I'm too often baffled by friends and family who dismiss opera as an archaic art form, irrelevant to contemporary sensibilities or "real life." Thus, opera companies' valiant attempts at community outreach - cheap student seats or the Metropolitan Opera's HD broadcasts in movie theaters - fall time and again on deaf ears.
That's everyone's loss. Last weekend, it turns out, was a glorious time for opera in Los Angeles. If opera neophytes had taken a chance either on USC's production of Benjamin Britten's "Albert Herring" or Handel's "Tamerlano," presented by LA Opera, nearly all, I think, would leave smiling. (Fortunately, LA Opera's performances continue this week.)
That's everyone's loss. Last weekend, it turns out, was a glorious time for opera in Los Angeles. If opera neophytes had taken a chance either on USC's production of Benjamin Britten's "Albert Herring" or Handel's "Tamerlano," presented by LA Opera, nearly all, I think, would leave smiling. (Fortunately, LA Opera's performances continue this week.)
With Britten, the popular misconception is that works by the 20th
century British composer are box office poison. But like Handel,
Britten was a deft man of the theater. In whatever story he's telling
- and Britten had exquisite tastes in plots and librettists - you lose
yourself in the narrative, the music being the dynamic vehicle to tell
the tale most effectively. Composed just a year after the masterpiece
"Peter Grimes," "Albert Herring" is the jolly tale of a smalltown sad
sack who in his attempts to free himself from an overbearing mother and
prudish society exposes all their hypocrisy.
As reminded in the program book for the USC production, there's no death, murder or mayhem to accompany this particular opera. Simply stunning music and, in the case of Friday night's performance in Bing Theater, excellent performances. Tenor Eric Hanson played the lead, his pipeful voice summoning some of the same haunting power as the legendary Peter Pears. Other standouts in this first-rate ensemble included the winsome Laurel Semerdjian as Mrs. Herring, Tim Campbell as the well-intentioned butcher Sid and Allison Foster whose commanding, big-voiced soprano worked marvels with the officious Lady Billows.
Not to be neglected was the fine trio of Hayden Eberhart, Clarissa Shan and Elaina Robbins as the opera's pesky kids. Most credit should go to conductor Brent McMunn for eliciting fine sounds from the USC orchestra (including a melting second act duet for alto flute and bass clarinet) and stage director Ken Cazan for unearthing all possible good humor from provincial England, set, in this production, right after World War I.
Director Chas Rader-Shieber also took some liberties in his contemporary resetting of Handel's "Tamerlano" to the bare walls of a cruel despot's manor-prison, populated by storm troopers. While the overall impression of the staging was mixed, there was nothing ambivalent about the stellar cast, heard Saturday night at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Is tenor Placido Domingo really 68 years old? In the role of the captive sultan Bajazet, Domingo sang like a champ. (For those who are counting, this is his 126th role.) True, he no longer has the vocal control of his youth but there's still plenty of bloom and lyrical power left. His tender act three duet with the gorgeous soprano Sarah Coburn, playing the part of Bajazet's daughter Asteria, was one of the evening's several highlights.
Then there was countertenor Bejun Mehta, pitch-perfect, in the title role. In spite of the opera's adherence to Baroque formula and its plentitude of da capo arias, this opera surprises you, particularly in the final act when Tamerlano's inhumanity cracks under pressure. The music frees up, too, culminating in a searing ensemble, a choral threnody that makes this ultimately one of Handel's darkest operas.
This opera's joy comes in the music-making - the remaining cast of mezzo-sopranos Patricia Bardon and Jennifer Holloway and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny and the music direction of William Lacey. Fortunately, for those who missed it, there are still three more performances continuing through Dec. 1.
As reminded in the program book for the USC production, there's no death, murder or mayhem to accompany this particular opera. Simply stunning music and, in the case of Friday night's performance in Bing Theater, excellent performances. Tenor Eric Hanson played the lead, his pipeful voice summoning some of the same haunting power as the legendary Peter Pears. Other standouts in this first-rate ensemble included the winsome Laurel Semerdjian as Mrs. Herring, Tim Campbell as the well-intentioned butcher Sid and Allison Foster whose commanding, big-voiced soprano worked marvels with the officious Lady Billows.
Not to be neglected was the fine trio of Hayden Eberhart, Clarissa Shan and Elaina Robbins as the opera's pesky kids. Most credit should go to conductor Brent McMunn for eliciting fine sounds from the USC orchestra (including a melting second act duet for alto flute and bass clarinet) and stage director Ken Cazan for unearthing all possible good humor from provincial England, set, in this production, right after World War I.
Director Chas Rader-Shieber also took some liberties in his contemporary resetting of Handel's "Tamerlano" to the bare walls of a cruel despot's manor-prison, populated by storm troopers. While the overall impression of the staging was mixed, there was nothing ambivalent about the stellar cast, heard Saturday night at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Is tenor Placido Domingo really 68 years old? In the role of the captive sultan Bajazet, Domingo sang like a champ. (For those who are counting, this is his 126th role.) True, he no longer has the vocal control of his youth but there's still plenty of bloom and lyrical power left. His tender act three duet with the gorgeous soprano Sarah Coburn, playing the part of Bajazet's daughter Asteria, was one of the evening's several highlights.
Then there was countertenor Bejun Mehta, pitch-perfect, in the title role. In spite of the opera's adherence to Baroque formula and its plentitude of da capo arias, this opera surprises you, particularly in the final act when Tamerlano's inhumanity cracks under pressure. The music frees up, too, culminating in a searing ensemble, a choral threnody that makes this ultimately one of Handel's darkest operas.
This opera's joy comes in the music-making - the remaining cast of mezzo-sopranos Patricia Bardon and Jennifer Holloway and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny and the music direction of William Lacey. Fortunately, for those who missed it, there are still three more performances continuing through Dec. 1.
Leave a comment