Thursday, August 20, 2020

American Opera Follows Its Own Path

Washington National Opera’s premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s opera Blue, a tragic story about an African-American family in New York, would have been timely in March 2020 when it was scheduled for introduction to the nation’s capital. It will still be timely in May 2021, the new premiere date, coinciding with the first anniversary of the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man killed by the police in Minneapolis, during an arrest.

A performance cancellation or delay is usually cause for regret, but for participants in this opera, mostly black singers and actors, it was a reprieve. Star singer Kenneth Kellogg said in a recent interview that "there wasn’t a day in rehearsal that somebody didn’t break down and cry,” because for many of the protagonists, the opera’s story was too real. Kellogg portrays the opera’s leading character, a black policeman whose son is shot to death by a white policeman.

Libretto by Tazewell Thompson has three main characters: the Father, the Mother and the Son. The opening act comprises a series of discussions among family members and friends about their aspirations in the context of everyday injustice in minority neighborhoods. When a baby boy is born the family rejoices, but there are also apprehensions about his future amid growing police intimidation of young black men.

Things turn tense when the teenage Son, dressed in a hoodie and glued to his laptop becomes involved in protests against police violation. His father’s argument that he and his fellow officers risk their lives to protect communities is wasted on the angry young man, who calls his father a pathetic "black man in blue."


Photo by Karli Cadel: Kenneth Kellogg and Aaron Crouch as the Father and the Son at the Glimmerglass Festival, 2019

The family is devastated when the Son gets killed during a protest, leaving the Father struggling to reconcile the faith in his profession with the tragic loss of his son. The funeral scene offers some of the opera’s most ambitious choral pieces, accented in places with the soaring duet of grieving parents.

American composers have developed a unique American operatic style, with recognizably American sound and unmistakably American themes. The effort to branch away from the European opera was there from the very beginning. As early as 1855, New York saw the premiere of George Frederick Bristow's opera Rip Van Winkle, based on Washington Irving’s short story. The composer championed American music and themes throughout his life and was critical of his contemporaries who did not.

Since then, other American literary masterpieces such as Little Women, The Great Gatsby and A View from the Bridge have been adapted for the musical theater. But few have been as successful as the works based on true events. One of the first ones was The Ballad of Baby Doe by Douglas Moore, which premiered in 1956 at the Central City Opera in Colorado, where the real historical figures that inspired the opera, had lived.


When John Adams presented his opera Nixon in China in 1987 in Houston, some of the main characters were still alive. Initially considered a gimmick, the so-called docu-drama gained worldwide recognition and started a new trend that eventually caught on in Europe. In 2011, London’s Royal Opera House premiered Anna Nicole, an opera about the tragic life and death of American celebrity model Anna Nicole. Critics were not sure how to look at this provocative work, but all the six performances were sold out. Anna Nicole was portrayed by star soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek who then went on to New York to sing Sieglinde in Wagner’s Ring.

But the most performed American opera of all time is Porgy and Bess, which premiered in 1935 and has remained a symbol of American culture worldwide. There is hardly a place where the Summertime tune is not recognized even by people who do not know the opera. The music drama about African-American experience was crafted by three white men, the fact not lost on many black composers whose work has been ignored or neglected. Critics have described Porgy and Bess as a symbol of systemic racism in the American artistic world.


Many Americans would be surprised to learn that one of the earliest American opera composers, producers and teachers was a black man. Harry Lawrence Freeman wrote more than 20 operas and founded several music schools and organizations, including the Negro Opera Company. At the age of 22 he produced his first opera Epthelia in Denver. His second opera, The Martyr, was performed in several U.S. cities, while the others could not garner sufficient support in the U.S. music circles of his time. Still, during his lifetime Freeman was known as “the black Wagner.”



Scot Joplin’s 1911 Treemonisha is the only opera by a U.S. black composer that is still performed from time to time, albeit in smaller theaters, and there is a commercial recording of it.

Despite being ignored, African-American composers have created ambitious music pieces, some of which have survived. Scholars as well as music companies are now working to bring some of them to light and reverse years of neglect.

Among them is Freeman’s Voodoo that was performed in semi-staged production in 2015 in New York.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBMZymNy8Nc

Shirley Graham du Bois’ epic work Tom-Tom was performed at Harvard two years ago, for the first time since its 1932 premiere at Cleveland Stadium.

The Metropolitan Opera has announced plans to bring Terence Blanchard’s work Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on Charles Blow’s 2014 memoir, which was first performed in St. Luis last year. This will be the first production by a black composer and black librettist (Kasi Lemmons) staged by the Metropolitan Opera in its 136-year history.

American opera companies have long fought to diverse their audiences, which are predominantly white people. One way to attract new audiences is to produce a new opera. But with most operas written by white composers on white themes, it is hard to attract people of different backgrounds.

“Rarely do you go to the opera and see black people onstage really letting you know how they feel with a story written by a black librettist,” said Kellogg. The music for Blue is composed by a white woman, but the libretto is written by a black theater director.

With the story so close to real life events, many people will wonder why go see it in the theater. Certainly, it is easier to escape the harsh reality with the music of Mozart or Rossini, but opera is ultimately about real people and their emotions in conflict or tragedy, as well as in joyful times. An average opera goer will go to see Carmen or La bohème, attracted by name recognition more than a sense of discovery. But a more avid fan is curious to examine a new work or at least a re-invented production of an old one. The advent of live opera simulcasts in movie theaters, and online opera streams has made the discovery of opera, both the time-tested classics and daring new productions, accessible to everyone. The most recent Met production of Glass’s Akhnaten must have dazzled even a complete novice.


