VOICE OF HER HEART

 Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with some compelling evenings this week and next. The season opener was a delightful evening celebrating women composers and songs about women, sung by an all-female cast. Among the singers we heard some fine young singers comprising those singing currently with Dell-Arte and some alumnae that we recall from years gone by.

We were enchanted by the first half of the program which represented various stages of a woman's life, apparently inspired by Adelbert von Chamisso's text which was set by Robert Schumann and Carl Loewe (Frauenliebe und Leben). We would never hold one above the other; each composer invested the text with different shades of emotion, within his compositional style. 

Both sopranos served the music well, as did collaborative pianist Lara Saldanha. We have been hearing Elizaveta Kozlova quite a bit recently whereas Victoria Falcone has been off our radar screen since 2017 when we loved her performance in Janaçek's Cunning Little Vixen at Manhattan School of Music. It is always rewarding to hear singers remembered from their conservatory years. This part of Act I was called Enchanted and we were indeed enchanted, especially by the sopranos opening and closing the set with a Schumann duet.

Separating Enchanted from Betrothal  Ms. Saldanha delighted our ears with Clara Schumann's Fier Flüchtige Stücke, no. 3.

The Betrothal section also focused mainly on the Schumann and Loewe settings. The fine singers were soprano Jennifer Gliere, well remembered for a stunning Violetta about 8 years ago in Amore Opera's production of La Traviata, and mezzo-soprano Valerie Filloux who performed so well just last year with Dell'Arte.  We couldn't help noticing that the young narrator of the von Chamisso text was so much calmer in "Ich kann nicht fassen, nicht glauben" than the one portrayed by Schumann. We were also glad to hear  a lied by Clara Schumann, a setting of a Rückert text which was later set by Richard Strauss--"Liebst du um Schönheit". The fine accompaniment was performed by David Stech.

The third section, also accompanied by Mr. Stech,  was entitled Motherhood, and was performed by sopranos Nina Riley (new to us) and Jenny Ribeiro whom we reviewed at least a decade ago as a fine Susanna and an even finer Rosina, surprising us with her take on a role usually assigned to a mezzo-soprano. Augmenting the most welcome excerpts from the Schumann and Loewe cycles, were two duets, one by Mendelssohn ("Volkslied") and one by Richard Strauss ("Muttertanderlei") which never fails to amuse us with two mothers boasting about their respective offspring.

The final section of Act I was entitled Departed with Ms. Filloux returning, joined by soprano Barbee Monk accompanied by Ms .Saldanha. The two lovely ladies opened with a Brahms duet "Klänge 1" and closed in perfect harmony with Maestro Chris Fecteau's arrangement of the tragic "Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan", weaving together Schumann and Loewe, whose compositional voices joined as successfully as the voices of the two singers had.

It is always a pleasure to hear Maestro Fecteau at the piano but we cannot express the same enthusiasm for Act II as we did for Act I. Perhaps it is unfair to try to appreciate contemporary compositions when one has just swooned over the 19th century greats. Three female composers from New York City were given voice--Martha Sullivan, Valerie Saalbach, and Ellen Mandel.

Forgive us Dear Reader if we seem somewhat vague but try as we might, we could not keep our 19th century-tuned ears involved in the compositions, one of which was a setting of text by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. However, we did appreciate hearing some new voices. The soprano of Andrea Chinedu Nwoke is an astounding instrument, full of power but also luscious in its overtones We were not surprised to learn that she has a past in the mezzo-soprano fach. 

We were also happy to get another hearing of soprano Antonina Ermolenko, who we remember for having sung some delightful Ukrainian songs perhaps two years ago. We were also glad to get a further hearing of Clara Lisle. She was a bright light in a regrettable 2018 production of Eugene Onegin which we are glad she survived! She closed the program with Ellen Mandel's setting of a text by Seamus Heaney entitled "Sleep".  Our opera singer companion thought the program should have ended with a more rousing finale but we actually enjoyed the soothing quietude.

The second half of the program involved a dancer of the Modern Ballet persuasion which involves a lot of floor work and is not to our taste. We are great fans of virtuoso classical ballet which commands our full attention, especially when it brings Tchaikovsky's music to visual life. What we saw was  more a distraction in its abstractness and did not appear to add anything to the music. We are quite sure however that there were many in the audience who found pleasure in it. We are just rather particular in our taste.

We cannot close without praising the titles which were projected in full view of everyone in the audience, and sufficient in size and illumination. This seems rather basic but we recently had an experience where the text was tiny and obliterated by the set for most of the time, and washed out by the lighting.

Dell'Arte has two more events in store that we are looking forward to and you should too. The Italienische Liederbuch will be presented on 6/19 and 6/21. Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito will be performed on 6/18, 20, and 22.

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A BAROQUE SALOME

Patrick Ressenbacher, Raven McMillon, Randall Scotting, Maestro Neal Goren, Joseph Beutel, Olanna Goudeau, and Edith Harrison

What we heard at Catapult Opera's production of Alessandro Stradella's San Giovanni Battista delighted the ear but was violently at war with what we saw onstage. Our troubled brain was catapulted back and forth between some thrillingly adventurous Baroque music, as thrillingly sung as it was played, and some colorful but nonsensical hijinks taking place onstage.

Let us begin with the delights. Stradella's oratorio is three and a half centuries old and yet it struck us with its freshness. We are far from expert in Baroque music and barely know the difference between a concertino and a concerto grosso, but we are familiar with melodic invention, rhythmic variety, and vocal virtuosity. To say that Maestro Neal Goren (well remembered from Gotham Chamber Opera) elicited a magnificent performance from his musicians would be an understatement.

Vocal artistry was presented in good measure by a vocally accomplished cast. The eponymous Giovanni (John the Baptist) was sung by counter-tenor Randall Scotting. Bass-baritone Joseph Beutel performed the role of Herod, with his wife Herodiade sung by soprano Olanna Goudeau. Soprano Raven McMillon  performed the role of Salome. Tenor Patrick Bessenbacher sang the role of the Councilor. Stradella's vocal writing was fluid with lots of duets, trios, and ensembles, all given exquisite harmonies. No complaints there!

The problem for us was integrating what we heard with what we saw.  Set designer Joshua Sticklin created  a vaguely 1970's home, complete with a credenza housing a television screen, and a well-supplied bar. Oana Botez' costumes included a golden caftan for Herodias which matched her golden voice, platform shoes for Salome which did not interfere with her petite stature, and Western attire for San Giovanni Battista. What, may you ask, was this Marlboro Man doing in this suburban home?

