MATCHMAKER MATCHMAKER MAKE ME A MATCH

 PRINCIPALS ALEXANDRA RAZSKAZOFF, MARCUS DE LOACH, AND JOHN BELLEMER

(PHOTO BY GUSTAVO MIRABILE)

Teatro Grattacielo is known for producing realismo operas that one is unlikely to see elsewhere. We have lost count of the the number of worthy works they have brought to our attention. So many of them have been heavyweight tragedies but yesterday's production of Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz was just what we needed after the prior night's tragic impact. For this we thank General Director and Artistic Director Stefanos Koroneos.

Cavalleria Rusticana is Mascagni's masterwork and we never ever turn down a chance to see it.  We recall seeing a rather odd production of his rather odd opera Iris at Bard College's Summer Festival a few years ago. But this may be our first exposure to the simple story of L'Amico Fritz.  Of course, any opera lover would have heard the "Cherry Duet" performed as a set piece.

This is a slight work but the simple story is easily relatable. A confirmed bachelor is tricked into marriage by his well meaning friend. In this case, the local rabbi David (baritone Marcus DeLoach) loves to get people married off but Fritz, a local landowner,(John Bellemer) is a confirmed bachelor. The nubile daughter (Alexandra Razskazoff) of one of his tenant farmers seems like a good match and David figures out a way to get them together. Bravi tutti!  A happy ending!

The outstanding features of the evening were the voices and the musicianship of the Queens Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Bagwell. If the other two principal roles had not been so well sung, we would have said that Ms. Razskazoff ran away with the show. What made her performance so outstanding was not just her sweet finely produced soprano voice but her acting. She completely embodied a shy young country girl trying to deal with a crush on a man of high social status.

Due to the lack of a firm directorial hand by Mr. Koroneos and Malena Dayen, the cast pretty much stood around woodenly with nothing to do. Indeed it was billed as "semi-staged" but the fact that the theater has wrap around balconies that were put to use indicates that there was an attempt at story telling. The absence of set was unfortunate; a mere stepladder for Suzel to climb to pick cherries would have been welcome; we supplied one in our mind's eye. There was a huge chandelier that was eye catching but did not contribute anything.

Mr. Bellemer came alive dramatically as the evening progressed and Mr. DeLoach did his best but they seemed to be floundering onstage with nothing to do. We understand a concert performance in which singers use music stands but this was not the case. It would have been simple to have a couple pieces of furniture or props.

An attempt to involve multi-media seemed to us to be a complete failure. We will not mention the names of those involved but the projections were nothing if not distracting. We would not have minded a still shot in the background of a farm or a living room but the kinetic falling ellipses (cherry blossoms maybe) distracted from the singing. Even worse were the closeups of the singers' faces as they sang.

Costuming by Theresa Miles was generic but serviceable. Since the story is not particular to epoch or locale, it was fine. Except for Beppe, a gypsy of indeterminate gender whose costume was just weird.  Nonetheless, Mariya Kaganskaya did a lovely job with her aria.

There was a servant (Kiena Williams) and a couple friends (David Santiago and Rick Agster) who mainly just stood around and a chorus who made a nice vocal contribution.

Mr. Bagwell drew a lovely performance from the orchestra and we just loved the melodic arias and the aforementioned duet.

In sum, it was a delightful evening of music that only needed some directorial ideas and a few props to make it work as drama.

© meche kroop

VERISMO TRILOGY

Maestro Israel Gursky and cast of Verismo Trilogy presented by Teatro Grattacielo

If you wanted a glitzy Saturday night, you were probably enjoying Verdi's Macbeth at The Metropolitan Opera; but if you are a hard core opera fanatic you were celebrating Teatro Grattacielo's 25th Anniversary Concert at The Gerald Lynch Theater. Indeed most of the luminaries of Planet Opera were in attendance. Lucky us! We were treated to some rarely heard masterpieces and some stellar singing that left us walking on air all the way home.

