Richard Sasanow - Page 29

It wasn't Theodora, but the Carnegie Hall audience, who went wild on Sunday at the performance by the English Concert of Handel's rarely heard THEODORA. With the modern rebirth of interest in all-things Handel, why has THEODORA remained a sometimes-thing? Well, let's face it: It's not GIULIO CESARE or even RADAMISTO (last year's Baroque extravaganza from the English Concert and Harry Bicket), where you come for the thrills of florid singing, with brilliant coloratura. No, THEODORA is a very different animal--and it's easy to see why it was a failure on its first go-around, at Covent Garden in London in 1750. Yet, Handel frequently said that this was his favorite oratorio and he would get no argument from concert-goers at Carnegie Hall on Sunday.

If your musical taste runs to Elliott Carter--or even Nico Muhly, whose TWO BOYS premiered at the Met this fall--then Kirke Mechem's THE RIVALS, which had its NY premiere this month at the Bronx Opera Company, may not be your cup of tea. But for a rollicking good time, this operatic adaptation of the great Restoration comedy of the same name by Richard Brinsley Sheridan has few rivals among its contemporaries.

There was a lovefest for the great mezzo Marilyn Horne in New York last week, filled with the music of friends, acquaintances and admirers at Carnegie Hall's sibling, Zankel Hall.

Before seeing the Met's new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s DIE FLEDERMAUS, directed by Jeremy Sams, on Saturday night, I listened to the afternoon's live broadcast of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE. Both were written in German and performed in English to make them more palatable to their target audiences (Broadway musical lovers and young opera-goers-in-training, respectively). But, while the Mozart had its guts cut away, to shave the running time to 90 minutes without an intermission, the FLEDERMAUS went on--and on and on--for four hours. Both had the same result--and it was not good.

“Dying is easy; comedy is hard” says the old show business quip. If anything, opera comedy is even harder. Why is it so difficult? Because it offers so many opportunities to do a disservice to the composer, the artists and the art form in one fell swoop. However, Robert Carsen's antic new production of Verdi's FALSTAFF at the Met, vividly conducted by Music Director James Levine, makes it look easy.

Just what the opera world needs: Another director who doesn't have an idea about what to do with an opera. How else could you explain the new Dmitri Tcherniakov production of Verdi's LA TRAVIATA that opened the season at Milan's La Scala, on Saturday December 7th? Seen in a HD broadcast from the Emerging Pictures' 'Opera in Cinema' series, it showed what a travesty the Russian director's production was.

On Broadway, when a revival loses two out of three of its stars, the production might very well be put off until another season or, at worst, the producers might pack it in. In the opera world, companies don't have that luxury, particularly at a showplace like the Metropolitan Opera. Thus, we received Richard Strauss's DER ROSENKAVALIER, which made its season debut at the Met on Friday night, offering replacements in the two key roles of Sophie and Octavian, with variable results.

Live from New York, it's soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci! Lucky for us. Antonacci is considered one of those distinctive, uncategorizable singers who show up every once in a while to excite and inspire us, but never quite find the broader acceptance they deserve. Thus, she doesn't sing at the Met and we have to hold on until performances like “Era la Notte,” which was on display twice last week at Lincoln Center's White Light Festival. To say she captivated the audience would be an understatement.

There are more famous operas than Richard Strauss's DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN (The Woman without a Shadow), but you won't find one that is more exciting when all the pieces--and there are lots of them--come together. The Met's production is one of those evenings in the opera house--not perfect but so thrilling that you forget that it isn't.

Handel wrote over 1000 da capo arias—a musical mainstay of Italian baroque operas--during his career, but none more thrilling than “Let the Bright Seraphim.” The showpiece for soprano and piccolo trumpet, which comes at the very end of the oratorio SAMSON, was a joyous crowd-pleaser at the New York Philharmonic last Friday, featuring soprano Miah Persson.Conducted by Bernard Labadie, the program also featured a new completion of Mozart's Requiem. featuring Miah Persson and Stephanie Blythe

It's easy to see why the Collegiate Chorale chose Arrigo Boito's MEFISTOFELE for its season opener at Carnegie Hall last Wednesday. The opera, which is the only one completed by the librettist of Verdi's OTELLO and FALSTAFF, can't be mistaken for any other. Besides providing a rich score and marvelous roles for three soloists--the title character (a bass-baritone), a dramatic soprano and tenor--the choral writing is gorgeous.

