MISSION

We are here to encourage the development of gifted young singers and to stimulate the growth of New York City's invaluable chamber opera companies. But we will not neglect the Metropolitan Opera either. Get ready for bouquets and brickbats.
Showing posts with label Jessica Jones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jessica Jones. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

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

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

STEVE JOBS PREVIEW

Kevin Newbury, Mark Campbell, and Mason Bates

This summer, Santa Fe Opera will present the premiere of a new opera--The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.  We have already lined up tickets. This is surprising given our disappointment in contemporary opera. But this one seems quite different and we are bursting with enthusiasm. The work appears to be taking opera to an entirely new level, suited to the 21st c.

Last night at the Guggenheim Museum we attended a Works and Process in which we heard about the opera from Director Kevin Newbury, librettist Mark Campbell, and composer Mason Bates. We completely grasped their objectives. So many operas are about revolutions.  So many operas are about seminal figures. In this case we have a seminal figure who created a revolution--a cultural revolution that has altered our society and the way we interact.

We have been reflecting upon the changes he wrought upon our culture--the way we get information, the way we shop, the way we interact with other people, even the way we find mates; nothing will ever be the same. We may or may not like these changes but if we do not adjust to them, we are left out of society.

What a stimulating topic for an opera! Mr. Jobs was a complex figure, starting out as a counter-culture hippie wanting to bring down big business--and ended up as a mogul. He was said to be a difficult man and a perfectionist. The opera will humanize this iconic figure. It focuses on five main characters--Mr. Jobs, his creative partner Steve "Woz" Wozniak, his wife Laurene, his spiritual advisor Kobun Chino Otagawa, and his girlfriend Chrisann. Composer Mason Bates has given each a leitmotiv.

Mr. Bates is a highly regarded and celebrated composer and this is his first "produced" opera. The music is playful and incorporates electronics, guitar, and other unusual elements to tell an emotional story. Mark Campbell's libretto is theatrical and tells the story in a non-linear way, humanizing this larger-than-life figure who thought of the computer as "an instrument to be played".  Most of us forget or never knew how inaccessible computers were before Jobs. We recall our first Apple product--a Blackberry which we still have! We would never have gotten a computer, but the Blackberry was so--friendly!

We got a pretty good glimpse of what the opera will look and sound like. Several scenes were presented for our enjoyment. The casting was flawless. Baritone Edward Parks, an artist we have long admired, was chosen for the lead because of his fine dramatic instincts and because of his mellow voice which one can listen to all night long (although the opera is not all that long and will be performed without intermission).

We especially loved the scenes in which Otogawa confronts Jobs. The role is brilliantly performed by Gerda Lissner Award winning bass Wei Wu from the Washington National Opera Young Artists Program. Both Mr. Parks and Mr. Wu will perform these roles in Santa Fe. The music for these scenes was otherworldly, employing the guitar (played by James Moore) and electronic music produced by Mr. Bates himself. There were some portentous chords on the piano, produced by Maestro Robert Tweten, who conducted.

There was also a wonderful scene in the garage of Jobs' home in Los Altos when Jobs and "Woz" were figuring out how to make the computer accessible and another one three years earlier when they figured out how to scam the telephone company and "Woz" pretended to be Kissinger calling the Vatican to cancel a meeting with the Pope. Tenor Garrett Sorenson made a marvelously funny "Woz" and sang the role with great gusto and sound.

In the role of Laurene, Jobs' wife, we heard Sarah Coit, one of the Santa Fe Apprentices, who floated and held a high note with a dazzling diminuendo. This summer the role will be taken by the splendid Sasha Cooke.

SFO apprentice Jessica Jones sang the role of the girlfriend with whom he dropped acid in the 70's. We enjoyed her performance and we don't know who will be singing that role in Santa Fe. 

Slides were projected illustrating the high-tech sets and their Japanese influence. There will be complex video projections that will move with the scenery.

With such a gifted production team and such superb artists onstage, this should be a special night in Santa Fe. The work will have its world premiere on Juy 22nd and there will be only six performances.

We strongly recommend that you get your tickets ASAP. The topicality, the production, and the music should make it a sell-out.  And Santa Fe is fantastic in the summer.

(c) meche kroop




Tuesday, August 30, 2016

FINAL DISPATCH FROM SANTA FE

Kasia Borowiec and Jarrett Ott in a scene from Eugene Onegin
(photo by Bobby Gutierrez)

Our last night in Santa Fe was happily spent watching the apprentices show their stuff.  And what stuff they showed!  We were given to understand that the nine scenes were chosen to highlight the individual talents of the apprentices. We have nothing but plaudits for the singing, but we were not always in tune with the staging and costuming.

