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Every opera lover’s dream is to attend a performance where passion and artistic commitment become the dominating factors in an opera production. Such was the case on April 14, at the second performance of A. Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito* staged by The U of AZ’s Opera Theater. Stage Director Charles Roe and Musical Director and Conductor Thomas Cockrell teamed up to give audiences an emotionally fulfilling rendition of the composer’s last opera, classified as opera seria.

But it was not an easy task. The opera, composed in 1791, has never been held in esteem as other Mozart’s operas have. One only needs to mention The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tutte, his three masterpieces he composed with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, to many opera enthusiasts and Tito would not even come up in the discussion. Besides that, the opera’s librettist Caterino Mazzola could never challenge the beautiful poetry of da Ponte’s work.

This season, The Metropolitan Opera revived Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s 1984 production hoping the work would attract new converts. Even though the HD Telecast in November of 2012 presented a strong cast buoyed by Harry Bicket’s beautifully thoughtful conducting, Fred Cohn’s straightforward review in Opera News of the opera clearly demonstrated what many opera critics think about Clemenza and what obstacles opera companies face when they decide to mount the work. Cohn did not mince words.

“La Clemenza di Tito is unlikely to qualify as anyone’s favorite opera. Compared to the da Ponte masterpieces that came before it, Tito seems distant and archaic, weighed down by conventions of opera seria. Caterino Mazzola’s libretto is almost perverse in its avoidance of sustained dramatic conflict. Moreover, the work loses musical interest during it substantial stretches of recitativo secco.”

But it’s the element of surprise that often brings the magic of opera to the fore. To be honest, I never expected to witness such a warm and loving rendition of an opera that critics consider cold and aloof. How Roe and Cockrell were able to create that magic is known only to them. However, the fact that they were able to work with the singers and musicians over a long period played a big part in their success.

And the long rehearsal period also gave set designer Sally Day and costumer designer Christopher Allen time to coordinate their contrasting ideas and meld them into a cohesive look.

Day’s set took the entire width of the stage, featuring tall, round non-tapered columns in the center and  finished off the sides with pathways capped by Roman rounded arches. A centered platform gave the performers a space in which to execute their arias in a typical classical stance which dramatically conveyed the opera’s themes of thwarted love, seething revenge and ultimately Tito’s magnanimous act of forgiveness for all who had wronged him.

The successful outcome of this dramatic expression was accomplished through Roe’s subtle direction. His light touch allowed the cast to perform as if all their actions and reactions in the opera were of their own invention. A directorial devise which has been mostly forsaken by many of today’s self-centered opera directors. What a pleasure it was to be able to sit back, relax and enjoy our afternoon at the opera.

And a big part of that enjoyment were Allen’s detailed 18th-Century costumes. Because the opera has only six roles, Allen was able to not only dutifully dress the singers in costumes that were appropriate for the time period, but tailor them in color and design to fit each performer’s character.

The men, Publio and Annio, were in plain, long knee-length coats with white stockings, but the beneficent emperor Tito wore a lush velvet red coat, setting him apart from his subjects. Sesto is a trouser role, and mezzo-soprano Mackenzie Romriell looked beautifully mannish in her light-blue ensemble.

The detailed design and colors for Vitellia and Servilia’s courtly dresses were a real standout. For Servilia, Allan outfitted her in a blue-green dress with side panels over a delicate bodice in light brown. Vitellia looked quite handsome in a black gown with gray trim. The metal panniers under her skirt, not only made the sides of the dress stand out, but gave soprano Jenina Gallaway a grand opportunity for some amusing theatrics.

Cockrell and Roe did not consider the work’s weighty opera seria conventions a liability. They encouraged the cast to relax and let the opera’s many recitativi flow naturally into Mozart’s beautifully well-crafted arias.

Humberto Borboa Beltrán produced lovely warm tones and beautiful recitative in expressing Tito’s dilemma whether to forgive Sesto for his betrayal or punish him. Jenina Gallaway put Vitellia’s jumbled emotional conflicts center stage using her beautiful soprano to express the lady’s quest for attention. Gallaway’s interpretation and David Becker’s stunning basset horn generated a rich, harmonious sound, turning Vitellia’s second act aria, “Non piu di fiori” into a duet under Cockrell’s expert guidance. Romriell’s Sesto combined the mezzo’s natural interpretive abilities with accurate vocals giving an authentic portrayal to this trouser role. What a guy!

The three remaining performers, while having smaller roles, did not stint on their vocals or dramatic interpretations. If fact, their commitment showed that Clemenza is really an ensemble opera.

