Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

My recent trip to Santa Fe gave me an opportunity to see and do a couple of things indirectly related to opera that I thought might be worth mentioning. I got the pleasure of meeting The Standing Room’s Sidney Chen in, you guessed it, the standing room at Friday’s spectacular Adriana Mater performance. Two bloggers meet and momentarily the time/reality continuum seems to bend. But prior to this was another interesting side trip up to the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The museum is run by the University of California on behalf of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and it represents an overview of the history of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s (from which the first nuclear bombs were developed) as well as the general work and research areas that the LANL continue to this day. I’ve been to Los Alamos before, often to visit Bandelier National Monument, a beautiful and mysterious treasure in the mountains, but this is the first time I’ve actually visited anything relating to the city’s less ancient history. I was motivated in part due to the upcoming performances of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic at the Metropolitan Opera this fall in a new staging directed by Penny Woolcock in a co-production with English National Opera. (Tickets are on sale at Noon on Sunday if you don't already have yours.) I’ve seen the opera twice before in San Francisco in 2005 and last year in Chicago and can’t wait to see it again for what is unquestionably the biggest thing happening in New York opera-wise this coming season. As I’ve noted before, it’s a masterpiece, and a visit to the history room at the Los Alamos museum seemed appropriate to see some of the material that inspired the opera and made it into the libretto first hand.

The thing that struck me most at the museum was an important fact about the opera itself that is often overlooked in much of the popular criticism about the piece. The museum’s history exhibit focuses heavily on photos and reminiscences of dozens of ordinary Americans - men and women, scientists and not - who lived secretly in Los Alamos during the days of the Manhattan Project working for their country on a horrible weapon that would end the war, they hoped, but also change the world in ways even they did not completely understand. In secret, these predominantly young adults hid away often from their own families for the sake of secrecy and worked around the clock at times to prepare the bomb that would be tested in the summer of 1945 at the Trinity site in the southern New Mexico desert as well as those that would later be dropped on Japan. These photos and articles were a keen reminder of what Adams and his librettist Peter Sellars have repeatedly recognized about the work – it is an opera about much more than J. Robert Oppenheimer. It’s an opera about America as a whole and about a group of ordinary citizens, doing what they normally do and making sacrifices to reach an end they hope will be for the best but may be infinitely more complicated.

The exhibit also includes a brief film about Los Alamos that notes the area prior to the Manhattan Project was nothing more than a ranch for the sickly male children of wealth families until the government took possession of it in the early 1940s. The film later features Oppenheimer himself quoting the Bhagavad Gita when referring to the Trinity test in much the same way that Act II of Doctor Atomic ends. It brought tears to my eyes and I could see much of the emotional potential of the topic and, I imagine, some of its draw to Adams and Sellars. It’s a quintessentially American topic for an opera and it has been fashioned into a great one. Of course, I suspect that many people will continue to miss the boat on this one. Doctor Atomic does not have a traditional libretto. Sellars and Adams culled it together from other written source material attributed to characters in the opera or the work of a variety of different poets. The opera has been amplified in all the performances to date at the insistence of the composer. These and other factors are hard things to get over for some of the insanely rigid and shortsighted folks who call themselves opera fans. But nonetheless, Doctor Atomic is another operatic landmark and I would imagine the folks in Santa Fe would be chomping at the bit to stage it. To stage the opera in the open countryside of the very mountainous land it refers to for an audience of some of the ancestors of the very people depicted in the opera seems like too great an artistic temptation to pass up. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Labels: Santa Fe Opera 08

Monica Groop, Matthew Best, Pia Freund, and Joseph Kaiser.
Photo: Ken Howard/Santa Fe Opera 2008

This was a busy news day. Though I’m not sure most Americans would know it. CNN is awash in coverage about former Sen. John Edwards admitting to an extra-marital affair. NBC and the L.A. Times meanwhile are preoccupied with beautiful costumes and fireworks that marked the opening of the Beijing Olympics. Amidst all this so-called news, buried deeply (except at the New York Times where it was front and center this afternoon) are reports of military conflict between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia in a part of the world that has seen this sort of tragedy with a sad frequency. I’m not sure who’s going to be the winner in this conflict but I have a pretty good inkling who the losers will be.

