A SAD BUT BEAUTIFUL FAREWELL TO SANTA FE OPERA APPRENTICES

Elliot Paige, Sunwoo Park, Hayan Kim, and Duke Kim

Our last night in Santa Fe always coincides with the second of two concerts of opera scenes starring the Santa Fe Opera Apprentices. All summer these talented young artists spend their time honing their skills, fulfilling small roles in the five regular productions, and finally getting two successive Sunday evenings to star in eight different scenes. This is truly the highlight of our year. We are familiar with some of these young artists--those who live in New York City or have participated in award recitals and concerts. What a thrill to witness their artistic growth!

Many of last night's scenes struck us as being culled from popular operas, but not necessarily the scenes we consider the "best" nor the ones with the most famous arias or duets. It was a fine opportunity to expand one's focus.

Take, for example, the scene depicted above, from Mozart's singspiel-- Die Entführung aus dem Serail. This was a golden opportunity to enjoy the comic antics of Elliot Paige portraying the servant Pedrillo who wants to share his love of wine with the reluctant Osmin. It was so much fun watching the stiff poker-faced William Meinert being converted to loyalty to Bacchus!

David Paul's direction was absolutely perfect. When the other characters entered, the focus shifted to the parallel relationships between Pedrillo and Blondchen (the adorable Sunwoo Park) and that of Konstanze (the beautiful Hayan Kim) with Belmonte  (the terrific tenor Duke Kim). The two men reveal their suspicions of what their sweethearts did with the Pasha; the women are hilariously offended. Darby Newsome's period costumes were just right. The voices were uniformly excellent and so was the acting. We couldn't keep from imagining how the audience of Mozart's day must have roared with laughter.

In terms of excellent voices, we enjoyed watching the first scene of Of Mice and Men. We greatly admired Bille Bruley's tenoriffic portrayal of the emotionally impaired and childlike Lennie, whose care was entrusted to the much put-upon George, portrayed by the full-voiced bass-baritone Tyler Zimmerman who limned all the ambivalent emotions of his character.

We thrilled to their valid characterizations but not to the rather tuneless writing of Carlisle Floyd. Steinbeck's prose didn't need Floyd's music, but we couldn't help thinking what the prose might have sounded like in the hands of a Broadway composer; they seem to know better how to create melody.

The scene chosen from Donizetti's Lucia de Lammermoor was the one in which Enrico (baritone Benjamin Taylor) bullies his sister Lucia into being a political pawn to restore him to power. Soprano Jana McIntyre, costumed by Naomi Beetlestone Detre in a stunning red riding coat, sang and acted with great intensity, countering her bother's physical violence with some blows of her riding crop, making it the most brutal iteration of the scene that we have ever witnessed. Kudos to Paul Curran for his fine direction and to tenor Ricardo Garcia for his nasty Normanno.

The scene chosen from Verdi's Falstaff involved some excellent ensemble work. Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Sarian made a fine Meg Page, comparing letters with her friend Anne Ford (soprano Ann Toomey)--both of whom were being courted by Sir John Falstaff. Also on hand was mezzo-soprano Kathleen Reveille as Dame Quickly as well as the young lovers Nanetta (Ms. Park) and Fenton (Mr. Garcia)--all splendid in their performances.

Mr. Curran directed the scene as a French farce with women ducking behind the laundry on stage right and the jealous husband Ford (baritone Jarrett Logan Porter) accompanied by Doctor Caius (Mr. Bruley), Pistola (Mr. Zimmerman), and Bardolfo (tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro) entered stage left. We loved everything about the scene except for the 1950's costumes. We fail to understand the penchant for translating operas into the 50's.  We suppose Maggie Drake was inspired by the production at the Metropolitan Opera.

In the Humperdinck opera, soprano Sylvia d'Eramo made an adorable Gretel whilst mezzo Gillian Lynn Cotter portrayed her brother Hansel very convincingly. Their respective voices balanced well. In the scene chosen the siblings are alone in the woods and comforted by the Sandman (Hayan Kim). Costumes by John Polles were most attractive and suitable.