Unlike Akhnaten, Blue is an intimate drama intent on inspiring contemplation of current events rather than dazzling. It premiered in 2019 at The Glimmerglass Festival and received the 2020 award for best opera from The Music Critics Association of North America. Performances in several cities have been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Lyric Opera of Chicago has rescheduled performances for January of 2021 and Minnesota Opera for February 2021. Washington’s premiere has been rescheduled July 2021 and Toledo opera in Ohio announced plans to produce Blue in February 2022.

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Opera in the Time of Coronavirus

This is a preview of my article written for the Washington Opera Society Magazine, June 2020 issue.

Arts organizations, especially opera houses, have put up a heroic fight to stay relevant during the pandemic, primarily by offering free streaming of their best stage productions. Individual artists have done their part by posting highlights from their repertoire in the social media and participating in organized outreach programs. The excuse of not seeing opera because of its prohibitive ticket prices is no longer valid.

No other opera company has done more than New York’s Metropolitan with its nightly presentation of Live in HD series on its web site, that includes such rarities as Berlioz’s Les Troyens and popular works like L’elisir d’amore, interspersed with memorable historic productions of La bohème, La sonnabula and Tosca. In addition, the Met is offering a free 8-week Opera Global Summer Camp via Google and Zoom classrooms, from June 15 to August 7.





Even smaller educational outlets, such as the Castleton Festival in Virginia, have made their productions available free online. Puccini's La fanciulla del West stands out.

The end of the COVID-19 crisis, unfortunately does not mean the end of problems for the performing arts that depend on large audiences.

Social distancing and other restrictions have forced the Metropolitan Opera to cancel all performances until the end of the year, including a new staging of the opening night Aida with Anna Netrebko. 


"The health and safety of our company members and our audience is our top priority, and it is simply not feasible to return to the opera house for a September opening while social distancing remains a requirement,” General Manager Peter Gelb said.

The company had earlier cancelled its planned premiere of Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel, while the new productions of Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte had been postponed to future seasons. All the performances of Die Zauberflöte will feature Julie Taymor's production, rather than the new production by Simon McBurney originally announced. The revival will be part of the December 31 opening night and social gala.

On the positive note, the Met still intends to go ahead with its premiere of Jake Heggie’s modern opera Dead Man Walking. Netrebko appears to be forging ahead with preparations for her debut as Abigaille in Nabucco. She posted a video of a rehearsal session for the role at her home in Vienna.

The Washington National Opera is scheduled to open its 2020-2021 season with a new production of Beethoven's Fidelio on October 24, in celebration of the composer's 250th birthday. The season is to follow with a new production of John Adams’s Nixon in China, as well as Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov and an “American opera initiative.” But at the time of writing this article, the company was still waiting for guidance from federal and local and health experts on when and in what manner it will be safe to resume. The Kennedy Center press office told the Washington Opera Society that “we do anticipate changes to our previously announced programming."




The 2019-2020 WNO season was cut short just ahead of the Washington premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s Blue, a work that grapples with a contemporary tragedy — the killing of an unarmed black man at the hands of a police officer. There could be no better time to show it than now, and one would hope the company will modify its fall season to include Blue.

Washington Concert Opera has confirmed plans to perform Rosini’s Maometto II on November 22 and Bellini’s I puritani in May of next year at the Lisner Auditorium, and is adding Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, which was cancelled in the spring due to the health crisis.

MButterfly, a brand new work by talented Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo will not see its world premiere in Santa Fe this summer since its summer festival has been cancelled. The Wolf Trap, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and many other summer opera groups also have cancelled all performances.

Seattle Opera has also reached a moment of reckoning, announcing this week the cancellation of its first opera of the 2020/2021 season: Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci. The cancellation represents a loss of work for more than 220 singers, crew, and musicians in addition to the almost 60 percent of its administrative staff that has been furloughed.

“It is a deeply painful moment for us as a company, region, and world,” said General Director Christina Scheppelmann, one time director of the WNO. 

Theaters worldwide have been forced to reimagine their summer and fall seasons amid financial and other post-COVID restrictions.

Italy’s Teatro alla Scala in Milan had planned a grand fall season with 15 opera titles. But instead of conducting Tosca on the opening night in September, Riccardo Chailly will deliver Verdi’s Requiem in honor of the victims of COVID-19, as Toscanini did in May of 1946 to reopen the theater after World War II. The company has announced a new lineup including revivals of La bohème and La traviata, which had not been previously scheduled, but it is not clear what the whole season will look like.

The management of the Opera of Rome announced that it is cancelling its fall season due to the restrictions in closed venues.

The San Carlo Theater of Naples has announced a summer season featuring two concert opera performances at a central city square in July:  Tosca with Anna Netrebko and husband Yusif Eyvazov and Aida with Jonas Kaufmann. Live streaming will make both available to audiences around the world.

The Royal Opera House in London had planned Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Händel’s Ariodante and Janaček’s Věc Makropulos among its offerings for the fall season, but the company has yet to announce if and when it might reopen. And just this week ROH chief executive Alex Beard said the company will "not last beyond autumn with current reserves."

The Paris Opera was forced to cancel new productions even before the pandemic amid a series of strikes in the French capital. Between December and January, the company cancelled more than 70 performances and lost about 15 million euros. It expects to lose another 40 million euros as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company's two venues, Palais Garnier and Opera Bastille, are hoping to re-open in the fall, but the schedule could be heavily disrupted according to the company’s general director, Stéphane Lissner.






