GOLDEN PALM

Joshua Conyers, Kasia Borowiec, Kelsey Robertson, Derrek Stark, and Timothy Cheung

The Palme d'Or is a French award given in the film industry.  But we would like to offer a Golden Palm to Palm Beach Opera for their impressive success in fostering the growth of young singers. More on that later but let's begin with the four splendid singers who graced the stage of Scorca Hall last night at the National Opera Center.

In a very brief hour that seemed to fly by, we got a very good picture of the wide ranging gifts of these four artist who came to represent Palm Beach Opera, founded in 1961. Three of the artists were known to us and one was a wonderful discovery. 

We first heard soprano Kasia Borowiec four years ago in Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All at Manhattan School of Music. The following year we heard her Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi. In the summer of 2016 at Santa Fe Opera we loved her Tatiana and we guess SFO loved her equally because they cast her in the title role of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel!

Last night we heard even more of her. Her rich lyric soprano was employed effectively in "Porgi amor" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro which she performed with a touching combination of dignity and despair.  In "Das war sehr gut, Mandryka" from Richard Strauss' Arabella, we were dazzled by the soaring expansion of her upper register.

In the duet "Prendero quel brunettino" from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, we noticed that she does very well as a scene partner, abandoning her modest self-presentation to relate warmly and appropriately with mezzo-soprano Kelsey Robertson who portrayed Dorabella to Ms. Borowiec's Fiordiligi.

Similarly she responded with touching innocence to the Pinkerton of tenor Derek Stark in "Vogliatemi bene" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The multipotentiality of her artistry will be great fun to watch as it evolves.

We heard the terrific tenor Derrek Stark two years in a row in Santa Fe as part of the Apprentice Artists Program.  In 2015 he was a delightful David in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, and the following year we enjoyed his Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Last night we could appreciate how his voice has grown in his stirring performance of "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's Tosca which he imbued with deep emotion and dynamic variety. He seems to be headed in a Puccini direction, performing the role of Pinkerton (with Ms. Borowiec) with appropriate arrogance, clearly showing that her worshipful adoration was met with his lust.

In "O Mimi, tu piu non torni" from Puccini's La Boheme, his Rodolfo was well matched by baritone Joshua Conyers, as the two men lament their lost loves in gorgeous harmony. 

We also remember Mr. Conyers from his performances in the Apprentice Program of Santa Fe Opera where we heard him in 2013 and 2014 singing Berlioz, Handel, and Puccini. He has a sizable voice of power and dimension which made him a compelling Tonio, delivering the prologue to Leoncavallo's Pagliacci--"Si puo", successfully drawing the audience into the brutal drama to follow.

His powerful baritone was just right for "O Tixo, Tixo, help me" from Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars, an eloquent depiction of moral crisis as the priest tries to decide whether to counsel his son to lie and save his life or tell the truth and hang. A tragic tale well told! And Mr. Conyers' English diction was so fine that we understood every word. And that's never to be taken for granted.

New to us was mezzo-soprano Kelsey Robertson who made an excellent impression and left us wanting more. She has a graceful and winning stage presence, a lovely mezzo texture to her instrument, and fine skills with fioritura. 

The material she chose was perfect to highlight her special skills. We do love our Rossini and hardly ever get to hear his Tancredi. Ms. Robertson's performance of "Di tanti palpiti" evinced precision in the ornamentation and skips. No carelessness there!

Similarly "Dopo notte" from Handel's Ariodante was performed in apt baroque style and emotional expression achieved not just in the voice but in facial expression and bodily gesture. These same skills were brought to bear on the Cosi duet which was completely charming, especially at the end with both she and Ms. Borowiec jumping for joy as they considered flirting with the two "new" men. This is an artist we cannot wait to hear again.

The capstone of the program was the final quartet from Verdi's Rigoletto, performed with dramatic commitment and gorgeous vocal blending. Ms. Borowiec's Gilda was appropriately shocked and dismayed, Mr. Conyers' Rigoletto was partly sympathetic and partly confrontational, Ms. Robertson's Maddalena was cynical but half won over, and Mr. Stark's Duke was even more lustful than his Pinkerton. (Is there a theme here?)

