sassy attire appeared to claim the comedies’ turn, stating that people weary of crying while no one tires of laughing.  Apollo, the Greek god of music, exasperated and compromising, is forced to appear to settle the issue.  Handsomely played and sung by OL regular, bass-baritone Jonathan Woody dressed in a suit, rules tragedies will be performed in the winter and comedies in the summer, apparently a real trend in operas of the day.  Singers and dancers appeared on the stage for a rousing, comical finale to the scene.

Suitor Léandre (Scott Brunscheen) and Doris (Angel Azzerra) observe suitor Chrisogon state his case, while Isabel (Pascale Beaudin) listens, hiding in the back. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

La fille (The Girl): the first of the three theme-linked stories takes place in a harbor where a father, Cléon played by Mr. Woody, arrived after an extended absence to reclaim his wife and family, having been extracted from capture by Captain Acaste.  Acaste was well played and sung by tenor Jean-Bernard Cerin who is also the suitor for his daughter, Léonore.  She is more modestly sung and played with hesitation to marry by Ms. Francisco.  OL veteran, tenor Patrick Kilbride in a skirt role appeared as Belise, the mother who is unware her husband is back and has a yearning for Acaste herself.  Acaste plays to her desire to make Léonore jealous.  Mr. Kilbride’s mother portrayal is sung and played beautifully, funny and convincing; he steals the scene.  Additional singers (John Taylor Ward and Ariana Wehr) and dancers (Julian Donahue, Patrick Pride, and Julia Bengtsson) as sailors joined in an entertaining closing to the scene.  Mr. Ward’s aria, an affirmation of marital love, was warm and touching.

Widow Isabel (Pascale Beaudin) joins in with party dancers. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

La Vueve Coquette (the Coquettish Widow): In a country scene, Isabel, sung with a lovely tone and played with coquettishness by soprano Pascale Beaudin, sings that there are some advantages of widowhood, a thematic bookend to Léonore’s citing the advantages of not getting married in the first place.  Her friend Doris, ably played and sung by Angel Azzarra, pleads with her to pick one of her two suitors to marry.  The two suitors arrive to plead their case, Léandre, a military man played by tenor Scott Brunscheen, and Chrisogon, a rich businessman, played by bass-baritone John Taylor Ward.  Both sang beautifully, Mr. Bruhscheen with military resolve and Mr. Ward with a financier’s swagger.  Chrisogon has ordered up an entertainment, a village wedding party, to win Isabel’s favor.  Soprano Ariana Wehr sang compellingly, extolling the virtues of marriage and Pragnya Thamire provided a lovely bride, while dancers Mytreyi Nair, Deviga Valiyil, Julian Donahue, and Siri Tanjore made it a party.  A moment of potential sadness occurred at the end as Isabel chose neither suitor but was quickly turned to laughter as both singers sang that life with one less mistress wasn’t so bad.

Spouses Caliste (Pascale Beaudin) and Dorante (Jean-Bernard Cerin) with masks and emotional distance removed. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

La Femme (the Wife): In a costume party ballroom scene that would fit well at the Venetian Carnivale, Caliste, played and sung with resolve by Pascale Beaudin ponders her husband Dorante’s sexual adventure with a woman who he has fallen for but who had not revealed her face as yet, with a theme of how to keep love current in a long term relatiohship.  The husband, played and sung with fickleness by Jean-Bernard Cerin pleads with the object of his desire to remove her mask.  Meanwhile, Caliste’s friend Dorine, played and sung with brightness and charm by Ariana Wehr, her standout role of the opera-ballet, worries her husband Zerbin might be doing the same thing, though Zerbin played and sung with party-reluctance as a wing man for Dorante by Scott Brunscheen remains faithful to Dorine.  Dorante incriminates himself time and again, but when the potentially murderous moment of mask removal arrives to reveal the woman was Caliste, Dorante declares this proves Caliste is the only one he loves and Caliste accepts him back willingly.  We were treated to dancers (Julian Donahue, Patrick Pride, Julia Bengtsson, and Adele Lorraine) performing during most of the entire scene.

Costume party dancers perform. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

In the ending Critique, Polyhymnia, the Muse of Music, played and sung by Ariana Wehr, appears to credit the opera-ballet’s success to its music while Thalie (Paulina Francisco) reappears to give the credit to her libretto, making snippy remarks to each other.  They are joined by Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance, played and sung by Pascale Beaudin to give all the credit to the dancing.  Each singer delights but it is the arrival of Apollo’s emissary Momus, the god of mockery, who settles the argument: all added value to the opera-ballet.

Terpsichore has reminded me to add another word about the inclusion of dance.  I am happy to because I am always happy to see dance included in opera productions.  There were four dancers each from two opera companies that OL has worked with before: Kalinidhi Dance, with dances choreographed by Anuradha Nehru and Pragnya Thamire, and the New York Baroque Dance Company, with dances choreographed by Julia Bengtsson, Julian Donahue, and Caroline Copeland.  I most enjoyed the dances in the widow and wife scenes.  The Indian dance moves with clapping and foot stamping by the Kalinidhi dancers in the widow scene were a treasure, and the fancy and elegant moves at the costume party by the baroque dancers were thrilling.

Momus (Patrick Kilbride) reaches judgment on the cases made by Thalie (Paulina Francisco), Terpsichore (Pascale Beaudin), and Polyhymnia (Ariana Wehr). Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

It's easy to understand why Les Fêtes de Thalie was huge success in its day, liberating to some degree a repressed society from strict entertainment rules, reminiscent I think of arrival of rock and roll in the America of the 1950s, i.e. the Ed Sullivan variety show on TV would not show Elvis below the waist, his gyrations offending many of the older set.  I also agree with Momus that each element of opera-ballet, the music and singing, the story and poetry, and dance are gifts to its audience.  It is also easy to see how such a work as Fêtes could be successful today in a time when we can sorely use some entertainments without sadness, especially if delivered with the extensive investigation, authenticity, the high quality of performers, charm, and delight of Opera Lafayette productions. Once again, OL has brought forward a mostly forgotten, but still worthy, work within a framework fully accessible to modern audiences. Bravo!

The Fan Experience: Opera Lafayette scheduled performances for Les Fêtes de Thalie on May 3 and 4 in the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center.  The performance was about 2.5 hours including one intermission.  The opera-ballet was performed in French with English subtitles shown overhead.  Soprano Margot Rood was originally part of the cast but had to withdraw due to health reasons; her roles were sung by Paulina Francisco.

Opera Lafayette is offering a printed program book for the season of Madame de Maintenon for a $5 charge; it includes expert essays for each of this season’s productions.  An online version is available for free at this link.  The pre-opera talk hosted by Ryan Brown and featuring a talk by music historian Professor Rebecca Harris-Warrick took place one hour before the performance.  She worked with Opera Lafayette in planning this work and has a feature article in the program book.  I searched in vain for a recording of the opera-ballet.

An OL fund raising gala is planned for May 7 in NYC and performances in NYC were scheduled for:

October 26, 2023, Couperin Le Grand at the Kosciuszko Foundation

May 7, 2024, Les Fêtes de Thalie at Museo del Barrio

May 9, 2024, From Saint-Cyr to Cannons: Moreau and Handel’s Ester in St. Peter’s Church

Opera Philadelphia's Madame Butterfly: Brilliant Theater and a Fine Work of Art

There was an unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach when I sat down Saturday night in the Academy of Music to watch Opera Philadelphia’s new production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.  The company had widely broadcast that with this production they wanted to address the harm done by the work’s orientalism and creation and promulgation of the stereotype of the submissive Asian woman…and Cio Cio San would be partially played by a puppet!  Were they going to blow up this truly great operatic work, beloved by millions over its 120-year history?  It didn’t help that NY Times critic Zachary Woolfe had published an article three weeks ahead of the opera’s opening night, accusing it of seeming “to want to apologize for the production’s very existence”.  I am happy to be able to report that, to the contrary, this production features amazing singing, brilliant theater, the opera’s great music and libretto intact, offering a more complex treatment of Puccini’s great opera. 

Cio Cio San (Karen Chia-Ling Ho and puppet) with puppet artists Hua Hua Zhang and Jacinta Yelland in the background. Photo by Sofia Negron; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Madame Butterfly (1904) by Giacomo Puccini and librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on the eponymous play by David Belasco, tells the tragic story of a 15-year-old Geisha, Cio Cio San, known by her friends as Butterfly.  She has fallen in love with and decided to cast her fate with Lt. Pinkerton of the US Navy at the turn of the 20th century, a time when Japan was still a mysterious Far Eastern country that the West knew little about.  Enchanted and infatuated with Cio Cio San’s doll like behavior, Pinkerton arranges to marry her through the marriage broker Goro and buys a home for them in Nagasaki.  Spoiler alert for the following description: Cio Cio San has totally committed to the relationship, even adopting the Christian religion, causing her family to disown her.  Pinkerton never intended permanence, planning to have a “real marriage” one day with an American woman back home.  Pinkerton soon returns to the US, promising his Japanese bride he will return.  Cio Cio San endures three years without him, remaining faithful and hopeful.  When he learns that she has born him a son, now three years old, he returns with his American wife intent on taking his son back to the US.  Cio Cio San agrees if Pinkerton will come to see her.  When he arrives, she has ended her life.

Cio Cio San (puppet and Karen Chia-Ling Ho) and Lt. Pinkerton (Anthony Ciaramitaro). Photo by Sofia Negron; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Opera Philadelphia wanted this to be a new version of the opera and consulted with members of the Asian community for advice.  They engaged Yuki Izumihara for production design and Ethan Heard, as director.  Mr. Heard is the co-founder of Heartbeat Opera, celebrated for presenting classic operas modernized for today’s audiences.  He wanted to create a staging that addressed the issues of stereotyping and cultural misinterpretation.  Several times in the opera, Cio Cio San is referred to as doll-like.  Ms. Izumihara who first saw Madame Butterfly in 2019 loved the music but was made uncomfortable, feeling “uprooted” by the text.  She asserts that Puccini and others fell into a trap by creating false images that live on, especially for works as popular as Puccini’s opera.  She conceived the idea of having Cio Cio San played by a real doll, a puppet, explaining that in Japan dolls are not simply thrown away but given a proper good-bye.  She desired to “put our emphasis on the future – positivity and empowerment”.

Pinkerton (Anthony Ciaramitaro) and Cio Cio San (puppet and Karen Chia-Ling Ho). Photo by Sofia Negron; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

One can easily find articles by both American and Japanese authors that criticize Madame Butterfly and Puccini’s Turandot for engaging in orientalism as well as ones that defend Puccini’s efforts.  Other companies have produced Butterfly versions attempting to address these issues, ranging from having Cio Cio San in a California Japanese internment camp of WWII to having the entire production be a figment of Pinkerton’s imagination.  OP’s version keeps things the same as the original but adds depth to Cio Cio San’s character.  At the same time, there has been no outcry of strong support to stop performing the opera traditionally anywhere, as yet.  The music is universally loved, and the opera is one of the most popular today, even in Japan, where many accept it for what it is in order to enjoy the music.  Personally, my reaction to Cio Cio San over many performances has been to regard her as a strong and willful young person trying to survive and find a better life, having lost wealth and societal standing after her father committed suicide at the request of the emperor, and who needed to support herself in a male dominated society demanding strict adherence to societal rules.  That’s a lot of weight to carry.  She endures yet another tragedy and loss of honor when she is misled by the privileged American Pinkerton, who deceived himself that his actions were not harmful, despite warnings from the consul Sharpless.  

Cio Cio San (puppet and Karen Chia-Ling Ho behind) seek assurance from conflicted consul Sharpless (Anthony Clark Evans). Photo by Sofia Negron; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

I suppose that truth in advertising required OP to make their intentions widely known, but I almost wish they had saved that discussion until the work had been seen.  This production is a fine work of art that for me is justified on that basis alone.  It adds a modern element of depth to the lead character with the spiritual side beginning to sense all is not well, while allowing Puccini’s great music and the universality inherent in the story to endure.  It is also a clarion call to everyone to see the “other”, whether the person across the ocean or next door, as the complex, whole individual that they are.

The cast for this production was outstanding.  Cio Cio San was played by Opera Philadelphia newcomer, soprano Karen Chia-Ling Ho with a naturalness that made me believe it was Cio Cio San singing.  The puppet played the doll persona that Pinkerton fantasized, and the soprano played her spirit, singing as one.  Ms. Ho has a lovely voice that she embodies with heart-piercing emotion, singing the role beautifully while amazingly serving for much of the opera as a puppet handler.  She was assisted at times in that effort by two handlers on stage in dark uniforms, Hua Hua Zhang, the creator of the puppet and Jacinta Yelland.  The puppet Cio Cio San gave an academy award performance, bending the entire audience to her will.  She was captivating with head movements and gestures fully displaying the emotions she was experiencing, at times loving in Pinkerton’s arms and at times shaking on the floor from fear and heartbreak.  I was drawn into the fantasy.