“It’s impossible to attract 2,700 people and respect distancing. It’s impossible to maintain distances in the orchestra, the chorus… It’s impossible. We are waiting on a vaccine, medication… Maybe the virus disappears. We have to be optimistic,” said Lissner.

Germany's legendary Bayreuth Festival has been cancelled for this summer and patrons are being reimbursed or can use the tickets for the 2021 festival.

The lockdown of concert halls and opera houses, cuts in air travel and other restrictions have devastated careers and livelihood of artists worldwide. Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann started a petition in April, calling on European politicians to support the performing arts. “What is Germany, for example, other than language, culture, art, architecture, music and…well, also football ? This is the essence of our society. If you destroy that, what is left?” said Kaufmann.

European arts organizations can actually count on some financial support from the state, since culture in Europe is generally considered essential to a personal well-being. Germany, for example, approved an initial relief package of $54 billion for freelance artists and businesses in the cultural, creative, and media sectors at the end of March. Cultural ministers of all 16 states are now asking Berlin for additional funds to keep culture alive and thriving.

That idea is strange to the U.S. political establishment, which has been steadily cutting down funds for art institutions and education for decades, making art dependable on rich donors. There is no doubt, however, that American arts organizations, especially opera companies large and small, will survive the pandemic thanks to determined performing art professionals and their passionate audiences.

“Our mission is to draw our community together through opera, a unique blend of music and drama that speaks to the mind and spirit—especially in difficult times like these,” Seattle Opera's Scheppelmann said.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Kennedy Center's Reach - Compounding the Failure

The Kennedy Center is an embodiment of the disconnect between the rich and the other Americans. Perched on a plinth overlooking the Potomac River, the Watergate complex and the Saudi Embassy, and encircled by highways, the original building is as separated from the rest of the city as if it were on an island. With a grand staircase leading up to it, the gleaming white marble facade and gilded pillars, it could be a temple, a shining city on the hill or just a mirage, visible, but hard to reach. Its $250-million new expansion project, dubbed the Reach, aims to change that.  
View of the Kennedy Center from the south lawn, featuring Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue

The Kennedy Center has always felt more like a mausoleum to the 35th American president than the nation's center for the performing arts, which it purports to be. For years its managers, the board and the wealthy donors have struggled to bring it to life, attract people of every walk of life and dispel its image as an institution for the elites. They have staged musicals such as Maleficent and Aladdin, free Messiah sing-alongs, New Year's balls and exhibits. They created the Millennium Stage - a program of free performances by never-before-heard-of artists on two stages, each at one end of a huge hallway outside the three main performance halls. And now the Reach, which promises even more variety.

The annex is a bit of an architectural wonder with its three super-modern pavilions scattered over a smallish lawn, landscaped with indigenous grasses and a rectangular pond. A bridge running across Rock Creek Parkway connects the Reach with the river-bank promenade.
There is also a video wall for future, presumably free shows. The tree moderate size buildings -  Welcome Pavilion, Skylight Pavilion and River Pavilion - contain surprisingly many large rehearsal and conference rooms, theaters and halls, because the structures spread into the ground. Huge widows and glass walls ensure they get enough light.

To introduce the "historic" expansion to the public, the Kennedy Center staged a two-week opening festival with free events. A visit required an online reservation and a timed-entry pass. I was not planning to go, but while looking for some ballet tickets, I ran into the page for the Reach passes and decided on the spur of the moment to go with a friend since the passes were - surprisingly -available. They did come with a warning that "all performances and events are first-come, first-served general admission until venue capacity has been reached." 


As it happened, last Thursday morning there were no lines. In fact there was no one. The organizers clearly expected crowds because there were two cordoned lanes leading to four or five gates with metal-detectors, controlling the access to the Reach area. One of the guards at the start of a lane looked at our printed passes and sent us back into the main building where, he said, we needed to sign up for real passes. We returned to the Kennedy Center entrance, bewildered and nor really clear what to look for, but a girl in a red T-shirt came up, checked our home-printed passes and said they were valid. We just needed to go out and stand in line, she explained. "What line?" we asked, "there are no lines. There are no people." She insisted that the empty lanes were lines and after some back and forth we got past the guards, through the metal detectors and to the door of the first new building. 

Kennedy Center's Reach expansion on the south lawn

A person at the door said we had to sign up for a 3-D presentation and wait. I thought we would be shown a 20-30-minutes introductory video with information about the project and its purpose. Instead, we were ushered into a room with round tables and swivel chairs, each equipped with three gadgets: a 3-D virtual reality headset, headphones and a remote control. While struggling to hold on to the two wiggly pieces on my head with one hand, I was feeling my lap for the remote control with the other to start one of the six video clips. Managed to play a clip from the Lion King musical, a very grainy one, but still providing a good glimpse into what seems to be a fun production. The next piece, a ballet from Sweden, freaked me out with its Lilliputian-size 3-D dancers who seemed to be emerging from under my feet. Skipping to the next video proved impossible before finishing the one you started (Honey, you can't get the desert before you finish your broccoli!) Just as I pulled the gadgets off my head in frustration, my fried did the same and said, "I am ready to go when you are."