Accompanist for the evening was pianist Timothy Cheung.

The audience was welcomed by Laura Lee Everett, Director of Artistic Services at Opera America. The Emerging Artist Recitals reflect the joint efforts of Opera America and its member companies to identify and nurture the careers of the most promising young artists. These recitals are live streamed to a growing international audience so that these young artists are exposed to producers and casting professionals. What a win-win situation!

Palm Beach Opera is one of the member companies participating in this excellent program. They have an Apprentice Artist Program which offers a 5-month residency to recent graduates who aim to gain experience at the professional level and also receive regular coaching and onstage experience.

They also have The Benenson Young Artist Program for post-graduate and emerging singers--also a 5-month residency in which they get performance opportunities and guidance from the artistic staff of the company. The four singers we heard tonight belong to a group of 18.

Furthermore they offer community outreach and educational opportunities. We award Palm Beach Opera a Golden Palm!

(c) meche kroop

Joshua Conyers, Kasia Borowiec, Kelsey Robertson, Derrek Stark, and Timothy Cheung at the National Opera Center (photo by Frank Ammaccapane, Natural Expressions NY Photography)

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

A CORNUCOPIA OF GOODIES

Nathan Milholin and Andy Berry in a scene from Prokofiev's "The Love for Three Oranges"

We always count on the Santa Fe Opera for five glorious operas every summer, but the highlight of our visit remains the two evening of Apprentice Scenes. The young singers of the Apprentice Program (established in 1957 and flourishing under the guidance of Artistic Director David Holloway) enjoy a summer of training and performance experience--in smaller roles, in Susanne Sheston's superbly rehearsed chorus, and on two Sundays the experience of performing in a selection of scenes--fully staged and costumed with piano accompaniment. Notably, the Santa Fe Opera was the first company in the United States to have established such a program.

The choice of scenes ranges far and wide, from opera house standards to rarities to new works. Last night, as usual, we had our favorites and some head-scratchers. But regardless of the choice of material we found the performances to be vocally and dramatically worthwhile.

For all around entertainment value, our first choice was Ravel's "L'heure espagnole", directed by Omer Ben Seadia. We have only seen this opera once since it is rarely performed, but it is filled with French farce type humor, dealing as it does with a cuckolded clockmaker and his wayward wife. His unanticipated homecoming necessitates the hiding of his wife's lovers inside some of the grandfather clocks in the shop. As the cuckolded clockmaker, tenor Adam Bonanni had just the right sound for the part and was helped in his humorous presentation by the costume design of Jean-Luc DeLadurantaye--that of a pagliaccio--or Pierrot.

Mezzo-soprano Anne Marie Stanley was delightful as the wayward wife. Her three lovers were excellently portrayed by baritone Brian Vu in full toreador regalia, tenor Stephen Carroll, and bass-baritone Nathan Milholin who had quite a time extricating himself from his hiding place. Their congo line dance just added to the fun.

The Ping-Pang-Pong scene from Puccini's Turandot always provides some comic relief and speaks to us as the plaint of Everyman, who would love to escape his job and retire to the country. Director Kathleen Clawson directed a pleasingly traditional scene of the three functionaries of Ancient China, men who never know whether to plan for a funeral or a wedding. Resplendent in authentic Mandarin costumes (designed by Brenda Birkeland), baritone Dogukan Kuran and tenors Eric Ferring and Andrew Maughan passed the vocal ball back and forth in a highly entertaining fashion. It was a true treat.

The previous night's Lucia di Lammermoor left us in a Donizetti mood and we were glad to see a scene from L'elisir d'amore on the program. Director Crystal Manich's decision to update the action to the ugly 1950's and to change the setting to a soda parlor robbed the scene of the intended impact.  Poor Nemorino was obliged to get intoxicated by an ice cream soda in place of the requisite wine of Dr. Dulcamara; this just didn't make dramatic sense to anyone who knows the opera.