We are well aware of several operas that "came in second", replaced by other operas that superseded them in the operatic canon. We are always grateful to companies like On Site Opera, Dell'Arte Opera, and Juilliard Opera for bringing them to our attention. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out why we can't have two Barber's, two Marriage of Figaro's, two Falstaff's.

Last night we heard Act I of Ruggiero Leoncavallo's La Bohême which premiered in 1897 at La Fenice. Puccini's opera, with libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, had premiered in Turin in 1896. Shortly thereafter, Leoncavallo tried his pen, utilizing the same source material by Henri Murger, and writing his own libretto.  And therein lies the failure, in our opinion.

Not having read Murger's episodic stories, we cannot say which version hews more closely to the source material but Leoncavallo's libretto is not very interesting. Perhaps it was an effort to emphasize the difference with Puccini's iteration, but Leoncavallo assigned the tenor role to Marcello and the baritone role to Rodolfo.

However, we found the music to be worthwhile, offering memorable arias for all the principals. Soprano Susanne Burgess played Mimi who, in this case, is not the central character and is already romantically involved with Rodolfo, here portrayed by the excellent baritone Suchan Kim, in his customary fine voice. Nonetheless, she is given an applause-worthy aria that suited her generous soprano perfectly. This was not one of Puccini's shy "piccole donne"! 

Mezzo-soprano Emily Hughes had the role of Musette who, in this version, is not the bold extravagant character created in Puccini's version; she came across as shyly flirtatious when she meets Marcello, sung by tenoriffic Alessio Borraggine who sang his gorgeous aria with ease and substance. 

The rest of the "Bohemians" comprised bass-baritone Stefanos Koroneos (also Artistic Administrator and Manager of Teatro Grattacielo) in the expanded role of Shaunard and baritone Robert Balonek (about whom more later) as Colline.. A role not present in the Puccini version is that of Schaunard's girlfriend Eufemia, finely sung by mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna.

Character tenor Ronald Naldi brought the role of landlord Gaudenzio to vivid life and tenor Jordan Weatherstone Pitts impressed us with the sweetest sound of the evening which belonged strangely to a character known as Un Becero, which translates as "a boorish or uncouth person". Now why that role would 

be given to such a silky voice we know not!

Bass Stefano de Peppo appeared in the small role of Barbemuche. Maestro Gursky conducted the outstanding orchestra with panache. We mostly remark upon the wind sections but in the Leoncavallo we were most impressed by the string sections, especially the contributions of the harp.

The second part of the evening was devoted to arias from the 1890 opera Loreley by Alfredo Catalani, who is better known for his opera La Wally. We have heard so many songs about the Lorelei who lures sailors to their death, but we didn't know the origin of the myth until the intensely dramatic music moved us to read about it.

Walter is betrothed to Anna, the daughter of the Landgrave, but falls for Loreley, whom he seduces and abandons. Loreley gets her revenge with the help of supernatural characters. She must pledge to love Alberich (!), Lord of the Rhine and throw herself into the river, but gains the power to seduce men. Anna dies at the wedding and Walter dies pursuing Loreley.

The arias we heard were so arresting that we wanted to see the entire opera. It could be staged in a manner similar to Rusalka, with which it has some similarities. Walter's Act III aria (a kind of mad scene) was given a powerful reading by tenor Jeremy Brauner whose intensity was riveting. Soprano Ashley Bell sang Anna's aria of disappointment, making us feel sorry for the abandoned bride.

Soprano Kirsten Chambers lent her sizable instrument to the highly dramatic aria before Loreley achieve her transformation by throwing herself into the Rhine. Not only were we mesmerized by her performance but noted the major contribution of the chorus of spirits--comprising Teatro Grattacielo's Young Artists, directed by Jason Tramm--accompanied by that gorgeous harp.

