OPERA IS ALIVE AND WELL

Curtain Call time at Richard Tucker Gala at Carnegie Hall

We don't have to worry about the future of opera as long as The Richard Tucker Foundation is around to support young singers. The sold out house testifies to the fact that there is an audience for opera and the standing ovation tells us just how enthusiastic this audience is. The gala was live streamed on medici.tv and can be seen and heard on Facebook. This is the foundation's 44th year and has succeeded admirably in honoring the memory of the great Richard Tucker.

Audience members received a warm welcome from Barry Tucker followed by two uninterrupted hours of pure aural delight. We have every intention of telling you about this year's winner but something else excited us so much that we are just bursting with enthusiasm to tell you about it.

Perhaps our enthusiasm is because we have been writing about soprano Nadine Sierra since we began reviewing and have a special interest in her career and a deep attachment to her success. Her winning the 2017 award last year surely helped to advance her rapid rise to stardom both in the USA and abroad.

Last night she literally stole the show. She gave a lesson in seduction the likes of which we have never witnessed. Sporting a slinky backless red gown, she proceeded to tear Des Grieux away from the priesthood in a manner that recalled the desperation of Madam Arkadina working her wiles on Trigorin in Chekhov's The Seagull.  We have always thought of Ms. Sierra as "the diva next door"--all girlish innocence; so it was a revelation to hear her use her gorgeous instrument in the service of manipulation. On the receiving end of this manipulation in "N'est-ce plus ma main?" from Massenet's Manon was 2014 Richard Tucker Award winner tenor Michael Fabiano.

We saw a totally different side of this versatile soprano in a charming and lighthearted aria ("Me llaman la primorosa") from El Barbero de Sevilla, a zarzuela composed by Gerónimo Giménez and Manuel Nieto. This is a gloss on the Rossini opera and the singer is the soprano of a young company rehearsing that opera. Regular readers know of our enthusiasm for zarzuela and we love this aria but never heard it done so well. The fioritura virtually sparkled and there was a lovely "competition" with the flute.

So, dear readers, we received a lesson in seduction from a young woman of outstanding physical and artistic gifts; but we also got a lesson in seduction from a mature woman who dazzled us with an over-the-top rendition of the "Habanera'" from Bizet's Carmen. If you have already guessed that this was a surprise appearance by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe (1999 award winner), you deserve one of the red roses that she showered upon the audience and Maestro Marco Armiliato, as well as the Concertmaster. This artist can still raise the temperature in the room and we love her dearly.

We might add that we got a bit teary-eyed when she sang "Take Care of This House" from Leonard Bernstein's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Our tears sprang from the realization that no one is taking care of the White House these days. "This house is the hope of us all", sang Abigail Adams in the show. We comforted ourself by converting the house in the song to Carnegie Hall; this is a house we can take care of! And we must!

And now, let us move on to 2018 award winner Christian Van Horn. He is one of only three bass-baritones to have ever won the Richard Tucker award. He opened the program with an exciting aria from Verdi's Nabucco in which the high priest Zaccaria responds to his people's lament "Va Pensiero". (The incomparable Metropolitan Opera Chorus was on hand and we wished that his aria had been set up with a performance of that work.) It was a fine impassioned performance nonetheless, demonstrating the artist's flexibility in the cabaletta.

Later on, he tackled the complex "Ella giammai m'amò" from Verdi's Don Carlo, in which we are meant to feel compassion for the evil King Philip who oppresses his people and has stolen his son's intended bride. He even asks the Grand Inquisitor for permission to kill his son!  It is only Verdi's music aided and abetted by Mr. Van Horn's artistry that permitted "sympathy for the devil".

The rest of the evening's program achieved its customary level of excellence. With big voices like these, we got to hear quite a bit of Verdi. Mr. Fabiano, the 2014 winner, performed "Quando le sera al placido" from Luisa Miller with pleasing vibrato, delivering a lot of angst in the recit and plenty of lyricism in the aria. We liked his use of dynamic variety and color.

Soprano Angela Meade tackled the fiery "No,no! giusta causa" and wrestled it to the ground. Ms. Meade, the 2011 award winner, is a force of nature with a rich tone and a soaring upper register. There were some gorgeous tones floated up toward the balcony but it was the fiery cabaletta that grabbed us. There were significant contributions from the Metropolitan Opera Chorus. We have never heard this early opera by Verdi-- I Lombardi al prima crociata, but somehow we feel we got the best moment!

Baritone Quinn Kelsey performed "È sogno? o realtà", from Falstaff.  Accompanied by the horns, he delineated with building intensity, the ultimate expression of masculine pride and poisonous jealousy, as Mr. Ford believe his wife to have been unfaithful.