Maid Suzuki (Kristen Choi) chastises marriage broker Goro (Martin Bakari). Photo by Sofia Negron; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Newcomer to OP, tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro who played Pinkerton has a powerful instrument, and sang marvously, a very satisfying Pinkerton.  Baritone Anthony Clark Evans, last seen at OP as Rigoletto also sang well and was convincing as the conflicted consul.  OP veteran Kristen Choi, amazing in everything she does, was a standout, singing and acting as Cio Cio San’s maid Suzuki, whether trying to soothe her mistress or expressing the trauma of what was happening.  Tenor Martin Bakari provided an effective Goro, the marriage broker.  There were many supporting cast members who participated effectively in supporting the drama and enhancing the production.  In other solo roles, baritone Kyle Miller played the role of the suitor Yamadori and mezzo-soprano Anne Marie Stanley played the role of Kate Pinkerton.  The son was well played by young actor Jayden Wu.

The happy morning of Pinkerton’s arrival for (l to r) Cio Cio San (Karen Chia-Ling Ho and puppet backed by puppet artists), the son Trouble (Jayden Wu), and Suzuki (Kristen Choi). Photo by Sofia Negron; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Puccini’s gorgeous music for Madame Butterfly is critical in powerfully conveying the emotions in this drama.  The Opera Philadelphia Orchestra led by Conductor Corrado Rovaris played the score beautifully.  I was aware time and again of how I was being affected, with my emotions led and enhanced by the music.  Puccini’s use of themes from Japanese folk songs and the US national anthem has been criticized at times, but the beauty of the music cannot be challenged.  Director Heard chose to place the Opera Philadelphia Chorus in boxes on each side of the stage, creating a pleasing enhanced stereophonic effect.  The chorus was a strong addition to the performance singing with clarity and feeling, led by Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden.

Reality sets in and Cio Cio San (puppet backed by puppet artist and Karen Chia-Ling Ho) decides she cannot tolerate a life of dishonor. Photo by Sofia Negron; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The set for the production was a sparely furnished room in Pinkerton’s house, with a model of the house on a substantial, ornate dining table.  A screen behind the room showed atmospheric images with the viewing area opening and closing following the movements of the performers.  The costumes for the principals and supporting cast were appropriate.  Clearly, the focus of this production was on the characterizations and the emotions of the singer actors.  The novel use of puppetry was undoubtedly a contributing factor in the strong attendance at the performances.  The beautiful and entrancing puppet was made by Philadelphia-based puppet artist Hua Hua Zhang, also on stage as the chief puppeteer.  The life-like movements were very effective in eliciting reactions from the audience.

Another novel and affecting element of the performance was OP’s use of the opportunity during the musical interlude between acts at the beginning of act III to show photos and a listing of accomplishments on the screen at the back of the set of Japanese and Japanese American women activists surrounding the time period of the opera, offering strong counterexamples to the submissive woman stereotype.

I recommend seeing both the traditional versions of Madame Butterfly and Opera Philadelphia’s version, keeping an open mind and an awareness of the issues during both. 

 The Fan Experience: Madame Butterfly performances were scheduled for April 26, 28, May 3 and 5.  The limited tickets remaining can be accessed through this link.  Performed in Italian with English supertitles.

Opera Baltimore's The Impresario: Hilarity and Heart in a True Story(s)

For Opera Baltimore’s concluding opera of the season, the company chose to present Mozart’s The Impresario, creatively expanded and personalized, in celebration of the company’s 15th anniversary.  In outline, Mozart’s work is a one-act German singspiel that tells the story, in comedic fashion, of a competition between rival sopranos for a role in an opera company.  Artistic and General Director Julia Cooke had made the decision to involve and empower the singers she employed to help develop their roles and relationships.  OB’s singers used the opera’s plotline to tell their characters’ stories, shaded by their experience and exaggerated for comedic effect, all illuminating the underlying challenges faced by opera companies.  The Impresario was selected in part to add opera comedy to the line-up.  The performances were intended to be spirited fun, enriching for both performers and patrons; and, in that they succeeded, but like with the best comedies, there were touching moments as well.

The impresario (Gina Perregrino) takes a phone call. Photo by Caitlin Moore Photography; courtesy of Opera Baltimore.

Mozart intended for The Impresario to be a bit of non-serious fun. In 1786, Emperor of the Austrian empire, Franz Josef, assigned both Antonio Salieri, the court opera director and the leading composer of the day, and Mozart, whom he also employed as a composer, the task of composing a musical work as entertainment for a family dinner.  The emperor wished to demonstrate his commitment to support both Italian, Salieri’s task, and German opera, Mozart’s task (the Viennese largely spoke German).  He had stages set up at opposite ends of a long palatial hallway with eighty invitees dining in the middle.  Mozart’s German singspiel, The Impresario, less than an hour long with only 24 minutes of music, was performed first and was followed by Salieri’s Italian buffa opera.  Reports of the experience favored Salieri’s comedic Italian opera as the winner, but history has selected Mozart’s German “play with music” which is still performed today, often by college opera companies.  Mozart wrote an overture, two solo arias, and two ensemble numbers for the work.  The original libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie, especially the spoken dialog is often modified by opera companies to include additional humor that works today.

l to r: Madame Goldentrill (Robin Steitz), the agent Mr. Angel (Jason Garcia-Kakuk), and Mademoiselle Silverpeal (Emily Casey); the rivalry begins. Photo by Caitlin Moore Photography; courtesy of Opera Baltimore.

Opera Baltimore commissioned Eric McKeever, screen writer and performing baritone, who has previously worked with the company, to write a new libretto and script; Ms. Cooke brainstormed with him about stories and character presentations.  The non-singing impresario in the original was named Frank.  OB changed the name and the gender to Francine, a la Ms. Cooke, OB’s impresario, and Francine was given an aria and a duet (Ms. Cooke is a former singer).  Additional operatic arias and comic elements were utilized lengthening the singspiel to around two hours.  The script made fun of just about everything, including poking fun at the company’s name for being confused with previous area companies now out of business.  Some of the arias were sung using original text and language and some were altered to English and modified to fit the story line and to work with Mozart’s music.  An interesting aspect demonstrating Ms. Cooke’s emphasis on empowering the singers was that the two competing sopranos sang both the aria that Mozart assigned to each and were allowed to add an aria of their choice, picked to emphasize their talents, much as they would do when competing for roles in real life. 

Madame Goldentrill (Robin Steitz) performs from the floor for the impresario (Gina Perregrino) and her assistant Herr Bluff (Henrique Cavalho). Photo by Caitlin Moore Photography; courtesy of Opera Baltimore.

The cast was made up of five excellent, accomplished young singers.  Francine was played by mezzo-soprano Gina Perregrino, who had one aria adapted from Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito and a soprano duet adapted from Le Nozze di Figaro.  It was well done, and it was a treat to have a mezzo voice added to the mix.  She had even more dialog and acted convincingly as Ms. Cooke…uh, I mean the beleaguered impresario in charge, serving as an anchor for the fictious company Opera Baltimore and for the performance overall.  Her “not-so-good-at-assisting assistant” Herr Bluff was played by baritone Henrique Carvalho.  His role was expanded to make him an aspiring singer, and he was given an aria adapted from Le Nozze di Figaro, which was performed with the enthusiasm and earnestness of an aspiring singer.  Tenor Jason Garcia-Kakuk played a singing role as Angel, a “wily slick” agent, presenting the cases for both sopranos to the impresario and trying to subdue the war between them.  He sang well in two trios with the sopranos, and his portrayal as a wise guy with a NYC accent was amusing.  The two sopranos were both comedic delights both with acting and their vocal embellishments.  Soprano Robin Steitz portrayed Madame Goldentrill, a former superstar coming out of rehab to try to re-establish her career, while acting as though her former status was still in place.  Soprano Emily Casey played Mademoiselle Silverpeal, an aspiring young singer, gentle in persona, but ready to set the house on fire to defend her status and protect her career.  I enjoyed the pair singing the arias Mozart wrote for each character sung in original form, but I especially enjoyed the arias each selected for themselves.  Ms. Steitz sang a cabaret torch song, “Je ne t’aime pas” by Kurt Weil, with charming allure.  Ms. Casey sang “Regnava nel silenzio” from Lucia di Lammermoor beautifully and added to the humor in dialog by affecting (I assume) a deep southern accent.  Both were impressive with vocal fireworks as they sang higher and higher to impress the impresario in one trio with the agent joining to try to calm the two warriors, and eventually a trio where peace is made for the sake of art.

Herr Bluff (Henrique Carvalho) questions Mademoiselle Silverpeal (Emily Casey). Photo by Caitlin Moore Photography; courtesy of Opera Baltimore.

Impresarios know that something unexpected always happens.  The nature of the work caused Ms. Cooke not to use covers, and unfortunately tenor Norman Shankle who was due to play the Agent suffered an injury the week before performances.  She was able to get Mr. Garcia-Kabuk to fill in on short notice, causing one aria to be dropped due to limited practice.  Nevertheless, Mr. Shankle, still committed to the production, participated in a seated, non-speaking role as the anonymous donor offering monetary support if Ms. Goldentrill was given the role.

Herr Bluff (Henrique Carvalho) looks on as the rivalry between Madame Goldentrill (Robin Steitz) and Mademoiselle Silverpeal (Emily Casey) gets physical. Photo by Caitlin Moore Photography; courtesy of Opera Baltimore.

Mozart’s music and arias in The Impresario are the quality we expect of Mozart, and the orchestrations are highly enjoyable.  The modified libretto was designed to work well with Mozart’s music and was successful in that.  I was curious how well piano accompaniment alone, as OB uses for their concert operas would work.  Pianist Joy Schreier, who frequently works with Opera Baltimore, played beautifully as I have come to expect.  I was immediately struck by how much I enjoyed hearing melodies and harmony from the overture played by piano alone.  She, working with Conductor Joshua Hong did well with timing, which included what seemed to be spontaneous eruptions of songs from the singers and the pianist at several points, all for comedic effect.

l to r: Herr Bluff (Henrique Cavalho), the impresario (Gina Perregrino), Mr. Angel (Jason Garcia-Kabuk), Madame Goldentrill (Robin Steitz), and Mademoiselle Silverpeal (Emily Casey) celebrate peace for the sake of art.

This concert version was performed semi-staged in the regal ballroom of the Engineers Club with the stage at one end, reminiscent of its venue for the performance for the emperor.  Semi-staged seemed almost full staged since the action takes place in a theater; the singers were in character with interacting and moving about the stage for comic effect.  Director Claire Choquette did a masterful job keeping the action flowing and devising set ups for comic elements, particularly the ringside effects for the battle between the two sopranos.  Much of the humor was slapstick, Chaplinesque in style.  However, the transformations of the sopranos who discussed how they had come to sing opera were truly heart rending, as their motives for their behavior became clear.  The final comments by Francine surely came directly from Ms. Cooke in emphasizing the singers’ involvement to seek fulfilment by becoming artists and their need for connection to the community they serve, and while challenging, it is worth it.

Bravo to Opera Baltimore for taking the risk of offering its audience something original, that deepened the understanding of all that they had shared over 15 years.  I found it to be a humorous, heartwarming, and entertaining afternoon; I never once felt the urge to look at my iPhone.  I was eager to see what was going to happen next. 

 The Fan Experience: The Impresario was performed in the Engineers Club on April 10, 12, and 14.  The opera was performed in English with some arias performed in the original language; subtitles in English were shown.  The performance with one intermission lasted close to 2.5 hours.

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

Opera Baltimore will soon be announcing its new season for 2024-2025 and is offering a 16th Season Preview Party on June 4.

From a personal perspective, I hope the success the company is enjoying does not cause them to move completely away from the concert format.  As I previously wrote, when first attending Baltimore Concert Opera performances, “The power of operatic voices is a thing to behold, especially engaged with them for an entire evening.  It will surprise you when you encounter these voices up close for the first time.  You’ve probably experienced the difference between hearing opera singers live in the major opera houses and hearing them on a recording and gotten a taste of the power and clarity of the live performance.  Well, hearing them a few feet away takes that experience to yet another level.”  It keeps me coming back.

Washington Concert Opera's La Rondine: Ailyn Perez and the Price of Love

Stars can elevate their team to overcome all obstacles, and sometimes not, as we found out in Sunday afternoon’s NCAA women’s basketball championship final.  Shortly after the game, for those who made it to GW’s Lisner Auditorium, the remainder of the afternoon was enlivened by superstar soprano Ailyn Perez who upped the game of a Puccini opera still trying to find its way home.  She, along with an excellent cast overall, backed by Conductor Antony Walker and the Washington Concert Opera Orchestra and Chorus, made it an evening and an opera to remember.

