FINAL OFFERING FROM SANTA FE

Corrie Stallings, Simon Dyer, and Kara Morgan in scene from Domenico Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto at Santa Fe Opera (photo by Bobby Gutierrez)

We've been back from Santa Fe for a week now and the arrival of photos from the second evening of scenes presented by the apprentices served to bring back so many happy memories of an outstanding evening at Santa Fe Opera.  It will be a year until we return and return we will!

As usual, the group of apprentices were astutely selected, and a most interesting selection of scenes were chosen to highlight their individual talents. Certain scenes stood out for their effectiveness. We loved the scene from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier in which Octavian presents the silver rose to Sophie (the wonderful soprano Liv Redpath) who is engaged to his boorish cousin Baron Ochs (not present in this scene).

What blew us away was the completely believable performance of mezzo-soprano Samantha Gossard who not only sang magnificently but was totally convincing in her portrayal of a 17-year-old aristocratic youth--confident almost to the point of entitlement, but touched by Sophie's innocence.  Imagine our shock when we met Ms. Gossett offstage and perceived her overwhelming femininity. Now that's acting!

Sophie's father Herr Von Faninal was portrayed by baritone Kenneth Stavert with tenor Eric Ferring as the Haushofmeister and soprano Sarah Tucker as Marianne.

Readers are well aware how fond we are of zarzuela and the scene from Pablo Sorozabal's La Tabernera del Puerto was presented in exemplary fashion by lovely soprano Meryl Dominguez as Marola, a woman of questionable virtue, and tenor Rafael Moras singing his heart out as the sailor Leandro, in the well-known aria "No puede ser". His commitment to the role was total and the audience responded with wild applause. This just made us want to see the zarzuela in toto and we continue to believe there is an audience for zarzuela here in New York.

Casting an even wider net was the choice of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  Perhaps the composer does not think of this work as an opera but we have always considered it as such and the sensational casting convinced us that we are right. Bass James Harrington made a fine Judge Turpin discussing his plans for his ward Johanna (lovely soprano Andrea Lett) with the Beadle, sung by the always terrific tenor Adam Bonanni who tells him he needs a trip to the barber. Hehehe.

Meanwhile Johanna is frolicking with her young man Anthony, finely portrayed by the superb baritone Brian Vu, on the other side of the stage. Director Kathleen Clawson did her usual excellent work in highlighting the contrast of innocence and evil.

The photo used for this review was taken from a scene from Cimaroso's Il matrimonio segreto, a delightful comic opera of the classical period, the characters of which seem derived from commedia dell'arte. Carolina (super soprano Adelaide Boedecker) has eloped with her lover Paolina (fine tenor Paul Han) and is hiding from her father Il Signor Geronimo, enacted by bass-baritone Simon Dyer, who blusters beautifully.

Mezzo-soprano Corrie Stallings stood out as the envious sister Elisetta, not only for her fine singing but for her hilarious comic timing. Mezzo Kara Morgan sang the role of Aunt Fidalma with the handsome bass-baritone Erik Van Heyningen just right in the role of Il Conte Robinson who seems to be willing to marry either sister. The entire cast worked well together with directorial credit going again to Ms. Clawson who impresses us every summer.

Crystal Manich also had two scenes to direct. We loved the scene from Massenet's Werther in which the married Charlotte, movingly portrayed by mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit, must confront her feelings toward the eponymous Werther, sung by tenor Richard Smagur. Both artists were in admirable control of their vocal artistry and their dramatic intention. We believed every minute, in spite of being distracted by Werther's weird costume of unflattering and seemingly inappropriate short pants.

Ms. Manich's other scene was from Puccini's Edgar.  It was well performed by mezzo-soprano Morgan Middleton with tenor Peter Scott Drackley as the titular Edgar and baritone Thaddeus Ennen fine as his friend Frank. This is an early effort by Puccini and we can understand why it has not joined the canon.

A scene from Verdi's Falstaff was light-hearted and lively with all four women having great fun as they compare letters from the lecherous knight. Ms. Tucker was Alice Ford with soprano Joanna Latini as her daughter Nannetta. Meg Page was sung by mezzo-soprano Pascale Spinney and mezzo Mariya Kaganskaya as Mistress Quickly. Omer Ben Seadia's direction was on point but Katie Dennis' costuming was peculiar.

Finally, we had a scene from Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, featuring splendid soprano Jessica Jones as Anne Truelove and Mr. Harrington as her father. Tenor Terrence Chin-Loy portrayed the slacker Tom Rakewell who left plenty of room in his life for the seductive Nick Shadow, given an excellent reading by bass-baritone Tyler Zimmerman.