But tenor Carlos Enrique Santelli (just reviewed as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor) has a real flair for Donizetti and shone in the role, in spite of the ice cream soda! A clever directorial touch was having him bang the keys of the cash register in time with the music. Soprano Abigail Rethwisch made a lovely Adina, deftly conveying the ambivalence she feels toward Nemorino and the crack in her resistance. Baritone Christopher Kenney successfully created the role of the blustery Belcore and sang in rich full tone.

Rienzi will never be our favorite Wagnerian opera but we definitely enjoyed hearing tenor Stephen Martin (just reviewed as Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor) sing the title role with authoritative colors and stage presence. As his sister Irene, soprano Tracy Cantin impressed us with her fine singing but Amanda Clark's unflattering wig failed to score. In the trouser role of Adriano we heard mezzo-soprano Hannah Hagerty.  We enjoyed the trio which closed the scene for the tasteful blending of voices. For some strange reason, this tale of 14th c. Rome was updated by director Crystal Manich to something approximating the early 20th c.

Giuseppi Verdi put in an appearance by virtue of a scene from Un ballo in maschera, effectively directed by Susan Payne. One doesn't expect to hear young voices tackle Verdi but soprano Kasia Borowiec showed promise in the role of Amelia with Jorge Espino taking the role of the very angry Renato. The two men initiating the plot to assassinate the Duke, Sam and Tom, were played respectively by bass-baritone Erik van Heyningen and baritone Andy Berry. The duet between Renato and Amelia was most affecting but the final quintet was imperfectly balanced. Soprano Joanna Latini sang the role of Oscar with beautiful tone; a bit more attention to accuracy with the short notes would have made it perfect.

The scene from Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream was peculiarly staged by Mr. Seadia. The scene involves the romantic misadventures of Shakespeare's four young lovers lost in a forest near Athens. Here, they are in something resembling a dormitory with four beds and in various stages of undress (costumes by Ruby L. Rojas). Fortunately, the fine singing made up for the strange and distracting setting. The performances were quite physical and succeeded in conveying the Bard's sense of humor. 

Mezzo-soprano Kristen Choi impressed us with her vocalism in the part of Hermia; she doesn't know what to do with all that unexpected male attention. Soprano Adelaide Baedecker made a fine Helena, suffering the loss of love of her Lysander (tenor Jesse Darden) with baritone Thaddeus Ennen completing the quartet in the role of Demetrius.

Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges was staged by Susan Payne as the fairytale it is. Prokofiev's music for the scene begins with some insistent chords and the stage was dominated by a large multi-colored proscenium arch. Morgen Warner's costumes were appropriately fantastical. The problem was that the scene did not offer the young singers much opportunity to show off their vocal skills. That being said, we did enjoy the humor and fantasy. Mr. Berry made a magical magician in his golden cape, and bass-baritone Nathan Milholin was funny with his feathered fan. Mr. Maughan made a fine Prince, strangely attired in a night shirt; Mr. Darden portrayed the Prince's companion Truffaldino attired in a suit.

We cannot say too much about the scene from Paul Moravec's The Shining. We found the music lacking in the very qualities that make us want to listen, and the scene itself did not hold our interest. Baritone Kenneth Stavert sang the role of an ex-alcoholic starting a new life in a boiler room.  Mr. Carroll portrayed a ghost in the hotel. The libretto did not strike us as singable. We did enjoy Mr. Carroll in L'heure espagnole and hope to get another opportunity to hear Mr. Stavert in music kinder to our ears.

It was a fun evening and we find ourselves trying to anticipate which of these promising artists will thrive in their professional careers and return to the Santa Fe Opera stage.

(c) meche kroop

FINAL DISPATCH FROM SANTA FE

Kasia Borowiec and Jarrett Ott in a scene from Eugene Onegin
(photo by Bobby Gutierrez)

Our last night in Santa Fe was happily spent watching the apprentices show their stuff.  And what stuff they showed!  We were given to understand that the nine scenes were chosen to highlight the individual talents of the apprentices. We have nothing but plaudits for the singing, but we were not always in tune with the staging and costuming.

