BUT IS IT OPERA?

 

PP

PPablo Zinger, Linda Collazo, Maria Brea, and Juan Hernandez

We just spent a delightful evening enjoying one of our favorite art forms with a group of the finest interpreters of this art form at Fiesta de la Zarzuela. Regular readers have heard me write most enthusiastically about zarzuela and have read a bit about its origins; for those who are new to this blog, the short form of its history is that it originated in 17th century Spain, performed for the aristocracy, and ended up in the mid 20th century in the New World, enjoyed by the common folk. Not so different from the story of opera, right?

In what category shall we place zarzuela? We have our own ideas on this issue. In our opinion, a piece of musical theater that is sung by operatically trained singers without amplification qualifies as opera when the music tells the story. By this measure, we could count works by Rogers and Hammerstein, Sondheim, and Bernstein, as operas under the aforementioned circumstance. Zarzuela has incorporated its original nationalistic stamp into the genre, much as the best of American musicals have done. We see these included under the operatic umbrella whereas some contemporary works, prosy an unmelodic, seem left out in the rain.

This is, of course, only one opinion--more experiential than academic.  Some people would say that if The Metropolitan Opera produces it, it is an opera. Some people would say that spoken dialogue is a disqualification which would eliminate Carmen (as Bizet first composed it). This is obviously a moot point and we are willing to hear other people's opinions.

What we heard last night at Teatro Circulo comprised excerpts from a number of zarzuelas from the 19th and 20th century in predominantly chronological order. Three very talented Latin American singers made up the cast and we were treated to some engaging narration by Maestro Pablo Zinger who accompanied the singers on an electronic keyboard and (surprise!) led the audience in a singing lesson after the performance. We have never attended a performance in which the entire audience exited with such wide smiles.

We are hoping that Mo. Zinger will find a way to produce an entire zarzuela in the near future since we have only had that pleasure twice. Once before Covid when we enjoyed Maria Brea as the lead in the delightful comedy El Barbero de Sevilla and a post Covid production by Mo. Jorge Parodi of the more serious Luisa Fernanda. Let us hope! Meanwhile we have contented ourself with the occasional appearance of an aria or duet on a concert program.

Last night' production was a complete delight and created quite an impression with modest resources--a black box theater with thankfully raked seating, a minimal set comprising a pair of wrought iron benches, and singers dressed in black, accessorized with colorful mantónes de Manila.  A screen upstage projected slides illustrating famed zarzuela singers and composers of yore. We would have preferred English translations!

All three singers were superb. We usually write about singers at very early stages of their careers and love watching their careers flourish. We have fond recollections of the superb soprano Ms. Brea singing the role of Marie in  Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance over a dozen years ago. How rewarding it is to witness her as she fulfills her potential. We especially enjoyed the closing number "Salida de Cecilia" from Gonzalo Roig's Cecilia Valdes. We love the bright open top of her voice and the way she created a few different characters.

We have also written about mezzo-soprano Linda Collazo a number of times, many of them in recitals with Ms. Brea. Her facility with Latin American music and the Spanish language has always impressed us. Last night we particularly appreciated her performance of "Chancletera soy yo" from Ernesto Lecuona's Maria la O. Everything she sang was filled with passion and intention. And let us not forget to mention her pleasing resonance and apt phrasing.

Unlike our lengthy experience with the two female singers, our experience with tenor Juan Hernandez was limited to one occasion prior to Covid and please bear with us Dear Reader as we quote from our own review, which we feel is important to let you know how impressed we were even then. 

"We were also introduced to a very young tenor who showed a great deal of promise with a sweet unforced sound and amplitude of feeling. Juan Hernandez is his name and he is someone to watch. With the correct embouchure he produced a lovely Italianate sound in "Una furtiva lagrima" from Donizetti's comedy L'Elisir d'Amore. There was a lovely downward glissando, some admirable melismatic singing, and a finely drawn out decrescendo at the end. We thought of a fine silken thread suspended in the air."

Last night we made note of his lively personality and open-throated delivery in "Caballero de Gracia" from Chueca y Valverde's La Gran Via.  He exhibited all the right moves in the duets and trios as well. Come to think of it, we have heard Ms. Brea and Ms. Collazo in duets countless times and Mr. Hernandez melded perfectly into the scenes, providing some delightful trios.

We have only touched the surface of this excellent program, most of which was entirely new to us. Mo. Zinger can be credited with wearing many hats beside conceiving, directing, narrating and accompanying. Although the project of producing a zarzuela seems impractical considering dancers, an orchestra, a costumer, chorus, set designer, and lighting designer--if it could be accomplished we would turn to Mo. Zinger. Let us hope!

© meche kroop