Ailyn Perez as Magda in WCO’s La Rondine. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

La Rondine (1917, The Swallow) is a three-act opera by composer Giacomo Puccini, working with librettist Giuseppe Adami for the first time.  This was a period of experimentation for Puccini.  There was much going on in the world: composers were changing the face of music and operetta had become the rage; WWI broke out in Europe, delaying the opera’s premiere.  Puccini’s personal life had suffered a tragic loss.  La Rondine was his second opera after Madama Butterfly, and there would be an output of one act works in 1918 before his unfinished Turandot in 1926.  In 1910, a Viennese opera company wanted Puccini to compose an operetta; instead, he agreed to compose a comic opera, lighter in nature.  This work, La Rondine, was not well received in its day nor when first produced in the US; it languished in relative obscurity for many years.  A popular version by the New York City Opera in 1984 and more recently it’s championing by soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna has led to a revival of interest, appearing occasionally in current day.  In fact, a version staring soprano Angel Blue and tenor Jonathan Tetelman is playing this month at the Metropolitan Opera.

Mario Chang as Ruggero and Ailyn Perex as Magda, backed by Conductor Antony Walker and the WCO Orchestra and Chorus. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

To understand the issues raised with La Rondine, it’s helpful to know the plot.  The opera begins in the Paris of the 1830s, similar to Puccini’s La Bohème, but in a salon for the wealthy, not a tenement for starving artists.  Magda is maintained in a lavish house by her benefactor, Rambaldo, whose company she enjoys though he is not a love interest.  Her poet friend, Prunier is musing that romantic love has returned to Paris, and she approves, while Rambaldo still considers true love tired.  Now, a kept woman, Magda remembers a chance meeting she had years ago with a young man who stirred deeper feelings within her.  A stranger arrives, Ruggero, son of a friend of Ramboldo’s and his first time in Paris.  The guests advise him to spend his first night in Paris at Bullier’s café/dance hall.  Prunier has fallen in love with Magda’s maid Lisette and they head to the café.  Magda declines attendance but then sneaks out in a rudimentary disguise to join them for some free time and a night of fun.  There she encounters Ruggero, who does not recognize Magda from the earlier encounter at the salon; she gives her name now as Paulette.  Both are smitten and their love blossoms in the festive scene at the café.  They run off to Nice to live for love, while their debts pile up (friends say Magda has flown south for love like a swallow, a la the title).  Ruggero wants to marry her and move to his hometown, even getting approval in a letter from his mother, but Magda fears her past as Rambaldo’s mistress, which she has not revealed to Ruggero, will ruin their chances for happiness (yes, it does remind one of Verdi’s La Traviata).  After confessing her past, Magda returns to Paris and Ramboldo to save Ruggero from such a fate, leaving Ruggero, who desparately wants to stay together, distraught and feeling abandoned; Prunier early in the opera stated pain and heartache were the price of love. 

Mario Chang as Ruggero and Ailyn Perez with Conductor Antony Walker. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

Never satisfied with the ending of La Rondine, Puccini wrote two more endings before his death in 1924.  The plot gets caught somewhere between a drawing room comedy in the first two acts, fine for an operetta, and a lovers’ tragedy in act 3, fine for an opera.  The drawing room comedy seems a little drawn out, even with comedy brought to the stage by Prunier and Lisette’s antics.  It’s not a tragedy since Magda does not off herself; she simply goes back into Rambaldo’s care.  I was left uncertain how I felt about the characters.  Did Magda spare her young lover or was she sparing herself?  Love of what was exacting a price?  WCO of course presents operas in concert style without costumes, sets, or full staging.  While the concert format has much to recommend it, I feel La Rondine is an opera that needs the costumes and staging to communicate the times and ethos of the drawing room comedy, demonstrating the depth or shallowness of the characters and to make the Lisette-Prunier sparing more fun.

Jonathan Johnson as Prunier and Deanna Breiwick as Lisette. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

The questions raised by the plot aside, Puccini’s music is highly enjoyable, beautiful melodies with lush orchestrations and many gorgeous arias for the singers, solo and in ensembles.  For this work, Puccini even used some dance rhythms at times.  As is usual, Conductor Antony Walker and the WCO Orchestra did a fine job of delivering the music, accenting its beauty, and keeping pace with the vocalists.  At times, I had the feeling of listening to an outstanding orchestra in the big band era.  The WCO Chorus under the direction of David Hanlon added expertly to the fun, coming in at the beginning of Act 2 to elicit the gaiety of the café. 

Javier Arrey as Rambaldo and Ailyn Perez as Magda. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

The cast was headlined by Met Opera stars soprano Ailyn Perez and tenor Mario Chang.  Mr. Chang has a hefty resonant tenor that compels one to want to hear him more often.  I would love to see him in a fully staged performance where he is looking into Ms. Perez’ eyes, rather than at the score.  Ms. Perez, thy voice is beauty!  I had not heard Ailyn Perez in person before, even though she has connections to the area; this international star soprano was once a Young Artist at Wolf Trap Opera.  Her voice is enchanting and her singing of the opera’s main hit aria, “Canzone di Doretta”, was transcendent. 

Jonathan Johnson as Prunier, the poet, and friends of Magda’s, Natalie Conte as Bianca, Tess Ottinger as Yvette, and Melanie Ashkar as Suzy. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

The roles of Lisette and Prunier were sung by soprano Deanna Breiwick and tenor Jonathan Johnson, young singers who have performed at major opera houses around the US.  Ms. Breiwick sang well and gave us a convincing cheeky maid with dashed aspirations and a winning heart.  Mr. Johnson’s bright tenor displayed well in several arias and gave us a reasonably convincing poet, pretentious and exacting in love.  Both of these young performers appear headed for greater things.  Rambaldo was played by a now international opera star and a local favorite, baritone Javier Arrey whose voice adds color to any performance.  He gave Magda’s companion, Rambaldo, a softer edge, more likable.  I couldn’t help but wonder if the storyline would have been aided by having Mr. Arrey play Prunier and Mr. Johnson play Ruggero, giving us a more worldly wise Prunier and a more youthful lover for Magda to abandon.  Playing Magda’s friends and adding to the fun were soprano Tess Ottinger, soprano Natalie Conte, and mezzo-soprano Melanie Ashkar.

With La Rondine, I feel Puccini provided the melodious music and the showcase roles for excellent singers to display their wares for this opera to be a hit, but in the end, had trouble knocking down the three-point shot to win the game, to return to my basketball analogy.  For a “comic opera, lighter in nature”, I would have preferred a happy ending or at least one more bittersweet than bitter.  That said, WCO with this cast, headed by Ms. Perez made for an exceptional performance.

 The Fan Experience:  Washington Concert Opera performances are typically one and done, and for me, are always a highlight of the opera season.  La Rondine was performed on April 7 in Lisner Auditorium.  The opera was performed in concert style and sung in Italian with English surtitles on an overhead screen. 

WCO has announced their productions for the 2024-2025 season which is expanded to three operas instead of their normal two: Puccini’s Manon Lescaut on November 24, Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito on March 1, and Verdi’s Luisa Miller on April 13.  WCO Executive Director stated in her pre-opera comments that Lisner Auditorium would be upgrading their seats over the summer, more legroom for the orchestra section and more comfort for all.

Peter Russell, General Director of Vocal Arts DC, presented a pre-opera talk and provided program notes.  His talks are impressively detailed and informative.

In my experience, all the seats in Lisner Auditorium are fine for viewing the performance, but the sound is probably better towards the center of the auditorium.  Parking on the street around the auditorium is catch as catch can; be sure to read the signs!  Metro is two blocks away.  WCO has a visitor web page with directions and parking info, helpful in finding nearby parking lots.

Washington National Opera's Songbird: Knocked My Socks Off!

First, let’s adjust expectations.  Yes, Songbird was presented by Washington National Opera, but it is not an opera.  Without knowing its history, I doubt you would think of it even as an operetta, though it is based on an operetta by an opera composer, the link that drew it into WNO’s fold.  It is an in-your-face, high energy Broadway musical by way of Bourbon Street, a comic adult fairy tale produced in vaudevillian style.  What it mostly is, is high entertainment, impressive in the quality, attention to detail, and professionalism shining from every aspect – composition, music, singing, acting, choreography, set design, staging, costumes, and lighting.  It’s as though this group of talented performers and creative staff got together and said, “let’s knock their socks off”, and judged for what it is, they succeeded.  WNO has been reaping the rewards; performances have been sold out or close to it.

Songbird (Isabel Leonard) and Piquillo (Ramin Karimloo) perform for tips. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Songbird was a child of COVID.  For the 2021 season, the Glimmerglass Festival, then under the direction of Francesca Zambello, WNO’s Artistic Director, decided to hold performances but modify them to meet with COVID restrictions – outdoors, fewer more spaced-out players, and short in length, no intermissions to avoid crowds at bathrooms.  Remember those days; still got your masks?  Hence, the 75-minute Songbird was born, based on the storyline and melodies from Jacques Offenbach’s operetta, La Périchole (1868), a work successful at the time and sometimes performed today, particularly in Europe; the Met Opera last performed it in 1971, but more frequently performs Offenbach’s opera, The Tales of Hoffman.  The locale was moved from Offenbach’s imagined Lima, Peru to New Orleans to allow for Kelley Rourke to write the libretto for this reduced version in English but also include French as one might encounter in New Orleans.  She gave the street singer La Périchole the moniker of Songbird; this songbird not only sings beautifully but has some fight in her.  Ms. Rourke is the Artistic Advisor for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative and resident dramaturg for The Glimmerglass Festival.  Her libretto for Songbird is masterful.

The speakeasy performers prepare for a wedding Mardi Gras style with Mayor Don Andrès (Edward Nelson) in the center wearing a crown. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The setting for Songbird is a 1920s speakeasy during the prohibition era, giving the villain, the mayor, more power over the staff and patrons there.  The mayor dressed in a disguise to spy on how things are going, and fooling no one, lurks about as a young romantic couple, Songbird and Piquillo, enter to sing for their supper, but the tips are scarce.  Piquillo leaves to find food and an exhausted Songbird sits down to sleep.  Mayor Don Andrès moves in to seduce Songbird with food and money, with a little libation to ease the path.  She momentarily consents to go with him for food, though never intending to sacrifice her virtue or her relationship with Piquillo.  An implausible series of events follows - a letter from Songbird to Piquillo expressing regrets, a sham marriage between the two, one disguised and both tipsy and not recognizing each other at the time, a jail term and escape, and a real marriage for a happy ending.  It is mostly played for laughs and goes down fast.

The Songbird band playing in the New Orleans speakeasy with Conductor James Lowe on the right. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Director Eric Sean Fogel kept the pace moving and the movements were well-choreographed, including the dancing, quite a feat working with a single set as a site of all the action, especially considering there was a lot of action.  The move of Songbird from the grass of Glimmerglass to the Eisenhower Theater stage led to a great deal of embellishment of the set, an authentic looking New Orleans speakeasy, in Mardi Gras colors; kudos to Set & Props Designer James F. Rotondo III.  The set was bathed in atmospheric lighting throughout thanks to Lighting Designer Robert Wierzel.  For this performance style, the singers wore mikes inconspicuously, and the sound was controlled well by Sound Designer Mark Rivet.  The orchestra was placed in an elevated cove in the back of the set.  The delightful costumes of Costume Designers Marsha LeBoeuf and Timm Burrow were also Mardi Gras-esque, including the flapper dress for Songbird. 

l to r: Don Pedro (Jonathan Patton) and Mayor Don Andrès (Edward Nelson) watch as a tipsy Songbird (Isabel Leonard) struggles to remain upright. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

If I were to offer any significant criticism of Songbird, it would be that it goes two-thirds of the work in enjoyable but unrelenting fashion, sort of like starting your dinner at Commander’s Palace with dessert and they serve you Bananas Foster and then they bring out Creole Bread Pudding immediately followed by Praline Parfait.  I was wanting some nice warm soup, but it wasn’t until Piquillo is alone in jail suffering from the loss of Songbird that we have a chance to relax and absorb the drama and romance gone awry, before moving to warp speed again.