A few years ago we saw Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazona and enjoyed both the story and the music, the vocal line of which was sung in Spanish. We were delighted to have our memory refreshed by the scene in which an unhappy couple are playing cards with journalist Rosalba (soprano Danielle Beckvermit) and the captain's nephew Arcadio (tenor Eric Taylor). The unhappiness of Paula (mezzo-soprano Kaitlyn McMonigle) and Alvaro (bass-baritone Andrew Moore) was expressively sung and in fine contrast with the apparent innocence of the younger folk.

Puccini's Tosca was represented by the first scene in which bass Cory McGee convincingly portrayed a desperate Angelotti, recently escaped from prison and seeking refuge in the church. Tenor Justin Stolz took the role of Mario Cavaradossi and bass-baritone Alan Higgs stole the scene as a very funny Sacristan. Mr. Higgs has a real gift for creating an individual character, as observed last week when he enacted the Mayor in Jenufa.

The evening ended with a jolly piece of fluff which seemed designed to send the audience out in a cheerful mood. From Kurt Weill's Street Scene, we enjoyed the scene in which Lippo Fiorentino (tenor Angel Romero) brings ice cream cones for his neighbors to enjoy and sings a paean to ice cream. The role of his wife was sung by Ms. Beckvermit, with the role of neighbors taken by baritone Ian Burns, Ms. McMonigle, bass Brent Michael Smith, and baritone Will Hughes. The ensemble work was flawless.

We can scarcely wait for next year's Apprentice Recitals and hope to hear once more some of these excellent young artists.  Bravi tutti!

(c) meche kroop

ADULTING in the 19th century

Gabriella Reyes
(Photo by Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera)

Vanessa Vasquez, Mario Chang, Will Liverman, Zachary Nelson, and Solomon Howard
(photo by Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera)

In today's musical universe, it is rather common for contemporary operas to be praised by critics (not by us, to be sure) but abhorred by the opera going public. How interesting it is to us that Puccini's masterpiece La Bohême was adored by the public right from its premiere in Turin in 1896, yet strangely attacked by critics.

Today, we cannot imagine anyone finding fault with Puccini's melodies as they twine themselves around our hearts; nor do we find the libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa to be shocking or revolutionary. As a New Yorker, all it takes is a walk on the Lower East Side to see counterparts to the six young folk of the opera. Residing several to a room, scrounging meals, working day jobs to support themselves whilst they create art--all are features in common with the six young folk in the opera. Even Musetta has a counterpart among the young women who seek "arrangements".

The librettists wrote a somewhat romanticized version of the Bohemian lifestyle which the stories of Henri Murger presented in a more realistic fashion. This is a good thing because the carefree Mimi that Murger wrote about --who died alone in a hospital --might never have aroused our care and sympathy. As we  pointed out in our recent reviews, we need to connect with the lead characters and to see ourselves in them; we need to care what happens to them. The story is instrumental but it's the music inspired by the story that gives us the true operatic experience.

We have been looking forward for months to the production at Santa Fe Opera directed by one of our favorite directors--Mary Birnbaum. The cast is filled with familiar names --singers we have known and loved.

Take, for example, the radiant soprano Vanessa Vasquez who has won prizes at countless competitions singing Puccini; we have written many times about her glorious soprano and her convincing acting. Last night she gave the audience a memorable Mimi, perhaps a bit closer to Murger's Mimi than we usually see; she gave the impression of having had her eye on Rodolfo and was just waiting for an opportunity to connect with him.

As Rodolfo we heard the excellent tenor Mario Chang whose sweet vocal colors were just right for the role, although a bit on the soft side. We particularly loved the Act III duet "Senza rancor" in which the lovers go through several emotions, reminiscing about their lives together. We confess to being relieved when they decided to spend the rest of the winter together, even though we know the rest of the story more than well enough. We have been writing about Mr. Chang for years and still recall some noteworthy performances in the Lindemann Program of the Metropolitan Opera.