3-D gadgetry at the Reach opening festival


Outside the gadgetry room, a KC employee or volunteer asked about our impressions. We said the video was grainy, the gadgets didn't work well and we still were not clear what the project was about. She launched into a speech about connecting with the community, making art accessible, reaching out to people instead of asking them to come in, and the usual spiel spewed by promoters of newly opened art institutions. But the lady showed us around the building and gave some orientation, however meager it may have been. Most of the rooms deep below us were empty except for a presentation to a group of students that we could see but not hear through a glass wall. One room contained electronic drawing booths that project images of drawings made in them on a big wall. Something kids might like to do.
Rich annex pavilions are mostly under ground.
From that building we proceeded through a lovely open space, along the pond to the next, smaller pavilion that houses a snack shop and a conference room where several chefs were conducting a workshop. It was probably one of the festival events that we were not guaranteed an entry to. On the way, we looked back on the original Kennedy Center to see newly installed Joel Shapiro's sculpture Blue, a gift from the artist.

The most prominent indoor piece of art was a video screen displaying the names of the donors - one percent of the one percenters. A leaflet picked up at the entrance showed there were other pieces of art, most of them on loan, such as Roy Lichtenstein's Brushstroke. A lengthy piece of canvas hanging in one room, which I had thought was a used drop cloth, turned out to be a piece of art by someone named Sam Gilliam.



Bridge connecting KC's Reach annex with Potomac River promenade.

I thought the bridge was a good idea, but wondered whether anyone could come up from the riverside promenade, considering how heavily guarded the main entrance to the annex was. We did not check. On that gorgeous Thursday morning the two 99-percenters decided to descend from the shining city on the hill into the plebeian valley below to enjoy a much better espresso in a more relaxed milieu.

I am not sure how soon I'll return to the Reach (what a weird name!). The place is gorgeous but not inviting, especially not with metal detectors and (as I discovered the next day), security guards at the entrance to the bridge. Nothing I've learned about the Reach concept, or a lack thereof, during this first visit looked promising. I would not be surprised if the project turned out to be a variation of the Millennium Stage, which for me only means having to elbow my way into a performance hall through the foyer filled with psychedelic-rock and flying-dancer crowds. 

The Reach concept is not well defined
I blame much of it on Placido Domingo. Everybody is ganging up on him these days, why shouldn't I. Not that he has ever harassed me, or anything. But he had a downtown Woodward and Lothrope building handed to him on a platter in the late 1990s to turn it into an opera house. The conversion was estimated at a little over $100 million and the city fathers' arms were twisted to grant a zoning permit. And then Domingo went and made a deal with the Kennedy Center to stay with them, and the building was sold to someone else. I wanted to howl. Now, instead of hopping on the metro that would take me straight into the opera house, I have to schlep across the wasteland between the George Washington Hospital, the Watergate and the avenues converging at Juarez Memorial, and fight the vagaries of Washington's weather.

It was another thing in the 1970s when most people lived in the suburbs and Washington DC had no night life. You could park anywhere. When I first visited the city in 1978, my hosts took me to see the musical Annie at the National Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. We drove into the city from Annandale, Virginia, parked on the almost empty street right outside the theater (no meters, of course) and when we got out, the place was dark and deserted except for the patrons exiting the theater. Today, no one could pay me to drive through any part of Washington D.C. on Saturday, least of all Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Kennedy Center, with its expensive parking and a free but infrequent shuttle from and to the metro is not a place where people want to converge without a compelling reason. The only nearby restaurant is a pizzeria-
café at the Watergate. The KC cafeteria is an elevator-ride away on the roof terrace and always crowded. The full-service upscale restaurant on the same floor is too expensive for most patrons. The market-style stalls in the main foyer sell sandwiches, brownies and beverages that have to be consumed on your feet or, if the weather permits, outside on the riverside terrace, which has only recently got some tables and chairs.

So I can't help but think that all the money squandered on keeping the Kennedy Center alive could have been better spent on making a new performing art complex from scratch, in a more accessible part of town, where it could attract other businesses and art groups, and infuse new life into a larger area. I do have faith in our one-percenters though: as they accumulate wealth, they'll need new screens and walls to display their names and maybe, just maybe, they'll sponsor a better project, like the donor of the Woodward and Lothrope building wanted to. Let's just hope another recipient will seize the opportunity.

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Wolf Trap Opera's Emperor of Atlantis

The Wolf Trap Opera's performance of a double bill titled The World Upside Down on Saturday drove home what has long been at the back of my mind: that the company has developed into the area's most creative artistic organization, in some ways probably the best.  If there had been any lingering doubt about the WTO's excellence before, the production of Viktor Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis paired with Gluck's comic piece Merlin's Island removed it.
 
Created in the Theresienstadt Nazi concentration camp just a year before Ullman's death in a gas chamber in Auschwitz in 1944, The Emperor of Atlantis is an hour-long piece comprising four scenes and 20 musical sections.  The music combines several genres, ranging from Bach-style oratorio and German folk song to contemporary styles and the orchestration is for 14 instruments, including a banjo, probably representing what was available in the camp. The work is styled roughly after the Italian commedia dell'arte in that it opens with a character, called Loudspeaker, introducing the players: Harlekin, Death, Emperor Overall, Drummer, Soldier and Girl. Like in commedia dell'arte, the characters represent certain social types, but that's where the similarity ends. The latter part of the original German title, Der Keiser von Atlantis, oder die Tod-Verweigerung, translated in turn as The Refusal to Die, The Denial of Death or Death Goes on Strike, augurs a somber theme.