Kaitrin Cunningham’s Servilia and Brandon Dale’s Annio made their search for requited love a charming affair. Cunningham’s clear vocals and Dale’s smoothly inflected tenor gave their duets a youthful ardor not always apparent in many productions. Cockrell and Roe decided to have a tenor sing Annio instead of a mezzo-soprano which is usually the case. Their decision proved to be judicious one. Charles Hamilton’s baritone was a solid Publio with enough bass sounds to bring out the character’s fretting concern over Tito and Sesto’s  predicament. His interpretation solidified the ensemble.

There was no doubt about how well Cockrell prepared his Arizona Symphony Orchestra to overcome Mozart’s periodic gaps in musical freshness that can hold back the work. The conductor’s deep understanding of Mozart’s artistic intentions encouraged his musicians to downplay the gaps and accentuate the many sections of melodic beauty Mozart composed in the piece.

Roe has decided to retire at the end of the school year. He leaves his successor an operatic program that has grown leaps and bounds artistically and vocally over his 24-year tenure, first as vocal instructor and then as director of the University of Arizona’s Opera Theater. The new director will have an artistic pot of gold with which to excel.

*Synopsis

Vitellia, daughter of a former Emperor of Rome, plans revenge on the new Emperor Tito for his decision to marry another woman. She persuades Tito’s loyal friend, Sesto, who is in love with Vitellia, to burn down the Capitol and murder Tito. Tito decides that Sesto’s sister, Servilia, should become his wife, but discovering that she is in love with Sesto’s friend, Annio, Tito renounces her and decides to marry Vitellia. This news comes too late to recall Sesto, who has been instrumental in setting fire to Rome and has almost murdered Tito. While under arrest, Sesto does not reveal Vitellia’s part in the conspiracy, but she herself confesses to being the author of the plan. Tito eventually forgives everyone, and the opera ends in general rejoicing.

Quaintance Eaton

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April 15, 2013

From Seen and Heard International By: José Mª. Irurzun

W. A. Mozart: Don Giovanni, Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus, Alejo Pérez (conductor), Madrid Teatro Real, 12.4.2013 (JMI)
New Production Teatro Real in coproduction with Festival Aix en Provence, Moscow Bolshoi Theater and Toronto Canadian Opera.

These performances of Don Giovanni will surely enter into the history of the Teatro Real, with one of the biggest scandals in the long history of the theater. In the previous performances – this one is is the fourth of the run – there was widespread booing, which led Gerard Mortier to declare that this was mostly organized and orchestrated by his detractors.
I make no more comment.
My overall assessment of this Don Giovanni is not positive. I found the stage production pretentious and boring, it had a lifeless musical reading and a mostly inadequate cast.
As far as I’m concerned, I have to admit that I do not share the admiration that some theaters seem to have for Dmitri Tcherniakov, who directs this production. It had its premiere at the Aix en Provence Festival in 2010, and was then poorly received both by critics and audience. This is the fourth Tcherniakov production I have seen in the last few years and I must say that again I don’t like his work. As happened in Onegin, Trovatore and Macbeth, he gives his own freely interpreted version of the opera.
The action all takes place in the same set (as also happened in Onegin and Trovatore) which is an elegant library in the house of Il Comendatore. All the characters live together and belong to the same family. Donna Anna is the nymphomaniac daughter of the Comendatore, and she has a relationship with Don Ottavio; Zerlina is her teenage daughter from a previous marriage. Donna Elvira is Donna Anna’s cousin and she is married to an alcoholic and decrepit Don Giovanni. Leporello is a relative who lives in the house and accompanies Don Giovanni on his adventures. Finally, Masetto is the boyfriend of the whimsical Zerlina.
Tcherniakov tries, and almost manages, to destroy the myth of Don Juan, showing a character without any appeal, and it is rather difficult to believe that he could have had as many lovers as Leporello recounts in his famous catalog aria. It is the rest of the family who put an end to Don Giovanni, hiring an actor to play the Comendatore in the final scene.
The stage production works rather well during the first act, but it is impossible to escape boredom during the entire second half, in which the stage is like a stone. Worst of all is the idea of presenting the opera as separate scenes with no less than 8 breaks, which interrupts the musical flow in order to gain nothing.
In favor of the production I must say that no there are no provocative moments or any bad taste, as has happened in other modern productions (among which it is not easy to forget the work of Calixto Bieito). The problem is that Tcherniakov’s ideas and the libreto don’t follow the same line. A few examples will serve to get an idea. The Comendatore dies accidentally; the exchange of characters between Don Giovanni and Leporello in the second act could not be believed even by those who are blind; Zerlina sings “Vedrai carino” not to Masetto, but to Don Giovanni’s coat; Don Ottavio adresses Il Mio Tesoro to Leporello. And what I can say of the scene at the window or of the whole scene in the cemetery? They could only be hallucinations by Leporello and his master. All in all, it was a boring production.
The slow pace of the recitatives has to be due to Mr Tcherniakov, who seems to be far more interested in them than in arias, and this makes the musical reading feel very heavy. It is probably unfair to condemn Alejo Perez for his handling of this Don Giovanni, because he was surely also a victim of the production. A more experienced conductor does not accept these impositions. We have seen him conducting on other occasions and the result was very different.
The cast was mostly disappointing. It seems that what counted was that singers played their roles as Mr Tcherniakov conceived the characters, and this worked against the interests of the audience.
Particularly objectionable is the presence of Canadian baritone Russell Braun in the character of Don Giovanni. No wonder he was booed in the first performances, because his voice is small and too light, and is inaudible at the bottom of the range.
Gerard Mortier said in an interview that it was inconceivable that Kyle Ketelsen could be booed, as he is the best Leporello in the world. This seems to me to be a joke. The last Leporellos I’ve seen on stage (Luca Pisaroni, Erwin Schrott and Alex Esposito) are light years ahead of Kyle Ketelsen, who is just a good actor, with not a very natural voice – ‘ingolata’ as italians say.
Christine Schäfer offered a pleasant voice as Donna Anna and sang well, but her vocal characteristics are more suitable for Zerlina than for Donna Anna. I did not like her Or sai che l’onore, and found the best of her singing at Non mi dir.
Paul Groves has been a remarkable Mozart tenor, but he is not at his best any more. He was acceptable with Dalla sua pace, but showed his limits and problems in a poor interpretation of Il mio tesoro.
It was very easy for Ainhoa Arteta to succeed in this mediocre cast. Hers was the only important voice on stage, offering an excellent Donna Elvira. Apparently she was the only one not to get boos at the premiere.
Mojca Erdmann was a delightful Zerlina onstage, but she is nothing more than a soubrette as a soprano. She was not convincing in any of her arias, being best at La ci darem la mano.
Both veteran Anatoli Kotscherga and David Bizic were serviceable as the Comendatore and Masetto.
Teatro Real was sold out. The audience responded coolly during the performance, but with the final bows we got a fresh surprise. To avoid the boos of the previous days, there were no individual bows, which did not prevent disapproving voices from being heard. It seems that the idea of this collective bowing came from Ainhoa Arteta, which was a genuine gesture of friendship towards her colleagues. Two minutes after the final bar we were already out of the theater.

