Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

LA Landscape, 2009
Achim Freyer

Although L.A. Opera’s Ring Cycle performances concluded over a week ago, the chatter about these events persists as people continue to digest what they’ve seen and heard. There are still some great events associated with Achim Freyer’s production going on around town that are worth visiting to help with your withdrawals from this landmark event. On Saturday, I caught two ongoing art exhibits in town associated with the Ring Festival. First off, I headed out to the Bergamot Station in Santa Monica to the Ruth Bachofner Gallery for an exhibit of some of the haunting photographs Monika Rittershaus produced in conjunction with the presentation of the four Wagner operas over the last several years. Many of these images have been widely reproduced in the media as part of the coverage of this event. Like Freyer’s vision, they are colorful and ironically they seem to fly in the face of the often-repeated criticism that the production was static and without human emotion. Many of these images highlight the emotional aspects of the characters and the actors' facial expressions are easily seen. And while they don’t capture the immense visual sense of the entire stage image, they find beauty in an up close view of Freyer and the company’s work. The photographs, which are enlarged and mounted, can be purchased for quite reasonable prices and would make an excellent souvenir of the experience. The gallery will continue to have the works on display through July 17.

Michelle DeYoung as Fricka
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2009

Meanwhile, in the much larger space of the ACE Gallery Wilshire Tower are more than two dozen paintings and sculptures produced by Freyer himself during his time in Los Angeles working on the Ring Cycle. L.A. has a long and rich history as a source of inspiration for expatriate European artists, so it is no surprise that these works from the last six years cover a lot of ground. Obviously some of the material take off from Wagner’s operas, including sculptures based on the costume elements for a few of the Ring characters. Both Wotan and Brünnhilde appear in giant multiple versions of themselves. A dismembered Alberich climbs a ladder towards an LED ring in another closet-like space. But the majority of the works on display are abstract paintings, sometimes only tangentially related to the operas. An equally important influence is Los Angeles itself, and its massive grid and sprawling geography. Color is vitally important here, but this is no day-glo version of sunny California like David Hockney imagined. Here the city is a net at odds with its own natural surroundings. Giant leaves appear in pastels atop parallel lines and curving freeways that converge behind bars and spiral like the very Ring of the Nibelungen. It’s a huge exhibit worth a couple of visits and will stay in the Wilshire space through August 14.

Lightshadow, 2010
Achim Freyer

The Los Angeles Times has also continued to bring a variety of information to light about the LAO Ring that bears pointing out. Mike Boehm reported last week that according to L.A. Opera COO Stephen Rountree, the production ended up with a deficit of around 6 million dollars between soft ticket sales and shortfalls in contributions. That’s not great news, but I for one would much rather have seen the company produce the cycle it did at a deficit than something on budget but decidedly less important. Rountree is also quoted in the same article on the topic of when the Ring will be revived in L.A. While he again notes that it is unlikely before 2018, he notes that maestro James Conlon is pushing to do it sooner, sometime within the next five years. Here’s hoping that the company can raise the money for Conlon to get his way.

From Act III of Freyer's Die Walküre
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2009

Another piece by Boehm in the Times pointed out the complete dearth of coverage of the complete cycle by American media outlets outside of Southern California. And while several European sources had no trouble making press available for nine days in Los Angeles, the lions of what’s left of print journalism couldn’t quite raise the funds to make this happen. Boehm continues to imply that bias against Los Angeles probably also played a role in these decisions as well. I think he’s right, but I would argue that it also represents how little intelligent writing there is about opera in the dying print media in the first place. Boehm quotes a few East Coast journalists implying that in addition to budgetary constraints, they failed to cover the L.A. Ring due to feeling it wasn’t important enough. And then they wonder why their jobs are disappearing?

Leaf, 2009
Achim Freyer

Print journalists in particular like to bemoan the death of their business due to encroachment of the free and unprofessional Internet into their world. But it’s much more than that. Print media have always been forced to make decisions about what is “important” and what isn’t in their limited space. What “new media” has actually done is give people a place and a way to write and read about what they want instead of relying on the myopic vision of the few. Take opera for example. The U.S. East Coast has been dominated by opera companies so short on artistic vision for so long, that even their respective local print critics no longer recognize what makes an opera worth covering. They’re still writing about singers and vocal technique like opera is the NBA. These are the same writers bemoaning the decidedly moderate efforts of the Metropolitan Opera’s Peter Gelb to drag that institution kicking and screaming into the 1990s. L.A. Opera’s Ring Cycle may have been ignored by East Coast critics, but it wasn’t just lack of money or hatred of L.A. It was a lack of insight and focus on an outdated notion of what the art form is about and what today's audiences are interested in seeing and reading about.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Or at least that was the perspective of Achim Freyer, the director of LA Opera’s monumental staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, which completes its run today at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I’d heard him speak on at least three occasions in L.A. during his time here and was fortunate enough to see nine of the twelve individual performances in the Ring cycle presentations this month. I'm not going to make it to tonight's final Götterdämmerung due to some family obligations, but I'll definitely be there in spirit. Things have changed a lot over the course of the development and execution of this cycle, not only in terms of economic reality but also in terms of the increasingly positive response audiences have had to the show. As has been widely noted, LA Opera did not sell all the tickets they had hoped. But, undoubtedly, as the cycles started in June, the dynamic in the house began to change. The crowds became progressively louder and more enthusiastic not only about the musical aspects of the production, which is to be expected, but more and more over the theatrical aspects as well. Freyer, who has attended all of the performances could be seen after some of the shows toward the end mobbed by admirers and fans. Some of the performances in the last cycle did sell out. The people in the audience were not your typical opera crowd. The number of younger folks with tight jeans and pink hair clearly outnumbered those with oxygen machines and those funny plastic horned helmets a certain generation of Ring fans like to wear.


Most of the commemorative souvenirs offered up by the Opera League were long gone by the time the third and final cycle got underway. Moreover, the resourceful company took advantage of the presence of an enthusiastic audience by raising funds through a costume sale. Specifically, many of the prototype costumes designed and hand-painted by Freyer and his daughter as part of the earliest rehearsals for the Ring many years ago were offered up to the public. They were gone over the course of two performances, and I was lucky enough to snag a couple of these one-of-a-kind mementos for myself. (Yes that’s me in the accompanying photos festooned with a Gibichung mask, prototype Alberich coat sans bloody, ripped-off arm, and magnificent red Siegfried chest.)