We had never heard tenor Yusif Eyvazov but what a sweet sound he has! He knows just how long to hold a note without strain or excess and his tone just sailed over the orchestra in Manrico's beloved aria "Di quella pira" from Il Trovatore. We liked the change of color and intensity in the recapitulation.

There were plenty of goodies besides Verdian ones. We were particularly fond of soprano Christine Goerke's performance of "Es gibt ein Reich" from Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Her voice and phrasing did justice to the composer's soaring vocal lines.

Ms. Goerke, the 2001 award recipient, reappeared as the excommunicated Santuzza singing the Easter hymn from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, supported by the chorus and organist--another superb performance.

Tenor Javier Camarena addressed the audience with a humorous anecdote before launching into an aria from an opera unknown to us--Manuel Garcia's Florestan. Himself a singer and father of two singers (Pauline Viardot and Maria Malibran) Garcia knew how to write for the voice. We loved the way Mr. Camarena handled the French and are pleased to learn that he is interested in promoting the career of Garcia, whom we only know of through a musical evening we reviewed that celebrated his introduction of Mozart operas to the USA.

In a lovely duet with Ms. Meade from the lesser known Rossini opera Armida, we enjoyed his flexibility in the fioritura, as he portrayed the Christian knight Rinaldo being seduced by the titular sorceress.  More seduction!

We got to hear one more selection from Mr. Van Horn in the stunning duet "Suoni la tromba" from Bellini's I Puritani.  Sharing the duet with Mr. Kelsey, it was a fine example of harmonic writing for contrasting voices, in martial rhythm.

We were waiting to hear soprano Anna Netrebko sing "Pace, pace" from Verdi's La Forza del Destino but that never happened. But we did hear her in a duet with Mr. Eyvazov, the final duet from Giordano's Andrea Chenier in which Maddalena and Chenier go to their death on the guillotine. Their two large voices filled Carnegie Hall with overtones.

Maestro Armiliato conducted the always wonderful Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; both orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Chorus added greatly to the evening.

It was a sensational evening. We heard some of our favorite singers and some that were not yet known to us. We heard several arias and duets that we don't often get to hear. We renewed our appreciation for the Richard Tucker Foundation. And we made plans to attend Boito's Méfistofélè at The Met so that we could hear Mr. Van Horn, Ms. Meade, and Mr. Fabiano together!

(c) meche kroop

MAD FOR THE MAD SCENE

Soprano Brenda Rae as Lucia and Santa Fe Apprentices in Donizetti's Lucia de Lamermoor (photo by Ken Howard)

Another brilliant evening at the Santa Fe Opera brought to us another compelling heroine--the fragile and vulnerable Lucia portrayed by the brilliant soprano Brenda Rae who impressed us four years ago as Violetta. What a stunning contrast with last night's Alcina, a heroine who is manipulative and deceitful! Lucia is a an unfortunate young woman who wants nothing more than to wed her beloved Edgardo, sung by terrific tenor Mario Chang who has also impressed us in the past five years since we began writing  www.vocedimeche.reviews. Mr. Chang made an exceptional Edgardo, gathering impact as the evening progressed. His final scene was heartbreaking.

In Salvadore Cammarano's libretto, based on a work by Sir Walter Scott, poor Lucia is thwarted by her desperate brother Enrico, whose political future, and perhaps his life, hang upon his establishing a relationship with Lord Arturo Bucklaw; Baritone Zachary Nelson (about whom we have also been writing for about five years) lent his forceful stage presence and rich voice to the role. Lucia becomes a pawn in this political intrigue and is manipulated into signing a contract of marriage with Lord Bucklaw, here portrayed by a promising member of the Apprentice Program--Carlos Santelli, who has a pleasing, if somewhat covered sound. 

Obviously, this cannot end well! Indeed, by the end of the opera, Lucia has died of a broken heart, Arturo has been murdered on his wedding night, Edgardo commits suicide by grabbing Enrico's dagger, and Enrico will probably suffer the ignominious defeat of one who falls out of favor with the court.

What makes Gaetano Donizetti's opera such a favorite is the theme of a woman's suffering at the hands of men, the torrent of tunes that fell from Donizetti's pen, and the opportunity to hear a favorite soprano unravel to the accompaniment of the eerie sound of a glass harmonica, here played by international expert Friedrich Heinrich Kern. (Thanks Benjamin Franklin for this amazing invention!) The lengthy mad scene requires the casting of a soprano of prodigious coloratura skills-- but the rest of the opera requires her to arouse our sympathy. To this end, Ms. Rae succeeded admirably on both counts. It was a riveting performance that completely deserved the standing ovation at the end of the performance.

