BARD SUMMERSCAPE

Mascagni's IRIS at Bard SummerScape

It took three and a half hours on the bus to arrive at Annandale-on-Hudson, home of the beautiful Bard campus, but the pleasant greenery and dinner at the fashionable Spiegeltent restored our spirits.  The sight of Frank Gehry's Fisher Center dazzled the eye; the interior impressed with its comfort, excellent acoustics and fine sight-lines.

But we came for the music--an opportunity to witness a fully staged production of an important but neglected opera--which is the mission of this summer festival.  Pietro Mascagni was a contemporary of Giacomo Puccini, who was both friend and rival. Best known for his 1890 Cavalleria Rusticana, and his L'Amico Fritz of 1891,  Mascagni premiered Iris (also in Rome) in 1898. If one hoped to hear the gorgeous music for which this composer is remembered, one would not be disappointed. 

A chorus celebrating the Sun opens and closes the work and Chorus Master James Bagwell provided the depth and strength the work called for. Similar encomium can be offered to Maestro Leon Botstein, who led his American Symphony Orchestra in an articulate performance of the gorgeous score.  The singers left absolutely nothing to be desired in their performances.

Talise Trevigne's expansive soprano sailed over the orchestra and was just right for the lead and, like the other artists, she did her best to enact what the director requested, although she did not appear completely comfortable dramatically. Mezzo-soprano Cecilia brought a fine timbre to her role as Geisha and enacted a severe presence. Gerard Schneider's full-throated tenor met all of Mascagni's challenges; we felt sorry for him trying to perform a seduction on a most uncomfortable slab.

Douglas Williams seemed most comfortable onstage and exhibited a fine presence as well as a resonant bass-baritone just right for the role of Kyoto.  As the Blind Father, Matthew Boehler's bass truly delivered and he blundered around onstage in a convincing fashion. Samuel Levine's terrific tenor didn't show up until Act III but sounded just fine.

The flaw lay in the libretto. If one hoped for a cogent story with characters one could relate to, as in Cavalleria Rusticana, one definitely would be disappointed!  Since the Victorian era, Europe was in the grip of le japonisme, a fascination with Japan, a country which had been hidden from Western eyes for a very long time and was seen as a highly exotic place.  Composers from Puccini to Arthur Sullivan dipped their toes in Japanese waters.

It is puzzling that Luigi Illica, who would produce such a compelling libretto for Puccini's Madama Butterfly a few years later, would come up with such a weird and static story for Mascagni. Perhaps for audiences of that epoch, the "racy" story of a woman kidnapped for sexual slavery might have been titillating. In common with Madama Butterfly, we are witnessing the story of innocence despoiled. But Puccini's opera offers us some romance along with a remarkably naïve heroine being taken advantage of by narcissistic men!

Iris (Talise Trvigne) is a young girl living with her blind father (Matthew Boehler). She catches the eye of a wealthy fellow Osaka (Gerard Schneider) who teams up with the brothel keeper Kyoto (Douglas Williams) to trick Iris by means of a puppet play that affects her deeply.

The play is performed by three Geishas (dancers Jasmine Albuquerque, Justine Clark, and Kristen Leahy) and three Samurais (Jordan Isidore, Aaron Burr Johnson, and Sam Shapiro).  Chief "Geisha" (sic) was beautifully performed by Cecelia Hall. The "sic" is because Illica's idea of a geisha as a prostitute was only his fantasy.

In the puppet play, a young woman is abused by her father, sold into sexual slavery, and rescued by a figure of transcendence who gives her a spiritual death. Unlike the puppet heroine, Iris is highly valued by her father.

Once brought to the brothel, she mistakes it for paradise and does not respond to the sexual advances of Osaka.  Her father, shamed by her new "status" rejects her. She jumps into a sewer to escape and winds up in some kind of garbage dump of the mind where she encounters a Ragpicker (Samuel Levine).

We prefer our operas to tell a logical tale, rather than an Expressionistic one. We have the same unappreciative response to Pelleas et Melisande, although we love the music.