Piquillo (Ramin Karimloo) being shepherded to the altar by Don Pedro (Jonathan Patton) on table and Panatellas (Sahel Salam) seated. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The person who made the clever suggestion to use a New Orleans jazz band instead of a French chamber orchestra was Conductor James Lowe who also was responsible for the musical arrangement and orchestration.  The 11-performer group included only two strings, one a bass and the other a banjo, and it featured a sousaphone, a type of tuba that Mardi Gras marchers can wear over their shoulders.  A performer specially added was jazz pianist Jo Ann Daugherty.  At one point, clarinetist David Jones stepped out of the group to match vocal riffs by the mayor before slinking back into the band.  The band played on and played well, great fun and very reminiscent of New Orleans; I would go to that club. 

left: Songbird (Isabel Leonard) holding the letter she has composed for her true love. right: Mayor Don Andrès (Edward Nelson) dons another costume. Photos by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The star of the show was, of course the fabulous Isabel Leonard, an opera superstar and frequent visitor to WNO.  She was terrific, a perfect songbird, in both singing and acting and even threw in a little tap dancing.  Her character Songbird was the heart and moral backbone of the story; when she told the sleazy mayor he wasn’t going to get what he wanted, the audience broke into applause.  I was not surprised to see Ms. Leonard in a Broadway style musical.  She played Carmen in WNO’s 2022 production but before that, she performed at WNO’s welcome back from COVID celebration in 2021, bringing down the house singing Jeanne Tesori’s “the girl in 14G”.  Her partner on stage playing Piquillo was Ramin Karimloo, a popular London West End and Broadway star, including leading roles in the Funny Girl revival and Les Misérables (for which he received a Tony Award nomination).  He covers both low tenor and high baritone roles.  His Broadway spit and polish was obvious in his acting and his attractive, nuanced vocals, a huge positive addition to the cast.  The other lead performer was baritone Edward Nelson who was almost shockingly good in both singing and acting as the womanizing mayor.  I had forgotten he appeared in WNO’s Candide a few years back, but his credits are mostly hard-core opera baritone roles. I guess we can call him a crossover artist…now I’d like to see him as Don Giovanni. 

l to r: The Three Muses (Kresley Figueroa, Cecelia McKinley, and Teresa Perrotta). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The remainder of the cast was mainly the highly talented Cafritz Young Artists and mezzo-soprano Taylor-Alexis Dupont who played the performer Celeste; all contributed handsomely.  The three muses were played by Teresa Perrotta, Kresley Figueroa, and Cecilia McKinley.  Jonathan Pierce Rhodes played the role of Priest and Justin Burgess the role of a local tough guy who made fun of Piquillo’s predicament.  Standouts were Justin Burgess as Don Pedro the manager of the speakeasy and Sahel Salam, his partner in chicanery.  I thought Mr. Salam showed a spark ready for a TV sitcom.

I thoroughly enjoyed Songbird as over the top entertainment.  It was fun just to see this cast and creative team at work.  Not that it needed it, but in this step to the side of opera, Isabel Leonard moved her star even higher in the pantheon.  In his program comments, WNO’s General Director stated, “As you know, we are trying to expand the horizons of how we produce opera, whether it be in content, casting, interpretation, or actual production”.  Songbird has made me sit up and take notice.  We are already promised a new ending in WNO’s Turandot coming up next.  What new wrinkles might be coming in the 2024-2025 season?

The Fan Experience:  Performances of Songbird in the Eisenhower Theater were scheduled for March 9, 11, 15, 17, 20, and 23.  The libretto is mainly in English with French mixed in, and lyrics are shown on the overhead screen; run time was about 75 minutes with no intermission.

WNO’s Turandot will run May 11, 13, 17, 19, 22, 24 and star Ewa Plonka as Turandot and Jonathan Burton as Calaf and will be directed with a new ending by Francesca Zambello.  The 2024-2025 season has been announced at this link.

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 running every 15 minutes, are an excellent option.  There is an advantage in getting there a bit early.  KC frequently has multiple performances on its different stages overlapping that can create traffic jams.

There are snack stands in the main lobby, and on the Terrace level, the KC Café offers food cafeteria style at moderate prices; fine dining is available on the Terrace level in the Roof Terrace Restaurant.  Food and drinks except water are not allowed inside the opera house, but you can purchase reusable capped containers with your drinks that you can take inside.

Annapolis Opera's The Elixir of Love: Colorful and Fun!

No one expected Casablanca to become the hit movie it became, but the combination of characters and their players in a love story shrouded by the backdrop of Nazi occupation during WWII achieved perfection: it hit all the right notes and touched our hearts.  I think a parallel can be drawn with composer Gaetano Donizetti and librettist Felice Romani’s bel canto opera L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love, 1832); a simple love story moving forward with comic mishaps propelled by gorgeous music and arias that touched the hearts of the first audiences to hear it; it became an instant hit and classic, still popular today.  Elixir has a special place in my heart, as does Casablanca, which I have seen more times than I will reveal; L’elisir d’amore was the opera that caused me to fall in love with opera.  Annapolis Opera’s updating of the story certainly bears comment but proved to be colorful and fun, colorful costumes and singing, an arresting set design, and an attractive group of talented players.  Read on.

Nemorino (Brian Wallin) hugs Dulcamara (Timothy Mix) who has provided him with a love potion. Photo by Michael Halbig; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

Romani’s libretto is adapted from a French opera that premiered the prior year, La Philtre, by composer Daniel Auber and librettist Eugène Scribe.   Nicole Steinberg who gave the Annapolis Opera pre-opera talk stated that Donizetti and Romani, the A-team in Italy at the time, wanted to infuse more human poignancy into the story; it worked, and while La Philtre was also a success, it’s telling of the story eventually faded into history while Donizetti’s maintained its status in the opera repertoire.  This is a showcase opera for the music and a soprano, but it really is the tenor’s opera; yet, Elixir contains beautiful arias for all the principal players to display their talents, as well as a major role for the chorus.

Dulcamara (Timothy Mix) and Adina (Véronique Filloux) film a commercial. Photo by David Herron; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

In the classic plotline, the scene is a country village in Spain where a simple, poor man Nemorino, played by a tenor, has fallen in love with the wealthy landowner Adina, played by a soprano, who is pursued by the military sergeant Belcore, played by a baritone.  In AO’s production, Nemorino works as a cameraman for a 1980s television sitcom, where the star is Adina and her co-star is Belcore.  Nemorino has fallen desperately in love with Adina but is too shy to approach her and tell her of his feelings.  She has feelings for him, but it takes a while for her to become fully aware of how strong they are.  Belcore, her on screen and off screen partner, is an arrogant, belligerent young man who finds himself irresistible and believes that Adina will marry him.  Yet, she is hesitating, and we know why even if she doesn’t.  Nemorino hears Adina telling the story of Tristan and Isolde, recounting how Tristan used a love potion to capture Isolde’s heart.  It so happened a caterer, the shyster Dulcamara, is in the studio who claims to have a potion able to cure whatever ails you.  Nemorino approaches Dulcamara seeking a love potion, and of course Dulcamara obliges with such a potion (a bottle of cheap Bordeaux) for the price of what money Nemorino has in his pocket.  Meanwhile, Adina plays Belcore against Nemorino to get our hero to express his true feelings, while Belcore tries to move Nemorino to a new location.  I will reveal no more of the plot since I thinks it’s more fun on a first viewing to witness how the plot unfolds, but you can see how things are set up for some outrageous comedy before arriving at a happy ending.

center left to right: Nemorino (Brian Wallin), Adina (Véronique Filloux), and Belcore (Kyle Oliver) surrounded by the AO Chorus. Photo by Robert Young; courtesy of Annapolis Opera

Donizetti’s pleasurable music was well played by the 26-member Annapolis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Craig Kier, who also serves as AO’s Artistic Director.  Maestro Kier maintained the strong support of the action on stage by the orchestra, providing well-timed pauses to let the audience express its appreciation for the singers’ performances.  While mainly the strings carried the beautiful melodies, I really like the ornamentation and interplay provided by Kimberly Valerio on flute, Emily Madsen on oboe, and Robert Delutis on clarinet, and the harp was played beautifully by Madeline Jarzembak for the opera’s most popular aria “una furtivo lagrima”.

All the principal singers were a delight in this production.  Tenor Brian Wallin, an AO veteran, played Nemorino.  He seemed to walk through his role early on, but his comedic talents came out once he began pursuit of the love potion; I began to like this shy young fellow.  His vocals were generally excellent, and his singing of “una furtiva lagrima” neared perfection; he received the most vigorous and sustained applause of the performance.  Adina was played by French-American soprano Véronique Filloux, whom I’ve had the pleasure of hearing in performances locally as well as in the lead role of Pittsburgh Opera’s Semele.  As Adina, her coloratura virtuosity was impressive, soaring easily from mid-range to high notes on several occasions;  she also provided clearly distinguished high note accents in ensemble pieces, but it is when she sings the gentlest pieces that the beauty of her voice can be best appreciated.  She was a believable actress as Adina, a young woman coming to terms with hidden feelings.  Yet somehow, for me despite the excellent individual performances, the chemistry of attraction between these two never quite developed convincingly, certainly not like that betweeen Rick and Ilsa.

The girls on the set (the AO women’s chorus) chase after Nemorino (Brian Wallin) whose fortune has changed. Photo by Michael Halbig'; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

The performance of baritone Kyle Oliver as Belacore was a special treat early on as he portrayed comically the narcissistic co-star and love interest of Adina.  His threats of physical violence were less convincing.  His smooth singing with a lovely baritone timbre might have won over Adina if he could have gotten over himself.  Baritone Timothy Mix who played Dulcamara, is a fine singer and a terrific comedian; his antics were the comedic highlight of this performance.  His duet with Adina, once she realized her true feelings for Nemorino, was also a highlight. 

One character not mentioned above is Giannetta, Adina’s friend in the classic version, but here more of a competitive understudy grabbing her chances in the spotlight.  Played by soprano Denique Isaac, she was eye catching on stage, and gave us a measure of her impressive singing as she informed the girls of a recent change in Nemorino’s fortunes.  The 22-member chorus also served as supernumeraries, appearing in costume on stage.  They sang beautifully and powerfully, at times perhaps a little too powerfully.  The ensemble piece with Giannetta and the women members of the chorus as stagehands on the set was a special delight.  Kudos to Chorus Master JoAnn Kulesza.

The happy ending with a closing ensemble with Nemorinao (Brian Wallin) kissing Adina (Véronique Filloux) as Dulcamara (Timothy Mix) celebrates the success of his elixir and Belcore and Gianetta are smooching. Photo by Michael Halbig'; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

Director Ben Robinson developed this version of Elixir for Anchorage Opera’s production.  In his message in the program notes, he stated that in adapting a classic opera to a new setting, he “wants to account for every musical nuance that the composer infuses into the piece.”  I believe in that he was largely successful.  Still, the updating was a two-edged sword.  The plot line required a greater suspension of disbelief than the classic versioin, difficult to believe that a reserved television cameraman would be unable to come up with twenty bucks and moving to a nearby set carries less weight than being conscripted to go into the military. The set presenting a television sound stage with lights, cameras, and action worked convincingly; kudos to Scenic Designer Rochele Mac.  Overall, it was a familiar setup for modern viewers raised on television.  The overhead screen showing what a TV audience would be seeing added interest but was also a distraction.  The building tension between the two would-be lovers needed focus and time to simmer to also bring the audience more deeply into the love story.  I thought the pace supported the comedic aspects over the love story.  The colorful costumes were fun and accented the light-heartedness of the opera; kudos to Costume Designer Kathryn Braden.  The action was well-orchestrated by Director Robinson.

Overall, I enjoyed the performance; it was colorful and fun, and I liked being able to view the story through a different lens.  The music and the singing were wonderful.  At the same time, I felt the nostalgia for the 80’s television had been substituted for the simple charm of the classic staging.  It was great entertainment, but for me, the human poignancy got a little bit overshadowed in the shuffle and the love story less compelling.  Also, I felt that Felice Romani’s dialog had been altered to the point that perhaps this version should be given a new name, maybe “Nemorino Loves Adina”, adapted from The Elixir of Love. Perhaps it would have worked better for me if I had not seen the classic version first. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable afternoon, and Annapolis Opera continues to play above its weight in presenting fine arts entertainment to its community.

The Fan Experience: Performances of The Elixir of Love were scheduled for March 15 and 17 in the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts .  The opera was sung in Italian with supertitles in English shown on a screen over the stage; the performance ran about two and half hours, including one intermission.  Parking at the Maryland Hall was free.

This was the last staged production of the season for Annapolis Opera, but two more events are scheduled:

April 14 – Voices of Our Time: Vocal Competition All Stars; tickets at this link.

May 5 – 36th Annual Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition; this is a free event.  I personally recommend this one, some of the best singing you will hear and at a price that can’t be beat. You also get to vote on your favorites.