Also notable was bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Raimondo the Chaplain and apprentice Stephen Martin as Normanno, Captain of the Guard, who takes the rap for Lucia's death by virtue of having exposed her illicit romance with Edgardo of Ravenswood, her brother's arch enemy.

One of the great pleasures of the Santa Fe Opera is witnessing the rise of the apprentice singers. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit captured our notice when she sang the role of Laurene Jobs in a preview of The (R)Evolution of Steve Jobs which we attended in NYC at Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum.  Last night she sang the role of Lucia's companion Alisa and she sang it with superb vocal resources and appropriate deference to Ms. Rae.

Maestro Corrado Rovaris, a notable bel canto expert, led the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra which sounded superb, as always. We thought that his somewhat accelerated tempi for the first act was a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it increased the sense of urgency in the plot; on the other hand, we missed the sense of spaciousness he provided for the singers in the second act.

All of the singers impressed us with their musicality of phrasing; the variations of dynamics and tempi as well as vocal coloration indicated the presence of true artistry. The vocal blending in the sextet (when Edgardo crashes the wedding celebration) could not have been better and was second only to the mad scene in its ability to astonish us with the writing of Donizetti and the performances of the singers.

Also noteworthy were the confrontational duets between Mr. Nelson and Mr. Chang--two powerful artists matching artistry with equivalent artistry.

Director Ron Daniels went for a minimalist approach, such a contrast with last night's overcooked Alcina. He set the opera at the time Donizetti composed it--thankfully not in contemporary times. The principals seemed well directed toward sustaining dramatic verisimilitude but the chorus seemed static, standing in rows and moving rather mechanically and in unison. We take issue with Lucia visiting her brother in his bedroom; it just seemed inappropriately informal. And it bothered us that Lucia's hallucinations were invisible to the audience whilst Edgardo's dying hallucination was presented onstage.  However, it was indeed a gorgeous image of Ms. Rae looking pure and heavenly!

The chorus, comprising the Santa Fe Apprentices and under the fine direction of Susanne Sheston, sang with similar superb musicianship and well-defined diction. We expect no less!

Riccardo Hernandez' set design was also minimalistic. The walls and ceiling comprised square panels done in skewed perspective that emphasized the feeling of claustrophobia that Lucia must have felt. The fateful fountain at which Lucia hallucinates a ghost was a fluorescent plastic tub of water. There was nothing great about the great hall in which the wedding ceremony took place. Edgardo's room was nothing but a chair and tiny table with a lamp. This simplicity is not a bad thing but another double-edged sword in that it allowed us to focus more on the performances than on the background.

Peter Negrini's projections overlay the walls with images of forests. Effective lighting was by Christopher Akerlind.

Emily Rebholz' costume design worked very well for the women who wore muted ball gowns to the wedding, as one would expect among the Scottish aristocracy. But the men at the ball were dressed in white tie and tails and not sporting kilts or the colors of their clan, which we have come to expect. The men looked more authentic in the first act, wearing dark clothes trimmed in fur.

The ball scene also included some dancing, choreographed by Zack Winokur, which was vaguely "folk" but markedly un-Scottish.

We left at the end of the opera feeling fulfilled on all counts, but especially that of witnessing the success of former apprentices.  We hope to find Ms. Coit, Mr. Santelli, and Mr. Martin following in their footsteps within the next five years!

(c) meche kroop

EAR CANDY EYE CANDY

Anna Christy as Morgana in Handel's Alcina (photo by Ken Howard)

We love our Handel operas with their melodies tumbling out "time-signature over final barline". To hear a perfectly cast group of singers and the perfect orchestra under one (semi-outdoor) roof is a matchless experience. Last night, Harry Bicket, renowned conductor of Early Music, led a spirited reading of Handel's Alcina, one marked by clarity and precision without any loss of emotional range.

Ariosto's 16th c. epic Orlando Furioso visited an 8th c. realm of sorcery and knighthood; it was the source material for many future theatrical works, including Handel's 1735 opera, one that achieved instant success in that epoch and which is given frequent productions in our era. We have reviewed Alcina at least three times in as many years. (All archived).

The story concerns the knight Ruggiero who has fallen under the spell of the beautiful and seductive sorceress Alcina who turns men into animals and rocks when she tires of them. His fiancee Bradamante who, in the Ariosto poem is always rescuing her fiance from some peril or other, has come to the magic island with Melisso, Ruggiero's former tutor, disguised as her brother Ricciardo. The pair must break Alcina's spell. Of course, they succeed.  But not before a lot of deception, betrayal, and some gender bending fun, as Alcina's sister Morgana falls in lust with "Ricciardo".