Sadly, a video recording of the production will not be among my reminders of these performances, a particular sore point for many in the crowd and the company itself. It would be nice to see the production filmed in a later outing when funds may be more available, but honestly I’m not so sure that it would work anyway. Like most great stage productions, Freyer’s vision won’t look very good with standard video technique. This is not a show about up close faces and small physical gestures. It’s dependent on large scale sweeping video images and spaces around and between performers. But hopefully the production will live on, especially here in L.A. LA Opera’s COO Stephen Rountree was quoted earlier stating that the production would not be revived until 2018 at the earliest. Even that seems like a long wait, though probably a realistic time frame given the cost of mounting the cycle overall. But remount it they should and hopefully with more willing and able principals than this time around. (Why not sign up Jennifer Wilson, the current staging’s Gutrune, for Brünnhilde now? She can certainly sing it as she has proven elsewhere and she already knows plenty about getting around that highly raked stage.)


Regardless of video or future revivals, though, LA Opera has produced something remarkable and important. Freyer, music director James Conlon, and the entire company and cast created a landmark production and a true work of art. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t cheap, and it certainly came with truckloads of controversy. But I know, for me at least, the production was both completely satisfying and it was hugely influential on my thinking about opera and theater in ways that I’m only beginning to understand. Already I’ve had the experience of seeing other performances I know that I would have raved about a year ago that in the wake of this Ring leave me cold. I’ve seen plenty of operas and certainly other Ring cycles in the flesh, but this was different. Or, as I overheard the couple next to me last Wednesday say, they’d seen the Ring on two occasions before in Seattle, but had never looked forward to the individual performances the way they had here in L.A. Freyer’s Ring matters because, along with a few other productions in the last decade, it is one of the first to break free of the long shadow Patrice Chereau has cast over Wagner’s operas in the last three decades. Freyer’s vision is not just another Regietheater sociopolitical adaptation of Wagner’s work. It’s also not just a reactionary response to Chereau like Schenk’s wooded fairytale that has finally exited stage right in New York. Freyer’s vision is unique, demanding its own terms for a rendering that is traditional but never conventional. And though life goes on, I for one am going to miss living in that world, though I suspect like most great theater, its memory will live on for me in all kinds of ways.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Wednesday is the final performance in L.A. Opera’s second complete Ring Cycle. I have very bittersweet feelings about going since it is likely my last exposure to this production, which as many of you know, I absolutely love and admire. But opera lovers do not live by the Ring alone, and I’m headed up to San Francisco this weekend to catch the summer offerings in the Bay area including the well-reviewed Francesca Zambello production of Die Walküre which will hopefully help me deal with my Wagner withdrawal. For those of you getting ready to start the final cycle on Friday, I have nothing but envy so let me offer you two more stars of the cycle to watch for.

Jennifer Wilson as Gutrune and Alan Held as Gunther
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2010

American soprano Jennifer Wilson and bass-baritone Alan Held are two well regarded vocalists who show up in the Ring only in the final chapter as the brother and sister act of Gutrune and Gunther. As with other on stage performers in the production, they appear in masks throughout their entire performances, emphasizing their characters' displacement from the world of gods and monsters around them. Jennifer Wilson is a bright sounding and crystalline Wagnerian soprano who is likely among the next cohort of major international stars who sing the roles of Isolde and Brünnhilde. She’s already regularly covering these roles for more established stars whose days, shall we say, are clearly numbered in this repertoire. I first saw Wilson step in as Isolde in Chicago last year with little notice and she performed admirably, singing as well as more than a couple first-stringers I’ve seen in the part. She’s also raised her profile by appearing as Brünnhilde in the notable Ring cycle filmed in Valencia, Spain in a production by La Fura dels Baus, which you can sample above. And while she doesn’t have quite so much to do here in Los Angeles, she throws herself into the stage business, both comical and serious, Freyer has laid out for her character here, including managing a number of “wardrobe malfunctions” caused by an amorous Siegfried.

Jennifer Wilson

Wilson’s on-stage brother Gunther is played by one of my favorite bass-baritones, Alan Held. He’s another of those vocalists, I feel is ever present in my opera-going experience and I wonder why he isn’t a much bigger star than he already is. His Wozzeck which I saw in New York in 2005 comes to mind as well as his performance as Wagner’s Höllander and Offenbach’s Four Villains. He’s no stranger to any number of Ring roles as well, and his Gunther here in Los Angeles is both pitiable and strangely touching. I am struck by Held’s ability to deliver a substantial performance without being able to rely on facial expression to communicate with the audience. As much complaining as some folks have done about Freyer’s use of masks in this production, it’s remarkable to watch these singing actors flex their acting muscles by producing quality performances in the context of these restraints. We’re lucky to have Held back in Los Angeles and I for one hope he’s back again soon.

Alan Held

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Eric Halfvarson as Hagen
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2010

I was back at Los Angeles Opera’s Siegfried on Sunday as part of the second Ring Cycle I’m attending there and must admit I was pleasantly surprised. After a somewhat rough and tumble performance of Die Walküre on Thursday, the orchestra and vocalists bounced back with the strongest Siegfried performance I’ve heard them give. And at the center of it all was the best performance I’ve yet heard out of John Treleaven in the title role. Not that it was perfect, but he did more than just get through tonight. He delivered Act III with real energy and was much more on-target pitch-wise than I've seen him. Hopefully he's hit his stride, or something, here and will keep this up over the next two weeks. The orchestra sounded cleaner than it did at he end of last week as well. Overall, it was another lovely performance. I was also taken with the sheer number of younger people in the audience on Sunday. It seems that word about this production is reaching circles of folks you don’t typically spot at the opera and the lower-priced tickets that have become available have been a boon for people wanting to go who otherwise could not afford it. It’s also certainly not the regular subscriber crowd. I think it’s a great thing and I can only hope it translates into a broader audience for LA Opera overall, even after this Ring is sadly gone. Speaking of which, this is just about your last chance to see it before its gone since the final cycle starts this Friday evening, the 18th of June.