Emperor Overall and Death in Wolf Trap Opera's Emperor of Atlantis
Written in 1943, the one-act opera echoes the chaos of the world swept in a global war and the insanity of the final years of the Nazi era. A mad ruler declares a universal war in which no one is to survive. Death is offended because deciding who will die is his mission and he also feels that mass killing diminishes his glory. Therefore, he refuses to act on Overall's orders. As a result no one dies and the world turns upside down. Enemies embrace and dance together, people fall in love and stop obeying Emperor's commands, conveyed through the Drummer. Harlekin bemoans the loss of natural order with tears in his eyes. Death says he will resume work only on condition that Emperor dies first. The ruler relents and agrees to die so Death can restore order. The opera ends with a quartet singing, “Come, Death, our honored guest…Lift life’s burdens from us,” words especially poignant coming from Ullman and his librettist Petr Kien shortly before they were sent to their own gruesome deaths.

Nazi authorities banned the performance after a dress rehearsal and the work was not staged before 1975 in a Dutch theater. 

I first saw The Emperor of Atlantis when it premiered in Washington's Holocaust Museum in 1998 to mark the centenary of Ullmann's birth. The award-winning production by the Austrian group Arbos was suitably solemn for the occasion. The stage was dark and sparse, the costumes solid gray or  striped like the uniforms of camp prisoners. The impact was powerful and depressing. I didn't think I would ever see it again.



More than 20 years later, I could barely remember where and why I had seen The Emperor the first time. But I knew I had a recording of the production which was given to me by a visiting artist whom I had interviewed and that CD helped bring the memory back. I was impressed by the WTO's choice of such a rare and harrowing piece and curious what its creative team would make of it. As I should have expected, what it did make was outstanding. 

Unlike Arbos, the WTO highlighted the satirical side of the work, without turning it into a comic parody. The silliness went away with Gluck's little known introductory piece Merlin's Island, about two shipwrecked men stranded on an island where social mores differ from theirs. Men are thrown in jail if they are not faithful, all businesses are honest, court cases are decided on the basis of common sense, and wisdom is found in laughter. Yet the two short operas worked well together, each enhancing the other.

The glittering tinsel backdrop and a playground slide from Merlin's Island segued into in Ullman's piece, but were lit in dark hues. The emperor's office was superimposed above the black tinsel curtain and characters descended on the stage from the slide, then disappeared through the strips of tinsel as the situation required. While most were dressed in neutral colors, gray, khaki, beige and white, each also wore a red or a sparkling accessory, such as the red bullhorn on the Loudspeaker's head and a red ruff around Harlekin's neck.  The characters were generally energetic and rebellious as opposed to being sad or depressed. They conveyed the madness of the world they inhabited as well as resilience that enabled them to overcome it.

I have always felt that a good work of art must be uplifting even if it deals with a most tragic of topics. Instead of beating me down, the WTO's performance of The Emperor of Atlantis left me feeling energized and optimistic, most of all impressed. What a powerful and memorable production by a relatively small company! Kudos to the WTO's creative team! Details from the performance are still swirling in my mind: Death wailing that people used to  dress up for him, Loudspeaker telling the emperor of a strange disease befalling soldiers that prevents them from dying, Emperor Overall declaring the people should be grateful to him for sending them to eternity....

The first WTO opera I saw at the Barns at Wolf Trap was Rameau's Dardanus in 2003. Since then, I have gone back almost every summer to see at least one of the season's productions, whenever possible choosing operas I have not seen before, like Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Corigliano's Ghosts of Versailles and Britten's Rape of Lucrezia.  There is usually at least one element of craziness in Wolf Trap opera productions:  French-style soubrettes cleaning up Giulio Cesare's palace in Egypt, kids in green-striped pajamas frolicking in the woods of the Mid-summer Night's Dream, Il Viaggio a Reims set in the mid-20th century, an ensemble of most eclectic characters in Aridane auf Naxos, to name a few. 


WTO's Production of Merlin's Island, a little know short opera by Gluck
Most productions have offered perfect summer entertainment after a leisurely picnic on Wolf Trap's manicured lawn. Mellowed by a glass (or two) of chilled rosé, a person may be less engaged in the show and more inclined to snooze to a pleasant classical tune. But the WTO does not allow that. Their up-and-coming young singers are bursting with infectious energy and ready to engage in any and all shenanigans, silliness or real drama on the stage to wake you up just as you begin to nod off. You'll never look at an opera the same way after you've seen it at the Barns.

Exceptions are few and far in between. For me one of them was the 2016 production of Britten's Rape of Lucrezia. It was depressing, perhaps rightfully so, but not uplifting. Yet, what's that in comparison with some grand opera companies that surprise you when they do something extraordinary.

As an educational institution with a highly acclaimed opera residency program, Wolf Trap can afford to pick lesser known and short operatic works. It often chooses operas to match the singers who have come for a three-month-long intensive workshop. One thing to look forward to every summer are fresh new voices: agile, distinctive and clarion. The company also gives its set, light and costume designers freedom to be creative. The results are fascinating.

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Portugal to the Rescue

The winter in D.C. is always ugly, and it is especially tenacious this year. The need to escape became overwhelming in February. Portugal, with temperatures 20 degrees Fahrenheit higher than here and mostly sunny skies, made its siren's call. I had always wanted to see it, or at least since Sean Connery made it look so sexy in Russia House when he reunited with Michelle Pfeiffer in Lisbon. And that was many years ago, so there was no excuse to postpone a visit any further. 

Let me admit that before this trip I could name perhaps three things about Portugal: Lisbon, port and fado. I planned to get more basics before setting sail, but what with the work and fatigue piling up, I decided it was more important to rest, and learn what was necessary when I get on location.