Cast:
Don Giovanni: Russel Braun
Leporello: Kyle Ketelsen
Donna Anna: Christine Schäfer
Donna Elvira: Ainhoa Arteta
Don Ottavio: Paul Groves
Zerlina: Mojca Erdmann
Masetto: David Bizic
Comendatore: Anatoli Kotscherga
Production:
Direction: Dmitri Tcherniakov
Sets and Costumes: Dmitri Tcherniakov
Lighting: Gleb Filshtinsky

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Ballet fans who gathered at the Loft’s five o’clock showing of Sleeping Beauty on March 16th were in for a unwelcome surprise when they arrived. We were told by Jeff Yank, the Loft’s program director, we were only to see Acts Two and Three. The reason for the exclusion of Act One was that the principal male dancer David Hallberg, who was to be interviewed after the showing, had suggested, because of the ballet’s length, we diehard ballet lovers would grow weary if we had to sit through the entire work.

I suspect the real reason was that Hallberg didn’t want to wait around to be interviewed till after the entire ballet was shown and so, for his convenience, he and Yank proffered this excuse. To be fair, I’m sure there were a number of adoring fans who felt meeting Hallberg in person was compensation for the Act One exclusion.

On a positive note, there were many reasons to love this film. Hallberg, who is currently a principal dancer with American Ballet Theater in New York City, was invited to join the Bolshoi and become a permanent member of the company. This is the first time that an American was given that honor and this film was of his debut.

The style of dance the Bolshoi features is detailed, with steps timed to perfection and excitingly executed. The company is known for its devotion to full-line body extension in the jumps and its crisp, light touches of its foot work. As Hallberg noted in the discussion, it took him many hours of intense practice to achieve this level of execution, and his natural body line which extends from the tips of his fingers to the ends of his toes really showed off the Bolshoi’s technique.

Hallberg and his partner Svetlana Zakharova, as the Princess Aurora, made a beautiful couple, and their duets were superbly matched and delicately executed. Their solo variations stood out not only for their technical proficiency, but both dancers maintained the same exquisite lines as in their duets.

When one’s eye is drawn to watching the corps de ballet as if it were a featured player, it shows how the Bolshoi’s ballet training gives the dancers the opportunity to be presented at their artistic best. Their body movements expressed the same performance intensity and sterling technique as any of the featured dancers.

By still using the 1973 choreographic version of Yuri Grigorovich, who headed the company for more that three decades, the Bolshoi confirms its belief that Grigorovich’s choreography shows up as the same bright, polished jewel it was when originally performed. While many ballet companies are struggling to find reason to keep their traditions, the Bolshoi eschews any doubts and embraces theirs.