We always enjoy watching these highly talented emerging artists take the stage in major roles--even more than watching them onstage in major productions where they are given smaller roles. The Sunday night Apprentice Recitals give them their chance to shine and shine they did!

(c) meche kroop

A CORNUCOPIA OF GOODIES

Nathan Milholin and Andy Berry in a scene from Prokofiev's "The Love for Three Oranges"

We always count on the Santa Fe Opera for five glorious operas every summer, but the highlight of our visit remains the two evening of Apprentice Scenes. The young singers of the Apprentice Program (established in 1957 and flourishing under the guidance of Artistic Director David Holloway) enjoy a summer of training and performance experience--in smaller roles, in Susanne Sheston's superbly rehearsed chorus, and on two Sundays the experience of performing in a selection of scenes--fully staged and costumed with piano accompaniment. Notably, the Santa Fe Opera was the first company in the United States to have established such a program.

The choice of scenes ranges far and wide, from opera house standards to rarities to new works. Last night, as usual, we had our favorites and some head-scratchers. But regardless of the choice of material we found the performances to be vocally and dramatically worthwhile.

For all around entertainment value, our first choice was Ravel's "L'heure espagnole", directed by Omer Ben Seadia. We have only seen this opera once since it is rarely performed, but it is filled with French farce type humor, dealing as it does with a cuckolded clockmaker and his wayward wife. His unanticipated homecoming necessitates the hiding of his wife's lovers inside some of the grandfather clocks in the shop. As the cuckolded clockmaker, tenor Adam Bonanni had just the right sound for the part and was helped in his humorous presentation by the costume design of Jean-Luc DeLadurantaye--that of a pagliaccio--or Pierrot.

Mezzo-soprano Anne Marie Stanley was delightful as the wayward wife. Her three lovers were excellently portrayed by baritone Brian Vu in full toreador regalia, tenor Stephen Carroll, and bass-baritone Nathan Milholin who had quite a time extricating himself from his hiding place. Their congo line dance just added to the fun.

The Ping-Pang-Pong scene from Puccini's Turandot always provides some comic relief and speaks to us as the plaint of Everyman, who would love to escape his job and retire to the country. Director Kathleen Clawson directed a pleasingly traditional scene of the three functionaries of Ancient China, men who never know whether to plan for a funeral or a wedding. Resplendent in authentic Mandarin costumes (designed by Brenda Birkeland), baritone Dogukan Kuran and tenors Eric Ferring and Andrew Maughan passed the vocal ball back and forth in a highly entertaining fashion. It was a true treat.

The previous night's Lucia di Lammermoor left us in a Donizetti mood and we were glad to see a scene from L'elisir d'amore on the program. Director Crystal Manich's decision to update the action to the ugly 1950's and to change the setting to a soda parlor robbed the scene of the intended impact.  Poor Nemorino was obliged to get intoxicated by an ice cream soda in place of the requisite wine of Dr. Dulcamara; this just didn't make dramatic sense to anyone who knows the opera.

But tenor Carlos Enrique Santelli (just reviewed as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor) has a real flair for Donizetti and shone in the role, in spite of the ice cream soda! A clever directorial touch was having him bang the keys of the cash register in time with the music. Soprano Abigail Rethwisch made a lovely Adina, deftly conveying the ambivalence she feels toward Nemorino and the crack in her resistance. Baritone Christopher Kenney successfully created the role of the blustery Belcore and sang in rich full tone.

Rienzi will never be our favorite Wagnerian opera but we definitely enjoyed hearing tenor Stephen Martin (just reviewed as Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor) sing the title role with authoritative colors and stage presence. As his sister Irene, soprano Tracy Cantin impressed us with her fine singing but Amanda Clark's unflattering wig failed to score. In the trouser role of Adriano we heard mezzo-soprano Hannah Hagerty.  We enjoyed the trio which closed the scene for the tasteful blending of voices. For some strange reason, this tale of 14th c. Rome was updated by director Crystal Manich to something approximating the early 20th c.

Giuseppi Verdi put in an appearance by virtue of a scene from Un ballo in maschera, effectively directed by Susan Payne. One doesn't expect to hear young voices tackle Verdi but soprano Kasia Borowiec showed promise in the role of Amelia with Jorge Espino taking the role of the very angry Renato. The two men initiating the plot to assassinate the Duke, Sam and Tom, were played respectively by bass-baritone Erik van Heyningen and baritone Andy Berry. The duet between Renato and Amelia was most affecting but the final quintet was imperfectly balanced. Soprano Joanna Latini sang the role of Oscar with beautiful tone; a bit more attention to accuracy with the short notes would have made it perfect.