Please don't tell anyone, but I wasn't even sure if Portugal was a monarchy or republic. Never even thought about it. The Portuguese are self-effacing and have not been in the headlines since the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. You have to have a compelling reason to think about them. So when the taxi drove me along the vast Tagus River on arrival in Lisbon, I thought it was the ocean. 


OK, this is becoming too embarrassing, so I am not admitting to anything else. After all, I did recognize names such as Vasco da Gama and Magellan, as well as St. Anthony. Just had to be reminded they were Portuguese - yes, even St. Anthony (born Fernando Martins de Bulhões) who is claimed by Padua, where he only spent the last years of his life. Let's not forget Fatima. Who has not heard of Fatima? I just needed a little reminder that this particular pilgrimage is in Portugal. But, for the sake of honesty, names such as Sidónio Pais, the first president of Portugal and Luís de Camões, the 16th-century poet, drew a blank.
A very hot day in February, Praça do Commércio, Lisbon
On that first sunny day in Lisbon, none of that mattered. I walked out in a cotton shirt and thin jacket (just in case) and by the time I hit  Praça de Commercio, Lisbon's huge main square opened toward the river, I was drenched in sweat. As I pealed off layer after layer of clothing, wondering if St. John was looking on, I felt sorry for the poor souls who have planned their visit for April or May. Tourist lines were already forming outside museums and amenities, and services were not rushed to accommodate the crowds. What's it going to be like in May, or June? Italian was the most frequently heard foreign language. Hats off to the Italians who obviously know when to visit Portugal. Mine was not an informed decision, just a random search for a warm escape from the winter.

Belém Tower in early morning, lines are already forming
Joined by a friend from Croatia, I proceeded to all the "tourist traps" in and around Lisbon, felt really ripped off in Sintra, awed at Cabo da Roca and Boca do Inferno, and relaxed in Cascais, which actually is on the coast. All the places were as beautiful and charming as in the guide books, and more, because I did not expect so many tiled facades and I am a sucker for tiles.


Gorgeous tiled facade in Cascais, Portugal 
A good place for a quick summary of the Portuguese history was an exhibit at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, where you can also pay homage to the tombs of da Gama and de Camões at the Santa Maria Church. And while admiring the grandeur of the imposing exterior of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, I did not immediately recall that leaders of 27 European nations posed there for a family photo in December of 2007, after signing a treaty to formalize their Union.

Belém is also a good place to taste Portugal's most famous pastry - pastel de nata.  

The little custard pies are sold everywhere, but the pastelaria in Belém serves them straight from the oven.  The lines to get one are long, but the wait is worth it because they are truly the best.  They may even contain a secret ingredient, as the bakery claims, that makes them better than any other pastel de nata in the world.

Long lines outside Lisbon's most famous pastry shop 

While in Lisbon you must do fado - it originated in the area and it has made UNESCO's list of World's Intangible Cultural Heritage. I think I would love fado a lot more if I understood what the songs say, but the two performers at Fado in Chiado made every effort to keep the largely international audience engaged for an hour.

The National Ballet Company's performance of Don Quixote took us all the way to the Parque das Nações, a new part of Lisbon, near the Oriente Station. Unfortunately, there was no time to take a cable car ride along the river, but we took a good look at Europe's second longest bridge - the Vasco da Gama - which spans the Tagus River banks where they are farthest apart. The spectacular modern architecture around the Oriente Station is proof that new sections of large metropolitan areas don't have to be dull and dreary as they are in many cities.


Oriente Station, Lisbon
Vasco da Gama shopping mall



















The Camões Theater, on the river bank is plain inside and out and the ballet was performed to recorded music, which was a significant let down. Costumes and settings were far from innovative, but the dancers' enthusiasm made up for all the weaknesses.  

A carnival-themed concert at the Coliseu included a Berlioz piece, which for me is always a sign of higher taste. Granted, it was the usual Roman Carnival Overture, but it was Berlioz -who is avoided like plague in most American music institutions.  And to be fair, it was Fat Tuesday, the last day before Lent, so the choice was justified. The orchestra members were dressed in silly costumes; confetti were thrown on the stage and streamers from the upper tiers to the parterre; Polish conductor Sebastian Perlowski engaged the audience, and good time was had by all, as the Brits would say.

The most creative performance we saw in Lisbon was the opera at the Cultural Centre of Belém. Pairing Bartok's Bluebird's Castle with Poulenc's La Voix humaine was unusual in itself, but what made it special was the way the producers made one opera out of the two. The soprano in Poulenc's one act/one voice piece first appeared in the last room of Bluebird's castle as one of his former wives. In La Voix humaine she seemed to be telling us how she ended up in the castle's dungeon. Especially if your French was not good enough to understand her and the surtitles in Portuguese did not help.

But even without the cultural attractions, Lisbon in February would have been paradise. It is the law of the nature though to inflict punishment for any lengthy period of enjoyment. Flying into the Dullas Airport was a penance all by itself, but to add insult to injury, it snowed the next morning in Washington with heavens sending the message: you can enjoy Portugal all you like, but you can't escape the D.C. weather. 

Monday, February 11, 2019

It's That Time of the Year....

February is the longest and most boring month of the year. I don't care what anyone says. It may have only 28 days, but they are interminable. Even if you get flowers, chocolates and dinner invitation for the Valentine's Day, it's still an awful month. Every year I have to devise an ever more elaborate routine to see it pass. Anticipating cheerful spring fashions is part of that routine. Alas, this year, there is little to cheer you up in the spring collections. A lot of beige, off-white, taupe and camel shades. More autumn than spring, if you ask me.  But I know the "classical" look will make many of my friends happy. Personally, I think these colors, with few exceptions, make everyone look drab and washed out.