The "concept" of Director Timothy Nelson was to illustrate the depravity of Herod's household by setting it in the 1970's with a dysfunctional family right out of a Wes Anderson film. Mother is clearly disappointed in Father and flirts openly with what appears to be a family friend. There is a considerable amount of imbibing. Little sister is glued to the TV, watching what seems to be a screen-saver. Just normal suburbia, except for the table which reveals itself to be a tiny cell into which the visiting Marlboro Man is imprisoned, and behind which he will be decapitated. This takes us beyond Wes Anderson territory and into Wes Craven territory. Yikes!

Then, Dear Reader, there is the obligatory homosexualization of the story. Marlboro Man kisses Daddy on the mouth and there is hand-holding and other signs of mutual affection. Does Daddy order Marlboro Man's death out of a homosexual panic instead of indulging his stepdaughter's blackmail? Can a man be both homosexual and also a girl-child abuser?

The beheading of Marlboro Man is performed by Mother's paramour (thankfully secreted behind the little prison) and by the time the bloody head came out on the silver platter we were ready to just close our eyes and listen to the daddy-daughter duet--he in despair and her in exultation. And then....the music stops! Stradella ended his oratorio on the dominant, never resolving to the tonic. We surmise Stradella wanted his audience to leave upset and upset we were.

The libretto was written by a priest named Ansaldo Ansaldi who based his text on the Book of Matthew. We cannot comment on it because the positioning of the titles and the lighting (by Yannick Godts) obscured the titles much of the time, but we would hazard a guess that it did not mesh well with the onstage action.

By a strange coincidence, it was only a few moths ago that Heartbeat Opera produced Strauss' Salome in the exact same venue--The Space at Irondale. In spite of the fact that it was sung in English and presented in contemporary times, there was no battle between sight and sound. Perhaps Stradella's work might better have been left as the gorgeous oratorio it was written.

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EARLY STRAUSS

 Maestro Leon Botstein congratulates soprano Angela Meade

 

In yesterday's discussion of the various forms of opera available to New Yorkers, we neglected to mention a most important one--that of the concert presentation as exemplified by the American Symphony Orchestra as well as New Amsterdam Opera. As a matter of fact, our first exposure to opera came through Eve Queler's Opera Orchestra of New York. We recall sitting up in the 4th balcony, following along with the libretto and forming our taste in opera.

There are benefits and drawbacks to concert presentations of operas. There are rarely titles and following along with the libretto, as our companion did, may help you identify the characters and appreciate the linguistic and diction skills of each individual singer. However, it also deprives you of the opportunity to focus on the music and the voices. In the context of a staged opera there is plenty of drama and characterization to focus on as one can observe body movement in service of those aspects. Sadly, this is missing in a concert presentation.

Last night, at American Symphony Orchestra's concert production of Richard Strauss' first opera Guntram, for which the composer wrote his own libretto, we chose to focus on the aural experience. Given our lack of familiarity with the rather inert story we were happy to focus on the orchestral writing until a bit of singing captivated our ear.

After Guntram's modest success in 1894 in Weimar, it flopped in Munich the following year and was forgotten until recently. Musicologists blame its lack of success on its purported similarity to Wagner's opus. Indeed, perhaps the music world had heard enough about Medieval minnesingers, sin, and redemption. Although we have never thrilled to Parsifal and Tannhaüser, we have experienced no end of delight from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with its more captivating story.

We very much enjoyed Strauss' orchestral writing for Guntram and if there were echoes of Wagner, they were of Wagnerian innovations that we favor. We particularly enjoyed the opening leitmotiv that reappeared in various forms throughout the opera, a rhythmically memorable descending pattern that Strauss renewed throughout the work in different keys, providing unity to the work.

The orchestral writing was indeed lavish and lavishly orchestrated. Had it been a symphony we would not have missed the voices. However, it was an opera and there were voices, all of them at least serviceable but often thrilling. In the only opera Strauss wrote with the male role as  the most important, we must say that it was soprano Angela Meade who ran away with the honors. 

Entering the stage in a gilded gown, she appeared like the Greek god Helios, drawing his golden chariot across the sky. Her voice, similarly, seems a gift from the gods--strong and gleaming when called for yet tender in the final love scene with the eponymous Guntram, sung by tenor John Matthew Myers. The role of Guntram is extremely demanding with long arias in each of three acts. Prior to the final scene we found Mr. Myers'  voice somewhat irritating and forced in the upper registers, although far more agreeable in the middle and lower ranges. (The mighty Strauss orchestra, conducted by Maestro Leon Botstein, is rather a beast to be heard over but Ms. Meade's steely soprano cut right through the dense orchestration.)  However, we must admit that in the final scene of love and renunciation, Mr. Myers' voice sounded much more musical, perhaps inspired by the tenderness of the love he felt compelled to renounce.  Or perhaps, he had just been saving himself for the end.

Bass-baritone Kevin Short sang the role of Freihild's father, the Old Duke, and impressed with his deep resonance. As the wicked Duke Robert we heard baritone Alexander Birch Elliott, as unpleasant a character as one might imagine. Indeed, the opera begins with his wife Freihild running toward the lake to drown herself and one could truly understand why.

As we learned from reading the synopsis, Freihild and Guntram are birds of a feather whose mutual empathy is understandable. Too bad that Guntram kills Robert and decides to spend the rest of his life in solitary atonement--not because he murdered but because he "sinned in his heart" by loving a married woman!  Perhaps there are some out there who might find this story worthy of a staged production but we do not.

Aside from the final scene of love and renunciation, there were a few vocal moments that took our attention away from the instrumentals. One was a chorus of four men whose voices combined and intertwined in the most delicious harmonies. Unfortunately, since we were not following along with the libretto, we are unable to identify them. Nor are we able to identify a male singer who came on for a brief aria on stage right and sang with beautiful clarity of tone. If you were there and can say who the singer was, please leave a comment below.

Mezzo-soprano Katherine Goeldner put in a brief appearance in Act I as an old woman with tenor Bernard Holcomb as an old man. Bass-baritone Nate Mattingly sang the role of Friedhold. 

Thanks to the American Symphony Orchestra for giving us this opportunity to hear some gorgeous orchestral writing and for giving us the gift of Ms. Meade. We wouldn't have missed it for the world!

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ZEMLINSKYS ZIMMER

Michael Boley, Mary-Hollis Hundley, and Eric McKeever

(photo by Philip Schneidman)

There seems to be a number of options available to opera goers in New York City. We have selections from the canon given lavish productions by the Metropolitan Opera and beloved standards given bare bones productions by an ever diminishing number of scrappy companies like Amore Opera. There is a slow stream of contemporary works with polemic subjects and non-musical music that no one ever cares to revisit as well as exciting productions of newly discovered works from the 18th and 19th century (by Lafayette Opera and Teatro Nuovo respectively). There are the daring companies like Heartbeat Opera that put original spins on the classics, and finally companies that bring to light some rather odd pieces that merit a hearing.