The scene from Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream was peculiarly staged by Mr. Seadia. The scene involves the romantic misadventures of Shakespeare's four young lovers lost in a forest near Athens. Here, they are in something resembling a dormitory with four beds and in various stages of undress (costumes by Ruby L. Rojas). Fortunately, the fine singing made up for the strange and distracting setting. The performances were quite physical and succeeded in conveying the Bard's sense of humor. 

Mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi impressed us with her vocalism in the part of Hermia; she doesn't know what to do with all that unexpected male attention. Soprano Adelaide Baedecker made a fine Helena, suffering the loss of love of her Lysander (tenor Jesse Darden) with baritone Thaddeus Ennen completing the quartet in the role of Demetrius.

Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges was staged by Susan Payne as the fairytale it is. Prokofiev's music for the scene begins with some insistent chords and the stage was dominated by a large multi-colored proscenium arch. Morgen Warner's costumes were appropriately fantastical. The problem was that the scene did not offer the young singers much opportunity to show off their vocal skills. That being said, we did enjoy the humor and fantasy. Mr. Berry made a magical magician in his golden cape, and bass-baritone Nathan Milholin was funny with his feathered fan. Mr. Maughan made a fine Prince, strangely attired in a night shirt; Mr. Darden portrayed the Prince's companion Truffaldino attired in a suit.

We cannot say too much about the scene from Paul Moravec's The Shining. We found the music lacking in the very qualities that make us want to listen, and the scene itself did not hold our interest. Baritone Kenneth Stavert sang the role of an ex-alcoholic starting a new life in a boiler room.  Mr. Carroll portrayed a ghost in the hotel. The libretto did not strike us as singable. We did enjoy Mr. Carroll in L'heure espagnole and hope to get another opportunity to hear Mr. Stavert in music kinder to our ears.

It was a fun evening and we find ourselves trying to anticipate which of these promising artists will thrive in their professional careers and return to the Santa Fe Opera stage.

(c) meche kroop

APPRENTICE SCENES FROM SANTA FE OPERA

Mary-Hollis Hundley and Jacquelyn Stucker in a scene from Mozart's Nozze di Figaro  (photo by Bobby Gutierrez)

One of the best musical events taking place in Santa Fe in August takes place right in the gorgeous opera house a short drive north of the center of town.  We are speaking of the Apprentice Scenes, of which there are two evenings.  The first one took place on August 14th and the second one will take place on August 21st.  We always organize our visits to The City Different to include both evenings. It is our chance to hear the stars of tomorrow and we wouldn’t miss it for the world

Under the direction of David Holloway, the Apprentice Program carefully selects emerging talents whose stars are on the rise in the operatic firmament. Many of them are invited back for a second year of training and some of them will appear in subsequent summers in one or more of the five main operas.

The first of the two evenings provided many delights along with exposure to young artists, some of whom are new to us and others whose careers we have been following for the past few years. Some we know from competitions, some from their schools, and some from other programs.

These young artists also serve as members of the chorus or in small roles in the five operas presented over the summer.  But in the Apprentice Scenes, we get to see them in starring roles—as exciting for us as it is for them.  And not just for us, but for the crowd that packs in for the same reason as we do.  As an added bonus, the tickets are incredibly reasonable for such fine entertainment.

Most entertaining of the eight scenes presented was the final one on the program, which left the audience smiling. We long ago lost count of how many times we have seen Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro without ever losing our appreciation and enthusiasm for this divine comedy. In this case, the entire cast sang and acted in such a manner that brought out all of librettist Da Ponte’s humor. 

The scene chosen was the one in which the angry jealous Count and the anxious Countess return to the Countess’ boudoir to expose the hidden Cherubino.  The two sopranos were equally superb with Jacquelyn Stucker portraying the spunky Susanna and Mary Hollis-Hundley creating a lovely and dignified Countess.  As the furious Count, Jorge Espino went from rage to embarrassment to puzzlement. 

Arriving on the scene later were a quartet of characters, each with a different agenda but joined in a delightful dance. Bass-baritone Andrew Simpson made a very funny Antonio. Tenor Stephen Carroll portrayed the slimy Don Basilio; mezzo-soprano Nadia Farad enacted Marcellina with bass James Harrington as Don Bartolo.  

Kyle Long’s direction was delightful, eliciting every ounce of humor from the crazy situation. Maria Noel Nieto’s costumes were beautiful and accurately representative of Mozart’s period.

Similarly superb was the scene from Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, effectively directed by Matthew Ozawa, in which Grigori (tenor Andrew Marks Maughn) arrives at an inn close to the Lithuanian border. He is traveling in the company of two monks—Misael (tenor Stephen Martin) and the hilariously drunken Variaan, perfectly portrayed by bass David Leigh. 