A FORGOTTEN MASTERPIECE DISCOVERED

Maestro Israel Gursky and the cast of Vittorio Gnecchi's Cassandra

If ever a neglected work merited unearthing Vittorio Gnecchi's Cassandra fills the bill. Thanks to the efforts of Teatro Trattacielo's Founding Executive and Artistic Director Duane D. Printz, New York City's dedicated opera lovers had the opportunity to hear this work in concert form at the highly suitable Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (part of CUNY).

There was a crime of sorts in the suppression of this magnificent work, the result of a scandal of plagiarism in which those taking the part of Richard Strauss (but not Strauss himself) accused Gnecchi of plagiarizing his 1908 Elektra, in spite of the fact that Cassandra premiered in Bologna in 1905! Significantly, Toscanini himself conducted the premiere. Italian musical politics were really something! They still are.

Luigi Illica's libretto was adapted from Aeschylus' Oresteia and deals with the part of the story of the fall of the House of Atreus in which Agamemnon returns as a hero from the Trojan war, bringing as concubine the seeress Cassandra.  

In Agamemnon's absence, Clytemnestra has been frolicking with her husband's brother Aegisthus. She apparently truly loves her brother-in-law but is also seeking revenge against her husband who had sacrificed their beloved daughter Iphegenia to secure favorable winds to carry him to Troy to fetch the naughty Helen who had run off with Paris.  Sounds like a telenovela, right?

As in Puccini's Turandot (of which we heard echoes in the music), the titular character does not appear until Act II. But she is worth waiting for! This is a superb role for a mezzo-soprano and Alessandra Volpe fulfilled the task with magnificence and a large dusky sound that made her prophesies poignantly terrifying. Her generous tone cut through the orchestration like a warm knife through butter.

The entire cast was well chosen and there wasn't a disappointing voice in the bunch. Soprano Elena O'Connor made a stunning Clitennestra, showing her character's rage in her first aria "No, non propiziarie preci!". We enjoyed the change of colors when she sang of her love for Egisto.

Her romantic duets with baritone Shea Owens as Egisto involved overlapping voices and thrilling harmonies.  And we loved Mr. Owens' aria "Il Fato volge in suo turbine". When Agamennone returns in triumph the crowd welcomes him but Egisto sneers in "Udir cantare Agamennone, e ridere!"  The subsequent confrontation between the two brothers is powerful and dynamic.

The role of Agamennone is a difficult one and veteran tenor Arnold Rawls tackled the punishingly high tessitura with aplomb. His return to Argolis is marked by the sweetest sound, as if he is totally unaware of the tragedy to come. 

Baritone Stefanos Koroneos has never sounded better than he did singing ll Prologo with superb diction, making every word count and elucidating the story, which is more than we can say for the choruses. The New Jersey Choral Society and The Connecticut Choral Society, along with the Festival Youth Chorus, lay down a lovely carpet of sound but did not have the crisp diction to which we are accustomed.

In several roles, soprano Meredith Mecum made a fine forceful showing with a brilliant tone; we particularly enjoyed her brief solo as Una Coèfora "Placato mare ed aera placato!"  Baritone Joseph Flaxman excelled as Il Fazionario (The Guard). Baritone Peter Kendall Clark came across well as Il Navarca as did Jon Tetelman in a tenor solo. Young Nicholas Newman piped up as the child Orestes, requesting his father's sword.

One could consider the star of the evening to be conductor Israel Gursky who brought out the many nuances of this impressive score.  There is nothing shocking about the chromatic harmonies but there was ample lyricism to satisfy our 19th c. ears. One could identify Puccini-esque elements in the opening Prologue.

The introduction to Act I was particularly lyrical when a lovely melody floated through the sections of the orchestra on gossamer wings. We loved the portentous sound at the end of Clitennestra's rage aria, not to mention the use of the harp when Egisto sings of leaving Clitennestra.

As Agamennone approaches by ship, Maestro Gursky guided the orchestra into a recreation of the surging sea.  Upon his arrival at Argosy the music is triumphant with brass. The orchestra gives us the full monty at the bloody conclusion.

Whew!! This powerful story was given the exactly right music by Signor Gnecchi and the opera was given the exactly right production by Teatro Grattacielo.

