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

A CLOSE SHAVE, A NOT-SO-ILL WIND, AND SOME GLITTERY GAIETY

The highly gifted cast of MESS:IES event

Two back-to-back events at Brooklyn's Paper Box, featuring the same cast, revealed to us just how talented and versatile is every member of the Mise-en-Scène Ensemble. Having seen each singer in a variety of roles and different languages in such temporal proximity gave us a new appreciation, quite different from hearing them weeks or months apart. 

Furthermore, being exposed to brief scenes from operas we never enjoyed (like Berg's Wozzeck)--up close and personal--allowed us to experience more dramatic impact than we ever experienced from a distance.

Last night's opener involved tenor Andrew Stenson as the arrogant, callous, and narrow minded Herr Hauptmann getting a very close shave from military barber Wozzeck, portrayed intensely and convincingly by baritone Will Liverman. Berg's difficult atonal music only served to highlight the painful position Wozzeck occupied in his world.

Another riveting scene from Wozzeck involved soprano Jacquelyn Stucker as Marie, putting up with the taunts of mezzo-soprano Renée Rapier as her neighbor Margret.

The famous and famously wonderful Verona Quartet gave a luminous account of the Adagio from Janáček's String Quartet #2.  Although this is nothing like the composer's more accessible music for Vixen Sharp-ears, our ears picked up snippets of folk tunes that were most agreeable.

A particularly powerful scene from Massenet's Werther was enacted by Ms. Rapier as the conflicted Charlotte and tenor Ian Castro as the eponymous Werther. Charlotte gives in to her feelings for Werther and then, filled with shame, rejects him. Charlotte, in her flustered state is discovered by her husband Albert (baritone Theo Hoffman) who then orders pistols to be delivered to Werther. Never on the stage of a major opera house have we felt so involved with Charlotte's ambivalence, Werther's despair, or Albert's jealous rage. For us, these three major singers provided the highlight of the evening.

Accompanied by Mr. Nielsen, soprano Felicia Moore portrayed the grieving Elettra with great depth of feeling in the aria "O Smania" from Mozart's Idomeneo.

That was not the end of the Mozart. We loved the scene from Cosi fan tutte in which the lovers are separated under false pretenses, with Don Alfonso (Erik van Heyningen) laughing up his sleeve at the prank of his own devising. Ms. Stucker sang Fiordiligi, Ms. Rapier sang Dorabella, Mr. Castro sang Ferrando, and Mr. Hoffman sang Gugllielmo. It's a funny scene and Paul Curran's direction added a few additional humorous touches. Mozart's exquisite harmonies in "Soave sia il vento" were well handled and Mr. Reynold's piano added to the enjoyment.

We heard several excerpts from Bernstein's Candide, the seldom heard "Nothing More Than This", poignantly sung by Mr. Stenson, and the ironic "Glitter and Be Gay" delivered with brilliant fioritura by coloratura soprano Brandie Sutton, both accompanied in very different colors by pianist Chris Reynolds.

And the closing number "Make Our Garden Grow" was performed by the entire cast with several singers doubling up on roles; doubling up on the piano were Mr. Reynolds and the excellent Adam Nielsen. Those four hands made a lot of music. Maestro Glen's conducting was astute throughout.

It was a sell out crowd with many new faces, which bodes well for the future of the company. Word has certainly gotten out! We can scarcely wait for the next MESS event.

(c) meche kroop

THE COCK HAS CROWED

Kevin Burdette, Tim Mix, and Meredith Arwady in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel

We well recall the moment that we fell in love with classical music.  Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade was playing on the radio and we were hooked. What a thrill for us to have seen his final opera The Golden Cockerel twice within three months. Last night we enjoyed the production by Santa Fe Opera (a co-production with The Dallas Opera) and felt the same delight in the composer's exotic melodic line and lush orchestration, so sensitively realized by Maestro Emmanuel Villaume.

On a day remembered as Bloody Sunday in Russia, the Tsar's forces massacred some peaceful protestors who were unhappy about their living conditions but also about the ill-fated Russo-Japanese War.  The composer Rimsky-Korsakov supported the protestors and thereby lost his job as head of the conservatory. Perhaps in protest he chose to set The Golden Cockerel as a satire of autocracy and Russian imperialism. This would be his last opera; he completed it in 1907 but it was banned by the Palace. It premiered 2 years later but the master had already died.

The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky who based it upon an invented fairytale by Alexander Pushkin who, in turn, based his work on some stories by our very own Washington Irving!  How about that! Real fairytales are folktales handed down over centuries so we feel confident in calling this one invented.

King Dodon's astrologer presents him with a golden bird who will warn him of political danger and gets promised whatever he wants in return. War is declared whilst Dodon lazes about at home, relying on the bird's advice. Dodon's sons kill each other on the battlefield and Dodon himself must go to battle.. In the kingdom of Shemakh he meets the seductive Queen Shemakha who extracts a promise of marriage and returns home with him. The astrologer claims his reward--the Queen.  He will accept no less. Dodon kills him. The Golden Cockerel kills Dodon.

As the bumbling King Dodon, we heard baritone Tim Mix whose characterization was as on the mark as his singing. Sporting a red "fat suit" and curled up on a huge throne, he made quite an impression on us. But an even greater impression was made when he mounted a large wooden horse, facing backward!

As the exotic temptress from The East--the Queen of Shamakha--soprano Venera Gimadieva tickled our ears with both long lyrical lines of pure sound and volleys of wickedly challenging ornamentation which she made appear effortless. Fortunately, she also possesses physical beauty sufficient for the part, since she was obliged to perform a serious strip tease to ensnare the dense Dodon.

