skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Last night David and I saw Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Chicago Lyric Opera. It was a treat to hear this gorgeous score once more.
Again, Chicago Lyric is spending its bucks on singers instead of scenery, which is alright with me.
Mariusz Kwiecien sang the title role with an excellent baritone voice. He has sung this role at the Met and internationally.
Ana Maria Martinez was Tatiana. Before the opera began someone came on stage to announce that Ms. Martinez was singing with a cold and asked the audience's indulgence. No need. She sang beautifully.
It reminded me of a performance of Aida I heard in Vienna some years ago when the stage manager came out and announced that Ms. Price (Leontyne) would be replaced by someone, and Mr. 'whoever the tenor was' also would not sing, ending with 'Fiorenza Cossotto was ill- but would sing anyway'. Of course she tore the house down, as did Ms. Martinez.
Lensky was wonderfully sung by Charles Castronovo. This is an amazing tenor voice.
Equally fine was the Prince Gremin of Dmitri Belosselskiy. A rich sonorous voice in his one aria in the final act.
The rest of the cast sang beautifully. Chicago seems to know how to pick 'em!
Again the limitations of the Lyric stage were obvious. Basically one set, three walls which changed with the lighting, very little stage furnishings, a floor covered with leaves for the first half of the opera- that was it. Lots of chairs encircling the stage for two acts???
Lyric's huge chorus sang wonderfully but often seemed stuffed onto the stage. Alejo Perez conducted this wonderful music.
I think I heard my dear, late mentor Olga Averino sing Tatiana's wonderful 'letter scene' at some time or other. Olga's Godfather was Modest Tchaikovsky, brother of Peter. A beautiful connection to have when hearing this opera.
Last evening David and I saw the Lyric Opera's production of Bizet's Carmen. It was marked by some stellar singing and some strange stage direction.
The cast was headed by Ekaterina Gubanova in the title role as Carmen. Ms Gubanova has a beautiful voice that just seemed a shade small for the role in comparison with the other voices in the cast. In her solo numbers she came through well but she was often lost in the ensembles.
Joseph Calleja was splendid as Don Jose, his wonderful voice soaring to the heights. At the end of 'La Fleur' his high B natural began forte and was followed by an amazing messa di voce to ppp! Beautifully sung.
Eleonora Buratto was Michaéla, singing with a sumptuous tone and acting beautifully.
Christian van Horn was excellent as Escamillo. His reverberant voice covered the wide range needed for this role with ease.
The stage direction, costumes, and scenery were another thing.
The stage director, Rob Ashford, who is also a choreographer, decided to add a lot of dance to the work as well as adding a character of a Bull, who was apparently supposed to represent Fate. The Bull would appear at moments of heightened drama to indicate that this was a big moment in the opera, thereby upstaging the principals who were singing their hearts out. This was particularly annoying in the last act as Escamillo and Carmen are singing their final love-hate duet. The bull and a dancing Torerro were fighting a battle at the rear of the stage as Don Jose is declaring his love for Carmen and finally stabs her. A really bad idea.
Julie Weiss is listed as 'Original Costume Designer', whatever that means. In any event Carmen was dressed in black, except for Act 3 when she wore a red skirt. All the women from the cigarette factory wore black, which is really only worn regularly by older women who are widowed in Spain and Portugal.
Also all of the women in the cigarette factory would not be wearing a sort of uniform.
David Rockwell, the set designer, had his work cut out for him with the Lyric's limited stage possibilities.
His Act 3 mountains looked like large Ice Bergs or the beginnings of the pyramids.
I could go on and on.
Harry Bicket was the admirable conductor who led the orchestra in a very lively and musical performance.
I have seen quite a few Carmens in my lifetime. My first was Risè Stevens at the Old Met in the 1950's. In the last act when she was stabbed by Don Jose, she grabbed the red hangings from the wall of the Bull Ring and pulled them down as she fell, creating a flood on blood on the stage.
No Bull needed!
I saw Regine Crespin in the role at the Met after her very successful transition from soprano to mezzo. She was always a beautiful singer and actress.
I coached and witnessed Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in her Boston Lyric Opera performance in the role. There again the director tried to change the period in which the opera was set. The smugglers were a motorcycle gang in leather jackets, including Lorraine. Last night's production was set during the Spanish Civil War which had nothing to do with the plot. I think, for the most part, stage directors should stop monkeying around with the time setting of operas and assume the composer knew what he wanted.
