SORCERESS! DRAGONS!

Katherine Doe, Mithuna Sivaraman, Alaina Logee, Mary Kathryn Monday, Rachel Duval, and Joyce Yin

Cantanti Project is one of our favorite boutique opera companies. They just presented Händel's 1713 opera seria Teseo (renamed Teseo:Medea), replete with sorceress, flying dragons, apparitions, potions, spells, and a deus ex machina in the person of Minerva. Nicola Haym's libretto was based on a Lully opera of 1674 which was, in turn, based on a story in Ovid's Metamorphosis. Händel surely had his finger on the pulse of his London audience which thronged to see his earlier Rinaldo (another opera involving sorcery) but gave short shrift to his pastoral opera Il pastor fido. Teseo had a decent run, marred only by technical difficulties, but the opera was forgotten and lay dormant until 1947. We are glad it was resurrected.

As in so many operas of the period, the story is complicated. King Egeo (Mary Kathryn Monday) has been successful at battle and decides that his betrothal to Medea should be replaced by marriage with Agilea (Joyce Yin), his ward. She is in love with Egeo's military commander Teseo (Rachel Duval). Agilea's companion Clizia (Mithuna Sivaraman) is in love with Arcane (Katherine Doe).

The sorceress Medea (Alaina Logee), incensed at being rejected, does her best to spoil everyone's happiness and create mistrust and dissension. It takes the intervention of Minerva to set things right. A poisoning of Teseo by Egeo is thwarted when the King recognizes the warrior as his long-lost son! His sword was the give-away!

Although Händel's instrumental music doesn't light our fire, his operas set us ablaze. Contemporary composers should study a page from his book. He really knew how to write for the voice with the vocal line emphasizing the words, more so in his Italian operas than in his English ones, of course. His arias, as I recall, are fun to sing! There is ample fioritura with almost ostentatious ornamentation which never detracts from his illumination of the character.

Our favorite scene was in Act IV when Medea blackmails the sweet and lovely Agilea to give up Teseo, whom Medea also wants. With tearful aspect Agilea renounces him to save his life. Her singing would melt an iceberg and it melted Medea's rage--but only temporarily. There was still one more act to fill in this unique five act opera--still more reverses and complications!


Musical Director Dylan Sauerwald led the Dorian Baroque Orchestra from the harpsichord. We particularly enjoyed the sound of the baroque oboe; the mournful sound often echoes the vocal line and sometimes "sings" in harmony with it. We sat there for three hours entranced by the glorious singing and playing. Not only are the arias magnificent but the duets thrill the ear.

What did not entrance us was trying to figure out who was whom and what they were singing about. Had we not read a summary beforehand we would have been completely lost. There was no program and no synopsis. There were titles projected off to the side but they could not be read with the stagelights on.

There was no set to speak of and costumes (Alexandria Hoffman) were as basic as one would expect with a minimal budget. We would far prefer the money be spent on musical values! And that we got in spades.  Wonderful singing, wonderful music!

We realize that the female-centric Cantanti Project had an axe to grind about female power; much was written on their website and Facebook page about gender. That is all well and good; we are glad that castration of male singers ended long ago and are happy to see women fulfill the roles. But for our purposes, it is the music making that counts.

(c) meche kroop

CANTAMOS!

Cantanti Project at United Palace of Cultural Arts

One would think that a rainy Monday evening would be a good time to stay home with a good book or "Netflix and chill". Not in our book!  It was the perfect time to spend a couple hours with Cantanti Project, a group we always enjoy. Last night's recital was just about the best evening this wonderful group of artists has scheduled and a real highlight of the season, one we wouldn't have missed for the world.

The program was entirely in Spanish, a language we love for its singability, which rivals that of Italian, and its emphasis on love in all its varied manifestations. The works we heard--some familiar and some new to us--spanned several centuries (from the 17th c. Baroque to the present time) and several genres (opera, art song, zarzuela, folk songs, popular songs). We agree with Steven Blier of New York Festival of Song that no one genre surpasses another. Good songs stand on equal footing no matter what genre they belong to. The songs on last night's program originated in Spain and in the Nuevo Mundo.

The program was like a string of pearls or precious gems; we will not have time or space to cover them all so, dear reader, allow us to focus on the few that made the most intense impression.

Soprano Maria Brea performed "Me llaman la primarosa" from the zarzuela El barbero de Sevilla, a "meta" work about a company producing the Rossini opera. Her lively personality filled out the song and her bright and sizable instrument soared to the upper reaches of the lavish lobby of the United Palace of Cultural Arts, filling the space with overtones. Her flirtatious character shares some qualities with Musetta but is less arrogant. There were vocal fireworks aplenty with trills, swooping scales and prolonged vocalises. We loved the part in which the piano of Principal Music Advisor William Lewis echoed the motif of the vocal part.

Tenor Mario Arévalo possesses a praiseworthy sound, augmented by fine technique and a warm presence that invites you into his sound-world. Although we enjoyed the forceful popular song from his homeland El Salvador, we were most impressed by his romantic delivery of the art song "A ti" composed by Colombian Jaime León. Although it is a product of the 20th c. there is no shortage of melodic movement and Mr. Arévalo invested it with lots of romantic warmth, fullness of tone, dynamic variety, and depth of feeling.

Mezzo-soprano Linda Collazo showed off her strength in the lower register in "La borrachita de amor" a Baroque song by Spaniard Sebastián Durón and her story-telling skills in the tender Ecuadorian folk song "Yaravi", to which she gave a poignant ending.