Of course we are speaking of Little Opera Theater of New York, known as LOTNY, which has just brought a rarity to light at The Fisher Center of The Brooklyn Academy of Music. We were pleased to attend opening night of Zemlinskys Zimmer and found much to enjoy--some fine singing in well-enunciated German, an excellent chamber orchestra that gave an admirable reading of Roland Freisitzer's reduction of the Zemlinsky score, and some gorgeous colorful projections by Kylee Loera.

The cultural scene of fin de siècle Vienna was responsible for a number of innovations in the visual and performing arts as well as some socio-sexual experimentation.  One has only to think of the wild adventures of Alma Schindler who threw aside composer/conductor Alexander Zemlinsky for composer/conductor Gustav Mahler, whom she also threw aside for a succession of lovers. One might speculate that Zemlinsky's choice of Oscar Wilde's unfinished play A Florentine Tragedy  (translated into German by Max Meyerfeld) as a subject for the opera we saw last night was based on his experience with the faithless Alma.

The story involves a woman named Bianca (how ironic!) who entertains a nobleman named Prinz Guido Bardi right under the nose of her merchant husband Simone. As directed by Philip Schneidman, the lustful lovers exercise minimal restraint in hiding their feeling. Simone (baritone Eric McKeever) plays a cat-and-mouse game with the Prince (tenor Michael Boley) and Bianca (soprano Mary-Hollis Hundley) who appear to ignore the warning signs of the rage behind Simone's obsequious behavior. The evening ends in a duel and a strangling of the Prince, after which Bianca fawns over her previously despised and disparaged husband. One imagines that Zemlinsky might have wished to strangle Mahler! One wonders whether Mahler and Alma were present at a performance.  Now that would have made a fine opera!

The three cast members are to be complimented on their fine singing as well as their not-so-subtle acting. The adulterous story was prefaced by the lovely Ms. Hundley reclining on a chaise longue, apparently awakening from a dream and singing Zemlinsky's luscious setting of Richard Dehmel's "Maiblumen blühten überall" against that afore-mentioned projected background reminiscent of visual arts of that period. 

This was followed by Mr. Boley  performing "Liebe Schwalbe" from Walzer Gasänge Op. 6,  a setting of text by Ferdinand Gregorovius. It seemed a marvelous opportunity to get acquainted with works by a composer who was quite famous in his time but whose light diminished when he fled the Nazis and wound up in New York.

Costumes by Lara Bruijn were a propos, as were the garments Simone brought out for the Prince to wear. Only one element stood out in a jarring way and that was the black corset worn by Bianca. We thought it should have been white like the other undergarments.

Now what about the score!  Stage left held most of the musicians; strings were joined by sufficient winds to provide color, including flute, clarinets, oboe, horns, trumpet, and trombone. On stage right, thrillingly right under our nose, were a celeste, a piano, and some exciting percussionists. Concertmaster was Stani Dimitrova and Maestro Tiffany Chang brought it all together, filling the space (comprising blessedly raked seating) with thrilling sound.

We will also mention that the titles by Dalia Sevilla were not the ordinary barely legible afterthoughts but made a part of the projections which also did a fine job of establishing time and place.

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THE GIULIO GARI FOUNDATION WINNERS RECITAL

Hyunu Roh, Abigail Raiford, Jihye Jang, and Giorgi Guliashvili

What an outstanding Sunday we spent at The Players Club, celebrating the winners of the 2025 Giulio Gari Foundation Vocal Competition. What could be more worth celebrating! Most of the citizens of Planet Opera were there to hear and to honor seven talented young singers well on their way to promising careers, aided by the generous prizes suppled by the foundation that honors the memory of renowned tenor Giulio Gari.

Accompanied by the versatile pianist Mary Pinto, we got to hear a few singers we know well, a few we are just getting familiar with, and a couple that were new to us. The level of artistry was impressive. For a change, let's talk about the ladies first.

Lyric soprano Sofia Gotch, well known to us from Classic Lyric Arts, dazzled us with "Caro nome" from Verdi's Rigoletto. So dazzled were we by her astute characterization that we forgot to take her photo! Unlike the unidimentionality of most sopranos that tackle the character of Gilda, the complexities of a young woman experiencing her first crush were completely explored by means of vocal color, facial expression, and bodily gesture. We would say that Ms. Gotch owns the role.

And now, let's consider Abigail Raiford whose coloratura gifts were obvious from the totally exposed vocalise that opens "Ou va,la jeune Indoue" from Delibes' Lakme. Every element of fioritura was perfectly captured-- the fine trill, the clarity of tone, the exotic coloration, the staccato notes, and the scale passages. It seemed to be a lesson in coloratura technique.

Soprano Jihye Jang exhibited some fine German in her performance of Arabella's aria "Das war sehr gut Mandryka" from the Strauss opera of the same name. We also enjoyed her Mimi when, as pictured above, four of the winners created the scene from Act II of Puccini's La Bohême. There was a dramatically exciting contrast with Ms. Raiford's shrewish Musetta. 

The men were equally superb. We have been writing about baritone Yeongtaek Yang for a couple years, since his days at Manhattan School of Music, always admiring the flexible manner in which he can slide into a variety of roles, both comic and tragic. Last night he created excitement performing the role of Tonio who must open Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with a dual purpose-- the excitement for the onstage "audience" being encouraged to buy tickets and the foreshadowing of tragedy for the actual theatrical audience. He accomplished this with a toolbox of skills, both vocal and dramatic. It was riveting.

We saw the opera world's next Verdi baritone in the making when Enes Pektas (recently reviewed as Michele in Classic Lyric Arts' production of Il Tabarro) performed "Per me giunto" from Verdi's Don Carlo, bringing back memories of a Hvorostovsky performance at The Metropolitan Opera. The nobility of the Marquis de Posa's character came through loud and clear with excellent musicality.

Recently winning prizes in several vocal competitions, tenor Giorgi Guliashvili delighted the audience with "O Souverain" from Massenet's Le Cid, sung in fine French with Gallic style. We liked the tender tone and the fine vibrato.

Completely new to us was baritone Hyunu Roh who surprised us with impressive Italianate style, performing Bixio's "Parlami d'amore Mariù". This song is a beloved staple that has survived nearly a century, having been written for a film. The passionate Italian temperament was well captured.  Mr. Roh's subsequent performance as Marcello in the quartet showed a different side of his artistry and we hope to hear more of him, although he is returning to Korea today, leaving with, we hope, good memories of New York and the competition.

