The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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  • Semele at De Munt

    Semele * Notes * 
    Last night the new season at De Munt opened with a rather bizarre production of Semele. Zhang Huan's production featured a 450 year old Ming temple, which was very lovely and worked perfectly well as a stage device. However, other elements did not integrate as gracefully, such as the Mongolian song that followed "Endless Pleasure," which though beautiful, was intentionally jarring. The huge mirror that appeared for "Myself I shall adore" was painfully obvious, and the sumo wrestling match at the end of Act II was simply outrageous. The Chinese dragon puppet at the end entertained, and it was tied to Jupiter because of associations with rain and weather. One was not sure what to make of the obvious Orientalism at hand, and wonders if Zhang is trying to reassure his Western audience or perhaps poking a bit of fun at it.

    The Baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques sounded gorgeously clean and clear under the direction of Christophe Rousset. They were perfectly together and played absolutely splendidly. On the other hand, the chorus of De Munt were less than exact. Likewise, the singing from the principals was a hodgepodge, no one was particularly great, nor were they horrible.

    Sarah Tynan sounded bird-like as Iris, though her upper register was shrill. Nathan Berg subsituted for Kurt Gysen as Somnus, and sang Cadmus, both roles sounded fine but not distinguished. David Hansen sounded reedy as Athamas, fairly bright but not very warm. I could not stop thinking of The Bonesetter's Daughter when I heard Ning Liang singing either Juno or Ino, her accent in English is unmistakeable. Her singing for Juno was quite jagged, she did get a feel for the character's vindictiveness in her voice. Jeremy Ovenden had some pretty moments as Jupiter, though his voice was underpowered. Though lacking in precision, Ying Huang too had some brilliance to her voice. Both the top and the bottom of her voice are not smooth, and have a tinselly quality. Her English diction was comprehensible.

    * Tattling * 
    The two people at the head of the dragon puppet moved too early, before Jupiter had finished his last aria. The end of the work was cut by two scenes, and finished with Semele's death.

    Members of the audience talked whenever there was no singing, sometimes at full volume. Thank goodness my host was good enough to hush the chief offenders near us. Not to be outdone by music or speech, people checked their emails and took photographs with cameras that made beeping sounds. The ovation was enthused but not prolonged.

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  • Seattle Opera 2009-10 Young Artists

    The 2009-2010 participants of the Young Artists Program at Seattle Opera are sopranos Megan Hart, Vira Slywotzky, Marcy Stonikas; mezzo-sopranos Jenni Blank and Maya Layhani; tenors Alex Mansoori and Bray Wilkins; baritones Michael Krzankowski and Eric Neuville; and bass Erik Anstine. Layhani and Mansoori were both recently in San Francisco Opera's Merola Program.

    Young Artists Program | Official Site

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  • Germanisches Museum, Nürnberg

    Rembrandt-selbstbildnis-1629 From Prague we headed back to Franconia, to see the early Rembrandts at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg. Before heading to the museum, we took a brief tour of the Altstadt, walking past St. Lorenz, across the Fleischbrücke to the Hauptmarkt, where we admired the Frauenkirche and the Schöner Brunnen. We made our way to the Rathaus, and sat outside St. Sebald, then wandered up to the Albrecht-Dürer-Haus. After a very pleasant lunch at the Albrecht-Dürer-Stube, a place completely decorated with embroidered linen and framed Dürer prints, we went to the museum itself, which turned out to be undergoing renovations. Thus, only one Rembrandt was on display, the Self-Portrait (c. 1629), a copy of which exists in Den Haag.

    In this panel (38 x 31 cm) Rembrandt is in his early twenties, wearing a gorget, the left side of his face in shadow. He gazes directly at the viewer, looking quite young but dignified. The painting was thought to be a workshop copy of the painting in Den Haag, but the opposite turns out to be the case, and the Nürnberg painting is the original.

    We took a look at a few Dürer paintings, the most interesting of which may be the Portrait of Michael Wolgemut, 1516. Dürer was apprenticed to the painter and printmaker Wolgemut from 1486 to 1489. The museum also has an impressive collection of musical instruments, and it was fun to see their glass harmonica up close.