There were many beautiful interpreters among the featured roles that Sleeping Beauty calls for. Yulia Lunkina and Igor Tsvirko brought real glee to their White Pussycat and Puss in Boots. The Little Red Riding Hood and the Grey Wolf of Anastasia Stashkevich and Alexei Koryagin were coy and devilish in their variation. Karim Abdullin’s Prince Fortune was every inch the elegant partner for Daria Khokhlova’s Cinderella. And the four Faries of Jewels, Anna Leonova, Yanina Parienko, Maria Vinogradova and Anna Tikhomirova danced with aplomb and skill. They could easily fit into a principal role if called on.

Under the baton of Vassily Sinaisky, the Bolshoi orchestra, which has P. Tchaikovsky’s score in its DNA, rang out with passionate musicality giving testimony to why the orchestra is held in such high esteem. There was a bit of irony in Hallberg’s reminiscing of how well the orchestra’s exciting rendition of the composer’s dynamic overture sounded in the house. What a shame we didn’t get to hear it.

Italian set designer Ezio Frigerio and Costume Designer Franca Squarciapino fielded designs and colors that brought out the royal  historical background that is so abundant in Sleeping Beauty. Squarciapino’s costumes, with their  delicate pastels and refined patterns, brought us a welcome relief from the relentless black and white outfits that many of today’s opera and theater directors are demanding from their staffs.

If the Loft’s decision to cut Act One was not to everyone’s satisfaction, what we did get was a truly remarkable and artistic demonstration of Russia’s love affair with ballet.

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March 7, 2013
From Seen and Heard International By: James L. Zychowicz

To commemorate the bicentenary of Richard Wagner’s birth, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra devoted a concert to portions of Tristan und Isolde, the well-known Prelude to Act I and the entirety of Act II. Infrequently heard in concert, the second act is well-suited to Symphony Center, and offers the chance to hear details that sometimes blur when the opera is staged and the orchestra is relegated to the pit. The second act’s love duet alone deserves the attention.
Esa-Pekka Salonen approached the first-act prelude with intensity, as evidenced by his control of tempo and dynamics, building the opening incrementally to the initial forte. From the start, the drama was present, with the rich, full sound of the cellos setting the tone. As familiar as this piece may be, this performance had the precision of a studio recording. The fullness of sound never flagged, thanks to Salonen’s precise and clear direction.
Moments after the prelude ended, Salonen began the second act so that the intensity was not lost. The orchestra started brilliantly, with the opening measures clearly articulated, and vibrant woodwind timbres given the clarity heard on recordings, but not always in the opera house. The singers did not begin seated, but entered as they would in a staged production. Watson and DeYoung entered discreetly, just before their vocal lines, across the stage from each other, and sang louder than when blocking places them more closely together. Watson is certainly an experienced Isolde, with the range and flexibility needed. At times the entrances in the upper part of her range seemed somewhat strained, perhaps due to her placement in the hall. Later, when Watson and Stefan Vinke stood next to each other on the side of the stage, there were no such issues with volume and tone quality. Watson was most impressive in her duet with Vinke, in the part of the second scene that begins “O eitler Tagesknecht!” The intensity of her delivery was paired with appropriate tone.
Stefan Vinke gave a laudable performance as Tristan, but his somewhat open sound seemed out of place in the more intimate space of Symphony Center—as if he were singing in a larger hall—and sometimes overbalanced the orchestra. Yet the last part of the second scene was moving, starting with “O ew’ge Nacht,” in which Tristan declares his love for Isolde. While pitch was sometimes a problem, the overall effect was strong.
As Brangäne, Michelle DeYoung was impressive throughout—especially her sensitivity to line and the text’s inflections. This was a Brangäne who cared enough not to let Isolde suffer the death potion, a Brangäne who also warned her about some of those in the court around her. DeYoung’s urgency was as dignified as her musicality. Her exchanges with Watson in the first scene were consistently outstanding, with notable intensity to her final “Habet acht!” just before the closing of the second scene.
In the other roles, Sean Panikkar was particularly effective as Melot, with incisive, precise delivery, and John Relyea’s portrayal of King Mark had just the right weight and inflection—all anchored by Salonen’s contributions.

United States Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, Prelude to Act I, Act II (concert version): Linda Watson, soprano (Isolde); Michelle DeYoung, mezzo soprano (Brangäne); Stefan Vinke, tenor (Tristan); Sean Panikkar, tenor (Melot); John Relyea, bass-baritone (König Marke); Daniel Eifert, baritone (Kurwenal); Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor). Symphony Center, Chicago, 22.2.2013 (JLZ)
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, Prelude to Act I, Act II

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