Maybe next time around, the Metropolitan Opera's General Manager Peter Gelb will hire film director Quentin Tarantino to do a production of Puccini's TOSCA. With its sordid story, self-involved diva and torture-happy, sex-crazed police chief--based on a Sarah Bernhardt vehicle by Victorien Sardou--this is a story that the director of “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill” could sink his teeth into.

After a triumph in Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE at the Met, James Levine made it two in a row, as he returned with the MET Orchestra and soloist Joyce DiDonato to Carnegie Hall early this week for a concert of far-reaching styles and depth.

The Metropolitan Opera may have chosen soprano Anna Netrebko to add star-power to its new season's opening production of Tchaikovsky's EUGENE ONEGIN, but she was upstaged, figuratively speaking at least, by the thrilling performance of Polish tenor Piotr Beczala, as the poet Lenski.

It's not often that singers make their debuts on Broadway and then make a splash at the opera, but that's what happened when Paulo Szot--a Tony winner for “South Pacific”--opened in the Met's production of the Shostakovich opera THE NOSE in 2010. The exciting, intoxicating production by the South African multi-media artist William Kentridge, conducted by Valery Gergiev, is back. Happily, it will be broadcast worldwide in the Met's LIVE IN HD series on October 26, with Szot reprising his outstanding performance.

Not many opera performances start with a standing ovation before a single note is sung, but the season's first COSI FAN TUTTE on September 24 was one of those rare occasions. It marked the return of conductor James Levine after a two-year absence, leading the performance from a motorized chair at a specially constructed podium. He had the orchestra—and the audience—in the palm of his hand.

With a story that is somehow poignant despite its scatological language, ANNA NICOLE's heroine is nicer than Berg's LULU, less lucky than TRAVIATA's Violetta and more cunning than MANON's Manon (though maybe not MANON LESCAUT's). Whatever she is, Anna Nicole Smith is definitely a full-fledged operatic heroine. As portrayed by American soprano Sarah Joy Miller in the local premiere of the Marc-Anthony Turnage-Richard Thomas work about the life and times of minor celebrity Smith, this is a wildly entertaining evening. The opera, which debuted two years ago in London, opened on September 17 at Brooklyn Academy of Music, compliments of New York City Opera and BAM's Next Wave Festival, directed by Richard Jones.

Where does the Mark-Anthony Turnage-Richard Thomas opera, ANNA NICOLE, stand? “On the line of opera and musiktheatre,” said Elaine Padmore, former director of opera at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, speaking on a panel at the Guggenheim Museum's “Works & Process” event on September 8. This “obscene and marvelous show,” which debuted in 2011 at London's famed opera house, tells the story of tabloid queen Anna Nicole Smith not only through music and words but nonstop movement as well, choreographed by Aletta Collins. It will have its American premiere on September 17 as a co-production of New York City Opera and BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), directed by Richard Jones.

Two-thirds into the bicentennial year of both Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi, the recordings marking the occasions keep coming. Even in a crowded field, recent disks from two of today's major singers, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, are both treats--making strong cases for the music as well for themselves as artists.

It's a slippery slope--when an orchestra commemorates the career of a famous singer, featuring other, less well-known artists. That's exactly what the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment did last Thursday at Mostly Mozart in Alice Tully Hall. In an all-Handel concert, the group remembered its long collaboration with the late, celebrated mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, conducted by Laurence Cummings. Would the concert bring the discovery of exciting talent who had yet to make their mark in New York? Would the soloists--both unknown to me--thrill us while paying homage to the person they were celebrating, in music that she made famous? I kept wondering about this before the concert began, with feelings of expectation and exhilaration.