In the final scene from Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Eugene Onegin, Kasia Borowiec sang Tatiana with a fine tone and deep emotional involvement as she attempted to resist the blandishments of the eponymous Onegin, with whom she had been so infatuated a few years earlier.

Jarrett Ott took the role of the now lovesick Onegin in both hands and made it his own with his superb baritone and impassioned acting. The scene was directed by Jordan Fein. We could imagine no rationale for Nicole Grebb's dressing of Ms. Borowiec as a 1950's prom queen and robbing her of the 19th c. dignity that the role requires.

Similarly, the third act of Puccini's La Bohème was beautifully sung by Alexandra Razskazoff as the ill-fated Mimi and Jessica Jones as the fickle Musetta. We liked Benjamin Werley as Rodolfo and significant contributions were made by Nicholas Davis' Marcello. 

Kyle Lang directed in the manner of film noir-- with costumes of the 1930's designed by Maria Nieto--a period just as remote from today's audience as the time in which the story took place, but with uglier clothes and hairstyles. To what end we could not fathom. Nothing was added to our understanding of the four bohemians.

Beautiful period costuming was provided by Krista Intravanuovo for Cendrillon in which Alyssa Martin captured all the delicacy of Massenet's deliciously Gallic tunes, with her suitor, the pants role of Le Prince Charmant, portrayed finely by mezzo-soprano Pascale Spinney. The harmony of their voices was stirring and we felt squarely in the fairy tale epoch, thanks to Matthew Ozawa's direction.

Similarly, there was an authentic feel of time and place given to his direction of the scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor--a confrontation between Lucia's lover Edgardo (tenor Derrek Stark) and her controlling brother Enrico (baritone Jared Bybee). The voices were well matched and the characterizations apt.  We believed every moment. Caleb Howell designed the wonderful clan costuming.

Where Mr. Ozawa lapsed was in his staging of Tannhäuser which struck us as unsuitable to piano accompaniment.  One could barely identify it as a work of Richard Wagner. The men were dressed in suits (Sharne van Ryneveld) and it felt like a corporate meeting.  That being said, we heard some fine singing, especially from tenor Tyson Miller's Walther and bass Önay Köse's Biterolf. Tenor Cooper Nolan did well in the title role with David Leigh as the Landgrave, Adrian Smith as Wolfram, Andrew Maughan as Schreiber, and Andrew Bogard as Reinmar. 

Kathleen Clawson directed a fine scene from Rossini's Guillaume Tell, another case in which the apposite costuming (Cheyenne Smith) added to the believability. Baritone Andrew  Paulson made a fine Swiss patriot, helped along by Andrew Simpson as Walther, in convincing the wayward Arnold to return to the cause.  This role was superbly sung by tenor Carlos Santelli. Everyone's French sounded just fine.

Ambroise Thomas' Mignon impressed us on all accounts.  Sarah Coit was effective and moving as the unfortunate heroine and sang with a lovely free soprano. Carlos Santelli's fine tenor was heard in the role of Wilhelm Meister with bass-baritone Alan Higgs as the kind minstrel Lothario and baritone Nicholas Davis as the gypsy who sells Mignon to Herr Meister.  The scene was directed by Kyle Lang with the perfect costumes by Tommy Cobau. It made us yearn to see the entire opera!

Bellini's Norma is one of our favorite operas and we were presented with two lovely harmonizing voices--the soprano of Tracy Cantin as the eponymous Druid priestess and the mezzo-soprano of Olivia Vote as her handmaiden Adalgisa. In this moving scene from Act II, Norma tries to persuade Adalgisa to look after her children. Why director Jordan Fein decided to set this gorgeous duet in the room of the children is a mystery and why they were in vaguely 20th c. costumes (Morgan Warner) is beyond me. It added nothing in terms of insight and detracted from the verisimilitude of the scene.  The presence of a pistol was just plain jarring.

There was also a scene from a contemporary opera--Joby Talbot's Everest which premiered last year at The Dallas Opera. In spite of fine singing by tenor Tyson Miller as the expedition leader Rob, with mezzo-soprano Corrie Stallings as his wife and Mr. Bybee as Doug--the scene left us as cold as the climate on Everest and we have no wish to see the rest of the opera. Call us a Philistine if you wish but so many contemporary operas lack memorable vocal lines.  Give us romance, give us passion, give us murder, give us suicide, give us arias!

(c) meche kroop