Stacey Tappan

I thought I might mention a couple more vocal stars of the cycle who may not always get top billing, though they deserve it. One performer who continues to inspire me is soprano Stacey Tappan. Tappan is singing both the Rhinemaiden Woglinde and the Woodbird in the cycle, so she gets the lucky job of being in most of the productions. She’s been appearing here in L.A. for several years in a number of small roles including a superb turn as the Wren in last season’s production of Braunfels' Die Vögel. Her bright tone and clarity has been a welcome addition to roles that all too often go undercast for a variety of reasons. Tappan is scheduled to reprise these roles next year in the San Francisco Opera Ring cycle and is yet another reason to be there.

Ronnita Nicole Miller

Speaking of Rhinemaidens, another member of L.A.’s cast, Ronnita Nicole Miller, will also be making the trip to San Francisco next year. As a current member of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artists Program, Miller has also secured a number of small but very noticeable parts with LA Opera such as with her performance of Martuccia in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten. Here in L.A. she is singing both the Rhinemaiden Flosshilde and Schwertleite in Die Walküre. She was one of the highlights of the recent Zarzuela program with Placido Domingo at the Broad Stage as well. Best of all, her San Francisco performances represent a bit of a Ring promotion where she’ll be leaving the Rhine (and Schwertleite) for the role of Erda and the First Norn.

Of course, perhaps the hardest working vocalist of the LA Ring cycle is Eric Halfvarson. He's had a lengthy career on many of the world's great opera stages and L.A. is lucky to hear him sing the Ring cycle villains which he's best known for. The bass sang a spectacular Grand Inquisitor in Verdi’s Don Carlo here in 2006 and he'll be singing the role later this year at the metropolitan Opera as well. His Hagen is malevolent and puckish, wielding a Wagnerian remote control in Freyer's vision of Götterdämmerung over the last several months. It's a remarkable performance here that's also filled with a lot of sadness. But over the entire cycle, Halfvarson’s also busy as Fafner in Das Rheingold and Siegfried and Hunding in Die Walküre. He does it all from crawling around in a kneeling giant costume to racing around the stage with a red LED tube. And all of this while giving a super vocal performance.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Arnold Bezuyen as Loge
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2010

I’ve seen LA Opera’s production of Das Rheingold six times now between its run last spring and its reappearance this summer. (In case you are wondering, I’ve paid for all but one of those tickets out of my own pocket, sports fans.) I’ve written plenty about the production and my admiration for it, so I wasn’t going to rehash that here and now after my latest visit to the show on Tuesday. But what I would like to do is shine a light on some names that haven’t gotten quite as much attention as they deserve in this run. You’ve read plenty about director Achim Freyer, conductor James Conlon, and the production’s biggest stars, Linda Watson, John Treleaven, and Placido Domingo. But the Ring calls for a huge cast whose “smaller” roles require as much singing and effort as the starring roles in any number of other operas in the standard repertoire. It takes a large number of vocalists to make a Ring cycle work, and Los Angeles is quite lucky to have as strong a cast as it does. Many are in heavy make-up, big costumes, and sometimes masks that may make them less recognizable to audience members than they would otherwise be. So over the next several days, as I’m visiting the second cycle, I’d like to highlight a few of these folks who are giving it their all, even if in some cases they fly a little bit below the radar in such a mammoth undertaking as Wagner’s Ring.

Arnold Bezuyen
Photo: Jochen Quast

The two people who absolutely make Das Rheingold for me here in Los Angeles are Arnold Bezuyen and Richard Paul Fink. Dutch tenor Bezuyen is particularly identified with the role of Loge. He’s more or less owned the role at the Bayreuth Festival since 1998 and will appear there again later this summer. (This is also true of several other singers in the LA Opera cast.) Although Bezuyen performs regularly across Europe, his appearances in the U.S. have been much less frequent. And hearing him sing Loge here makes me think what a shame that is. His Loge can have real bite and menace in his voice when he needs it. Members of the Los Angeles Opera League will be lucky enough to hear him in a benefit recital this Saturday—that I would so be at if it weren’t for the matter of Messiaen in Ojai. Bezuyen’s performance is remarkable not just for his vocal quality but his reveling in the costume crafted for his character by Achim Freyer and his daughter Amanda. The red suit with matching converse sneakers is most notable for the extra set of arms and hands included in it. Bezuyen’s Loge is certainly unpredictable with a passive aggressive streak and he wields his extra limbs with abandon. His Loge is as playful as the entire world around him, which is saying a lot given the alien nature of Freyer's competing landscape.

Richard Paul Fink as Ablerich
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2010

American baritone Richard Paul Fink, on the other hand, is an very well-known quantity to American audiences. His Alberich, one of the most respected in the world, has been seen at the Metropolitan Opera on a number of occasions, and he comes to Los Angeles replacing Gordon Hawkins who appeared in the original run of the production here last spring. I would say Fink’s profile is rising, but that would belittle his many achievements in a career marked with numerous excellent performances in a variety of roles around the world. Outside of Alberich, he recently appeared as Nabucco in San Diego and had a well-received turn as Edward Teller in Adams’ Doctor Atomic. I’m especially looking forward to his performance as Henry Kissinger in Adams’ Nixon in China at the Met next February and as Wozzeck in Santa Fe in 2011. His Alberich is forceful, sharp and he delivers the curse impeccably. Like Bezuyen, he takes his costumes limitations and makes them assets. Alberich is one of the characters masked throughout the entire production leaving him no chance to use his facial expressions. On the other hand, this absence allows for a broader physicality in the role. Fink hams up Alberich’s vanity and incompetence as a suitor with histrionic gestures that would look ridiculous in any other setting. But here, behind the mask, in a world beyond the audience’s recognition, they work exceedingly well. It’s that ability to adapt to different situations in a role that is incredibly familiar to him that makes him so fascinating as a performer. So there are two more great reasons to see Das Rheingold in its final outing here on the 18th if you haven’t already.

