Pittsburgh Opera's Time to Act: An Opera for the Age

When you hear the names Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and others, what feelings do you experience?  I feel sadness, fear, anger, and helplessness, even though I have never been closer to a school mass shooting than TV coverage has taken me.  My time in school was finished long before shooter alert drills became a thing.  What must students feel today, those who have been in a mass shooting, but also most students, who in today’s environment feel and are at risk, required to perform practice shooter alert drills?  Time to Act, premiered by Pittsburgh Opera on Saturday night, addresses these issues and feelings, not from a political point of view but from the perspective of their emotional and psychological impact.  Filled with trepidation about attending an opera on this topic, I was, nevertheless, strongly drawn to its currency and bravery, and the feeling of being in good hands with its creators, composer Laura Kaminsky and Director Crystal Manich.

A traumatized Alona (Timothi Williams) acts the role of Antigone in Time to Act, a Pittsburgh Opera premiere. Photo by David Bachman Photography; courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.

The setting for Time to Act is a high school classroom where the drama club meets.  The students and their teacher are in the early stages of planning a performance of Sophocles’ Antigone, in which Antigone is sentenced to death by King Creon for giving her brother’s body a burial, denied by the king, who labeled her brother a traitor.  Alona, a new student at the school is added to the class.  She mostly keeps to herself and, after being provoked by a school active shooter drill and an aggressive student, reveals to the class a life-altering secret.  The class members react to the news and must come to terms with her secret and the powerful feelings it has unleashed.  They perform Antigone their way, as the arts provide a way to move forward.

left: Yazid Gray as drama teacher Robin Grace. right: Erik Norstrom as Ty, an injured football player. Photos by David Bachman Photography; courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.

Time to Act is a new chamber opera by Laura Kaminsky, whose Act One is the most frequently performed contemporary opera.  The director of the production is Crystal Manich; this is her eleventh gig as director for a PO opera production.  She is also the librettist, and Time to Act is her first libretto.  The idea for the opera came from Kostis Protopapas, an alumnus of Boston Conservatory and then artistic director of Opera Santa Barbara. In 2018, following the Parkland tragedy, he contacted director Manich to suggest she develop an opera based on the impressive activism of the surviving students and then brought her and composer Kaminsky together.  The opera percolated over the intervening years with input from other sources and feedback from a pre-opera walk-through with students of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. 

The class caretaker, Bailey (Shannon Crowley), starts the class with a hand clapping routine. Photo by David Bachman Photography; courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.

Librettist/director Manich makes the point that the story is unusual in its focus on children and the issues they confront today.  I found this to be a compelling element of Time to Act’s appeal.  The story is powerful, embracing rather than hiding from its life-altering impacts and offering the arts as a path for understanding, healing, and regaining strength and direction…and influencing the future - a comment that went by quickly in the libretto was ‘Can a book stop a bullet’..  The use of hand and chest clapping, accompanied by music to bring the group together and engage each with the drama to be presented, was effective and worked well with the nature of composer Kaminsky’s music.  That said, the story as written seemed a little bumpy and not entirely convincing.  Ty, as a stereotypical, shallow jock protagonist, seemed too superficial for the leader archetype, making it difficult to readily accept his sensitivity to the secret he bore; his conversion at the end to gain a hopeful and more satisfying ending for the drama was not entirely convincing.  I wished the story had been more about Alona and her catharsis and resurgence; she was the more interesting and engaging (and likable) character.  Admittedly, Time to Act was a little preachy, but it was also highly compelling drama; my attention was engaged the entire hour and forty-five minutes. 

José (Logan Wagner) performs for the teacher and class. Photo by David Bachman Photography; courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.

The cast was anchored by the excellent baritone Yazid Gray, a former Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist himself, who played the adult in the room, the drama teacher.  He both sang well and acted convincingly in centering and drawing the students into the play by eliciting their feelings when they say the words, a very appealing character.  I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Gray in productions by Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and Maryland Lyric Opera; he is a talented performer.  Each student evidenced a distinctive personality and viewpoint (different archetypes in composer Kaminsky’s terms, alluding to Greek tragedies).  Ty, the school football captain with the injured arm, was played by baritone Erik Nordstrom.  In his second season with the Resident Artists, he has performed in several roles for PO, including the principal role of Angelotti in Tosca, this season’s opener.  He sang well in Time to Act and made the character distinctive, if difficult to like, a singer with a bright future ahead.  One of my favorite performances came from tenor Logan Wagner, who sang the role of José, a romantic dedicated to acting, who liked to rewrite the words; he was very convincing in his acting and had a good chance to show off his beautiful voice.  Soprano Shannon Crowley sang and played Bailey, the spirited caretaker in the group, in charming fashion.  Mezzo-soprano Timothi Williams, the only principal singer not associated with the Resident Artist program, sang the role of Alona with a stage commanding presence.  She sang well, adding impact to the drama brought by a character with a damaged personality.  She has a lovely, highly pleasing voice.  This performance should win her starring roles in the future.

Alona (Timothi Williams) at last confronts the provocative Ty (Erik Nordstron). Photo by David Bachman Photography; courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.

Composer Laura Kaminsky specializes in chamber works, often addressing social issues.  Her highly acclaimed Act One is about a male transitioning to a female, and its orchestra is a string quartet.  Her music for a Time to Act was performed impressively by six players on seven instruments, including violin, cello, bass, clarinet, saxophone, percussion, and piano.  The music can be described as contemporary jazz fusion, melodic, tonal, and dissonant.  The ensemble coordinated well with the action on stage, led by conductor Michael Sakir.  The music was highly varied to support different characters and scenes, with a frequent and strong use of percussion to accentuate emotions.  The music had a raw, elemental nature, serving well an opera where characters are pushed to their limits. This was not Mozart’s music, but one might ask, ‘Would Mozart’s music fit this scenario?’. The five principal singers were joined on stage by an eight-member chorus playing high school students.  Led by chorus master Mark Trawka, the chorus singing was some of the most beautiful in the opera. 

The staging was simple and effective, a classroom with expected features, a blackboard, a few desks, shelves to hold student backpacks, a box for collecting cell phones, and a disturbing PA system announcing the shooter alert practice.  The student costumes were appropriate for high school students; kudos to scenic and costume designer Lindsay Fuori.  Nothing more was needed, which should encourage other companies to perform it.  I hope it gets performed a lot, soon.

Bailey (Shannon Crowley), Alona (Timothi Williams), José (Logan Wagner), and Ty (Erik Nordstrom) perform Antigone their way. Photo by David Bachman Photography; courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera.

Time to Act was good opera and spellbinding theater, highly compelling in reflecting what is happening today, allowing us to briefly walk in the shoes of those most directly affected.  That’s what opera should do, and the performance of Time to Act was highly affecting.  It is how opera and the arts do more than entertain.  Performances bring us together and help us see and feel what others are experiencing, especially needed in divisive times and tragic times.  Kudos to composer Kaminsky, librettist/director Manich, and the Pittsburgh Opera for bravely going there.  Librettist/director Manich has said she hopes the times change, and Time to Act becomes a relic, losing its relevance, while its message of the healing power of the arts endures.  Yes, let’s hope this work is only an opera for the age and not an opera for the ages.

Bottom line - I was glad I had made the four-hour drive from Virginia to see it.

The Fan Experience: Pittsburgh Opera scheduled performances of Time to Act for February 28, March 3, 6, and 8.  Due to strong ticket demand, a fifth performance has also been scheduled for March 9.  The opera is sung in English with English supertitles shown on a screen above.  The opera lasted about an hour and forty-five minutes without an intermission.  Time to Act was co-commissioned by Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Montana, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, with additional funding from Opera Santa Barbara; future performances in their venues are anticipated. 

Performances of Time to Act take place in the Bitz Opera Factory at 2425 Liberty Avenue, with a seating capacity of about 200.  Seating is cozy and tiered, giving good views of the stage.  The Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra performs in a balcony behind the stage.  Refreshments are available in the lobby.

Pittsburgh Opera’s 2025-2026 season has one production remaining, Verdi’s Falstaff on April 28, May 1 and 3, in the much larger Benedum Center.

I have not seen but am aware of one other opera that deals with the aftermath of a school shooting, Kaija Saariaho’s highly regarded Innocence, which will receive performances in April at the Met Opera. Sadly, performances in theaters as part of Met Opera’s Live in HD series have not been scheduled.

Virginia Opera's Intelligence: Excellent in Music, Singing, and Story...Almost There

This recent opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer had great music, great performances, and a blockbuster story told cleverly, with an impactful bottom line…impressive, so close to being a great opera. In fact, two of the later scenes of the second act were great opera.  This was such a rich story; I struggle to explain why I came away feeling that it fell just short of greatness. As I think more about the performance, I can’t escape the feeling that it wasn’t as affecting as it could have been.  Let me report and try to explain.

Mary Jane Bowser (Jacqueline Echols McCarley), slave, Civil War spy, can read, write, do math, and remember everything. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

The composer and librettist of Intelligence are two of the most revered opera luminaries working today, already with lists of successes to their names.  Virginia Opera has recently produced several excellent modern operas with connections to the Commonwealth.  Fellow Travelers in 2023 comes immediately to mind, as does 2022’s production of Three Decembers by Heggie and Scheer, and then 2025’s world premiere of Loving v. Virginia.  In just the second production of Intelligence, Virginia Opera brought the opera from Texas to Virginia, where the story takes place, after premiering with Houston Grand Opera in 2023.  I caught the final performance of this opera’s run in Fairfax on Sunday afternoon, after it previously played in Norfolk and Richmond, the actual city of the story.  I had posted a preview of this Richmond spy story in January. 

Elizabeth (Ashley Dixon), leader of the spy ring, and her protege, Mary Jane (Jacqueline Echols McCarley), face fear together. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

(This report does have spoilers.) The opera’s plot tells an amazing story of a Richmond pro-Union white woman, Elizabeth Van Lew, and her black slave, Mary Jane Bowser, who worked together at great risk to their lives during the Civil War to provide crucial intelligence to General Sherman, hastening the end of the war.  The Van Lews were a wealthy, prominent family in Virginia.  Their slave Mary Jane had received special treatment since birth; she had been baptized and married in the Lew’s white church, was sent north to be educated, and sent to spend time in Africa.  She could read, write and do math, key elements for spying, and she could remember everything.  Her blackness and slave status provided cover for her skills – the white officials and soldiers assumed she lacked the intelligence to read and write, and easily ignored her as she worked as a maid in the Jefferson Davis home.  History tells us that Elizabeth and Mary Jane, owner and slave, were real spies, who worked together during the Civil War, though the story of their relationship in the opera is historical fiction.  Three other characters in the opera are in the history books, Mary Jane’s husband Wilson, a slave runner for the spy network, Henry, the slave butler in the Jefferson mansion, and Callie, Elizabeth’s sister-in-law living with her.  Completely fictional characters in the plot were Travis, an amoral Confederate Home Guard trying to catch the spies, and Lucinda, a ghost/spirit whom only Mary Jane could see.  A trio of dancers were also important to connecting Mary Jane to her ancestry.

Confederate House Guard Travis (Craig Irvin) meets Callie (Maureen McKay), Elizabeth’s sister-in-law. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

VO assembled a cast for this production to make Virginia proud.  Outstanding soprano Mary Jane Bowser was played by Jacqueline Echols McCarley.  She has performed with Washington National Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Metropolitan Opera, among others (if you are googling her, the use of her married last name in cast listings is recent).  Listening to her sing was amazing, like watching Tom Brady play football, a consummate professional with outstanding skills; her voice has a beautiful timbre, and every word sung seemed to carry its own color.  Mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon gave a portrayal of Elizabeth Van Lew that was tone perfect in singing and acting.  She has also appeared with established opera companies across the US, and interestingly for this production, she was the cover for Elizabeth in the Houston Grand Opera performance of Intelligence.  Young mezzo-soprano Cierra Byrd played Lucinda with such splendor vocally and acting, it was hard to believe she is a recent graduate of the Met Opera Young Artist Development Program; she also covered the role for HGO.  Soprano Maureen McKay, who is headed to the Met Opera to play Papagena, was also excellent singing and acting in the role of Callie. 

Baritone Craig Irvin, also an established veteran in opera houses across the country, played Travis, giving us the villain and oppressor we love to hate in painfully convincing style, accentuated by well-sung threatening vocals.  Bass Kevin Thompson played the love struck butler Henry with a powerful, expressive bass voice.  Tenor Edward Graves sang two lovely arias as Mary Jane’s husband Wilson.  He also was a cover for the role with HGO.  In non-singing roles, dancers Noelani Corey-Bar, Amaya Weston, and Christine C. Wyatt (who was also the choreographer) added beauty and drama to the performance.

Mary Jane (Jacqueline Echols McCarley) confronts her heritage with Lucinda (Cierra Byrd) and dancers Noelani Corey-Barr, Amaya Weston, and Christine C. Wyatt. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Guess which opera won best opera recording at this year’s Grammy Awards.  Yep, Jake Heggie’s Intelligence.  It was deserved.  The music was atmospheric in support of the scene, musically interesting, and inventive, with a minimal use of dissonance to reveal unspoken elements in a scene, and a score I immediately wanted to hear again.  This was a score where the percussion section got a workout, highly rhythmic and changing, with different sections of the orchestra taking lead, violins, woodwinds, and even a piano.  The music incorporated several styles, including classic opera, jazz, and blues.  Mr. Heggie’s music was beautifully played and well done, accompanying and embellishing the vocals.  Kudos to the Virginia Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Brandon Eldredge.

Wilson (Edward Graves) as Mary Jane’s husband and spy runner. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Because of smaller stages of the venues used by the Virginia Opera, the staging of the opera had to be changed substantially.  Veteran Director Kyle Lang, who has directed eleven operas for VO did another fine job with the flow of Intelligence on stage. The design was impressionistic and effective with a large oak tree projected onto a scrim in the back and windows hanging down to indicate a house, with side panels moving in and out to add other features.  The costumes by Costume Coordinator Pat Seyller and Wig and Make-up Designer Elysse Mesick were quite good, effectively placing the characters in their roles.  The least effective staging was the fire scene; it was not clear what was happening and the urgency of getting critical intelligence to the field got lost.

Butler Henry (Kevin Thompson) reads to Mary Jane (Jacqueline Echols McCarley) who claims to be illiterate. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

With all that, what did I find wanting that affected my overall assessment?  Even though several highly dramatic scenes were presented in Act 1, I was mainly engaged intellectually. Perhaps because there was so much to tell in a short time.  As I expected, the spy story in Act 1 also gave attention to Mary Jane’s need to know more about where she came from and who she was as she was confronted by a ghost from the past, a theme that exploded in Act 2 and landed with the greatest impact.  The importance of the women’s efforts to win the Civil War seemed to fade quickly in Act 2.  Travis, the Confederate soldier and symbol of oppression, added little to the spy tension, more feared for the guy he was, including his unrestrained lechery for Mary Jane. Subplots abounded. Did we really need Edward the butler pursuing his love interest with Mary Jane, especially in the death scene? Just me perhaps, but I thought the spy story and its dangers were diluted too much. Act 2 was much more engaging.

The confrontation between Elizabeth (Ashley Dixon) and Mary Jane (Jacqueline Echols McCarley) with Lucinda (Cierra Byrd) standing by. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Big spoilers lie ahead. Go back if you want to see the story afresh.

On the other hand, let me address the two scenes I found great. I thought one of the last scenes could win a Tony award.  Callie discovers the dead Travis with a partially dug grave outside by the old oak tree.  She struggles, on her knees, by the grave, whether to support the South by revealing what has happened or to cover it up by finishing burying Travis to avoid what the scandal would do to her family.  At the same time, unknown to her, Elizabeth stands close by, pointing a pistol at her, torn between protecting the cause or her brother’s wife.  Both sing repeatedly, “If I do this, I will be chained to you forever”, to music that sounds like the pleasing melodies we take home with us from the best musicals and operas.  Oh, I longed for more of that, so clear, and with the music, so little spoken while so much was said.

The final scene was also outstanding.  Mary Jane learns her truth.  Elizabeth has lied to her.  Her relationship with Elizabeth is broken, and Mary Jane plans to move on.  She sings to Elizabeth with passion the most important message in the opera: “You don’t control my story now”.  This was powerful, crucial to understanding race relations as human relations – it is human to want to control your own story.  Don’t tread on me.  I demand my inalienable rights.  Let freedom ring for all.  It is what the appeal of America is about, is it not?  It is the essence of being human, is it not?

Kudos to all involved in this production, and kudos to Virginia Opera for their gift to the Commonwealth!  We learned about two meanings of intelligence.  We learned about the importance of secrets in war and secrets in our personal lives.  And we were entertained while we learned.  Not bad for an afternoon, hey?

The Fan Experience: Virginia Opera scheduled performances of Intelligence for Norfolk, January 30, February 1; Richmond, February 6, 8; and Fairfax, February 14, 15.  The opera lasted around three hours including one intermission.  It was sung in English with projected English subtitles. As of this posting, the online program for Intelligence can be accessed at https://dpb-web.instantencore.com/program/50512/virginia-operabriintellig/page/278875/home?cid=5206347.

Virginia Opera’s next production will be Aida, to be performed in Norfolk on March 13, 15 and in Richmond on March 20, 22.  OV’s website states that the expense of moving Aida to another location was prohibitive, so this production will not travel to Fairfax.  I would also add that to ensure that future productions do appear in Fairfax, increased attendance and generous donations would help.

Opera Philadelphia's Complications in Sue: A Night at the Opera (but different) to Remember

In its 50th anniversary season, Director Anthony Roth Costanzo calls this Opera Philadelphia season ‘opera, but different’.  One of the many remarkable things about Opera Philadelphia’s world premiere of the thoroughly engrossing Complications in Sue was the rapport between audience and performers.  I felt the performers were excelling in response to the enthusiastic audience throughout.  The many deer-in-the-headlights moments experienced by the audience seeing themselves, or at least their friends, in this drama, were soothed by the wrap-it-in-humor strategy and by the embrace from the performers in a, if we are honest, we’ve-all-been-there storyline.  It was as though the audience kept saying yes! to the chaos (complications) presented on stage.  This may have been enhanced by an opening night crowd that surely included many friends and family members of the performers and by the younger audience makeup due to OP’s second season of ‘name your own price’ ticketing.  Regardless, this was a night at the opera (but different) to remember.

Sue (Justin Vivian Bond) is welcomed to life by Death (Rehanna Thelwell). Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Complications in Sue is different in many ways, most strikingly, it is composed of ten eight-minute scenes organized by the decades of Sue’s life and complications ensue.  This is a thoroughly modern opera with references to life today – Christmas by Amazon, TV news, smartphone addiction, and more.  The brilliant libretto for the complete story was written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Michael J. Jackson, who had contacted Costanzo wanting to expand into opera – a librettist new to opera.  It gets even more different; each scene has a different composer.  Let me repeat that, each of the ten scenes has a different composer, who was only given the libretto for their scene and a summary of the opera to work with.  The many different characters in the scenes were played by just four opera singers and cabaret star Vivian Julian Bond who came up with the idea for this opera and appears in all scenes as Sue.  To be performed in OP’s 50th anniversary season, the opera was created over a single year, enough time for the composers to write their eight minutes of music.  The list of distinguished composers, in order, includes Errolyn Wallen, Missy Mazzoli, Andy Akiho, Nathalie Joachim, Dan Schlosberg, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Alastair Coleman, Kamala Sankaram, Rene Orth, and Nico Muly.

In scene 2, Mrs. Claus (Kiera Duffy) presses the case for ten-year-old Sue with Santa (Nicholas Newton). Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Somehow, the ten eight-minute pieces of music worked as a whole, perhaps because the music must, in each scene, project and reflect a Sue changed by time.  The Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Caren Levine, in her OP debut, played beautifully.  The music from ten different composers was seamlessly integrated with the singing and stage-action, a remarkable achievement.  I enjoyed the music of each composer and thought each did an impressive job of enlivening the story onstage, adding color and unspoken emotion.  I remember especially liking the music in scene 3 (Andy Akiho), but that was seven composers ago, and now I can’t recall it well enough to explain why.  Wish I could hear them all again.  Justin Vivian Bond as Sue was the connecting thread of the storyline for all ten scenes.  There was nothing I noticed in the score that musically related the continuing elements of Sue, such as a common leitmotif for Sue, used by all, that a single composer might have done.

Co-Ed 1 (Kiera Duffy), twenty-something Sue (Justin Vivian Bond), and Co-Ed 2 (Nicky Spence). Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

In scene 1, Death sings to baby Sue that ‘life is full of wonder/life is full of woe’.  I thought Sue’s story provided a counterpoint to the film “The Life of Chuck”, which centers on moments in life that make it worthwhile, amid the chaos.  Sue’s scenes made me wonder what happened, exactly, and what it means about Sue, and about my life.  CIS shows us that while we change, we carry our previous selves with us.  The point is made that ten-year-old Sue still lives in almost 100-year-old Sue; the parts that are true, who we really are, don’t change.  We see complications on the outside and inside of Sue, but mostly missing is the Sue I wanted to know better, the one we glimpsed who was excited by Christmas and believed in Santa Claus.  I came away feeling that we had gotten together and talked about someone we know who had passed away. The real Sue came across as buried at an early age, while the one trying to find or avoid herself made it to 99.  I know an opera was good when I am still thinking about it for days afterward.

The uplifting message was brought home by Sue’s performer, who was given a few minutes to speak as Justin Vivian Bond.  Bond had some choice words for the country’s leaders and government officials, gender-phobes, and others of like small-mindedness, eliciting a vote of appreciation from the audience, though I would have preferred that the opera stay opera at this point.  Bond ended by saying that, in life, look deep inside, find out who you are, and live that life; I can cheer the sentiment.  This interlude, with Bond speaking as Bond, was unusual for opera, breaking the fourth wall.  It will be interesting to see how other companies perform this opera and what happens to this segment.  Bond’s magnetic stage presence and costumes often made her the center of attention, making the opera somewhat about the famous cabaret performer.  I believe Complications in Sue can stand on its own without this novel interlude, or perhaps let Mr. Jackson’s Sue speak in the interlude, revealing more about her life.

A newscaster (Rehanna Thelwell) reports from inside Sue’s imagination. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

CIS was also different in having two directors, Raja Feather Kelly and Zack Winokur.  The staging was fluid and affecting, with no hint in the action that suggested more than one director was at work.  There were also two costume designers, JW Anderson for Bond, and Victoria Bek for the remainder of the cast.  The work of both was well done, audacious for the cabaret star and enhancing and supportive of the drama and entertainment being provided.  Sue began with simple, effective sets by Krit Robinson, and in later scenes, added a set of frames that allowed Yuki Link to apply creative lighting with special effects.  Overall, a highly effective staging.