Thanks to Russian opera we get great roles for brilliant basses!  We loved the brilliant bass Onay Kose in the role of Nikitch, the illiterate police officer. In a serious work like Boris Godunov, it is particularly welcome to have some comic relief; here, the monks took turns translating the arrest warrant to point the finger of suspicion toward the other.  Mezzo-soprano Mariya Kaganskaya made a fine Innkeeper with a lovely voice and stage presence. Nicole Grebb’s costumes were perfect.

Kathleen Clawson directed the scene from Giuseppi Verdi’s Stiffelio in which the hero confronts his unfaithful wife. We were so pleased to see tenor Cooper Nolan—well remembered from his starring roles at The Manhattan School of Music some years ago—as the enraged eponymous minister.  As his cheating wife, soprano Rebecca Krynski Cox, also remembered from MSM, went through several emotional phases without compromising her fine vocal technique. We liked Phoebe Miller’s authentic costume design  which, along with the wonderful singing, created a fine opener for the evening.

We enjoyed a wonderful trio of tenors in Gioachino Rossini’s Armida—the scene in which the knight Rinaldo (Peter Scott Drackley) must be rescued from the spell of the sorceress of the title. Benjamin Werley sang Ubaldo and the role of Carlo was taken by Adam Bonanni, whose crystal instrument soared. The three voices in harmony created a unique sound. Kyle Lang directed effectively and Jeni O’Malley’s costumes were splendid with Rinaldo lounging in linen and the two rescuers storming in wearing impressive armor.

The sorceress Armida is not present in this scene but in a scene from G. F. Handel’s Alcina, the eponymous sorceress is very much present.  Personified by the beautiful soprano Jacquelyn Stucker, Alcina is a force to be reckoned with as she uses every trick in the book to win the knight Ruggiero away from his beloved Bradamante.  The two mezzo-sopranos were excellent with Kirsten Choi as Bradamante and Briana Hunter giving an equally fine performance as Ruggiero. Director Jordan Fein staged the romantic triangle quite cleverly making use of a swiveling chaise longue.

So we were rather puzzled by Mr. Fein’s clumsy staging of Verdi’s La Traviata. Jailene Torres’ costumes disappointed equally. Violetta (Rebecca Nathanson) is supposed to be in her sickbed at dawn with Annina sitting vigil at her bedside.  But NO!  Violetta enters in a contemporary ball gown with Annina in street clothes.  The undressing made no sense and the collapsing and rising from the floor was not congruent with the libretto or the music.

The scene was abruptly truncated at an awkward place, but not until Alfredo was lying on the floor on top of the dying Violetta!  The staging was so disruptive that it interfered with our appreciation of the singing, although the entrance of Alfredo brought in the arrestingly pure tenor of Galeano Salas, almost making us forget the sins of direction.  We want to hear more of mezzo-soprano Evanna Chiew who sang the role of Annina and sang it well under adverse circumstances.

Those who favor contemporary opera probably enjoyed Matthew Ozawa’s staging of John Adams’ Nixon in China. We didn’t enjoy the opera some years back at the Metropolitan Opera, and didn’t enjoy it any more upon second hearing. Although the instrumental music, reminiscent of Philip Glass’, is interesting, the vocal lines are not. The singers are asked to deal with the difficult diphthongs of English at the very worst part of their range. Furthermore, intellectual sparring does not strike us as the right topic for an opera.  We most enjoyed the trio of Chinese secretaries—Evanna Chiew, Kristen Choi, and Nadia Farad.  If one can have three tenors, why not three mezzos!

The scene from Kismet struck us as silly.  Although we adore Alexander Borodin’s music, the work belongs on the Broadway stage— even with the finely trained operatic voices of Chelsea Davidson, Stephen Carroll, Jorge Espino, and James Harrington. We generally love to hear Broadway musicals performed in an opera house with trained voices, but the libretto here is just not worth Borodin’s music.

(c) meche kroop

A MASTERFUL MASTER CLASS

Joyce DiDonato

A master class with Joyce DiDonato was presented by the Marcello Giordani Foundation and what a masterful hour and a half it was!  This superstar mezzo-soprano is as charming as she is modest, as gifted a teacher as she is an artist.  The audience, many of whom were singers,  seemed to get as much out of the experience as the students, three of our favorite young artists.  All of Ms. DiDonato's experience and wisdom were shared with consummate generosity.