Richard Paul Fink

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

John Treleaven in Act III of Götterdämmerung
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2010

It is not a common occurrence in my opera-going experience for a stage director of any stripe to receive the largest ovation from the audience at the end of the evening. And perhaps that is as it should be, but at the end of Götterdämmerung on Sunday night and the completion of the Los Angeles Opera’s first complete presentation of a Ring cycle, that is precisely what happened, at least to my ear. Now that does not mean that it was a unanimously positive and supportive ovation. There was certainly booing and people eager to express their displeasure over a production that was not what many of them may be used to or had expected. But from where I sat toward the front of the orchestra the enthusiastic cheers were by far in the majority. The truth of the matter is that our local company stuck out its neck, took some risks and some hits from a variety of quarters, and has walked away with much more than just another opera production, but a serious and— I would argue—ground-breaking, work of art. Like virtually all worthwhile art, it generates some controversy and some heated and divergent opinions about its worth. But make no mistake, people are talking about Freyer’s Ring cycle and from the sound of the audience, people actually care about it passionately, although not always in the same direction. The world may have ended on stage, but it was clearly just getting started in the minds of the audience.

Götterdämmerung is predictably the least changed of the Ring operas from its prior L.A. appearance just two months ago. I’ll admit I’ve warmed up to it quite a bit since then. I’m more enamored with the intentionally distancing elements of this most static of the productions in this cycle including the wonderful unraveling of the theatrical world at the end. There’s something powerful about listening to the final bars of the Ring sitting in complete darkness with the audience. I’ve listened to so many live performances of this particular opera where an overly enthusiastic audience destroys the end of the opera with eager applause. Not here. Freyer ingeniously puts the music center stage right at the end. As Freyer states in his program notes, the empty dark space at the end isn’t simply death, it’s empty potential space we’re asked to fill with the new human world (and theater) in the wake of the death of the gods.

There were other big ovations on Sunday. James Conlon and the orchestra received a great amount of love from everyone. Of the vocalists, Eric Halfvarson’s Hagen and Linda Watson’s Brünnhilde were favorites. And rightly so. Watson’s Götterdämmerung Brünnhilde is the strongest of her roles across these evenings and she is unquestionably most convincing exactly when she needs to be as the world is coming down around her. As much as I resent the unprofessional behavior she and John Treleaven exhibited leading up to this run by bad-mouthing the production in the press, I do feel a certain sympathy for everyone in the production. I’m sure it is a challenge to sing in this staging, not only due to its steeply raked stage, but also due to the fact that the set’s floor is often covered with multiple objects from wrinkled fabric to LED tubes. Watson tripped once during the show and both Richard Paul Fink and Jill Grove had seemingly minor tumbles during the curtain calls. But everyone's perseverance is paying off with one hell of a production. The cycle repeats two more times starting Tuesday the 8th and again on Friday the 18th of June. Don't miss out.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

John Treleaven and Vitalij Kowaljow in Act III of Siegfried
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2009

Wagner’s Siegfried returned to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Wednesday as Los Angeles Opera carried on with its first compete Ring cycle following Sunday’s Die Walküre performance. And, although the time between the regular subscription run of Siegfried last Fall and now was less than the time away for the two prior installments of the Ring, there are far more changes to Siegfried in this return engagement than with its predecessors. Achim Freyer has kept the overall visual elements the same, but large amounts of the stage business in all three acts has been revised often in favor of simpler, sharper movements. As over the weekend, the staging seems tighter with improved cues and lighting that sometimes feels as if it has been totally reworked. Some of the biggest changes concern Siegfried’s interaction with the dragon Fafner in Act II, which still relies on an anachronistic cartoon dragon for Fafner, but is now embodied by one of Freyer's movement ensemble members who spends much more time on stage in a costume than the puppet had previously. There were several alterations in the third Act as well that maintained the overall visual sense of the production, but like the change in the dragon, somewhat blunted the more alienating edges of Freyer’s prior ideas.

That is not to say that Siegfried doesn't look like its brethren. It’s still a visually brilliant and totally unique production that willfully ignores the tropes of staging Wagner's operas in the last half-Century. And, while I know several people disagree with me, I still believe that Siegfried is perhaps the most compelling opera of this whole production. Wagner’s third installment of the Ring story can be bogged down with both disparate plot elements and a central character modern audiences have trouble understanding. It is also often the most likely to musically disappoint. But Freyer views Siegfried as primarily about linear motion and a race to the end resulting in his keen focus on the flow of time in the opera’s libretto. Even when Siegfried is laying around the forest floor playing music for the birds, the heat is on in this world. The Force of Destiny is never absent from the stage in any minute of these several hours and the pressure towards these events on the characters is relentless.

Musically, things were a little bumpier on Thursday than they had been over the weekend. Siegfried was sung by John Treleaven, which was somewhat of a mixed blessing. The good news was that after bad-mouthing the production and the company to the press a couple weeks back, he still showed up to sing. The bad news was, he still showed up to sing. Even before his voice was gone in Act III, you were kind of wishing it was anyway. Linda Watson’s Brünnhilde seems primed to take pity on him when she arrives by keeping her voice down somewhat. There was little noticeable booing directed toward Treleaven, so apparently people were not focused on his singing. The rest of the cast, however, shined, including Vitalji Kowaljow as Wotan and Graham Clark as Mime. The orchestra was again fairly driven, compared to last Fall, but seemed a little more scrappy on Thursday than I might have liked. Still, this Ring cycle is an event to be sure. Thursday's audience had even gotten celebritied-up with the faces of Quentin Tarantino and Christoph Waltz.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Linda Watson faces an angry Wotan with her sisters
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2009

On Sunday in L.A., there was Die Walküre. It’s not news, I know, but I continue to be amazed by Achim Freyer’s cabinet of wonders on stage at the Dorothy Candler Pavilion. It is dark yet colorful and filled with light. It is both sharply stylistic and intentionally primitive and rough-hewn. The second day of the first cycle was marked with many of the strengths of the first. Everything looked visually much tighter to me than the production’s prior outing and Act III opened with one of the most effective Ride of the Valkyries I’ve seen. This is much more than eight women standing around shrieking in armor—these are angels of death. Meanwhile, James Conlon and the orchestra again delivered a much more ferocious attack on the score than I remember from last spring. The singing was solid if not transcendent. Placido Domingo continues to be far better as Siegmund than any comparable human ought to be. Michelle DeYoung has taken over as Sieglinde for the cycle from Anja Kampe and managed to stay clear and bright above the fray. Vitalij Kowaljow’s Wotan would fit nicely on any of the world’s biggest opera stages. Linda Watson’s Die Walküre Brünnhilde is not her strong suit with more shrieking than one might like. But she has the requisite power and stays in tune which is nice. I think she typically fares better later in the cycle where her tendency to play all emotions as regal indignation makes more sense in the context of the libretto.