From top left: Ferragamo men's coat, Marimekko night g.... no wait, long day dress, Tom Ford, Max Mara and believe it or not - Zara bottom left and right. If you guys get really bored with beige, green is another fashionable choice, especially green lamé.

Another big trend, allegedly, is chrocheted fabric and fringe. Lots of crocheted dresses. My crocheting-expert friends will love it. Please note that the Zara model on the left above also has some sort of chrocheted/macramé handbag. In the same vein: fishnets. Bellow are Michael Kors on the left, and Altuzzara on the right.
























Furthermore: polka dots are back. And when are they not? Carolina Herrera and Celine.





Two more trends are transparent vinyl raincoats and feathers, especially on shoes.  The coat is available on Etsy.com, the sandals are Valentino.

 

So, I don't know, it does not look like spring to me.  The fishnet dress looks somewhat summery, but that's too far away. I guess, I have to move on with the February routine: look for the first crocus poking out of the snow or something.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Kennedy Center 2019-2020: Something Old, Something New ....

Washington's premiere performing arts center has announced its upcoming season of opera and music concerts. The programs include something tried and true, i.e. old, and something never before performed at the Kennedy Center, i.e. new. There is a lot that could be characterized as borrowed, at least in terms of repertoire, and there is even something blue. I don't know if the wedding theme was intentional - probably not - but that's the first association that came to my mind as I perused the press material.

The National Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Gianandrea Noseda seems to be living up to the expectation that it is ready to reinvigorate the staid Washington's classical music scene.  What a pleasant surprise to see the inclusion of Poulenc's Litanies à la Vierge Noire in a concert of choral music. I was introduced to that jewel of sacred music years ago by the composer's grand nephew, or great grand nephew, who lived in the US at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTXf4wJ9xD0

Chris Poulenc made a documentary about his famous ancestor and about the Rocamadour pilgrimage site, which is the home to the title's Black Virgin - black from years of candle smoke. He conveyed that Poulenc had become very religious after the tragic death of his close friend, composer Pierre-Octave Ferroud in a 1936 car accident.  Litanies, written in the same year, was Poulenc's first sacred work to be followed by such masterpieces as Stabat Mater, Gloria, Mass in G and finally Dialogues des Carmélites. Poulenc is not a rarity in Washington where one or another of his works shows up in a program every time a music organization feels the need to include a 20th-century piece. 


Noseda convinced me of being special when he included a segment from Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet (why not the whole piece?) in the NSO's Valentine Day concert. Unlike Poulenc, Berlioz is virtually shunned by the Washington D.C. classical music organizations, who seem to believe that they can fill the halls with a staple diet of "three B's" and Mozart, interspersed with an occasional Poulenc or Shostakovich. In 1997, Leonard Slatkin, then NSO director, proved otherwise.

Through what must have been a super human effort, Slatkin managed to bring Berlioz's monumental Requiem to Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, with the participation of several area ensembles, orchestras and choirs.  The cavernous church (one of the largest in the world) was packed for both performances and people traveled from far and wide to attend the historic undertaking.
 

It was too much to hope that Romeo and Juliet Suite, from the current season, would be followed by a complete Berlioz work in the coming season. One suspects, the suite made its way into the February 14 and 16 concerts by virtue of its name. 

Still, the NSO is offering some rarely performed or brand new pieces, notably by American composers.  The new season also includes what promises to be a thrilling operatic evening, featuring Act II of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde with soprano Christine Goerke, mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova, tenor Stephen Goeld and others.  And of course a lot of the old, but good, such as all nine of Beethoven's symphonies.

Now we come to something borrowed and something blue. The Washington National Opera is to be commended for its effort to stage the latest that there is on the U.S. operatic scene. This year's work is Jeanine Tesori's opera Blue (yes, that's the blue I've been referring to), set in Harlem and based on literature and contemporary events. A black policeman has to deal with the killing of his teenage son by a white policeman. Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, says she feels that art organizations have a responsibility to explore contemporary issues. 


However, some of the new works the WNO presented in recent years dig into history: Appomatox by Philip Glass and Silent Night by Kevin Puts, come to mind. Nevertheless, most of them offer something well worth seeing in comparison, for example, with WNO's recent production of Aida which, as seen in the National's ballpark, was simply awful. 

Apart from Blue, the new opera season, touting an expanded program of six "spectacular" productions, does not strike me as irresistible. At least not on the paper. We live in an era of live Met broadcasts, and opera-ballet-drama in cinema with top-notch performances from around the world. We saw the Met's new Otello last year, and an old one (Botha/Fleming) before that. The Magic Flute re-occurs in encores year after year for those who missed it the first time, or whose kids have just now reached the age when they can sit through it. In recent years, we saw Mariusz Kwiecien's sexy Don Gionvanni, and just a couple of months ago an innovative and exciting new production of Samson and Delilah. Sure, a broadcast cannot compare with a live performance. (Or can it?) But after seeing Alagna and Garanča in a Met simulcast, and while the memory of Olga Borodina's electrifying Delilah, paired with Carl Tanner's unimpressive Samson in the previous WNO production, still lingers in mind, how many people are going to flock to the Kennedy Center to see Roberto Aronica and J'Nai Bridges? Who will rush to Porgy and Bess, which is still remembered from the WNO's 2005 season? And especially after the Met shows its Porgy and Bess in cinemas in February. 