In the final scene from Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Eugene Onegin, Kasia Borowiec sang Tatiana with a fine tone and deep emotional involvement as she attempted to resist the blandishments of the eponymous Onegin, with whom she had been so infatuated a few years earlier.

Jarrett Ott took the role of the now lovesick Onegin in both hands and made it his own with his superb baritone and impassioned acting. The scene was directed by Jordan Fein. We could imagine no rationale for Nicole Grebb's dressing of Ms. Borowiec as a 1950's prom queen and robbing her of the 19th c. dignity that the role requires.

Similarly, the third act of Puccini's La Bohème was beautifully sung by Alexandra Razskazoff as the ill-fated Mimi and Jessica Jones as the fickle Musetta. We liked Benjamin Werley as Rodolfo and significant contributions were made by Nicholas Davis' Marcello. 

Kyle Lang directed in the manner of film noir-- with costumes of the 1930's designed by Maria Nieto--a period just as remote from today's audience as the time in which the story took place, but with uglier clothes and hairstyles. To what end we could not fathom. Nothing was added to our understanding of the four bohemians.

Beautiful period costuming was provided by Krista Intravanuovo for Cendrillon in which Alyssa Martin captured all the delicacy of Massenet's deliciously Gallic tunes, with her suitor, the pants role of Le Prince Charmant, portrayed finely by mezzo-soprano Pascale Spinney. The harmony of their voices was stirring and we felt squarely in the fairy tale epoch, thanks to Matthew Ozawa's direction.

Similarly, there was an authentic feel of time and place given to his direction of the scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor--a confrontation between Lucia's lover Edgardo (tenor Derrek Stark) and her controlling brother Enrico (baritone Jared Bybee). The voices were well matched and the characterizations apt.  We believed every moment. Caleb Howell designed the wonderful clan costuming.

Where Mr. Ozawa lapsed was in his staging of Tannhäuser which struck us as unsuitable to piano accompaniment.  One could barely identify it as a work of Richard Wagner. The men were dressed in suits (Sharne van Ryneveld) and it felt like a corporate meeting.  That being said, we heard some fine singing, especially from tenor Tyson Miller's Walther and bass Önay Köse's Biterolf. Tenor Cooper Nolan did well in the title role with David Leigh as the Landgrave, Adrian Smith as Wolfram, Andrew Maughan as Schreiber, and Andrew Bogard as Reinmar. 

Kathleen Clawson directed a fine scene from Rossini's Guillaume Tell, another case in which the apposite costuming (Cheyenne Smith) added to the believability. Baritone Andrew  Paulson made a fine Swiss patriot, helped along by Andrew Simpson as Walther, in convincing the wayward Arnold to return to the cause.  This role was superbly sung by tenor Carlos Santelli. Everyone's French sounded just fine.

Ambroise Thomas' Mignon impressed us on all accounts.  Sarah Coit was effective and moving as the unfortunate heroine and sang with a lovely free soprano. Carlos Santelli's fine tenor was heard in the role of Wilhelm Meister with bass-baritone Alan Higgs as the kind minstrel Lothario and baritone Nicholas Davis as the gypsy who sells Mignon to Herr Meister.  The scene was directed by Kyle Lang with the perfect costumes by Tommy Cobau. It made us yearn to see the entire opera!

Bellini's Norma is one of our favorite operas and we were presented with two lovely harmonizing voices--the soprano of Tracy Cantin as the eponymous Druid priestess and the mezzo-soprano of Olivia Vote as her handmaiden Adalgisa. In this moving scene from Act II, Norma tries to persuade Adalgisa to look after her children. Why director Jordan Fein decided to set this gorgeous duet in the room of the children is a mystery and why they were in vaguely 20th c. costumes (Morgan Warner) is beyond me. It added nothing in terms of insight and detracted from the verisimilitude of the scene.  The presence of a pistol was just plain jarring.