    We were drawn to the special exhibit at Spielzeugsammlung of the Germanisches Museum which is housed in a different building than the main museum. At the moment their exhibition entitled “Der Allererste Struwwelpeter” celebrates the 200th birthday of Heinrich Hoffmann, the author of Der Stuwwelpeter. The annex is worth going to if one has an interest in dollhouses or paper theaters. The latter was more interesting to us, some of the paper theaters seemed to be designs of opera productions.

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  • National Gallery, Prague

    Prague-rembrandt When my Bayreuth trip came together, I agreed to go on a Rembrandt tour of Belgium and the Netherlands directly afterwards. The friend who accompanied me to the Festspiele has a bit of an obsession with the Dutch painter, and because she did not manage to see the painting in Prague, I offered to take her, given the relative proximity of Bayreuth to the Czech Republic. This involved waking up at 5 in the morning, taking the train to Kirchenlaibach, then connecting to Marktredwitz, and still again switching trains in Cheb. Weirdly enough, I've done this more than once, and in the station in Cheb I was struck by how silly it was for us to be drinking coffee in this small bordertown. Everyone else on this particular morning was eating soup and drinking beer. It also occurred to me, that my Czech has deteriorated to three words: pivo (beer), káva (coffee), and páni (gentlemen).

    In any case, we did make it to Prague in the afternoon, and naturally left luggage was closed at Praha hlavní nádraží. So we dragged our luggage to the main branch of the Národní Muzeum, bought tickets, and left our luggage there before racing across town, as the Rembrandt is housed in the Sternberg Palace (Šternberský Palác) near Pražský hrad. I had not counted on the Charles Bridge being so crowded, so it took a good deal of time. Generally, I must have looked rather annoyed, for my facial expression when someone offered me a flyer for some concert made him jump back.

    We went directly to see Rembrandt's Scholar in His Study, 1634, an oil on canvas (145 x 134.9 cm). I find this painting particularly sympathetic for an early work, the warmth of the red in the scholar's cap contrasted with the bluish black of his mantel is pleasing. Also the shape of the composition is somehow gratifying to the eye, though the books are not especially well-rendered.

    Afterward we wandered the rest of the two floors of the museum, and I was unable to find Dürer's Feast of the Rose Garlands. We did admire both Bronzino's Portrait of Eleonora da Toledo (c. 1545) and El Greco's Head of Christ (1590-95).

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  • Tristan und Isolde at the Bayreuther Festspiele

    Bayreuther-tristan * Notes * 
    The closing performance of the Bayreuther Festspiele was Friday night's Tristan und Isolde. The orchestra had a full, even tone under the direction of Peter Schneider. However, the volume overwhelmed the singers in many cases. The singing started off roughly for the two principals, at first, Iréne Theorin (Isolde) shrieked flatly and Robert Dean Smith (Tristan) was nearly inaudible. As Brangäne, Michelle Breedt was shrill, and as Kurwenal, Jukka Rasilainen was monochrome. At least Martin Snell (Steuermann) sounded pretty and the chorus sang with vim.

    The second act was a definite improvement. Theorin sang on key and blended nicely with Smith. Their duet was lovely. As König Marke, Robert Holl's voice was a grave contrast to Smith's. By the last act, Rasilainen pulled through, singing with emotion and beauty at the end. Smith gave an arresting performance in the first half of Act III, and was only muffled by the orchestra a few times. On the contrary, Theorin's Liebestod was conspiciously less dazzling, though her pianissimo at the beginning was exquisite.

    The production from Christoph Marthaler was dull, we started the evening at the top of a building, and made our way down. Anna Viebrock's set involved peeling wallpaper and other signs of decay, and her costumes wended their way through the 20th century. The scenes were often static, but were punctuated with nonsensical movement. Kurwenal wandered around the periphery near the end of Act II and would periodically fall down. All the characters except Tristan and Isolde ended up facing the walls during the Liebestod.

    * Tattling * 
    The audience murmured, and there was quite a lot of noise before the Liebestod, when more than one person exited the theater. The German man behind me in Row 15 Seat 24 on the right side of the Parkett hovered over me for much of Acts I and II, he touched my hair more than once. During Act III I decided the only way to be comfortable was to simply assert myself, so I sat on the cushion I brought but did not need, and sat as straight as possible. This worked very well. Unfortunately, my companion was less lucky, the American in Row 14 Seat 22 slept through much of the first two acts, but was woken when his cellular phone rang in the middle of Act II. At the second intermission he must have had a good deal of coffee, for I could smell his breath during Act III, as he stared over in our direction. Whilst awake, he elbowed my companion several times and also talked. It was utterly bizarre, he was in some sort of Wagner Society, had the libretto in German, and also extensive notes on all the operas at the Festspiele this year.