Washington must be forever grateful to Francesca Zambello for bringing the complete Wagner Ring to us in 2016, an achievement hard to match by any subsequent effort. But a company with "national" in its name should not rely on a repertoire of recycled war horses, dressed in new costumes, packaged in ever sparser stage settings and peopled with performers at the start or the end of their careers - rarely real stars.

Instead of looking to the Met, the WNO would do well to borrow some ideas from other local companies.  The Washington Concert Opera is well aware that it cannot compete with big houses and so it's director Antony Walker offers something entirely different:  rarely performed works by well known composers. Walker's formula which pairs gorgeous music with fresh new voices is almost fool-proof and has served him well for years.  Opera Lafayette is devoted to 17th and 18th-century French pieces and is doing so well that most of its performances get recorded on Naxos. 

An opera company performing at the Kennedy Center has to do better in creating its own distinctive brand.

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Lucia di Lammermoor for Shutdown Era

Misery loves company. Maybe cliché. But the fact is that watching the torment of a young girl forced into an unwanted marriage, albeit only on stage, helped alleviate the tension on the 34th day of the government shutdown and fear of the misery it could produce.  Maryland Lyric Opera's Young Artists Institute presented Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. In the opera,  a sister is used and manipulated by her brother in the name of the family's honor, something more important than her. It ended tragically. Some 800.000 government workers have been used and manipulated in the name of a greater goal, something more important than their livelihood. We hope it won't end tragically.

Lucia is based on Sir Walter Scott's romantic novel The Bride of Lammermoor set in the 17th-century Scotland and, according to some sources, on a real life event. Lucia is in love with Edgardo, a young man from a rival clan, while her brother is arranging a marriage for her to save himself and the family name from ruin. She is bullied, threatened, betrayed and coerced to the point of exhaustion. But only when she is convinced there is nothing left to live for, she succumbs.

Three hundred plus years after Lucy of Lammermoor (or Janet Darlymple, whose story inspired Scott) millions of young girls worldwide are equally forced to marry for the benefit of the family, often before reaching adulthood. They are controlled, bullied and threatened at what is supposed to be their home, but feels more like a prison. If they manage to flee, they are hounded, caught and beaten into submission, or disposed of. If they do reach freedom, they are disowned.

I am not talking only about Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Afghanistan. A new bestselling memoir, "Educated" by Tara Westover, reminds us that the United States is no exception. So we applaud young Saudi Rahaf al-Qunun, whose escape was successful and whose future in Canada will be in her own hands, her mistakes her own, and her success also her own.

Maeve Höglund as Lucia and Yi Li as Edgardo in MDLO's production of Lucia di Lammermoor
Maryland Lyric Opera could have moved Lucia out of Scotland - such transfers are common in new opera productions. But it chose not to, despite a large number of Asians in the cast.
In the end, it may have been the best decision. The performance turned out to be surprisingly convincing for a lesser known company and mostly unknown cast.


In my view, the relationship between Lucia and her brother is central to the opera, not the tragic love story. If the two singers portraying the Ashton siblings are weak, the performance is doomed to fail. MDLO's Lucia, Maeve Höglund was utterly captivating, once she overcame initial self-consciousness. By the time she reached the famous "mad scene", immortalized by Lily Pons, Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, she really let go, while retaining control of her voice and precision of her delivery. Höglund was a thrilling Lucia.

SeungHyeon Baek as Lucia's brother Enrico had a commanding stage presence due mainly to his powerful baritone and expressive vocal delivery. In terms of acting, his facial expression did not change at all at any point in the evening. Perhaps it was a deliberate effort to show the brother's insensitivity. But when Lucia breaks down, Enrico expresses remorse, as well as fear for his future. Some of this should reflect in the performer's face.

Yi Li's Edgardo was no match to Höglund's Lucia. He visibly and audibly struggled with the high notes and with the Italian language. "L'alma innamorata" from one of his two final arias sounded like "l'arma innamorata." He has a lot of work still to do to improve his technique so he can inhabit his role more naturally.


Second act sextet, Lucia di Lammermoor
Bass Wei Wu was a remarkable Raimondo. In addition to his ringing voice, he made a good effort at acting. The clumsiness in his last act encounter with Yi Li is more likely an omission in directing, than in Wei's acting. Instead of trying to prevent Edgardo from stabbing himself, Wei's Raimondo stands right next to the desperate man and does nothing but call him "sciagurato."

My personal favorite was Roy Hage, a unique Arturo. Hage stepped on the stage with the swagger of a proud young man, with a conquering smile and puffed up chest. He strutted around like a peacock, shaking hands with men and nodding to women, secure in his welcome. In most productions Arturo comes off as an insufferable snob or just a bore, but this one was charming and likable. I am looking forward to seeing him again.

Yang Chen was a promising Normanno and Daiyao Zhong was a gentle and caring Alisa. She also would benefit from some additional Italian lessons.

The choir and orchestra under the baton of Maestro Louis Salemno did a wonderful job. Kudos to the harp and piccolo.

The set and costumes were as good as anything you see on the Kennedy Center's opera stage, except for the shoes. They were clearly from the present era and did not match the costumes.

One of Donizetti's most successful works, Lucia has two crucial pieces - the second act sextet and Lucia's mad scene. The first is a climactic confrontation between the feuding families, which needs to rouse the audience and keep it on its toes. The second requires a soprano with the stamina to deliver the long aria with a fresh voice after singing and acting throughout the first two acts. In addition to that, the interpreter needs to project the various emotional stages of the maddened girl and gain compassion.

MDLO triumphed in both and Thursday's Lucia can be considered a resounding success for the company of mostly young singers with limited stage experience.

Keep up the good work!