The evening was not over yet. Tenor Neil Shicoff graciously received a Distinguished Achievement Award, prizes were presented, and then.....SURPRISE! Maria Brea, whose performance of Marie in Fille du Regiment ten years ago presented by the sadly defunct Prelude to Performance, lingers in our memory along with the concurrent undergraduate performances at Manhattan School of Music. 

Ms. Brea performed arias from Lecuona's Maria La O and Golijov's Ainadamar. We were filled with the joy that is unique to bearing witness to artistic growth and a burgeoning career. Accompanying Ms. Brea was her highly tuned in husband/pianist Colby Charnin. We hope that this year's winners were inspired by the fact that Ms. Brea was the First Prize Winner in 2017. 

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THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT

 John Taylor Ward and Rachel Kobernick

(photo by Andrew Boyle)

The Faust legend has been the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. Plays and comic puppet theatre loosely based on this legend were popular throughout Germany in the 16th century, often reducing Faust and Mephistopheles to figures of vulgar fun. The story was popularized in England by Christopher Marlowe, who gave it a classic treatment in his 1592 play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.  In Goethe's reworking of the story over two hundred years later, Faust became  a dissatisfied intellectual who yearns for "more than earthly meat and drink" in his life.

In terms of the operatic canon, There are dozens of iterations, two of them preceding Gounod's, beginning with Louis Spohr's Faust in 1816 and Berlioz' La Damnation de Faust in 1846. Following Gounod's Faust in 1859, there was Boito's Mefitofele in 1868. And that's just in the 19th century. The 20th century brought many more iterations.

So why wouldn't it be acceptable for Director Sara Holdren to tell the story her own way?    So why not stage scenes in a bar? Why not have the denizens of the bar dance around with party hats. Why not characterize Seibel as a female bartender enamored of the shy Marguerite. Why not replace the original spoken dialogue of Jules Barbier (adapted from Michel Carré's play Faust et Marguerite)  with contemporary chatter? Why not make Martha a yenta who loves shopping? Why not end the opera with Marguerite, Seibel, and Martha having a picnic outdoors with Marguerite's baby in a cradle ?

Part of us wishes that Music Director Jacob Ashworth had commissioned arranger Francisco Ladrón de Guevara to write a contemporary score instead of co-opting Gounod's music. A motley collection of instruments (violin, mandolin, cello, bass, harmonium, piano,flute, clarinet, and trumpet) produced some interesting sounds indeed. But they could also have played original music instead of Gounod's.

Among the singers, baritone Alex DeSocio gave an excellent performance as Valentin with a robust yet mellow tone and a sincerity of acting that made us regret his death at th hands of Faust, a most unlikable character.. We enjoyed his "Avant de quitter ces lieux".The last time we heard him sing he played a nasty bigoted drill sergeant. How odd to see him as a military man once more.

Rachel Kobernik made a shy and innocent Marguerite. John Taylor Ward used his lengthy flexible body to create a very slimy Mephistopheles. We enjoyed "Faites-lui mes aveux" sung by mezzo-soprano Addie Rose Brown portraying  Siebel, but not as a pants role. (We think it's impossible for Heartbeat Opera to resist the impulse to have homosexual references in their productions, witness the love affair between Eugene Onegin and Lensky in their recent production of the Tchaikovsky opera.) The role of Faust was played by Orson Van Gay II and the role of Martha was played  for comic relief by Eliza Bonet.

What set this Faust apart were the special effects; there was perhaps too much of a good thing. Imagination ran high; the execution was sometimes magical and at other times the effects distracted from the singing. Borrowing from Japanese Kabuki theater, puppeteers Rowan Magee and Emma Wiseman, dressed completely in black, manipulated the set and props to magical effect, with objects seeming to float in the air.  Co-Scenic Designers were Forest Entsminger and Yichen Zhou who also designed the effective lighting. Costumes were designed by Elvia Bovenzi Blitz. Nick Lehane designed the puppets. And yes, you did see two puppets copulating.

Gounod's opera was squeezed into two hours without intermission and we found our attention wandering and our senses overloaded by the visual effects. The standing ovation at the conclusion indicated that our tedium was not shared.

Heartbeat Opera will continue to do what they do, reinterpreting the classics, and we have resigned ourself to a position of ambivalence. Sometimes we will see an old work with new eyes, as we did with their recent Salome;  sometimes we will believe that a masterpiece was trashed; sometimes we will enjoy a clever and original reduction of a score as in the all-clarinet chamber orchestra in Salome and in Faust's unusual scoring; sometimes we will miss the traditional orchestral colors.

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SHOWCASE OR NEW OPERA COMPANY?

Enes Pektas as Michele

Sarah Stevens as Giorgetta and David Freides as Luigi

With his typical modest manner, Glenn Morton, Director of Classic Lyric Arts Vocal Academy, introduced CLAVA's debut opera performance at The Blue Gallery. As a member of the audience we are not obligated to be modest. As a matter of fact, we are over the moon about a completely engaging performance of Il Tabarro, one third of Puccini's  Il Trittico. The singing was stellar with major roles performed by members of CLAVA and supporting roles cast with graduates of CLA's  immersive summer programs in Italy, France, and The Berkshires.

Adding to the immeasurable vocal thrills of the evening were three factors. The finely tuned direction of Daniel Isengart (a CLAVA Faculty Member) told the timeless story with specificity of detail and characterological honesty.  The conducting by Maestro Michelle Rofrano  built the intensity of Puccini's score to a fever pitch, relaxing only briefly for the dancing scene. The piano artistry of Doug Han who, by some kind of magic, created all the colors of the orchestra.

Mr. Isengart's stage direction was so specific that our guest, who speaks no Italian, was able to relate the story to us after the curtain.  And no, he did not read the synopsis. This was an experiment because there were no projected titles. Not only was the story well told, but each character was believable, evoking memories of real people.

As Michele, the Captain of the barge, we heard baritone Enes Pektas, whose Master's Degree recital we recently reviewed. (You can, Dear Reader, enter his name in the search bar if you missed the review.) His acting was so intense and brooding that we lost sight of the artist as someone we have seen and heard before. He actually became the character and we felt the pain of being betrayed. Although Giuseppi Adami's libretto is set a century ago, the story is a timeless one. The narcissistic injury endured by a man in a loveless marriage unable to retain his wife's affection can easily turn to murderous rage. That story is not unknown today.  The sullen vocal color infused Mr. Pektas' portrayal whilst he preserved his beautiful tonal quality and phrasing.

As his unhappy wife Giorgetta, soprano Sara Stevens (also reviewed several times this year for her performances as a Master's Degree student at Manhattan School of Music) turned in a most affecting performance. By means of vocal coloration she demonstrated the coldness she felt for her much older husband and the feminine energy she projected with Luigi, a stevedore on the barge. By some fine acting one could sense that she and her lover had a past that they shared. Indeed they both came from the same suburb of Paris and probably grew up together. All this was conveyed with facial gesture and posture, but probably came from a deep belief in the character. 