Fifty-something Sue (Justin Vivian Bond) is confronted by her algorithm. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The stellar cast also included four additional outstanding singer/actors – well known to OP fans were soprano Kiera Duffy, mezzo-soprano Rihanna Thelwell, bass-baritone Nicholas Newton, and newcomer, British tenor Nicky Spence.  Thelwell was unable to sing for this performance; from the side of the stage, cover singer mezzo-soprano Imara Miles sang her parts beautifully, while Thelwell performed the role onstage.  The two came across largely as one.  This was a challenging opera, I would think, for all the singer/actors.  Each played three different roles and all played Death.  Singing vocals written by so many composers must have been difficult to master for a single opera.  I also noted that lines were often repeated multiple times for effect and impact; getting the inflections right required extraordinary talent.  Each performer/performance was simply outstanding.  The fact that an opera of this complexity could be created and performed at this level in a year’s time is nothing short of miraculous.

Death (l to r, Nicky Spence, Kiera Duffy), Rehanna Thelwell, and Nicholas Newton) confronts Sue (Justin Vivian Bond) for one last time. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

My bottom line: Complications in Sue was fun at the opera, and a cause for reflection.  Opera is always an enormously collaborative enterprise, including composer, librettist, singers, musicians, supernumeraries, director, and more, but OP has pushed the limits in sponsoring an opera that has ten composers!  It was reported that the opera would not be finished until opening night.  In only his second year as General Director and President of Opera Philadelphia, Anthony Roth Costanzo’s contract has been renewed.  He thus has received a vote of confidence for setting this new direction for Opera Philadelphia.  Clearly, OP’s audience loves him, and he is returning that love with increased attendance and enthusiasm.  In Sue, he and the team he assembled gave us a night at the opera (but different) to remember.

The Fan Experience: Opera Philadelphia scheduled performances for February 4, 5, 6, and 8 in the Academy of Music.  The opera was sung in English with supertitles in English shown overhead the stage.  The performance lasted an hour and a half with no intermission.

Virginia Opera Brings Intelligence to Virginia: Conductor Turner Talks About the Music and More

Virginia Opera is readying its production of Intelligence (Norfolk, January 30, February 1; Richmond, February 6, 8; and Fairfax, February 14, 15); this will be only the second production of this opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer.  This team collaborated on five previous full-length operas, including Moby-Dick and Three Decembers, as well as many shorter works and songs.  Mr. Heggie’s opera Dead Man Walking, with librettist Terence McNally, is arguably the most popular contemporary opera.  They are considered leaders in their fields today.  Intelligence also has another hook for Virginians besides the stature of its creators – it is based on a true story that happened in Richmond during the Civil War, a tale about spies inspired by real events, women spies who formed a team, one a wealthy white woman and the other was her black slave; what happened, you say?  The opera premiered with Houston Grand Opera in 2023 and has been nominated for best opera recording for the 2026 Grammy Awards.  Intelligence was a success with both audiences and critics, who considered it a significant new American opera.

Ashley Dixon as Elizabeth Van Lew and Jacqueline Echols McCarley as Mary Jane Bowser as Civil War spies in Virginia Opera’s production of Intelligence. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

The storyline about the bravery and under-appreciated intelligence of a wealthy, white, union-favoring owner and her educated, black, union-favoring slave, operating an intelligence gathering ring in the capital of the Confederacy, is certainly compelling, and there is another side to this story that might hit even harder than the dangerous intelligence gathering espionage.  However, this is an opera, so what about the music?  Who better to ask than Virginia Opera’s Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Adam Turner, so I arranged to call him, and ever gracious, he took the time to chat.  I offered some questions to help focus the discussion.

Adam Turner, currently in his eighth season as Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of Virginia Opera (following four seasons as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor),

What makes you decide to attend a new opera?  What questions are you considering when you attend?

 Artistic Director Turner said he was always scouting for new stories and performers he might bring to Virginia audiences. He is also especially interested in having Virginia Opera produce operas with connections to Virginia, either storyline, composers, or performers.  He had received a grant from Opera America’s New Works Exploration Fund which provided travel funds, so he started checking around for what might have promise.  He saw that Houston Grand Opera was presenting a new opera titled Intelligence in 2023.  The story sounded interesting, and the composer and librettist were friends whose work he greatly admires, having performed many of their works and worked in a workshop with the team.  He had selected Three Decembers for performances in Virginia in 2024.  He knew that attending Intelligence would put him in good hands.  When he found out that this Civil War story took place in Richmond, he said to himself, why Texas?!  This opera should be performed in Richmond he thought, one of Virginia Opera’s three performance venues.  Okay, but what about the music?

What was your first impression of the music in Intelligence?

Maestro Turner said that once he heard the music, he became excited to perform it.  He prepared to hear Intelligence by asking his friends, Jake and Gene, for a copy of the score and libretto; then, he played as much as he could on the piano before attending.  He felt at the time that this was one of the team’s best works, and being a Virginia story, he felt it needed to be presented in Virginia. He said that he is most impressed with the use of harmony and use of rhythmic patterns in Heggie’s music.  He had loved the music in Heggie’s Three Decembers, which VO performed in 2022 (I agree).  He says the music in Intelligence is melodramatic, with strategic use of dissonance, and melodies that became earworms for him, difficult to shut off when he went home at night.  Sometimes the music is reminiscent of musical theater.  When I mentioned that I had enjoyed the arias in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking that had more of a New Orleans blues sound and wished for more, he said Intelligence was Heggie’s bluesiest opera yet.

He said that while operatic, it is also frequently cinematic in its use of music.  He noted that the cinematic element of the score for Intelligence was perhaps especially exemplified in the music played during scene changes.  He also stated that in a sense the score included a percussion concerto, providing rhythms for African dance and interesting sounds throughout, adding an eerie mood to some scenes.  “Percussion instruments used throughout the score include Timpani, Crotales, Chimes Xylophone, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Congas, Tom-toms, Tamtam, Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Hi-Hat, Suspended Cymbal, Crash Cymbal, Tambourine, Claves, Anvil, Slapstick, Triangle. There are several effects indicated throughout the score which add to the eeriness of certain moments – brushed cymbals or brushed Tamtam evoking a haunting “swish” sound, cymbals played with hard and soft mallets, bowed Vibraphone, etc.”  Something I will look forward to hearing.

Jacqueline Echols McCarley as Mary Jane Bowser and Cierra Byrd as Lucinda, with dancers Noelani Corey-Barr, Amaya Weston, and Christine C. Wyatt. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

If you heard a work that you didn’t know, would something make your think it might be Heggie?

He said that Heggie’s composing voice had a catchy quality to it that it made it easy for him to identify the composer’s work.  He used an example of two other composers, “Jason Robert Brown and Stephen Sondheim in Conversation – JRB sent a melody (no harmony or tempo/style indication provided) to SS who re-harmonized the piece by Brown; in the concert JRB played his original harmonization first, then Sondheim played his ‘re-harmonization’ after Brown, and it sounded more like Sondheim’s music.  (This entire exchange can be heard on the Jason Robert Brown/Stephen Sondheim Live in Concert album - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCUeumgAjb8). The whole point of this exchange implies that much of a composer’s ‘voice’ can be identified by harmony and rhythm”. 

Did the singers find it easy or difficult to make the vocals theirs?

Conductor Turner said that Heggie was very attuned to voice and composed vocals in a way that allowed leeway for interpretation.  His singers had risen to the occasion.  His role was to tailor the musical expression to fit the singer’s voices.  Some of the singers were familiar with the music because they had served as covers in the previous production: mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon covered the role of Elizabeth Van Lew for HGO; tenor Edward Graves covered the role of Wilson.

What changes are made for VO’s production?

 Maestro Turner said that there are no musical changes to the score for VO’s production and only a couple of words for the libretto.  He said there would be around 40-50 players for this production, only slightly fewer strings than used in the Houston production.  

He added that “the Houston Grand Opera’s stage is larger than VO’s venues.  A completely different production (scenic design, costume design, staging, and choreography) would be needed.  VO veteran director Kyle Lang came on board for this production, his 11th VO opera.  Adam also sought out scenic designer Steven C. Kemp to contribute, who did such an excellent job for him with VO’s production of Carmen.  Mr. Lang (the director) also has dance experience useful for this production which has an important element of dance. The dance is being choreographed by Christine Wyatt, a DMV based choreographer, performer.”

How was Intelligence received in its first performance?

“Very well.  Enthusiastically, there was frequent spontaneous applause, for the dancers as well as the singers.  The story offered high drama.  It pulled at the heartstrings.  The action was fast and exciting. The music was romantic and lyrical.” That’s good enough for this blogger to look forward to attending. 

I’d also like to add a closing note on that other thing, the one that might hit harder (ok, here is a hint: it involves the relationship between the two women, owner and slave).  I listened to VO’s virtual book club discussion about the primary source for the opera’s storyline; to use Virginia Opera’s own words: “Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy by Elizabeth R. Varon, a riveting account of a remarkable Richmond woman who built a covert pro-Union intelligence network during the Civil War”.  Author Varon was in attendance and so was librettist Gene Scheer who used these characters to create the storyline in Intelligence.  Author Varon, a professor of history at UVA, offered many interesting details about her book, its time, and events in the lives of the real two women after the war.  Librettist Scheer added a perspective that was also enlightening.  He stated that his goal was not necessarily to have the libretto report what happened accurately but to get the feelings right! History doesn’t record the feelings.  He used a term I loved: he said that he and Jake were “emotional archeologists”. 

So, when we attend Intelligence, we shouldn’t expect to just see and hear what these emotional archeologists have excavated, but importantly, look forward to experiencing it.

The Fan Experience: Virginia Opera has scheduled performances of Intelligence for Norfolk, January 30, February 1; Richmond, February 6, 8; and Fairfax, February 14, 15.  The opera lasts around two hours and is sung in English with English subtitles with one intermission.

If you are interested in a deeper dive, there are several online programs you might access:  

“Let’s Talk Opera: Intelligence“by Joshua Borths - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCF27UTcGvI

OV’s Virtual Book Club discussion on Southern Lady, Yankee Spy -   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUtuuGTzyuk

Recording of the opera music and singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1utN36wufg&list=OLAK5uy_nY4Y21iyKlAVpsoBDVuODnFqRbmPjP_h4

Opera Philadelphia's The Seasons: Earth to Mankind, Come In

The Seasons is the sort of thing that can happen when talented and creative people get together and have a shared interest.  The group will expand as a vision and its needs materialize and come into focus, in this case, the production of a new baroque opera focused on the weather.  The assembled team is extraordinary. Let’s take a look at the opening credits in the program book for The Seasons (my comments in parentheses):

Music by Antonio Vivaldi (a draftee by the creative group, remember the 1700s, though Vivaldi came to praise the seasons, not to bury them)

Based on “The Four Seasons” with additional arias and ensembles by Vivaldi (the opera runs an hour longer than Vivaldi’s famous four violin concertos that include Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter)

Libretto by Sarah Ruhl (also a poet, playwright, and essayist)

Co-conceived by Anthony Roth Costanzo (performer for the first time while also general director/president of Opera Philadelphia) and Sarah Ruhl in collaboration with Pam Tanowitz (choreographer) and Zack Winokur (director)

Developed by SCENE and AMOK

The Cosmic Weatherman (John Mburu) warns of seasons out of order. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

 Then, the contributor list goes on (before I get to the singer-actors in the opera):

 Conductor – Corrado Rovaris

Music Director: Stephen Stub

Musical advisor: Grant Herreid

Dance Rehearsal Director – Mark Crousillat

Costume Designer – Carlos Soto

Co-costume Designer – Victoria Bek

Co-set Designer – Jack Forman

Co-set Designer – Mimi Lien

Lighting Designer – John Torres

The Poet (Anthony Roth Costanzo) sings in light snow and a backdrop of mountains made of soap. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

 Well, what has this team wrought, and does it work in performance?  First, let’s set the stage, there are five characters gathered at a farm to let the weather and nature spark their creativity, and an additional five dancers, plus an orchestra and children’s chorus – it is an opera constructed of existing Vivaldi music and arias with a modern story and new words (and includes some clever, environmentally friendly special effects).  The plan is disrupted as the seasons appear out of order and are marked with weather extremes, as The Cosmic Weatherman foretells in the prologue.  The vision is grand and timely, the relationship between people and the weather.

 The Poet – Anthony Roth Costanzo

The Farmer – Abigail Raiford

The Cosmic Weatherman – John Mburu

The Performing Artist – Whitney Morrison

Painter - Kangmin Justin Kim

The Choreographer – Megan Moore

Dancers:  Maggie Cloud, Mark Crousillat, Taylor Labruzzo, Brian Lawson, Stephanie Terasaki, Anson Zwingelberg

(l to r) Dancers Taylor LaBruzzo, Maggie Cloud, Brian Lawson, Anson Zwingleberg, Stephanie Terasaki, and Marc Crousillat. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

While both the words and music are critical to an opera’s success, my personal favorite is the music.  If the music is great, I can forgive a lot.  Vivaldi’s music is great.  Though best known for his musical compositions, he also wrote what is estimated to be over 40 operas, not often performed today and many lost to history.  I have enjoyed “The Four Seasons” for most of my life, simply as a good listen with lively and beautiful music.  In preparing for this opera, I discovered that the music was composed to reflect sonnets written for each season, perhaps by Vivaldi himself.  Vivaldi was trying something relatively new, attaching human sensorial impact to orchestral music, to hear his music and feel a connection to the weather.  As OP’s The Seasons is chamber-sized, the Perelman Theater was selected as the venue, whose pit was filled with twenty members of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Maestro Corrado Rovaris.  The music seemed played to perfection, fully displaying the beauty of Vivaldi’s music and arias while adding emotion to scenes on stage without distracting from the action on stage or competing with the singing.  Kudos to solo violinist Max Tan for excellent playing, and librettist Ruhl is to be cheered for making her story and words fit so well with Vivaldi’s music. 

Flutist/dancer Emi Ferguson and The Painter (Kangmin Justin Kim) above a fallen Poet (Anthony Roth Costanzo). Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

If you like baroque music and melisma in your arias, this opera is for you.  OP assembled an outstanding group of singers for this production, led by world superstar countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo.  Several of his arias were breathtakingly beautiful as Vivaldi’s vocal works provide a perfect showcase for the arresting emotional presence that is conveyed by his extraordinary voice.  He is also an accomplished actor and stage presence who gave a convincing portrait of a troubled poet who falls for The Painter, played by talented countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim, who sang well as he yields to his feelings and a hot relationship with the poet.  There were many comic touches in the opera, with soprano Abigail Raiford’s farmer making a salad while recording a video for Instagram being a hilarious highlight; her voice and singing were also highlights.  While these characters in Ruhl’s words were more attentive to the weather inside them than outside them, The Performer, played by soprano Whitney Morrison, had a clear-eyed view of the changing seasons (“What the hell is it doing snowing in summer!”).  She sang beautifully, expressing anger and fear, imploring the others to join her on the watercraft she had put together from garbage.  Perhaps the most sympathetic character was The Choreographer, played by mezzo-soprano Megan Moore, who was not yet ready to commit to a relationship with the Farmer because of a recent breakup.  She sang well with affecting emotion and became a special point of sadness.

left - The Performance Artist (Whitney Morrison). right - The Farmer (Abigail Raiford). Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The Cosmic Weatherman, sung by bass-baritone John Mburu, appeared at the beginning, several times during the opera, and at the end to proclaim the dangerous period that climate change had brought upon the world and exhorting his listeners to fight, leaving no doubt about the message this opera wished to convey.  A ray of hope among losses was offered at the end when the Commonwealth Youth Choir sang an ensemble piece by Vivaldi beautifully under Program Director/Conductor Dominique DeSilva.

The dance element, enriching the opera with its portrayal of the weather events, was one of its most enjoyable aspects.  The synchronized ballet and individual performances were in the right mood, flowed smoothly with grace and pinpoint execution, and were visually beautiful.  The opera featured an outstanding flute solo by Emi Ferguson while dancing on stage with the dancers.  It took me awhile to believe that a dancer was the flutist playing the piece with such beautiful execution.  Her performance was mesmerizing and joyous. 

The Choreographer (Megan Moore) surrounded by dancers. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The staging of the opera used simple sets, with a screen in the rear, and dropdowns overhead, illuminating place and mood by use of special effects of lighting, projections, and snowflakes and bubbles, used effectively for the most part, slightly distracting at times - large soap bubbles.  Co-creator Costanzo worked with Jack Forman, an MIT doctoral student in materials science, to have special effects that were environmentally friendly and safe for the players on stage, such as making snow showers from soap.  The lighting and projections were used effectively to portray the seasons gone wrong.  My favorite was the icicles that hung from strings about the stage in different moving patterns, particularly as an adornment for Costanzo’s soulful singing.  When the opera premiered at Boston Lyric Opera in March, technical issues prevented many of the planned special effects from being employed.

l to r: The Farmer (Abigail Raiford) and The Choreographer (Megan Moore) during a fire. Photo by Steve Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The Seasons’ artistic entertainment was outstanding in most regards, and the opera can easily be recommended for those high points alone.  How well it delivered its message of preoccupation while outside disaster looms is open to question, and frankly, I struggled with this issue.  Director Winokur did a good job of structuring the opera’s flow and employing the special effects.  Seasons and their weather patterns are a challenge to portray on stage, even with the help of Vivaldi’s music and the dancing.  The director and libretto did an excellent job describing the weather inside and outside the characters, but for me, less well in portraying the emotional connection between the two.  The weather was already disjointed as the characters appeared, not something new; we didn’t get a chance to feel their connection to nature and its healing effects.  If one reads the synopsis, the weather events were there that should have emphasized the threat that was building, a weather change evoking a lover’s quarrel and a winter storm raising survival as an issue.  There were a lot of weather events, perhaps too many, packed into the last third of the opera that perhaps needed more dramatic development.  Also, in the libretto much more was explained than I could take in watching and listening with so much going on, music, singing, acting, and special effects as multiple weather events exerted themselves.  Viewing this, for whatever reasons, I was more concerned with what was happening to the characters in the moment than experiencing a sense of loss and impending doom; the emotional center of the opera was the weather inside, for me.  

The Seasons was a pleasure to attend, and I definitely would not want to have missed this extraordinary assembly of talent. I’m not sure that viewing the opera will awaken many from what librettist Ruhl describes as their helpless numbness when confronting climate change.  My wife disagrees, and the Cosmic Weatherman did his best to raise consciousness – and I hope I’m wrong.  Personally, I went home feeling highly entertained by the great music, singing, dancing, and compelling individual stories as well as the atmospheric snowflakes and bubbles. But perhaps, my sense of doom over the future arising from global warming was already substantial, and my sense of helplessness too strong for the Cosmic Weatherman alone to penetrate.

The Fan Experience: Performances of The Seasons were scheduled for December 19, 20, and 21 in the Perelman Theater and were sold out.  The opera was sung in English, Italian, and Latin with supertitles in English.  The opera lasted a little over two hours, including a 20-minute intermission.  A pre-opera discussion was held one hour prior to performance with Lily Kass and guest Jack Forman.

Next up for Opera Philadelphia is the world premiere of Complications in Sue on February 4, 5, 6, and 8. Pick your price ticketing as low as $11 for any seat remains in effect this season.

Washington National Opera's The Marriage of Figaro: Both Sweet and Good for You

An all-star cast, a new music director, and a returning stage director gave us Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte’s The Marriage of Figaro (1786, Le Nozze di Figaro) in full measure.  Washington National Opera’s production, running through November 22, provides everything you might want from classic opera buffa.  The expression on my face changed with the drama on the stage, but the smile in my heart began with the first notes of the overture and lasted through the standing ovation at the end.  Entertaining, rewarding, enriching, this one checked all the boxes, classic opera at its best, art that entertains and embeds itself in your heart!  Kudos to WNO’s Artistic Director Francesco Zambello, General Director Timothy O’Leary, and everyone involved for bringing this treasure to DC in such fine fashion.

The betrothed couple, Susanna (Joélle Harvey) and Figaro (Le Bu). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Mozart and Da Ponte collaborated to produce three operas, all still popular today: in addition to Figaro, Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1789).  As was the case with all their collaborations, there is more afoot than comedy; the social change rippling through society at that time was also a target of the operas.  The ruling class at the time didn’t take well to such themes in performance art, and such works faced roadblocks in getting to the stage.  In the pre-opera talk by Ken Weiss, Principal Music Coach of the Cafritz Young Artist Program, he pointed out that by making Spain its setting, instead of Vienna where it was first performed, and modifying Beaumarchais language from the play (The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro) that the opera is based on, allowed Figaro to get past the censors and the emperor.  There is another famous opera(s) based on a Beaumarchais play, The Barber of Seville, containing many of the same characters at an earlier time.

Cherubino (John Holiday) and Countess Almaviva (Rosa Feola) share a moment. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

In Figaro, the wooing of Rosina by Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville is now past, and the Count has been messing around; Countess Rosina is distraught.  Count Almaviva now desires to bed Susanna, his wife’s servant, supposedly justified by droit du seigneur (right of the lord).  Figaro, servant of the Count and Susanna’s husband to be, joins forces with his betrothed, the Countess, and a love-struck page, Cherubino, to outwit the Count.  Dr. Bartolo, whom had tried to keep Rosina for himself in the earlier chapter, and Marcellina, his housekeeper, are part of a sub-plot, with Don Basilio, Don Curzio, Barbarina, and Antonio all making appearances.  Plots and subplots are begun and go astray, and hilarious surprises abound in classical opera buffa style, which is to say, in classical commedia dell’arte style.  Regardless, it was an excellent plot device for Beaumarchais to make the point quite clearly that nobility had more control over their subjects, even their bodies, than should be granted; this was a controversy roiling aristocracies of the continent at that time.  It allows Da Ponte and Mozart to bring us to the conclusion that both rulers and subjects are flawed human beings and that love conquers all, with the only path forward being to ask for and give forgiveness and move on.  Due to the exceptional likability of the music and the themes of human susceptibility to transgression, the recurring need for forgiveness, and the righting power of love, we continue to embrace The Marriage of Figaro.

l to r: Count Almaviva (Will Liverman), plots with Marcellina (Elizabeth Bishop), Don Basilio (Rodell Rosel), and Dr. Bartolo (Sir Williard White). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Did I mention the all-star cast?  Figaro has four leading roles, seven substantial supporting roles, and a chorus.  The word for this cast overall is stellar.  Lyric soprano Joélle Harvey proved to be a perfect Susanna, in both singing and acting.  She has a beautiful voice, sings expertly, and is a charmer on stage.  This was her first appearance with WNO; she was a late addition to the cast when the previously scheduled soprano had to withdraw.  Ms. Harvey has previously garnered high praise for her Susanna at the Royal Opera Covent Garden and for her Pamina at the Met Opera.  The role of the Countess was sung to perfection by international superstar soprano Rosa Feola.  She sang with incredible feeling and beauty in a role that is the emotional center of the opera.  Her “Porgi, amor” mourning her husband’s infidelity was touching.  She and Ms. Harvey sang a drop-dead beautiful “Sull’aria”, an all time favorite of mine.  Ms. Feola, who has starred at both the Met Opera and La Scala, appeared as Juliette for WNO in 2023.  Bass-baritone Le Bu, who is relatively new to leading roles in staged opera, impressed from his first appearance on stage with a strong, commanding voice; we appear to have a new major talent on our hands.  He gave us a more reactive than reflective Figaro but performed well overall.  He is in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera.  In 2022, he won the Met Opera Laffont Competition and in 2024, won the prestigious worldwide Operalia competition.  The Count was played by baritone Will Liverman, well known to opera fans in DC, Philadelphia, and NYC.  He sang beautifully, giving us a determined, angry Count when foiled, then displayed a more appealing range of emotions in the second half of the opera. 