It's too bad we must wait another year for more of Grattacielo's discoveries.

(c) meche kroop

FROM GREECE TO ICELAND

Areti Giovanou,  Thornstein Árbjörnsson, and Stefanos Koroneos

When we bring people to vocal recitals who don't speak French or German or Italian or Spanish, we have often wondered in what manner they appreciate the experience. We ourselves are familiar with the languages and relish the sound as well as the meaning. It was quite an experience to hear an entire recital in Greek and Icelandic, neither of which we speak! There was no program, no libretto, and no titles. Collaborative pianist Areti Giovanou, while a superb pianist, is no public speaker; her muffled introduction was no help whatsoever.

Consequently we just sat back and let the music wash over us, catching only a few words here and there. Baritone Stefanos Koroneos delivered the songs with intensity, sad as they were. These songs were composed by Oscar winner Greek composer Manos Xatjiidakis as part of a play called "Captain Michaelis"which was, in turn, based on Kazantjakis book " Freedom or Death". The songs were recorded for voice and piano but were orchestrated two years ago for Mr. Koroneos.

Ms. Giovanou's piano amazingly reproduced the sounds of the bouzouki which we remember from our time spent in Greece.

The Icelandic portion of the program took us back to a recital at Juilliard in which one of the students had written an opera in Icelandic.  The clipped Nordic sound lends itself very well to humor, which can also be said for English.  Tenor Thornstein Arbjörnsson has a sweet voice and an engaging manner in which he described the folk songs of his country--dealing with elves and nature. He had us smiling before he even began.

Our ears found their footing at the end of the program when the two voices joined for a beautiful duet in Italian--Rossini's "I Marinai", the final song of his Soirées Musicales, sometimes called "Li Marinari". It is a song of courage and mastery of the storm before being greeted by a rainbow and with expectations of an affectionate homecoming when back on land.

(c) meche kroop

A VERY COOL CAT

Gotham Chamber Opera's El Gato Con Botas (photo by Richard Termine)

What an enthralling hour we spent at El Museo del Barrio!  The many auditory and visual delights we experienced were the result of a collaboration among the always adventurous Gotham Chamber Opera, Works and Process at the Guggenheim, Blind
Summit Theater and Tectonic Theater Project.

This collaboration brought to vivid life a fairy tale dating back to the 16th c.  The hero is a member of the class known in nearly every culture as "helper animals", those who help humans to survive and thrive.  Puss in Boots is a rascal--he lies and cheats to get what he wants; but he is clever and resourceful and secures a princess bride and a castle for his poor master who, as third son of a miller, received no other inheritance.

The inventive Bunraku-style puppets were created by London's Blind Summit Theater (designed by Nick Barnes) and interacted with live performers and characters who were half human and half puppet as seen in the photo above.  They were supremely effective in telling the story (puppet direction by Mark Down and stage direction by Moisés Kaufman). Sets were designed by Andromache Chalfant and lit by David Lander. Costume design was by Clint Ramos.  Every element was as close to perfection as one could get.

Musical values were beyond wonderful.  Under the baton of Neal Goren the Gotham Chamber Opera Orchestra, comprising but a dozen musicians, realized Xavier Montsalvatge's music in the most delightful manner.  There was an outpouring of melody and most interesting textures in the harmonies.  Sung in Spanish, it is a work we would happily listen to even without the visual component. We heard great variety in mood and tempo throughout.  The music for the love letter sent by the miller to the princess excelled in sensuality.  Much of the other music was propulsive and energetic.  

Dressed in black and singing the role of Puss was the incomparable mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson whose work we have reviewed before.  Her expressive voice conveyed all the wily manipulations of Puss although the puppet was doing the cavorting.  Ms. Costa-Jackson is a gorgeous woman but unafraid to hide her beauty in the service of a role, as seen in Nixon in China and Fanciulla del West, both at The Metropolitan Opera.

