Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

Claudia Barainsky
Photo : Clärchen und Matthias Baus/Ruhr Triennial

High fuel prices have increased interest in mass transit across the nation. But leave it to New York to have pushed this trend to its limit already. At a cost of millions, they’ve imported a device to transport about 1000 people back and forth twice over 40 yards in approximately three hours at an average rider cost of around 100 dollars a trip. Yet, while it may be transporting, the question in the big city is always the same – But is it art?

In this case the answer is yes. In fact, it’s spectacularly, yes. The occasion is the Lincoln Center Festival’s presentation of Bernd Alois Zimermann’s Die Soldaten. The much-hyped production is imported from the Ruhr Triennale and directed by David Pountney. It combines massive forces from a cast of over 40 as well as a plus size orchestra of well over 100 members of the Bochumer Symphoniker under the direction of Steven Sloane. The action takes place on a catwalk that runs the length of the Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory that passes through the center of a large riser, which holds the audience, at the end of the hall. Of course this riser rolls forward and back bringing action on the catwalk in and out of view while the orchestra is housed on two separate platforms on either side.

Why all the trouble you may ask? Isn’t this just an elaborate theatrical gimmick? Well, I don’t think so. Zimmermann intended his operatic adaptation of Lenz’ play to contain non-contemporaneous scenes that would play out simultaneously. While his own vision was somewhat hampered by the staging realities of the time, David Pountney attempts to reproduce some of this effect by spreading out players and sets over the catwalk often in advance of their actual performance. Characters walk past each other in highly choreographed scenes oblivious to each other's presence heightening the sense of alienation. The audience is then moved to parts of the action as it happens. It's sort of a linear motion version of Disneyworld's "Carousel of Progress". But while the idea may not be new, it is often stunningly effective, particularly in the opera’s final act which is both violent and sad. I was seated somewhat to the side of the entrance and the image of Marie, backgrounded by the orchestra, staggering away from her father who has failed to recognize her at the same pace as the audience pulling away from her is unforgettable.

It was also an evening that makes me wonder why 12-tone music didn’t gain wider public acceptance. Steve Sloane led a performance that was as lyrical, beautiful, and moving as just about anything I can think of. Yes, the music is often jarring, but the bleak and tragic world of Zimermann's opera is the ideal setting for it. The detail was wonderful and the amplification and acoustics in the hall seemed near miraculous for a space making its first forays as a music venue. As for the cast, there were remarkable singers and actors keeping the audience riveted throughout. Claudia Baraqinsky’s Marie was clear-toned and heartbreakingly believable. She is vulnerable without seeming overly naive and she whirled with ease through a large and technically difficult part. She was a perfect counterpoint to Claudio Otelli’s tragic and ultimately murderous Stolzius whose anger is palpable throughout the last two acts even before he explodes in a vengeful rage.

It's true that Zimmermann has chosen to eliminate much of the comedic elements of Lenz' original play, and make no mistake that this is difficulty and very adult material. (Particularly when Marie is brutally raped by Desportes' servant dressed in a Santa costume.) However, it is definitely an amazing and unique experience and will undoubtedly be one of the most satisfying operatic experiences of the year. There are four more performances that are mostly sold out. The moral of the story - more, at least sometimes, is in fact, more.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Cristina Zavalloni as Dante in La Commedia
Photo : Hans van den Bogaard 2008

The last stop on OutWestArts tour abroad this year was a second world premiere – this time with more confusing, yet definitely more enthralling results. The occasion was the new opera from Louis Andriessen, La Commedia, which is in its last few performances under the auspices of De Nederlandse Opera at the Carré Theater in Amesterdam. The opera is a very, very loose adaptation of Dante’s Divine Comedy and also contains material from the Old Testament and other sources as well. The work comes billed as a “filmopera” and is a collaboration with American independent film director Hal Hartley who is making his debut as an operatic stage director. Andriessen has worked with film directors before including both Hartley and most notably Peter Grrenaway who provided libretti for two prior operas. Hartley provides filmed material for La Commedia featuring the cast that is projected on five different screens all hung at different heights and angles throughout the evening. But it is important to note that this is much more than Hartley simply interpreting musical material given to him by Andriessen. He is contributing as much narrative and thematic material as the composer and this is clearly much more of a collaboration than the single-author fantasy of operatic history will typically allow.

Andriessen and Hartley have taken the three basic characters on stage, Dante, Beatrice and Lucifer, and developed at least two different sets of competing narratives that are simultaneously played out by the live cast and the filmed elements. More confusingly, neither of these necessarily have much to do with Dante’s work. These include a television reporter who is hit by a car and dies, a chamber orchestra that appears to be alternately on the run or madly in love with one another, and some sort of political protest activity. On stage meanwhile, in addition to Dante’s activity, here voiced by the incredible Cristina Zavalloni, there is some sort of cat and mouse game going on between herself and the Lucifer character that is played out on a huge construction site set complete with mechanical lifts, a mobile elevated catwalk, several guys in hardhats, and foreman's offices at either side of the stage. The orchestra stalls have been removed to house the Schönberg Ensemble, the Asko Ensemble, and Synergy vocals who are further surrounded by another catwalk lit from underneath. Between the pit and the stage, which is filled with the largest of the film screens, is another pit filled with clear inflatable beach balls that could be the river Lethe, but might not be as well. There's a children's chorus at one point that performs a "satirical" song. I’d might be able to tell you more if my Dutch was better, but there is a part of me that doubts it.