The first participant, baritone Takaoki Onishi, sang "Ah per sempre" from Bellini's I Puritani.  It sounded just fine but after a half-hour of coaching on Bellini's particular style, Mr. Onishi sounded far more performance-ready.  Ms. DiDonato focused on grounding Mr. Onishi physically by teaching him to be more aware of his body, encouraging him to sing from his core.  She shared some tips on how to practice, breaking each phrase down, practicing it with different rhythms to gain flexibility.  She demonstrated connecting the notes from one phrase to the next to emphasize Bellini's long lines.  She offered suggestions on the mastery of triplets.  She discussed
how to get the brain to control the voice.  She advised knowing more about who the character is. 

The second participant, soprano Courtney Johnson, sang "Signore ascolta" from Puccini's Turandot.  Ms. D. taught her how to be even more expressive with her magnificent instrument by coloring every word with its underlying emotion.  She coached Ms. J. on how best to articulate the "EE" sound so that "Liu" and "piu" sounded better.  We were surprised to learn that that vowel, when correctly placed (narrow and deep) offers the most room in the throat.

The final participant, tenor Adam Bonanni, sang "Una furtiva lagrima" from Donizetti's L'elisir d'Amore.  Ms. D. advised going back to the score instead of imitating famous tenors;  we were surprised to learn that those famous tenors often departed from what the composer wrote!  She told Mr. B. that he could "make it new" and by the end of the coaching, indeed he did.  He created a Nemorino that was not like any other.  We look forward to hearing him sing a role that seems tailor-made for him.

We could have listened to Ms. D's advice all night long.  It is always so rewarding when a master class makes a real difference to the participants.

(c) meche kroop

IGOR MEETS GIOACHINO

The person who calls Chicago "the second city" might call Mannes College for Music "the third school of music".  But the performance put on by The Mannes Opera was first-rate.  Under the baton of Artistic Director Joseph Colaneri, the Mannes Orchestra played with high energy and skill while the singers--a few undergraduates, a few graduate students and some Professional Studies Diploma candidates--sang and acted with energy, skill and enthusiasm to match.

The December 19th program was entitled "Igor meets Gioachino" and introduced the audience to two rare one-act gems from two different periods, the first by Stravinsky and the second by Rossini.  Both were entertaining and delightful under the superb direction of Laura Alley, known to us through her work with New York City Opera and Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance.

The brief curtain raiser, Stravinsky's Mavra, a satire of bourgeois manners, tells the tale of a young woman, apparently a White Russian émigrée in Paris, who smuggles her lover into her mother's home, disguised as a maid.  The young lady was sung by soprano Liana Guberman, the mother by mezzo Elizabeth Picker, the neighbor by Kirsten Scott, and the Hussar boyfriend by tenor Christopher Colmenero.  The performances were fine on both vocal and dramatic levels.  Our only reservation was about the choice to sing the work in English.  It seemed as if the rhythm of the words and that of the music were out of sync.  We had the same feeling when hearing the Met's "family oriented" production of Il Barbière di Siviglia sung in English.  There are probably some good reasons for this choice but...just sayin'.

The libretto was by Boris Kochno, based on a Pushkin story that actually took place in Russia but the change of locale was not a problem.

The second work was Rossini's La Scala di Seta, another opera buffa with stock characters inherited from la commedia del'arte.  One easily gets a glimpse here of the young Rossini gaining command of his musical vocabulary with lively music, duets, trios and ensembles, and much frantic behavior.  However, the characters are unidimensional.  The libretto was written by one Giuseppe Maria Foppa.

Giulia, sung by soprano Boya Wei, is a young woman who was secretly married to Dorvil (tenor Adam Bonanni).  Her guardian, tenor Deun Lee, would have her marry Blansac, a friend of Dorvil (bass Enrico Lagasca).  Giulia's cousin Lucilla (soprano Lydia Dahling) would love to marry Blansac.  Comic relief is provided by the bumbling servant Germano (a very funny Suchan Kim, bass).  This was not the clever servant devised by daPonte for Mozart!  No, this servant makes several errors of judgment regarding who is climbing the silken ladder by which Dorvil gains access to Giulia.  The entire plot is delightfully silly and the music sparkles like champagne.

The single set, a house in Paris (which explains why the action of Mavra was geographically altered) was unfussy and effective.  Roger Hanna is credited with the Set Design.  The always attractive and suitable costumes were by Helen E. Rodgers; the Lighting Design by Jeff Davis contributed to the overall excellence.  Amanda Miller is credited with Makeup and Wig Design.  The harpsichord was played by Eunkyung Lee.

The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College makes a fine venue for chamber opera and the choice of these gems was perfect for the fine young cast.  Great evening all around!

(c) meche kroop