As my regular readers know, I’ve said plenty about my admiration for this Ring. But there is one other name that has not come up as often as it should in the discussion that I was reminded of this weekend. The commemorative programs from each evening’s performance have included a portfolio of Monika Rittershaus’ lovely photographs of the production. Also included is a lovely dedication of these images from Freyer to Edgar Baitzel (the former Chief Operations Officer of Los Angeles Opera and a friend to Domingo and many others in the company) who died in 2007. It was largely through his work and perseverance that this particular production happened at all, and its quality and vision are a testament to his work. Although I’d never met him, I’ve thought of him this weekend as I’ve listened to the highly enthusiastic reception of the audience to these performances. The elderly out-of-town couple sitting next to me on Saturday asked me if I liked the production. I said I did and asked what their thoughts were. They told me that they were very apprehensive about the production having heard “so many negative things” and seeing the pictures of the production they had before hand. They noted how surprised they have been with their enjoyment of the production after actually seeing it live. Freyer and the many artists involved in the production have gotten them to thinking of something familiar in a new way. And while I have no scientific data to prove they are or aren’t in the majority of viewers, I would say that Mr. Baitzel would be very happy to know, this was the end result of his effort to bring Wagner’s Ring cycle here to L.A. in the way that he did. What can I say? If you’re not seeing this cycle, you are missing out.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Photo: mine 2010

It may not be a cash cow and it may not make all of its star performers happy, but Los Angeles Opera’s Ring Cycle is officially on as of today. It’s been a difficult birth and even on Saturday there were plenty “only in LA” moments including a small band of college-age protesters who circled the music center at least once with signs featuring such slogans as “Wagner. Loved by Nazis. Rejected by humans.” Before they dispersed, I was struck with such envy of that youthful ease of dividing the world into good and evil. It isn’t until much later when we realize how compromised we all are in weighing that balance that we actually get to appreciate art like Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Over those many hours we see gods and humans alike struggle with these very distinctions only to find tragedy and perhaps the hope of redemption somewhere near the end.

But regardless of the circus, there was opera at hand. Das Rheingold returned to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage in its first appearance in over a year with pent up energy and an almost edgy stance from just about everyone involved. Whether this was a response to a constant stream of bickering bad news about the production generated in the local papers, or just the excitement of having arrived at the end of a very long road wasn’t clear. Conductor and music director James Conlon flew at the score with abandon and an almost Gergiev-like intensity. This was not a measured and reflective approach but a "let's do this" take on things. On top of this, three of the principal stars in Das Rheingold, Richard Paul Fink as Alberich, Arnold Bezuyen as Loge, and Graham Clark as Mime all gave high energy and very physical performances proving that even with a mask on all evening, it’s still entirely possible to give a great vocal and acting performance. (A lesson that should be well taken by others in the cast who’ve complained about limitations placed upon their artistic selves with little more than some face paint.)

Alberich and Mime in Das Rheingold
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2009

The Achim Freyer staging is still very much a work of art and continues to draw in viewers willing to open their eyes to its beauty. The production has been somewhat streamlined since its initial run with tighter cues, some reduction in stage business in the second scene, and a now uncovered orchestra pit. It still works on virtually every level and couldn’t be more Wagnerian. But don’t take it from me. Perhaps some of the best words describing the staging have come from Freyer himself who provides these notes in the program:

The overarching themes for “Das Rheingold” are pre-history without time, the planes of the elements, [and] horizontal overlapping. For “Die Walküre”: divine circular time and immortality, pursuit and escape, circle and spiral. For “Siefgfried”: parallel and perspective timelines as paths, mortality, waiting and beginning. For “Götterdämmerung: racing inertia, super-space and –time, multiplication and overlapping of all dimensions.

The Tarnhelm, shadows, reflections, doubles and the different forms in which figures appear in any given moment reflect their personality schisms, the search for and loss of identity of all the characters. We are talking here of pre-history, for which there do not exist familiar images or symbols in our everyday world. It is a timeless world only made visible and intelligible through art and theater.

Thmelessness was Wagner’s dictum for the Ring. In his lifetime, he remained unsatisfied with its world premiere and subsequent scenic experiments. Nonetheless, to this day historicizing Ring interpretations have been traditionalized, which has infringed and continues to infringe upon Wagner’s dictum to this day.

Freyer's vision of the Ring takes Wagner at his word about being timeless. This is a vision that exists outside of time in part because it looks like nothing we know right now in either opera or the real world. The audience seemed to connect to the performance and gave one of the most enthusiastic receptions I've yet heard to any of the Ring opera performances in L.A. Best of all, things are just getting started.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

from l-r: José Adán Pérez, Yohan Hi, Hak Soo Kim, Ronnita Nicole Miller, Danielle Walker, Erika Wueshner, Placido Domingo, and Erica Brookhyser
Photo: mine 2010

Placido Domingo is back in town this weekend leading up to his performances as Siegmund in L.A. Opera’s new Ring Cycle starting on May 29th. But before attending to that business, he had another high profile gig for LAO on Thursday and Friday at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica where he hosted and conducted the L.A. Opera Orchestra in a recital featuring the many talented young artists of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artists program. The show was dedicated to the late and well-loved music patron Flora L. Thornton and was attended by a number of dignitaries including L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye. With so many big names in the sold-out audience and the most famous living name in classical music on the podium, it wasn’t surprising that the eight vocalists in the young artist program seemed somewhat nervous as things got underway.