In addition to Zavalloni, an excellent Claron McFadden plays Beatrice and Dutch film star Jeroen Willems plays the largely non-singing role of Lucifer. All of them clearly had as much invested in their acting as their vocals and were exciting to watch on both stage and screen often at the same time. Andriessen’s music is generally more accessible than it may have been in the past and seemed far less regal and demonstrative than in the preview of this material earlier this year by the Los Angeles Master Chorale. He writes both for traditional orchestra instruments as well as electric guitars and drums, and there were references to many popular music genres throughout the work. With so much going on around it simultaneously, the music seemed more like another factor trying to compete for your attention, but I don't see that as a bad thing. The playing was excellent by the groups involved under the direction of Reinbert de Leeuw. Although I'm not completely convinced about all of this, I will say it was fun to watch and certainly had a number of striking images and themes to think about. Plus sometimes it's nice just to see something that isn't completely clear or digestible. Andriessen and Hartley's La Commedia is just that - something to think about.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Rod Gilfrey as St. Francis
Photo : Ruth Walz/DNO 2008

I’ve got mixed feelings about the new production of Olivier Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise which I saw on Monday night at The Netherlands Opera during the 5th of nine schedule performances. Would I pay to see it again if I was going to be in town a few more days? In a heartbeat. Was I glued to my seat, riveted and moved to tears? Not exactly. The work is a masterpiece without a doubt. Performances are relatively rare and when they do occur they are often overshadowed by the few artists who have performed in it, be that conductors, vocalists, or directors casting long shadows for those who follow. A lot of this comes with the territory in contemporary operas. So, not living up to expectations seems unavoidable for a performance like the one in Amsterdam where everything is completely new — a new production from Pierre Audi is conducted by Ingo Metzmacher with Rod Gilfry singing the title role for the first time in his first appearances with the company.

Comparisons to what have gone before are unavoidable. Gilfry has taken a lot of heat for this performance somewhat unfairly. He is definitely lighter in tone than his two best-known predecessors, José van Dam and Willard White. Add to this, apparent illness in the first two performances of the run, and you have a recipe for overly negative reviews. Gilfry was better than what I feared, given the press I’d read. That he attempts the role at all and pulls off the performance he does is laudable. He creates a more vulnerable and human Saint François. It is true, however, that as of this point in the run, he continues to struggle somewhat vocally by the end of Act II and into Act III, be it an issue of health or stamina or something else. It’s still a performance worth seeing. And many people may get to, considering that tonight and this coming Thursday’s performance are being filmed for what I can only suspect is a future DVD release.

The production from Audi takes an almost opposite tact from the famous light-bulb and TV monitor Salzburg production several years ago. He elects to have everything on stage look as low-tech and simply constructed as possible. Sets consist of scaffolding and unadorned planks of wood. Costumes are bulky, rough-hewn space-age affairs. All of this takes place with the orchestra on stage immediately behind the action under a canopy of blue sky that is replaced by light-bulb stars in the end. Having the orchestra front and center is not a bad idea given that DNO music director Ingo Metzmacher and the orchestra give a great performance that is the lynch pin of the evening. Camilla Tilling’s performance as the angel and Tom Randle’s Frère Massée are both quite good.

But it does seem that for each great idea there's a missteps. Chief among these is the use of a non-singing group of children in the last scene of Act II. Apparently Audi thought working with children would be preferable to working with animals so Saint François delivers his sermon instead to this rag-tag lot like some intergalactic Romper Room. And what kid doesn’t love a lecture about birds? A few of these kids desperately need some notes like not talking during the performance and that drawing on the stage with chalk as instructed is different from banging on the stage with chalk during the music. They’re a trite distraction in the piece and need to be elsewhere.

In many ways Saint François is reminiscent of Tristan und Isolde. Not in terms of content or musical history, but because both are such complex and monumental works of art in their own right, a perfectly satisfying performance is almost unimaginable. Part of the joy in Messiaen’s piece, like Wagner’s, may be the joy in pursuit of the difficult-to-attain. Not that there haven't been great performances, but pulling them off is no easy task. The Netherlands Opera has mounted a difficult and massive work with great care. It doesn't always work, but it is significant and worthwhile nevertheless.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Act II from Don Carlo
Photo : Wiener Staatsoper 2008

It’s June in Vienna and we all know what that means - Don Carlo fever continues! Not to be left out with new productions in London and a revival in Paris, the Vienna State Opera put its two cents worth in with a star-studded revival of its own. Included here were the Philip II of René Pape and Thomas Hampson as Rodrigo. The cast also included Luciana D’Intino as Eboli, Norma Fantini as Elisabeta and Franco Farina as Don Carlo. So how did things turn out? Not bad, but they could have been better. At the heart of the problem here is the need for a major suspension of disbelief. Yes, this is not unusual at all for opera, but there are limits. What person in their right mind is going to be tempted to even think about going behind the back of René Pape for a tenor. Especially Franco Farina. Especially when you’re René’s freaking queen and you could have the tenor axed by the Spanish Inquisition with little more than a thought. Let’s get real people. You could at least get the man a gray wig to tone down his hotness and provided some half-hearted attempt at consistency.

