LOVE AND OTHER MISTAKES

Elena (Anna Farysej)

New York is blessed with three fine music schools, each of which provides splendid opportunities for opera lovers.  The Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater, under the artistic direction of Dona D. Vaughn, presented a fine program of scenes from four very different operas.  The program demonstrated the depth and breadth of talent in every voice range and several different styles; it will be repeated Sunday at 2:30.

This collection of gems was entitled "Love and Other Mistakes"; but believe us when we tell you that the only mistake would be missing it.  The opening scene represented serious romantic courtship with Cupid himself putting in an appearance.  Gluck is perhaps better known for his Orfeo but, if this scene is representative of his Paride ed Elena, the latter deserves a full production.  It is a scene of Paris' courtship of the beautiful Helen and soprano Anna Farysej had the physical and vocal beauty for the role.  Beautifully gowned in apricot and gold, her bright soprano was perfect for the woman being earnestly courted by Paris, the excellent mezzo Elsa Quéron.  Cupid was well sung by Aine Hakamatsuka.  Piano and harpsichord were joined by cellist Patrick Hopkins.

The second scene was Hindemith's Sancta Susanna, a strange piece about religious devotion corrupted by profane lust.  The libretto by August Stramm was as disturbing as the music.  The set consisted of a red drape with a large gold Christ on the Cross.  Mezzo Helena Brown with her stunningly large round sound was Sister Klementia, witness to the decompensation of Susanna, well sung by soprano Kerstin Bauer.  There are no arias and no melodies but the music is held together by a motif repeated in different keys.

Papa Buonafede (Tobias Klassen) tied in knots

The third scene was from Joseph Haydn's Il Mondo della luna and the libretto by Carlo Goldoni was right out of the commedia del'arte tradition in which wily servants outwit an old man who is an obstacle to young love.  In this case, a father has two daughters who wish to marry; the trickery involved a sleeping potion and papa's being convinced that he was visiting the moon in which everyone spoke a different language and observed different customs, including of course unchaperoned visits between the daughters and their lovers.  There were sight gags galore, wonderful tuneful music, colorful sets and costumes.  The excellent singers were Tobias Klassen as Papa Buonafede, Stephen Steffens and Lyndon England as the suitors, Julia Mendelsohn and Gyu Yeo Shim as the daughters, and Christopher Lilley and Yingying Liu as the wily servants who posed as King and Queen bearing toilet plungers and toilet brushes as scepters.  You get the picture.

The final scene was Three Sisters who are not Sisters--Ned Rorem's setting of a text by Gertrude Stein.  The story had something to do with a murder game and was totally incomprehensible but made into quite a lark by clever staging.  Every singer wore the same costume of a neon pink wig, a moustache, a striped tee-shirt and jeans with suspenders.  The set comprised a wall with five doors through which the five cast members and also the chorus emerged and disappeared, bearing guns and knives.  Pure nonsense but fun to watch since the staging by Richard Gammon was so effective.  Mr. Gammon used a great deal of body movement in all of the works and if the singers did not study dance they gave the impression that they had.  Hannah DeBlock, Brittany Nickell, Yajie Chen, Andrew Zimmermann and Devon Morin were the murderers/victims.  Who could say?

Marcello Cormio conducted the evening, Carolyn Mraz designed the colorful sets and Barbara Samuels designed the effective lighting.  The dazzling costumes were designed by Jonathan Knipscher.  The audience had a swell time and so will you!

© meche kroop

A POPPEA THAT POPS

Anna Farysej and Nacole Palmer--photo by Brian Long

Perhaps the mayhem and immorality under the Roman Emperor Nero resonates with our current political climate.  Indeed we have seen three versions of Monteverdi's 1643 masterpiece L'incoronazione di Poppea in the past year.  On the other hand, its recent popularity may be due only to the beauty and expressivity of the music.

Last night at the intimate 13th Street Theatre, Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble presented their version as part of their Tenth Anniversary Season, and a fine version it was!  The cast we saw only performed that singular night; we felt privileged to be in the sold-out house to hear some amazing young voices advancing in their careers, helped along by the intense instruction and guidance of Dell'Arte Ensemble.  Artistic Director Maestro Christopher Fecteau has a knack for selecting promising young performers and guiding them into the next stage of their careers.

Witness the plenitude of bright shining sopranos who mastered the art of baroque singing without compromising their acting skills.  As Poppea, Anna Farysej created a character who was more ambitious than evil; she lured Nero (an excellent Nacole Palmer) with abundant wiles and overt sexuality to abandon his "infertile and frigid" wife Ottavia, portrayed by strong mezzo Heather Antonissen, so that she Poppea could become Empress.  Ottavia gets to sing a heartbreaking lament to which any 21st c. discarded wife could relate.  To paraphrase, "We give birth to men who then torment and abuse us."

In opposition we had the rejected lover Ottone, played by counter-tenor Jeffrey Mandelbaum (who is at a more advanced stage of his career, having graced the stage of The Metropolitan Opera); Ottone was solicited by Ottavia to murder Poppea.  To this end he has enlisted the assistance of the kooky and pliant Drusilla, performed by the adorable Noelle McMurtry who lends him her clothes as a disguise.

The ending is not exactly tragic.  Drusilla and Ottone fall all over themselves trying to take the blame for the failed murder attempt to protect the other but Nerone does not slaughter them; in an act of clemency he sends them into exile along with his discarded wife.  That Poppea and Nerone are portrayed more favorably than in history books tells us something about the 17th c. audience.  Indeed Amore herself (an effective Briana Sakamoto) ensures that they have a happy ending, singing a gorgeous duet to close the opera; Amore himself, the blind child-god, has triumphed over the bickering Fortuna (a funny Amaranta Viera) and Virtu (the very young and talented Sarah Ann Duffy) who each claimed primacy over the other in controlling human history.  But no, in the end, it's all about LOVE.  Using the three gods as a framing device drives the point home.

The only tragedy in this opera is the death of Seneca, Ottavia's tutor, ordered by Poppea to eliminate a roadblock in her path.  This is also an artistic tragedy because it takes place in Act II and we wanted to hear more of bass Hans Tashjian who beguiled us with his superb singing and strong stage presence.

In an unusual casting move, mezzo Melissa Kelly, a fine singer and actress, portrayed both Arnalta (Poppea's nurse) and Nutrice (Ottavia's nurse).  Her funny bit came when she sang about her elevation of status as the nurse of the new Empress.  In smaller roles, we heard Ray Calderon, Nicholas Connolly, Edwin Vega and Nathan Letourneau.  All sang well.

The backbone of this excellent production was Monteverdi's gorgeous music, played by The Sebastians, a baroque ensemble led by harpsichordist Jeff Grossman.  The captivating theorbos and lutes were played by John Lenti and Charles Weaver while the heavenly harpist was Christa Patton.  Rounding out the ensemble were violinists Daniel S. Lee and Dongmyung Ahn with Ezra Seltzer playing the cello.

Stage Director Victoria Crutchfield and Costume Designer Nina Bova, obviously working with a very small budget, managed to create the illusion of more.  This placed the emphasis on the singers and the music which was a good thing.  We applaud Dell'Arte Ensemble not only for nurturing young singers but also for putting great art onstage with modest ticket prices, allowing New Yorkers unfamiliar with opera to dip their collective toes in the operatic waters and giving New Yorkers who are familiar with opera the opportunity to see operas that have gone unproduced at the Met.  There are a couple more performances of "L'incoronazione di Poppea" and one couldn't spend a better evening.

© meche kroop