Yet another Andean folk song, "Triste", arranged by Argentinean Alberto Ginastera, was beautifully interpreted by soprano Marisa Karchin. This is a lament that begins and ends with a vocalise and Ms. Karchin sang it with a lovely vibrato and spun out the ending to a wispy pianissimo.  Magical!

Lyric coloratura soprano Joyce Yin, Artistic Director of Cantanti Project, used her artistry to interpret "El Viaje Definitivo", a meditation on death by 20th c. Puerto Rican composer Ernesto Cordero. She gave a stunning a cappella introduction and finale, accompanied by guitarist George Benton England.

For a taste of humor we enjoyed mezzo-soprano Heather Jones' lively performance of Joaquin Rodrigo's "En Jerez de la Frontera", the tale of a faithful wife who rejects the advances of an importuning suitor. We never knew that the composer of so many beloved works for symphony and guitar also wrote art songs!

We thought we knew all about Pablo Sorozábal's zarzuela La taberna del puerto but we didn't know the song "Despierta Negro", a warning to the black man to watch out for the white man who would enslave him. Bass-baritone Jonathan Z. Harris sang it with clear intent and round deep tone.

There were some stunning duets, of which our favorite was "Niñas que a vender flores" from Francisco Asenjo Barbieri's zarzuela Los diamantes de la corona. Accompanied by Mr. Lewis, the voices of Ms. Karchin and Ms. Collazo blended in perfect harmony.

There were several baroque selections on the program which were accompanied by Dorian Baroque, comprising a pair of violins, harpsichord, cello, and the always impressive theorbo. Maestro Dylan Sauerwald conducted from the harpsichord.

We could go on and on about the other selections but we hope, dear reader, that we have given you a little taste of everything on this lavish musical buffet which had something for everyone's taste.  We hope we have tempted you to join Cantanti Project for some of their future events. We ourself are looking forward to Händel's Teseo coming up in the Spring.

(c) meche kroop

WHEN IN ROME

Maestro Parodi and cast of L'incoronazione di Poppea

In the prologue to Monteverdi's final work, the prim Virtue (Leeanne Kaufman) and the slatternly Fortuna (Jessica Adkins) argue about which one is the stronger in affecting human behavior.  But it is Amore (Rebecca Wood) who laughs last, although Cupid seems to be more supportive of lust than love. Giovanni Francesco Busenello's libretto has taken literary liberties with history.

The dissolute emperor Nerone (Rahim Mandal) wants to rid himself of his wife Ottavia (Abigail Shapiro) so he can marry the sexy Poppea (Margaret Newcomb).  Ottone (Isaac Assor) the rejected suitor of Poppea is enlisted by Ottavia to murder her, disguising himself in the clothes of his servant Drusilla (Teresa Castillo) who would do anything to gain his love, including taking the rap for him.  Since great liberties were taken with history, Nerone's character has been softened and he graciously allows the perpetrators and his cast-off wife to live in exile.  Are we having fun yet?  Oh, yes, we certainly are!

Premiered in Venice in 1643, the work is relevant today even without contemporary attire; we are still plagued by cheating rulers and ambitious mistresses.  In fact, this opera represents a major moral departure from the standard of wrong-doers being punished. How refreshing!  How cynical!

Isabel Milenski has directed the students of the Manhattan Summer Voice Festival at Manhattan School of Music with a sure hand, keeping the action moving and the arias motivated.  It is difficult to believe that the singers are students; each and every role was beautifully sung and convincingly acted.  Comic relief was provided mostly by Drusilla and the fanciful costumes of the gods.  Amore had red feathered wings, Pallade had helmet and breastplate, Virtue looked like a 1950's church-goer and Fortuna, swilling from a bottle, was decked out in sequins.  Poppea's nurse Arnalta (Jillian Wiley) had fun toward the end when she lords her newly exalted position over the other servant Nuttrice (Ms. Kaufman)--Ottavia's nurse.  Elizabeth Barrett Groth was Costume Designer.

Musical values were splendid in every respect as Maestro Jorge Parodi conducted the Dorian Baroque Orchestra.  Our fascination with the theorbo continues and Kevin Payne's duet with cellist Margalit Cantor just about knocked our socks off.  There is much scholarly argument about whether Monteverdi wrote the entire opera or whether he had ample assistance from students and younger colleagues.  In any event, the music is gorgeously melodic and the young singers did it justice as did the musicians.  Duets were especially lovely as voices blended in perfect harmony.  We particularly enjoyed the love duets between Poppea and Nerone, and the duet between Nerone and the poet Lucano (John Ford) taking place at the baths.  Let it be said that the towels did not slip and there was no wardrobe malfunction Sunday night.  We make no promises for future performances Tuesday and next weekend!

As a stand alone aria, one could not ask for a better one than Ottavia's lament in Act I, describing the plight of women.  We long to hear it again.  In the relatively small role of a soldier (here an FBI-type bodyguard) Michael Papincak evinced an instrument of distinction.  We yearn to hear more of him.

The set design by Jian Jung was simple but effective--no more than a few architectural elements that served as bed, bath, table, whatever--and some columns.  Nothing distracted from the superb music and singing.

The Manhattan Summer Voice Festival seems to have attracted some highly talented young performers and molded them into a splendid ensemble in a few short weeks.  Bravi tutti!

© meche kroop