We are quite sure that James Darrah's monotoned production delighted many but we are not among them. We own up to being rather literal and if a little girl sings about a doll, we'd like to see her playing with it.  If she sings about waking up from a portentous nightmare, we don't understand why she would be dancing around the stage with gleeful abandon. If she mentions her new black sandals, we don't want to see her barefoot.

The set designers (Emily Anne MacDonald and Cameron Jaye Mock) created a bare grey and white set for Act I which takes place in Iris' home. There is nothing but a white wall on which Adam Larsen's designs of shadows were projected. The evil characters occupied a space above.  There was not a single element suggestive of Japan. There was a lot of stuff falling from the sky.  Leaves? Snow?

For the brothel scene of Act II, everything was slick black and white with red neon. Again, nothing was suggestive of Japan nor of the 19th c. The red slab on which Osaka attempts to seduce Iris looked so incredibly uncomfortable we wondered if any seduction could have ever succeeded!

The sewer scene of Act III seemed to be a tower of discarded refuse with the ragpickers searching for anything shiny.  They might have looked in the set for Act II!  Should you be wondering how we thought it might have been better staged, we would have recommended  a concert version, thus avoiding the problematic story!  In the words of the Blind Father "Questo dramma è menzogna tutto! Malvagio in testo".

Peabody Southwell's costumes were consistent with the overall design.  Innocent Iris wore an unflattering ankle-length white dress that did nothing to make her look child-like.  Her blind father looked the most realistic.

The denizens of the red light district all wore black and looked like comic book villains.  The so-called Geishas wore garments suggestive of S&M with lots of straps and thigh-high boots. Kyoto was dressed in a jump suit which plunged to the waist revealing Mr. Williams' handsome chest. (No complaints on that account!)

Bard SummerScape offers many more programs centered around shorter operas and excerpts, offering something for everyone. They provide a lovely respite from the barren summer landscape. Head north and enjoy!

(c) meche kroop

MAHLER AND MORE AT JUILLIARD

Jinhee Park, Ava Nazar, Theo Hoffman, Samuel Levine, Kelsey Lauritano, Fan Jia, Ho Jae Lee, and Erika Switzer

Thursday's Liederabend at Juilliard, coached by Erika Switzer, was a stunning event offering multiple delights. We feel compelled to begin at the end, at which point baritone Theo Hoffman's performance of Viktor Ullmann's "Abendphantasie" segued directly into Gustav Mahler's lied "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen".  It was the only piece on the program that we know well and we seemed to be greeting an old friend who never looked so fine.

Mr. Hoffman is a consummate artist and his depth of understanding of the text revealed to us, in a new and profound way, the very particular situation of the creative artist and his need for solitude. We felt as if Mahler himself had taken the stage and was telling us about his creative passion. The melody and harmony are exquisite and collaborative pianist Ho Jae Lee captured the nuances as effectively as Mr. Hoffman. Had we trekked up to Juilliard and heard that one song we would have been satisfied.

The remainder of the program was unfamiliar and seemed challenging for the artists and the audience. We asked tenor Samuel Levine about the difficulty of performing the 20th c. Five Sonette an Orpheus by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. To us, the vocal line seemed abstract but Mr. Levine was very comfortable with the work and knew it well.

He employed multiple colors in his voice.  We preferred the gentle "Und fast ein Mädchen wars" and the somewhat more melodic "Errichtet keinen Denkstein".  Jinhee Park was Mr. Levine's piano partner. We may never have another opportunity to hear this cycle of songs and were happy for the experience although they will never be among our favorites.

The remainder of the program comprised two cycles by Poulenc. Baritone Fan Jia, accompanied by CP Kathryn Felt, created his own art gallery with Le travail du peintre, in which Paul Eluard's text was brought to life. We couldn't help thinking of Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, since the text described paintings by seven 20th c. painters.

