Conductor: Henrik Nánási
Director: Michael Cavanagh
Ferrando: Ben Bliss*
Guglielmo: John Brancy
Don Alfonso: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Fiordiligi: Nicole Cabell
Dorabella: Irene Roberts
Despina: Nicole Heaston
The San Francisco Opera is currently showing Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte. Starting this season if you do not want to go into a crowded opera house, you can for a fee watch the opera at home on live stream. I would like to suggest that it should be possible to make this available to play later for the same fee. This would allow friends in Europe to watch it. It's the middle of the night there.
This production began in 2019 with Figaro as part of a Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy and will continue to its conclusion later this season in Don Giovanni. All three operas are set in the same basic house structure. In this opera the house is now a country club with sports, dining, and other facilities. I felt that the concept worked very well. In the picture above the guys are in the men's locker room. I liked the look of it and felt that it served very well to clarify the story. The singers were expected to be rather more athletic than is generally a good idea.
My only problem with it was with the music. The music sounded very much like a performance of a Mozart symphony--intense and dramatic. It wasn't exactly bad, but didn't make me feel like I was seeing a comedy. My overall take is positive. This opera is often hated, and I overcame my tendency in this direction. It was good to see Ferruccio Furlanetto.
The Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera gave their first performance of this season in the recently refurbished SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center. The program consisted of:
Beethoven "The Consecration of the House" Overture, Op. 124
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453.
Sibelius Symphony No 2 in D minor, Op 43.
Jeffrey Kahane both conducted and played the piano in the Mozart. This is something going on now. Instead of hiring both a conductor and a pianist, one hires someone who can do both at the same time, thus getting two for the price of one. This is, of course, what would have happened in Mozart's day. The concert was good but not very exciting.
The picture above is the only one I could find that shows the new configuration of the seats in the reconstructed center. Previously the seats extended all the way across with aisles only at the ends. Now we have a more conventional configuration. There is an orchestra pit, but it was covered for our performance.
They told us the sound was amplified. It had a kind of flat sound which diminished the expected and desired dynamic range. Classical music is not normally amplified, and if you are amplifying it, it is considered a sign that you have failed in any kind acoustic design. People came down from the balcony and said they could hear nothing up there. We'll see.
Musical Direction - Antonello Manacorda Production - Hans Neuenfels
Bassa Selim - Christian Nickel (spoken)
Konstanze - Lisette Oropesa (soprano)
Konstanze - Actress - Emanuela von Frankenberg
Blonde - Regula Mühlemann (soprano)
Blonde - Actress - Stella Roberts
Osmin - Goran Jurić (bass)
Osmin - Actor - Andreas Grötzinger
Belmonte - Daniel Behle (tenor)
Belmonte - Actor - Christian Natter
Pedrillo - Michael Laurenz (tenor)
Pedrillo - Actor - Ludwig Blochberger
Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), 2020, comes to us from the Wiener Staatsoper. It is directed by Hans Neuenfels, one of the more scandalous regie producers. One of his characteristics is to dress the chorus all in the same outfits. Here in spite of the fact that they are a mixed chorus, they are all dressed as men in black.
This is a Singspiel, which means it comes with spoken dialog in German. In the original version of the opera there is a character, Bassa Selim, who does not sing. Everyone else both sings and speaks. So Neuenfels has seized on this and doubled all the rest of the cast. So in addition to the singers, he has cast a whole other cast who play the rest of the roles and only speak. He has also added more words. This is hard to follow. Two people in the same outfits are the same person. You get a lot of easy to understand German from the actors and beautiful singing from the singers. The actress Blonde occasionally speaks English. "Me too."
Lisette is singing a very serious aria, and a young man in his underwear is holding a giant snake. Huh? What you would want to keep from this is Lisette and her arias. "Martern alle Arten" is especially great. She changes the opera completely. Suddenly it is enormous.