    There were scattered boos when the curtain came down at the end, presumably for the boring staging and not Theorin.

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  • Und suche dir, Gänser, die Gans!

    Bayreuther-parsifal * Notes * 
    The final performance of Parsifal at this year's Bayreuther Festspiele was last night. The orchestra sounded fine under Daniele Gatti, and the chorus was absolutely lovely. The singing was good all around, everyone could be heard, even though the production did have the singers far upstage at times. Mihoko Fujimura was utterly terrifying as Kundry, her movements were reptilian and her voice stunning, without a trace of shrillness. Likewise, Thomas Jesatko (Klingsor) acted well and sang adeptly. Diógenes Randes was appropriately grave as Titurel, and Detlef Roth was deeply engaged with his role as Amfortas. Kwangchul Youn's rich, warm tones were welcome in his portrayal of Gurnemanz. In the title role, Christopher Ventris did not fail to impress. He sang with power and very little strain.

    Stefan Herheim's production was nauseating, there was just so much going on, lots of movement, many lights and mirrors, and much noise during the music. It seemed that every moment was packed with explanation of not only the plot, but also something about German history in the 20th century. There were many cinematic references from campy musicals to Josef von Sternberg. At the same time, much of the staging felt highly predictable, for instance, the swan that appeared on a shield just above the bed in the middle of Act I was clearly going to be shot by Parsifal, and naturally, it was.

    * Tattling * 
    The audience was far from silent, there was even yelling during the performance, especially when Nazis appeared on stage. The woman in Row 5 Seat 18 of the Right Parkett must have bathed in perfume, and her poor father had absolutely no idea what was going on with the opera. They were at least less idiotic than the person who took a flash photograph when a mirror was turned toward the audience.

    There was some clapping at the end of Act I, which was hushed and hissed at by others. During the last curtain calls there were scattered boos for Gatti, but nothing near the palpable outrage about Die Meistersinger the previous evening.

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  • Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!

    Bayreuther-meistersinger * Notes * 
    Katharina Wagner's production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuther Festspiele is simply dumbfounding. From the very beginning it was clear that the person behind the absurd staging was exceedingly detail-oriented and highly neurotic. The concept seemed well thought out and read clearly, and better yet was carried through to the end. The joyousness of the riot at the end of Act II was particularly wonderful. There were shoes falling from the sky; enormous soup cans full of paint; dancing statues of Wagner, Dürer, and others; not to mention plenty of obsessive cleaning.

    Sebastian Weigle kept the orchestra moving, though just the slightest bit lax, the playing was still lovely. The chorus, directed by Eberhard Friedrich was entirely committed to both the music and the choreography.

    For the most part the singing was perfectly fine, though overall somewhat quiet. Carola Guber was able to convey a certain shrewish annoying quality as Magdalene. Norbert Ernst (David) was pleasantly neurotic, and his pianissimo is appealing. Michaela Kaune could be petulant as Eva, but her singing in the ensemble at the end of Act III Scene 4 was charming. Adrian Eröd amused as Beckmesser, he had a great deal of strain at times in the beginning, but he was a good foil for Klaus Florian Vogt (Walther). Vogt sang with great beauty, sweetness, volume, and effortlessness. On the other hand was our Hans Sachs, Alan Titus, who acted well but lacked both ease and a rich, full tone.

    * Tattling * 
    A German man in Row 4 Seat 8 on the right side of the Parkett spoke during the music of Act I, and both my companion and I turned around at exactly the same time to give him a stern look. He only spoke once more audibly, when he could not read "Beck in Town" on Beckmesser's t-shirt in Act III. He did press against my companion's seat, and she quite naughtily fondled his knee, which was effective in getting him to stop. The May/December couple in Row 2 Seats 11 and 12 also whispered a good deal, and blocked the view of the woman to my left with their constant movement. The May half of the pair accidentally grabbed my foot when she was trying to adjust her seat cushion.

    There was much laughter and murmuring from the audience. I, for one, nearly had a break-down trying to keep my hysterical giggling under control. There were scattered boos at the ends of Act II and III, and very hearty booing for Katharina when she came out for her curtain call.