The singers were uniformly superb and highly invested in their assigned characterizations. As the eponymous sorceress, soprano Elza van den Heever employed her powerful pipes to limn the wide-ranging emotions of the titular character. She is in turn loving, seductive, manipulative, vengeful, defeated, and vulnerable. 

As her sister Morgana, Anna Christy fulfilled the demands of the high-lying tessitura with crystalline clarity and an undeniable facility with the coloratura passages. She imbued the character with plenty of humor in counterpoint with the serious mien of Alcina.

One could not have asked for a better Ruggiero than mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy who must sing accurately whilst wandering around the stage in a state of confusion and bewilderment. We enjoyed her performance so thoroughly that we are arranging to attend a solo recital next week  presented by Performance Santa Fe. It is never taken for granted that a trouser role will be performed with such believability.

As his abandoned lover Bradamante, the marvelous mezzo Daniela Mack must be convincing in the gender bending role of Ricciardo, her very own brother, such that her revelation to Ruggiero as his beloved can delight the audience as well as astonishing Ruggiero. Her dramatic performance equalled the success of her vocal performance.

On her quest to liberate Ruggiero from the clutches of Alcina, she has assumed this disguise and is traveling accompanied by the tutor Melisso; the role was splendidly sung by bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, whose powerful and resonant sound was blissfully interposed among that wealth of female voices.

Tenor Alek Shrader's lovely sound was similarly welcome as he brought to life the character of Oronte, Alcina's general. Oronte is the lover of Morgana and when Morgana falls for the disguised Bradamante, he gets cast off and only reunites with her at the end when she pleads for forgiveness.

It is said that there are no small roles, and soprano Jacquelyn Stucker's winning and convincing performance as Oberto, a young boy looking for his father on Alcina's enchanted island, won a huge and well-deserved round of applause from us and the rest of the house. We felt sad for her character who never found his father!

We were particularly overwhelmed by the music of Act II when there were fewer distracting high jinx onstage. Bradamante's aria was followed by one of Ruggiero's in response. The famous "Verdi prati" in which Ruggiero bids farewell to the enchanted island, always moves us to tears. Alcina's expression of despair over her loss of power was similarly affecting.

If melodies sound familiar, it is because Handel never thought twice about recycling arias from other operas. His inventiveness comes into play in his accurate characterizations and in his liberal and creative use of ornamentation in the ritornelli. As a matter of fact, one of director David Alden's touches that we most enjoyed was his having the singer deliver an aria with the A-B-A sections performed from three different vantage points.

His direction, from our point of view, was "too much of a muchness". Handel's operas seem to lend themselves to wild adaptations (see our prior reviews) and there seems to be a tendency to not trust the music to entertain a modern audience without an elaborate "concept". Perhaps the directors are right because the operas are long and the plots often confusing. We observed that the audience loved the onstage high jinx and laughed out loud.

Mr. Alden's concept was that of replacing the enchanted island with an abandoned theater and Ruggiero's enchantment that of someone escaping a mundane reality. We couldn't avoid thinking of Wagner's Tannhauser in which the eponymous knight is held captive by the goddess Venus in the Venusberg. Duty vs. desire is a common theme in opera.

But we haven't seen so much humping and jumping onstage in quite some time and found it distracting and excessive. The beasts (Alcina's ex-lovers) were portrayed by some truly excellent break-dancers (choreographed by Beate Vollack) whom we would have enjoyed at another time and place in which we could have given them our full attention. There was continual shtick that we found unnecessary and did not appreciate the moments that made no dramatic sense.

Updating an opera requires that the dramatic sense be maintained; it doesn't work for us if the story is "shoe-horned" into a concept. Taken moment by moment there were a number of valid images.  For example, when Alcina loses her power, the symbolic fuschia gloves fall to the floor.  But when dozens of them rain down from above it seemed to be overkill.  And why was Morgana pushing a baby carriage? And were the rows of people sitting back to back and jiggling up and down supposed to be on a train?  So many moments didn't make sense to us. We felt as if high vocal art was competing with low sight gags.

The setting (Gideon Davey) had something like a baroque proscenium on the left and a painting of a huge wave (like a Japanese woodcut) on the right.  From time to time a wall with seven doors descended. People rushed in and out as frequently as in a French farce.  Mr. Davey's costumes leaned toward contemporary streetwear with Morgana and Oronte dressed as theater ushers. At one point Morgana was dressed like Bette Midler.  

Oh well, the music was great! Handel's music will live on and Mr. Alden's concept will vanish.

(c) meche kroop