I can think of only one semi-legitimate reason for this double casting. Singers have careers that take them all over the world. This is why the performing of operas originally in other languages but sung in the local language of the opera house is a practice that has pretty much died out. We perform Hansel and Gretel and Magic Flute in English, but that is pretty much it. The singer learns the role with the original text and then sings it everywhere with only some brief rehearsal.
So Neuenfels wanted to add a lot of new German dialog, and in order to have extended rehearsals, he assigns these new words to local people he can rehearse for a long time. This is the only thing I can think of. We don't care about this added dialog. Maybe Neuenfels doesn't really like opera.
They love only Lisette. As do I. Serious booing for Neuenfels.
The program for next year's Whitsun Festival at Salzburg has been announced. I was sorry to see the homage to Pauline Viardot disappear, but in today's world it's only a small loss. In 2021 Cecilia Bartoli will celebrate Rome, the city of her birth.
Elsa Dreisig: Fiordiligi, soprano
Marianne Crebassa: Dorabella, mezzo
Andrè Schuen: Guglielmo, bass
Bogdan Volkov: Ferrando, tenor
Lea Desandre: Despina, soprano
Johannes Martin Kränzle: Don Alfonso, bass
This year isn't just the Beethoven year, it is also 100 years of the Salzburg Festival. They were determined not to just skip the whole thing like almost all the other festivals, so they reduced it as far as possible. There are quite a few concerts but only two operas, down from 10. We are concerning ourselves with Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.
This is a regie production which provides virtually no context. We are in white rooms with no furniture. The clothing is the usual modern black outfits, except for the guys. They start out in the usual black suits, but when it's time for them show up in disguises, they are in the above outfits. If you have no idea what goes on in this opera, you still won't. They are supposed to be in disguise, but they would know who they are. Obviously. Despina's first act aria is cut. In fact the whole performance is at least a half hour shorter than usual. I notice that Dorabella has a tattoo on her ankle. So these are modern children.
In their funny outfits after the poison gag the guys woo the same girls they did at the beginning. This is not how it's supposed to work. They switch back and forth. Hmmm. These guys are not in disguise. They are just messing with them. The girls get pissed and the boys split.
This production seems to have its own plot. The guys are back in their dark suits way before they usually are. I don't think I like any of these people.
But the music is gorgeous. The soprano ornaments her arias. Have I ever heard this kind of ornamentation in Mozart before? I don't think so. The tenor is also lovely.
No one is fooled at any point. They end up in the beginning arrangement, but it could have gone either way. I still want a trick ending.
👍🏻
Conductor...............James Levine
Production..............Jonathan Miller
Figaro..................Bryn Terfel
Susanna.................Cecilia Bartoli
Count Almaviva..........Dwayne Croft
Countess Almaviva.......Renée Fleming
Cherubino...............Susanne Mentzer
Dr. Bartolo.............Paul Plishka
Marcellina..............Wendy White
Don Basilio.............Heinz Zednik
Antonio.................Thomas Hammons
Barbarina...............Danielle de Niese
The Metropolitan Opera has rerun free of charge the 1998 telecast of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. I would have seen the original, of course. It was in the center of my infatuation with Cecilia Bartoli. Watching it again I find that it is a Figaro for the ages. There is not even the tiniest hole in this cast. Even Barbarina features Danielle de Niese making her Met debut at 19.
This opera features the Countess in two glorious arias-- Porgi Amor and Dove sono--sung gloriously by Renée Fleming.
This film still has the most hits for Cecilia Bartoli on YouTube and the second most for Fleming.
The Met cast Bartoli into more or less the same Fach as Kathleen Battle only with a comic slant. In her career she was known for her very successful coloratura singing, and this provides the explanation for the replacement of Deh vieni non tardar, an entirely legato aria, with something with at least some coloratura.
Bryn is perhaps my all time favorite Figaro, and Cecilia and Bryn's flirting is the best ever seen in this opera.