The program’s first half consisted of a grab bag of opera showpieces. Erika Wueshner sang Elsa’s “Einsam in Trüben Tagen” for starters and was then joined by mezzo-soprano Ronnita Nicole Miller for the Barcarolle from Hoffmann. The tension has relaxed a bit by the end of the first half when the same pair delivered “Mira, o Norma” of all things. Both vocalists have sizable instruments and were splendid. Miller has had a number of higher profile gigs with LAO and is also appearing as one of the Rhinemaidens in the current Ring cycle performances. Valerie Vinzant and Erica Brookhyser sang the Flower Duet from Lakmé to a very enthusiastic response as well. There were two ensemble bits rounding out the first half including “Mir ist so wunderbar” from Fidelio and the Act I sextet from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Both groupings featured great moments for some of the males in the program including bass-baritone Yohan Hi and tenor Hak Soo Kim.

The second half of the evening featured zarzuela arias and ensembles of various stripes and the singers noticeably relaxed and had more fun with these pieces. Most notable was the best four minutes of singing the whole night, which belonged to baritone José Adán Pérez. He sang “Amor vida de mi vida” from Torroba’s Maravilla with the kind of expression that made it feel like he was producing all of the sound, both orchestral and vocal, on stage. If vocal performance in opera is about communicating beyond the meaning of the spoken word, Pérez proved he is capable of much greater things. The evening concluded with Danielle Walker and Hak Soo Kim leading the rest of the ensemble, including four young singers from Washington National Opera’s young singers program, in Verdi’s “Libiamo ne’lieti calici” from La Traviata. Perhaps one of the most rewarding parts of the performance was getting to see Domingo work directly with these young singers outside of a competition format. It was a lovely showcase that the company should do more of.

Labels: Broad Stage 09/10, LA Opera 09/10

John Treleaven in LAO's Siegfried
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2010

What can I say about this. It shouldn’t come as a surprise really. Historically, it's more the rule than the exception that performers in Ring cycles have long lists of complaints about the productions in which they’ve been cast. It’s really too bad that Linda Watson and John Treleaven’s unprofessionalism may tarnish what is essentially a fantastic and groundbreaking production of the Ring. They are certainly entitled to their opinions about the artistic value and demanding physical challenges in the production. Freyer’s love of steeply raked stages is well known and I imagine maneuvering on it can be pretty difficult. The changing demands on any opera singer’s physical habitus is a well-documented fact at this point in time. And it’s certainly about more than just beauty. We want performers who can sing, act, look good while doing both, and who are able to do more physically challenging feats on stage as well. Treleaven and Watson are by no means in the best physical shape of their lives, based on their recent stage appearances, and the entire casts’ safety should be a primary concern.

As for the artistic values of the production – these complaints are exhibit A why performers are not usually hired to direct their own opera productions. The costumes and masks in Freyer’s Ring may well interfere with the acting and vocal performances of the cast including Treleaven and Watson. I suspect, however, that both artists may be overestimating the quality of those skills generally, considering how mediocre they’ve been here in L.A. in Wagner productions in the past that gave their “acting” more leeway.

It’s too bad that these two opera stars can’t be a little more graceful. Give me Joyce DiDonato any day. She’s suffered through injuries and challenging productions herself in the last year, and has had the ability to talk about them publicly on her own blog with wit, class, and the upmost professionalism.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Anja Kampe and Placido Domingo in Die Walküre
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2010

I always miss out on the drama. On Thursday, L.A. Opera music director James Conlon was under fire at the Museum of Tolerance by a heckler. He was giving a talk on Wagner and anti-Semitism as part of the Ring Festival LA, a series of public arts and educational events around town taking place in conjunction with L.A. Opera’s presentation of the visionary Achim Freyer-directed production of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Niebelungen this coming May and June. The heckler, one of a specific handful of seemingly unstable folks who’ve been working to generate controversy and derail the festival and opera performances, reportedly shouted down Conlon and later found himself in verbal confrontations with both L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Museum of Tolerance Director Liebe Geft over his behavior before being escorted out by security. This was just the latest in a series of manufactured media events to draw attention to Wagner’s well-known anti-Semitism – a topic that has been under more civil discussion in numerous venues throughout several Ring Festival events.

One of those festival events was in fact taking place simultaneously downtown at the Museum of Contemporary Art where a panel of USC faculty and others were speaking under the auspices of the USC Master of Liberal Studies Program. The presentations, which were grouped under the title “From Nietzsche to ‘Star Wars’: The Wagnerian Power of ‘The Ring’,” allowed a number of faculty to speak about trends in 18th and 19th century literature and art that were reflected in Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Wagner’s anti-Semitism was a topic of discussion here among members of the panel as well, though with much fewer histrionics. But the piece that really got me thinking, especially in light of all the local “protest” over the Ring Cycle, was from Roberto Ignacio Dìaz, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature. Entitled “Wagner and the City”, professor Dìaz’s presentation made an argument that the mounting of Wagner’s Der Ring des Niebelungen has become a signifier used by cities to validate their own relevance, not only as cultural centers, but as cities in their own right. One knows a city by its ability to produce art, and in this logic, the Ring Cycle becomes much more than just a series of operas for the companies and persons involved in its production. The Ring becomes a marker of a city's place in the world.

Which brings me back to all the purported hubbub over Wagner’s anti-Semitism as a source of consternation in the mounting of the cycle here in Los Angeles. Ring Cycles have been mounted all over the U.S., and the world, with far less concern in both larger and smaller cities including San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago. Even Long Beach produced a reduced chamber version of the work a few years back without anyone pouring out into the streets in distress. And, while New York prepares yet another update to its own Ring production with no one being called a Nazi, in Los Angeles, the production engenders major soul searching over a well-known fact about the composer’s prejudices. Furthermore, while Los Angeles often seems to have cornered the market on oddity, the fact is there are people who share the same sentiments everywhere in the world. Certainly there is no shortage of people who detest Wagner and his music because of his anti-Semitism in New York as well as San Francisco. Yet they haven’t enjoyed any of the publicity their Los Angeles counterparts have in the recent weeks.

