BWW Reviews: Tchaikowsky's PIQUE DAME at Academy of Vocal Arts

Russian opera is much like Russia itself - dark, moody, brooding, and cold, and sometimes best taken with a shot or five of vodka. PIQUE DAME (QUEEN OF SPADES) by Tchaikowsky is no exception. It's dark, bitter, and heavy, exactly like a fine espresso - which, to think of it, would also go well with a shot of good Russian vodka, preferably a Stoli Vanil. All too unfortunately under-performed since its 1890 Moscow premiere, it's always been well-liked by audiences, and with reason. It's been performed by the best (conducted by Rachmaninoff in 1904 at the Bolshoi, and by Mahler at the Met in 1910), and it has a neatly contained, part-supernatural, story originally by Pushkin. It has some of the best madness outside of LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR. And it takes a tenor with enough stamina to sing in every single one of the seven scenes of the entire three-plus hours to play the lead, Hermann - any tenor who can do that is worthy of an evening's rapt attention.

At Academy of Vocal Arts, faculty member and music director/pianist of the production, Ghenady Meirson, has trimmed PIQUE DAME down to a more manageable two acts of two-plus hours, without doing harm to the plot or significant damage to the music unless this just happens to be your very favorite opera that you can't bear to have condensed. Unfortunately only scheduled for one preview and four performances, it has been a pleasure to have this among the season's opera offerings in the Philadelphia area. Especially with this past week's weather, a few more performances (along with the aforementioned vodka, just for principle) would not come amiss.

Mezzo and Peabody graduate Kristina Nicole Lewis sings the Countess, once known as the "Venus of Moscow," widow, guardian of the beautiful Liza, and possessor of a secret winning gaming system given to her by the Comte de Saint-Germain decades earlier. It's a choice part, with a fine aria in the original second act, "Je crains de lui parler la nuit," which Lewis performs admirably, well in control of a powerful voice. She also has some genuine acting talent, as her ghostly figure towards the end of the opera comes across with none of the potential comedy that operatic spectral appearances sometimes fall into by accident.

AVA student soprano Marina Costa-Jackson, scheduled to perform as Liza on the 23rd, was unable to appear and was replaced by recent AVA graduate Cynthia Cook, who had been performing on the alternate nights. Cook is a fine performer, whose turn on the embankment, in "Akh! istomilas ya goryem," brought a deserved chorus of "brava" from the audience.

Hermann was sung, as on the opening night, by Nevada tenor Dominick Chenes. Chenes has a particularly distinctive ring to his voice that's become appreciated by local audiences, and was on full display on the 23rd, particularly in Hermann's chambers singing against the ensemble performing the Countess' funeral hymn, and in his last aria, "Shto nasha zhizn? Igra!" in the last scene, also received with great favor by the audience. He had clearly warmed into the role from the opening night, letting loose both with Liza on the embankment and with his fellow gamblers in the gaming hall, during his mad moments. In two more performances he would have owned this role as completely as Lewis owns the Countess.

Mention is due of baritone Michael Adams' splendid turn as Tomsky, whose rendition of "Yesli b milïye dyevitsï" was noteworthy. The shepherdess tableau entertaining at the ball is also particularly delightful, and it harks back to the earlier French tradition of inserting ballet into the middle of an opera. It makes for a needed break in the midst of Russian gloom (especially while Philadelphia audiences are enjoying their own Russian winter outside at the present time). Additional mention is due of Ghenady Meirson himself, as one rarely gets to hear the music from Tchakowsky's operas in piano version, live, and there are few pianists better suited to perform him. If it could be said that one should see an opera for the music as much as the singing, it can be said of this production.

The last performance, with the alternate cast, is on January 25 at Academy of Vocal Arts. For more information, and for the schedule of AVA productions, visit www.avaopera.org.

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