It was a surprise when it was announced that Cecilia would sing the
role of Susanna, a role I don’t think she has sung since. There was a
huge scandal because she insisted on performing different arias. I know
“Un moto di gioia” is one of her favorites. Her choices, especially
the final aria, are very successful, but she does not sing “Deh vieni
non tardar.”
I have felt since I first saw this film
that I never really understood this opera before. In a world where
everything had to be about status and privilege, where the operas were
clearly divided between elevated moral dramas about the upper classes
and comedies in dialect from the lower classes, Mozart has brought us
real people from all the various classes of his era, people with serious
problems, people like us. I don’t think I really understood how deeply
serious Figaro really is.
Cecilia is key in the
success of this entire performance because she makes you feel how much
Susanna loves Figaro and how much she hates the idea of sex with the
count, how much she loathes his attentions while successfully masking
her emotions from him. This is the content of the Marriage of Figaro, not just the jokes. I have read the book this is based on, but it is Mozart and da Ponte who give true life to these people.
There
is a wonderful rapport between Cecilia and Bryn which they exploited in
a duet album and dvd. This rapport is at its best here. They are
exciting and very charismatic together.
As if this were
not wonderful enough, there is also the fabulous countess of Renée
Fleming, who needs only to sit around being miserably regal while
singing two of the most gorgeous arias ever written. Gorgeously. She
is in top form.
It is a succession of perfectly
executed scenes by ideally cast singing actors. When was Figaro’s
discovery of his parents ever so perfect? The count and countess are
effectively upper class while Susanna and Figaro are common, as it
should be. The entire production is pure perfection in singing,
conducting and ensemble acting, and never becomes stale.
As one who has long adored Cecilia and has seen a lot of her stage work, this is her masterpiece.
Our conductor for this all Mozart program was Michael Christie. In our all Mozart program at the
Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera I didn't notice that he used a baton. He has won a Grammy. This concert took place in Fremont Presbyterian and was split into two concerts.
The program began with Mozart's Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter." The program did not list the movements, as I believe is still traditional. I admit that Mozart's symphonies are more standardized than other composers, but I still like seeing the movements. This was good but not thrilling. Mr. Christie's tempos are a bit fast IMHO.
We were treated to semi-staged opera scenes from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro. These were remarkably well coordinated since neither the conductor nor the singers could see one another. The following cast listings are made up by me, since nothing in the program lists these.
Ellie Dehn, soprano -- Despina in Cosi, Susanna in Nozze.
Jana McIntyre, soprano -- Fiordili in Cosi, Marcellina in Nozze.
Julie Miller, mezzo-soprano -- Dorabella, in Cosi, Countess in Nozze.
Michael Day, tenor -- Ferrando in Cosi, Basilio in Nozze.
Benjamin Taylor, baritone -- Guglielmo in Cosi, Count Almaviva in Nozze.
James Hayden, bass-baritone -- , Figaro in Nozze.
Scott Levin, bass-baritone -- Don Alfonso in Cosi, Gardener in Nozze.
The singers all wore standard concert attire except Doctor Despina.
Act I Finale to Cosi fan tutte begins when the two lovers in their disguises pretend to take poison. Robitussin is Doctor Despina's cure. The supertitles were loosely translated for laughs.
Act II Finale to Le nozze di Figaro begins just before Susanna steps out of the Countess's wardrobe instead of the expected Cherubino. This is an excellent place to begin since you cannot have a Cherubino without a costume of some kind.
These are two of Mozart's magnificent ensemble scenes in opera. He comes in an era when most opera consisted of a series of arias with perhaps a duet here or there. Amazing ensembles are a treat, and these were beautifully sung with a real sense of ensemble. The two sisters in Cosi were especially beautiful together.