Andrea Carroll made a winning princess and used her sensual soprano to good advantage.  Her interaction with her father the king (effective baritone Stefanos Koroneos) was quite amusing since the singer's face sat above a tiny body, as did the members of his court--chamberlain, friar and cook.

The role of the miller's son was finely sung and acted by baritone Craig Verm.  He went from the resentful inheritor of the mangy cat to the son-in-law of the king, all due to the deceitful antics of the cat.  Instead of skinning and eating the cat in the first scene, he was persuaded to provide a feathered cap, a cape, a sword and (of course) a pair of boots for the demanding feline.  That scene was pure delight.

The fiction used to win the princess' hand was that the poor miller's son was a Marquis.  The castle for this "Marquis" was taken away from an ogre in an hysterical scene in which Puss tricks the Ogre (sung convincingly by bass Kevin Burdette).  We were reminded of the scene in Wagner's Das Rheingold when Wotan and Loge descend to Nebelheim and trick Alberich into giving up the Tarnhelm.

Let us give due credit to the gifted black-clad puppeteers, led by Stefano Brancato; Jonothon Lyons and Aaron Schroeder manipulated Puss; Joseph Gallina, Ben Liebert, Marta Mozelle MacRostie, Jessica Scott and Teddy Yudain did the rest.  Not only was there the king's court but a colony of rabbits and the various body parts composing the ogre.  Everything was amazing.

Regular readers will recall how much we love the Spanish language and how much we love puppetry.  This work scored on both accounts.  There is no point protesting the brevity of the work; it was completely satisfying. There are several more performances until December 14th and we urge you to go and see how much fun opera can be.

© meche kroop

GOING FOR THE GREEK

Areti Giovanou, Georgios Argeratos, Emilia Diakopoulou, Stefanos Koroneos

It is always exciting to discover vocal music we haven't heard before especially if it's in a language unfamiliar to us.  Yesterday we had the good fortune to be invited to a recital of Greek music produced by Diphono which was easily understood to mean "two voices". The two voices belong to tenor Georgios Argeratos and baritone Stefanos Koroneos. They were joined by collaborative pianist Areti Giovanou and guest artist soprano Emilia Diakopoulou.

The program contained neither biographical information nor translations so the comments will be based solely on our own experience and what precious little we gleaned from Wikipedia.  Most of the songs on the program were composed by Manos Hatzidakis who is best known as a composer of movie music.  He himself is purported to have said that for himself he composes art songs and he composes popular music to survive.  "Never on Sunday" is arguably his best known work.  We would not wish to put a label on the songs we heard yesterday but they were gloriously melodic and convincingly sung by both tenor and baritone.  Our readers know how much we love duets and the one that opened the program was sung in gorgeous harmony by Mr. Argeratos and Mr. Koroneos.  We had never imagined that the Greek language was so singable with beautiful vowels.  Ms. Giovanou's piano matched the singers with appropriate dramatics or delicacy as called for.

Only one song by N. Hatziapostolou ("Poverty") was on the program and it was performed by Mr. A.; we were surprised by its syncopated rhythm and cheerful mood, rather different from the sadness of the earlier set.  We were reminded of the habañera or perhaps a tango.  Connection with the material was heard throughout but connection with the audience is also important and, for this song, Mr. A. stepped away from the music stand and formed that connection which we truly appreciated.

A song by N. Lambelet seemed to be in an exotic mode, not major or minor but something we could not quite identify.

The recital closed with some songs by Tosti.  His Sette Canzoni Popolari Abruzzesi are a collection of simple unpretentious songs meant to be performed at home; they were delightful.   Ms. Diakopoulou joined Mr. Argeratos for "L'Alba separa dala luce l'Ombra".  We also enjoyed Mr. K.'s delivery of "L'Ultima Canzone" in which he used considerable rubata to wring every ounce of emotion from the text.

The recital closed with some Christmas carols sung in Greek and in English.  It was a delightful afternoon and we consider it an introduction to Greek song, more of which we would like to hear.

© meche kroop