A Night at Greenwood Cemetery with Death of Classical
When Andrew Ousley announces an event we don't think twice before accepting. We did, however, wonder what the connection was between The Metropolitan Opera and Greenwood Cemetery. We are quite familiar with the Mexican Day of the Dead and the manner in which it is celebrated, especially in Oaxaca, on October 3lst and November 1st. We have honored the day in our home with an ofrenda and pan de muertos. We have even dressed up as La Catrina.
Likewise, we have visited museums in Mexico City and the colorful labor oriented murals of Diego Rivera in public buildings. We have marveled over the deeply unsettling paintings of Frida Kahlo that show us the world of a woman severely injured in an accident who transformed her chronic pain into art. And now, we have learned of an opera utilizing contemporary music, a Spanish language libretto, and magic realism to tell the tale of two tempestuous lovers who fought as hard as they loved. This opera will open at The Metropolitan Opera on May 14th and is entitled El Ultimo Sueno de Frida y Diego.
Imagine a panel discussion of said opera in Manhattan, drawing a handful of curious opera lovers. Now imagine a huge crowd packing a central area of Greenwood Cemetery, at least an hour's distance from Manhattan (Culture Central). Imagine paying big bucks to attend. Who could accomplish this?
Wonder no longer. Who else but impresario Andrew Ousley of Death of Classical who knows how to get people excited about something. This won't be the first event of his that got us to leave the confines of Manhattan! Mr. Ousley manages to pull things together to make people want to participate
In this case, there were Mexican dancers and singers scattered about and many tables of fine tequilas as well as intriguing elixirs for the teetotalers. There was the excitement of waiting in line and experiencing something unique--an EVENT, if you will.
The main event, so to speak, was a panel discussion between composer Gabriela Lena Frank and librettist Nilo Cruz; they were interviewed by Mila Burns who got them to answer all the questions one might have about a new work of art--the inspiration, the intention, the realization, the difficulty of getting produced.
The opera, which we hope to see, is a telling of the tale of Kahlo returning to earth on the Day of the Dead, as spirits in Mexico are wont to do, and encountering Rivera. The tale will be told utilizing magic realism, a literary device with which we are familiar from the literature of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It is a device that seems to work best in the hands of Latin Americans; with gringos, not so much.
As much as we enjoyed hearing from the two creators, we enjoyed even more hearing excerpts from the work sung by soprano Vanessa Isiguen who sings the role of Catrina and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard who portrays Kahlo. We first heard Ms. Isiguen in 2012 as part of a Marcello Giordani concert and in 2014 in a concert at Mannes College of Music. We began writing about Ms. Leonard about the same time period and her superb performances made their way into our blog at least a dozen times until her star rose way beyond the horizon of "emerging artist" that we write about. What a pleasure it is for us to see these "emerging artists" outgrow that designation.
The male artists, on the other hand were new to us. Baritone Carlos Alvarez took the role of Rivera and the spiritual part of Leonardo was sung by Nils Wanderer whose countertenor suited the role perfectly. Renowned pianist Howard Watkins served as accompanist.
We have found a photo of a Diego Rivera mural which portrays the artist walking alongside La Catrina with Kahlo a bit behind. Let us try to put a portion of the very large and detailed mural below. It would seem to summarize a lot of the intention of the opera.
© meche kroop
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