👍🏻
Conductor Henrik Nánási
Director Michael Cavanagh
Set Designer Erhard Rom
Figaro Michael Sumuel
Susanna Jeanine De Bique *
Count Almaviva Levente Molnár *
Countess Almaviva Nicole Heaston *
Cherubino Serena Malfi *
Doctor Bartolo James Creswell
Marcellina Catherine Cook
Don Basilio Greg Fedderly
Don Curzio Brenton Ryan
Barbarina Natalie Imag
* San Francisco Opera debut
The new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the San Francisco Opera is made for me, or perhaps for anyone who for all their life has experienced architectural dreams. My mind invents buildings that don't exist in reality. The building of this new production is in the style of American colonial Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the time of the Revolutionary War. Because it's Pennsylvania, a colony founded by Quakers, and not Virginia, I think we may presume that the servants are not slaves of the Count Almaviva.
The American Revolution concept only occurs occasionally. In one scene the Betsy Ross flag is unfurled quickly, and when Cherubino is assigned to the army, he appears in a George Washington style army uniform. The Count appears in a variety of colors including red, so we are not quite sure which side he is on.
In the pre-talk the host mentioned that this opera observes The Unities which require a play to have a single action occurring in a single place and within a single day. I learned about this in school long ago and have not heard of it since. Observing the unities doesn't happen very often in opera. I'm tempted to make a list. The place is in and around the Count's house. The action is getting Figaro and Susanna married, and this is accomplished in a single day. There is an irrelevant subplot involving the Count's page Cherubino and his sudden, overwhelming interest in women. The staging suggests a pairing with Barbarina, but we know he will go on in this direction.
Susanna, Cherubino, Figaro
We were treated to conceptual continuity throughout. The handling of all plot elements was smooth and painstaking. The production contributed to this by providing curtains decorated in the architectural style and easily movable scenic elements. The curtain comes down, and we quickly move to the next scene. There was great attention to detail.
Obstacles to the wedding are many. The count has become interested in Susanna and moves forward with his desire to force himself on her. He threatens to refuse to allow the marriage. He also helps Marcellina in her desire to marry Figaro who has borrowed money from her. Spoiler alert: she turns out to be his mother. I enjoyed that my rule of colorblind casting was observed. A comic element was added to the story when the two white actors, Marcellina and Don Basilio, were found to be the parents of black Figaro. "Suo madre?" This obviously long time couple were included in the wedding ceremony.
By far my favorite bit of this production was the Count. He was the biggest asshole I've seen in the part. He gets his comeuppance in the end, or you might find he has gone too far.
I had a strong impression toward the end that this opera might be thought of as a symphony with the voices orchestrated into the texture. I don't know if I could explain this. I might be describing the conducting which was done by a man who previously led Strauss' Elektra here. The singing was consistently excellent and blended more than usual with its accompaniment.
It isn't my favorite, but for overall quality and a complete lack of confusion about the plot it wins.
Fiordiligi..............Carol Vaness
Ferrando...............Jerry Hadley
Dorabella..............Susanne Mentzer
Guglielmo.............Dwayne Croft
Despina.................Cecilia Bartoli
Don Alfonso..........Thomas Allen
In 1996 I recorded Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with Cecilia Bartoli in her Met debut as Despina when it came on public television, but my son taped over it. This quarrel came near the beginning of my wild infatuation with La Bartoli. I decided to keep him anyway. So this year he gave me a year of Met on Demand making this my first opportunity to watch it after all these years.
This production ran at the Met until very recently. It is visually inert, but this means nothing when Cecilia is on the stage. Her face alone is filled with liveliness. She is constantly in motion. I do rather like the men's disguises.
Cecilia does recitative like no one else. I wish very much that her Met career had been longer. Her wonderful theatrical magnetism dominates every scene she is in, though this role doesn't show off the coloratura she has become famous for. As a doctor she wears a large red nose.
Musically it's rather blah as well. These are all good singers, so more could have been expected. In those days Levine was the only conductor we saw. He doesn't find anything interesting in this score.
Towards the end Cecilia is in her notary disguise with giant eyebrows and a giant mustache, far more spectacular than those worn by our Albanians. She provides what life there is in the production, but I would recommend it for this alone. At the end our Despina realizes that she has been used and throws down the money Don Alfonso has given her.