Susanna (Joélle Harvey) emerges as the surprise noise maker in the closet while the Count (Will Liverman) and Countess (Rosa Feola) are poised for action. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

A surprise casting by Washington National Opera for the role of the young, hormone-driven Cherubino was one of the reasons I was looking forward to attending this performance.  Mozart wrote this part for a mezzo-soprano in a pants role, a woman playing a man’s role.  Instead, WNO cast highly regarded countertenor John Holiday, who has the tessitura to sing the role.  He has a beautiful voice and sings with precision.  Mr. Holiday was funny, effective, and consistently excellent in the part, and I enjoyed him as adding a novel element, though I still prefer it as a pants role, at least if it is not Mr. Holiday.  The remaining performers in supporting roles also have impressive biographies.  Bass-baritone Sir Williard White and mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop not only sang well but were a rather charming pair in addition to being amusing.  Tenor Rodell Rosel as teacher Don Basilio was a genuine hoot as the focal point of humor.  Soprano Lauren Carroll, a Cafritz Young Artist, as Barbarina, tenor Hakeem Henderson, a Cafritz Young Artist, as Don Curzio, and bass Kevin Thompson as Antonio, all contributed substantially to the performance.  Mozart is a master at composing ensemble singing.  Figaro at times includes not only duets and trios but ensembles of 4 to 7 singers.  This cast, with their tight singing, performed the ensembles in a highly enjoyable fashion. 

Susanna (Joélle Harvey) and Countess Almaviva (Rosa Feola) prepare Cherubino (John Holiday) to appear as a woman. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

This performance was Robert Spano’s first as confirmed Music Director for WNO, though not his first as conductor.  Under his direction, the Washington National Opera performed Mozart’s score beautifully.  In terms of volume, coordination with the singers, and emphasis, I enjoyed every minute and never felt anything was askew.  I enjoyed the WNO chorus led by Steven Gathman which mainly stayed in the background for this performance.

Director Peter Kazaras also directed this production staged by WNO in 2016.  The set, at times, was impressive, with columns and lighting; kudos to set designer Benoit Dugardyn and lighting designer A. J. Guban.  The colorful period costumes by Myung Hee Cho were delightful, adding to the production’s charm.  The flow of the four-act opera, changing sets with the action, supposedly completed on just one day, was well done by Director Kazaras.  The were many small touches that conveyed the humor and the emotions.  I might have liked the Count’s contrition to be a little more effectively presented.  The changes made from the 2016 production were well considered.

An ensemble number sung by Susanna (Joélle Harvey), Figaro (Le Bu), Marcellina (Elizabeth Bishop), Dr. Bartolo (Sir Willard White), Antonio (Kevin Thompson), Barbarina (Lauren Carroll), and Cherubino (John Holiday). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

I will add some of my text from a previous report on this opera: “The old saying is that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely; power has been corrupting mankind since Adam and Eve.  Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, however, also saw that human beings are capable of magnanimity, reform, redemption, and plain silliness, as well as corruption, but most importantly, they understood that the healing grace is love.  The team’s profound insight that human goodness is a work in progress, coupled with their keen sense of humor, provided us with stories in which we can see and laugh at ourselves.  Color those stories with Mozart’s ability to write music of great beauty and charm that fully illuminates the human heart, and classics emerge, beloved in every age.” 

There are several works of performance art besides opera that I watch over and over.  With the holidays approaching, I think of “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart, which also tugs at my heartstrings every time I watch it.  Live opera is a little different; no two performances are the same.  By attending an opera repeatedly, one hopes each time that the team will get it right, so it can be enjoyed as expected or in a new way, while enjoying what new performers bring to the roles.  WNO’s 2025 production of The Marriage of Figaro provides just what we want, great music, great singing, and a performance that enlightens and touches the heart.

The Fan Experience: Washington National Opera scheduled performances of The Marriage of Figaro for November 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22.  Cafritz Young Artists performed all roles for the November 15 performance. Performances are sung in Italian with English supertitles shown over the stage.  The performance lasted about 3 hours and 15 minutes with a 25-minute intermission.  Pre-opera talks are given in the Opera House one hour before performances. 

The digital program book The Marriage of Figaro is online and can be accessed at this link.  Soprano Yaritza Vélez is listed in the program as Susanna.  However, she had to withdraw and the role, as noted above, is played by soprano Joélle Harvey. 

As a heads up, WNO’s new 20 minute operas of the American Opera Initiative frequently sell out. Get your tickets for January 24 early.  WNO will perform the family opera The Little Prince on Dec 12-14, Tremonisha March 12-22, The Crucible March 19-29, and an operatic version of West Side Story on May 8-23.

Kennedy Center parking is typically plentiful, with rates 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, running from there to the Kennedy Center every 15 minutes, are an excellent option.  There is an advantage in arriving a bit early.  KC frequently has multiple performances on its different stages overlapping, which can create traffic jams and sometimes security checks when VIPs attend.

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.

Annapolis Opera's Don Giovanni: Small Scale, Large Impact

Since the World Series finished the day before I attended Annapolis Opera’s Don Giovanni, I will say upfront that this small opera company won the game with a team effort, displaying excellence all around.  Don Giovanni, first performed in 1787, remains one of the ten most often performed operas in the world.  It is large in many regards – in terms of the number of principal soloists, orchestra size, and sets for frequent scene changes; it is a mainstay of large opera houses.  Yet, the beauty of its music, vocals, and insights into human society and personal challenges, also lead to frequent productions by smaller companies.  It is high entertainment that also teaches us something about ourselves.  In fact, I contend that AO’s smaller scale, well-crafted staging kept a focus on the story’s messages that can be obscured by elaborate sets and staging, a staging that might seduce us the way that the character Don Giovanni would.  Big has its advantages, but big is not necessarily better, or as reflective of real life. 

The spirit of the Commendatore (Benjamin Sieverding) arrives to give Don Giovanni (Efrain Solis) one last chance to repent, while his servant Leporello (Samuel Weiser) hides behind chairs. Photo by Caroline Sykes; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte collaborated on three operas, all of which are popular classics.  In addition to Don Giovanni, there are The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Così fan tutte (1790).  There might have been more, but Da Ponte lost his position and salary at court and left town, and Mozart died in 1791 at the age of 35.  The social commentary in their operas was edgy for the times and drew contentious scrutiny by the censors.  Giovanni is a rich nobleman who presents himself with deceptive charm to take advantage of women and men; Figaro centers on a servant who outwits his ruler, and Così displays young women who change partners rather easily.  Giovanni is based on the Spanish legendary, fictional character, the wealthy Don Juan, whose calling in life was to romance and seduce women without regard to propriety or morality.  The disarming, affluent, amoral aristocrat Don Giovanni sees men and women as being there for his pleasure and manipulation without regard to their feelings or well-being.  In my younger days, he would have been called smooth-talking, someone to keep an eye on, someone who makes you keep your hand on your wallet. 

Don Giovanni (Efrain Solis) calls on Leporello (Samuel Weiser) for assistance. Photo by Caroline Sykes; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

The story begins with him being too forceful in the seduction of Donna Anna and then his killing of her father, who comes to her defense.  Throughout, Donna Elvira, a previous seductee, tries to call him to account for his actions and protect others from him.  At the same time, Giovanni continues his pursuit of one woman after another with the aid of his servant and enabler for hire, Leporello.  He attempts to seduce young Zerlina at her wedding party, drawing the ire of her new husband Masetto.  Finally, the spirit of the dead father, the Commendatore, appears to offer him a last chance at redemption.  Don Giovanni is unrepentant and meets his fate.

Now, let’s talk about the fun stuff.  Mozart’s exquisitely beautiful music in Don Giovanni is filled with melodies that are chart toppers among opera’s greatest hits.  His music constantly reflects and supports the actions and emotions displayed on stage.  Annapolis Opera’s Artistic Director and Conductor Craig Kier led the 24-piece Annapolis Symphony in fine fashion in terms of pace, emphasis, and timing with the singers.  I greatly appreciated his decision to play the marvelous overture without silent action occurring on stage, allowing the music to be enjoyed without distraction.  Just listening to this Annapolis Symphony’s playing of the music from Don Giovanni would be an excellent evening’s entertainment.  The Annapolis Opera Chorus, under the direction of Chorus Master Joann Kulesza, added more delight. 

Leporello (Samuel Wieser) shows Donna Elvira (Johanna Will) a list of women that Don Giovanni has made love to. Photo by Caroline Sykes; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

The next pleasing aspect of this performance was the talented cast of eight soloists.  One of the most enjoyable and notable parts of any Mozart opera is the ensemble numbers, ranging from duets to the entire cast; for me, he and Rossini stand out in this category.  Sometimes I feel that Mozart is just showing off.  This excellent cast delivered them well.  Don Giovanni was played by baritone Efrain Solis, who has previously performed with AO, as well as Virginia Opera and Washington Concert Opera; one reviewer praised his premiere at the Metropolitan Opera this year as “sensational”.  He has a powerful, attractive voice, and sings with apparent ease.  He conveyed both Don Giovanni’s charm and vileness.  His servant and sidekick, Leporello, sung by bass-baritone Samuel Weiser, whose voice has been correctly described as stentorian; he can bring the boom when needed, but also delivered some mean patter singing in this role.  He displayed a character that was both ingratiating as he counseled Donna Elvira about the Don’s more than two thousand other lovers and was off-putting with his ‘if the price is right, I’ll look the other way’ attitude.  In this production, the final scene of the original performance was deleted, as is often done, a scene where several of the characters gather briefly to moralize that Giovanni got what was coming to him.  Personally, I like this change; the point had already been clearly made.

Don Octavio (Charles Calotta), Donna Anna (Sofia Scattarreggia), and Donna Elvira (Johanna Will) arrive wearing masks at the party. Photo by Caroline Sykes; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

A highlight of Don Giovanni is the arias given by Mozart to a trio of women that Giovanni beds or attempts to, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina.  Donna Anna, who wants to avenge her father’s death, was played by Sofia Scattarreggia, an Italian American soprano living in Spain.  My impression on hearing her in the opening of Act 1 was that, though she sang well, her voice might be light for this role; however, her gorgeous singing in Act 2 of “Non mi dir, bell’idol mio”, where she pleads for understanding from her fiancé Don Octavio, won me over completely.  Soprano Johanna Will portrayed Donna Elvira.  She wields her attention-commanding voice with emotion and finesse.  She sang Donna Elvira’s signature aria, "Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata", in Act 2 when she expresses her conflicted feelings for Giovanni with grace and beauty.  Soprano Sara LeMesh played the role of Zerlina with the coquettish charm one might expect a young bride to have. That, combined with the prettiness of her voice and her dexterity in high registers, made her singing of “Vedrai, carino” in Act 2 a special delight, where she offers her love as a pain reliever to a battered Masetto.

There are three more guys to mention: Don Octavio, Masetto, and the Commendatore.  Tenor Charles Calotta sang the role of Octavio.  My first thought was that with a golden tenor voice this bright and powerful, Mr. Calotta has a great career ahead of him.  He displayed convincingly his love and concern for Donna Anna in his beautiful and tender rendition of “Dalla sua pace” in Act 1.  Baritone Brandon Bell sings well and had the stature to portray Zerlina’s young, jealous hothead of a husband with a tender side.  His singing of “Ho capito! Signor, sì” where he has to capitulate to Giovanni while filled with jealous anger, had the correct comic touch.  Benjamin Sieverding was not especially notable in the opening sequence where he is dispatched, but his return as a talking statue of himself was impressive.  He commanded the stage in his statue scene with his presence and singing of his invitation to Don Giovanni to dine with him; it gave one shivers.

Don Giovanni (Efrain Solis) is confronted by Don Octavio (Charles Calotta) while in between, Masetto (Brandon Bell), Donna Anna (Sofia Scattarregia), and Donna Anna (Johanna Will) look on. Photo by Caroline Sykes; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

Ah yes, the staging.  The set is limited for this production, mainly consisting of wall panels that appear as stone walls with side entrances and exits.  Some additional distinguishing features are added to help convey the setting, such as the party scene and an effective use of lighting, especially in the final scene.  The 18th-century costumes were spectacular, but I thought we needed to grade the sets on a curve since the stage at Maryland Hall is small, and AO likely does not have a large budget for staging.  Director Stephanie Havey did a good job of moving the characters about as needed, and there were a lot of scene changes. The swordplay, with added gunshots, worked well enough.  However, about halfway through Act 1, I realized that the sets and staging were working.  I was getting caught up in the action and the drama.  I cared about these people, each with their unique challenges.  I think the key element was the smooth flow of the story in this staging that emphasized the storytelling and not special effects or peripheral issues.  The set for the last scene was striking and effectively designed with the statue that speaks confronting Don Giovanni. Well done to Director Havey, Lighting Designer Christopher Brusberg, Scenic Designer Steven C. Kemp, Wardrobe Supervisor Sharlene Clinton, Wig/Make-up Designer Priscilla Bruce, and Fight Director Casey Kaleba. 

Newlyweds, Zerlina (Sara LeMesh) and Masetto (Brandon bell) at their wedding party. Photo by Caroline Sykes; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

As I reflected on this opera now, I remember a comment I made in my report on a previous version I saw years ago: “… presenting the Don Juan story in the #MeToo era makes it extremely timely, as does its first use of the element of horror in opera, so prevalent in today’s movies and TV shows.”  Well, #MeToo has matured, but the issues haven’t disappeared, and smooth-talking charlatans with power over others are still around.  These characters have their charm and appeal, which makes us vulnerable.  In her insightful program note, Director Harvey discusses Giovanni’s ability to “lull his victims into a sense of safety so they willingly surrender” and how by creating chaos “…he draws desires and aggression out of those around him and creates confusion that dislocates a social hierarchy.  Through diversion and chaos, he slips through the fingers of his enemies.”  She discusses how three strong women are forced to confront their own issues of autonomy, and how, in defining moments, each character must decide where their allegiance lies, as do we all.

In addition to the beautiful singing and the gorgeous music, Annapolis Opera delivers the moral questions and lessons of Don Giovanni clearly, with large impact.

The Fan Experience: Performances of Don Giovanni were scheduled for October 31 and November 2.  The opera was sung in Italian with English supertitles shown on screens adjacent to the stage.  The opera with intermission lasted about 3.5 hours.  A pre-opera talk was given an hour prior to the performance.

Parking at Maryland Hall is free and plentiful but arrive early.  Parking is not ordered which can make arriving close to parking time a little anxiety producing in finding the empty spots.

Washington National Opera's Aida: Grand Opera Presented Grandly

This production of Aida is just as entertaining this time around as it was in 2017; you get a lot for your money in this one.  My problem with Aida is that nutrition matters to me, whether food or art.  In a late masterpiece, composer Giuseppe Verdi, at the height of his powers, offered a smorgasbord of delights in Aida, a French-style grand opera, complete with singing, acting, music, dancing, and storytelling, set in a fascinating time and exotic locale. Given all this, directors must decide the balance they want between the sweets and the protein, both are taste treats, one delights, and one sustains.  Each time I have viewed Aida, I come away buoyed by the delights, but a little unsatisfied.  Is that due to the opera itself or the choices made in its production?  I had the same reaction to this production of Aida when it was first offered by Washington National Opera in 2017.  That is my ongoing dilemma.  Most attendees will long remember the exciting, even thrilling, music and singing and pomp and pageantry offered, same as before, but a slight feeling of emptiness also carried forward for me each time, as if something was missing.  Three people are caught in tragic, life-altering circumstances: I feel that I should be weeping at the end, and I never was. 

Radamès (Adam Smith, on podium center) returns triumphant wtih solo dancers Jenelle Figgins and Dwayne Brown (left of center) in celebration. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Aida tells the story of Ethiopian princess Aida, a captive in the court of Egypt’s Pharaoh in ancient times. She is under the control of the pharaoh’s daughter, Princess Amneris.  Henceforth, I will refrain from making references to Egypt.  WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and the director for this production, which she adapted and set in more recent times, where two unidentified military dictatorships are at war.  There is no mention of Egypt, though both sides still pray to the ancient gods; it happens.  Back to our story, Aida and Amneris are both in love with Radamès, a young military officer who desires the glory of leading his country’s forces against the enemy from the other country; he thinks the emperor will then grant him his wish to marry Aida.  He gets the job and is successful, but his reward isn’t quite what he hoped for.  While Amneris tries her best to subdue Radamès’ love for Aida, Aida’s father Amonasro appears and hatches a plan for Aida and Radamés to run off to her country while the father’s country defeats the forces of Radamès’ country with info unsuspectingly revealed by Radamès.  Well, I won’t spoil the ending, but it just doesn’t work out for anybody.  Athough the WNO’s staging is effective in many ways, lost is the charm imparted by ancient Egypt, and for me, the staging lessens the impact of the tragedy.

Opening night photos: (left photo) Radamès (Adam Smith) andRa Aida (Jennifer Rowley); (right photo) Amneris (Raehann Bryce-Davis) hovers over Aida (Jennifer Rowley). Photos by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Verdi’s first opera appeared in 1839.  More than twenty operas later, Aida was first performed in 1871; it was Verdi’s first collaboration with librettist Antonio Ghislanzoni, and the opera premiered in Egypt.  Based on Verdi’s indications, many expected him to retire at that point; perhaps even Verdi himself thought that.  Yet six years later, Otello was first performed, and six years after that, Falstaff.  At the time he composed Aida, he was a master of his craft, perhaps the grand master of his time.  For many years, Rigoletto, composed in 1851, was my favorite opera.  When I compare the music in Rigoletto to that in Aida, his later work appears more refined, more focused in its support of the unfolding drama on stage, less restrained by convention, and even more beautiful.  Under the direction of guest conductor Kwamé Ryan, the Washington National Opera Orchestra delivered Verdi’s music beautifully, in grand style.  From sections that highlight single instruments to various groupings, the full orchestra, the music helps to bring the story to life.  If for no other reason, attend Aida to hear the music in Aida and experience its magic. 

This production boasts other reasons, such as a talented cast of singers.  There were cast changes for different nights for the roles of Aida, Amneris, and Radamès.  I was unable to attend opening night, and I chose to attend one of the alternating performances that featured a different cast of principal singers.  My plan was partially thwarted because highly regarded tenor Robert Watson had taken ill, and tenor Adam Smith, who shared the performances, stepped in after appearing the previous night.  Mr. Smith is also highly regarded and drew praise for his Radamès on opening night.  He previously appeared a year ago in WNO’s Romeo and Juliet; I commented on that performance, “The surprise of the evening to me was just how good tenor Adam Smith was…”.  No longer a surprise, he was every bit as good as Radamès.  His lovely tenor voice and ability to reach and sustain notes made his vocals a highlight of the evening. 

(left photo): Ramfis (Morris Robinson) and Radamès (Adam Smith); (right photo) Amonnasro (Shenyang) and Aida (Jennifer Rowley). Photos by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Soprano Amber R. Monroe sang the role of Aida, displaying intense emotionality.  Her acting was uneven, but her singing was beautiful.  The overtones in her voice, created by an excellent vibrato and the strength of her mid-to-low range, make her a good choice for such a dramatic role.  Mezzo-soprano Agnieska Rehlis was a highlight in the role of Amneris.  She sang well with convincing emotion.  She was a princess who wore her royalty and her jealousy on her sleeve.  I might have felt saddest for her as she eventually realized what she had done and took ownership of it.  Sadly, for this group of talented performers, there were only a few softer, gentler vocals for the principals to sing, mostly singing under strong emotion and/or high stress.  Also, one pick I have with the plot is that we only meet the principals in the midst of their struggles.  How can I be drawn into the Aida/Radamès love affair if I don’t know how it developed?  A woman taken hostage after a battle killing citizens of her country, including family and friends, has fallen in love with one of the soldiers who did it; how did that happen?  It’s like we entered the love story of Aida and Radamès in Act 3.

The cast in the supporting roles were very powerful.  Bass Morris Robinson, well-known to DC audiences, was an outstanding high priest, Ramfis.  He sang well and was a commanding presence as a power figure.  Bass-baritone Kevin Short, as the king delivered his vocal lines well, and bass-baritone Shenyang was a very effective Amonasro.  Soprano Lauren Carroll, a Caftitz Young Artist, sang beautifully off-stage as the priestess, and tenor Nicholas Huff, a Cafritz Young Artist, delivered his report from the field with passion. The chorus plays a substantial role in Aida, and the Washington National Opera Chorus under the direction of Chorus Master Steven Gathman was a delight.

Acrobatic child dancers in military uniforms perform. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Costumes by Anita Yavich were well suited to the setting chosen by Director Zambello, being flashy and eye-pleasing.  They were in notable display on the dancers, flashy in the case of the young acrobatic dancers who wore military uniforms as children, and eye-pleasing on the dancers, especially solo dancers, Dwayne Brown and Jenelle Figgins, who were highlights of the performance.  The otherwise plain sets were often decorated with stunning displays of shimmering giant tapestries, created by artist RETNA (Marquis Lewis), which were mood-creating, through lines and undecipherable letters and colors, replacing Egyptian statues and stone work.

Yes, I enjoyed the singers and their singing immensely, the dancers and their dancing immensely, and the musicians and their music immensely, but the mood they imparted was one of amusement, not fascination and intrigue.  Keeping the time in ancient Egypt, with its mysticism, might have better supported the story.  The plot was certainly operatic in nature, highlighting the burden of loyalty to a cause on personal relationships.  However, a scene that could have been more powerful for today occurs when Radamès asks that the prisoners be pardoned, as the priest and crowd call for blood, but it is brief, tacked inside a scene of triumph, pageantry, and celebration, and motivated by Radamès own desires.  Perhaps there was too much that was fun.  Director Zambello insists Aida is a chamber opera.  I get her point, but that chamber opera is set within a grand opera that makes the whole experience enjoyable.  In lunching with a work colleague once, she remarked, while looking at my plate, that there seemed to be a lot going on; it wasn’t a compliment.  Some great lines get passed by, such as Amneris to Aida, “But earthly sorrow is not eternal.”  And how can you focus on the blood thirsty crowd in the triumph march scene when the music, choral singing, dancing and eye-catching and pleasing set is such great fun?  Or feel the intensity of a love affair given so little love time for the lovers.  The grand part of the opera needs to be in sync with the chamber part.

So, does WNO’s staging focus too much on the delights to effectively communicate the human stories, or is this simply the dilemma of grand opera?  Well, we will always have the music. (And to be fair, my wife totally loved it, and so did audience around us.)

