Local Opera Performance Reviews
Lyric Opera Kansas City, Explorations Series. “…When there are nine.” January 18, 2020
The centerpiece of this program was the world premiere of a new song cycle by composer Laura Karpman, with words from the letters of Susan B. Anthony and Elisabeth Cady Stanton as arranged by Kelley Rourke. The six songs were performed with great truth and expression by mezzo-soprano Samantha Gossard, the Esterhazy Quartet, bass player Sam Copeland, and pianist John Livingston (not identified in the program as the pianist for the eening.) The texts were well-chosen, with three of the songs including one quotation from Susan B. Anthony which tied the cycle together. The accompaniments were performed with great sensitivity and musicality by the ensemble, with the center songs in which the strings were almost a pianissimo drone being a show-stopper. Samantha Gossard, who stepped in to do the premiere ten days before the performance, differentiated the characters of Susan B. Anthony and Mrs. Stanton very well, nobly assisted by the composer’s writing, which used a slightly different style for the texts by each. The event was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States and the song cycle was commissioned especially for the event.
For those of you on the east coast, there will be performances in New York City and at the Glimmerglass Festival later this year.
Besides the commission, seven other soloists were involved with music about women arranged to present a full recital. An a capella quartet (Kelly van Meter, Kelly Birch, Thomas Drew, and Robert H. Riordan, SSTB) performed five of the seven quartets from Lori Laitman’s Are Women People, commissioned in 2018 for the centennial of the women’s right to vote in New York. These were new to me and the balance of the quartet was very good.
Other selections included Aaron Copland’s setting of Emily Dickinson’s Why do they shut me out of Heaven?, Harold Arlen’s The Eagle and Me (sung by a Kansas City actor and jazz singer, Eboni Fondren), Jake Heggie’s song about Marian Anderson (Eleanor Roosevelt: Marian Anderson’s Mink Coat, performed by Joseph Leppek) and his setting of Sister Helen Prejean’s Primary Colors, Laurie’s aria from Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land (the second solo by Morgan Balfour), America the Beautiful, and The finale, The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha.
There was a short talk by the creative team after the performance with a question-and-answer period. I hope that the recording that was done of the song cycle is released in the near future because I want to hear it again.
March 5, 2020. World Premiere of Marians’s Song, music by Darien Sneed, libretto by Deborah D. E. E. P. Mouton, directed by Dennis Whitehead Darling.
This new chamber opera (about 50 minutes long) set out to do several things, focusing on Marian Anderson as one of the important people in the fight against racism in the twentieth century. It includes scenes from her life and also looks at her legacy, centered on the role of Nevaeh Johnson, who led the fight against the destruction of the church where she learned to sing, Union Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
The libretto for the singers was well-crafted. I could not understand most of the spoken role of Nevaeh (I was sitting in the mezzanine), because her speaking voice did not carry over the orchestra. On the other hand, the sung roles were all audible (the orchestration was handled skillfully for singers.) Zoie Reams, as Marian Anderson, sang abbreviated versions of many of Miss Anderson’s standards as well as new music. The aria including the repeated “a short step” which showed her goals is the perfect summation of the point of her life. Nicholas Newton sang Billy King, her early accompanist in the US tours before she went to Europe, and his large baritone voice was a perfect foil for Ms. Reams in their scenes. The small chorus was very effective, from singing spirituals as choir members at Union Baptist Church to audiences in the 1920’s American South, and another of other roles.
I enjoyed the performance. Will it travel well ? The problem will be in finding singers to do the role of Marian Anderson.
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Sebastian Duron: El imposible mayor en amor, le vence amor, billed as Love Conquers Impossible Love. Orchestra of New Spain performance, Moody Theater, Dallas, 21 February.
This was billed as the US premiere of this 1710 baroque zarzuela, and it was a performance that made sense of the story. The cast included five singers, a chorus of seven, two pair of dancers, and nine actors, with spoken material in English (a new translation by Joseph R. Jones) and music in Spanish. The sets were done with painted drops and projections based on drawings of scenery which were lightly animated. The costumes were modern but very suggestive of the types of costumes seen in pictures of opera singers of the early 1700's. The choreographer, Jaime Puente, is a specialist in baroque dance and flamenco and used both effectively in the performance, dancing with the other three, in the foreground during orchestral interludes and in the background during some of the vocal numbers.