This isn’t the only problem, however. The Pier Luigi Pizzi production, which is older than I care to investigate, has seen much better days. It’s small, dreary, and poorly lit. Everyone on stage could have used a cell phone considering how much time they all had to sing in the dark far from anyone else including the audience. The cast should be given credit for not just standing around and singing, which the set nearly forces them to do. Unfortunately, there was a particularly weak link in the cast and that is Franco Farina. He was not originally in the announced cast of this revival and appears to be a last minute replacement. We’ve had some not so pleasant performances from him in L.A. and little has changed.

Still the evening was far from a total loss. Pape, Hampson, and D’Intino were all quite good. Marco Armiliato was at the podium and again led a winner of a performance from the orchestra. If there is anything that has been consistently great during these last few days of opera in Vienna it’s been the quality of the opera orchestra, and, honestly, that is almost reason enough in and of itself to see any of these productions including this musty old Don Carlo. Now if I could just meld some of the elements from the Paris production with some of the elements from Vienna, we might have a really good show in there somewhere. There are three more performances as well as an additional three performances of the French version conducted by Bertrand de Billy with a completely different production and cast including Ramon Vargas. That’s it for now. See you in Amsterdam.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Bo Skovhus and Renée Fleming
Photo : Axel Zeininger/Wiever Staatsoper 2008

I’ve just had one of those nights. They don’t happen often, but everyone who gets this crazy opera habit does have them every so often and it’s why we keep going. I’m referring to a performance where everything comes together perfectly - fantastic singing, a great production, impeccable musical direction and performance. And how’s this for self-referential irony: the theme of the opera in question is this very issue of the perfect melding of elements into a work of art greater than the sum of their parts. Tonight was the third performance of the Vienna State Opera’s new production of Strauss’ Capriccio starring Renée Fleming. It’s fabulous. It looks great, it sounds great and it is unlikely that you’ll ever see another Capriccio as good as this one.

The production was designed and directed by Marco Arturo Marelli and is traditional in many ways but is imbued with a fair amount of modern technology including some video. Most of the set consists of stage-tall triangular pieces that rotate to reveal red theater curtains, words and music, or the etched-glass walls that make up the Countess’ salon. These pieces can be arranged into a semi-circular backdrop but are nearly constantly in motion given that they are also placed on a circular rotating stage that pauses only intermittently over the course of the evening. This carousel perfectly mirrors the ongoing aesthetic debates, declarations of love, and crises of manners that make up the events surrounding the Countess’ birthday celebration. It’s beautiful and often laugh-out-loud funny.

The cast is impeccable and a perfect example of luxury casting with Bo Skovhus, Michael Schade, Adrian Eröd, Franz Hawlata, and Angelika Kirchschlager. Acting and vocal standards are equally high and there are no weak links. Then there is the show's international superstar, Renée Fleming. This is one of the roles that made her famous and she is in top form here. Forget all the Violettas and Manons you may have seen her do, this is how I will remember her in years to come – glowing, breathing wonderful life into Strauss’ work. Of course, there may be more of this in the very near future, as Ms. Fleming appears to be on a “greatest hits” tour of sorts, revisiting several roles that originally brought her to prominence including Thaïs and Rusalka. She’ll even take another go at Lucrezia Borgia this fall in Washington, DC. Of course, all this is supported by a detailed and achingly beautiful performance of Strauss’s music by the State Opera orchestra under Philippe Jordan. He’s young but already an old hand in the opera pit. If tonight is any indication, there are exciting times ahead in Paris when he takes over the music directorship of the national opera there in 2009.

Last night my partner pointed out that there were several video cameras taping the performance of La Forza including one that followed Nina Stemme out for her curtain call. Let’s hope that someone has the sense to tape this one as well. It’s brilliant and deserves to be seen by a much wider audience.

P.S. I’m sitting here in the hotel room watching the cast including Renée Fleming getting interviewed on the local TV station about the performance. It’s painful to think about the lack of arts coverage in the media in the US.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Nadia Krasteva as Preziosilla and Carlos Alvarez as Don Carlo
Photo : Wiener Staatsoper/Axel Zeininger 2008

La Forza del destino is one of those operas that I seem to enjoy the concept of much more than the actual experience of it. Or at least I always get excited about the opportunity to see it, but then when it happens I think, “what’s the big deal?” Act II is ridiculously long and boring. There often seems little continuity between the multiple scenes and characters. I guess I continue to hold out that it’s not the opera itself, but the productions I’ve seen so far – I just haven’t met the right one yet. And so I attended a performance of the Vienna State Opera’s new production of Verdi’s work tonight with the usual anticipation. And while I was still disappointed, this was probably the best argument for the opera I’ve yet to hear.