Opera Lafayette's "From Saint-Cyr to Cannons: Moreau and Handel's Esther" - Theater as Mass Media

I can’t decide.  Was this program music enriched by history or history enriched by music?  Attending an Opera Lafayette performance is not like opening a box of chocolates.  You always know what you are going to get, beautiful music associated with historical events in 17-19th century France with relevance today.  You can of course treat OL productions purely as musical events.  You go; you hear the beautiful music that OL has unearthed that you likely have not heard before, played authentically on period instruments by an outstanding group of musicians.  That is a rich experience in itself, but if interested, there is more, much more.  In this case, Artistic Director Ryan Brown wondered if there was a connection between Jean-Baptiste Moreau’s music for Racine’s 17th century play, Esther, and George Frederic Handel’s use of the play for his own 18th century Esther, now recognized as the first English oratorio.  Mr. Brown is a musical Sherlock Holmes; the game was afoot.

l to r: Soprano Elisse Albian, soprano Paulina Francisco, and mezzo-soprano Kristen Dubenion-Smith. Photo by Jennifer Packard; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

For three seasons, the theme for OL productions has been the influence of powerful women on French music of the 17-18th centuries: Madame de Maintenon this season, Madame Pompadour last season, and Marie Antoinette two years ago.  Madame de Maintenon was first a mistress and then the secret wife of King Louis XIV in his later years until his death, which gave her power and influence with the French court, which she, a strong-willed, religious person, used impactfully.  She had a guiding interest in education and the moral upbringing of young women.  She established a school in Saint-Cyr that could accommodate 250 daughters of impoverished nobility; Saint-Cyr is a town close to the palace at Versailles. This effort also served to reclaim the support of nobles made poorer by their required support of Louis XIV’s wars.  Maintenon discouraged opera at the court as too emotional but supported music and song with the right tone and moral message for court performances and performances at Saint-Cyr. 

l to r: Bass-baritone Jonathan Woody, tenor Patrick Kilbride, and tenor Jesse Darden. Photo by Jennifer Packard; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

One production performed in 1689 gave her more than she bargained for.  She persuaded the great playwright, Jean Racine, employed by the court, to write a play about the biblical story of Esther and called on the court master of music Jean-Baptiste Moreau, to write music suitable for the performance.  In the story, Esther has been selected by Persian King Ahasuerus to be his queen, unaware she was Jewish.  Her cousin Mordecai incurs the wrath of Prime Minister Haman by refusing to bow to him, only willing to bow down to God.  Haman sets in motion a plan to annihilate all Jewish people.  At Mordecai’s urging, Esther pleads with the king, revealing she is Jewish and exposing Haman’s intentions.  Ahasuerus, remembering that Mordecai once saved him from an assassination plot, sides with his bride and orders Haman’s execution.  The choice of this story seemed appropriate and safe, with a religious theme and an avoidance of sexual issues.  Though experts assert the story is not backed by historical record, Esther is viewed as an important parable of God’s deliverance.  Many in Louis XIV’s court also saw Madame de Maintenon reflected in Esther and Louis XIV in Ahasuerus, coincidence or not.  OL’s edition of Moreau’s Esther was created by French Musicologist Anne Piéjus, who worked with Opera Lafayette on this production.

The schoolgirls at Saint-Cyr were trained in theater and acted in performances, a practice not allowed at other schools of the period.  The court provided elaborate sets, costumes, jewelry, and musicians for the shows.  Keep in mind that there was no age of consent in France at that time and young women, often still girls, married early.  Also keep in mind that the acting in the performances was exciting and created feelings of personal empowerment for the girls, generally suppressed for young women of that day.  Finally, consider that male courtiers were known for rakish behavior.  What might have been predicted occurred; the performances became a scandalous affair, causing Madame de Maintenon to clamp down further.  Her agenda to use the theater as social media of the day to promote her view of morality had backfired (see The Fan Experience section below for a note on an essay by Philip Kennicott relating that event to social media today and an essay by Benjamin Bernard on schools of that period offering an alternative to moral education by the church).

Conductor and harpsichordist Justin Taylor. Photo by Jennifer Packard; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

It seems unlikely that Handel knew of Racine’s play or Moreau’s music for it.  Two poets, Alexander Pope and John Arbuthnot turned it into a masque from which Samuel Humphreys wrote a libretto for Handel.  Handel originally composed his work in 1717 for performance at the Earl’s residence where he resided for a while, named Cannons; he then greatly revised the masque, turning Esther into a full oratorio, first presented in 1732 at the Haymarket theater in London.  One might consider it a tribute to Handel that he could lure Opera Lafayette outside of France.  However, it posed a dilemma for musical co-director and guest Justin Taylor: what to select from the two works for an hour and a half performance and how to arrange the excerpts, either interspersed or as two groupings.  Since Madame de Maintenon placed dampening constraints on the music at the court and the singers used were schoolgirls providing further musical constraints, not limitations for Handel, he chose to present them separately with the more lively music of Handel second in the program, all vocals performed concert style.

The program featured six excellent vocalists and 15 musicians, including Mr. Taylor who served as guest conductor while playing the harpsichord, for which he is renown; violinist Jacob Ashworth was concertmaster.  For the Saint-Cyr section of the program, three female singers were utilized as soloists and as a choir.  Paulina Francisco was Soprano I and the relatively straightforward baroque music by Moreau provided a showcase for the beauty of her voice, again reflected when singing arias by Handel.  Soprano II was Elisse Albian whose lovely singing was highlighted by a natural vibrato.  The Alto role was sung effectively by mezzo-soprano Kristen Dubenion-Smith.  The ensemble singing was a strong feature of the performance.  In addition to the vocals, three instrumental lyric interludes were included, with the Entracte providing the most entertaining music of this section, I thought.  The performance included strings, flute, bassoon, oboe, and harpsichord.  The music made for an enjoyable evening, though it was not closely tied to the drama, as is the case for opera.

l to r: Nancy Jo Snider, Justin Taylor, John Thiessen, Freya Creech, Gesa Kordes, Leslie Nero, Jacob Ashworth, Theresa Salomon, Natalie Kress, Keats Dieffenbach, Alissa Smith, Meg Owens, Isaiah Chapman, Serafim Smigelskiy, Anna Marsh, Jessica Powell-Eig, Jonathan Woody. Photo by Jennifer Packard; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

For the Handel section, three male singers joined the women featured in the Moreau section.  The role of Haman was sung by bass-baritone Jonathan Woody (who also served as musical co-director of the program), that of Ahasuerus by tenor Jesse Darden, and tenor Patrick Kilbride was in the role of Tenor II. Interactive singing between some of the characters in the oratorio excerpts heightened the emotional appeal, such as the duets between Ms. Francisco as Esther and Mr. Darden as Ahasuerus.  Handel’s music allowed more color by the singers and allowed more expression of emotion.  Haman was given more prominence in Handel’s version for greater dramatic impact.  Handel used music and vocals from another work of his for parts of Esther, which gave Haman the odd chore of singing about the merit of forgiveness at one point. The finale where the vocalists came together as the choir to sing, “The Lord our enemy has slain” was a fitting, strong finish with added emphasis from a trumpet.  At several points in the oratorio, vocal and musical riffs reminded me of Handel’s The Messiah, and though OL’s small chorus had a gorgeous sound, I did find myself wishing for a much larger chorus.  At one point, perhaps between excerpts, Mr. Taylor seemed to be jamming on the harpsichord.  It might be fun to hear more of that.  Each of the singers was a pleasure, and the musicians again delivered an impressive performance.  Conductor Taylor was wise to place Handel’s Esther last in the program, though the limited excerpts from both Moreau and Handel left me wanting more.

Once again, my wife and I headed home from an Opera Lafayette performance feeling that we had experienced something not just enjoyable, but something special.

The Fan Experience: Opera Lafayette scheduled performances of “From Saint-Cyr to Cannons: Moreau and Handel’s Esther” for February 8 in the Kennedy Center and May 9 in St. Peter’s Church, NYC.  The performance lasted an hour and a half, including one 15-minute intermission.  Moreau vocals were in French and Handel’s in English; subtitles in English were shown for both.  The program brought to mind for me the October 7 attack of Hamas on the people of Israel, but it was set and planned prior to that event. Soprano Margot Rood was originally cast as Soprano I and Esther but had to withdraw due to illness.

OL’s 2023/2024 season will conclude on May 3, 4 with “Mouret’s Les Fêtes de Thalie” in the Kennedy Center and May 9 in the Museo del Barrio, NYC. 

The program book, still online at this writing, contained informative program notes by musicologist Anne Piéjus, an excellent essay by Washington Post Art and Architecture critic Philip Kennicott drawing parallels between the French court’s reception of Esther and impacts of today’s social media, and an also excellent essay by music historian Benjamin Bernard who covered private school education at a contemporaneous boys school, Collège Mazarin, and the girls school at Saint-Cyr, Maison royae de Saint-Louis.  In addition, they held two zoom meetings with creative staff to discuss these productions, Salon I and Salon II, still available online.

On a closing note, there is a 2000 film titled “Saint-Cyr” available for purchase, but only in French, that covers the personal history of Madame de Maintenon and the Esther performances.  Because I had not seen the film, through OL, I asked their expert in the area, musicologist Anne Piéjus for comments on the historical accuracy of the film; she is Director of Research at the CNRS Institute for Research in Musicology.  Many thanks to her for a detailed response.  I have included her comments below, slightly edited to maintain the focus on the film.  She has further piqued my interest in seeing the film and learning more:

“Patricia Mazuy's film (2000) is based on the novel La Maison d'Esther, published in 1991 by actor Yves Dangerfield……another film about Saint-Cyr and Mme de Maintenon, L'allée du roi, made only 4 years earlier, by director Nina Compañez, is based on the magnificent novel L'allée du roi by historian Françoise Chandernagor….. Saint-Cyr is a pretty film, but it's a long way from reality. The sets at Caen Abbey are magnificent, and the story of the two little Normandy girls who speak poor French is fairly faithful to what we know about the linguistic unification sought at Saint-Cyr Theatre and music also helped them to learn French. The female characters, masters of their own destiny, are quite convincing.

However, in my opinion, there is a distorted reading of the story……[re] Mme de Maintenon (a "beautiful brunette" poorly portrayed by Isabelle Huppert) and the institution: the highly sexualized and unhealthy sado-masochistic relationship between Mme de Maintenon and the teenage girls, a sort of tawdry retelling of a real health problem in the 18th century: the tuberculosis epidemic that killed many pupils and adults. In the same vein, the scene with Mme de Maintenon washing herself in the pond after having sex struck me as highly inappropriate. Apart from the fact that she was hated at court, she would never have risked losing her reputation by making love in the wild like a prostitute.

The episode of Iphigénie [in the movie] is a classic in the romance literature of Saint-Cyr, but it is false…..

What remains is the effervescence of the young girls, the theatre that went to their heads, the rehearsals, the court audiences, and the marriage that took place after the performance, all of which are attested to in the archives and fairly well captured in the film…..” Now, if only the company will re-issue the film with English subtitles!

Virginia Opera's Sanctuary Road: Beautiful Music and Heart

They had me at the choral beginning.  Yet, I had qualms about attending Sanctuary Road.  It is a modern opera about slavery, and I suspected I was in for a gut-wrenching experience of man’s inhumanity to man.  Beyond the weight of the subject matter, how would this work as an opera?  On the upbeat, opera has never shied away from social issues, but has been a tool for addressing them.  Powerful social issues are the driving force for many of our most popular operas.  I once wrote in a post and I’ll stand by it, “Science helps us to control our world; the arts and humanities help us to control our selves”.  Yes, Sanctuary Road takes us deep into the painful world of slavery, but this work also attends to the wounds we suffer with beautiful music, reviving us with hope, and inspiring us with the beauty of those who will do the right thing at great risk to themselves.  Sanctuary Road presents a powerful ode to our human need to be free and equal in our rights as human beings and the sacrifices we will make for it.  All of this was packed into one hour.

l to r: Soloists Tesia Kwarteng, Adam Richardson, Terrence Chin-Loy, Laquita F. Mitchell, and Damien Geter in Sanctuary Road. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

One important thing to know about Sanctuary Road is that it is not fiction.  The libretto by Mark Campbell is based on the histories and records in The Underground Railroad Records, written and published in 1872 by William Still.  The librettist extracted from this manuscript several of the more poignant personal stories of several of the slaves escaping their owners. They were aided by what is widely known now as the Underground Railroad, though it was not a railroad and was not underground; it was a loose collection of networks of people, both white and black, who strongly opposed slavery and were willing to risk prison and other penalties to help desperate escapees gain their freedom; the slaves risked much more.  The estimate is that when the Civil War began, there were about 4,000,000 slaves in the United States and in the forty years leading up to the war, about 100,000 slaves had escaped their captors with the help of the Underground Railroad.  Mr. Still, a major conductor of the Railroad, and his family in Philadelphia are credited with having assisted almost 800 slaves gain their freedom.  The penalties for both slaves and their enablers were harsh when caught; Mr. Still hid his writings in a cemetery as they were compiled to avoid detection.  According to Mr. Campbell, the opera is meant to honor Mr. Still and others who had the courage to do something.