The Fan Experience: [Note: a recent report in the Washington Post stated that ticket sales were down substantially this season.  Many KC fans are avoiding attending performances this season as a political protest.  Without question, the staff and performers of the Washington National Opera rely on our support to continue to provide high quality artistic performances and performers, a group only recently beginning to recover from the shutdowns of the COVID era.  The arts are under stress.  For this reason and my love of opera, I choose to continue my support of WNO.] 

Performances of Aida were scheduled for October 24, 26, 29, November 1 for one cast of principals and 25, 30, November 2 for another.  The opera was performed in Italian with English supertitles.  The opera lasted a little over three hours with one twenty-minute intermission.  Pre-opera talks were given for ticket holders one hour prior to performance.

The digital program book for Aida and the upcoming performances of The Marriage of Figaro can be accessed at this link.   https://encoremagazine.com/washington-dc/the-kennedy-center-opera-house/aida-the-marriage-of-figaro/

As a heads up, the new 20 minute operas of the American Opera Initiative frequently sell out. Get your tickets for January 2026 early.

Parking in the Kennedy Center is typically plentiful, with rates 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, running from there to the Kennedy Center every 15 minutes, are an excellent option.  There is an advantage in arriving a bit early.  KC frequently has multiple performances on its different stages overlapping, which can create traffic jams and sometimes security checks when VIPs attend.

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.

The New Opera Lafayette's New Staging of the Very Old "Dido and Aeneas": Not a Misstep

Under new leadership, in a new venue, Opera Lafayette has done it again, breathing new life into a classic work of centuries yore, in a performance that was entertaining, enlightening, authentic, and culturally enriching, while exhibiting charm and delight with its creativity and performance artistry.  With Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1689), his first production as Artistic Director, Patrick Quigley has scored another hit for the company, continuing its mission while adding touches of his own.  In his words, this season “extends the legacy of founder Ryan Brown, who established this company as a rare home for French Baroque opera in America.  That legacy of scholarship and excellence endures, coupled with a wry twist, pairing historical accuracy with a knowing wink.”  Dido is French Baroque opera, you question?  We’ll deal with that later. 

Belinda (Chelsea Helm, center left) listens to her friend Dido (Mary Elizabeth Williams, center right) while the students look on. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography, courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695) is credited with putting English classical music back on the map after the English Civil War and the decline of court music; he has had a significant influence on composers after him.  Amazingly, he only composed one complete opera, that being Dido and Aeneas, yet that opera is said to be the first great British opera!  The opera was important in enhancing his connection to theater and future employment.  Semi-operas came after with additional great music.  The story of his full opera from a life that only lasted 36 years gets even better.  Historical evidence suggests it was first performed by amateurs in the Chelsea boarding school for girls in London in 1689.  However, its exact history is uncertain and has been the subject of debate among music historians.  An original manuscript of the score was never found, and the current opera has been pieced together from different sources holding parts of the score.  There is a historical copy of the libretto by Nahum Tate (1652-1715), who used as source material his play Brutus of Alba and Virgil’s Aeneid; Mr. Tate later became Poet Laureate of England. 

Belinda (Chelsea Helm, front left) sings as Aeneas (Elijah McCormack, front center) and Dido (Mary Elizabeth Williams) experience their bonding. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography, courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

In the opera, Dido, Queen of Carthage, has fallen in love with the Trojan hero Aeneas; he has been shipwrecked in Carthage on his journey to fulfill his destiny of founding Rome.  He declares his love for her, and they plan to be together.  However, a sorceress and her coven of witches devise a plan to have an impostor appear as Mercury and tell Aeneas that the gods insist he must continue that night on his journey.  He plans to depart Carthage, and upon learning of his decision, Dido is distraught.  He claims he will stay with her, but her heart is broken, telling him that he must go and she must die.  He leaves and she sings a now-famous aria lament.  While Virgil emphasizes Aeneas duty to serve the gods and found Rome, librettist Tate uses demonic forces to bring about the tragedy, a popular theme in English theater of the day; remember the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.  While author Virgil focuses on duty and honor, librettist Tate bends the drama towards the power of fate and lessons of love.

The coven of witches celebrate the arrival of the Sorceress. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography, courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Ok, the French baroque opera connection: Purcell’s score for Dido and Aeneas was significantly influenced by Italian and French opera of the times, particularly the inclusion of dance and a focus on tragedy found in the operas of Lully in Paris; nevertheless, Dido is substantially English with its choral elements and libretto in English.  Nahum’s poetry in the libretto reminded me of Shakespeare.  Some examples:

The sorceress and the coven state their purpose -

“…what's thy will?

  Harm's our delight and mischief all our skill.”

As Dido dies, the Cupids gather -

“With drooping wings ye Cupids come,

  And scatter roses o'er her tomb,

  Soft and gentle as her heart;

  Keep here your watch, and never part.”

First Witch (Cecelia McKinley, left), Sorceress (Hans Tashjian, center), and Second Witch (Kayleigh Sprouse, right) plat Dido’s destruction. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography, courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

The opera is concise, telling the story in just over an hour, as the mood of each scene changes.  The music, the singing, the dancing, all play important roles in telling the story; there are recitatives and arias, but no spoken dialog.  The inclusion of dance may have been influenced by the boarding school’s founder and director, Josias Priest, a choreographer at Theatre Royal.  Opera Lafayette has removed the action from mythological times and placed it in the boarding school, complete with the young women in training and their mentors who act out the story, the story of Dido, within the story of the opera’s first performance.  Impressively, each element was excellently executed, and it worked as a whole!  Despite the absurdity of the story, I felt sad for Dido as she died of a broken heart, ending our enchanting evening together.

The role of Dido was played by international soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams, an inspired choice.  She appeared previously with Opera Lafayette in OL’s world premiere of Morgiane.  Her range and her command are amazing; her voice was always imbued with the emotion the words express, a truly compelling Dido and schoolmistress.  As I sat there, I felt that listening to her sing was like being bathed in roses.  Her accomplices all served their roles well.  Her friend and a mistress at the school was Belinda, sung beautifully by soprano Chelsea Helm.  She communicated genuine concern for Dido, a compassionate counterpoint to the emotional Dido.  Playing the roles of Second Woman and spirit was soprano Kayleigh Sprouse, who has an attention-garnering voice, adding delight to this production.  Aeneas was played by male soprano Elijah McCormick, who was rather stiff, officious, and sang beautifully.  The Sorceress was sung by bass-baritone Hans Tashjian who also played a Sailor.  As Sorceress, he made a Halloween-worthy entrance.  Mr. Tashjian is a large man who is imposing in a large dark cloak.  He sings very well, but his voice and nature were more playful than frightening.  Contralto Cecelia McKinley added appealing dramatic depth as Second Woman, First Witch.

Dido (Mary Elizabeth Williams) ascends to her death as Belinda (Chelsea Helm) observes. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography, courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Director Quigley led an eighteen-piece ensemble expertly in producing Purcell’s beautiful Baroque music.  The music began delightfully and contributed to the mood and action in each scene; it’s easy to see why this is called a great opera.  Always with Opera Lafayette, authenticity is the key; the music is played on period instruments that included a harpsichord, contrabass, and theorbo.  The program notes reveal that OL’s production delivered the music “as is” without adding to or deleting from the accepted score.  The Opera Lafayette Chorus, led by Director Quigley, also plays a substantial role in Dido and Aeneas, not only singing but playing supporting roles from school girls to witches to spirits and others.  The chorus consisted of seven female singers: Annabelle Welford-Small, Kyeugeun Lee, Mary Wright, Matilda Smolij, Susan Kravinski, Charlotte Stewart, and Elizabeth Barnes.  Vocal music is a specialty of Director Quigley.  He comes to OL after 24 years as Founder and Artistic Director of the Miami vocal group, Seraphic Fire.  For more insight into his plans for Opera Lafayette, I recommend critic Charles Downy’s excellent interview with him in the Washington Classical Review.

Artistic Director Patrick conducting the Opera Lafayette Orchestra. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography, courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

The small stage at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue served very well for this opera, and Opera Lafayette made the most of it with stage design by Lisa Schlenker, costumes by Lynly Saunders, and Lighting by Christopher Brusberg.  The stage design allowed the cast to move around the props as scenes changed, and the costumes with the girls in school uniforms seemed perfect.  There were even some special effects with lighting, well done by all.  The staging was well and effectively executed by Connie Hayes, adding dramatic and comic effects while moving around quite a few players in the constrained area during dance numbers.  Well done, delightful!

Opera Lafayette has a record of inventiveness that is astounding when I look back on the many performances I have attended.  OL has ventured outside France on a number of occasions in the past, such as placing an opéra comique in a Colorado barn; OL gave the first-ever performance of an opera written in 1887 and has often engaged in collaborations with dance companies and even a pop fashion designer.  Mr. Quigley has begun by moving the ball forward.  He concludes his program notes with the following statement on this season’s offerings: “Each program holds scholarship in one hand and playfulness in the other.”  Bring it on.

The Fan Experience:  Performances of Dido and Aeneas were scheduled for October 16 and 18 in the Sixth and I, DC and for October 20 in EL Museo del Barrio, NYC.  The opera is sung in English with English supertitles shown overhead.  The opera lasts 70 minutes.  The performances were close to sellouts.  Ticket prices varied from $35 to $110, and some of the balcony seats have restricted view.

An informative pre-opera talk is given by Professor Amanda Eubanks Winkler one hour before the performance, dealing with the history of the opera and its first performance in a boarding school for girls.  Director Quigley roamed the audience with a microphone to allow a few questions after the talk.

Venue photo. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography, courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Sixth and I, while suitable and adequate for the performance, as a venue poses some challenges for attendees.  Some things to consider, I took the subway from Tysons Corner and walked two blocks from the Gallery Place subway stop to the theater, rather than engage downtown DC traffic and locating a parking spot close to the theater; there are parking garages around the venue.  Coming out of the theater, we exited on the side of the building, not the front where we entered.  Though the tickets have seat numbers, the seating is by section; you can sit at any vacant spot in your section, another reason to get there early and hear the pre-opera talk.  All of this is spelled out on the Opera Lafayette website.  I got there early and was seated in the center.  From there, I was close to the orchestra which was seated below the stage, and the acoustics were excellent.  Going in with the early crowd, I did not notice any stands offering snacks or drinks.

Opera Philadelphia's Il viaggio a Reims: 14 Voices in Search of a Plot...with Music by Rossini

General Director and President of Opera Philadelphia, and world-class countertenor, Anthony Ross Costanzo is now in his second year with OP and his first in full charge of the season’s program.  In his first season, he took a big swing for the stressed opera company by instituting Pick Your Price seating, starting at $11 for any seat.  OP played to packed houses last season and will again this season.  How this all plays out for the success of the company is to be determined, but it has been enormously successful thus far, especially in attracting attendees new to opera (while many of the nation’s top companies struggle with declining attendance); OP also just held its most successful ever fund-raising gala.  This season, President Costanzo takes another big swing with a new season he describes as “opera, but different”, a season which will include Costanzo singing a role himself (talk about pressure).  Il viaggio a Reims (The Journey to Rheims, 1825), a classic opera by composer Giacchino Rossini and librettist Luigi Balocchi, opened Opera Philadelphia’s 50th anniversary season this year, but with a new storyline from the original.  And this one appears to be the least “different” of this year’s offerings. 

Cast photo of the developing final scene of Il viaggio a Reims directed by Damiano Michieletto. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

The title of my report is intended as a play on Pirandello’s famous Six Characters in Search of an Author, where six characters intrude on a rehearsal and demand that the director and actors tell their story.  The “fourteen singers”, a large number for an opera, refers to a scene where there are fourteen singers on stage for a single ensemble number, an impressive feat for composer Rossini (take that Mozart!); the only plot is that the travelers, museum staff and paintings, with shared interest, are moving to a new location.  Director Damaino Michieletto, in his first visit to America, presents his version of Il viaggio a Reims, keeping Rossini’s music and Balocchi’s libretto intact but substituting a story of his own, designed to make the opera more accessible to modern audiences, while keeping the more universal human flaws and interactions, lessening the themes of cultural differences and European unity.  Though written as a comedy having a bit of fun with the characters, the opera’s original purpose was as an event to commemorate the 1825 coronation of Charles X of France.  In the original, a diverse group of European aristocrats are headed to Reims for the coronation but due to a lack of horses, get stuck in a hotel on the way.  Director Michieletto’s version, first produced by Dutch National Opera in 2015, changes the focus to the relationship between art and people and the premise to a diverse group of characters in an art gallery of today getting stuck because there were no hotel rooms in the new location for the gallery, I think.  Admittedly, I was confused as to what exactly was going on in the first act; think of the Marx Brothers’ “A Night at the Opera” staged in an art gallery where the figures in the paintings come to life, not all completely clothed.

left: Brenda Rae as Madama Cortese. right: Lindsey Reynolds as La Contessa di Folliville. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Composing a “commemorative opera” for the king’s coronation was a smart move by Rossini.  He managed to wrangle a sizable pension from the king just four years later, after writing what would be his final opera, Guillaume Tell; he was only 37 years old and had been living in France since 1824. After surviving a scuffle with a new administration, he enjoyed 39 years of that pension before his death in 1876.  The original version had a theme of European unity but worked in humorous social and political satire.  The opera is occasionally performed today, after being lost and then resurrected in 1984, performed at “Rossini Opera Festival” in Rossini’s hometown of Pesaro, Italy; since 2001, the opera has been performed each year at the festival by young and upcoming singers.  Many different, creative versions of the opera have been produced.  Director Michieletto’s version is more focused on visual humor and human foibles but does end in a brilliantly constructed scene about the coronation of Charles X, via a painting by François Gérard.  Humorous scenes in Act I include a duel between two men over a woman, all characters from a painting, and a scene where characters in modern paintings roam the stage.  The second act seems at least more coherent as the nature of each character has become more familiar.  Therein is an emotionally touching scene as two characters from a painting, experiencing a heated lover’s dispute, wind up advisers to a real-life couple having a similar fight in front of them, evidencing the bond between art and people, a major theme of General Director Costanzo’s.

Emilie Kealani as Corinna being pursued by Minghao Liu as Il Cavaliere Belfiore. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Rossini wrote a vocally demanding opera that featured Europe’s best singers in honor of the new king.  Opera Philadelphia included one opera superstar, soprano Brenda Rae but also featured a large, highly talented and accomplished group of singers who handled Rossini’s bel canto roles impressively.  Ms. Rae sang with professionalism portraying the amusing uptight, stressed-out museum owner, Madama Cortese.  I will single out a few other members of a huge cast.  The most impressive vocal fireworks came in the scene featuring soprano Lindsey Reynolds as la Contessa di Folleville who was distraught over having nothing appropriate to wear to the new opening.  Ms. Reynolds sang with the power and virtuosity that commanded my attention and delight, and to my ears garnered the loudest applause.  Scott Conner had some fine moments as Lord Syndey restoring a painting (Sargent’s Madame X) while he falls in love with its subject (she responds), and bass-baritone Ben Brady was quite amusing as Don Profundo auctioning off museum pieces with a rapid-fire patter aria, fitting for an auctioneer.  The love triangle of tenor Alistair Kent as Count Livenscof, baritone Alex DeSocio as Don Alvaro, and mezzo-soprano Katherine Beck as La Marchesa Melibea was a treasure.  Australian Kent has performed in the major opera houses of Europe; he is an impressive young bel canto tenor whose singing most clearly represented bel canto.  Alex DeSocio is a highly promising young baritone with a powerful and pleasing baritone voice; take note of Mr. DeSocio.  Ms. Beck was pleasing in her singing and especially endearing in the scene comforting the female member of the feuding lovers.  Finally, I will mention one more stand out performer, Filipino soprano Emilie Kealani singing the role of art student Corinna being pursued by Il Cavaliere Belfiore played amusingly by Minghao Liu .  She sang beautifully in several highlight moments, the aria “Arpa gentil” for which she sang offstage accompanied by a harp and as the singer of the group-chosen aria finale, “All’ombra amena” which celebrates the coronation of Charles X.  All the singers and chorus were pleasures and added significantly to the performance.

Scott Connor as Lord Sydney who has fallen in love with Madame X. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

If you like Rossini, this opera has terrific Rossini music played with passion and verve and romantic touches by the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Corrado Rovaris.  The performance included a sneaky beginning that turned into a rousing overture and several musical interludes, almost breathtaking, with beautiful harp accompaniment for a couple of the arias.  Yes, there were typical Rossini crescendos.  This was an opera where I was tempted to close my eyes and just listen, but so much was happening on stage, I’d never catch up with the action.  As is typical, the Opera Philadelphia Chorus Master’s work was excellent, kudos to Elizabeth Braden.

Katherine Beck as La Marchesa Melibea and Alisdair Kent as Il Barone di Libenskof having a lovers’ quarrel. Photo by Steven Pisano; courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.

Did the modernized staging work to make the work more accessible to today’s audiences?  Not having seen a live performance with the original staging, I can only say that at least to some degree it succeeded, but the history lesson might have also been interesting, especially if it also included more luminaries like, for instance, OP veterans Lawrence Brownlee and Lisette Oropesa that would add to the fun.  This version was well staged, with visually engaging sets and costumes, fast-paced scenes filled with humor, and some standout special effects, even involving us more emotionally near the end.  The final scene was perfectly balanced for the Academy of Music stage.  Kudos to the entire creative team: Director Damiano Michieleggo, Set Designer Paulo Fantin, Lighting designer Alessandro Carletti, Costume designer Carla Teti, and Hair and Makeup Designer Amanda Clark.

Opera Philadelphia’s production of Il viaggio a Reims is a fitting kickoff for its 50th anniversary season with new leadership on board.  To everyone’s credit, the first act was effective as lighthearted if bewildering comedy; both acts excelled with the gorgeous music and arias of Rossini; and the last act is a must see for its brilliant staging, at least once.  So, go for the music, the bel canto singing and its high entertainment value, but consider orienting yourself by reading the synopsis in the opera program before viewing; keep in mind that in this version, characters will be stepping in and out of paintings.  Il viaggio a Reims certainly fits with the theme of “opera, but different”, and in a sense it could be viewed as President Costanzo’s coronation, whose tenure is playing like an opera itself; he deserves support as he attempts to stick the landing in the years to come.

The Fan Experience: Performances of Il viaggio a Reims were scheduled for September 19, 21, 26, and 28 in the Academy of Music.  The opera was sung in Italian with English superscripts shown above the stage.  The performance Friday night lasted a little over three hours with a 25 minute intermission splitting the three-act opera into two.  The Pick Your Price format extends for the remainder of this opera season; very limited seats were available for remaining performances at the time of this report; it might be best to call Guest Services at 215-732-8400. Next up for OP is The Seasons which will feature countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, but alas, all three performances (December 19, 20, and 21) are sold out.

An informative and helpful pre-opera talk is given by OP scholar-in-residence Lily Kass one hour prior to performance.  To paraphrase General Director and President Constanzo from his opening remarks, opera thy name is emergency.  Forthwith, singer Anthony Reed who was to have played the role of Don Prudenzio was ill; this role was sung by bass-baritone Zachary Altman from the house left box and walked onstage by Assistant Director Anderson Nunnelley.

Shakespeare Opera Theatre's Romeo &Juliet: A Novel Tale by Two Composers

Oh, those Montagues and Capulets were at it again, this time viewed from two perspectives, that directly from Shakespeare himself, a composer of words, and that in a musical fashion by Charles Gounod, a composer of music, including an opera based on Shakespeare’s play.  There were several highlights of this production that I will mention, but the star of the show was Dr. Lori Lind’s exceptional knowledge, resourcefulness, and creativity in bringing to life this highly entertaining synthesis of Shakespeare’s play and Gounod’s opera, taking passages directly from both.  Dr. Lind, Founder, and Artistic & Managing Director, of Shakespeare Opera Theatre, closed the company’s tenth anniversary season with this production, for which she served as stage director, production designer, production manager, and set designer, not to mention chief synthesizer, greeter, spokesperson, and fundraiser.  She has also assembled a highly dedicated and resourceful team needed to generate and sustain such quality.  In almost every way, Shakespeare Opera Theatre exceeds expectations one might have of a local opera theatre company, all done for love of the art forms and not for profit.  Attendance, spotty in the early days, is now robust; all but one of seven of SOT’s performances of Romeo & Juliet were sold out.

A happy moment as Juliet and Romeo are married in secret by Friar Lawrence (Justin Ramm-Damron). All photos by Lauren Sanfiel Armstrong at the dress rehearsal; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

My favorite aspects of Sunday’s matinee performance included: an original production; a talented, engaging set of young professionals; exciting action including swordplay; standout performances by the SOT’s Romeo and Juliet; beautiful music, an impressive staging making optimal use of limited quarters; and the transcendent experience of hearing an exceptional chorus while seated in the middle of the ensemble.  Unfortunately, personal circumstances only made it possible for me to catch the last performance in its run; so, I can only tell you what you missed and not recommend that you go.  My comments, though, might spur you to attend performances during next year’s season. 

Juliet (Chelsea Alexandra) confering with her nurse Gertrude (Olivia Currier). Photo by Lauren Sanfiel Armstrong; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Romeo and Juliet are the star-crossed young lovers who wind up dying for each other as a result of their feuding families, who keep them apart, and as a result of an ill-fated plan to allow them to escape together.  Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, composed in English, includes more social context for the tragic love story, while Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette focuses on the love story, with a substantially modified ending.  Dr. Lind’s goal in these combos is “to showcase the best of both worlds” and allow fans of one genre a chance to experience the other.  SOT’s mashup provides some of the comedy in the play, though, SOT leans more towards the opera in the ending, as a self-poisoned Romeo does not expire before Juliette awakens from her death-like slumber, a ploy which allows the lover’s one more beautiful duet.  I can’t resist adding that the mashup doesn’t deal with the fact that Juliet was not yet 14 and Romeo only a couple of years older; had the families just insisted that they date for a while before marrying, these impetuous youths might have moved on.  Also, given our divisive times, I found myself focusing more on the families’ senseless feuding causing the deaths than I have in the past.  SOT’s amalgamation addresses that but like the opera omits the final scene showing the grieving families who then dispatch with their enmity because of their losses.  Nonetheless, we all love a good love story, and I enjoyed the beautiful, lively telling of this one.

Romeo (Joseph McBrayer) confides in his friend, Abraham (Nicholas James). Photo by Lauren Sanfiel Armstrong; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

The performance began with Stephano, a Montague servant, played by mezzo-soprano Julie Silva in a pants role. making a rude gesture to Sampson, a Capulet servant played by actor Sommer Schaap, which caused Gregorio, a Capulet played by SOT veteran baritone JP Gorski to think it was directed at him, The confrontation quickly led to a well-executed sword fight among youths from the two families, an action-packed beginning; several such fights were in the performance, impressively executed in such tight quarters.  Kudos to Fight Choreographer Casey Caleba and Fight Director Nickolas James.  Ms. Silva later displayed impressive singing skills performing Stephano’s highlight aria, "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle", taunting the Capulets.  The opening battlers were authoritatively called to task by the Prince of Verona from the back of the room, sung by bass-baritone Justin Ramm-Damron who also played the role of Friar Lawrence; as Prince, he declared that further unruliness would have the serious consequence of banishmen. He was quite enjoyable as the Friar and possessed one of the highest quality voices in the performance.  Overall, I counted seventeen players in this production moving deftly about a small stage, many with singing roles, some with more than one role, some moving props about, adding energy and their talents to the production.  Kudos to Stage Director Lind for keeping the action tight.