Which suggests that maybe the protest and its coverage really tell us something else. Wagner’s anti-Semitism is a fact. But much like the date of the signing of the Magna Carta or the identity of who is buried in Grant’s Tomb, once you know it, you know it. Diaz’s reading may suggest a broader issue. That concern over Wagner’s anti-Semitism in the context of presenting the Ring for the first time in Los Angeles may speak more to the city’s and its residents’ own anxiety about the standing of their metropolis in the rest of the world. Does discomfort over the Ring correlate to unease or uncertainty that our home is in fact more of a provincial outpost in the world than we care to admit? L.A. seems hesitant and wracked about doing something that other cities do without so much as a passing thought to the “controversy.” It’s sometimes easy to forget given L.A.’s size how young the city actually is. Yet, despite rising to the world stage over the last century, we still aren’t completely sure that we deserve to be where we, in fact, are. In this model, detesting the Ring may represent a sort of civic self-loathing. But ready or not, L.A.'s Ring is here. And whether or not it's what anyone expected, it is ours.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Robert Brubaker, Martin Gantner, and Anja Kampe in Die Gezeichneten
Photo: Robert Millard/LAO 2010

So, you know that moment on Project Runway where Tim Gunn enters the workroom at the end of a long day where contestants have just barely completed their “looks” for, say, a group of six-year-olds, only to announce the bad news. Now, he says, they all have to come up with a companion look for the kids’ dowdy mothers based on the first outfit with virtually no money to do it with. This is more or less the situation Los Angeles Opera and director Ian Judge find themselves in with the final production of the 2009/2010 season, Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten. This is a U.S. premiere and the third in a series of productions under the banner of “Recovered Voices,” which revisits some of the 20th-century composers whose careers and lives were adversely affected by the rise of Germany’s Third Reich. As if this set up wasn’t a tall enough order, Judge was faced with the challenge of developing a production that would fit within the constraints set forth by the concurrently running new production of Wagner's Götterdämmerung designed by Achim Freyer. The steeply raked set with circular turntable and large scrim covering the stage are fixed elements that Judge had to design around and according to other reports, had to do so with very little money.

Robert Brubaker and Anja Kampe
Photo: Robert Millard/LAO 2010

But, just as there’s always a TV designer who rises to the occasion to win the “mommy-and-me” challenge, Judge took what he was handed and ran with it for a visually engaging and very affecting evening of theater. In fact, this production marks another milestone in that it officially makes Judge the closest thing L.A. Opera has to a “house director.” He has now directed more original productions for the company than anyone else in their 25-year history, including such works as Tosca, Le Nozze di Figaro, Tännhauser, and Don Carlo. Much has been said about the cost of L.A. Opera’s new Ring cycle. And for those who can’t conceive where the money went, you may want to start with Die Gezeichneten. The company invested in hundreds of thousands of dollars in state-of-the-art video projection equipment for the Ring, and they are just now getting to show off the myriad of other uses these elaborate new toys have. There are virtually no sets for Die Gezeichneten and only occasional pieces of furniture make it to the stage. But the video projection onslaught that covers the front scrim, stage floor, and back curtain is a work of art in and of itself. Images appear, move and alter themselves in a shifting sea all congruent with the stage action. Judge even makes use of the rotating floor, providing an opportunity to shift scenes with virtually no pause in the music. After last season's disappointing production of Braunfel’s Die Vögel, where director, Darko Tresnjak, fought the constraints of Freyer’s Ring design every step of the way, Judge comes to the rescue proving that a minuscule budget and numerous design restrictions don’t need to limit one's artistic vision.

But Judge wasn’t the only one whose vision saved he day. James Conlon stuck with this project and advocated for it in the face of economic troubles, insisting on a complete, full staging of Schreker’s score. And what music it is. Schreker’s late romantic stew is not unrecognizable, but his indebtedness to Strauss is matched by an awareness of Schoenberg in an opera that is as much Lulu or Salome as it is Rigoletto. All the Wagner-playing as of late has provided the orchestra one hell of a workout, it appears, because turning to Schreker’s score seems second nature to them. I don’t think I can recall ever hearing such lovely playing from the orchestra under James Conlon. Pair that with a singular performance from Anja Kampe in the role of Carlotta and you have an evening with first rate musical values regardless of the rest. There are many other fine vocal performances, though, including Robert Brubaker as the hunchbacked Alviano and Martin Gantner as Count Tamare.

A scene from Die Gezeichneten
Photo: Robert Millard/LAO 2010

Like Strauss’ Salome, however, all that beauty comes with strange bedfellows. In this case it’s a libretto that is so depraved that one spends the first hour asking oneself, “Is this really what the opera is about?” Yes it is. And no, this is definitely not an opera to bring the kids or family to. It can be pretty graphic at times, although I never felt it was in a distasteful way. The action of the show is updated from 17th-century Italy, to the early 20th century and roughly concerns a wealthy, but physically deformed, landowner who is planning to give up his private island off the coast of Genoa over to the people and the city in an act of generosity. The problem is that the island has been used, unbeknown to Alviano, by a group of young nobles as part of a ring to kidnap and sexually assault the daughters of local aristocrats. It gets messy from here, and let's just say it's not a happy ending. But there's nothing in Die Gezeichneten that’s any more disturbing than some of the storylines in Wagner’s Ring Cycle. And, while it may not quite live up to that standard, this is one performance that is completely worth seeing.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Sketch of Loge by Achim Freyer for the LA Opera production of Wagner's Ring Cycle

So L.A. Opera has put together a ground-breaking one of a kind musical theater experience with the new Achim Freyer-directed staging of Wagner’s Ring cycle. So now what do you do? Well first and foremost, if you don’t have tickets to one of the cycles that start on May 28th, you should get them. There are virtually no excuses not to, now that the company has made “design-you-own” cycles available that allow you to see all of the four operas on the weekends, and better yet, at a much reduced cost over the initial ticket offering. Having seen all of the operas if there is one thing I do know, it’s that you do not want to miss this. This is especially true if you have any passing interest in cutting edge theater. Or even if you don't.

So now that you have your tickets, what do you do between now and June? Well, luckily, not all of the Ring excitement is in the opera house this year as L.A. Opera and a large consortium of local arts organizations have put together Ring Festival L.A. with coordinated events related to this unique local undertaking. There’s a lot of events to choose from between now and the end of June, so here’s my guide to the festival events that should be highest priority. More details for all of these events including details about any potential cost (many are free) and need for reservations or tickets can be found on the festival’s website.