It came as no surprise that our favorite chanson was the one about Marc Chagall who is our favorite modern painter. In line with the playful surrealism of the artwork, Poulenc's music and Eluard's text were equally playful, as was Mr. Jia's delivery. He has a muscular baritone which he modulated dynamically to suit each piece, be it playful or serious, quiet or vigorous.

Mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano performed Poulenc's "Poèmes de Ronsard". She is one of those singers who excels at storytelling. She was frisky in "Attributs", relating what is sacred to each of the goddesses. We enjoyed Ava Nazar's syncopated piano in "Le tombeau". But our favorite part was a song that we are sure Ms. Lauritano favors above the others--"Ballet". Her personality just shone.

Happily, everyone's French and German were both excellent and performances were so polished that no one's technique called attention away from the music, which was well served by everyone.

But it's the Mahler we can't get out of our mind and our ears.

(c) meche kroop

HARRY, HOAGY, AND HAROLD

Christine Price, Mikaela Bennett, Samuel Levine, Kelsey Lauritano, Dimitri Katotakis, and Amanda Bottoms (photo by MIchael DiVito)

Thanks to Steven Blier, our "horizons of appreciation" have expanded beyond opera and lieder.  Similarly, the "horizons of performance" of members of the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at Juilliard have also been extended to include the classics from the Golden Age of American song.  Last night we experienced some of our favorite artists who became for the evening "hoofers, belters, and comedians". (Those are the words of Maestro Blier, but we wish they were ours).

The program comprised songs of three American greats--Harry Warren, Hoagy Carmichael, and Harold Arlen--three men from greatly different backgrounds but united by their compositional contributions to American musical style.

Tenor Gerard Schneider opened with an instrumental version of Arlen's "Over the Rainbow" played on the acoustic guitar. We never knew he played the guitar but we loved the way he began with a simple statement of the melody which grew in complexity, marked by some lovely arpeggios. Yip Harburg's lyrics were sung only in the mind's ear.

This doesn't mean that Mr. Schneider didn't sing; he sang the haunting lyrics (Mack Gordon) of "At Last" from Orchestra Wives, calling attention to Warren's melodic vocal line.  He also sang "Old Buttermilk Sky" (Jack Brooks) with fellow tenor Samuel Levine joining in with a ukulele (who knew!) and a spirited "Yee-Haw".  These are surely multi-talented artists.

As far as tenors go, Mr. Levine is no slouch! We liked him best in Arlen's "Buds Won't Bud" (lyrics again by the wonderful Mr. Harburg) which built to a passionate crescendo.  He charmed us with Arlen's "Evelina" (Harburg) from Bloomer Girl with ukulele and Southern accent as he wooed Ms. Price.  He assumed a rather world-weary mien for the chromatically complex "Last Night When We Were Young" another Harburg/Arlen pairing from Metropolitan.

Soprano Mikaela Bennett grabbed our attention with a passionately delivered eulogy to the evil lover she had just shot in "Sleep Peaceful, Mr. Used-to-Be" from the Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen St. Louis Woman, a show which should have been more famous than it was. She also thrilled in a jazzy version of "A Sleepin' Bee" from the Truman Capote/Harold Arlen House of Flowers, which also deserved more fame.

Ms. Bennett paired with mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms for the delightful duet "Two Ladies in de Shade of de Banana Tree", also from House of Flowers. We believe some shows did not become the hits they deserved to be because of cultural issues, not musical flaws.  Ms. Bottoms gave us a very jazzy version of Carmichael's "Old Man Harlem" complete with "scat" singing.

But we enjoyed her most in the Mercer/Arlen "That Old Black Magic" from Star Spangled Rhythm. Mr. Schneider's guitar and Mr. Blier's piano went absolutely wild with abandon.

Soprano Christine Price delivered "It's a New World" with simplicity and sincerity. Arlen's vocal line here was exceptional and Ira Gershwin's lyrics moving. Similarly, Carmichael's "The Nearness of You" (Ned Washington) touched the heart with Ms. Price conveying every ounce of emotion, spinning out the final note like a silken strand.

Mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano did a bang-up job as a Carmen Miranda type character in "I, Yi, Yi, Yi Yi (I Like You Very Much" (Mack Gordon/Harry Warren) from That Night in Rio and "When I Love, I Love"(same team) from Weekend in Havana. Apparently, these tropical musicals put Brazil and Cuba on the map, so to speak. The gentlemen of the cast doffed their shoes, rolled up their trousers, and did a fine send up of Latin caricatures. The ladies of the cast wiggled around with bananas and a pineapple while Ms. Lauritano sported a hatful of fruit.  Major fun!

Another humorous number was "I'm Going Shopping With You" by Harry Warren from Dames. Baritone Dimitri Katotakis put heart and soul into his comedy routine and Mr. Blier contributed a few extra lines giving the ending a gay twist, something Mr. Blier does so delightfully in almost every show.  The beautiful duet "Hard to Replace" from The Barkleys of Broadway (Ira Gershwin/Warren) was sung by Mr. Katotakis and Ms. Lauritano. The lyrics of Gershwin are intensely moving and the two artists filled them with meaning.

The company performed as an ensemble for "Cheerful Little Earful" from Warren's Sweet and Low and in "Jeepers Creepers" from Going Places by Warren. We got to hear Mr. Schneider's guitar again and saw some fun tap dancing.  (Oh, those Juilliard students can do anything!) Adam Cates was credited as choreographer.  They closed with "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" from Here Comes the Groom by Mercer/Carmichael. They sure can harmonize!

Mary Testa was the guest coach and Mary Birnbaum was Stage Director. Ms. Birnbaum always adds something original and clever.  In "The Old Music Master" from True to Life (Mercer/Carmichael), cast members were used as a hat rack and a writing desk while Mr. Katotakis performed the vocals.

In "I'm Going Shopping With You", cast members became clothing racks. And in "Two Ladies in de Shade of de Banana Tree" Ms. Bennett and Ms. Bottoms fought over a fan, to comical effect.

Chris Reynolds was assistant pianist.

This yearly collaboration between Juilliard and New York Festival of Song always produces surprises and delights. Beneath the surface of fun was a lot of hard work but the artistry lies in showing the fun and hiding the labor.

(c) meche kroop

DOUBLE BILL AT JUILLIARD OPERA

Samuel Levine and his baby factory in Les Mamelles de Tirésias--photo by Nan Melville

Cast of Der Kaiser von Atlantis--photo by Nan Melville

Neither work on Juilliard Opera's double-bill is frequently performed; both deserve to be. The program notes written by the wildly imaginative director Ted Huffman describe in detail the resonances between the two one-act operas. To us, they are both parables about war.  Francis Poulenc's wildly funny opéra bouffe, Les Mamelles de Tirésias,  was produced in 1947 but based upon a surrealistic 1917 play by Apollinaire.

Although it was written about World War I, it was perfectly suited to the post-World War II period. War tends to waste a country's resources, both capital and human; following wars there is an understandable "baby boom" as the countries involved must replace the population. As Shakespeare put it--"The world must be peopled".

The moral urging of Le Directeur who opens the show is to produce babies. In this role, baritone Theo Hoffman employed his fine baritone and considerable comedic acting skills.

In an interesting gloss on feminism, the heroine Thérèse, dissatisfied with her role as a woman, decides to become a man and takes the name Tirésias. She sacrifices her breasts, grows a beard, snatches a man's moustache, and plots to enter several male dominated professions. And this was long before gender altering surgery was performed.  How very prescient! Soprano Liv Redpath sang beautifully with a clear high soprano and generated sympathy for her character's ridiculous ambitions.

This abandonment of her wifely duties leaves her husband (Le Mari) no choice but to become a woman and make babies. Samuel Levine could not have been any better in this role, fighting off the advances of Le Gendarme who arrives on horseback. Fan Jia's baritone was perfect for this role. We have heard him sing in French before but had no idea he was a skilled comic actor.

You may be wondering how Le Mari made the babies.  Tens of thousands of them! He started what looked like a baby factory, that's how. And he decided to produce babies who would grow up to be in professions he needed. Again, a prescient idea to imagine in vitro pregnancies. And also a barbed reference to parents who try to control their offspring's life choices.