The plot is based on the mythological story of Danae, a Phoenician princess whose beauty caused problems including the infatuation of Jupiter, King of the gods, and the jealousy of his wife, Juno (the Roman names are used in the zarzuela.) The librettist added the long-standing argument between Jupiter and Amor, the goddess of Love, as to which of the two was more powerful. The vocal highlight of the evening was the long scene for these two characters (Carla Lopez-Speziale as Jupiter and Julianna Emmanski as Amor) which alternated solo passages with duets. Ms Lopez-Speziale returned to the Orchestra of New Spain for her fourth role with the company, using her agile mezzo with good low notes and pretty tone in this difficult music. Ms. Emanski made her debut with the company with a very fine, light voice suited perfectly to the difficult music. Their blend in the duets was wonderful.
The third singer was Pilar Tejero as Juno, who spends the evening mad at her husband Jupiter because he has fallen in love with Danae, without ever understanding that Amor has caused Jupiter's problem with one of Cupid's arrows. As a role, hers is the most difficult since her music is actually not as dramatic as modern composers would have made it. The staging made it clear when she was upset and why.
The last two singers are Siringa and Selvajio, a country girl and boy who hang around the Phoenician court, sung by Jendi Tarde (who has sung often with the Orchestra of New Spain)and David Thompson. Their costumes were more like a wood nymph with antlers and a faun with a ram's horns, making it seem like the gods and demigods sing while the humans speak. Both were good singers and good at comic relief, their main role in the evening.
The only actor who had regular interaction with the singers was Danae, played by Nicole Berastiqui, since it is her relationship with Jupiter and two human suitors which drives the action. All the actors were good in their roles.
I really enjoyed the chorus, basically performing as a madrigal group with seven lines, except when they are divided into two small groups. They are effectively a Greek chorus, commenting but not really involved in the action, and their music is quite lovely and done well. The small orchestra included a large continuo group, including the baroque triple harp, guitar, theorbo, double bass, cello, and harpsichord.
I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, from the good singing to the imaginative costumes and the projections in the staging. Thanks to Dr. Wilkins and The Orchestra of New Spain for the performances.
--Lane A. Whitesell
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Friday, January 21, Painted Sky Opera presented the Oklahoma premiere of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied, a two-act opera based on the experiences of Captain Jim Thompson and his challenges, first as a POW in Vietnam for 9 years, and second as a returned POW trying to reintegrate into the US after the many changes that happened in the US between 1965 and 1974. The opera itself is a study in two characters who change over the period of Jim’s captivity and the tragedy of those changes, using four characters on the stage, the Jim and Alice of 1963-5 and the Jim and Alice of 1974-5.
Although Glory Denied is a short opera, it is also a very complex one, both in libretto and music. Separating the two characters into their younger and older versions was an immense step toward showing the multiple layers of character for the husband and wife, each tortured in different ways by the uncertainty of the nine-year separation. This multi-layering was brought out by the two pair of voices being similar but not the same. André Chiang as the older Jim Thompson had a more authoritarian sound than Willie Casper, the Younger Jim Thompson, whose voice was slightly more lyrical and much less authoritarian, adding to the characterization. Both were in very fine voice opening night, and each made sense of the characterization so that the audience could see how the younger man developed into the older man. The chemistry between Saira Frank and Mary McDowell, the older and younger Alyce Thompson, was handled just as well, and the voices were also well-matched, allowing the belief that the younger woman could have developed into the later character. The crux of the tragedy was Jim’s statement that he survived one day at a time and his inability to see that his wife had also survived one day at a time. Musically, each of the women had moments of great beauty and pathos to sing. The older Jim Thompson’s PTSD, exacerbated by alcohol, and his desire to return to his 1965 life after all the changes that happened in the US during his captivity, were portrayed accurately and heartbreakingly. The aria in which he tells of the changes in American life was made more haunting with the images used in the background. The final scene will haunt me for some time. The small ensemble played this difficult score extremely well under Painted Sky’s music director Jan McDaniel. The direction by Rob Glaubitz allowed interaction and observation of portions of the cast by the other members, using the double levels of the set. The evening was a triumph for this difficult score.
The Thirteenth Child, opera in two acts. Music by Poul Ruders, libretto by Becky and David Starobin. World Premiere Performance, Santa Fe Opera, July 27, 2019
This was an unusual world premiere performance, in that it was possible to be familiar with the music before the performance, since a complete recording was issued five weeks before the opening performance. But since opera is a visual experience in addition to an aural experience, familiarity with the music did not negate a sense of wonder in the treatment of the action of the story in the theater. The story is loosely based on The Twelve Princes, in the version of the Grimm brothers, with additions of characters and situations to bring the modern problems of dysfunctional families and mental illness into the picture.