I give the primary credit for this outcome to director David Pountney’s controversial but highly effective staging that involves a fair amount of video elements. It also involves a lot of women dressed as Vegas-style cowgirls with short-shorts, boots, guns and bright red hats. They represent Preziosilla and her followers urging young men on to war in Italy. Yes, it’s far-fetched but visually striking and effective in making Pountney’s (and perhaps Verdi’s) point about the bitter harvest of rousing calls to take up arms. The video elements, which are presented initially on a scrim during the overture and repeated during various choruses and arias, recount the seminal event of the opera, the accidental shooting death of the Marchese di Calatrava. Like Verdi, Pountney is trying to keep the character’s underlying motivations in the audience’s mind in a convoluted work where it can be quite easy to forget. A pistol falls, spinning and then hits the ground. As it discharges we follow the computer-animated bullet on its ricochet course until it strikes the chest of a man with the requisite splater of blood. Gruesome it my be, but this is kind of a gruesome opera.

The problems unfortunately have noting to do with the colorful, vibrant sets and intelligent staging. This Forza is an embarrassment of riches in the casting department with Carlos Álvarez as Don Carlo, Nina Stemme as Leonora, and Salvatore Licitra as Alvaro. Who’d have guessed that the strongest player on the team would be Álvarez? Stemme seems miscast here with too much steel and not enough grit. Licitra is Licitra – close, but never quite delivering what’s promised. Nadia Krasteva wisely elects to have fun with Preziosilla and though some of her second aria ends up more shouted than sung, it works to good effect in this context. The dancers and chorus looked like they were out of practice with moves that were probably more solid when the production premiered earlier this year. One other nice change from those performances in my mind is the substitution of the musical leadership of Marco Armiliato for that of Zubin Mehta. Armiliato brought out an accomplished and thrilling account of Verdi’s score and will lead all the performances of this summertime spate of Forzas as well as the Don Carlo revival that will start on Sunday with René Pape and Thomas Hampson.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

The big stairs from I vespri
Photo : Wiener Staatsoper

So hear I am in Vienna where there are an amazing number of people with pumped-up calves and fantastic buns. No they are not fußball players, but choristers from the Vienna State Opera who are again spending hours traipsing up and down the giant staircase that is the hallmark of Herbert Wernicke’s production of Verdi’s I vespri siciliani. Now ten years old, this staging consists solely of a giant black staircase that rises into the rafters and, at times, allows the chorus to climb out of a pit below stage level. This seems to require an amazing amount of fleet footedness from everyone involved, which does create some tension in what is otherwise a pretty much stand and deliver affair. If I have been reminded of anything this week, it is the necessity of having lots of stage business or some amazing actors who can hold everyone’s attention in these minimalist stagings.

Luckily there is at least one such artist here. Sondra Radvanovsky is freaking amazing. I continue to be blown-away every time I see her. Instead of slaving away in warmed-over Ernani at the Met, she is one who should be touting major new productions in glossy city bus photos. If you have a chance to hear her sing Leonore in next season’s Trovatore, do not miss it. She’s the main reason I saw the Vespri revival here in Vienna and I cannot say that I left disappointed. Though it is true that not everything in this amazing thigh workout lives up to her standard. On the good side, there is Leo Nucci. Well loved in this part of the world, Nucci still garners a warm welcome despite any diminution of his abilities. He can still deliver “In braccio alle dovizie” in spades no matter what else may have changed. The rest of the cast was not as strong including a rather stiff Keith Ikaia-Purdy as Arrigo and Paata Burchuladze as Procida. The imbalance between the principals was rather difficult to get around but conductor Miguel Gomez-Martinez did a reasonable job of keeping everyone in sync with the very fine Vienna State Opera Orchestra. Certainly this staging has seen more lustrous and storied casts over the years, and while the evening was quite slow to warm up, its charms, including Ms. Radvanovsky, more than made up the difference for me.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Joyce Di Donato as Romeo
Photo : C. Leiber/Paris National Opera 2008

Ever have one of those experiences where your regular “whatever” is unavailable so you make do with a substitute only to find the substitute does a better job? Well, although, it is a completely unfair comparison on many levels, I’m sure there were more than a few people in the audience for tonight’s penultimate performance of Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi at the Bastille Opera in Paris disappointed over the absence of Anna Netrebko. This turned out to be one of the three performances that the now very pregnant performer begged out of. And while I’m a huge Netrebko fan, I’ve seen her 10 times in 7 different roles where I have only seen the most excellent and highly underrated Patrizia Ciofi once before as Gilda in London last year. In case you’re wondering, while she may or may not be a super-vixen, she was spectacular. Someone needs to buy her a plane ticket to the U.S. and put her center stage in a big role right now.

It was also a treat in that Ciofi was performing with a close colleague, Joyce DiDonato, with whom she has previously recorded a CD of opera duets. DiDonato again donned the pants in the family for her turn at Romeo. That she was outstanding was not a surprise. What did surprise me was how these two performances can take a minor bel canto work to begin with and elevate it to something enjoyable. In fact it was the best thing I’ve seen in Paris this week hands down. I should also give credit to Evelino Pidò, the conductor, who is an old-hand at this game and, in fact, led the original performances of this same production in Paris during its only appearance here in the last 20 years (with Laura Claycomb and Vesselina Kassarova). The supporting cast was adequate with Matthew Polenzani rounding out the cast as Tebaldo and, while he has not always been my favorite, he was better here than I’ve thought recently.