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  • Götterdämmerung at the Bayreuther Festspiele

    Bayreuther-goetterdaemmerung * Notes * 
    The Bayreuther Festspiele's last cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen this season concluded with Götterdämmerung last night. Christian Thielemann kept the orchestra under control, and the sound produced was clear and beautiful. The chorus also sounded absolutely gorgeous. The singing was strong for all the smaller roles. The Rheintöchter sounded lovely and alluring. Christiane Kohl (Woglinde), Ulrike Helzel (Wellgunde), and Simone Schröder (Floßhilde) looked oddly winsome, a bit like something out of an Esther Williams film gone awry. The Norns sang with authority: Simone Schröder, Martina Dike, and Edith Haller all had good presence. Edith Haller also sang the role of Gutrune, and her bell-like sound was a fine contrast to Linda Watson's heartier tones. Christa Mayer gave an impassioned performance as Waltraute.

    Andrew Shore (Alberich) was impressive in his last scene, pleading but threatening. Hans-Peter König (Hagen) was much beloved by the audience, perhaps because of his full tone and good volume. Ralf Lukas was a bit quiet as Gunther, but he did not strain terribly either. Linda Watson was a stately and dignified Brünnhilde, her lower register is beautifully warm. Christian Franz lacked subtlety in his performance as Siegfried, he remained clownish and childlike. He did have nice moments, especially in his last scene, but there were times too when his voice sounded like it would simply give out.

    The production, from Tankred Dorst, grew ever more overwrought. Although one always appreciates poultry with Wagner, perhaps the man with the rooster-head that flapped his arms was a bit too much. Or the woman placing and removing three pairs of goggles from her face, pretending her palm was a mirror, that could have been unnecessary. Still, one was entertained. On the other hand, the girls making out and the female nudity was more distracting, as was all the running about near the end.

    * Tattling * 
    There was much talking from the German/American couple in Row 10 on the right side of the Parkett, Seats 17 and 18. They and the American to their left were all rather too large for the seating, and their knees were firmly pressed into the seat backs in front of them. At least the music was grand enough that they were easily ignored.

    There was audible laughter when Siegfried does not recognize Brünnhilde and tries to shake her hand.

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  • Merola Grand Finale 2009

    Another report from our friend Don Curzio.

    * Notes * 
    It is a promising sign for the future of opera that this year's Merolini were such a strong group. Their finale concert was, with a few exceptions, an exciting and enticing evening, and I think I can look forward to hearing these singers many times in the future.

    The evening began with the Prologue from Pagliacci, launched with brio by Antony Walker (whose baton was supportive and subtle all evening) and sung with insight and force (if not with an exceptionally beautiful tone) by Aleksey Bogdanov. The curtain then rose on the set for SFO's upcoming production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, a charming 18th century "little" theater and appropriately, the next selection was from that opera: the first act duet between Belmonte and Osmin, performed solidly by from both Alex Mansoori and Benjamin LeClair. Later in the evening, the challenging aria "Ich baue ganz," from the same opera, was sung sweetly by Eleazar Rodríguez.

    Most of the evening was devoted to duets or ensembles. "As-tu souffert? As-tu pleuré?" from Mignon was given an affecting treatment by Ellie Jarrett and Evan Boyer, who returned later for an impressive rendition of "De son coeur j'ai calmé" from the same opera. The Arabella duet ("Aber der Richtige") was a highlight, as the supple sopranos of Lori Guilbeau and Susannah Biller intertwined and melded together beautifully. Ms. Biller later teamed up with Maya Lahyani and Suzanne Hendrix for the trio from Béatrice et Bénédict, where she floated deliciously over the two mezzo-sopranos. Ms. Lahyani also gave us a well-sung, sexy Seguidilla, with the able Don Jose of Brian Jagde providing support. Wagner was strongly represented by the third-act quintet from Die Meistersinger, gloriously sung by Bogdanov, Mansoori, Hendrix, Kate Crist and Gregory Carroll, and by a tense rendition of the third-act confrontation scene from Der Fliegende Holländer by Carroll and Crist, both whom appear to possess true Wagner voices. Sara Gartland and Nathaniel Peake provided a slightly bumpy but certainly passionate Rigoletto duet. On the lighter side of things, Catilin Mathes and Paul Scholten had great fun as Rosina and Figaro, even if Ms. Mathes' voice is several sizes too small for the role (she also muffed the words at one point). Lara Ciekiewicz and John Chest's performances in the watch duet from Die Fledermaus were also comic highlights.