Soprano Chelsea Alexandra and tenor Joseph McBrayer played the roles of Juliet and Romeo with great appeal, making their love story engaging.  Ms. Alexandra has a soprano voice that is a pleasure to hear; she was a bit reserved in her singing of Juliet’s famous aria, “Je veux vivre”, but it was quite enjoyable.  One would certainly like to hear more from her.  The duets between this Juliet and this Romeo were a highlight of the opera; their trips to the crypt were especially compelling.  Mr. McBrayer had me at his first aria, a lovely voice singing beautifully, a good complement for Juliet.  His acting needed sharpening but he and Ms. Alexandra made an excellent pairing.  Mezzo-soprano Olivia Currier who plays Juliet’s nurse Gertrude was a hoot, singing well and being the comical center of the production.

Stephano (Julie Silva) comically fumbles a group of swords. Photo by Lauren Sanfiel Armstrong; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

A surprise in the production was having the hotheads, Capulet Tybalt and Montague Mercucio, performed as pants roles.  Tybalt was sung by vocalist Catie Brooks and Mercutio was sung by mezzo-soprano Louise Andersen.  The choices were made by Director Lind after all performers had interviewed for slots in the opera.  In fact, both were delights as performers in their roles, but though Ms. Andersen managed a sinister aura and Ms. Brooks was impulsive, for me neither projected the violently menacing quality I have become accustomed to in these characters who will lose their lives in sword fights as a result.  Benvolio, the peace maker was played by tenor Jason Guerrero, and Paris, the Capulet choice for Juliet, was played by baritone Vincent Fung; both played their characters well.

Mercutio (Louise Andersen) has been fatally wounded by Tybalt (Catie Brooks) standing in the back, as Romeo (Joseph McBrayer) on right and Abraham (Nicholas James) on left look on. Photo by Lauren Sanfiel Armstrong; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

The attractive and impressively functional set was designed by Dr. Lind, featuring a middle section with an arch that could be refashioned as a ballroom, meeting room, courtyard, bedroom, or tomb as needed, flanked by a court with a balcony for Capulets and on the other side a tower for the Montagues with a bench against its wall.  Given that the seating was not tiered, I would have preferred if the bed for Romeo and Juliet’s bedroom scene had been raised for a better view for those in the back.  Another issue for some attendees was difficulty seeing the supertitles screen; Dr. Lind, ever committed to making attendance of SOT performances memorable as a good experience, offered them free tickets to a future production.

The costumes were a pleasure to see, fitting for Verona in the fourteenth century; kudos to Susan Gardiner for costume design and fabrication.  The dialog was in English, and the vocals were in both Italian and English depending on content.  Dr. Lind explained that where comedy and context was important the vocals were presented in English while for the lyrical, beautiful arias, French was used. 

Gounod’s beautiful lyrical music for the performance was handled by Andrew Kraus as music director, vocal coach, and conductor for this production.  He also played the piano providing music for the production.  He not only provided music for the arias, recitatives, and choral singing, he also played lovely background music during some of the scenes with action and dialog only, which worked to enhance the scenes, though at one point I noticed the music was making hearing the dialog more difficult. An unexpected highlight of the performance was two ensemble numbers performed surrounding the audience. Dr. Lind related that “the first that ended the first half of the program in Act III was O Day of Woe! and the one in Act IV was the rarely performed Epithalamium”. The immersive sound from voices of this quality in this venue was transcendent, an experience I will long remember. The music side was well done overall, and many kudos to her and Mr. Kraus.

Romeo (Josepah McBrayer) and Juliet (Chelsea Alexandra) share their last duet before their deaths. Photo by Lauren Sanfiel Armstrong; courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Finally, I love Shakespeare’s play, and I like Gounod’s opera; I typically find that the Bard’s iambic pentameter creates its own music.  Shakespeare Opera Theatre’s combination of scenes from both the play and opera worked well in telling the lover’s tragic story and providing moments from both to enjoy; it was charming, fun, and highly entertaining.  But as a grandfather speaking, since the Prince of Verona is unavailable, let’s not allow the artistic beauty of a tragic love story cause us to overlook, in the end, that this is a tale of woe and that the cause of the untimely deaths of a cherished daughter and a cherished son, two innocents, was enmity and feuding. 

The Fan Experience:  Performances of Romeo & Juliet were scheduled by Shakespeare Opera Theatre in St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Mclean for July 11, 12, 13, and 14, and in Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains on July 18, 19, and 20.  The performance with one intermission lasted about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Some roles featured different singers in different venues.

Shakespeare Opera Theatre’s 2025-2026 season has been announced, though dates for the opera performances are yet to be firmly set.  In addition to the opera/theater productions of Hansel & Gretel (December), Tartuffe (June), and Susannah (July, an American opera performed to honor the U.S.’s 250th birthday), two concerts will be offered (“Oktoberfest” on October 12, 2025 and “Viva Las Vegas” on February 14 (Valentines Day), 2026.

The was my first visit to The Plains to attend an SOT performance.  The Plains venue is similar in size though not the same as the Mclean venue.  It has a beautifully shaped wooden ceiling.  I thought that the dialog from the stage did not carry quite as far for this venue, but that said, the ensemble choral performances were likely given more texture by the walls and ceiling there.  The Grace Episcopal Church is a beautiful structure which has historical stained-glass windows that can be viewed as opportunity allows; one of the windows includes George Washington.

The Plains venue had the same party atmosphere one finds in the Mclean location.  I have found little pretense with SOT; they readily own their limitations and still manage 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.  Attendance by children is welcomed. Performers and staff are typically available for questions, picture taking, and mingling after performances.

This report, as is usual, has benefited immensely from my wife Debra serving as copy editor.  My wife writes a travel blog called fiammatravels.com for which I serve as the copy editor.

Wolf Trap Opera's Dialogues des Carmelites: Desperate Times Call for Exceptional Singers

What makes an opera work…besides technically excellent singing and music?  I find that for most operas there are one or two elements that must be there to make the opera work for me.  For example, it is the ability of the singer/actress in La Traviata to portray the awakening of soulful love and depth of character in the courtesan Violetta, and in La Bohème, the effective portrayal of an endearingly innocent Mimi and heartfelt camaraderie among the bohemians Rodolfo, Marcello, Schaunard and Colline are essential.  I had not seen Dialogues des Carmèlites (1957) before, but on one viewing, it is clear that the group of female singer/actors playing the nuns must convey the depth of their feelings for each other and convincingly portray a sense of community among themselves; thus, regardless of religious convictions or affiliations of the audience, the humanity revealed is powerful and seductive, as we increasingly come to care about these individuals caught up in deadly historical turbulence.  Wolf Trap Opera selects the operas for their summer season after knowing which singers survived their competition and will be joining them that year.  This year’s group of singers and Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmèlites proved to be a match made in heaven.

Blanche de la Force (Erin Wagner) discusses her safety from revolutionary gangs with her father (left, Jonathan Patton), the Marquis de la Force and her brother (right, Travon D. Walker) the Chevalier de la Force. Photos by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Francis Poulenc, pianist and the composer and librettist of Dialogues has been a cult like figure in his following.  Born into a wealthy family, he had access to the influencers of his day but was not accepted into the established classical music community.  He did not have formal music training.  His mother, a pianist, gave him lessons, and he later worked with several mentors.  His early compositions of music and songs had a following, but he was often dismissed as a lightweight composer.  He rebelled, but later a major event, the death of his closest friend, returned him to his Catholic faith and more serious music.  His output of music, songs, ballets, and operas is now highly regarded; he is especially admired for the beauty of his sacred music.  Of his three operas, Dialogues des Carmèlites and Le Voix Humaine are the most highly regarded and continue to be performed by major opera companies.  Interestingly, at the time of his opera compositions, he was working closely with French soprano, Denise Duval; she later starred in productions of all three.

Blanche (Erin Wagner) discusses her decision to join the Carmèlites with her father (Jonathan Patton). Photos by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Dialogues is based on the true story of 16 Carmèlite nuns of Compiègne, France, who were beheaded by guillotine on the orders of authorities near the end of the French Revolution and its Reign of Terror.  Religious practices at that time, especially that associated with the Catholic Church, were banned; Catholics, especially, were viewed as friends and supporters of the overthrown monarchy.  Though the Compiègne convent was closed, the nuns remained true to their faith, continuing their assembly and religious practices.  They were subsequently convicted of being “enemies of the people” and sentenced to death.  It was an exceedingly dangerous period; estimates are that between 1793 and 1794 more than 16,000 people in France were beheaded.  The nuns sought the salvation of France and the French church through their martyrdom.  As a result of their act of faith, they were beatified as the Martyrs of Compiègne in 1906 by Pope Pius X and canonized by Pope Francis in 2024.

A dying Prioress Madame de Croissy (Cecelia McKinley) expresses despair to her caretaker, Mother Marie (Gabrielle Beteag). Photos by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

One of the nuns, Sister Marie, had been called away to attend to family matters and lived to tell their story, later made into a novella, a play, Poulenc’s opera, and a movie.  Official records of the time also substantiate the history portrayed, except for the added character of Blanche de la Force, a character that first appeared in the 1931 novella, The Song of the Scaffold by Gertrude von le Fort.  The opera’s French libretto was adapted from the eponymous play by George Bernanos published in 1949 and completed by Poulenc in 1956, premiering at La Scala in Milan in 1957, sung in Italian.  The composer desired the opera to be sung in the language of the audience and many productions in the US have been sung in English.  The modern use of supertitles in the language of the audience has largely removed the advantage of performing it in a language other than French which was originally paired with the composer’s music.

The new prioress Madame Lidoine (Keely Futterer) is with Mother Marie (Gabrielle Beteag). Photos by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Wolf Trap Opera’s The Barns venue has a small stage and small orchestra requiring substantial creativity in staging an opera that has 16-plus characters on stage much of the time.  Director Katherine M. Carter went simple – a stage floor in the shape of a cross backed by a line of decorative arches, with the orchestra seated behind the arches on stage.  It worked well enough for a play where dialog revealing motivations and relationships is the focus; the story is constructed using 12 scenes built around dialogs between the characters.  The stage appeared tilted towards the audience, highlighting the singer(s) in the spotlight.  The costumes, designed by Caitlin Cisek, were outstanding in conveying the setting for the story.  The agonizing early death scene of the nun’s leader, Madame de Croissy was handled effectively.  The scene where Sister Blanche leaves the convent, and in the next scene has taken refuge working as a servant in her ransacked home might have been confusing if I had not read the program.  I also take issue with what is a highly impactful ending to Poulenc’s opera.  The beheading of the nuns was signified by having them stand alone, then a light comes on and a sound follows signifying their death by guillotine.  As staged, it seemed to me more like they were having their picture taken, creative in highlighting the nuns individually, but a more grisly guillotine sound would have been more climatic (though I applaud the lack of spewing blood); the composer included the sound of the guillotine in his score.  Nonetheless, the ending having the nuns depart the stage one by one while singing “Salve Regina” with the loss of their voices one by one was highly dramatic.  My wife, whom I rely on for editing, insists that I add that the scene brought tears to her eyes.

The real story of both the opera and Wolf Trap Opera’s production is the excellence of the singers.  The voices were impressive across the board.  Mostly the vocals are conversational supported by Poulenc’s tonal, expressive music, with different scenes providing dialogues on the thoughts and feelings of issues being addressed revealing the character of the individual characters.  The principal roles featured primarily WTO’s Filene Artists with WTO’s Studio Artists covering the supporting roles and providing the WTO Chorus. 

The Chaplain (Nathaniel Bear) blesses the martyrs to be. Photos by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner as Blanche led off the parade of nuns in a scene responding to her brother’s fear for her safety as local mobs threatened the lives of aristocrats, and in informing her father of her decision to become a nun.  She sang beautifully, conveying her underlying fears and hope to find refuge with the sisters; her voice has a special timbre imbued with beauty and emotion that is endearing.  She was convincing in her transformation.  Her father the Marquis was ably played by baritone Jonathan Patton (recently seen as Steve Jobs in a performance with Washington National Opera) and tenor Travon D. Walker was a believable, concerned brother. 

Mother Superior Madame Croissy, who lovingly accepts Blanche into the fold after warning her that their order was not a refuge but a home of prayer, was played by contralto Cecilia McKinley.  She gave a strong vocal performance and a stunning emotional performance in Croissy’s tortured death scene, unsettling her caretakers and the audience with her cries that God had forsaken her.  She placed the care of Blanche in Mother Marie’s hands, the nun who wanted to also be among the martyrs but became the sole survivor.  She was played by mezzo-soprano Gabriel Beteag who, in a standout performance, sang with clear and convincing authority though the conclave’s leadership role went to Madame Lidoine played by soprano Keely Futterer.  She sang beautifully, demonstrating ample concern for her flock and a higher calling in leading them to forfeit their lives for their calling.  In another standout performance, soprano Gemma Nha sang with beauty and clarity as Constance who foresaw that she and Blanche would die together on the same day.  I will also single out tenor Nathaniel Bear who played the role of The Chaplain; he sang well and was convincing in the role.   Many supporting players enhanced the performance.

Constance arrives at the guillotine to meet her maker. Photos by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Poulenc composed this opera for performance by a full orchestra.  Space limitations required WTO to use a reduced orchestra which was fitting for the venue.  Poulenc’s music is attuned to both the drama and the personality of each character, very tonal and melodic in nature, quite enjoyable, though not without its own emotional outbursts.  The opera is organzed around the dialogs in each scene, and Poulenc has been praised for composing music tailored to the specific character of each individual player.  Led by Conductor Geoffrey MacDonald, the Wolf Trap Opera Orchestra played expertly, delivering the music’s power and pathos more than adequately.  In fact, my one small caveat is that at times it was played with a ferocity that challenged the singers for primacy.  The WTO Chorus of Studio Artists led by Chorus Master Christopher Turbessi performed beautifully, significantly enhancing the performance.

Spurred by curiosity, I approached attending this opera with some trepidation; spending the evening observing a group of nuns headed towards being beheaded had limited appeal.    However, leaving Wolf Trap Opera’s performance of the Dialogues, I felt the power of dedication to a cause and love of one another came forth strongly in the face of overzealous, murderous regime change.  Personally, beyond the engaging story and beautiful music and vocals, I found the power of this excellent performance of an impactful opera led me to experience a strong, underlying connection to the nuns, individuals very different from myself.  Nuns are people; so am I, and so are you.  That means something not to be overlooked in a time of historical turbulence.

The Fan Experience: Performances of Dialogues des Carmèlites were scheduled for July 18, 20, 24, 26 in The Barns.  The opera is sung in Italian with supertitles in English on an overhead screen.  The performance lasted about 3 hours including a 20-minute intermission. Limited tickets were available at the time of this report. A pre-opera talk was offered for ticket holders one hour before performances by dramaturg Cori Ellison.

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 the very back on the floor lack a view of the surtitles.  The floor seats are not tiered but those in the balcony are tiered; 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. 

Wolf Trap Opera's The Marriage of Figaro: This Picasso Take on Mozart Works

This was not exactly your father’s Figaro.  To keep in the spirit of WTO, I will also add that this is not your mother’s Figaro.  But then again, in a sense, maybe it is your mother’s Figaro, at least the one she’s been waiting for.  I was looking forward to just a comfortable evening at The Barns enjoying Mozart’s comedy which has great heart, great music, and great arias, but no.  I read the program notes shortly before leaving for the theater, and bumpy roads seemed ahead, first the long-ongoing construction area at the Wolftrap Creek intersection with Old Courthouse Road and then a director’s vision of combining Picasso with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.  Lots of thoughts, but if you want to skip to the bottom line, Director E. Loren Meeker’s Picasso riff on Figaro worked, mainly because the young cast was dynamic, the orchestra blew the lights out, and it was new, fun, and entertaining…and yes, there was an illuminating message in there.  If you can get a ticket, go.  Enjoy.

Susanna ( Adrianna Rodriguez) informs Figaro (Christian Simmons) of the Count’s intentions. Photo by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

The Marriage of Figaro is one of the most popular operas of all times.  Yet despite nine previous productions, Wolf Trap Opera has not performed this work since 2006!  BTW, in the 2006 production, the now megastar soprano, then Filene Artist, Ailyn Pérez, played the Countess.  I was at first surprised when I learned Figaro was to be performed in The Barns, a more chamber opera-sized venue, with less than 400 seats.  While one of the nine previous productions was in The Barns (2006), the other eight were in the Filene Center.  Staging Figaro in The Barns presents some staging issues for WTO creative staff and challenges for the WTO orchestra, but it is definitely a win for opera fans.  Figaro, normally playing in big opera houses, has five leading roles needing two sopranos and a mezzo-soprano, a baritone, and a bass; it also has six substantial supporting roles requiring two more sopranos, two tenors, and two more basses.  At times, Mozart creates ensembles of 5 to 7 singers and adds to that a chorus.  Imagine this sound in a small venue, enough appeal to warrant attendance by itself.  Interesting footnote from Google AI: ‘Catherine Filene Shouse, the founder of Wolf Trap Park in 1971, had barns moved from upstate New York and rebuilt in 1981 to create an intimate space for smaller acts and diverse genres. The barns, a German barn built around 1730 and a Scottish barn built in 1791, were restored and adapted to include a stage, dining area, and other amenities while preserving their historic charm.”  So The Barns is a real barn, with seats added.

Count Almaviva (Charles H. Eaton) and Countess Almaviva (Brittany Olivia Logan). Photos by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

The Marraige of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro, 1786) was the first of three popular operas by the team of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, also including Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte.  Briefly, in the play by Beaumarchais, Count Almavira desires to bed Susanna, his wife’s servant, supposedly justified by droit du seigneur (right of the lord); this is the purported feudal right of a lord to bed a servant girl on her wedding night before her husband can sleep with her, a right the Count himself had just disavowed.  Susanna’s betrothed, Figaro, in cahoots with her, the Countess, and a love-struck page, Cherubino, lay plans to outwit the Count.  Plots and subplots are begun and go astray, and hilarious surprises abound in classical opera buffa style. 

As was the case for all Mozart/Da Ponte collaborations, there is more afoot than comedy.  As Albert Camus reportedly said, “Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth”. Societal change, rippling through Europe at that time, was a target of Figaro.  Beaumarchais’ play, was barred from production in Vienna by the emperor due to incendiary language inspiring subjects to throw off the yoke of the nobility.  Da Ponte had to reduce and modify the spoken play to text that could be sung in an opera that he might be able to pass under Emperor Joseph II’s radar.  In the opera, Figaro sings, “Well, little count, if you want to dance, I will choose the tune.”  The play’s language was much more direct and incendiary.  The aria makes the point that the servant does not accept the count’s yoke of control, but in a safer manner, flavored by high comedy to make the medicine go down.  Worldly-wise Da Ponte and Mozart knew how to navigate the terrain.

Cherubino (Sophia Maekawa) and Figaro (Christian Simmons). Photo by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Driector Meeker wanted to put more spotlight on the roles of women in Mozart’s time to reflect relevance today.  Let’s just say that Picasso’s forte was not treating women as autonomous individuals, painting them as abstractions, and Meeker’s direction plays to that theme.  The women are at first indistinct in her adaptation; their character and growth is revealed as the opera progresses, especially in the changing of their dress and makeup.  An added opening scene takes place while the overture is played, showing Figaro as an abstract artist making the women in his life his creations.  In the director’s own words, “…the women begin as abstract fragmented figures…embodying the distortion seen in Picasso’s portraits” but who reclaim their clarity in their struggles with the Count.  Susanna and the Countess have a more clear-eyed view of what is happening and guide the men to being fractured with accompanying redemption, reaffirming the power of love.  Championing and empowering women has been an overt theme of Wolf Trap Opera’s productions under Lee Anne Myslewski’s leadership.  Last year’s Cosí fan tutte by the Mozart/Da Ponte team had a new ending with the women being more assertive.  As an aside, media reports today indicate our young women are achieving at a higher level than young men, who appear headed for trouble.  Cry, Wolf, one of the American Opera Initiative’s new 20-min operas performed in January focused on this issue; maybe we will see more contemporary opera’s reflecting on men’s issues today.

The Countess (Brittany Olivia Logan) and Susanna (Adriana Rodriguez) involve Figaro (Christian Simmons) in the plotting against the Count (Charles H. Eaton). Photo by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

While the Picasso inspired approach was clever and insightful, if I had not read the program notes I would have been baffled a bit by the costumes and sets; for attendees who were, it would seem unlikely the message was delivered.  My wife remarked when we sat down and saw the stage decorated as an artist’s workroom in the time of Picasso, that it seemed like we were at the wrong opera and were expecting Cavaradossi to appear in Tosca.  Not every change to a classic opera works; I recall a famous Parisian opera production that bombed by setting La bohème action inside a base on the moon.  But, for this production of Figaro, we were both delighted by the design of the costumes and set, which we viewed as adding new fun to a comedic opera we have seen multiple times, and the theme of unwarranted privileges of power and social structure was still delivered effectively.  Kudos to Director Meeker, to Laura Fine Hawkes for scenic design, Lauren Shaw for costume design, Anne Nesmith for hair and make-up design, and to Colin K. Bills for lighting design.

Marcellina (Elissa Pfaender), Bartolo (Sam Dhobhany), and Figaro (Christian Anderson) work out their relationship. Photo by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

Wolf Trap Opera’s highly talented and already experienced group of Filene Artists were the major factor generating the highly positive impact of this production.  It was an extraordinary treat to so profoundly experience the individuality of the voices and the high caliber/precision singing so close up in the intimate space of The Barns.  Bass-baritone Christian Simmons gave us a compelling, impulsive Figaro and delivered his vocals beautifully.  Mr. Simmons was a winner in the 2023 Metropolitan Laffont Competition, a member of Cafritz Young Artists of Washington National Opera, and a fellow with Deutche Oper Berlin.  Soprano Arianna Rodriguez from Fairfax, Virginia gave us a knowing Susanna in dealing with all comers, perhaps a touch regal for a servant.  She has a lovely voice and sings with heart-rendering emotion.  Ms. Rodriguez has been an Adler fellow with San Francisco Opera.  Count Almaviva was played by baritone Charles H. Eaton as the domineering buffoon he was, but his singing was very winning; as played, I would not put too much faith in his redemption.  Mr. Eaton, a graduate of several young artists programs, drew rave reviews for his performance last year in WTO’s production of Silent Night.  Soprano Brittany Olivia Logan gave a very compelling Countess Almaviva, longing for love and forgiving in nature.  She sang with a loveliness that could redeem most of us.  She was in the young artist program of Metropolitan Opera and sang in the Met’s production of Nabucco; she also performed previously with Wolf Trap Opera in their 2023 production of Faust.  Some roles are made for scene stealers; Cherubino, a love-struck young man (played by a woman) longing for attention from Countess Almaviva, is one.  Mezzo-soprano Sophia Maekawa took full advantage of the role, singing impressively, and stealing scenes by providing the best comedic performance of the opera.  Ms. Maekawa hails from Kyoto, Japan and has trained with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, and Opera Theater of Saint Louis.  These artists sang their solo arias beautifully

Adding to the fun and powerful singing was mezzo-soprano Elissa Pfaender who gave us a campy Marcellina; she will sing the role of Carmen in WTO’s Carmen in August in the Filene Center.  Adding his powerful voice and singing was Sam Dhobhany as Bartolo. Also enriching the performance were WTO Studio Artists tenor Timothy Anderson as Basilio, bass-baritone Robert Frasier as Antonio, soprano Catherine Creed as Barbarina, and tenor Adam Catangui as Don Curzio.  Additional Studio Artists made up the WTO Chorus. bass-baritone Robert Frasier as Antonio, soprano Catherine Creed as Barbarina, and tenor Adam Catangui as Don Curzio.  Additional Studio Artists made up the WTO Chorus.