The other refreshing thing tonight, besides the large group of pre-teens who, sitting behind me, exhibited flawless manners (of which I somehow don’t feel I’ve yet to see from American equivalents) was the revival of Robert Carsen’s minimal production for this outing. Although it’s over ten years old and very sparse, Carsen seems to have overcome many of the problems that other directors have succumbed to with this kind of approach this week. Graham Vick, take a lesson – you’ve got to give your cast things to do while they are singing. Good acting can carry almost anything and an empty stage can make it a lot more powerful. The red and the black contrast looks somewhat dreadful in photos of this production, but on stage it was eye-catchng without being overwhelming. So that’s it for Paris and now it’s off to Vienna.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Yvonne Naef as Princess Eboli and Tamar Iveri and Elisabetta
Photo : A. Poupeney/Opéra national de Paris 2008

It seems Verdi’s Don Carlo is sweeping Europe this summer with a major new production in London and revivals in both Paris and Vienna. All of them have more than a few big name cast members to recommend them and Ferruccio Furlanetto will actually appear in two. On paper, the Paris revival may have the least to recommend it. This became more pronounced when arguably the biggest star in the cast Dimitri Hvorostovsky called in sick for the second performance on Tuesday. Funny thing was, at least vocally, his absence didn’t detract that much from the overall vocal quality of the evening. This was in part because his replacement, Dimitris Tiliakos, was superb. He may not have Mr. Hvorostovsky’s fame, but he is very talented and a young face to keep an eye on. To date, this Greek baritone has worked mostly in Nuremberg and Greece and appears to be casting a wider net. Apparently no matter where he goes he is hunky. The other factor that elevated this evening was the rest of the cast, which had no slouches amongst them. James Morris sang Philip II with real pathos and weariness. Tamar Iveri, making her Paris debut on the heals of her Met debut this spring in La Clemenza di Tito recently seems to be everywhere. She made Elisabeth’s less-outwardly flamboyant role stand out over Eboli, not always an easy task. Yvonne Naef had that job and, though she didn’t quite have the control needed for the homestretch of “Nel giardin del bello," she was otherwise solid and came off much better in Act III. Another new element for me was tenor Stefano Secco as Don Carlo. He has worked extensively throughout Italy and more recently Germany and now appears to be Paris’ it-tenor for all kinds of things. He’s excellent, and, although his U.S. appearances have been limited, here’s hoping he makes it onto some bigger stages stateside soon.

Sounds like a great evening. Well, yes, but unfortunately opera must always contend with those pesky non-vocal elements. The conductor was up and coming Greek talent Teodor Currentzis who has been working steadily throughout Russia over the last few years. He wasn’t lazy, but I felt he didn’t quite get all that could he could have gotten out of the Paris National Opera Orchestra. A somewhat ironic state considering how the British press have tried to work him up as some kind of genius enfant terrible. Everything seemed kind of half-spirited though technically on-target. But more annoying than this, was the revived Graham Vick staging that is so minimal it begins to beg the question of whether or not it is a staging at all. Think of putting an opera on in a Rothko painting or an empty, abandoned Pottery Barn to get the idea. There is so little to do and Vick has everyone so spread out on the huge Bastille stage that it becomes one cold and lonely Verdi opera. In the end it was frustrating that such a strong cast had so little to work with, but there are worse options. And there is one striking image at the very end as Carlo dives into his father's crypt, represented here by a cross-shaped pit in the center of the stage. Carlo's dead body rises out of the crypt atop a giant glowing cross as the curtain falls. It's just too bad the audience had to wait nearly four hours to get something really interesting to look at.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Annette Elster as Kellnerin and Otto Katzameier as Lars
Photo : B.Uhlig/Opera National de Paris 2008

With so much football excitement sweeping Austria at this moment, is it any surprise that a major artistic event from that region would have to leave town to get the space it needed? So it was at last night’s world premiere of Georg Friederich Haas’ new opera Melancholia at the Palais Garnier in Paris. It’s a good opera, with few surprises. In other words, it’s almost exactly what you’d expect from the sources behind its creation. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing mostly depends on how you feel about those sources to begin with. The libretto is from Norwegian author John Fosse and is based on the first part of his novel of the same name. The events concern 19th Century Norwegian landscape painter Lars Hertervig. He has left his homeland with the support of a local benefactor to study art in Düsseldorf. There, Lars has taken a room in the home of Frau Winckelmann whose daughter, Helene, he has fallen in love with. This is not a completely mutual feeling, but in any event, Helene’s mother and uncle have gotten wind of the relationship and have asked Lars to leave. Complicating matters, Lars clearly has a major mental illness, likely Schizophrenia, and has begun to come unglued, often hearing Helene’s voice and progressively crippled by his own delusions.