There was also a scene from a contemporary opera--Joby Talbot's Everest which premiered last year at The Dallas Opera. In spite of fine singing by tenor Tyson Miller as the expedition leader Rob, with mezzo-soprano Corrie Stallings as his wife and Mr. Bybee as Doug--the scene left us as cold as the climate on Everest and we have no wish to see the rest of the opera. Call us a Philistine if you wish but so many contemporary operas lack memorable vocal lines.  Give us romance, give us passion, give us murder, give us suicide, give us arias!

(c) meche kroop

BELLINI AT MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Maestro Thomas Muraco with cast of I Capuleti e i Montecchi: Shi Li, Carlton Moe, Noragh Devlin, Kasia Borowiec and Scott Russell

If Bellini stands for a delicious brunch drink in your lexicon, you probably won't relate to Maestro Thomas Muraco's admirable production of Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Manhattan School of Music.  But if you adore bel canto as much as we do you will get yourself to tonight's performance at 7:30 in the Ades Performance Space.

Bellini's lengthy vocal lines were conducted by Maestro Muraco without a baton, his expressive hands making balletic movements through space.  The reduction of the score was apparently a group creation and was so effective that the orchestra was never missed.  Ronny Michael Greenberg and Jie Yi performed on two pianos with Yeon Hwa Chung making significant contributions on the harp.  Elizabeth Harraman's French horn and Michael Dee's clarinet had some marvelously melodic lines of their own.

The libretto by Felice Romani harked back to earlier Italian versions of the story of star-crossed lovers than the Shakespeare play.  Wisely, extraneous characters were eliminated to focus on five main characters and their interaction.  The story became immediate, personal and affecting.  It was all meat and no fat.

Interestingly, and typical of Italian opera of the period, the enmity between Romeo and Juliet's family has been securely placed in the realm of a political power struggle--the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. There is nothing evil about Tebaldo; he just loves Giulietta and wants to marry her.  Romeo is not a hot-headed teenager; he is a successful warrior who killed Capellio's son on the battlefield and is now suing for peace.  Lorenzo is not a monk but a physician in the Capulet household and sympathetic to the young lovers.  No nurse.  No servants.  No best friends.  No Paris.  No mother. No Prince.

The role of Romeo was superlatively sung by mezzo Noragh Devlin, much praised in earlier reviews (available through the search bar).  She fully lived up to her reputation and created an ardent and sympathetic character.  She negotiated the fioritura as well as the long legato lines; she was equally splendid in her duets with Giulietta.

Soprano Kasia Borowiec was equally impressive as Giulietta.  She has a bright soprano with just the right amount of vibrato and her embellishments were accurate.  She too created a winsome character that we could care about.  She was especially moving as she weighed her familial duty against her love for Romeo who wanted to elope with her.

Tebaldo, as described above, was also a sympathetic character, especially as sung by the fine tenor Carlton Moe who had some outstanding arias in Act I and an interesting duet with Romeo in Act II when he expresses remorse about contributing to Giulietta's death.

The role of Lorenzo was well sung by bass-baritone Scott Russell who probably has low notes to spare; bass Shi Li delivered the goods in the role of Giulietta's father Capellio.

An all-male chorus was onstage throughout to narrate the action and was joined by a female chorus at the end, lamenting the heroine's demise during the funeral cortege; this mournful scene was accompanied by stunning harp arpeggios.

That there was no panic accompanying the occasional disappearance of the titles is a fine tribute to Stephano Baldasseroni, the Italian diction coach.  Even the chorus was totally comprehensible, a characteristic that we have only heard when listening to the Donald Palumbo-coached Metropolitan Opera chorus.  Since Maestro Muraco was responsible for the chorus preparation, he gets extra props.

Although this is a concert presentation, the drama comes from the music and there is no shortage of drama.  Listen for a fortuitous horn solo in Act I and a stunning back-and-forth duet between Giulietta and the clarinet as she expresses her ambivalence.  Listen for the faltering heartbeat in Act II when Giulietta drinks the poison.  Another duet between Romeo and the clarinet delights the ear in the tomb scene.

Until yesterday, our favorite version of R&J has been the Kenneth MacMillan ballet set to Prokofiev's music.  Now that Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca are no longer dancing those roles, our new favorite version is this one.  Go and enjoy!

© meche kroop