The Virginia Opera Chorus in Sanctuary Road. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Sanctuary Road premiered in 2018 as an oratorio; later recast with staging, it premiered as an opera in 2022.  In Virginia Opera’s performance in Fairfax on Saturday evening, Composer Paul Moravec’s tonal, melodic music and affecting arias and ensemble vocals gave strong support to the powerful stories that unfolded.  Conductor Everett McCorvey led the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in an outstanding performance; Maestro McCorvey was also the opera’s conductor for its premiere performance in 2022.  Time and again I found myself making a mental note to mention how beautiful the music was.  The 39 choristers were in costumes, serving as supernumeraries on stage; as a group the chorus played a substantial role in the opera, particularly in the menacing vocal number “Reward”.  The chorus led by Associate Conductor and Chorus Master Brandon Eldredge sang with feeling and a marvelous sound.  The choral music was also a highlight of the opera. I hope to have additional opportunities to attend works composed by Mr. Moravec.

William Still (Damien Geter) interviewing an escapee (Laquinta F. Mitchell). Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

The cast of five soloists was anchored by bass-baritone Damien Geter who portrayed William Still with excellent vocals, displaying gravity and determination to “write, record, chronicle”.  The other four vocalists played different characters from the engaging stories told.  They included soprano Laquita F. Mitchell, mezzo-soprano Tesia Kwarteng, tenor Terrence Chin-Loy, and baritone Adam Richardson, all accomplished, excellent vocalists.  I enjoyed all the solo arias and ensemble numbers.  My two favorites were the showstopping aria “Rain” sung with such clarity and beauty by Ms. Mitchell and the early quartet “Free” sung with gorgeous harmony by Mitchell, Kuarteng, Chin-Loy, and Richardson. 

Soloists Alan Richardson and Tesia Kwarteng in Sanctuary Road. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Director Kimille Howard’s staging was effective and affecting, with a simple set, often with Mr. Still’s writing desk as the focal point, and a few props, backed by a screen showing images of documents and moving landscapes (kudos to Projection Designer David Murakami and Lighting Designer John D. Alexander).  The choristers served as townspeople sometimes seated and sometimes in the action.  The scenes for the different stories were semi-staged, often commanded by Mr. Still at his desk.  The costumes were interesting, mostly middle to upper class finery of the times; I thought it contributed an uplifting aspect to the story (kudos to Costume Coordinator Pat Seyller and Wig and Make-up Designer James P. McGough).  The character portrayals were well done by the soloists.  Though fear, anxiety, and desperation ruled the stories, some had amusing aspects, such as two sisters fooling white passengers by singing about their trip to see dear sick Aunt Abigail. 

Escapee Wesley Harris (Terrence Chin-Loy) surrounded by onlookers (Virginia Opera Chorus. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

The brevity of the opera is perhaps an advantage but also a limitation.  In particular, the powerful story of William Still’s brother sprang and ended too quickly.  I would have liked to have gotten to know the characters in all the stories better; then the tears that had welled up in my eyes at the end would have been tears rolling down my cheeks through much of the opera.

The travesty of slavery in the U.S. is of course well known.  Sanctuary Road allowed me to experience not only the fear, anxiety, and desperation of the slaves, but also the courage of the men and women forsaking their family and friends, risking their lives to be free, and to experience the beauty of those who bravely aided and abetted them, whites as well as people of color.  All of this with such beautiful music and singing.  This is an opera I would go see again; I only wish that Sanctuary Road was a mini-series.  Sanctuary Road is a gem with star quality. We need more like this one, operas that not only take us to dark places but also show us the hope for deliverance from evil.

The Fan Experience: Performances of Sanctuary Road were scheduled for January 26, 28 in Norfolk, February 3, 4 in Fairfax, and February 9, 11 in Richmond.  The opera is written and performed in English with English subtitles on screen projections.  The opera lasted for one hour without an intermission.  The George Mason University Center for the Performing Arts theater, located on the GMU campus, is moderate in size, offering seat prices in different ranges – the same being true for other venues.

Many thanks to Virginia Opera for providing its audience with a variety of operas from different ages, including modern operas and for their theme of showcasing operas with connections to Virginia.  VO’s next production this season will be Madama Butterfly in Norfolk on March 8, 9, 10 and Fairfax on 16, 17 and Richmond on 22, 24. See this link for details.  VO also just announced their 2024-2025 season which will feature the premiere of a new opera, Virginia v. Loving, with music composed by none other than Damien Geter.

I always recommend the online presentations, given by Joshua Borths, Virginia Opera’s scholar in residence, which originate about a month before the performances and remain online for viewing. Viewing in real time makes it possible to ask questions of Mr. Borths.  The online video for Sanctuary Road, can be accessed at this link, where Mr. Borths focuses on the operatic aspects of the opera, leaving the associated history for the pre-opera talks.

For Sanctuary Road, the pre-opera talks feature distinguished experts in black history.  The pre-opera talk in Fairfax was given by Dr. Spencer Crew, currently the Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History at George Mason University and Emeritus Director of the National Museum of African American History and the National Museum of American History.  Dr. Crew gave an interesting and highly informative talk about the Underground Railroad.

AOI's Three 20-Minute Operas 2024: Mission Impossible, Opera Style

Good morning, composer and librettist teams.  Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to come up with 20-minute operas, complete with music, vocals, and storyline to be presented semi-staged, with Cafritz Young Artist singers accompanied by a chamber ensemble of musicians from the Washington National Opera in the Kennedy Center in one year.  You will receive mentoring from an established conductor, composer, and librettist, among others, and you will be given access to the resources of WNO.  This tape will self-destruct in 5-seconds.  Phfft!  Smoke appears.

Each year Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative selects three composers and three librettists through a highly competitive process, pairs them in teams, and gives them this charge.  Their new works are premiered at the Kennedy Center the following January. The results are so engaging and so much fun, one could view this as a party game, but these creative artists are dead serious.  It’s what they do, the drama behind the drama.

One year is a short time frame to conceive, construct, and develop to stage ready form for any opera, especially for young creative staff still developing their skills and talents.  There is also general agreement that writing a 20-minute opera can be more challenging than writing longer works: the introduction, development, and resolution of a problem must be done in 20 minutes, and keep in mind that it takes longer to sing thoughts than to verbalize them…the music must help to tell the story.  The mentors are already established in their fields and the team members already have strong CVs, replete with accomplishments and awards.  The composer/librettist teams are to be in attendance and come forward to be recognized with applause at the end of each performance along with the performers.  I felt that the volume of artistic talent in the Terrace Theater on Friday night must have caused the sides of the building to bulge. 

I find WNO’s American Opera Initiative exciting and look forward each year to seeing what these creative artists will produce.  I also greatly look forward to seeing operas with stories I can more readily identify with, that in addition to the universal themes associated with human motives and actions, we encounter familiar landscapes, including  TikTok, microplastics, and cell phones.  The relevance of these operas to life today never has to be argued.  Also, the production of new opera is only one goal of the AOI program.  Giving librettists and composers the opportunity to work with mentors and with conductors, musicians, singers, and creative staff provides a boost in developing careers in opera and theater.  AOI mentors this year were Conductor David Bloom, Composer Kamala Sankaram, and Librettist Deborah Brevoort.  This is a fun and exciting event that typically sells out.  One other thing you will see in audiences for AOI performances that you rarely see in the opera houses is lots of young people.

Here are comments on this year’s group of three:

A Way Forward

     Composer - Laura Jobin-Acosta

     Librettist - José G. Alba Rodríguez

            Characters and Cafritz Singers:

            Julia – Kresley Figueroa

            Helena – Winona Martin

            Gabriel – Sergio Martínez

Sergio Martínez as Gabriel, the father, Winona Martin as Helena, the grandmother, and Kresley Figueroa as Julia, the daughter. Photo by Bronwen Sharp; courtesy of the Washington National Opera.

A Way Forward featured a Mexican family that included a grandmother, her son, and his daughter at a time when they are dealing with the fact that the family traditional bakery is failing.  Each argues for a remedy based on where they are in time regarding their cultural heritage, and the intensity of their arguing strains the family bonds.  The strength of their love for each other leads them to a way they can move forward together.  The creative team sees this struggle as especially “poignant for individuals from BIPOC cultures” (I admit I had to look it up – Black, Indigenous, People of Color).  The storylines for all three operas were engaging and worthy of exploration.  A Way Forward perhaps most needed more time for development.  The father was an especially rich character, but we had to learn about him from his words more than his actions.  All three singers were excellent in both acting and singing, soprano Kresley Figueroa as the daughter, mezzo-soprano Winona Martin as the grandmother, and bass Sergio Martínez as the father. The music in this work was the most pleasing to me, tightly wed to what was developing in the drama. 

Forever

     Composer - Elizabeth Gartman

     Librettist - Melisa Tien

            Characters and Cafritz Singers:

            PFAS 1 – Teresa Perrotta

            Tardigrade – Cecelia McKinley

            PFAS 2 – Sahel Salam

Sahel Salam as PFAS 2, Teresa Perrotta as PFAS 1, and Cecelia McKinley as Tardigrade. Photo by Bronwen Sharp; courtesy of the Washington National Opera.

Forever takes place in a superfund site of a post-apocalyptic world and features two pieces of microplastics (PFAS 1 and 2; PFAS stands for polyfluoroalkyl substances which have the moniker “forever chemicals”) and a Tardigrade (an eight-legged micro-animal).  These are lovable characters, but this is not a children’s opera.  Apparently these are the last remaining sentient entities on an earth, victimized by environmental pollution and global climate change (why didn’t Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte ever think of that).  The choice of objects as the characters in a future world without humans was very clever as was the choice to bring up environmental degradation and climate change using absurdist humor.  It worked for laughs and for impact and was the most complete work of the three short operas and scored really high on the enjoyable meter.  The singers, soprano Teresa Perrotta as PFAS 1, tenor Sahel Salam as PFAS 2, and contralto Cecelia McKinley as Tartigrade were quite charming and effective in singing, and were hoots in their acting.  Try to imagine a vampish, polyamorous tartigrade; Ms. McKinley pulled it off (one could imagine Lorenzo Da Ponte thinking of polyamory, but he’d have no concept of a micro-animal).  I will point out that the Cafritz singer/actors are young artists, not amateurs.  For example, I have already enjoyed Ms. Perrotta’s excellent recent performances in WNO’s Grounded, in Maryland Lyric Opera’s Falstaff, and in Washington Concert Opera’s Nabucco.  The adventurous music supported the tragicomedy well.  Special Kudos to percussionist John Spirtas who had to make a lot of different sounds with spot on timing.  The creative team managed a minor miracle with their approach to such a dark subject.  Even when the characters all expired to leave a quiet stage, the need for connections had been affirmed and lived on; hope did not die, at least in the audience.

Hairpiece

     Composer – Joy Redmond

     Librettist – Sam Norman

            Characters and Cafritz Singers:

            Ester – Tiffany Chloe

            Ari – Jonathan Pierce Rhodes

            Gale – Justin Burgess        

left photo: Tiffany Choe as Esther. middle photo: Jonathan Pierce Rhodes as Ari and Justin Burgess as Gale; right photo: Jonathan Pierce Rhodes sans wig. Photos by Bronwen Sharp; courtesy of the Washington National Opera.

Hairpiece featured Esther, a wigmaker, Ari, a gender-nonconforming stranger who approaches her to have a wig made, and Gale, a guy the stranger had an encounter with in a bar.  All three are dealing with identity issues: Esther is veteran wig maker with failing eyesight near the end of her career, who finds her craft being replaced by machine-made wigs; the stranger is seeking validation, and the guy had just lost a husband the previous year.  Composer Redmond and librettist Norman state: “They want the world to see them on their own terms.  They want their dignity.”  Again, the Cafritz singer/actors delivered strong performances; each created their own identity and made connection with the audience through their singing.  In analogy to wig making, the composer/librettist team planned to have different threads of music interweaving to reflect the stories and themes being interwoven on stage.  There certainly was a lot going on in the orchestra, but too small a sample to get an overall gauge on it.  That said, I enjoyed the music and found it interesting in its coupling with the drama.

The director for the semi-staging of the operas was Chloe Treat who effectively used the few props to assist in telling the stories.  The staging of Forever was clever and worked to enhance the comic elements.  Costumes by Timm Burrow were well done to support the dramas, with special kudos for Tardigrade’s costume.  The orchestra on the small Terrace Theater stage was seated to the left in the back.  All three operas were conducted by Maestro David Bloom leading the thirteen piece chamber ensemble from the Washington National Opera Orchestra, and applause to them for their excellent tight knit playing for all three operas.