Haas at the premiere of his new opera
Photo : mine 2008

Lars leaves his room with his suitcases and has nowhere else to go other than the local pub, Malkasten, which he has never visited despite it being a regular hang-out for many of his art student peers. He arrives, only to be mocked by two peers, Alfred and Bodom, who insist that Helene is hiding in the bar waiting to meet him. He is fooled by this taunt of his peers and the bar’s waitress, but eventually leaves believing that Helene has called out to him to return to the Wincklemann’s. There he sees Helene, who is now clearly disturbed by his behavior, and her mother and uncle call the police to have his thrown out.

This is not cheery stuff and it's presented in a rather unadorned and highly repetitive stream-of-consciousness format in Fosse’s novel. Fosse wants to make points about the relationship between art, madness, and self-doubt but he keeps the narrative simple, entirely bound up in the ravings of a madman. Setting this libretto is Austrian Georg Friederich Haas. Haas is best known for a pair of chamber operas Nacht and Die schöne Wunde as well as a number of orchestral works over the last 20 or so years. Although his work is not well known in the U.S., he has enjoyed a much wider profile in the German speaking world especially his native Austria. He has done his time at IRCAM and racked up several regional composition prizes.

So with all of this, what do you think Melancholia might sound and look like? You’re exactly right. Director Stanislas Nordey, hews very closely to the text with an ultra-minimal black box set with virtually no props other than a giant white sheet, cum canvas, that acts as divider and implies elements of sets. It is manipulated from above moving achingly slowly throughout. It is the only source of white outside of the period costumes for Lars and Helene. Everyone else is in total black. Movement is slow and minimal throughout. The music owes a huge debt to Berg, Wozzeck in particular, and many of Haas' recent European predecessors including Boulez who was also present at the premiere. There is little melodic about it, but Haas does one thing that is very 19th century – he actually relies on the music to tell a large part of the story on its own. Capturing Lars' mental illness without setting his incessant ramblings is difficult. To deal with this, Haas does two things. First, he installs a chorus to represent some of Lars internal world that interacts with him throughout. Secondly he writes lines for virtually all of the orchestra’s instruments to mimic this process. Often, everyone is playing at the same time with seemingly rapid and uncoordinated flights of notes while Lars is singing. This creates the effect of Lars internal world being one where he is always trying to sort out all of the noise inside his head simply to hear his own voice. It’s a clever and I think rather sophisticated effect.

An extremely bad photo of Pierre Boulez at the premiere
Photo : mine 2008

Gerard Mortier, who was present for the premiere, and the Paris National Opera have wisely chosen to decrease the pressure around the premiere by involving a cast devoid of big names or huge international superstars. The music was performed by Klangforum Wien under the direction of Emilio Pomarico in his Paris debut. Lars is sung by a quite good Otto Katzameier, the only cast member not making his Paris debut. Melanie Walz’ Helene was clear and appropriately innocent. With these seemingly less than starry forces, the production is lean, mean and very effective. The production does fill you with a sense of the creeps and hopelessness. Given that this is precisely what you would expect from the source materials, that may be an unqualified success.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Mireille Delunsch as Iphigénie and Stéphane Degout as Oreste
Photo : F. Ferville/Opéra national de Paris 2008

One of the highlights of my last visit to the Palais Garnier and the Paris National Opera in 2006 was a spectacular revival of Rameau’s Platée starring among others Mireille Delunsch and Yann Beuron in an inspired Laurent Pelly production. So my hopes were high at the beginning of this trip in that both Delunsch and Beuron would again grace the Garnier stage this time in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride. Alas, magic was not to strike twice, even if this final performance of the run had its charms.

Probably the biggest obstacles were director Krzystof Warlikowski’s staging and Ivor Bolton’s conducting. This is the infamous “nursing-home” Iphigénie that Susan Graham, who stared in the original run of this production in 2006, openly dissed by name several month’s back in Opera News. Iphigénie appears as an elderly woman in a nursing home who is recalling events of dreams she is having which may or may not be her own memories. While Mireille Delunsch does all the singing and acting, there is always a doppelganger on stage , in this case Renate Jett, who takes whichever role is non-singing for that part of the staging. Things are generally modern dress with the elderly Iphigénie wearing a gold, sequined skirt and jacket in contrast to her more dowdy fellow home residents. It’s a good look, and being from L.A. I can tell you that sometimes that’s all you need.

But I can see why Graham took issue with this staging, in that despite a strong and pleasing aesthetic, the show is burdened with so many competing ideas at once, that they often seem to be battling it out on stage. There is the whole old-lady-nursing home stuff, but it often takes a back seat to things like a naked Oreste killing his mother after she exposes her naked breast to him, a small group of dancers clad only in white boxer shorts, and a tattooed wheel-chair-bound Thoas who suddenly can walk and throws flowers at the stage from a side box while in uniform in Act II. There’s a good idea in there somewhere, but all at once makes it not just difficult to follow, but ponderous.

Musically, I thought Bolton was the weakest link. The score sounded slower and heavier than it should to my ear. Vocally, however, things were quite good. This is despite the fact that the performance started with one of those she’s-sick-but-she’s-going-on-anyway announcements about Delunsch who performed the lead role. You’d hardly notice, though, as good as she sounded, only getting froggy momentarily in a couple spots. Beuron’s Pylade and Stéphane Degout’s Oreste both got the job done, even when they often had little to do.