I wager Kaija Saariaho and her collaborator Amin Maalouf know the answer to this question as well after seeing the U.S. premiere of their second operatic work, Adriana Mater here in Santa Fe. I had one prior exposure to it in 2006 during the world premiere run in Paris and I am just as convinced now that it is a powerful and moving work that is likely one of the first real operatic masterpieces of the the 21st century. (Alongside Adams’ Doctor Atomic, Adès’ The Tempest and Saariaho’s prior L’amour de Loin.) Set in an anonymous village in Eastern Europe or Asia, the piece concerns a young woman, Adriana, who is raped during a war by a man in the defending army she has known from her youth. She becomes pregnant and against the advice of her sister Refka, keeps the child whom she hopes will become something other than his father. As an adult, her son, Yonas, is enraged to discover the truth of his conception and vows to kill his father. However, when his father returns to their town, now old and blind, Yonas finds he is unable to enact the vengeance he has planned. Adriana finds this inaction liberating for her and her son noting that they are not avenged, but saved. All of this is cut with recurring dream sequences where characters recall events from dreams where they relive or imagine events related to their lives.

Saariaho’s score is dark and shimmering and gloriously beautiful. It was handled here with great sensitivity from Ernest Martinez Izquierdo who also helmed performances of the opera in Helsinki. He has a bit more of a straightforward approach to the opera than Esa-Pekka Salonen did in 2006, but it is still very effective. Peter Sellars’ production from that premiere run has been adapted to the smaller outdoor stage in Santa Fe. It maintains the bleak and minimal George Tsypin-designed huts but is forced to forgo the shadow effects that were prominent at the Bastille. The work now features a different cast with Monica Groop as Adriana, Pia Freund as her sister Refka, Matthew Best as Tsargo, and Joseph Kaiser as her son, Yonas. All were exceptional, but I was particularly taken with Groop’s earthy and intelligent performance. She infused Saariaho’s lyric vocal lines with real poignancy. This production also benefits from an absolutely incendiary turn from Kaiser. His rage and frustration are palpable and the tears on his face in the final scene looked awfully real. This is not a piece about action but one about catharsis, dreams, and blood. It is very sad and most of the time very beautiful.

This opera matters not just because of the relevance of it’s topic to current events, but because I would argue it represents something far different in opera. It’s a work about agency and in particular a woman’s agency to break a cycle of violence and hatred. The characters actually escape their fate by willing themselves to do so and no one must die to do so in a Wagnerian-style redemption. Or as Adriana puts it in Maalouf’s poetic libretto, blood means nothing. It's a work about simple human forgiveness and peace with no magic and that may make it harder to swallow than anything for an American opera audience. I’m sure there is an argument to be made that Adriana Mater is perhaps the first feminist opera as well, although I’ll leave that to others better equipped to do so. Suffice it to say this is something new. Or as a friend of mine said to me after the show, “I’m not sure this is really an opera.” That’s exactly right. And that’s exactly why it’s a great one.

Labels: Santa Fe Opera 08

Set for Act II of Radamisto
Photo : Ken Howard/Santa Fe Opera 2008

Now that’s more like it. Santa Fe Opera’s new production of Handel’s Radamisto is fantastic. Bitch and moan all you want about Daivd Alden’s modern, sleek, quasi-Asian/Middle Eastern production, this is why I keep coming back to Santa Fe: it represents some of what they do best – fresh, fun, and musically sensitive performances of things you don’t see everyday that deserve a wider audience. Now as I’ve noted here before, I’m biased in that I love, love, love Baroque opera. Forget Verdi, Mozart, and Wagner. Opera was over after Handel. (With the possible exception of Massenet.) He said it all and turned the shit out. In fact I get rather bummed out when cuts are made, which there were here in Santa Fe, leaving about 2 hours and 40 minutes when all was said and done. This is easily an hour less than the excellent edited earlier version of Radamisto Musica Angelica presented in Los Angeles earlier this year. (See the link above.)

This fully staged performance in Santa Fe may be shorter but it is not for lack of big name talent. In fact the most surprising thing may be that its stars David Daniels and Laura Claycomb have never appeared here before. Daniels is perhaps the most consistently excellent vocal artist before the public today. I can’t recall ever seeing him give a performance that was anything other than superior and his Radamisto is no exception. At turns heart-breaking and rageful he commands the stage. And while all the cast were great, however, I would also point out Heidi Stober’s Tigrane, which sounded amazing underneath the heavy suit of a balding middle-aged man with a fez. She frequently walks off with scenes.