Long live the American Opera Initiative!  There is so much good going on in the AOI program, good for audiences and everyone involved, and for the future of American opera.

The Fan Experience:  American Opera Initiative’s Three 20-Minute Operas were performed in two evening showings on Friday, January 19 in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater.  Even though written and performed in English, subtitles are shown on two small screens on either side of the stage, which might be challenging viewing near the back of the seating area.

The performances were essentially sold out well ahead of the date.  One suspects a significant fraction of the audience is made up of family and friends of the creative staff and performers involved, which makes it more fun, but WNO might consider adding performances, with a matinee on a separate day.

Note: Normally composers and librettists apply individually for the AOI program and are subsequently paired.  Preformed teams can apply but both the composer and librettist must be selected individually to remain a team.  The review and awards process is managed by AOI Program Director Christopher Cano and AOI Artistic Director Kelley Rourke.

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 running every 15 minutes, are an excellent option.  There is an advantage in getting there a bit early.  KC frequently has multiple performances on its different stages overlapping that can create traffic jams.

There are snack stands in the main lobby, and on the Terrace level, the KC Café offers food cafeteria style at moderate prices; fine dining is available on the Terrace level in the Roof Terrace Restaurant.  Food and drinks except water are not allowed inside the opera house, but you can purchase reusable capped containers with your drinks that you can take inside.

NSO's Ring without Words: I tried to enjoy it, honest.

The enthusiastic and elongated standing ovation at the conclusion of the National Symphony Orchestra’s playing, under the direction of Maestro Gianandrea Noseda, “Ring without Words” offered compelling evidence that I was in a minority of one.  Further, I could find no solace in reviews of this work when performed by other orchestras.  Well, I tried to enjoy it, honest, I did.

The National Symphony Orchestra led by Conductor Gianandrea Noseda. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of the National Symphony Orchestra.

For me, Wagnerian opera was an acquired taste, but once acquired it became a passion, though with a bitter taste.  Wagner was both a great composer and, from all reports, a seriously flawed human being.  His forte was composing operas, not symphonic works; he has eleven operas that are still performed today.  He completed only one symphony, which was not well received.  His desire was to create what he called musical dramas as “gesamtkunstwerk”, a theater package that included all art forms as a maxed out dramatic experience, with music being an active participant in the dramas.  He popularized the concept of using leitmotifs or short musical themes to identify with people, places, objects, or ideas.  His music in many of his operas has been redrafted with success for presentation as orchestral works.  Given that my first love is opera and that the NSO performances are always a treat, I could not pass this one up, especially given the chance to hear Wagner’s music performed by an orchestra the size and quality of the National Symphony Orchestra. My expectations were high.

This history behind this performance bears mentioning.  In 1987, the recording company Telarc persuaded the late, great conductor Lorin Maazel to make a condensed orchestral version of music from Richard Wagner’s the Ring Cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen or The Ring of the Nibelung), a work consisting of four separate operas –

Das Rheingold (or The Rhinegold),

Die Walküre or (Valkyrie),

Siegfried,

Das Götterdämmerung or (Twilight of the Gods) –

a grouping which lasts over 16 hours in total.  The plot-line from Norse mythology that runs through all four opera concerns a golden ring that gives the possessor god like power over everyone… but with the condition that they give up love; overall, the Ring is an engrossing and compelling drama about the destructive influence of power when not guided by love.  Telarc had a confining stipulation for Maazel: the work had to come in under 75 minutes to fit on a single compact disc.  Maestro Maazel’s effort that he labeled the “Ring without Words” stitched together musical highlights from the four operas, presented in the same order as the operas; his program came in around 70 minutes.  The “Ring without Words”, which began as a studio recording, has enjoyed popularity as a concert piece, still performed occasionally today.  This distillation offers music fans the chance to sample Wagner’s music without committing to 16 hours required to hear the operas.  It so happens that NSO’s Music Director and Conductor Gianandrea Noseda has recently conducted the entire Ring Cycle and will do so again in May 2024 for the Zurich Opera House, where he holds the position of General Music Director.  Now, it also happens that there was another concert scheduled for NSO’s season in the January 11, 12, and 13 slot, but the solo performer to appear canceled this past November.  This confluence of need and competence enabled NSO to quickly fill the void with a quality and timely replacement.  I don’t know how season ticket holders took the news, but the KC Concert Hall was mostly packed on Thursday evening.

Conductor and NSO Music Director Gianandrea Noseda. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Let me be clear: my issues were with the program, not the performance thereof; this is great music by a great composer, assembled by a great conductor, and it was played with verve and beauty by a great orchestra led by a great conductor.  All the elements were in place for a fine performance. In the beginning, the music of the Rhine entered slowly and swirled, engulfing the audience; the orchestra pushed the ride of the Valkyries out over the audience.  Further along a clanking sound of a hammer fashioning a sword drifted out.  Siegfried and Brunnhilde began their love affair.  Finally, Brunnhilde makes a sacrifice to cleanse and offer hope once more.  That was happening in my mind’s eye which was conjuring images from the operas.  Certainly, it was beautiful music, sometimes in a slow encompassing pace, moving slowly and now and then surging with raging crescendos, sometimes with a wall of shimmering sound (I love Wagner’s use of horns).   Individual sections of the orchestra took turns with the lead and even a lovely cello solo was offered. 

So, what’s your problem, dude?  Well, I looked forward to the opportunity to focus on hearing this music sans the singing and story, but I could not.  One of my favorite moments in opera is the beginning of Das Rheingold when the swirling music of the Rhine rises as in a wave and the Rhine maidens break into song - it’s thrilling, but they weren’t there that night and the water simply moved on empty and alone.  I tried to adjust, but more and more the moments of beauty seemed lonely and disjointed.  I can only wonder what someone unfamiliar with the Ring Cycle heard.  Were they enticed to attend the entire Ring Cycle, or will they think that its music that had its moments but is not worth 16 hours and the expense required?  Based on what I heard that evening, I would be delighted to attend Noseda’s performances of the complete cycle with the Zurich Opera in May, or better yet, how about doing it again in the Kennedy Center.  Francesca Zambello’s 2016 Ring was outstanding; it’s time for another round!

Perhaps for me the experience was like having one potato chip when there are four varieties on the table, but it goes deeper, maybe like hearing four movements from Mozart symphonies without pause, where each movement came from a different Mozart symphony.  Music elicits feelings or at least it shades feelings, but in a personal way, speaking to us in a language we can only understand subconsciously.  Great composers like Mozart could compose ensemble arias where different individuals singing at the same time to the same tune were expressing very different feelings.  The great opera composers became adept at using music to assign meaning to stretches of music that works for their dramas, and when we hear it in the opera, the meaning given to us becomes imprinted on our consciousness.   That music becomes associated in our minds with those characters or places or ideas. I cannot hear the theme from the TV show “Have Gun, Will Travel” without seeing in my mind’s eye Paladin dressed in black, or hear Lara’s Theme without seeing fields of wind caressed flowers in Russia or hear “Do you hear the People Sing” from “Les Misérables” without sensing the patriotic pride of liberty, equality, and fraternity.  Think of what you experience when you hear the musical theme from the movie, “Jaws”.  Wagner refined that ability to create short snippets of music that became associated with characters or places or ideas that helped him tell his stories.  Classical music also has an underlying order, even though it is something I cannot articulate.  That order is why I most often feel calmed by classical music.  However, in opera the meaning of the music has been assigned.  Perhaps when I heard Maazel’s suite of opera music from the Ring Cycle played as an orchestral piece, those meanings, the music and the opera-assigned ones, clashed at transition points, and it felt chaotic, even though musically the transitions were relatively smooth.  Perhaps, seventy minutes of these changes was too much for me to enjoy at one time.  Or perhaps, like Scrooge I can hope that the ghost visiting me that night was just an undigested piece of potato (in my case peanut butter crackers).

Finally, the performance by the National Symphony Orchestra led by Conductor Noseda was as strong as I anticipated, no problem there, but for whatever reason, the Ring without Words program did not work for me that night. For me, Maestro Maazel’s Ring suite of seventy minutes, at best, only made me long for the sweet sixteen hours of Wagner’s. Maybe for the Ring Cycle, I need the gesamtkunstwerk; I hope Ms. Zambello is listening.

The Fan Experience: Performances of “Ring without Words” were scheduled for January 11, 12, and 13 in the Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center.  The work is intended to be performed continuously without interruption, though in Thursday’s performance, enthusiastic fans could not resist interrupting the performance a couple of times with applause.

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 running every 15 minutes, are an excellent option.  There is an advantage in getting there a bit early.  KC frequently has multiple performances on its different stages overlapping that can create traffic jams, even unexpected ones inside the Center.  Thursday, the middle section of the Grand Foyer in front of the Opera House was squadroned off and only attendees for “Frozen” could enter that area, and they had to pass through metal detectors to enter.

There are snack stands in the main lobby, and on the Terrace level, the KC Café offers food cafeteria style at moderate prices; fine dining is available on the Terrace level in the Roof Terrace Restaurant.  Food and drinks except water are not allowed inside the opera house, but you can purchase reusable containers with your drinks that you can take inside.

Shakespeare Opera Theatre's Hansel and Gretel: A Fun Experience for All Ages

I attended Shakespeare Opera Theatre’s performance of the opera, Hansel and Gretel, on Saturday afternoon, and it proved to be quite a pleasure as well as a rewarding arts experience.  I told my wife that next time we should bring some friends (be sure to read The Fan Experience section below).

Engelbert Humperdinck (the composer, not the 1960s pop music singer who adopted his name to help the singer revitalize his career) was a talented, even gifted German composer.  He wrote six operas and many other well received musical compositions, but it is his opera Hansel and Gretel for which he is widely known today.  The libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette is based on the famous Brothers Grimm fairy tale.  The collaboration that led to the opera occurred when his sister asked him to compose music for four folk songs to be part of a children’s marionette show she was planning.  The very pleasing melodies and themes of the folks songs are employed in the opera.

In the rear, JP Gorski as Peter, the father, Alicia Woodberry as Gertrud, the mother, with Julie Silva as Hansel and Catherine Moss as Gretel. Photo by Joshua Waits; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

The opera was first performed on December 23, 1893, in Germany, conducted by the even more famous composer Ricard Strauss.  Humperdinck’s opera enjoyed immediate success and became associated with Christmas in Germany and gradually also in the rest of the world.  The Metropolitan Opera’s first live, on-air broadcast was of Hansel and Gretel, performed in New York City on December 25, 1931.  It is frequently performed worldwide today, especially during the holiday season.  It’s themes of childhood innocence and vulnerability, coupled with an overriding divine protection of the innocent fit well with the celebration of Christmas.  To make the opera more accessible, SOT used an English language adaptation of the opera, slightly trimmed and modified; musical accompaniment was by piano.

Shakespeare Opera Theatre is a local opera company founded in 2015 by soprano, Dr. Lori Lind and based in McLean, VA.  After spending years touring around the world, Dr. Lind decided to settle down in northern Virginia and to stay connected to the performance arts by merging her two loves, acting in Shakespeare productions, and singing opera.  She found an acceptance and performance venue at the Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains, Virginia, which was expanded a few years ago to include performances at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, McLean; maximum seating at both is around 85.  While operas based on Shakespeare’s plays are a repeating element of the company’s seasons, the name is meant to indicate a focus on classic works, especially operas where acting is emphasized.  After a couple of rocky years in the beginning, SOT found its footing, and Dr. Lind reports now that performances are frequently selling out.  Based on the matinee performance I saw on Saturday afternoon, it is easy to understand why.

Amanda Wyand as The Witch. Photo by Portraits by Bronder; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

You might wonder about the quality of singers that a small, local opera company can attract and afford to employ; I did.  However, during the performance, those thoughts changed to how can SOT attract singers of such quality!  SOT’s target pool is “emerging artists” (we once called these singer’s young, but now they arrive holding college degrees in music and graduate degrees in voice and have already been performing professionally for years, though still youngish).  The vocalists come from across the U.S. and even beyond.  Dr. Lind told me that SOT auditioned 48 singers for the seven soloist positions, requiring each singer to perform five arias.  As performers themselves, Dr. Lind and the production team have a great deal of experience to draw on; of local interest, I noted that Dr. Lind won the 2005 vocal competition held annually by Annapolis Opera and is the current Organist and Choirmaster at St. Thomas.