There was the lighthearted side of Giorgetta as well, when she brought wine to the stevedores and danced. There was even a funny moment when Tinca (played by John Viscardi, once a CLA student but now Coach and Artistic Director) tried clumsily to dance with her and stepped on her toes.

The character of Luigi the lover was wisely drawn by tenor David Freides who was careful not to make him too sympathetic. Did he deserve his fate? That was left for the viewer to decide. That he sang with beautiful tone might have prejudiced the audience to more sympathy than he deserved.

It is said in the theater that there are no small parts and that seems to be true in opera as well.  As evidence we offer the fine performance of mezzo-soprano Sofia Durante as La Frugola who comes on board with trinkets and gossip that she shares with Giorgetta. She immersed herself so completely in this voluble role that it took us a few minutes to recognize her as someone we have heard in concert several times before. 

As her husband Talpa, Alejandro De Los Santos made an equally fine showing. The carefree domestic affection between this pair served as counterpoint to the tense relationship between Michele and Giorgetta. This is something we never perceived before and for this we thank the direction.

As far as the setting, there is no actual stage in The Blue Gallery. A metal bar stretched horizontally across the playing area and we had no trouble perceiving it as the railing of the barge. Stevedores toting large boxes across the stage added to the illusion and reminded us that much can be accomplished with minimal material resources and a lot of imagination.

The minor characters were portrayed by Samuel Ng and Sofia Gotch singing from behind the audience and in a space up near the ceiling. This was not a problem since it served to focus attention on the major characters. Costuming was minimal and timeless.

Everything served to show us that opera is theater with gorgeous voices. Famous names and elaborate sets are not as important as the music and the storytelling, of which we had the very best!

A couple years ago the late and lamented On Site Opera produced this same opera at The Seaport (review can be found in the search bar) with action taking place on a ship and the audience seated on the dock. We enjoyed the realism but the voices required amplification. This made last night's performance even more valuable as we heard Puccini's vocal lines delivered with musicality and authenticity.

Without the obligation of bringing in famous names to fill a huge theater, opera can once again be restored to its original function and we applaud this aim. This opera was chosen by CLAVA, not to please an audience, but because they had the right singers for the roles. Would this model work for a small opera company in Manhattan? We very much think so and will be first in line for their next venture. Was this experience valuable for the young artists who participated in CLAVA? We definitely think so. Academic institutions cast them in contemporary operas no one else will ever produce, or in weird productions of great operas. But to get a chance to perform in an authentic production of a great opera means that they can sing these roles anywhere in the world. And we hope that they will!!!!!

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CAME FOR THE BRAHMS, STAYED FOR THE MENDELSSOHN

 Chaeyoung Park, Aristo Shan, Erin Wagner, Megan Moore, Daniel McGrew and Randall Scarlata

Regular readers will recall our respect for Young Concert Artists. For six decades they have been discovering young artists in the field of classical music, developing their respective artistry, and launching their respective careers. The means by which they achieve this consist of a three year program encompassing mentorship, community engagement, debut recitals, and worldwide performance opportunities. Indeed some of our very favorite young singers have been brought to our attention through YCA.

Monday night's 2025 Season Finale  offered the opportunity to hear young artists in both vocal and instrumental fields, the latter of which we rarely have time to attend since vocal recitals and operas keep us very busy. We will address the vocal portion of the program first but please, Dear Reader, stay until the end since we made a rare discovery in the instrumental field.

The vocal portion of the evening comprised selections from Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes Op. 52, a work we have enjoyed and reviewed many times. Brahms' vocal output is perhaps less profound  than that  of Schubert, but his gifts are not at all lesser in impact. We love the folksy melodies and the simple emotions conveyed therein.  We particularly love the way he wrote for various combinations of voices.

And therein lies our disappointment in this particular performances. We attribute the problem to the acoustics of the hall. Although individually the tone and expressiveness of the voices were fine, the balance between the voices was uneven. Sounding the best were the voices of the two mezzo-sopranos, Erin Wagner and Megan Moore who blended beautifully. But when tenor Daniel McGrew and baritone Randall Scarlata joined in, the balance shifted so far to their "side" that Brahms' exquisite balance was lost. Pianist for the performance were Chaeyoung Park and Aristo Shan, both of whom were heard during the evening in works by respectively Prokofiev and the contemporary Zhou Tian.

Fortunately, the favorable impact of the evening was restored by a glorious performance of Mendelssohn's String Octet in E-flat major, Op.20.  The four movement architecture was familiar and very much of the period, offering a lively Allegro followed by a pleasingly tuneful Andante. However, it was the Scherzo that bedazzled our ears. Building the excitement to fever pitch was the use of a motif repeated in higher and higher keys. We are far from expert in instrumental music but anything that reminds us of vocal fioritura pleases us enormously.

Considering the artistry of eight string players in three "fachs"--violin, viola, and cello--they exhibited great variety of color with interweaving melodies and strong rhythmic pulse. We will end by heaping praise on the lead violinist Lun Li whose violin seemed to be a dancing partner. There was an intimacy between artist and instrument that we have never seen or heard before--a partnership that kept us on the edge of our seat. They not only danced together but Mr. Li made the violin sing.

In hearing the human voice, the artist and the instrument are physically one and the same  In this case Man and Violin acted as one in a spiritually transcendent manner. We simply could not get over the impact. We single out this performance as being ground breaking although the other seven string players were excellent.

We do not read program notes until after the performance, wanting to approach the performance as a neophyte. However, we were not surprised to learn of Mr. Li's many honors but reading that he was playing a 1735 Stradivarius on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation put us in a state of awe. We had never heard a Stradivarius before and we can only say that the treasured violin was in the right hands. We kind of wish it belonged to him in fact as well as in spirit.

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THE GERDA LISSNER FOUNDATION VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS CONCERT 2024/2025

 Top Row: Magdalena Kuzma, Giorgi Guliashvili,, Tatev Baroyan, Sofia Gotch, and Shelén Hughes

Bottom Row: Amanda Batista, Erin Wagner, Michael John Butler, Bridget Esler, and Ashlyn Rock

The generosity of the Gerda Lissner Foundation is legendary--not just generosity in awarding prizes to young singers but also generosity toward the opera loving public. Free tickets to a grand show were offered to the public and a better show could not be provided for any amount of money.  The ten chosen singers are accomplished and already sought after by opera companies around the country and also abroad. Still, young singers need all the help they can get when government assistance for the arts is virtually non existent with no hope for improvement in the near future--and this foundation provides such assistance.