Vocally it was a thrilling evening.
Last night David and I attended a very long performance of Bellini's Norma at Chicago Lyric Opera. I don't suppose it was any longer than any other performance of the opera, but is it a very long opera with very little going on except some incredible music.
The story unfolds very slowly with Norma feeling guilty about having broken her vow of chastity and producing two children with the Roman Pollione, his dumping her for her assistant Priestess Adalgisa, and her threatening to kill first her two children, then herself, then Adalgisa and Pollione.
It just takes a long time to get there.
All the while there is this gorgeous music happening.
I have apparently spent too many years listening to Montserrat Caballe singing this role. Any other soprano just doesn't do it for me. Her amazing musical line, endless breath, clear sound, and faultless vocal ability is unique.
Sondra Radvanovsky has a very large, somewhat covered voice, with the range needed for the role. Her production produces a pushed, unstable sound much of the time with occasional gorgeous soft high notes, messy runs, and some sensational climactic high C's. I have heard her previously and found that sometimes she sings just a little below the pitch. The covering of her voice makes it sound tremulous, especially at the beginning of the opera. Her inability to sing the chromatic downhill runs accurately is unfortunate. Caballe produced these flawlessly. The role is a killer vocally and I must say, she made it to the end in one piece.
I preferred the singing of Elizabeth DeShong as Adalgisa. Her bright, clear voice was also sizeable, her runs accurate, and her sound very appealing. For me she stole the show.
Russell Thomas as Pollione has a very good tenor voice which he used well though he sang at full voice most of the time.
Jesse Donner, a third year member of the Ryan Opera Center sang his brief part with a beautiful, lighter tenor sound.
The set by David Korins was gloomy for the most part with a sort of Barn Door opening at the back that revealed silvery trunks of trees plus one (supposedly an oak) floating side wise in mid air for some reason. A large platform was wheeled on stage from time to time from which Oroveso, Norma's father, and Norma occasionally sang.
Oroveso was sung by Andrea Silvestrelli in a lugubrious basso that was not very attractive.
At the end an enormous bull effigy was wheeled on stage. It was here that Norma was handed a small lighted torch to light the fire in which she and Pollione were to go to their deaths.
Some very good singing but I think cuts could be made in the opera allowing the actionless tale to flow more quickly.
Last night David and I braved icy temperatures to attend Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at Lyric Opera. It was quite an evening.
I hadn't seen the opera in a number of years. I think the last performance was at the Met with sets and costumes by Marc Chagall.
This was very different scenically. Dale Ferguson, the set and costume designer, decided to place the opera
in and around a house in the suburbs, say Oak Park, in contemporary times. A complete two story house filled center stage and revolved completely around as the opera advanced. It was an amazing set but I never quite got the reason for it. A young man, (non singer), supposedly got the idea to put on a show, a la Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, in his back yard. Neighbors gathered, bringing all sorts of chairs, to hear it during the overture. They were in modern dress. Then fully costumed singers and actors appeared from various directions to do the opera.
Once one accepted the premise, the singing was sensational.
Tamino was sung beautifully by Andrew Staples, whose voice reminds me a bit of Fritz Wunderlich, light, high and very easy.
Papageno was Adam Plachetka and he was simply wonderful. Great voice and a marvelous actor.
Pamina was sung by Christiane Karg. She has a good voice but I would prefer a more limpid sound from Pamina.
The Queen of the Night was sung by Kathryn Lewek. She is one of the best singers of this role I have ever heard. A sizeable voice with a very secure top. All of her high f's were perfectly in line with the rest of the voice.
The three ladies were Ann Toomey, Annie Rosen, and Lauren Decker. They sang very well and were good actors as well.
The Monostatos was Rodell Rosel and sang with a snarly voice that is perfect for this character.
Sarastro was Christof Fischesser. He had a resonant voice with the appropriate low notes. Between him and the Queen of the night they covered an enormous vocal range.
The conductor was Rory Macdonald and the stage director was Neil Armfield. They kept the music and action moving at a fast pace making for a very enjoyable evening of musical theater.
I never did get the reason for the set but it worked out well in the end.