And while we’re on the topic of artists who are consistently excellent, I should mention Harry Bicket who returns to Santa Fe to conduct these performances. Exciting, well-paced, lively and never rushed, the orchestra was dead-on tonight and clearly have a rapport with this master of Baroque repertory. It's a wonderful evening that isn't cluttered and doesn't take itself too seriously, which is always a necessary requirement for Baroque opera. And don't miss the fake stuffed tiger pierced with numerous arrows hung from the roof in the final scene. It's borrowed directly from the work of Cai Guo-Qiang and floats among a whole host of animal symbols throughout the production. There are two shows left on August 15 and 20th both of which I'd catch if I was in town.

Labels: Santa Fe Opera 08

Lucas Meachem and Teddy Tahu Rhodes show off their jazz hands
Photo : Ken Howard/Santa Fe Opera 2008

I must admit I found Santa Fe Opera’s current production of Britten’s Billy Budd a disappointment. I wanted to like it. I really, really did. But sometimes things don't work out the way you'd expect. The biggest negative of the evening on paper was the new production being helmed by Paul Curran, who is responsible for some of the most pedestrian and boring productions around including last year’s atrocious La Bohème here in Santa Fe. But I must admit that the production wasn’t as bad as I expected. It had a fair amount of movement with some clever scene changes and a very effective final scene where the hanging of Budd was handled with a stark and moving grace, the body back lit and shadowed against a large sail that filled the stage. But it was far from perfect. The whole show was a bit precious and at times reminded me of a gay musical-theater version of Master and Commander. But isn’t that what Billy Budd is more or less to begin with anyway? The stage was often cluttered and crammed with too many people in too little space creating unfocused and fussy visuals. The choreography was laughable at times most unfortunately when Budd kills Claggart with what appears to be a poorly thrown punch which elicited a few guffaws from tonight’s audience. Of course it wasn't a complete surprise after the veritable floor show that had preceded it as pictured above.

The cast was good, but only Peter Rose’s Claggart was completely satisfying. His Act I aria concerning his resolve to destroy beauty was actually chilling. Meanwhile William Burden was cast as Captain Vere in a performance that was a bit croony at times often leaving him sounding more like Nemorino than a senior British naval officer. He lacked a certain sense of Vere's restraint of his own emotions. Of course all of this was secondary to the highly anticipated starring performance of Teddy Tahu Rhodes. He has a wonderful voice and he has all the lanky muscle with glistening pecs so popular with the kids these days. He had frequent opportunities to climb up and down rope ladders using nothing but his arms. Gratuitous, maybe, but not an unaffecting performance. He was a little more on the happy-go-lucky naïve side than was necessary, but you could believe that the other sailors did really love him.

The other highly anticipated performance tonight was that of newly appointed SFO music director Edo de Waart. De Waart has a long history with this company and he was welcomed back warmly in his new role with a performance that had many strong and spirited moments. So, while there are few reasons to like this Billy Budd, it unfortunately is not one for the record books.

Labels: Santa Fe Opera 08

Susanna Phillips and wig
Photo : Ken Howard/Santa Fe Opera 2008

For all its reputation as a company advocating the works of Richard Strauss, the Santa Fe Opera has an even richer tradition in the operas of Mozart. Now in its 51st year, SFO has only had four summer seasons that did not include Mozart and this year isn't one of them with a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro. Like last night’s Falstaff, this is another quality production that is well sung and competently done if not particularly bold or grand. It’s a period production with little edge, but has a thoughtful and witty look with a fair amount of movement. A field of flowers that covers the stage is picked clean downstage by a group of male servants at the start of the show to make room for the actors and sets. Later they replace them piece by piece back into the stage at the opening of the final act. I’m not sure what all this is about but it is rather comic. There aren’t many surprises here overall, though, and sometimes director Joanthan Kent's stage direction is awkward and disjointed.