Last night at Zankel Hall, ten superb artists got the opportunity to show off their respective artistry. We have decided to ignore our copious notes and to summarize our overall impressions of how singers present themselves at such events and also to highlight performances that stuck with us overnight. Here let us mention that we are neither judge nor vocal coach and that our impressions are biased by a number of factors. 

There are singers whose growth we have been witnessing over a number of years and toward whom we admittedly feel a certain attachment. There are languages we prefer to hear. There are musical periods that resonate more strongly than others. (This is a circumspect way of saying we don't much care for contemporary works or the English language.)

One thing we observed is that the way singers choose to present themselves may or may not reflect their best qualities. One would hope that their teachers or coaches might point them toward works that show off their unique gifts. A singer may really enjoy singing a particular work that just isn't meant for them. On the other hand, a singer taking pleasure in a particular song or aria might just involve the audience to a greater degree.

With this is mind, we are going to ignore our copious notes and dip into our feelings to highlight the performances that resonated with us personally. The first one that comes to mind is that of Erin Wagner whose Mignon lied "Kennst du das Land" by Hugo Wolf transported us to a feeling of nostalgia for a place that we, like Mignon in the Goethe story, may not return to. It brought tears to our eyes which is not a bad thing. Much can be said for catharsis and shared feelings.

The second one that comes to mind is soprano Shelén Hughes' performance of the Snow Maiden's aria from Rimsky-Korsakov's Snegurechka. We have heard her sing this aria many times, the first being when she was a student at Manhattan School of Music. It was our first exposure to the opera and we were enchanted by the fairy tale and the composer's melodic gifts which Ms. Hughes brought to vivid life.

The third one that comes to mind is soprano Sofia Gotch's depiction of an innocent young woman's awakening to love in "Caro nome" from Verdi's Rigoletto. Every vocal ornament so magnificently rendered by Ms. Gotch served to highlight Gilda's romantic rapture.  

The gusto with which tenor Michael Butler sang Strauss' "Heimliche Aufforderung" had an immediate uplifting effect on our spirits. Soprano Amanda Batista's interpretation of Mimi in Puccini's La Bohême showed us two sides of her character, the somewhat brazen flirtation alternating with a reactive shyness, which struck us as typical of the very young experimenting with mating behavior.

When a singer adds dancing to her performance, it is bound to make a lasting impression and soprano Tatev Baroyan got into the Roma spirit in Emmerich Kalman's "Heia, in den Bergen", from Die Czardasfürstin. And finally soprano Magdalena Kuzma gave a perfect interpretation of the playful Susana really laying it on to tease her husband Figaro by pretending to be anticipating a romantic tryst with the Count in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro.

We believe we have made the point that audience reaction is a very personal matter, relating to the mood and past experiences of the listener. We would like to point out that the excellent singers pictured above whom we did not mention were not inferior in any way. We just wanted to see what struck us without consulting our notes.

We would like to mention also the fine accompaniment of Francesco Barfoed, collaborative pianist for the first half of the program (art songs) and that of Arlene Shrut for the second half (arias). Our hostess for the evening was the delightful Midge Woolsey who did a fine job of summarizing each number in advance for audience members who were unfamiliar with the repertory.

We would also like to share our delight over the appearance of the honorees for the evening--mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke who was a competition winner fifteen years ago, accompanied by the renowned pianist Warren Jones. The pair shared a special piece written by Michael Tilson Thomas for Leonard Bernstein's 70th birthday. It was upbeat and jazzy and spoke of gratitude. We soaked that up like a sponge, feeling grateful for the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the collaborating Kosciuszko Foundation and all those gifted young singers who brought so much joy to our week.

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GABRIELLA REINA

 Andrés Sarre and Gabriella Reyes

Soprano Gabriella Reyes is, yes, every inch a queen and the adoring audience comprises her loyal subjects. She rules by means of a generous instrument with many colors, by means of supernal audience rapport, by means of a deep understanding of the text, and by means of that intangible Latin American soul, a quality that manifests in most Latin American music.

We love hearing emerging artists at the inception of their careers and then, sadly, we lose sight (and sound) of them as they make their way through opera stages around the country and around the world. It is a cause for celebration when they return to New York City and we can bear witness to the fulfillment of their potential.

In the case of "La Reina" we first heard her at the Metropolitan Council National Competition Finals eight years ago when she dazzled the audience with "Il est doux, il est bon" from Massenet's Herodiade and took a leap into the then-new territory of Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas. We made note of the ear-thrilling upper register and fine vibrato.

Her acceptance into the Lindemann Program gave us two further opportunities to hear her facility with different repertory. We recall some Strauss songs which fit her large voice like a glove, and a couple performances of "Carceleras" from Chapi's Las hijas de Zebedeo--memorable because we are so fond of of zarzuela, so fond that we sat in the summer rain to enjoy it.

And we heard Ms. Reyes the following summer at the Santa Fe Opera where she made quite a sensation as an ice-skating Musetta in Puccini's La Bohême. Is there anything this versatile artist cannot do? Now that we have stirred the pot of our memory we recall a very moving performance of Liu's aria "Tu che di gel sei cinta" from Puccini's Turandot.

Last night, gracias a Dios, she returned to New York City for her first solo recital (coulda fooled us on that point) at Carnegie Recital Hall. Most recitals attempt to show off the singer in a range of styles and languages, but Ms. Reyes is no ordinary artist. She held the audience captive with a well curated program of Spanish songs, most of which were new to us. Along with her superb collaborative pianist Andrés Sarre, she treated us to songs from all over Latin America--from Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, and Peru. We even heard songs sung in Quechua, a language we don't understand but one we recognize since a Peruvian friend has sung for us in that language. 

Each song brought out a different aspect of Ms. Reyes' vocal technique, here a very expansive upper register, there a deeply affecting vibrato, here a significant pause, there an exquisite pianissimo.  But each song was melodic, reminding us that the lamentable influences of serialism and atonalism that infected 20th century vocal music in Europe and the United States was nowhere to be heard. The Latin American soul is too sensual and passionate to fall for such intellectualism. Most of these 20th century composers made good use of folk music and refined it with European technique.

We did have a couple favorites and our top choice was the second encore, a delightful song extolling the virtues of Ms. Reyes' ancestral homeland--Nicaragua; it is said to be Nicaragua's unofficial anthem. Another favorite was Victor Carajo's "La niña de Guatemala" in which the poet José Marti tells a story that would make a fine opera. The poet describes a funeral and alternates verses about how a married lover broke the girl's heart.  There was another song by Enrique Soro entitled "Storia d'una bimba" in which the poet Angelo Bignotti relates, in Italian, a tender story that seems to tell of a man who watches a beautiful little girl grow into womanhood. The coloration of the music and voice suggest a tinge of sorrow or nostalgia as the poet watches someone else kissing her forehead as he used to. 