This comic masterpiece has to be the most unusual Met debut by an already wildly famous singer ever.
We finished the New Millennium concert series at Sacramento State with a grand performance by the Takács String Quartet, a founding member of the Gramophone Hall of Fame. This is what quartet playing is supposed to sound like. They are from Hungary and have been playing together for over 40 years. Wow. For our concert they played:
Mozart's String Quartet No 14, K.387 (1782) This is the first of the Haydn Quartets, in the standard 4 movements.
Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 6, Op.80 (1847) This is the last piece completed by Mendelssohn before his death. I especially liked the first of four movements.
Beethoven's String Quartet No.14 Op. 131 (1826) This piece listed 7 movements, but they all seemed to flow one into the other. An especially fast section seemed a Presto to me--section 5. I turned out to be correct. They are famous for their Beethoven.
This was a treat. They have recorded extensively for Decca.
Two words: saddle oxfords. The sisters in Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte in HD from the Metropolitan Opera are on the right in outfits which were popular when I was in junior high school. They look so fabulously authentic. They are in a motel and Despina is the woman who cleans the rooms.
These two guys, Ferrando and Guglielmo, are in a bar with Don Alfonso, their older male friend. When they are just a bit too drunk, the younger men start to brag about the faithfulness of their fiancés, the two sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi. According to the guys, they are truly faithful. Don Alfonso says this is nonsense, that all women are fickle. He bets that their girlfriends are like all the others, and he will prove it. The two guys agree to test this. The two guys first appear in their naval officer uniforms, a touch that for me made all the difference. These two young men might indeed be suddenly called off to war.
This production completely transformed my take on this opera. It is important to remember that it is the young men's complete faith in their girl friends that makes any of this plausible. In their military uniforms they obviously feel their young fiancés are too insignificant to jilt such important people as themselves. They never seem to consider they might lose. They do whatever Don Alfonso tells them and laugh at the results until it's too late.
My favorite thing about the production is the disguises, especially the mustacchi (mustaches) which make the young men look far more gorgeous than their stuffy military officer real selves. Ferrando is completely transformed. The disguises are always lame.
The circus performers were fun if sometimes a little overwhelming. In the green outfit seen above is our Despina as the notary who brings the marriage certificates all the way from Texas. This was the most fun of all with her Broadway dance number. The entire production was complex and busy with virtually a set for each aria. It made the whole thing a lot funnier. It's a comedy. We should laugh.
In the end Don Alfonso makes his case, but he realizes that Despina has done all the real work and gives her all the winnings. New motto for Cosi fan Tutte: Don't take your woman for granted. My favorite Cosi ever.
Dmitri Sitkovetsky came to Sacramento to conduct and play solo violin for the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. I found this to be a particularly well constructed concert program and assigned this success to Dmitri. Thank you for coming.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Suite No. 4 "Mozartiana", Op. 61 (1887)
These movements are all based on music by Mozart. (Notes from Wikipedia)
Gigue. Allegro (G major)
After the Little Gigue for piano, K. 574.
Menuet. Moderato (D major)
After the Minuet for piano, K. 355.
Preghiera. Andante ma non tanto (B♭ major)
After Franz Liszt's piano transcription of the Ave verum corpus, K. 618. (In 1862 Liszt wrote a piano transcription combining Gregorio Allegri's Miserere and Mozart's Ave verum corpus, published as "À la Chapelle Sixtine" (S.461). Tchaikovsky orchestrated only the part of this work that had been based on Mozart.)
Thème et variations. Allegro giusto (G major)
After the piano Variations on a Theme by Gluck, K. 455. (The theme was the aria "Unser dummer Pöbel meint", from Gluck's opera La Rencontre imprévue, or Les Pèlerins de la Mecque).
I admit I'm not a huge Tchaikovsky fan. Sitkovetsky conducted.