So, overall it was good, though not great. I will say, however, that I appreciate this approach even if it didn’t completely work for me. I’d rather see a hundred of these overreaching productions than to sit through one more ersatz American fantasy of a bygone and non-existent Europe that populates so many American stages today.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08, Out of Town

Kate Aldrich as Queen Elizabeth I
Photo: Ken Howard/San Diego Opera 2008

It is always tempting to talk about Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda in terms of competition. The cooked-up libretto about the "adversarial relationship" between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart certainly lends itself to this motif. Donizetti further divides the vocal fireworks between these two roles and thus forevermore two artists taking on this production will beg direct comparison. Leave it to San Diego Opera, which is currently staging Maria Suarda, to turn this contest on its head. They have taken a quite vocally reasonable cast and weighed it down in such an awful out-of-date production that the real contest is apparently for most ridiculous period costume. Friday’s real winner, if you want to know, was in fact the tenor, Yeghishe Manucharyan for his white knee-stockings that survived multiple wardrobe changes by everyone else in the cast.

Actually though, while it is easy to sit here and heap criticism on the faults of the evening, I must say I rather enjoyed it. With the exception of Mr. Manucharyan, the cast is more than adequate and at times very good. Angela Gilbert, the Mary Stuart, has been criticized elsewhere for her very mannered singing and far too apparent efforts at breath control. But on a purely auditory level, she was actually wonderful at many points in the evening. The vocal lines appeared intact and her performance was nothing but pretty as long as you weren’t watching her do it. Kate Aldrich, the Elizabeth, fares better in the dramatic performance department, but I must admit that I came away feeling her part wasn’t quite as enticing musically. How much of that is in design and how much is in the performance isn’t entirely clear to me. Plus I had trouble getting over that whole mid-scalp hairline which I know may be more historically accurate but always ups the Sci Fi quotient in my book.

Edoardo Müller led an amicable if underplayed rendition of the score. Still, this was more enjoyable than not and frankly with a better production would have been quite good. Which gets back to all the falderall about why we don’t see more of this and other bel canto operas. Of course there is the party-line garbage about not being able to find singers who can do it. But if San Diego can find a cast this good, it’s hard to believe that no one else could mount a staging as good if not better with more resources. There’s one more performance on Sunday afternoon for those who are interested.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08

Todd Palmer and Elizabeth Futral
Photo: Long Beach Opera 2008

One thing that can be said about Long Beach Opera, LA County’s other significant opera operation, is that whatever they may lack in organization and dependability, they make up for with spunk. Take their most recent venture, a staged version of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice starring Elizabeth Futral which opened on Sunday. LBO director Andreas Mitisek has been on a bit of a kick lately, staging works in unusual spots around town including a recent run of Grigori Frid’s The Diary of Anne Frank in one of a number of parking structures. For Gordon’s Orpheus Mitisek has chosen to exploit the water themes by staging the whole thing in an indoor swimming pool – the Belmont Olympic Pool to be exact.

It’s a crafty idea that works as you might imagine from an opera staged in a swimming pool. The audience was seated on metal bleachers with cushions but luckily, the piece ran just an hour which is about as long as one healthy human can tolerate sitting in these circumstances. Local skate punks crashed and spun and did whatever else it is they do just outside the pool throughout the performance, creating some not so pleasant accompaniment. On the plus side, though, many of the visual elements of the piece were quite splendid due to the lighting effects designed by Dan Weingarten that took maximal advantage of the aquatic surroundings.

The work itself is more of a song cycle than an actual opera and more or less covers the standard version of the Orpheus myth. The work has premiered in other settings around the country, but LBO commissioned Gordon to orchestrate the piece for a small string quartet in addition to the original piano and clarinet to flesh out the sound a little more. Futral plays a narrator and sometimes voice of Euridice. Clarinetist Todd Palmer serves as Orpheus and, like Futral, alternately performs both at poolside and in a small white boat that is moved around the pool at times by a group of four “players” who include choreographer Ken Roht. Since Futral and Palmer have an awful lot of singing and playing to do which prevents them from getting wet, there are also two “doubles” who act out the Orpheus and Euridice parts in coordination with the musical content. All of this is accompanied by an expanded version of the Denali Quartet off to the side of the pool. There are also some videos of the principals projected above the opposite bleachers where Greek-inspired statuary were hanging out around artfully draped fabric. It can all be rather pretty to look at along the way.