    Especial standouts in solo arias were two rarely-heard Russian pieces: Margaret Gawrysiak was electrifying in Joan's aria from Tchiakovsky's Maid of Orleans and Yohan Yi's powerful bass-baritone was a thrill in a heartbreaking aria from Aleko. Suzanne Hendrix and Brian Jadge each provided plenty of heartbreak in arias from, respectively, Giulio Cesare and Macbeth. Countertenor Ryan Belongie fairly exploded onto the stage for an exciting rendition of an aria from Handel's Serse and Michael Sumuel was charming and assured in the tricky "Là del ciel nell'arcano profondo" from La Cenerentola.

    The evening concluded with the "Tutto nel mondo è burla" from Falstaff, sung by the entire group. It was a joyful end to a great year at Merola.

    * Tattling * 
    The program inserts that listed who was singing somehow went missing before they could be inserted into the programs, forcing a stage manager to make an announcement before each of the selections. The papers were handed out at intermission. There were no watch alarms or cell phones in the balcony, but somebody talked over about the first two minutes of music before being repeatedly shushed.

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  • Review of Urban Opera’s Dido and Aeneas

    Scharich-dido This account of Urban Opera's Dido and Aeneas comes to us from someone who only wishes to be known as Don Curzio.

    * Notes * 
    A pleasure it may be to witness the first performance of a new local company, and it is a pleasure, but Urban Opera may need a little time to fulfill the ample promise shown in its inaugural production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Despite the presence of a spirited and talented cast, the evening had to overcome a fair share of directorial and designer mishaps. Chip Grant, the artistic director of the new company, made the strange decision to include the rarely performed prologue, the music of which is lost. The Prologue was thus performed in spoken dialogue, nearly all of which was rendered inaudible by wind, echo, and ambient noise. After this lackluster opening (and a well-staged pantomime during the overture depicting the fall of Troy) the evening settled down into a basically traditional performance with clever (the use of puppetry in the boar hunt; the jolly Sailor being one of the witches in disguise) and not so clever (choristers holding up newspapers with the headline "WILL ROYALS WED?", the only bit of anachronistic imagery in the production) bits of business. The costumes, by Kue King, ranged from interesting to bizarre to horrible. Dido, for example, wore an ornate belt with an arrow protruding out of either side of it, indicating she had been struck by Cupid's arrow. The Sorceress strutted around in a feathery contraption that would have looked right at home at a Cher concert, and everyone wore bizarre headdresses that seem to have been borrowed from a local Wiccan coven.

    Musically, thankfully, things were more interesting. Chip Grant conducted the small orchestra (a string quartet plus keyboard) far more assuredly than he directed. The young mezzo Kindra Scharich used a lovely lower range and a lush, warm sound to create an affecting Dido. Todd Wedge was a masculine and steadfast Aeneas, putting a supple tenor to use very pleasantly in a role usually sung by baritones. Milissa Carey, an actress with a background in music rather than a professional singer, camped it up nicely as the deliciously evil Sorceress. Kimarie Torre was a sparkling Belinda who dueted very nicely with Pam Ingelsrud's Second Woman. Grant chose to cast Countertenors as the Witches, who doubled with the Spirit and the Sailor. Michael McNeil, in fact, was asked to sing as a soprano as the Second Witch and a tenor as the Sailor, and his thin voice was pleasurable in neither register, though he acted his assignments well. He was utterly shone up by the strong alto of Cortez Mitchell. The small chorus sounded excellent, and were very threatening as the witches.

    The outdoor performance area, in an elevated plaza between two Mission Bay office buildings, proved a mixed blessing indeed. The acoustics were surprisingly good (the singing was all audible), the site of choristers frolicking through the tall grass and bamboo trees behind the main performance area during the forest scene was quite intriguing. It also cannot be denied that watching Aeneas exit towards his ship with San Francisco Bay stretched out behind him says something for realism. But some of the sightlines were often compromised due to the vastness of the playing area, and it was easy to miss important bits of business happening stage left if you were sitting stage right because it was too far away to notice. However, despite all the production issues, it was a promising debut for the new company.

    * Tattling * 
    The small seating area was completely full despite relatively high ticket prices and I heard no cell phones and little talking. There was a baby present who fussed once or twice, but in general the house was well behaved.

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