It's only been about a year or two since Ms. Reyes' notable gifts brought her back to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. How fortunate we feel to have experienced these gifts "up close and personal". A solo recital is truly a glimpse into the heart of an artist. We loved what we saw and heard!

© meche kroop

THE LITTLE (MERMAID) MENTAL PATIENT

Benjamin R. Sokol, Fernando Silva-Gorbea, Sara Stevens, Qing Liu, and Su Hyeon Park

Some topnotch singing, acting, and orchestral luminosity delighted our ears last night at Manhattan School of Music Graduate Opera Theatre's production of Antonin Dvořák's Rusalka. We unfortunately had to deal with an ill-advised example of regietheater devised by Director John de los Santos, whose direction we usually enjoy. According to the Director's Notes which we generally read after viewing the production, Mr. de los Santos was inspired by the fact that the building occupied by Manhattan School of Music was once an asylum for the mentally ill.

Regular readers will recall that we strongly prefer a work that speaks for itself, allowing us to draw our own analogies, which we did and may choose to share  later on. The director's concept was to transform the water spite Rusalka into a mental patient around the turn of the 20th century, just about the time that Jaroslav Kvapil wrote his libretto, adapted from a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen (and others)  which was, in turn, devised from a few Slavic folk legends about women water sprites who lured men to their death by tickling (!) or drowning.

In this production, Michael Ruiz-del-Vizo's double decker set design had an institutional appearance whilst Ashley Soliman's costume design had some of the characters in period costume with the inmates in drab identical shapeless garb. We deliberately called them inmates because the attendants treated them like prisoners, which, in a sense they were. (Dear Reader, do read about the Kennedy sister who was similarly imprisoned at the behest of her father Joseph.)

The stage was filled with efficient nurses in crisp nursing attire and guards with numbered arm bands, against whom the inmates struggled. Inmates were chained together cruelly by ropes and led around. It seemed more political than medical, with the exception of a kindly doctor who stood in for the opera's Vodnik, a water goblin that the water sprites call their father, except here he is their well meaning doctor. In this role, Benjamin R. Sokol used his resonant lower register and kindly demeanor to good advantage, singing with fine tone and sympathetic inflection.

As Rusalka, super soprano Sara Stevens (see what we did there?) threw herself into the role and gave the director exactly what he wanted and, through her superlative singing, gave us what we wanted--a vocally impeccable performance. The coloration was admirable and she floated her high notes when appropriate and opened up her voice when that was dramatically called for. The deservedly famous aria "Song to the Moon" expressed a longing so deep that it brought tears to our eyes. If someone told us that Rusalka was chosen as a vehicle to show off her artistry we would believe them!

In this odd version of the story, The Prince, whilst singing about spotting a white doe while out hunting, seems to be someone who stops by the asylum to read to the patients. Fernando Silva-Gorbea employed a pleasing tenor instrument with enough tenderness that we felt sad when he was stabbed to death by Rusalka However, we were wondering how a dagger would have been left lying around in an insane asylum--just one of a number of inconsistencies caused by shoehorning the story into a Procrustean bed.

The witch Ježibaba was here some kind of matron/surgeon in strange steam-punk dress who seemed to be operating on Rusalka's brain, since the latter emerges from behind a screen with a bandage on her head that was so disfiguring that we were surprised that The Prince fell in love with her. Of course, the entire thing must have been the hallucination of a paranoid schizophrenic, although a lot of women in these asylums were consigned there for dubious reasons. Qing Liu gave a fine performance in the role, employing a threatening demeanor and steely vocal coloration.

There was even some comic relief during the interaction between the Gamekeeper (Kevin Mann) and the frightened kitchen helper (Jordan Lee Gilbert) whose conversation served to advance the story about the Prince's affection wavering between Rusalka and The Foreign Princess, given an appropriate haughtiness by Su Hyeon Park.

Every voice we heard was of the highest equality, including the trio of Woodsprites (mental patients) comprising Xinran Du, Raine Filbert, and Yiqian Heng. Although Rusalka's "Song to the Moon" is the deservedly famous number, the trio in Act II would make as fine a concert piece as we have ever heard. 

Although Czech is not one of our languages, its plethora of consonants did not seem to hinder any of the singers and we were thrilled that the opera was sung in Czech since the composer's music is so well married to the text. Kudos to the large chorus and their chorus Master Jackson McKinnon.

Maestro Kelly Kuo led the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra through Dvořák's melodic and colorful score with excellent Slavic style. The weird storytelling was so distracting that at times we just closed our eyes and listened to the way the master composer told the story. Let us credit also the fine dramatic lighting of Ron Collins.

If we hadn't been force fed the director's concept, we might have been free to associate on our own, which is what storytelling should do. We imagined a small town girl who fell for a big city guy who was visiting her town and flirted with her because she was pretty and innocent. She followed him to the big city but couldn't match the sophistication and verbal expressiveness of his circle. She watched him getting infatuated with one of his own kind and returned home in despair, only to learn that she no longer fit in there and was ostracized. Now we certainly wouldn't foist that on other people but we sure enjoyed our own musings which, in our opinion, is what opera should do--give us something on stage that we can relate to on our own terms, from our own experiences.

In spite of the conflict between the dialogue and the visuals and switching back and forth between the folktale and the director's conceit, we were glad we went because of the overwhelmingly excellence of the musical values.

© meche kroop

NUN-PLUSSED

 

Curtain Call for Dialogues des Carmelites

We were privileged to have attended opening night of Juilliard Opera's outstanding production of Francis Poulenc's mid 20th century masterpiece Dialogues des Carmélites, for which he wrote both score and libretto. The choice of this opera, telling a disturbing story taking place during the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, struck us as particularly timely inasmuch as we are on the verge of an upheaval in our own country. It certainly illustrates the consequences of unbridled anger between political factions with horrifying effects on innocent victims.

This is a fictionalized version of the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, Carmelite nuns who, in 1794 during the closing days of the Reign of Terror  were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their vocation.

Poulenc chose to set the work tonally giving the orchestra great variety of coloration. The vocal lines are predominantly recitativi  and follow the intonation of the French language, making us wonder how that could be accomplished within an ill-advised translation into English. Poulenc himself wished the work to be performed in the vernacular of any given country and indeed the work premiered in Italy--in Italian. Here in the USA, it has been given in French and in English so we were very happy that Juilliard elected to perform it in French.

So if there is nothing like an aria or duet to be enjoyed, one can still appreciate the melodic nature of the spiritual choruses, most notably the Salve Regina in the final scene as the nuns ascend the scaffolding to submit themselves to the blade of the guillotine. As the blade successively falls with a chilling thud, the voices are reduced until there are only the last two martyrs, the former aristocrat Blanche de la Force, excellently sung by mezzo-soprano Ruby Dibble, and the always cheerful Sister Constance, effectively portrayed by Moriah Berry.

