The Opera Tattler

* Notes *
Opera Parallèle gave a moving world premiere of David Hanlon’s The Pigeon Keeper (pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) at Cowell Theater in San Francisco last night. The piece was prepared meticulously and is engaging on many levels.

The drama is set on an unnamed Mediterranean island beset by drought and refugees that wash ashore. The libretto, by Stephanie Fleishmann, has a dreamy folk tale aspect to it. The narrative centers on a 12-year-old girl Orsia whose bird loving mother has died seven years ago after giving birth to a stillborn son. The fisherman father Thalasso won’t talk about his dead wife. The islanders are unwelcoming of the newcomers, but it is through an encounter with the village outcast only known as the Pigeon Keeper in the story that Orsia and her father come to find healing.

Hanlon’s music has a lot to recommend it, lots of colors and texture and at least one hummable tune. He got the San Francisco Girls Chorus to sound like everything from a flock of pigeons to a rain shower. Oddly, at 80 minutes, the piece felt neither long nor short, it was its own suspension in time. Maestra Nicole Paiement conducted with intensity and exactitude, every note felt intentional. There weren’t even a dozen instruments, yet the orchestra sounded strong and unified.

Director Brian Staufenbiel’s production employs a multistoried set that is transformed with projections and props, seamlessly switching the scenes with some help from the members of the girls chorus. There were some very effective surprises with how the flock of pigeons and the waves of the sea are depicted.

The singers all seemed perfectly cast and completely believable in their roles. The members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus sounded cohesive and ethereal, especially soloist Shayla Sauvie. As Thalasso, baritone Craig Irvin sounds very clear and the pain of the character felt real.

The tenor Bernard Holcomb sang the title role but also is the Widow Grocer and the Schoolteacher. It was so impressive that he could embody these three people so fully, it took me nearly an hour to put together that he was the same person. He really did sound different in each role.

Soprano Angela Yam is about the size of a very dainty 12-year-old and sang Orsia with some beautifully sustained high notes. Her voice has a pure lucidity and beauty, she was also able to distinctly convey the emotions of the piece.

* Tattling *
There was only a little talking a couple of times during the performance, which had no intermission. The audience seemed rapt and engaged.

I mentioned to my companion that I thought the composer was a piano accompanist in Merola perhaps 15 years ago. I was pleased to note that Hanlon is a Merolino from 2010 and was an Adler Fellow as well.