Wolfgang Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major (1775)
This is a lovely violin concerto, Mozart's last, from the time when part of his income source was playing violin solos. He was 19. Sources point out that his violin concertos don't show off all the possibilities of the violin as Beethoven and Brahms do. Ok. Mozart would have played these pieces himself, while Beethoven and Brahms would have relied on professional violin soloists active at their time. Mozart's concerto is characterized by beautiful melodies and typical Mozart style. For me it was very beautifully played. Sitkovetsky was conductor and soloist. The orchestra played well without constant attention from the maestro.
Arvo Pärt, Fratres (Brothers) (1977)
The title refers to religious brothers. This was the first time I have heard Arvo Pärt played live on a concert. He is a living composer from Estonia. This piece was undoubtedly chosen because it is also a violin concerto of sorts. It begins with a series of jarring violin arpeggios and goes on to repetitive chords and arpeggios. You will note that this piece dates one year after Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass. Both Pärt and Glass are pioneers of the minimalist school. We went to the lecture before where this was mentioned. Sitkovetsky was the violin soloist and occasionally had opportunity to conduct.
Ludwig Beethoven Symphony No. 8 (1814)
Sitkovetsky returned to conducting for this. This is a somewhat small symphony which could have come from an earlier period. Again it was well played.
I enjoyed the way this concert was constructed with works from many styles which all related back to the influence of Mozart. I especially liked hearing the Mozart concerto, a favorite. Now that I understand that Arvo Pärt is a minimalist, I hope he will appear again for me. Otherwise I only know about him from recordings.
So if my reviews seem scattered, that's my excuse. Berlin to Broadway was a student offering that made of Kurt Weill's songs a sort of biography by presenting 25 different songs in chronological order. Some were familiar, some were not. I love Weill and found this fun. Everything was sung in English, including this one.
I reviewed Manon. It's hard to direct opera because there are usually so many people on the stage. It needs to be easy to pick out the main characters and to show how they relate to one another.
I ended up with ambiguity in my reaction to The Exterminating Angel. I think the content is fascinating. An HD performance is directed on two levels: the listed stage director and the camera director. The first might well have shown who each character is and who they came in with while the camera director might have cut too many people out of the picture to leave much meaning.
I liked the idea of it more than the reality. I did not like the super high notes--highest ever heard on the stage of the Metropolitan. Maybe you never heard it because it's hideous. Get rid of that and I'll think it over. The ending I liked. This gives an idea.
The Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera presented a concert of Gioachino Rossini and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart called "A Night at the Opera." There was singing by Alyssa Martin, mezzo soprano, and Steven LaBrie, baritone. They sang bits from Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.
Rossini was represented by an arrangement by Benjamin Britten called Soirées musicales. Mozart was represented by the Prague Symphony. The philharmonic is playing well now. The guest conductor was Sameer Patel. I would have preferred more singing.
Il Conte di Almaviva:
Christian Gerhaher
La Contessa di Almaviva:
Federica Lombardi
Cherubino:
Solenn' Lavanant-Linke
Figaro:
Alex Esposito
Susanna:
Olga Kulchynska
Bartolo:
Paolo Bordogna
Marcellina:
Anne Sofie von Otter
Basilio:
Manuel Günther
Don Curzio:
Dean Power
Antonio:
Milan Siljanov
Barbarina:
Anna El-Khashem
Haven't I seen this set before, or does every set look like a theater now? Some costumes are modern, others are period. Uniforms? This is the live stream of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro from the Bayerische Staatsoper. I'm hearing a piano in the secco recitative, maybe a first for me. Mozart played pianos, not harpsichords.
This is of course an opera about sexual harassment, in case you were imagining this was a new thing. Perhaps that's why it is ever green in every generation. The women get their revenge. I wonder how many modern women think of that.
The comedy is very much enhanced by the fairly brisk tempos. Munich is one of the best opera companies in the world, and this is a very high quality performance. This is a gorgeous "Dove sono" from our Contessa. And our conductor is a winner of the Kleiber prize. Musically it is gorgeous. How to conduct Strauss may be falling from memory, but Mozart was never better than today. This is a lesson, especially the recitative.