Figaro (Christian Simmons) is surrounded by a group of Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artists who served as townspeople, servants, and the chorus.

The Wolf Trap Orchestra was led by Conductor Emily Senturia, who has appeared with many of the nation’s symphony and opera companies, including the Washington National Opera and previously with WTO.  Special kudos to her and the orchestra; the music was a highlight of the performance.  After the first few notes of the overture, I wondered if the small orchestra pit and opening was muffling the sound a bit, but that impression was quickly dispatched.  After that, I marveled at how well Mozart’s music was being played.  The WTO Chorus also added substantially to the enjoyment of the performance; kudos to Chorus Master Kuril Kuzmin.

Susanna (Adrianna Rodriguez) and the Countess ( Brittany Olivia Logan), now friends and conspirators, share a moment. Photo by Rich Kessler; courtesy of Wolf Trap Opera.

After attending a classic opera several times, one’s enthusiasm can drop a little for another performance any time soon.  Wolf Trap Opera’s was delightful and as fresh as ever!

The Fan Experience: Performances of The Marriage of Figaro were scheduled for June 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 in The Barns.  The opera is sung in Italian with supertitles in English on an overhead screen.  The performance lasted about 3 hours including a 20-minute intermission. Limited tickets were available at the time of this report.

A pre-opera talk was offered for ticket holders one hour before performances by Nicole Steinberg, PhD, exploring how Mozart portrayed the intelligence and complexity of women in his operas.

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. 

Washington National Opera's Porgy and Bess: Richly American

This was my first viewing of Gerschwin’s Porgy and Bess and here is my dilemma (spoilers will follow).  I liked almost all aspects of this opera, including the performers, the singing, the music, the staging, the dancing, the story; the entertainment level was very high.  Yet, it left me thinking more than feeling.  Oh, I felt sympathy for Porgy, for Clara and Jake, and both frustration and sympathy with Bess.  Porgy’s goodness was inspirational but also troubling; I didn’t know if we should aspire to his level of goodness or send him for therapy.  He saw goodness in Bess that he believed his love could redeem.  However, in the end, when he went off to NYC to pursue her, I didn’t foresee a happy ending.  Nevertheless, Friday night’s audience responded with enthusiastic applause at every opportunity and inserted a couple of their own.  Overall, it’s an excellent production, rich in history, an American opera about America, well worth seeing, still…

Porgy (Michael Sumuel) and Bess (Brittany Renee) embrace. Photo by Cory Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Porgy and Bess (1935), takes place in Catfish Row, a small, isolated black fishing community on the coast of South Carolina in the first half of the 20th century.  The setting is a dilapidated tenement with an open courtyard.  The community is cohesive, both enforcing their social mores and helping each other as best they can.  The music was composed by George Gershwin, of “Rhapsody in Blue” fame, as well as other musical compositions; this was his only opera.  Dubose Heyward fashioned the storyline drawing on several sources, including his life in Charleston, initially resulting in his novel Porgy, which was then developed into a successful Broadway play by his wife Dorothy Heyward; both served as co-librettists for the opera with Ira Gershwin, George’s also famous brother.  This was an all-white team creating an opera about an all-black community, which they termed “an American folk opera”.  Composer Gershwin stipulated that only black singers could play the roles to avoid white singers appearing in blackface.  This made it impossible in that time to have it performed in major opera houses in the US where black singers were excluded.  The opera premiered in 1935, just seventy years after the American Civil War; segregation was the dominant rule.  Porgy and Bess first appeared in the Colonial Theatre in Boston before moving to the Alvin Theater on Broadway.  When the opera came to DC’s National Theatre in 1936, a cast protest led to the first performance in the theater with an integrated audience.  It would be 1955 before a black singer appeared at the Metropolitan Opera and 1985 before Porgy and Bess appeared there.  It’s first performance in a major US opera house was in 1976 at the Houston Grand Opera.

Serena (Amber R. Monroe) accosts Crown (Kenneth Kellogg) as Porgy (Michael Sumuel) and Bess (Brittany Renee) wait their turn. Photo by Cory Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Productions of the opera have been limited over the years by its perceived racism, principally concerns that it reinforced images of black stereotypes.  In a sense, I found Porgy and Bess offensive on many levels, simply by reflecting aspects of real life that many of us struggle with, poverty, isolation, patriarchy, addiction, sexual abuse, and racism, all still with us today in some measure.  In the program notes, UNC professor Naomi André says that the opera means different things to different people.  She objects to its stereotypes and points out that the dialect used is not true African American vernacular English.  Nevertheless, she loves the opera and offered suggestions for its production.  I thought the WNO production presented human issues that affect all of us; it explores issues of family, community, religion, and personal struggles that can be found in almost any community and importantly, also shows the love and support therein, and finally, a ray of hope projected by Porgy.  It also presented a black community of struggling Americans to a larger American audience and provided black performers opportunities to perform on the stage when opportunities were mostly off limits to black singers, though Dr. André notes this sometimes restricted black singers to mainly those roles.  For WNO’s production, all singers are black except the detective and coroner; the conductor is also black. This production was originated by WNO Artistic Director Francesco Zambello, who also directed this performance, the third revival by WNO since first presented in 2005.  Porgy and Bess has gained in popularity over years and is sometimes now billed as the Great American Opera. 

Sportin’ Life (Chauncey Packer) takes center stage at the party on Kittiwah Island. Photo by Cory Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Let’s talk about the music, what I most looked forward to in attending.  George Gershwin is a favorite of mine and, I believe, America’s most famous classical composer.  This is his only opera.  He died in 1937 at the age of 38, just two years after the first performance.  I have listened to “Rhapsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris” more times than I can remember and expect to do so again.  The Washington National Opera Orchestra was led by Conductor Kwamé Ryan, Music Director of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.  Many of the melodic tunes in Porgy and Bess have been covered many times over by singers in many genres since the opera’s appearance.  In the program notes, Maestro Ryan states, “First of all, Gershwin was just a great melodist. There’s probably nothing that has broader appeal in music than a memorable tune.”  The music in this performance was crisp, clear, highly coordinated, and supportive of the drama on the stage.  Personally, I thought the early use of the xylophone and later use of the drums were a little too demonstrative.  Still, otherwise, I really enjoyed Gershwin’s music with its typical jazz elements and hummable melodies.  In structure, the music was a group of songs, each supporting and adding emphasis to the action on the stage and each scene was strong. The music was critical to the storytelling.  However, Gershwin’s score did not effectively use recurring themes to weave the story together as great compositions often do, though “Summertime” is reprised twice after first appearing in the opera. The Washington National Opera Chorus led by Chorus Master Steven Gathman performed beautifully, as is typical.

Spotlight on Clara (Viviana Goodwin) and Jake (Benjamin Taylor) holding their child. Photo by Cory Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

There is a large cast for this production; in addition to the WNO Orchestra and Chorus, there are 23 named singers and the WNO Corps of Dancers.  While I will mention only a few, each member of this highly accomplished cast brought their own special charm to their roles.  For opening night, the role of Porgy was sung by bass-baritone Michael Sumuel in winning fashion; he gave us strong, emotionally-laden vocals while having the added difficulty of singing well while moving about the stage, putting much of his weight on a crutch and often getting knocked to the floor.  Mr. Sumuel came to WNO just after playing Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Met.  Bess was played and sung well by soprano Brittany Renee effectively portraying a woman responding to unconditional love from Porgy while still under the influence of past abuse and drug addiction.  Ms. Renee, also a Met veteran, is a Grammy award winner.  Crown, Bess’s lover and abuser, was played with charismatic presence and strength by bass Kenneth Kellogg, a favorite of WNO audiences.  His leading role in Blue gave me such a favorable impression of him, it was hard to accept him in an abusive guy role.  One of the many standouts was tenor Chauncey Packer, who played drug-dealing Sportin’ Life, the snake in Bess’s Garden of Eden, a role he has also played at the Met.  With distinguished singing and guile, he charmed in a role where you wanted him to be locked up. 

Maria (Denyce Graves) and Clara (Viviana Goodwin). Photo by Cory Weaver; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The singers in the supporting roles were also standouts.  Cafritz young artist soprano Viviana Goodwin as Clara opened the opera with a beautiful rendition of “Summertime” and gave a steady performance as Jake’s wife.  Benjamin Taylor who sang Jake has a great baritone voice that stood out.  I have praised have previously praised his performances with Opera Philadelphia and Opera Baltimore.  Once again mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves practically stole the show with her performance as Maria, the moral backbone of Catfish Row who puts Sportin’ Life in his place.  Soprano Amber R. Monroe gave a fine performance as Serena, especially singing of the tune, “My Man’s Gone Now”, and in the church funeral scene.

This production was cleverly and effectively staged.  At first I had an issue with the tenement and costumes, with the exception of Bess’s, being in the same drab hue, because it painted everyone with the same brush, as it formed the backdrop of the community in which they were encased.  In her review of the 2010 performance by WNO, Post critic Anne Midgette likened the scene to a prison yard and to a significant degree it was, reflecting the society of their time.  The scene shifted once to an abandoned amusement park on Kittiwah Island where we got to enjoy some more light-hearted, exuberant singing and dancing, before Crown forced himself once more on Bess, all choreographed quite effectively.  Thee scene with the community members huddled in the church while a hurricane roared outside was especially well done.

So, with all that praise, what’s my problem.  Simply stated, my initial emotional response to the opera was not as strong as I had anticipated.  I found myself thinking more than feeling.  It seemed too many things were going on and not enough dealt deeply with.  Bess’s changes of direction seemed to happen too quickly.  On the other hand, I have been thinking about Porgy and Bess since I saw it Friday night.  That is an endorsement of its own, and there is the high entertainment value, and then there are the magnificent tunes.

The Fan Experience: The ten performances of Porgy and Bess were scheduled for May 23, 24 (2), 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 (2).  The opera is sung in English with English supertitles projected over the stage.  Including one 20-minute intermission, the performance lasted about two hours and forty-five minutes.  Pre-opera talks are given for ticket holders one-hour prior to performance time. As of this writing, tickets are available for all remaining performances.

This was Washington National Opera’s final opera of the season.  The listing for the 2025-2026 season can be found at this link and subscriptions are available.

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 and sometimes security checks when VIPs attend.

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.

WNO’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs: Once More with Cafritz Star Shine

Friday night’s performance had a special appeal – for this performance only, all the soloists were members of the Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Young Artists program.  While their young artists are often featured in supporting roles in each of their fully staged operas, one later performance is typically cast with only Cafritz members.  This performance only, there were also Cafritz singers in these three main roles: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Chrisann Brennan.  The talented and accomplished young artists, those continuing and newly inserted, did not disappoint.  More on that, later.

For the May 9 performance the new Steve Jobs (Jonathan Patton), Steve Wozniak (Nicholas Huff), and Chrisann Brennan (Anneliese Klenetsky). Photos courtesy of Washington National Opera. Additional photos shown below are of the cast in the May 2 performance.

Greek gods have been the subject of many an opera and being both a human and a Greek god always had issues.  Steve Jobs was a god of technology and a human being; the opera deals with how one affects the other.  The human part bore substantial failings, and the god part supplied society-changing treasures/curses.  Those close to him and who worked with him suffered the mental and emotional trauma he imposed on his path to running off the rails personally and to great heights as a technology god.  His leadership of Apple, especially in the creation of the iPhone, has shifted the dial on human development.  His wife remarked at his memorial service, as attendees departed, that they would all be pulling out their phones as they left.  Maybe that’s how you want to remember him, with total admiration and respect.  If so, this is not your opera.  Creator Jobs was a complex man and his gifts to society were both great and…well, complicated, enabling technology for both use and misuse.  If you are into complexity and what it means to be human, this opera is an entertaining and worthwhile experience, though the opera, like its subject is…well, complicated.

Köbun (Wei Wu) advising Steve Jobs (John Moore). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Both, composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell have records of success in creating new operas.  Washington National Opera’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (2017) is the tenth production of this opera since its premiere by Santa Fe Opera in 2017.  Key decisions made in crafting an opera about Steve Jobs included presenting vignettes of important inflection points from his life, not in chronological order, and to use electronic sound elements in the music.  The singers wear microphones and some of the music is played by a synthesizer.  The libretto is sung in operatic style, so while an opera, it is a modern fusion of opera and musical theater. 

His wife Laurene (Winona Martin) tries to comfort Steve Jobs (John Moore). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

The opera begins with Job’s father Paul, played by baritone Justin Burgess, singing in steady, fatherly fashion, to ten-year-old Steven about a workbench he made for his son to use to explore how things work (the son was well played by actor Stone Stensrud).  I have seen Mr. Burgess previously in performances of the American Opera Initiative, Wolf Trap Opera, and Washington National Opera.  A highlight among the vignettes was baritone Jonathan Patton in the role of Steve Jobs announcing the first edition of the iPhone in 2007; Apple is not specifically mentioned nor “iPhone” for legal reasons, but we know.  Mr. Patton was excellent in the role, with crisp, clear vocals that covered a range of emotions throughout the opera; to me it felt like a natural for him.  He presented a stage presence of strength, as I imagine the forceful, complex character Steve Jobs was.  (Baritone John Moore, a highly praised veteran of the role, played the role in the other WNO performances).  I have seen Mr. Patton previously in an AOI performance and two WNO productions.  The most fun scene in the opera was one where he as Jobs and tenor Nicholas Huff as Steve Wozniak, Job’s partner in initiating the Apple empire, hack into “Ma Bell” with a small device, a technological advance that allowed them to “stick it to the man”; of course, Jobs later became “the man”, Mr. Huff as Wozniak was run out of the company by Jobs after delivering an impassioned indictment of what Jobs had become.  Mr. Huff’s strong acting and singing skills were on full display; I have seen him previously in an AOI performance. 

Steve Jobs (John Moore) and Steve Wozniak (Jonathan Burton) celebrate their discovery. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Bass Wei Wu cast as Steve Jobs’s spiritual advisor, Köbun Chino Ottagawa, deserves his own paragraph.  He was a Cafritz young artist from 2013 to 2016 and has subsequently performed in numerous productions for Washington National Opera; while a young artist, he overlapped with Mark Campbell’s tenure as CYA’s first librettist mentor.  Mr. Wu originated the role of Ottagawa with the Santa Fe Opera and has further developed the role in several productions since then.  His bass voice was golden Friday night, and he was outstanding as Köbun, a centerpiece of the opera.  Steve Jobs became interested in Buddhism early in life and at least contemplated becoming a monk.  Köbun offers Jobs direct criticism as well as spiritual advice.  His admonition to “Simplify” was an element in Apple product design under Jobs. 

One of the charming scenes portrayed was Jobs hooking up with fellow college student Chrisann Brennan and doing LSD in a park.  Girlfriend Chrisann was played convincingly by soprano Anneliese Klenetsky who sang beautifully with charm, and then anger and pathos, as Jobs pulled away from her to focus on his obsession, even to the point of brutally denying fatherhood of the child she bore.  I have seen Ms. Klenetsky thus far in one AOI production.  Jobs’ eventual wife and personal savior was played by mezzo-soprano Winona Martin in all performances.  She brought balance to his life and forced him to seek health care he desperately needed.  She sang beautiful arias and duets with Jonathan Patton in a standout performance.  She has impressed as well in other performances I have seen with AOI, Wolf Trap Opera, and WNO.  Mezzo-soprano Michelle Mariposa, who played a supporting role in all performances as Job’s teacher in a Japanese calligraphy class, performed in an AOI opera this year and was one of five winners of Metropolitan Opera’s 2025 Laffont Competition this year!  Individually and as a team, the Cafritz young artists were delights, thoroughly professional, and the cast received an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end.

Chrisann (Kresley Figueroa) and Steve Jobs (John Moore) in a better place. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Composer Mason Bates was the original composer in residence of WNO.  He is known for combining traditional and electronic sounds.  I found the music interesting and engaging.  Instruments and motifs are associated with different characters.  It’s combination of electronic and orchestral sound was befitting of an opera about a technology icon.  The music was played with crisp perfection with Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya leading the Washington National Opera, which often included meeting the challenge of having to match the beat of programmed electronic music.  Chorus Steven Gathman did his usual fine job leading the WNO Chorus, who also served as Apple employees for several scenes.  The music and the libretto combined to do an excellent job of storytelling, embellished by emotion.  For me personally, I experienced the amplified pounding sound as beating on me a bit and needed the softer gentler music near the end to soothe.

The narrative, in keeping with a Zen theme, was organized around the ensō, a distinctive circle, hand drawn in one motion.  The staging of the opera required accommodating a prologue (beginning with the child Steve Jobs, opening of the circle), an epilogue with the child Jobs (completing the circle), and with 17 scenes drawn from a dozen different years presented as random thoughts of Jobs, not presented in chronological order.  The cast supposed to be off stage were seated on benches onstage consistent with the Zen theme.  The stage for almost all scenes was dominated by 28 large screen monitors playing images imbuing the scenes with an aura of technology.  This was an effective presentation; kudos to Revival Stage Director Rebecca Herman.  However, for me the technological sameness imposed by the monitors detracted from many of the emotionally laden scenes, though the consistency allowed the opera to need only one hour and forty minutes to tell its story.

Librettist Campbell states in the program notes that “We can’t deny who we are as humans— messy, all loose wires, impossible to program. This is the lesson of this opera and one that I believe Jobs learned in his later years, before succumbing to what he termed ‘the single best invention of life’.”  The opera achieved its goal.  One might ask, however, to what purpose?  So we can all hang our heads in resignation at our fate?  Or to inspire us to cut each other some slack because we are all at the wheel of a car we don’t know and only partially understand.  Mr. Jobs evolved as he created a revolution. Interestingly, all the characters were likable except Steve Jobs. At the end of the opera, I mainly felt sad for him and the people who cared about him, while still admiring his accomplishments; I turned on my iPhone as I left the performance.  

At top, Steve Jobs (John Moore) relentlessly and abusively driving his team to create the user friendly device you can hold in your hand that can do everything. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.

Mr. Campbell notes that the resonance of the opera’s message has grown over the years.  I suspect that is true.  The response of those whose lives overlapped with Jobs will be strongly influenced by how they feel about the man, the company, its products, and their impact on their lives.  Future audiences may well connect with the opera as a study of what it means to be human and less as details about a celebrity they knew.  Of course, right now the opera owes much of its popularity to the fame of its subject, so we will see how it ages.  Overall, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is rich in subject matter, currency, storytelling, staging, performances, and entertainment value.  I thought in failing to emphasize any single aspect of his life the opera had lower impact than it might have, but my wife disagrees and time will tell.

Finally, kudos to the Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center for allowing the singers in their Cafritz Young Artist program to perform in the roles of their fully staged operas.  Good for us, good for them!  While I understand the desire to see the established star performers that WNO casts in their productions, the young artists offer an excitement of their own when you attend their special performance. BTW, if you have been bypassing the new, short operas of the American Opera Initiative each January, reconsider; the CYA singers will make you glad you did. 

The Fan Experience: Washington National Opera scheduled performances of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs on May 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 with May 9 having a Cafritz young artists cast.  The opera was sung in English with English supertitles shown overhead.  The opera lasted one hour and forty minutes without an intermission.  Pre-opera talks were offered one hour prior to showtime.  The digital program book can be accessed at this link. 

As a heads up, the new 20 minute operas of the American Opera Initiative frequently sell out. Get your tickets for January 2026 early, currently only available by subscription..

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 and sometimes security checks when VIPs attend.

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.

Virginia Opera's Loving v. Virginia: Exceptional New Opera Revealing the Human Heart

Oyez, oyez, oyez (the call of the court to order).  The significance of the landmark Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in the Loving v. Virginia case is so powerful, it can overshadow everything else.  Before that decision in 1967, interracial marriages were illegal in Virginia and about forty other states.  In the opera, when Mildred Loving is asked how she felt when the decision came down, she said simply, “I feel free”.  In doing so, she proclaimed hope for all of us and brought tears to my eyes.  However, I went to Sunday’s premiere of Virginia Opera’s Loving v. Virginia determined to set the significance aside to a degree and put my primary focus on one issue: was it a good opera?  This led to some disagreements with my wife and copy editor Deb at intermission, me being the critical one.  However, by the end of the opera, we were in total agreement.  This is an exceptional opera that deserves and needs to be seen.  The Supreme Court’s decision represented a growth spurt for American democracy, but the Lovings expressed what it meant in human terms; they asked only that they be allowed to live together with their family in Virginia.

Flora Hawk as Mildred Loving and Jonathan Michie as Richard Loving in love. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Loving v. Virginia was co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and the Richmond Symphony, as a fitting commemoration of Virginia Opera’s 50th anniversary season this year.  Five years ago, they decided to commission an opera with a subject associated with Virginia.  In fact, over his tenure with VO, Artistic Director Adam Turner has selected several works for performance that had ties to Virginia.  He and Lacey Huszcza, President and CEO of Richmond Symphony, gave opening comments.  Composer Damien Geter, a native of Virginia, and librettist Jessica Murphy Moo accepted the commission in 2022.  To direct the opera, VO brought on board world-famous opera star turned director, Denyce Graves-Montgomery; she is black and a native of Washington DC; her husband is a white physician, and they live in Virginia.  He repairs the heart, and she inspires it. 