As two embattled friends arguing over gambling we heard the excellent tenor Matthew Swensen (Lacouf) and the equally excellent baritone Xiaomeng Zhang (Presto). We have no idea what these characters had to do with the story but the entire piece is surreal.

We recall seeing this opera at Juilliard about 3 years ago and we remember that it was cleverly directed and costumed--but also very different from this production. Samal Blak was responsible for the Scenic and Costume Design which was highly original. The very long credenza achieved multiple identities, even that of the baby factory from which Mr. Swenson crawled out in diapers. A large entrance area upstage contained a two-dimensional horse for Mr. Jia's arrival. Costumes were appropriate for the late 40's and were occasionally shed. It isn't often that one gets to see tenors in diapers, tenors in dresses,  baritones in boxers, and sopranos in scanties.

The libretto contained much wordplay that one might have missed if one did not speak French. Let us just say it was raunchy in spots. Director Ted Huffman did not miss a single opportunity for a sight gag and the audience shared some marvelous belly laughs.

Poulenc's music is eclectic and there was much jazz to be heard and references to other composers' works. We heard quite a bit of dance music--waltz and polka rhythms abounded. In the pit there was a lively young woman conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, who brought out every ounce of delight in the score. In a serious moment we believe we heard presages of Dialogue des Carmélites which Poulenc would compose a decade later. The Juilliard Orchestra has no peer and performed beautifully under Ms. Wilson's baton.

WHITE BOX-BLACK BOX

Jamie Van Eyck and Katharina Hagopian

Artistic values triumphed last weekend when R.B. Schlather directed a unique presentation of Handel's Alcina--and without sacrificing musical values, thanks to a strong cast of singers and  an octet of fine musicians under the direction of Geoffrey McDonald who conducted with admirable verve.

The atmosphere was casual with musicians and conductor clad in grey t-shirts and a mostly young audience crammed into a black box space painted white.  The stage at the far end was raised high enough for everyone to have a good view and the singers entered from below.  Scenography by Paul Tate DePoo comprised only a short staircase and the head of a fierce wild boar mounted on a side wall, representative of one of Alcina's lovers whom she had transformed. JAX Messenger's lighting was atmospheric.

Costumes by Terese Wadden were vivid, colorful and whimsical.  The sorceress Alcina (Katharina Hagopian) appeared in slinky black with a huge black hat, then in snakeskin and later in a flowing blue caftan and an eerie white wig (hair and makeup by Dave Bova).  Her sister Morgana (Anne-Carolyn Bird) was dressed like a Disney princess with a tiny crown and red sequined shoes.

The knight Ruggiero (Jamie van Eyck in travesti) wandered around in a red kimono, dazed and confused by Alcina's magic spell.  His lover Bradamante (Eve Gigliotti) comes to Alcina's magic island disguised as her own brother, complete with funny moustache and an eye patch. She is accompanied by the knight's old tutor Melisso (David Adam Moore) intent on rescuing Ruggiero.

Oronte (Samuel Levine) is Morgana's lover but in true observation of Baroque gender confusion, Morgana drops him in favor of Bradamante, now called Ricciardo.  Got all that?  It's just one small part of a long and fantastical epic poem called Orlando Furioso written in the 16th c. by Ludovico Ariosto. The segment Handel used in 1735 involves a lot of attractions, deceits, betrayals, rejections, reconciliations, revenge, and gender confusion.

Mr. Schlather made the story interesting by directing his singers to be highly physical with the physicality accompanying the heightened emotions of the text. The young singers handled this well in every case while still managing Handel's elaborate embellishments with aplomb. The voices were excellent and the parts well cast.  The artists worked well as an ensemble.  