Sketch of Erda by Achim Freyer for the LA Opera production of Wagner's Ring Cycle

Why not start by hearing straight from the proverbial horses mouth. Of course Wagner is dead, so start with the production’s legendary director, Achim Freyer. He’ll be making two appearances at the Goethe Institut on Wilshire in conversation with music journalist Matthew Gurewitsch on April 12 and June 4 talking about his concepts for the Ring production. If you’d like to hear more about Wagner and his music, you couldn’t do much better than L.A. Opera’s Music Director James Conlon who’ll be speaking all over town in numerous venues. Conlon has proven to be the city’s biggest musical asset since the departure of Esa-Pekka Salonen, and his desire and ability to communicate with the public about music is unparalleled. And where won’t he be. Conlon will appear in lectures both individually and part of larger conferences at the Hammer Museum on April 13, the Museum of Tolerance on the April 15, downtown’s Central Library on April 19, USC’s Bing Theater on April 20, LACMA on June 5, American Jewish University on June 6 (on a panel that includes Gottfried Wagner, the composer’s great-grandson), the Huntington Library on June 9, and the Getty Museum on June 19. The topics of these presentations vary from music and myth to Wagner’s anti-Semitism and some are part of longer day-long symposia, so you may want to check the particulars of each event before you go.

There will also be a number of noted academics and artists in town to talk about the Ring and different philosophical and artistic issues that stem from it. Most notably UCLA and the Hammer Museum will present a conference on June 1 and 2 and a lecture on May 28 with Alain Badiou, Fredric Jameson, and Slavoj Žižek. Yes, Slavoj Žižek. His book on Mozart and Wagner Opera’s Second Death comes highly recommended for those of you interested in a Lacanian perspective on Wagner's operas. On a very different end of the spectrum, REDCAT downtown will host a panel on all things Ring with legendary opera director Peter Sellars, video artist Bill Viola, and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio on May 30.

Sketch of Siegfried and Brünnhilde by Achim Freyer for the LA Opera production of Wagner's Ring Cycle

Ring Festival events aren’t all talk, though. There’s performance, too, including James Conlon conducting the Colburn Orchestra on April 12. There are two modern takes on Wagner’s music, one from Daedelus who performs a remix at the Broad Stage on April 17 and another from daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra at California Plaza on June 19. The Jacaranda concert series in Santa Monica will present “Prussian Blues” on May 22 looking at Wagner’s precursors and followers. Lyric Opera Los Angeles will return after an extended hiatus with four performances of Wagner’s first opera, Die Feen starting in June 11. And, if you can't get enough early Wagner, the musicians of the USC Thornton School of Music will present three performances of Das Liebesverbot starting on April 21. Meanwhile the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist will present recitals in various locations on May 23, June 18, and June 25. Perhaps the non-Ring performance I’m most excited about in the festival, though, is the recital appearance from American soprano Christine Brewer who will close out the 09/10 L.A. Philharmonic season at Walt Disney Concert Hall with, among other things, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder. And, even if you can’t afford to see any of the Ring Operas in June, take heart. All four will be broadcast on KUSC starting on May 29 over the next few weeks. So, don’t let the parade pass you by.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10

Richard Paul Fink as Alberich and Eric Halfvarson as Hagen
Photo: Monika Rittershaus/LAO 2010

On Saturday it came to pass that Los Angeles and its opera company finally have their own Ring cycle. With the public opening of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, the company has completed a major achievement by mounting a totally unique and artistically ambitious production of one of the true masterpieces of Western culture. They did it on their own without the help of a co-sponsoring institution and with just about everything being built from scratch under the guidance of director and designer Achim Freyer. They have gone their own way, and I would argue, have a great deal to show for it. With the size of the undertaking to date and the three excellent opera productions that have preceded it, this Götterdämmerung runs the risk of being an afterthought. It is not; however, it may, admittedly, be the toughest to like.

Götterdämmerung is by far the most doctrinaire of Freyer's Ring operas in terms of his fondness of Brechtian theater principles. He relies on many of the same tactics he has throughout the cycle. All of the Gibichung, including Gutrune and Gunther, are masked throughout the whole show. There is an irreverent sense of humor at times. When Siegfried drinks Hagen's love potion, his boorish traits rise to the surface. He lunges at Gutrune, who like the rest of the cast stands behind a life-size cut out of her costume, pulling down the front of her dress and exposing the molded breasts underneath. This "Gutrune Gone Wild" moment doesn't stand alone, however, and the juxtaposition of the primitive and cheap with the highest of high tech provides many more such moments. There were still technical problems at times, particularly with the video feed, but this haphazardness is, in part, by design. Freyer seems more wary of spectacle this time around. Götterdämmerung is the most static of his Ring stagings with the cast largely at the foot of the stage throughout and the large central turntable only firing up once in the whole five and a half hours. The stage is dominated by the large white, neon lit floor of the Gibichung Hall. The first Act takes place largely behind a diagonal split screen with Brünnhilde waiting on the mountain top concurrently with Siegfried's initial meeting with Hagen and Gunther. And if your desire for spectacle is tempted by the opera's big end-of-the-world conclusion, you should be warned that this global conflagration is more of the whimper than bang variety.

Musically, this was a very satisfying evening. Conductor James Conlon continues to be the hero of the show leading a rock solid performance from the orchestra who sounded great. With the exception of Waltraute's narrative, things never dragged. And with a stage full of big voices, everyone pulled their weight. Linda Watson's Brünnhilde is superbly acted and consistently well sung. Treleaven, the Siegfried, seemed a little slow to warm up, but was delivering by Act III. Eric Halfvarson, who sang Hagen, and Richard Paul Fink, as Alberich, were perhaps the two strongest performances in the whole cast and provided a stirring start to Act II in Hagen's dream of his father. I would also be remiss not to mention the wonderful Alan Held who managed to given a convincing performance with his face covered throughout the whole show.

But, as important as all these artistic contributions were, it's hard to ignore Freyer's stamp on the proceedings. He arrived at the final curtain call without an ounce of timidity. He was greeted with the loudest response from the audience that was equal measures of bravos and boos. He left the cast line, approaching the foot of center stage soaking up the response with what appeared to be great satisfaction. He should. He's produced something here alongside James Conlon that may be many things, but it is far from boring or irrelevant. There are four more performances in April before the full cycles are staged in May and June.

Labels: LA Opera 09/10