The production is simple and does not interfere with the story. Either the people shrink or the doors get bigger. You decide. I choose the people are shrinking.
One does not think to ask, also for the first time, why one is hearing Marcellina's aria. Except one isn't. This is a song interpolation of Mozart's "Abendempfindung.“ It fits beautifully and is for the biggest star of this cast, Anne Sofie von Otter. This is lovely.
I cannot explain how much I love it. Everyone should see this. The ending is cute.
👍🏻
Conductor: James Levine
Production/Costume and Puppet Designer: Julie Taymor
Pamina:
Golda Schultz
Queen of the Night:
Kathryn Lewek
Tamino:
Charles Castronovo
Sarastro:
René Pape
Papageno:
Markus Werba
Speaker:
Christian Van Horn
Nadine Sierra was our announcer today for Mozart's Die Zauberflöte from the Met, and she did a fine job. She has charisma to burn. Julie Taymor's production of The Magic Flute first played in HD with cuts and in English in 2006 and has replayed since then. This performance was for those of us who love this opera in German. It was lovely to hear the original words in an uncut version.
It is interesting to me that in his final year of life Mozart wrote two operas about forgiveness. Die Zauberflöte and La Clemenza di Tito. Perhaps it was for us. This is Kurt Moll. In this holy hall we don't speak of revenge.
Out of the cast listed above, only Markus Werba was completely new to me. His Papageno was a joy.
Kathryn Lewek was in Cecilia Bartoli's Ariodante which I very much wish I had seen. She was outstanding here.
Golda Schultz appeared in the La Clemenza di Tito from Salzburg this past summer. Pamina suits her better.
Charles Castronovo has appeared a few times in San Francisco. My favorite outing from him was Il Postino with Placido. His voice is robust for Tamino, but I agree with his comments--he enjoys a heroic sounding Tamino.
Everyone knows the one and only René Pape who flew over just for this performance. He's the best now.
I love the Julie Taymor production and enjoyed seeing it again.
👍🏻
Teodor Currentzis | Conductor
Peter Sellars | Stage director
Russell Thomas | Tito Vespasiano (b) USA
Golda Schultz | Vitellia (b) South Africa
Christina Gansch | Servilia (w) Austria
Marianne Crebassa | Sesto (w) France
Jeanine De Bique | Annio (b) Trinidad
Willard White | Publio (b) Jamaica
This is Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito from the Salzburg Festival in a staging by the American Peter Sellars. I put letters next to the cast to show that most of the cast is black. They are from everywhere. I know what this would mean to Americans but am not sure how a European audience would react. It would be difficult to persuade me that the timing of this was a coincidence. All appear to be fine singers. This is on medici.tv until November, and I see no titles.
When the opera opens the crowd of mostly white people are herded into a corner by army. Some of the women wear head scarves. Tito picks Sesto and Servilia out of the crowd. This is such wonderful music. How have I not known this?
There are Roman arches across the stage as the only reminder of the Roman Empire, but the costumes are all modern. I read elsewhere that Tito is compared to Nelson Mandella. This is rather more profound than I normally expect from Peter Sellars. This is clearly a concept production, much more so than the Claus Guth from Glyndebourne. Mandella, the great reconciler is evoked. Clearly Sellars has changed it into a story of racial conflict and broadened the impact by placing it in modern South Africa and using black singers.
Sesto and Annio
Sesto shoots Tito who does not die. This is intensely serious. A miracle could happen -- I could become a fan. This is so brilliant I am truly amazed. The timing couldn't be more right. It goes to the top of my list of great Regietheater.
Annio sings a Kyrie for those who have died in the raid on the Campidoglio. Jeanine De Bique's Annio was for me the best singing. I liked Golda Schultz but thought she struggled with the low parts of her arias. The use of chorus is spectacular and may truly be his area of expertise. Russell Thomas raises Tito to new heights and then dies in the hospital. Tutto perdono. Are we ourselves so large?