The cast has a number of notable singing actors including Mariusz Kwiecien as Count Almaviva, Susanna Phillips as the Countess, Elizabeth Watts as Susannah, and Luca Pisaroni as Figaro. Pretty and agile, no one disappointed but I admit Kwiecien is a real superstar and he plied his way with ease across the whole performance receiving a loud and enthusiastic reception from the audience. He was a magnificent Don Givanni in San Francisco in 2007, and I for one continue to be impressed with his cool, even baritone. Of course there is that thorny problem when the count is so much hotter than Figaro - not that it's unimaginable, it just muddies the water.

Canadian Robert Tweten was a one evening fill-in for Kenneth Montgomery who has helmed the rest of the performances here and the orchestra sounded good but could have perhaps used a little more zing overall. Of course some people are never happy. The elderly woman behind me decided to lodge a protest from the Stockhausen-fanatic contingent of the audience by augmenting the score. After her cell-phone went off during the first act she decided to allow the audible repetitive message alerting beep of the phone continue throughout the rest of the entire performance giving the entire night a rather electronic flair. She slyly joined everyone else around her in complaining about the noise during the intermission creating the impression that there was no way the sound could be emanating from her own overstuffed bag, thus creating enough social awkwardness that no one was willing to more assertively and insistently confront her. Those serialists just can't let anything go can they.

blurry photo of Kaija Saairaho in Santa Fe
Photo : mine 2008

On a brighter note, Kaija Saariaho was in the audience. She's still in town for the performances of her opera Adriana Mater as well as the world premiere of a new chamber piece that is taking place over a few shows this week with the Real Quiet ensemble and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. (I'll have more on all this later on so stay tuned.) Apparently she was eager to check out what the now-dead-over-200-years competition is up to these days which makes sense only in America. Let freedom ring.

Labels: Santa Fe Opera 08

Kelley O'Connor, Claire Rutter, and Nancy Maultsby see what's in the hamper
Photo : Ken Howard/Santa Fe Opera 2008

Most great operas are great because they are either incredibly fragile or unimaginably sturdy. On the one hand, an opera can be so involved and demanding in so many ways that it can be nearly impossible to perform without the failure of some key element. Part of the charm here is searching for perfection that may never be reachable like, say, with Tristan. Then, on the other hand, there is another group of great operas, those that seem to stand up marvelously no matter what you do to them. Below-average singing? No matter. Dull, uninspired staging? Whatever. Sloppy orchestra? A nuisance. While many of these seemingly impervious works belong to Mozart, Verdi’s Falstaff is another. It is a construction so well written, so tightly constructed, it’s charming virtually whatever happens to it.

And so it goes here in the desert, where I started my trip to this year’s Santa Fe Opera season with Verdi’s final opera in what is a solid and thoroughly enjoyable evening. In fact it’s more a pleasure than it should be considering that it does suffer from probably the most predictable staging under director Kevin Newbury. It’s stuffed with every crowd pleasing comedic trope you can think of from impish doe-eyed kids to spit takes. But, it’s still funny which is a testament to Verdi, librettist Boito and I suppose Shakespeare as well if one must drag his name into everything. I suppose I should give some credit to the Falstaff himself, Anthony Michaels-Moore, who is taking over for Laurent Naouri in the final three weeks of the run. Michaels-Moore was superb in the Met's Peter Grimes earlier this year and he is adequately buffoonish without overplaying his hand and vocally consistent. Claire Rutter’s Alice Ford was also very good and provided the other rock-solid vocal pillar in this construction. The always excellent Kelly O’Connor wasn’t given enough to do as Meg Page, but she worked well with Rutter and Nancy Maultsby’s Mistress Quickly. Not all was great in the vocal area however. The Nannetta, played by Laura Giordano, and Fenton, played by Norman Reinhardt, both quickly unraveled in the final scene, just when they both finally had something to do.

Still, on balance, it was entirely enjoyable. The conductor, Paolo Arrivabeni, in his U.S. debut in these performances, led the orchestra in a good if not especially nuanced performance. Of course this is all outdoors so nuance can sometimes get lost. So what is called for is something sturdy that can withstand the monsoonal thunderstorms here at night like the Santa Fe Opera amphitheater itself. Falstaff, an opera that has seen several prior outings here in New Mexico, continues to be just the ticket.

Labels: Santa Fe Opera 08