As Musetta, we heard Gabriella Reyes, another superb soprano who shared the stage with Ms. Vaquez at the Met National Council Finals. We recall her lovely "Il est doux, il est bon" from Massenet's Hérodiade, and an aria from Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazona. We had the pleasure of reviewing her excellent performances as a singer with the Lindemann Program, the most memorable of which, for us, was her singing in Spanish-- above all in zarzuela. Last night she showed her versatility, singing and acting up a storm; she showed very different vocal colors in her showpiece aria "Quando m'en vo" in Act II, and a far more tender side in Act IV.

Brilliant baritone Zachary Nelson admirably fulfilled the role of the painter Marcello, besotted with the mercurial Musetta. We particularly enjoyed his interaction with Mimi in Act III. Mr. Nelson has a long-standing relationship with the Santa Fe Opera and was first heard as an Apprentice a number of years ago. It delights us that his artistry was noted and developed.

Baritone Will Liverman made a fine Schaunard. We loved the part in Act I when he tells the captivating story of the poisoned parrot, and his three friends, distracted by the food and wine he has brought, pay absolutely no attention. Since hearing Mr. Liverman as an award winner with Opera Index, we have followed his promising career with interest. There have been awards and recitals aplenty but what we recall best is that he introduced us to two operas we'd never heard--Albert Lortzing's 1842 comic opera Der Wildschütz, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride.

This is only the third time we have heard the booming bass of Soloman Howard; once was as the Bonze in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and the other was as the Commendatore in Mozart's Don Giovanni; both performances at the Santa Fe Opera. We were quite impressed with the depth of his sound and by his compelling stage presence. Our favorable impression was ratified by his performance as Colline. His "Vecchia zimarra" was beautifully rendered; it is a real heartbreaker as we in the audience realize that the coat he is parting with is symbolic of the carefree days of youth.

Veteran bass-baritone Dale Travis could not have been better as the landlord Benoit, getting tipsy with his delinquent bohemian tenants, and as the much put upon Alcindoro, Musetta's latest "patron".

Santa Fe Apprentices filled the stage in Act II and three of them filled small roles--Elliott Paige as the toy-seller Parpignol, Jarrett Logan Porter and Seungyun Kim as Customs Officers.

Maestro Jader Bignamini led the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra through their Puccini paces and brought out every theme as it recurred in different guises. He brought a lively tempo to the horseplay in Act I and a slow heartbreaking tempo to Act IV. 

Director Mary Birnbaum wisely did not alter the time or place of the opera and gave us a fairly traditional production with a few novel flourishes. We were surprised in Act I when Mimi made the move on Rodolfo. Our only moment of disbelief was when Mimi asks Rodolfo to stop something when he wasn't doing anything!

It was a novel idea to have the Parisian folk ice-skating (actually on roller blades which looked like ice skates) and it's a wonder that Ms. Reyes did a creditable job.

It was also a novel idea to have Musetta very very pregnant in Act IV. We don't think it added to the story.

Grace Laubacher's set was effective. The garret had a sloping roof made of leaded glass and was set in front of a backdrop of typical French buildings off in the distance. The tavern in Act III (humorously called "La Mer Rouge"--recalling the panting Marcello was working on) was realistic; in the transition to Act IV, it was turned inside out to become the aforementioned garret.

Camellia Koo's costumes worked well. The bourgeois citizens of Paris were dressed in colorful typical early 19th c. costumes. The "bohemians" were notably dressed differently. In Act II, Musetta appears in a shocking pink jumpsuit and in Act III, she is wearing a man's suit. But isn't that what young artistic folk do in every generation?

This is a story of "adulting"; the lives of the surviving characters will be forever changed. It is a mark of a production's success when we care!

(c) meche kroop