This version has a sad ending which is achieved in part through the presence in this performance of music not originally in the score for this opera, music undoubtedly added by Peter Sellars. One may feel free to complain. The first clue came with the Kyrie sung by Annio. He liked the singer and wanted her to have more to sing. In part the tragic ending is created through the addition of serious music from Mozart's Great Mass in C minor.
I felt the brilliance of this interpretation long before the ending and therefore did not require this musical interpolation.
Tito: Richard Croft
Vitellia: Alice Coote
Sesto: Anna Stéphany
Servilia: Joélle Harvey
Claus Guth is one of the masters of Regietheater. Looking at the above picture from his production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito we are reminded of a production of Lohengrin from La Scala a few years ago where the action takes place on a river bank with similar looking grass. Yes. That too was Claus Guth. More recent experiences are the PTSD Fidelio and Salome in a men's wear store. So an opera about an emperor of Rome takes place in a grassy field. I may see some water behind. It seems to be a cabin in the woods. The original tenor quit over "artistic differences."
I like all these singers. Alice Coote is outstanding, in spite of the fact that she lights cigarettes all the time. They're talking about places in Rome, burning down the Campidoglio, but we see only grass. They explain in the interval that this is to remove all hints of cultural context. A swamp could be anywhere any time.
This particular swamp is where these same people played together as children. Films play in the background showing children playing. This production focuses entirely on the emotional relationships between the characters.
I hadn't until recently realized that this is such a wonderful opera. Beautiful arias, beautiful sentiments. And best of all it's Mozart. In such an opera it is possible to sing with complete sincerity. The soul is open. My own experience of this opera is informed by Cecilia Bartoli's performances on her early Mozart recording of the arias: "Non più di fiori," "Deh per questo istante solo" and "Parto, ma tu ben mio."
No flowers for me. Non piu di fiori. She repents and thinks she will not marry. It is opera seria so they all live happily ever after. Glorious. Sesto is the star. Anna Stéphany was a replacement for a pregnant Kate Lindsey. She looked and sang beautifully and received the most applause.
Don Giovanni: Philippe Sly
Leporello: Nahuel di Pierro
Donna Anna: Eleonora Buratto
Don Ottavio: Pavol Breslik
Donna Elvira: Isabel Leonard
Zerlina: Julie Fuchs
Masetto: Krzysztof Baczyk
Il Commendatore: David Leigh
What if Don Giovanni is a silly person and is just larking about? And what if Leporello is the one who stabs the Commendatore, accidentally, of course? Is this the Don Giovanni I've been searching for? This is the great Mozart opera from Aix-en-Provence.
There are period costumes, sort of, and props and makeup, but no sets to speak of. Leporello seems to be in on everything more than is usually the case. Zerlina is sufficiently sexy. Donna Elvira is a complete bitch. DG jumps around a lot more than anyone would think possible for an opera singer. Don Ottavio, a serious young man, comes to the party with a gun. Viva la liberta. This is like an orgy, but the girls look dubious. Donna Elvira makes off with the gun.
Donna Anna, Don Giovanni, Donna Elvira
Toward the end of the intermission the Don comes out in more or less modern clothing and offers flowers to a woman in the front row. He's scanning the audience for more candidates. He waves. The orchestra is back so he's looking them over. He claps for the conductor. Leporello is in modern clothing, too.
Elvira enters with a shorter skirt, followed by her servant carrying the gun. The Don and Leporello exchange silly wigs. They don't look much alike. Leporello has tattoos, Don Giovanni doesn't. This is completely satisfying my desire for a Don Giovanni in a comedy staging. The best singing is from the women.
Masetto shows up in the audience with a gun which he waves around. I see now that this is as close to a comedy as it can get. Some of the characters, Ottavio, Anna, Elvira, are serious to the core. We have here corrupt young men going wild. Giovanni strips down to his underwear at the end. There is some nudity.
I completely bought it. Don Giovanni may now return to being a serious opera. #ad