A family gathering around the table. Melody Wilson as Musiel Byrd Jeter, Christian Bolling as Sidney, Flora Hawk as Mildred Jeter Loving, Cordelia Mesecher as Donald, Phillip Bullock as Theoliver “Jake” Jeter, and Adelaide Harr as Peggy. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Making and staging an opera of the Loving’s story presented challenges.  It takes place over nine years in different stages, with scenes in their home areas in both Virginia and DC, scenes in courts in both venues, and jail cells, aspects more easily accommodated in a movie.  In fact, there was an excellent film in 2016 titled Loving; actress Ruth Negga was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance.  In brief, in 1958 an interracial couple in Center Point, Virginia were unable to marry because of Virginia’s 1924 Racial Integrity Act disallowing marriage between whites and people of color; anyone with one drop of blood not white in their body was considered colored under the law.  Richard and Mildred got married in DC which allowed their marriage and returned home to Virginia.  They were arrested in their home in the middle of the night and placed in jail.  In their court hearing, after pleading guilty they were sentenced to one year in prison each to be suspended if they did not appear in the state together for a period of 25 years.  They relocated to DC but unhappy with living in the city with their children, they sought relief through the ACLU for help to move back to Virginia, which eventually led to the 1967 court decision vacating their convictions, finding the law unconstitutional, and changing miscegenation laws in place in a majority of the states in the US.  The opera effectively presents the facts of the case but focuses on the human impact of the law and their struggles.  The Loving’s story is a shocking reminder of the degree to which racial prejudice pervaded life in America in a time so close to our own.  Having seen the movie, learned the facts of the case, and witnessed the human toil shown in the movie, I was eager to learn what the opera had to offer that was different and if it was done effectively. 

Flora Hawk as Mildred in jail surrounded by members of the chorus representing the masked faces of the “Law”. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Upfront, this is one of the best organized performances of an opera that I have seen; early on I thought the action had a Broadway show vibrancy.  Except for the intermission, there is no break in the action or the music; actors and staff move the stage props representing doors, bleachers, court steps, furniture, and jails around as needed swiftly while screen images of a Virginia country view or a DC city view provide backdrops for the action; costume changes seem to appear out of nowhere.  Very clever was the use of masks on several members of the chorus to illustrate the cold, impersonal, officiousness of legal proceedings.  Sometimes the stage was filled with actors and chorus supernumeraries moving about.  From intimate scenes of two people expressing their feelings for each other to a threatening scene of a cross burning to a child injured in traffic to a DC street scene of a demonstration for equal rights, this was a directing tour-de-force.  The human flow of the story was always moving from beginning to climax, and the ending simple silhouette of Richard and Mildred at peace, embracing alone in front of the landscape of the Virginia countryside was one I will long remember.  Kudos to Director Graves-Montgomery and all her associates on the creative team.

Flora Hawk as Mildred and Jonathan Michie as Richard being sentenced by Benjamin Werley as Judge Bazile. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Composer Damien Geter’s music was beautifully played by 51 members of the Richmond Symphony led by Conductor Adam Turner, foreshadowing and reflecting mood, emphasizing emotions, adding embellishing scenes with beauty.  The libretto of Jessica Murphy Moo told the story well and blended skillfully with the music.  The melodic music had modern elements that helped connect with the story, including an electric guitar in the mix, and marvelously-used sections of the orchestra in expressive ways.  Maestro Turner impressively kept the singers and music moving together.  Having the music playing and maintaining the narrative flow through on-stage scene changes was brilliant.  I offer no criticisms but one wistful longing: writing beautiful arias is and should be enough, but I wish a couple of them had more of a hit tune quality that I would remember long after the performance ended, to increase attendance and keep audiences returning; this opera deserved that and maybe I worry for nothing.  Regardless, I will long remember Loving v. Virginia and recommend it without reservation; I expect it to be played many more times around the country, and given its universality, around the globe.

Troy Cook as lawyer Bernard Cohen, Jonathan Michie as Richard, Flora Hawk as Mildred, and Christian Sanders as lawyer Philip Hirschkop celebrate the victory. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

A large, excellent cast made the most of each opportunity of singing and acting.  Soprano Flora Hawk who played Mildred has a bright soprano voice that floated along in the higher registers with graceful ease, carrying the musical beauty and emotion along with it.  Baritone Jonathan Michie who played Richard Loving sang well and was so believable in the role I felt like he was someone I know.  Their duets were a highlight of the performance.  Those in supporting roles were impressive in singing and in their characterizations.  Mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson portrayed Mildred’s mother in a fashion that made it seem more of a starring role.  Baritone Philip Bullock presented as a wise and caring father of Mildred.  Contralto Alissa Anderson as Richard’s mother added a concerned and caring duet with Richard.  Baritone Troy Cook and tenor Christian Sanders portrayed the ACLU lawyers with humor and conviction who, fresh out of law school, brought the case to the Supreme Court.  Mezzo-soprano Tesia Kwarteng played Mildred’s adventurous friend with a caring spirit.  Tenor Benjamin Werley who portrayed the Sheriff and Judge Bazile so convincingly that during the standing ovation at the end, when he stepped forward, there was a volley of good-natured boos.  The Virginia Opera Chorus was an important element in this production, singing impressively and enhancing the production overall; kudos to Associate Conductor and Chorus Master Brandon Eldredge.

Flora Hawk as Mildred Loving and Jonathan Michie as Richard Loving at peace. Photo by Dave Pearson Photography; courtesy of Virginia Opera.

Loving v. Virginia is a story that could be told from many viewpoints, perhaps focused on expressing outrage at our history of racism, praising the court system, or as a passionate love story.  Composer Geter and librettist Moo chose to focus on the human elements regardless of race, the love of home, of children and family, and the enduring love of life mates, on what it means to be human, and what we need as humans - the freedom to be who we are.  The opera successfully brought home that message in a way that was felt.  The audience on Sunday was quick to its feet to applaud after the performance was over, with shouts of approval and appreciation.  Join in if you can and feel welcome if you can’t.

The Fan Experience: Virginia Opera scheduled premiere performances of Loving v. Virginia for April 25, 27 in Norfolk, May 3, 4 in Fairfax, and May 9, 10, 11 in Richmond.  The opera is sung in English with subtitles in English shown on a screen overhead.  The performance lasted about two and a half hours including one intermission. 

An informative background pre-opera talk on the Loving v. Virginia case was given 45 minutes prior to curtain time by Sheryll Cashin who is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law, Civil Rights, and Social Justice at Georgetown University.

Virginia Opera’s 2025-2026 season will include performances of Rossini’s Cinderella, Heggie’s Intelligence, and Verdi’s Aida.  Once again, not all of VO’s offerings will be presented in Fairfax; Aida is only scheduled for performances in Norfolk and Richmond.

Re | Joice: 30 Years of Ryan Brown at Opera Lafayette - Au Revoir, Ryan Brown

As Opera Lafayette’s Founder, Artistic Director, Conductor, and frequently Violinist, Ryan Brown has been doing this for 30 years!  OL’s production Thursday night was a tribute to their only leader for all that time. 

Founder, Artistic Director, and Conductor Ryan Brown leading the Opera Lafayette Orchestra. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Begun originally as the Violins of Lafayette in 1995, the focus was music only.  Singing, dance, and semi-staged operas were added later, eventually to include fully staged operas, and the name was changed to Opera Lafayette for the 2001-2002 season.  I began attending OL performances in 2017 and one of my early reports stated: “Do you think time travel is possible...If you’d like to visit France in the eighteenth century, Opera Lafayette could be your conduit.”  Along the way, Starship OL has also visited the 17th and 19th centuries and included music from a few other countries relevant to France; the authenticity of their performances is enhanced by using period instruments, and many performances are available as recordings.  The company’s activities included community outreach to share the history of the works and the roles that music played in history.  These things have been done with extraordinary scholarship, artistry, and passion under Ryan Brown’s leadership.  

Ensemble photo for “Re | Joice: 30 Years of Ryan Brown at Opera Lafayette”. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

The first portion of the evening’s program was mainly constructed around selections from previous OL productions performed beautifully by a 21-piece orchestra under Maestro Brown’s masterful direction.  The 18th century music was melodious, sometimes pathos filled, sometimes spirited, and responded to the performers singing arias with expert timing and emphasis; sometimes the interplay of the orchestra, or even individual instruments, with the singers was delightful.  Meant to be a harmonious whole, the program began with dramatic arias, bridged by an entr’acte of pomp, then some meaningful comedic arias, and an inspirational ending.  The outstanding group of singers included Opera Lafayette veterans, sopranos Pascale Beaudin, soprano Paulina Francisco, and bass-baritone John Taylor Ward along with OL newcomers, tenor James Reese and tenor Gene Stenger.  In succession each artist added to the beauty and elegance of the production, some using comic or dramatic gestures that enhanced their performances. 

The performances began with a selection from Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny’s opéra comique, Le Déserteur (1769).  John Taylor Ward set the tone for the evening using a warm baritone voice to sing “Ah, je respire” with feeling, making it easy to imagine him in the role. OL’s performance of this opera in 2009 led to an invitation to perform in the palace at Versailles.  Next came selections from two operas by Christoph Willibald Gluck previously produced by OL, the first an aria from Armide (1777, performed by OL in 2010) sung by soprano Paula Francisco in which Armide struggles with the conflict between love and allegiance.  There is no description of singing by Ms. Francisco that would be adequate to convey the beauty of her voice, her control and power, and the emotion imbued in her singing.  Had she been the object of King Kong’s affection, he would have been a tame puppy.  Her first aria was followed by a pleasing choral number provided by the other artists, including tenor Gene Stenger who appeared principally in the ensemble numbers. 

Bass-baritone John Taylor Ward and soprano Paulina Francisco. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

Next came two arias from Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (1762, performed by OL in 2002) sung by tenor James Reese with a chorus following each.  Mr. Reese, a specialist in early repertoire, has an engaging, lively stage presence that stands out and a crisp tenor voice that made his arias both pleasing and affecting.  If I understood his website correctly, he may be performing again with Opera Lafayette next season.  To transition from drama to comedy, Maestro Brown and orchestra played a march from André Grétry’s Le Magnifique (1773, performed by OL in 2011).  The beginning of this piece was captivating but, sadly, it was very short; I wondered if Grétry developed it further.  The switch to comedy began with John Taylor Ward singing an aria from François-André Danican Philidor’s Sancho Pança (1762, performed by OL in 2010) based on Don Quixote, amusingly enhanced by Mr. Ward’s facial expressions and gestures, again displaying his excellent voice and singing.

Tenor James Reese and soprano Pascale Beaudin. Photos by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

At last, it was time for Canadian soprano Pascale Beaudin (proud of her Acadian heritage) to be featured.  I have had the pleasure of attending four of her previous performances with OL.  Bilingual in French and English, she fits perfectly with Opera Lafayette.  As usual, she sang with charm and delight an aria from Grétry’s L’Epreuve villageoise (1784, performed by OL in 2015) expressing her resolve to teach her suitor a lesson.  Tenor James Reese followed with a playful singing of an aria from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Platée (1745), and the first portion of the program ended with an ensemble rendering of Vaudeville “Je vais revoir ma chère métairie” from Sancho Pança.   Well done, all around.

An ensemble featuring soprano Paulina Francisco, tenor Gene Stenger, bass-baritone John Taylor Ward, and tenor James Reese. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

After intermission, short film clips were shown from three previous OL productions accompanied by amusing and charming commentary by Pascale Beaudin at the podium.  The first clip was from the 2020 production of Beethoven’s Leonore (1805), the culmination of OL’s ambitious Leonore Project, in which Ms. Beaudin played Marcelline.  Interestingly, she also played Marceline in OL’s production of Pierre Gaveaux’s Leonore, ou L’Amour du conjugal, an earlier opera version of the Leonore story.  The next clip was from Ol’s 2014 Les Fêtes de L’Hymen et de L’Amour, ou Les Dieux d’Egypte (1747), a Rameau opera/ballet that enlisted three dance groups, the New York Baroque Dance Company, Kalanidhi Dance, and the Sean Curran Company.  The final clip was from OL’s 2020 The Blacksmith, a Nick Olcott/Ryan Brown American adaptation of the Le Maréchal ferrant (1760), a French opéra comique by François-André Danican Philidor.  Staging a comedic opera, outdoors, with seating on spaced bales of hay, beside a barn, on a ranch, in Colorado, with a film made for public viewing, was Opera Lafayette’s way of spitting in COVID’s eye and raising everyone’s spirits, not to mention keeping a few musicians and singers employed.  In his program notes, Director Brown states about OL productions, “…perfection is not the goal. Happily, we've sought expression and discovery.”  Do you need any more evidence? Okay, one more: not only did OL unearth buried treasures, but presented them in creative ways; take a look at the outrageous Machine Dazzles’s costumes in my blog report on their 2023 performance of Io by Rameau at this link.

At the end of the clips, Ryan Brown came out to the podium with Patrick Quigley to introduce Mr. Quigley as the incoming Artistic Director and Conductor and said it seemed like time for some Mozart.

Conductor Quigley then directed the orchestra in performing Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate (1773) with the vocal by Paulina Francisco.  At first, I found myself involuntarily rejecting Conductor Quigley’s presence in front of the orchestra.  This event felt personal.  In a way that’s hard to explain, I feel over the years I’ve gotten more than entertainment from OL under Director Brown’s leadership, maybe sustenance of some kind, perhaps continuing proof that the world is a good place to be.  However, he could not have done Conductor Quigley a better favor than introduce him leading that evening’s orchestra, accompanying that soprano’s singing.  Ms. Francisco and the orchestra performed the piece with such inspirational beauty, I came around to at least not rejecting Mr. Quigley.

Conductor Brown returned for the last selection, the “O doux moment” Trio from Antonio Maria Gasparo Gioacchino Sacchini’s Oedipe à Colone (1786, performed by OL in 2004) sung beautifully by Paulina Francisco, James Reese, and John Taylor Ward.  Exiting Artistic Director Brown said that the piece called for a life of love and virtue, and he wanted to end with that, and a befitting ending it was.

Stepping down Founder and Artistic Director of Opera Lafayette Ryan Brown. Photo by Jennifer Packard Photography; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.

It has been my pleasure and my privilege to attend and write about Opera Lafayette performances since January 2017.  This performance made me realize how much I missed that went before!  See a list of my reports below included to show the variety and sustained excellence of OL’s productions.  OL’s niche included discovery of great music enshrouded in history.  Many of their productions were modern premieres, music not heard since their first splash, and one, by black composer Edward Dédé, Morgiane, had never been performed before.  Most OL productions were new to me.  Old is new if you have not seen it before, and with Opera Lafayette, sometimes never even heard of it before.  My OL mantra over the years quickly became don’t ask, just go, be entertained, be educated, and be enriched.  I learned a good bit about history and how music mattered, how music was intertwined with that history.  The cultural enrichment was always inclusive and never condescending.  Thursday night was vintage Ryan Brown.  The quality of Opera Lafayette’s delightful retrospective program and performance on Thursday night, arranged by Artistic Director Brown, revealed a man more at the height of his powers than one stepping down.

Thank you, Ryan Brown!

The Fan Experience: Opera Lafayette performs its works in both DC and NYC. On April 30,  “Re | Joice: 30 Years of Ryan Brown at Opera Lafayette” was performed in NYC’s St. Bartholomew’s Church and on May 1 in the Terrace Theater of DC’s Kennedy Center.  The vocals were sung in French with English subtitles projected on a screen.

For this performance there was no pre-performance talk. The program book, as of this report, still online at this link.

For your perusal of at least part of Opera Lafayette’s variety of performances, is a list below of ones I have written about since 2017; I wish I had started earlier.

OPERA LAFAYETTE: FROM VIOLINS TO OPERA, CLOAKED IN ROMANCE

January 19, 2017

OPERA LAFAYETTE AND MY FIRST LEONORE

February 22, 2017

AN ELEGANT EVENING OF EARLY MUSIC, COMPLIMENTS OF OPERA LAFAYETTE

October 27, 2017

WAS IT JUST A DREAM? TIME TRAVEL WITH OPERA LAFAYETTE

February 6, 2018

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S CERERE PLACATA: THOSE CRAZY RICH NEAPOLITANS

October 31, 2018

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S RADAMISTO: FAITHFUL WOMEN, GREAT MUSIC, AND SPIRITED DANCING

February 9, 2019

OPERA LAFAYETTE/HEARTBEAT OPERA’S LA SUSANNA: OPERA'S BACK TO THE FUTURE

April 24, 2019

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S VENUS AND ADONIS: DEATH BY BAROQUE

November 23, 2019

SITTING DOWN WITH OPERA LAFAYETTE’S RYAN BROWN: THE LEONORE PROJECT AND MORE

February 13, 2020

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S LEONORE: BEETHOVEN, AUTHENTIC AND IMAGINED

February 29, 2020

LE MARÉCHAL FERRANT (THE BLACKSMITH): OPERA LAFAYETTE PREMIERES AN AMERICANIZED OPÉRA COMIQUE

October 17, 2020

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S THE BLACKSMITH ON FILM: OPÉRA COMIQUE PUTS ON A COWBOY HAT

November 12, 2020

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S “FÊTE DE LA MUSIQUE”: SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, AND FREE ALL DAY

June 16, 2021

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S SILVAIN: PRETTY MUSIC YES, BUT MORE

June 5, 2022

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S 2022-2023 SEASON: ENJOY THE HISTORY, RELISH THE MUSIC

November 21, 2022

OPERA LAFAYETTE’S “IN THE SALONS OF VERSAILLES”: ELEGANT AND SPARKLING PERFORMANCES

December 5, 2022

OPERA LAFAYETTE'S PERGOLESI!: A PROGRAM TO REMEMBER

February 5, 2023

OPERA, DANCE, AND DAZZLE: OPERA LAFAYETTE'S MAY PREMIERES OF TWO OPÉRAS-BALLETS

April 22, 2023

OPERA LAFAYETTE'S OPÉRA-BALLET PREMIERES: A FUN LÉANDRE ET HÉRO AND AN AUDACIOUS IO

May 4, 2023

OPERA LAFAYETTE'S COUPERIN LE GRAND: TIME TRAVEL, FIRST CLASS

October 27, 2023

OPERA LAFAYETTE'S "FROM SAINT-CYR TO CANNONS: MOREAU AND HANDEL'S ESTHER" - THEATER AS MASS MEDIA

February 12, 2024

OPERA LAFAYETTE'S LES FÊTES DE THALIE: ENTERTAINMENTS WITHOUT SADNESS

May 5, 2024

OPERA LAFAYETTE'S MORGIANE: EDMOND DÉDÉ RECLAIMED

February 7, 2025

Shakespeare Opera Theatre's Drowning Ophelia: Powerful, Well Done

For companies I especially like, I don’t always look too closely at what is being performed.  I assume I will enjoy whatever is up; Opera Lafayette and Washington Concert Opera come to mind.  I wrongly assumed that Shakespeare Opera Theater, a local treasure, would be presenting an operatic riff on the Ophelia from Hamlet, the opera.  Turns out, it wasn’t opera but a play, a maiden voyage for SOT.  I got to be present at the first performance of a play by Shakespeare Opera Theatre!  Well, there are some opera connections here.  The sum of it was that my instinct, if not my assessment, was right, and I am glad to have seen this powerful drama, performed affectingly by talented young actors/singers and produced cohesively by production staff and crew. 

Jessa Whitley-Hill as Jane observing an innocent(?) gift. Sarah Daniels as Ophelia in her tub comforted by a stuffed toy alligator. Photos courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Ophelia is of course the character in Hamlet who is shunned by her true love, warned by her brother about him, and then loses touch with reality altogether after her father is killed by her estranged love, leading her to drown herself, all the while singing some beautiful arias.  If you followed all that, forget it, except that Ophelia was controlled by men, did drown herself, and did sing some pretty songs.  The play being presented was playwright Rachel Luann Strayer’s Drowning Ophelia (2012), which is billed as a one-act, dark comedy about sexual abuse.  You might ask how something so corrosive can be funny.  It can’t, but there can be humor in the life around it.  Ever laugh at a funeral when something funny happens, inadvertently, maybe a butterfly lands on a speaker’s head.  Theater is not a lecture but entertainment that strives to communicate experientially.  Drowning Ophelia uses humor to soften our way into facing a disturbing topic and leading us to connect viscerally with the lost innocence and serious harm being wrought. 

Author Strayer wrote some songs into the play but did not provide the music; she left vocals up to stage directors.  Dr. Lori Lind, Artistic and Managing Director of Shakespeare Opera Theatre as well as Director and Production Manager for this production, drew melodies from composer Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet which put the poetry in the play to effective use. SOT under her direction performed an adaptation of the opera Hamlet in 2020 and could draw on that experience.  Her program notes for Drowning Ophelia state, “You will hear an excerpt from the “Spring Chorus” used to set the words of Ophelia’s Valentine song that is reprised throughout the show. You will hear an excerpt from the cavatina portion of Ophelia’s “book aria” and of course, music from her mad scene. The words are Shakespeare’s and the music is Thomas’, with tweaks to make the English words fit the original French setting. Therein, we accomplish our mission of bringing classical theater and classical music together!”  The singing is done acapella, as is required by the playwright, but Dr. Lind’s choice provides a connection to opera and enhances the production, making Jane’s loss of control more palpable.

Edmund (Karina Hilleard) in a playacting dinner with Jane (Jessa Whitley-Hill). Photo courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

In Drowning Ophelia, for a while we don’t know what is going on, especially what is real, but with the narrative and deft staging, the story is revealed.  (Spoiler alert for the remaining plot description while the ending will not be revealed).  Jane is a deeply disturbed woman who is hallucinating, visualizing Ophelia living in her bathtub.  Ophelia with her chatter and singing are a constant distraction and disturbance to Jane; eventually we come to realize that Ophelia is a 12-year-old Jane whose victimization she wishes to expunge from her memory.  Ophelia has a brother Adam who visits her often, and sometimes also converses with Jane; eventually we realize that Adam is Jane’s brother whose recent death she cannot face; it has ended any hope for closure with an older brother who sexually abused her at the age of 12.  To deal with her real life she employs an actor Edmund to visit her to act out imaginary dinner-dates where she and Edmund  wear costumes from different time periods while imitating that period’s manner of speech.  Much of the humor derives from these visits, though they are not without conflict, as Edmund realizes that Jane is not altogether present.  I won’t reveal the ending but will conclude with playwright Strayer’s statement: “This play is a love letter to those who have suffered. There is always hope.”  Dr. Lind revealed in her notes that part of what moved her to do this play was her own family trauma from a deceased brother, leading her to want everyone to see this play. 

Ophelia (Sarah Daniels) in her tub with older brother Adam by her side. Photo courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

The centerpiece of the small but effectively decorated performance stage was a child’s room containing a bathtub and a piano; to its left was an apartment wall hiding a bedroom not seen, fronted by a bench with a large wooden box; and to the right, a dining table for two beside a wall with a kitchen behind it not seen.  A telephone and answering machine play important roles.  Costumes, both modern day and from different periods for the play-acting dinners, were well done.  The characters moved around as well, moving on and off stage in a natural flow, while wearing non-slip footwear to deal with water splashes from the tub.  The atmosphere of an independent woman hiding and confronting her issues in a small apartment was effectively created with lighting effects enhancing this atmosphere.  The constant adding of water to the tub by different characters built the tension leading to the denouement.  When it comes to storytelling, a lot can be done with a little.  Notice the details like the carefully selected shopping bags.  Furthermore, for this play the intimacy of the theater was an enhancing element.  Kudos to Director Lind, her performance staff (Asst Director/Stage Manager and Lighting Designer EJ Fultz, Assistant Stage Manager Tim Vinson, and Graphic Designer/Webmaster Laura Sage ), and crew (Carpenters Ray Raymond and Wade Smith, Wardrobe by Susan Gardiner, Executive Producer Gene Allen and Associate Producers Tammy Rogers, Wade Smith, and Rick Knight).