Unfortunately, this was not the whole story. While Futral and Palmer’s performances are admirable for their quality and commitment, the material itself doesn’t quite live up to them. Gordon’s music is pleasant, but not much more substantial than much of what you would hear in the standard-issue Broadway musical. The libretto is both obvious and at points outright silly. He also oddly elects to spend over 30 minutes on the lovers meeting, walking on the beach, giggling, and doing all the things people do in TV movies to indicate that they are in love. The non-Oxygen Network events of the story don’t really get underway until the last ten minutes or so, creating an awful lot of build up for very little pay off. Apparently Gluck knew what he was doing when he opened his short opera on the same matter with the funeral. Still, all of this did take some guts and Mitisek and his crew can’t be faulted for trying to make a glorious theatrical event out of what might otherwise be just a meager song cycle.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08

Chicago's Die Frau ohne SchattenPhoto: Robert Kusel/LOC 2007

Tonight was the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s final performance of Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten — a new production that has received much attention for its luxury casting. Not only does it include Franz Hawlata as Barak, but Jill Grove as the Nurse, Deborah Voigt as the Empress, and Christine Brewer as Barak’s wife. Although this was the last performance, I was rather glad I had waited to the end in that the run has been plagued with illness by various cast members including Grove, but tonight, everyone seemed back in action. Needless to say, the musical qualities of the evening were impeccable. Voigt continues to amaze, repeatedly blowing away the audience with ease. Hawlata did crumble a bit at the start of Act III, but for the lion’s share of his role he was wonderful.

Then there is the matter of Christine Brewer. Brewer received the biggest ovation and deservedly so. She was so good, you almost didn’t notice Voigt at times, and that is no small feat. I am counting the days until I get to hear her sing a complete Brünnhilde. All this and her acting is becoming steadily more engaging as well. Her voice is captivating, cruising in and out of the upper ranges effortlessly without an ounce of weakening throughout the entire 4 hours. With all due respect to Ms. Voigt whom I love, Ms. Brewer is undoubtedly the best soprano in this neck of the reperitory these days. Sir Andrew Davis led the house orchestra in a strong if not the most nuanced performance ever.

If I have any criticism, it is over the direction and design elements strung together by Paul Curran. Curran is exhibit A in the argument for why giving inexperienced theater or film artists a try directing an opera is a good idea. Curran is plenty experienced and plenty awful. His Boheme in Santa Fe this year was atrocious, and this Frau is only slightly better. Full of a hodgepodege of elements intended to instill the requisite sense of “magic” such as umbrella boats, flying horses, and neon lights – the minimal sets often carried much less punch than they should. Curran is a sort of poor man’s David McVicar. That is when he’s not trying to be a poor man’s Mark Morris. Curran is apparently responsible for all of the so-called needless choreography in the evening as well as everything else going on. Still, there was too much good about this performance to dismiss it.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08

Gerald Finley as Robert Oppenheimer
Photo: Dan Best/LOC 2007

It’s December and as a thin-blooded Los Angeleno I’m asking myself what am I doing in cold and snowy Chicago. Really, the answer is easy – I’m here for opera – two to be exact. Tonight was my second viewing of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic which I last had the pleasure to see in San Francisco during its world premiere on October 1, 2005. It is still brilliant, beautiful and undoubtedly one of the first masterpieces of the 21st century. It is true that Adams and his librettist, director, and collaborator Peter Sellars have made a number of changes to the piece for this Chicago run as well as for performances in Amsterdam earlier this year. They are substantial particularly in the second act, including the addition of some non-singing roles and some general beefing up of the Kitty Oppenheimer part. Still these changes do nothing to distract from the core accomplishment: a musically beautiful, complex work that is both challenging and daring in scope.

Perhaps the biggest addition to the cast is that of Jessica Rivera as Kitty Oppenheimer. This part was originally composed with the late great Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in mind though unfortunately that was not to be, leaving an able Kristine Jepson to step in for the premiere. However, things never quite gelled for her. Rivera came onto Adams' and Sellars' radar after her magnificent performances in Golijov’s Ainadamar in Santa Fe and Ojai steering her to the lead role in Adams’ A Flowering Tree in ’06 and eventually to Kitty. Suddenly the opera has another pole. What seemed solely about Oppenheimer and the people around him before now is richer and more complex. Doctor Atomic becomes a metaphorical and ideological tug of war between Oppenheimer and his wife. They are two souls struggling with the same issues at the same time but in markedly different ways. Rivera’s singing is wondrous evoking Dawn Upshaw in her clear tone and superlative acting. She commands the stage providing a counterpoint to a remarkable turn from her co-star Gerald Finley.

Finley, and the rest of the cast, have grown into their roles giving the work a flow and a real sense of the relationships between the characters. Finley’s performance of “Batter my heart” at the end of Act I continues to stun and is easily one of the highlights of the entire year on an opera stage. Robert Spano led the orchestra through a score that is complex and increasingly beautiful in the most unexpected places with each repeated listening. The amplification and use of pre-recorded ambient noise seemed to work much better here than in San Francisco. This necessary and fascinating element seems to continue to provide a challenge to opera houses not designed for this kind of innovation, and I am interested to see how the Metropolitan Opera deals with this component of the work when Doctor Atomic arrives on their stage in the coming years.

Of course, there is still a lot of bitching and moaning going on in the press about the libretto. Fashioned by Sellars from a variety of already existing prose and poetry texts, it is more assembled than written. But I find that to be one of the opera’s charms. Like some modern day Casablanca everyone has had their hands on this work, but it is beautiful and the libretto is nothing if not poetic. The language is metaphorical and not particularly interested with a formal storyline, which is the perfect choice where the outcome is so familiar to the audience that increased explanation could only serve as overkill. Doctor Atomic will be taking a brief break here in Chicago over the holidays but will return for the rest of its run in January. It should not be missed.

Labels: Opera Review 07/08