Musically, Mr. Ruders has become a master of saying a lot with a small number of instrumentalists when the principals were singing. He never has his orchestra overpower the singers, something that is not always the case in modern opera. He also uses simple melodies to represent universal themes like a mother’s love or love of country. But when he has a moment for the orchestra alone and brings in the full strings along with the winds, he can also write a moment that could have been in a move score by Max Steiner or Elmer Bernstein.
This is an unusual opera in that there is very little repetition of text, a few words here and there instead of repeating text over and over (think of baroque arias and Mozart’s repetition of text in many of his best-known arias.) This makes for a number of very short solos rather than the longer arias and duets from seventeenth- through nineteenth-century opera, especially for the men of the cast. This also works to show the fragmentation of King Hjarne’s mind as he turns against his sons. The two principal women have more words and deeper thoughts than the men.
The vocal ranges are unusual, beginning with the first singer in the opera. King Hjarne’s music may be the lowest major role for a bass in all of opera. David Leigh had the notes, but the very lowest ones sometimes had a projection problem. The role is written with high falsetto notes which occur when he begins doubting himself and his sons, doubts which are reinformced with the phrase “Drokan has warned me.” Drokan (is this name a play on Drakon, or dragon?) is King Hjarne’s cousin and one of the three boyhood friends who swore eternal brotherhood. The third was the king of the neighboring kingdom and has died. Drokan is the regent for Prince Fredric. By the end of the act we find out that Drokan wants the power of a throne and also wants Hjarne’s wife Gertrude. In this role, Bradley Garvin sings the villain’s pain of not having what his cousins have, an enduring family legacy.
Hjarne’s wife Gertrude is sung by mezzo Tamara Mumford. This is a role which focuses on the lower part of her range. She understands the importance of the red lilies of Frohagord to the health of the kingdom and her sons, but does not understand what is happening to her husband, who eventually strikes her as she tries to support her children and her current pregnancy against his paranoia. He makes the decision to kill his twelve sons and make his daughter his heir.
Eighteen years later, at Hjarne’s funeral, Frederic tells of the thirteen children who have disappeared from Frohagord. Joshua Dennis as Frederic sees Lyra for the first time and is attracted to her. He also expresses his frustration with Drokan’s rule with his pretty tenor voice. Lyra offers to help her mother, who is dying. The last scene of the act is Gertrude’s death, but she tells Lyra about her brothers and how they are hiding in the forest, unseen for the last 18 years after she warned them to leave Frohagord with the lily bulbs before their father could kill them. Jessica E. Jones’ lighter voice contrasts well with Tamara Mumford’s darker one. She begins the second act in the forest, searching for her brothers. She finds the lilies in bloom and a man who is her brother Benjamin, sung by Bille Bruley. When she meets her brothers, they decide to celebrate. She cuts the lilies to decorate the table, and her brothers become ravens. Gertrude’s ghost (Tamara Mumford with an electronically-changed voice) tells Lyra that to bring her brothers back, she will have to remain mute for seven years, until the lilies bloom that year.
Seven years later, Frederic tells of finding Lyra, and prepares to marry her. Drokan, now elderly, determines to kill Frederic and become king of both kingdoms. Benjamin, now partly human and partly raven, attacks Drokan, who stabs him in the back. In the fight, Drokan is stabbed and falls into the bonfire where he was attempting to burn Lyra. Although Benjamin dies, the lilies have bloomed, Lyra and Frederic are to be married, and there is general rejoicing for the future of the united kingdoms.
The stage action was natural. The projections were incredible, bringing three-dimen-sional images on the walls of the unit set. The swirling patterns while Hjarne is being influenced by Drokan’s warning were wonderful, as were the snakes slithering over the walls as the madness became worse. The orchestra was led by Paul Daniel in his Santa Fe conducting debut. The production team deserved their ovations, as did the cast.
My overall impressions of this new opera were positive. It had nice roles, music that was basically tonal and melodic, a story that was recognizable. The production was interesting and the voices were nice. But I left wanting a little more. More what ? I’m not sure. I hope to see this again this week and maybe come up with an answer.