A remarkable piece of acting was offered by mezzo-soprano Lauren Randolph as Madame de Croissy, the Prioress of the convent who dies a very unspiritual death, suffering such physical agony that she upsets the two young postulates. Before dying she puts Mother Marie of the Incarnation (well sung and acted by mezzo-soprano Anna Kelly) in charge of Blanche who has been recognized as needing emotional and spiritual support.

Indeed, Ms. Dibble, by means of vocal coloration as well as acting, made it perfectly clear in the opening scene that she was emotionally fragile . The political situation was discussed during that scene by the Marquis de la Force (superbly sung by the rich-voiced bass-baritone Son Jin Kim) and his son the Chevalier de la Force (beautifully sung by tenor Michael John Butler) who would later visit his sister in the convent with an offer of help that she refuses.

Maestro Matthew Aucoin marshaled the forces of the Juilliard Orchestra in a fashion that brought out the varying colors of each section and infused the overall performance with feelings of foreboding and terror, except for the aforementioned religious choruses. We heard some fine solos by a clarinet and great work from the brass section. If we are not mistaken, there were moments reflecting his earlier post WWI short ironic works.

Louisa Muller's direction was tight and straight to the point, fortunately avoiding anything superfluous. It was exactly the way the story needed to be told, holding one's interest throughout and leaving us feeling grief at the end. We do recognize that some very religious viewers might have found the ending spiritually uplifting. We recall a production in Santa Fe in which the director had an actual guillotine right onstage and as the blade fell, cabbages rolled across the stage. It was so convincing that patrons ran fleeing from the theater! It was a relief to be spared such realism.

Kara Harmon's costumes for the first scene had the aristocrats accurately clad in late 18th century glory, as were the soldiers who came in the last act to evict the nuns from their convent. The nuns were, well, dressed like nuns.

Wilson Chin's set design comprised just a few period pieces of furniture for the first scene and a very modern box-like structure with transparent walls to serve as the various rooms of the convent.

Before closing we would like to mention at least some of the other singers that contributed to the success of the evening. Soprano Jasmin Ward impressed as the new Prioress Madame Lidoine. In some "luxury casting" other sisters included Kate Morton and Naomi Steele. Yihe Wang did double duty as a servant and a doctor. Jin Yu was notable as the Chaplain. Jailers and soldiers included Zhongjiancheng Deng, Yoonsoo Jang, Lin Fan, Nazrin Aslan Alyman and Jack Hicks. 

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ON THE ROPES or KO

Sofia Gotch, Ya Gao, Yining Liu, Irene Hyun Young Shin, and Skyler La Nier

Händel's Rinaldo premiered in 1711 in London. In spite of its being a pastiche of melodies from other operas, it achieved immediate success, then lay dormant for centuries, until Baroque opera became popular once again in the 20th c. Perhaps its popularity rests on the fact that Händel used all his best melodies! 

Loosely based on Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata, the work explores the themes of love, war, and redemption and is set during the time of the First Crusade, at the turn of the 12th century. The work provided materials for a number of operas and perhaps the subject is now a touchy one because of the battle between Christianity and the Muslim faith depicted onstage.

In a radical and radically truncated version produced by The Manhattan School of Music Graduate Opera Theater, Director George R. Miller chose to set the work as a presumably televised wrestling match in contemporary times. As is our wont, we never read the Director's Notes until after the opera in order to allow the work to speak for itself. Miller's work didn't speak, it screamed--at least as it opened with loud music (rap?  hiphop?) and an array of spectators at what we thought was a boxing ring, cheering and booing, carrying signs. We were rolling our disbelieving eyes

However, as the performance wore on, we were captivated by the musical values and, ultimately, came to appreciate, or at least to understand, what Mr. Miller was going for. Having eliminated all of the magic of the original to focus on both the battle between good and evil and the battle between the sexes, the playing area, which we thought was meant to be a boxing ring, began to make more sense. Except we began to suspect that it was a wrestling match with "anything goes" and a lot of performative fighting which was nonetheless convincing and wince-inducing.

The wacky costuming by Chloe Levy began to make more sense. The lovely heroine Almirena was played by the even lovelier Sofia Gotch who was dressed all in white with sparkly hair and delivered a "Lascia ch'io pianga" as fine as we've ever heard. Moreover, her acting as she manipulated her captor, the Muslim warrior Argante, was hilarious. At times, she posed like what we took to be a star of reality TV.

Argante was brilliantly portrayed by the burly voiced Skyler La Nier who was convincingly warrior-like in his all black Hell's Angel get up.  The eponymous Rinaldo was beautifully sung by Ya Gao whose "Cara sposa, amante cara" went right to the heart by dint of depth of feeling and varied dynamics.  A delicate body build was not the most convincing as a fighter, in spite of fatigue pants and wife-beater top.

The sorceress Armida was given a strong interpretation by Irene Hyun Young Shin, appearing very "goth" in studded black leather.  Her singing was marked by great facility with ornamentation of the vocal line. We particularly enjoyed her  "Ah! crudel, Il pianto mio" especially in the rapid-fire B section. Her performance as "the bad girl" was replete with snarling and quite effective. 

Duets between lovers were deftly handled with voices well matched and expressive.

As Almirena's father Gioffredo, Yining Liu added to the fine performances, although the costume puzzled us. Was the character supposed to be Rinaldo's trainer? And if so, why was Gioffredo joining the fighting? And wearing a suit with a red baseball cap? Perhaps we are just ignorant of wrestling matches.

There were umpires wearing black and white stripes and a couple sitting at a desk off to the side. Were they television commentators as they have at ice skating competitions? In any event, they provided excellent percussion accompaniment to the superb piano of Jeremy Chan and the equally superb harpsichord of Jocelyn Stewart, the two being Co-Music Directors. To say that the pair produced the colors of an orchestra would not be excessive praise. As a matter of fact, the reduction of the score gave us an opportunity to appreciate it in a new way.

As we left the theater, our thoughts wandered into the territory of the terrors of love, which Mozart had such fun with in Cosi fan tutte. In Rinaldo, the sorceress/biker-chick Armida loves Argante the Saracen/biker but tries to seduce Rinaldo. And Rinaldo's intended Almirena behaves very seductively toward Argante whilst being held prisoner. Jordan Jones in drag as a siren was hilarious in his attempt  to seduce Rinaldo. By the end of the opera we began to appreciate what Mr. Miller was going for--the battle between the sexes. No wonder the young cast and young audience enjoyed it so much!

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