Contralto Meredith Arwady has a sensational instrument of great depth. She created a marvelous version of Amelfa, Dodon's housekeeper/caretaker and brought a great deal of humor to her portrayal. The scene in which she cradles him on his huge throne was unforgettable.

The General of bass Kevin Burdette was perfectly sung and acted. If King Dodon had listened to his advice the entire tale might have ended differently.

The title role was sung by a very special member of the Apprentice Program.  Soprano Kasia Borowiec has been on our radar since her student days at Manhattan School of Music and has always impressed us.  What a joy to witness her artistic growth in last night's dazzling performance. Unfortunately, in this production, she sings from offstage, but we did have the opportunity to attest to her stage presence in Sunday night's Apprentice Scenes.

Several more apprentices delivered auspicious performances.  We heard tenor Richard Smagur as Prince Guidon and baritone Jorge Espino as Prince Afron. The two rivalrous siblings wind up killing each other on the battlefield.

Tenor Adam Bonanni made a fine showing as the First Boyar, whilst bass Simon Dyer did so as the Second Boyar. As expected, the chorus, under the astute direction of Susanne Sheston, performed magnificently.

Barry Banks utilized his very high tenor as The Astrologer, a mysterious character who may or may not be "real".

Director Paul Curran had some truly excellent ideas although we take exception to two choices that seemed to violate the intent of the concept. When the Queen of Shemakha capriciously demands the (offstage) beheading of The General, it seemed tasteless to us to have paraded the severed head around the stage.  Just plain "EWWW".

Secondly, there was no justification for King Dodon to appear in a contemporary suit with a red tie in the closing scene. Similarly, the Queen of Shamakha had exchanged her finery for a white dress and sunglasses. We expect that a large percentage of members of the audience, presented with an autocratic ruler who is an inept politician, might have been considering the present political situation in the United States. But that's the kind of association that should be made in one's thoughts, not concretized onstage.

But we loved the scene in which the Queen is tryig to get the flat-footed Dodon to sing and dance!

The fantastic nature of the tale was realized by the fantastic nature of the sets and costumes by Gary McCann. King Dodon loafed about in red pajamas but went to battle in stylized armor, and courted in magnificent robes. The Queen of Shamakha wore a fantastic headdress and a slinky turquoise gown which she shed in pieces. Amelfa's costume was a wild exaggeration of peasant attire and grotesque make-up.

The other costumes were wildly colorful and fantastically exaggerated with tall black fur hats on the men. The handmaidens of The Queen were dressed in long white gowns and bore huge feathered fans with which they surrounded the Queen as she changed costumes, an impressive visual spectacle.

The set resembled a skateboarding half-pipe, all curves upon which were projected animations of the Golden Cockerel, strange astrological symbols, and line-drawings of the creatures of Dodon's dreams. Driscoll Otto was responsible for this surge of imaginative creativity.

Eye candy and ear candy joined to create an evening in which entertainment was wed to high artistic values.

(c) meche kroop

LA DONNA SENZA LAGO

Joyce DiDonato--photo by Ken Howard

Here you see the lovely mezzo Joyce DiDonato standing on the moors of Scotland with a painted backdrop of the sky.  Wait!  She's standing on the stage set of La Donna del Lago at the Santa Fe Opera and the SKY is REAL, seen through the proscenium.  Rossini sure had a thing for the mezzo voice and Ms. DiDonato made the most out of the master's gorgeous bel canto vocal lines. Her embellishments were as accurate as any we've heard and her trill gave us a thrill.

Here she portrays Elena in Andrea Leone Tottola's adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's poem "The Lady of the Lake"--given an Italian flavor of course.  Elena is the daughter of one Duglas d'Angus (performed by deeply resonant bass Wayne Tigges) who was once the tutor of Giacomo V--King James of Scotland; he has, at the time of the opera, joined the Highland Clan, opposed to James' rule.  He has plans for Elena to wed Rodrigo di Dhu, the fierce chief of this clan.  Elena has other ideas; she is in love with the more gentle Malcolm Groeme, portrayed by mezzo Marianna Pizzolato, who sings like an angel and looks nothing like a man.  The love duet between the two of them was one of the evening's highlights.

Fortunately, Rodrigo gets killed in an uprising and the only other rival for her hand is the king himself who, disguised as Umberto, has met her, accepted her hospitality and fallen in love with her also.  (And who wouldn't fall in love with the beautiful and charming Ms. DiDonato!)  It is the king's respect for Elena that finally heals the rift so that peace in Scotland is achieved.

Lawrence Brownlee sang the role of the king and René Barbera the role of the ill-fated Rodrigo.  Both tenors have beautiful voices for the most part but both fell into the "tenor trap" of pushing their top notes instead of floating them, lending a harsh sound to otherwise fine bel canto singing.

We enjoyed seeing several apprentices onstage in smaller roles.  Soprano Lacy Sauter made a fine Albina--an interesting variation on the customary situation in which a mezzo is the confidante of the star soprano.  David Blalock and Joshua Dennis portrayed servants.

Maestro Stephen Lord conducted with high spirits and Paul Curran directed with a sure hand, making sense out of a confusing plot.   Costumes by Kevin Knight were appropriate to time and place; his sets were spare and lit by Duane Schuler to emphasize the gloom.  The chorus sang beautifully under the director of Susanne Sheston.

We understand that this production will appear at the Metropolitan Opera in a couple years.  How wonderful that New Yorkers will get to enjoy one of Rossini's lesser known operas.  Just don't expect the sunset!

© meche kroop