Verdi: La Traviata. Wichita Grand Opera, 7 April 2018
While I was on the road to Wichita, Maestro Nezet-Seguin was speaking during a Metropolitan Opera intermission, saying that breathing wtih the singers and being in the moment with them and the orchestra was the most important thing about conducting opera. Tonight's performance at WGO showed how a conductor who wants to rush his singers even a little can turn what might have been a top-notch performance into a merely enjoyable one. Verdi was still writing in a style based on the fast-slow cavatina-cabaletta style, and if you start too fast you cannot speed up sensibly.
The cast was quite good. Larisa Martinez (Violetta), Kansas native Cody Austin (Alfredo Germont), and Michael Nansel (Germont) were new to me. Each sang well and interacted well with each other and the rest of the cast, but I felt like they were rushed (just slightly behind a very fast conductor) as often as not. She had everything going for her: accuracy, high notes, and physical beauty, including the small waist necessary to carry off the hoop skirts in the two party scenes. Mr. Austin had a totally focused voice, making even his mezzo piano seem louder than the the others because of his projection. He, too, looked good on stage, a tall, slender tenor. Mr. Nansel chose to begin as a blustering father who thought to bully Violetta, but ended as a much more sympathetic character.
The rest of the cast included Samuel and Lindsey Ramey as Baron Douphol and Flora, more of the Kansas and Wichita locals (he is Distinguished Professor of Opera at Wichita State University.) Monica Schmidt as Annina and Andrew Hernandez as Dr. Grenville and the other smaller roles were sung well and their stage direction worked well.
I look forward to seeing these principals in other roles.
University of Oklahoma Opera Theater: Lucia di Lammermoor, 5 April 2018
Last night was opening night of the O production of Lucia di Lammermoor, and it ranks with the finest productions of this opera I have seen in almost 50 years of attending opera. As with many student productions it held some surprises.
The unit set was more believable in the outdoor scenes, but was used well in the large indoor scenes; it was at its weakest in the scene in Enrico’s office. Costuming was period, of Scotland at the time of the death of King William and the inheritance of the throne by Queen Anne. Directorially, the Anglican (former Roman Catholic) versus (Calvinist) Presbyterian feuding of the period was brought out more than in most productions, and the legend of the ghost of the fountain was brought to the forefront by having it become a danced role, a very effective piece of theater.
Musically it was quite a night. The assistant conductor, graduate student HyunKyung Jang, conducted Act I and Jonathan Shames led the second and third acts. One scene was cut (the scene for Enrico and Edgardo at the beginning of Act III), but the entire part of Raimondo, the Presbyterian minister, was opened up, giving him an aria seldom heard. The chorus was excellent. The singers were accurate and well-coached in their stage movements.
The surprise of the night was Skye Singleton, a masters student who has just been accepted into the doctoral program. Her singing and acting of the title role was magnificent, rivaling several professional performances I have seen. She was directed into fast mood swings throughout the evening. She was the only cast member able to see and interact with the dancing ghost, and this interplay occurred in all of her scenes, making the staging memorable. Her runs were accurate, the trill is developing nicely, and the top opens up for high D’s that topped the ensemble in the sextet and the following ensemble. The mad scene was staged convincingly; I might have been scared to be a chorus member last night.
GO SEE THIS PRODUCTION IF YOU CAN!
Temperley: Souvenir. Painted Sky Opera opening night, February 23
This production of the two-actor play about Florence Foster Jenkins seemed to be a labor of love. If “What matters most is the music you hear in your head” was Madame Foster Jenkins’ watchword, the play captures this as well as the circumstances which brought an accompanist into her life. From 1932 to 1944, when she was 62 until her death at age 74, the play is a series of flashbacks from the point of view of Cosme McMoon, the accompanist, played by Joey Harbert. McMoon was 29 when he met Madame Florence. Harbert is in his early 20’s, but his youthful stage presence works in this production. He is a good pianist and light-voiced tenor, making the choice of the play a good decision for Painted Sky.
Molly Cason Johnson is actually a very accomplished soprano and voice instructor at UCO. Commenting about the role, she said “At the end of the day, I think it has to do with her extraordinary love of and devotion to the music and wanting to really serve the music.” She also stressed how difficult it was to sing badly (without damaging her own voice) which she managed brilliantly.
At the end of the evening I knew I had attended a good play about two flawed people, who complemented each other, with two performances which would be hard to better. There are more performances at City Space Theater (downstairs in Civic Center Music Hall) at 8 p.m. February 24, March 2, and 3, and at 3 p.m. on February 25 and March 4.