Some touches we loved were Morgana's LED-lit magic wand and the way she wielded it, and the magic fruit substituted for the magic ring, a device meant to counteract Alcina's magic spell and to restore Ruggiero to sanity.  There were as well some directorial touches that we failed to fathom.  We didn't grasp why Bradamante appears to Ruggiero in clothes that Alcina had worn, unless we were meant to see her through Ruggiero's mistrustful eyes.  And Melisso at one point appears in one of Alcina's costume with a white mask through which he seems to be inhaling a drug that makes him "stupid".

The small orchestra comprised a string quartet augmented by a bass, a harpsichord and a pair of oboes.  We found no fault with the music and particularly loved  what is arguably the best known of the arias "Verdi Prati", beautifully sung by Ms. Van Eyck.

Titles by Steven Jude Tietjen were barely legible during Act I but with the dimmer lighting of Act II were fine.

Although we can get pretty testy when a director tampers with The Ring Cycle or La Traviata, in the case of a rarely produced opera with such a nonsensical plot, we welcome originality and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

(c) meche kroop

EVE QUELER & SEVEN EMERGING ARTISTS

We have enjoyed Maestra Eve Queler's conducting of the Opera Orchestra of New York for more years than we can count--perhaps more for the opportunity to hear singers we don't always get to hear than to hear scores belonging to the same category.  Today we happily listened to seven emerging artists that she had cast in smaller roles last season, but we had the pleasure of hearing them perform as the stars they are meant to be, singing arias we know and love, accompanied by Ms. Queler herself on the piano as well as by Douglas Martin.

Each of these fine artists has been making a name for him or herself singing important roles in some fine companies and winning prestigious prizes.  It appears difficult for such gifted singers to get cast in major roles at the Met and we can only hope that someone from that august institution was in the audience today to be as impressed as we were.

What a banner year this is for soprano Megan Hart who makes us feel fortunate for having heard her three times already.  Her sensational coloratura in "Caro Nome" from Verdi's Rigoletto and in "Regnava nel silencio" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor were well complimented by her duet with baritone Steven LaBrie in the "Silvio/Nedda duet" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and the "Parigi o cara" from Verdi's La Traviata, sung with tenor Kevin Ray. Not only did she exhibit different vocal colors for the different characters but showed fine dramatic skills.  As Gilda, she totally convinced as a young innocent in the thrall of infatuation.  As Lucia, she managed to foreshadow the heroine's mental fragility.

Mezzo Jennifer Feinstein impressed us with the passionate "Wie du warst!" from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.  This is a sizable voice that still manages to sound like young Octavian, as it should.  She sang "Les Larmes" from Massenet's Werther accompanied not only by the piano but by Kevin Ray's saxophone.  "Casta Diva" from Bellini's Norma was performed by soprano Maria D'Amato with long melting phrases.

When tenor Kevin Ray was not playing the saxophone, he gave us a healthy dose of German, first in the moody "Durch die Wälder" from Weber's Die Freischütz and "Winterstürme" from Wagner's Die Walküre.  We heard him pull the sword from the tree just recently at the Gerda Lissner award recital and have decided he will make an excellent Siegmund.

We were likewise delighted to have another hearing of baritone Steven LaBrie whom we suspect of having been hard at work on his Italian which came across just fine in his "Largo al Factotum" from Rossini's  Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  "Ya vas lyublyu" from Tchaikovsky's  Pique Dame showed another side of this versatile artist, as did his lovely French in "Vision Fugitive" from Massenet's Herodiade.  Tenor Samuel Levine presented "Dies Bildnis" from Mozart's  Die Zauberflöte and "Fra poco a me" from Lucia di Lammermoor.

Saving the best for last, powerful baritone Ricardo Rivera projected a profoundly  protective image in "Avant de quitter ces lieux" from Gounod's  Faust and an even more profoundly self-absorbed one as Escamillo in the "Toreador Song" from Bizet's  Carmen.  Having seen some rather weak Escamillos at the Met recently, we totally relished the animal magnetism and role-appropriate arrogance that so enthralled the eponymous heroine. 

This satisfying recital was a gift to New York opera lovers and we wish to thank Ms. Queler from the bottom of our heart.

(c) meche kroop