The stars of the performance were four professional actors/singers, well chosen for their roles; all seemed real though two were imaginary.  I’m not sure actors are trained to embody imaginary; however, their usage by playwright Strayer put the focus on Jane, making us eyewitnesses to Jane’s turmoil and its destructive impact on her life.  We root for Jane to break free and fear she may not.  Over the evening, we were amused, laughed, had tears well up in our eyes, enjoyed the refreshments, and the company.  In the end, those who have suffered were given hope, but for all, the path of destruction is now embedded in our memories.  I viewed this play with a mindset from quite a few years ago.  My great hope is that modern empowerment of women will lessen the incidence of all sexual abuse, especially in families, but I have not seen evidence it has.

A tender moment between Ophelia (Sarah Daniels) and Jane (Jessa Whitley-Hill) and a tender moment between Jane (Jessa Whitley-Hill) and Edmund (Karina Hilleard). Photos courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

I will mention each of the players by name, but the important point is how well the ensemble performed together to deliver a compelling story and the author’s message so affectingly.  Each actor/singer’s role was essential; any weak link could have deflated the production.  Kudos to all.  Jane was played by Jessa Whitley-Hill, a veteran performer and promoter of small theater productions.  Jane was a demanding role which requires the actor to maintain conversations with two imaginary characters from her past as well as  converse and act in different roles with one real person, while displaying a range of emotions in each of these interactions.  There were some minor rough spots.  At one point I was confused as to what was real and what was imagined when all the characters were on the stage at once.  Actress/lyric coloratura soprano Sarah Daniels played Ophelia.  She is a young veteran of opera and theater, drawing impressive praise from NYC opera critics.  At first, I thought she was playing a teenager in the role of Ophelia and was surprised and even more dismayed to find out Ophelia was just twelve.  She was a delight as a constant source of irritation to Jane.  Her vocalizations were appealing and stylized for the character.  She has a beautiful singing voice, performed marvelously singing acapella, creating for me my first tinge of regret this was not opera.

A moment becoming too intimate between Ophelia (Sarah Daniels) and Adam (Justin Meyer). Photo courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre. Photo courtesy of Shakespeare Opera Theatre.

Ok, let’s move to the guys.  Oh, did I say that actor Edmund was a pants role acted by Karina Hilleard.  Ms. Hilleard is an accomplished actress, having appeared with Washington National Opera and Shakespeare Theatre Company.  She auditioned for the role of Jane, but then was Dr. Lind’s choice for Edmund after actor Justin Meyer, an SOT veteran, expressed an interest in playing Adam.  Ms. Hilleard performed well and was convincing in her role displaying both interest in Jane as a human connection and repulsion from Jane in her disturbing behavior.  Their comedic but edgy scenes together were a highlight.  On reflection, I think having this be a pants role distracts a wee bit from the focus of the play though perhaps adds to the absurd comedic element (Note: my wife vehemently disagrees there was an issue in making this a pants role; I tried to explain that…oh, you’ve heard enough).  Actor/Singer Justin Meyer effectively and confidently played Adam as a likable teen, then college student, as part of Jane’s hallucinations.  But eventually, we see him differently as his interactions with Ophelia grow worrisome.  A dramatic highpoint was Jane and his attempt at reconciliation, resulting in her admitting her true feelings.  Mr. Meyer performed impressively in a range of characters in two previous SOT productions that I have seen.  Well done, all!

Shakespeare Opera Theatre’s Drowning Ophelia entertained and communicated its message affectingly.  When the play was over, a short talk back with the actor/singers and staff ensued.  As I looked at this team, I felt that I had received a gift from all involved.

The Fan Experience: Performances of Shakespeare Opera Theatre’s Drowning Ophelia were scheduled for April 4, 5 (2), 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 (2) at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in McLean. A ‘pay what you will’ option is available for Friday performances; see this link for tickets.  The performance lasted about an hour, and the cast and staff led by Dr. Lind returned after the final applause for an approximately 20-minute interesting discussion with attendees that chose to remain.  Additional information is available in the online program book.  Free parking is available.

From Dr. Lind’s text in the program book for Drowning Ophelia: With April being Domestic Abuse Awareness month, it gave the opportunity for visibility I hoped to amplify with this play. Abuse does not always come with a shout, but most often with a whisper. It builds imperceptibly over time, and the victims become conditioned to their abuse like the proverbial frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. Recovering from such prolonged trauma causes lifelong mistrust of one’s own judgement, which is one of the most difficult mental hurdles to overcome. PTSD, ADHD and Dissociative disorders often stem from the cognitive dissonance of enduring abuse from someone who is a family member and who otherwise does love and care for you.

Shakespeare Opera Theatre will return to its usual genre with its production of s Romeo and Juliet on July 11, 12, 13, 14 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church and July 18, 19, 20 at Grace Episcopal Church. This production will be a mix of Charles Guonod’s eponymous opera and Shakespeare’s more famous play. Dr. Lind says it will speken in Shakespeare’s english and sung in Guonod’s french. While the 2025-2026 season has not been formally announced as yet, we can look forward to Hansel and Gretel, Susannah, and Tartuffe. Dr. Lind reports that 2026 will be all American music for the 250th anniversary of the birth of the nation. . 

SOT’s performances have more of a party atmosphere rather than the church service atmosphere of our major opera halls.  I have found little pretense with SOT; they readily own their limitations and still manage 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.  Attendance by children is welcomed, though for Drowning Ophelia only ages 11 and up, parental discretion advised. The play includes suggestive behavior but nothing more overt than a kiss.

This report, as is usual, has benefited immensely from my wife Debra serving as copy editor.  My wife writes a travel blog called fiammatravels.com for which I serve as the copy editor.

Annapolis Opera's La Traviata: A Charmer, Thrilling at Times

Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata (1853), a leading candidate for most popular opera of all time, is about a sex worker with a good heart and strength of character; think academy award winner “Anora” with better music.  Also, much less skin.  Instead, Mr. Verdi’s opera touches our hearts, revealing our commonality in valuing true love, sacrifice, and kindness in the face of societal disapproval, while immersing us in exquisitely beautiful music that makes us feel deeply the emotional impact of the story.  It also provides singers an opportunity, especially the soprano playing Violetta, to demonstrate their talent.  Annapolis Opera’s telling checked all the boxes, as the company continues to hit above its weight class.  The packed house on Sunday agreed with this assessment and expressed their appreciation in thunderous applause and a fast-out-of-their-seats standing ovation.

Ethel Trujillo as Violetta and Lawrence Barasa as Alfredo in Annapolis Opera’s La Traviata. Photo by Michael Halbig; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

Violetta is based on a real courtesan in mid 18th century Paris (for reference, in the year of its premiere, 1853, Italy was yet to become a unified country, Napoleon III was the emperor of France, and the U.S. was less than ten years from the beginning of its bloody Civil War).  Librettist Francesco Maria Piave based the opera on a book and play by Alexandre Dumas, fils.  You know the familiar plot line: boy gets girl (falls for sex worker), boy loses girl (father intercedes to save the family’s good name), boy gets girl back (father reveals he engineered the breakup), girl dies (she had consumption/tuberculosis from the very beginning).  There is also a duel involved.  Sorry about the ending, it was never going to end well but not my fault.  I would have had them move as a couple to Rome to escape the family problem, Violetta get healed by the pope, and have a dozen kids; but had I presented that to any good opera composer, he would have had the boy start drinking and have an affair, the girl turn to drugs, and one of the kids get run over by the pope’s carriage.  So, in the end yes, Violetta dies of consumption, singing beautifully all the while.  And we, having been marvelously entertained, go home humming the great tunes, but more importantly, having reaffirmed our common love of human virtue. 

Ethel Trujillo as Violetta and Gustavo Ahualli as Giorgio. Photo by Michael Halbig; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

Director Eve Summer said in her program notes that Alexandre Dumas, fils’ book and subsequent play tells the story of Violetta from a man’s perspective (yes, Mr. fils’ more famous father was Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo).  The opera version, La Traviata, is all about Violetta.  AO’s risky bet in casting the young Mexican soprano Ethel Trujillo in the lead role paid off handsomely, kudos to Artistic and Music Director Craig Kier.   Ms. Trujillo is a very young performer, having graduated from the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia in 2024; for her bachelor’s degree from Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, she graduated summa cum laude.  She has an impressive record of place finishes in many opera competitions in the US and Europe.  She appeared as Rosina in AVA’s production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  One of the pleasures of seeing popular operas like La Traviata multiple times evolves from seeing what different performers bring to the roles, and promising young talents such as Ms. Trujillo, make it an especially enticing experience.  (For the record, skin was totally out of the question in Verdi’s day. Heck, the censors would not even let him use the name he preferred, Amore e Morte (Love and Death), too dramatic, I guess. However, Director Summer did have some kissing involved, doubt that would have gotten by 19th century censors.)

Ethel Trujillo as Violetta, John Tibbetts as Barone Duophol, and Joanne Evans as Flora. Photo by Michael Halbig; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

Back to soprano Ethel Trujillo who turned in a very strong performance as Violetta.  She has a powerful instrument and sings beautifully.  Her trills and flourishes in Act I were a thrilling delight, though I’m not sure always technically perfect.  I was most impressed with her acting and singing in the second half of the opera with more straightforward vocals of great emotional depth showing more of her full range.  In those solo arias and duets, she excelled.  My wife commented, and I agreed, that we wished we could time travel to hear Ms. Trujillo perform ten years from now.  Her voice still has a youthful edge, and it will be interesting to see how it changes as she matures and her experience deepens.  If she returns to Annapolis Opera, mark it as a must-see event.

There are two other lead roles in La Traviata, Violetta’s newfound love, Alfredo and his father, Giorgio.  The role of Alfredo was played by tenor Lawrence Barasa.  He has a rich tenor voice and sings beautifully with remarkable diction and phrasing.  Mr. Barasa, a native of Kenya, is also a young performer, who began singing in a choir and is relatively new to opera.  He also has an impressive record in vocal competitions.  I thought the quality of his singing solo and in duets was superb.  However, I found his acting to be somewhat stiff, causing vocals in different situations to sound similar, an area for a young performer to develop further; I feel he might be ready for Radamès but not Florestan (my wife thought his acting was just fine).  The father Giorgio was played by baritone Gustavo Ahualli who is an experienced professional having performed in over 50 roles; he is also a voice teacher.  He provided a compelling concerned father who quickly sensed Violetta was a person of substance, then later regretted his role in her suffering.  I especially enjoyed the rich duets between him and Ms. Trujillo.

Ethel Trujillo as Violetta, John Tibbetts as Barone Duophol, Lawrence Barasa as Alfredo, and Joanne Evans as Flora. Photo by Michael Halbig; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

The performance was firmed up by a bevy of supporting cast members, many noted local performers, that included Joanne Evans as Violetta’s friend Flora, Andrew Adelsberger as Dr. Grenvil, John Tibbets as Baron Douphol, Violetta’s main benefactor, and Patricia Hengen as Annina, Violetta’s doting maid.  Also enhancing the performance was Anthony D. Anderson as Marchese, Patrick Kilbride as Gastone, Max Alexander Cook as Giuseppe, J.P. Gorski as Commissioner, and Henry Hubbard as Servant.  I will single out mezzo soprano Joanne Evans, who piqued my interest with excellent singing in her brief solo.

The Annapolis Opera Orchestra’s 27-piece ensemble played Verdi’s music beautifully under the direction of Conductor Craig Kier.  The first gorgeous melody in the overture tells us someone is going to die; if ever there was music for a modern hospital TV series, this is it.  The overture moves to some dance music; okay, there will be some fun, and then explodes rapidly to take us into the salon’s party atmosphere.  Maestro Kier maintained excellent coordination with the singers and kept the music showcasing and not overpowering the vocals.  The cast served as the choir and were impressive in that role; kudos to Principal Coach and Chorus Master Joann Kuleza.

Ethel Trujillo as Viioletta and Lawrence Barasa as Alfredo. Photo by Michael Halbig; courtesy of Annapolis Opera.

Director Summer’s staging used simple atmospheric sets enhanced by lighting; kudos to Lighting Designer and Production Manager Chris Brusberg.  The costumes were a visual delight and appropriate for the time period; kudos to Wardrobe Supervisor Sharlene Clinton, and to Wig/Make-up Designer Priscilla Bruce who transformed Violetta from an attractive young courtesan to a bed-ridden, physical wreck at the end.  Dancing in opening scenes immediately created the party atmosphere of the salon and later enhanced the fun of the matador scene.  The deathbed finale was well designed by Director Summer.

Annapolis has a population of around forty thousand and yet has one of the best small opera companies in the US.  La Traviata was another triumph for them and a selling point for the city.  Kudos to all involved!

The Fan Experience: Performances of La Traviata were scheduled for March 14 and 16 in Maryland Hall. The opera was sung in Italian with English supertitles on screens placed on both sides of the stage.  The performance ran about two hours forty-five minutes with two intermissions.  There was a pre-opera talk scheduled one hour before the performance.

La Traviata was the last staged production of the season for AO.  However, The 37th Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition will take place in Maryland Hall on April 13, a free event.  The program book indicated Don Giovanni and Hansel and Gretel are scheduled for next season.   The company will formally announce its 2025-2026 season on April 13.

In her opening comments, President of the Board Dr. Carletta Allen revealed one piece of evidence supporting Annapolis Opera’s prominence.  AO Director Kathy Swekel was “recently honored by Opera America for her tenure at the helm of our Company”.  Ms. Swekel was one of only five individuals to be so honored among all of the opera companies in the United States.

Washington Concert Opera's La clemenza di Tito: Superb Cast, Music by Mozart, and Politics

There are a lot of interesting aspects to this little-performed Mozart opera.  About a third of the way into my first viewing of La clemenza di Tito (1791), I found myself thinking that WCO’s excellent chamber ensemble and a superb cast of singers were turning this turkey opera seria (dated, convoluted, improbable plot) into a rather enjoyable musical experience, but as it went along, Mozart’s music magic and the cast’s stellar vocals made me start to care about these highly improbable characters: an emperor (Tito) who encourages truthful insolence and forgives an attempt on his life by his close friend (Sesto), after Sesto sets fire to Rome as cover for his assassination attempt and stabs the wrong person, all to win the love of an ambitious woman (Vitellia) who challenges whether he has the “spirit” to win her, said woman being motivated by anger and wanting to avenge her loss of status, who is on again off again in scheduling the assassination, then in a remarkable change of heart, decides to admit her guilt to try to save her controlee, a really sweet and honorable guy, while the reluctant assassin’s friends implore Tito to spare the life of Sexto because they are sure he will be a loyal subject from now on.  If you had trouble getting through that sentence, you got a taste of the opera.  All in a day at Roman court, “Game of Thrones” style.  In fairness, the opera is based on the Roman emperor Titus Vespasianus, the only historical person in the opera, and the title does translate to “the clemency of Titus”, and history does report he was known for his leniency towards those who conspired against him.  Not an entirely selfless position, he sought to disarm enmity and intrigue by forgiveness. 

Washington Concert Opera Orchestra and Chorus with Conductor Antony Walker and cast of La clemency di Tito. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

But that was then; this is now, and the extreme positions in the plot viewed from the 21st century made it difficult for me to go with that flow.  Also hard to believe was the fact that this is WCO’s first performance of an opera by Mozart, though Artistic Director and Conductor Antony Walker stated that he had wanted to perform it for over twenty years; kudos to him for bringing it forward.  Part of Washington Concert Opera’s charge is to bring lesser-known works of great artistic value to Washington audiences.  Perhaps it is by chance that Tito, a highly political opera from the nineteenth century, premiering in Vienna a few months after the French Revolution, reappears in the politically charged time of today.  WCO’s production reminded me of my first reaction to Mozart’s Così fan tutte; an absurd plot that initially diminished my ardor for the opera, but on subsequent viewings I looked past that distracting aspect and became sensitized to the forces at play.  I grew to love Così.  Washington Concert Opera’s La clemenza di Tito managed that conversion over the course of three hours.  Emperor Tito found an epiphany in facing his most difficult moral dilemma: to risk making law meaningless if he spared the life of his friend who he believed to be of good heart.  Of course, the story only works because his friend fails in his assassination attempt and nobody dies; otherwise, I present you with the “Macbeths, Italian style”.  I enjoyed reading the libretto and found myself pausing to reflect on several statements in recitatives, such as Sesto telling Vitellia, “I will do anything for you”, and Tito’s claim that the only happiness afforded him as ruler by the gods was to reward virtue.  The opera makes a strong statement, if a little over the top, about morality in governance and how people’s potential for goodness can tip in the wrong direction – Sexto’s lamentation that, “I never thought it so hard to undertake villainy”, though it brought a laugh, is thought for us all.  I would have required Vitellia and Sesto to do community service and required them to memorize Lovelace: “I could not love thee (Dear) so much, Lov’d I not Honour more”.  I do wonder, if as written, whether this opera can be successfully staged for today’s audience, or if instead, concert opera treatment is optimum.  Some musicologists have said Mozart’s and Mazzolà’s deletions from Metastasio’s text reduced the dramatic impact.

Tamara Wilson as Vitellia and Edgardo Rocha as Tito. Photos by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

Because of the limited play it had received, I had long assumed that Tito was one of Mozart’s early, less popular operas.  Not so.  This is Mozart’s next to last opera and in fact, most of The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte, 1791) was composed before Tito premiered, just three months before Mozart’s death at age 35 and not quite a month before The Magic Flute.  These followed his big three of Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte in 1785, 1789, and 1790.  La clemenza di Tito was undertaken as a commission to compose an opera seria for the coronation of Leopold II. The libretto was taken from the work of Metastasio, modified to a version one third shorter, as Mozart emphasized the vocal additions, working with librettist Mazzolà to create in Mozart’s words “a real opera”, mostly by adding opera buffa elements to opera seria.  It is thought that despite working on The Magic Flute and other substantial works, he accepted the commission for the money which he needed and to show his prowess with opera seria, the genre favored by Leopold II’s wife, though it was fading in popularity.  It is believed that workload stress contributed to his becoming ill and dying at such an early age.  The court reception of the work seems to have been boredom at best (everyone was tired from a day of partying), but his wife, Constanza promoted the work to maintain Mozart’s legacy and provide support for their three sons.  The opera achieved considerable popularity until around 1830 when it dropped out of view for a hundred years.  Revived in the 1950’s, it has managed to stay in the repertoire though seldomly performed, likely due to audiences not connecting with the plot line and shortcomings in the score, mainly perceived by musicologists.  Importantly, for a substantial opera composed in a little over two months, the composer did not have a chance to do revisions; had Mozart made it to 40, there might have been an even better version.  I didn’t find the music in this opera as wonderful as Figaro, certainly, but some of that may have been the constraints of opera seria.  I remember one Sexto aria using the slow then fast format that seemed to me to break the connection with the emotion of the aria, when it moved to the fast section.

Stephanie Doce as Sesto and Meridian Prall as Annio. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

Mozart composed La Clemenza di Tito for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 1 basset clarinet, 1 basset horn, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings, with harpsichord for recitatives.  WCO employed a chamber ensemble of about 30 players and a 20-member chorus for this production, smaller than their usual full orchestra and chorus for their performances.  Clarinetist Jonathan Gunn was featured playing the basset clarinet and horn accompanying arias by Sesto and Vitellia.  Mr. Gunn was impressive in playing the basset instruments with one peccadillo for me.  Having him stand by the singers was distracting for me.  I was captivated by the emotion of Sesto’s singing when he appeared and would have preferred to keep my focus there.  Just me I guess. according to my wife, but I would have preferred that he remain in the orchestra, even given the beautiful sound he was making.  Mozart’s music, always melodious and pleasing, was impressively delivered under Conductor Antony Walker’s direction.  It was a special treat to hear music by Mozart I had not heard before.  The Washington Concert Opera Chorus fulfilled Mozart’s role for them as a public gallery and as always, added delight to the performance.

l to r: Meridian Prall as Annio, Raven McMillon as Servilla, and Matthew Scolin as Publio. Photo by Caitlin Oldham; courtesy of Washington Concert Opera.

Sometimes the singers in an opera elevate the work, bringing it to life with an intensity far above my expectations.  This was the case for WCO’s La Clemenza di Tito.  Renown soprano Tamara Wilson, a favorite in DC and well known to opera fans across the U.S. and Europe, gave a diva performance as the self-centered but complicated Vitellia, singing beautifully as her voice commanded the room.  Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Douche in a pants role as Sexto was stunning, a definite wow, in her performance as the conflicted lover/friend/assassin.  She had a lovely voice and sang with great emotion.  It might have been Sexto’s opera had not WCO brought in Uruguayan tenor Edgardo Rocha, an opera superstar in Europe, to sing the role of Tito.  He lived up to the billing, bringing a smooth, pleasing delivery to a Tito committed to being a caring and merciful leader.  One could listen to him all night; he could become a popular crooner of love ballads, I bet.  He made me long for a modern day Tito.  Sexto’s friend Annio is another pants role sung by mezzo-soprano Meridian Prall, adding her lovely voice and engaging vocals to the action as Sexto’s friend and the true love of Servilia performed by soprano Raven McMillon.  Her singing and comportment as Sexto’s sister and Annio’s love interest made me wish Mozart had written her a bigger role.  The scene, where she reveals to Tito that she is in love with Annio and does not wish to be the queen, came as a surprise to me that she had the courage, but then a bigger surprise, as a modern audience member: Tito gives thanks “that one has been found who will dare to speak an unwelcome truth”.  Matthew Scolin, a WCO veteran, brought his excellent voice and official substance to the role of Publio, the commander of the Guard.  And yes, it being Mozart, there were marvelous ensemble numbers.  It is my fondest wish that all these singers be brought back for future performances.

On the sides, Tamara Wilson as Vitellia and clarinetist Jonathan Gunn.

Ah, what an entertaining evening of great singing and music playing!  After enjoying so many performances of Washington Concert Opera, I should have had more faith in Maestro Walker. I went home feeling good that the worrisome potential of a turkey was transformed into a beautiful dove of peace, and maybe even a little inspired that there was still deep goodness in us, waiting to be tapped.

The Fan Experience: Washington Concert Opera’s performance of La Clemenza di Tito was scheduled for March 1 in Lisner Auditorium. The performance, sung in Italian with supertitles in English, lasted about two and a half hours with one twenty-minute intermission.

WCO has scheduled a third production this season, Verdi’s Luisa Miller for April 13 (note - back to the usual Sunday performance scheduling). 

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.  The seats in Lisner Auditorium were upgraded over the summer, more legroom for the orchestra section and more comfort for all.  However, be aware, the side terrace seats continue to have very limited legroom.  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.