Hansel and Gretel are the lead roles for the opera, featured in every scene.  Soprano Catherine Moss as Gretel and mezzo-soprano Julie Silva as Hansel were an excellent pairing, believably portraying a teenaged or preteen sister and brother who love to quarrel almost as much as they love each other’s company.  Ms. Silva sang with a lovely medium deep tone, perfect for a pants role, and Ms. Moss’ voice has a very pretty timbre.  Their voices blended beautifully in their duets.  Ms. Moss is a current member of the University of Maryland Opera Studio; Ms. Silva has sung mezzo-soprano roles worldwide, including performing previously as Hansel.  The Witch was portrayed by mezzo-soprano Amanda Wyand, who in addition to singing well seemed to enjoy giving a fine, campy performance as the Witch.  Ms. Wyand was an apprentice artist with Opera Roanoke and in 2022 was an Ader Emerging Artist with Charlottesville Opera.

Gertrud, the mother, and Peter, the father were sung by soprano Alicia Woodberry and baritone JP Gorski, both of whom sang well and gave engaging performances.  Peter constantly singing la, la, la, la melodically became an earworm for me.  The roles of the Sandman and Dew Fairy were sung by two charmers, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Barnes and soprano Kathryn Brode, respectively; both left me longing for more.

Elizabeth Barnes as Sandman and Kathryn Brode as the Dew Fairy. Photos by Portraits by Bronder; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Hansel and Gretel’s popularity is not only due to its appeal as a fairy tale opera for children; it also offers a melodic, musically sophisticated score.  Composer Humperdinck became friends with Richard Wagner and assisted him in a production of Parsifal at Bayreuth.  Musicologists state that the music offers a Wagnerian range of colors and textures, with endless polyphonic variations on the folk melodies; they have even questioned whether the music is too rich just for a simple fairy tale opera.  The piano accompaniment for this performance was supplied by SOT’s Associate Director and Conductor Dr. Lisa Bloy.  The melodies and themes translated well for a production of Hansel and Gretel in a smaller venue.  Ms. Bloy’s playing might have been more nuanced but her timing with the singers was impeccable.  Time and again I marveled at how well they performed together.

The small performance hall for Hansel and Gretel had simple attractive, thematic sets: a cottage set, a forest set, and a candy house set for the different scenes; amusingly, Ms. Lind told the audience that we must ignore the sets not in use for the current scene; it was not a problem.  The Bavarian styled costumes were a delight, though Gertrud’s lavish red gown, while lovely, was more fitting for a queen than an impoverished broom maker’s wife.  This version of the opera was modified for the final scene where, in other versions, the children previously consumed by The Witch appear and are brought back to life.  My difficulty deciphering sung text, even when sung in English, left me unclear whether that aspect had been addressed; my wife, who had not seen the opera before, thought the ending worked as presented.  Regardless, it was a happy ending for all, even The Witch, and the audience was treated to a closing chorus by the ensemble.

Hansel and Gretel is based on a fairy tale that can be presented in many ways.  The SOT presentation is mild in terms of scariness, played more for comedic effect.  Still, children become lost (happiness endangered); children are threatened (innocence lost), and children save themselves (with a little divine intervention) and eventually are reunited with their grateful parents (oh, joy).  All that coupled with great singing and music works for me, at Christmas or anytime.

The Fan Experience: Shakespeare Opera Theatre scheduled Hansel and Gretel performances for December 9 (matinee and evening) and 10 (matinee) at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Mclean, and on December 16 (matinee and evening) at Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains, Virginia.  The opera is sung in English without subtitles.  SOT’s next production will be Verdi’s Macbeth in July.

SOT’s performance had more of a party atmosphere rather than the church service atmosphere of our major opera halls.  I found little pretense with SOT; they readily own their limitations and still managed to engage us fully.  Dress is “as you like it” and seating is at tables.  Thematic snacks and non-alcoholic drinks are offered for sale (I had the endless hot chocolate) which can be consumed before, during, or after performances.  Children were not only encouraged to attend but Ms. Lind, in her opening remarks, stated not to worry if your children began to act like children, let them be children, and if any adults wanted to play with the toys and coloring books at the back, feel free. Autumn Grimes is SOT’s children’s helper and keeps the children engaged.  

I will close with a personal anecdote and just a wee bit of pontificating.  The college I attended required attendance at church your first year.  I fell in love with the choir which featured an outstanding soprano soloist.  The second year I kept attending regularly, in all honesty, primarily to hear the choir.  This was not the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but this local choir provided some of my most cherished musical experiences, further enhanced by being part of a community.  I worry that opera has lost much of its direct connection with people and the community contact has become too impersonal, especially as younger generations move increasingly online.  Shakespeare Opera Theatre offers an old-time approach in a modern setting using professional quality singers.  You might find it rewarding, and if you’d also like to rekindle that old flame of community connection, maybe bring a friend.

Washington Concert Opera's Ermione: OMG!

Washington Concert Opera presented the rarely performed Rossini opera, Ermione, Saturday evening in Lisner Auditorium on the GW campus.  With a cast headlined by Metropolitan Opera veterans Angela Meade, David Portillo, Lawrence Brownlee, and Ginger Costa-Jackson with Conductor Antony Walker, I was expecting a good show or maybe just an interesting evening; however, after Ms. Costa-Jackson sang Andromacha’s opening aria with such passion as a woman fearful for her son and crushed by the loss of her husband, all resistance to this opera vanished.  The other singers must have realized at that point that they needed to bring their A-game to match up with her, and they did!  Each of the principal singers elicited explosions of applause from the audience time and again for their various arias, one wow moment after another.  This was the most fun at the opera that I have had in a long time.

Angela Meade as Ermione with Conductor Antony Walker; the Washington Concert Opera Orchestra and Chorus in the background. Production photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

I wish Gioachino Rossini himself could have been there.  To say that Ermione failed to impress when it premiered in 1819 can hardly be overstated; it closed after seven performances and the opera was not staged again for one hundred and fifty years.  Even in modern times, it has been produced worldwide only six times in the last ten years.  Rossini moved on, but evidently kept it in his heart, referring to it in his later years as his “little William Tell”.  Many reasons have been proffered for its lack of popularity – it was too avant-garde, seen as an effort of Rossini to break free from the Italian operatic conventions of his day.  The infrequency of its productions today may be a combination of cost – a large cast with four extraordinary singers is needed – and the limited popular appeal of Greek tragedy today, especially one with such a complicated, dark storyline, devoid of comic relief and lacking superheroes…lacking any kind of hero, for that matter.

l to r: Ginger Costa-Jackson as Andromacha, Angela Meade as Ermione, David Portillo as Pirro, and Lawrence Brownlee as Oreste, with Conductor Antony Walker on the platform and in the background the WCO Orchestra and Chorus. Production photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

The librettist for Ermione was Andrea Leone Tottola; he adapted the story from Jean Racine’s play, Andromaque.  The time is shortly after the Trojan War, with Trojan prisoners held in Epirus, where King Pirro has placed Astianatte, the son of slain Trojan hero, Hector, in prison; his wife Andromacha is allowed to move about under the protection of King Pirro, who has fallen in love with her.  Noble woman Ermione has learned of his affection for Andromacha and feels jilted and betrayed.  Oreste, son of Agamemnon arrives as an emissary who wants Hector’s son put to death out of Greek fear he could lead a new Trojan uprising.  Oreste is deeply in love with Ermione, who has no interest in him.  The women control the guys with Andromacha wanting to save her son and Ermione wanting Pirro back.  Ermione goes too far, asking Oreste to kill Pirro to get her hand, and then wishing the Furies on him for carrying out her request.  It ends with the Greeks protecting Oreste by escorting him back to Greece by sea.  Epirus is left in turmoil, with the stories of Ermione and Andromacha left unfinished, and no season 2 planned.  If Rossini had employed supernatural Furies and had them do some earlier dirty work, it might have played better for modern American audiences.  Ah, what might have been.

l to r: Kate Jackman as Cefisa, Ginger Costa-Jackson as Andromacha, Erin Ridge as Cleone, and Angela Meade as Ermione, Production photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

The outstanding soprano Angela Meade, who portrays Ermione, has appeared in several productions of Ermione over the last ten years, and her performances have been influential in the renewed interest it has received.  In her opening comments, Executive Director Meg Sippey cautioned that Ms. Meade was recovering from a respiratory infection and while fine she might need to cough on stage; she never did, and if this was Ms. Meade at less than her best, please let me experience her best at a future performance.  This is a difficult role, especially in Act 2 when Ermione moves through one emotion to another, from jealous anger to guilt to love to grief to fury, all decorated with melisma and trills in high and low registers.  Despite the caution, her virtuosity and beautiful tone did not disappoint, and I was on my feet with everyone else applauding at the end.  Tenor David Portillo as Pirro was a marvel, singing beautifully with a silvery tone while being pushed back and forth in different directions by Ermione and Andromacha.  He managed some portions requiring rapid fire delivery with his beautiful tone completely in tack.  Tenor Lawrence Brownlee is a treasure and brought his A-game as well playing the love struck, one dimensional Oreste, also requiring some vocal pyrotechnics in a higher range, something he is known for.  Mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson as Andromacha was so good and so emotionally expressive I suspected she was channeling Maria Callas on her 100th birthdate (Dec 2, 1923).  She was quite good in a previous appearance with WCO, but she is now performing on an even higher, more accomplished level.  The performance was further embellished by a perfectly cast group of soloists familiar to Washington area audiences, which included bass-baritone Matthew Scollin as Pirro’s tutor Fenicio, Kate Jackman as Andromac’s confidant Cefisa, tenor Rolando Sanz as Pirro’s confidant Attalo, soprano Erin Ridge as Ermione’s friend Cleone, and tenor Matthew Hill as Oreste’s friend Pilade.

David Portillo as Pirro, Lawrence Brownlee as Oreste, Matthew Hill as Pilade, Rolando Sanz as Attalo, and Matthew Scollin as Fenicio. Production photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

Ok, the vocals are great; what about Rossini’s music that so few people have heard?  Well, it is Rossini, always enjoyable to listen to but not always dramatically in sync with the drama, but in Ermione, it mostly is.  The great composer in breaking free of the typical opera seria format of his day, had the chorus chime in during the overture; the overture sounds like a celebration with a great crescendo at the end, but the chorus sings as Trojans bemoaning their loss of the war.  I suppose the point was to contrast what the citizens of Epirus were feeling versus the Trojans?  Staging might have helped this point, though it evidently did not for Italians in the day.  A few times, I had the feeling the music I was enjoying was for a different opera (my wife disagrees), but think of it as two for one.  I read that this opera by Rossini was more in the style of middle Verdi than early 1800s.  Perhaps, but I have trouble imagining Verdi writing that overture and some of the happy time music supporting a Greek tragedy.  Rossini also broke from convention in having his arias join with the next step in the story and even join with other singers.  Actually, there were some great duets!  Rossini also chose to portray a strong, domineering woman dominating supposedly great men.  Evidently, these innovations were off putting to the first Italian audiences.  Rossini was a bel canto master and wrote this opera for some great singers who could make the vocals shine.  Washington Concert Opera took on that challenge and met it with flying colors.

Angela Meade as Ermione and David Portillo as Pirro. Production photos by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

Washington Concert Orchestra led by Artistic Director and Conductor Walker got off to a slow start for me but quickly built to their usual mastery.  It took a lot of effort to stay in sync with these singers singing this great music; I wish I had a recording of Mr. Brownlee’s interplay with the orchestra, a treat that I will long remember.  The WCO Chorus under the direction of Assistant Conductor and Concert Master David Hanlon made the evening more enjoyable, with the men’s section doing most of the heavy lifting in this one.  The finale for Act 1 was thrilling, with all the vocalists and orchestra and chorus participating in the bedlam that had developed.  No staging was used for the performance of this opera, but the singers in character and the music told the story eloquently with great feeling.

Lawrence Brownlee as Oreste and Ginger Costa-Jackson as Andromacha. Production photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

If you have the opportunity to see Ermione, I strongly recommend you go, especially if you think the singers can handle it.  Going to see Washington Concert Opera performances is simply something you should put on your calendar.

The Fan Experience: Washington Concert Opera opened their 2023-2024 season with the performance of Ermione on December 2 in George Washington’s Lisner Auditorium.  The opera was sung in Italian with English surtitles on a screen overhead.  This performance was on Saturday, but WCO performances are more typically on Sunday evening, as will be their April 7 performance of La Rondine featuring soprano Ailyn Pèrez in her first appearance with WCO.

Peter Russell, General Director of Vocal Arts DC, presented a pre-opera talk and provided program notes.  Mr. Russell also presents a one-hour lecture on each production in the free Opera Gems Online series.  His lectures are impressively detailed and informative, with samples of the music to be heard.

In my experience, all the seats in Lisner Auditorium are fine for viewing the performance, but the sound is probably better towards the center of the auditorium.  Parking on the street around the auditorium is catch as catch can; be sure to read the signs!  Metro is two blocks away.  WCO has a visitor web page with directions and parking info, helpful in finding nearby parking lots.