Operatic Saint Louis

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Announces Casting for 2012 Spring Festival Season

2012-02-12T02:45:00.002-06:00

With the return of many St. Louis favorites and debuts by international stars, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis' 2012 casts are filled with fresh and exciting talent. The season begins with rising sensation Kendall Gladen in Bizet’s Carmen and continues with 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions winner Rachel Willis-Sørensen making her company debut as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.

Two-time Grammy nominee Rod Gilfry and Tony Award-winner Karen Ziemba make their debuts as the conniving pair at the center of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

The 2012 season comes to a close with the return of Ashley Emerson as Alice in the American premiere of Alice in Wonderland, the captivating new opera by Unsuk Chin and David Henry Hwang.

In addition to 27 principal artists, 34 singers were chosen for the 2012 Gerdine Young Artist program, Opera Theatre’s renowned program for developing young artists.

Single tickets to the 2012 Festival Season start at $25 and go on sale Saturday, February 25.

The 2012 Repertory

*Debut artist

Carmen (1875) by Georges Bizet, Henri Meilhac, and Ludovic Halévy.

Nine performances: May 19, 23, 25, 31, June 8, 10, 13 (matinee), 16, 23 (matinee).

Conductor: Carlos Izcaray*; stage director: Stephen Barlow*; costume and set designer: Paul Edwards*; lighting designer: Christopher Akerlind.

Carmen – Kendall Gladen; Don José – Adam Diegel*; Escamillo – Aleksey Bogdanov; Micaëla – Corinne Winters; Zuniga – Bradley Smoak; Frasquita – Jennifer Caraluzzi*; Mercedes – Shirin Eskandani*; Remendado – Michael Kuhn*; Dancairo – Thomas Gunther*; Morales – Hernan Berisso.

After over a century, Carmen remains perhaps the world’s most popular opera. This all-new production evokes a sand-swept, lusty Seville. Carmen will be the first starring role at Opera Theatre for St. Louis’s own Kendall Gladen, whose blazing talent first emerged in Opera Theatre’s Monsanto Artists-in-Training program when she was only 16 years old.

Adam Diegel*, recently seen as Froh in the Metropolitan Opera’s new staging of Das Rheingold, debuts as Don José. Three former Gerdine Young Artists (GYAs) return to the stage in principal roles –- Mabel Dorn Reeder Foundation Prize-winner Corinne Winters as Micaëla, Aleksey Bogdanov as the bullfighter Escamillo, and Bradley Smoak as Zuniga. Six smaller roles will also allow several current GYAs to shine.

Stephen Barlow* and Carlos Izcaray* make St. Louis debuts as director and conductor.

Sweeny Todd (1979); Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler.

Eight performances: May 26, 30, June 1, 7, 12 (matinee), 16 (matinee), 20, 24.

Conductor: Stephen Lord; stage director: Ron Daniels*; set designer: Riccardo Hernandez*; costume designer: Emily Rebholz*; lighting designer, Christopher Akerlind.

Sweeney Todd - Rod Gilfry*; Mrs. Lovett – Karen Ziemba*; Anthony Hope – Nathaniel Hackmann*; Johanna – Deanna Breiwick*; Tobias Ragg – Kyle Erdős Knapp*; Judge Turpin – Timothy Nolen; Beggar Woman – Susanne Mentzer; Beadle – Scott Ramsay*; Pirelli – Anthony Webb*.

Hailed in theaters and opera houses around the globe, this masterpiece of contemporary American music theater will be led by the powerhouse team of OTSL music director Stephen Lord and director Ron Daniels*.

Rod Gilfry*, whose opera credits include numerous roles at the Metropolitan Opera, makes his OTSL debut as Sweeney Todd. Gilfry last performed the role in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtèlet, drawing praise from the New York Times: “Gilfry sings magnificently as Todd and invests the character with an almost wholesome candor, that, through it all, keeps one mindful of the barber’s vulnerability.”

Karen Ziemba*, who received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Contact at Lincoln Center Theatre, debuts as his partner-in-crime, the batty Mrs. Lovett. Acclaimed opera stars Susanne Mentzer (Beggar Woman) and Timothy Nolen (Judge Turpin) both make highly-anticipated returns to the OTSL stage. The cast also includes debuts by Nathaniel Hackmann* (Anthony Hope), Deanna Brewick* (Johanna), Kyle Erdős Knapp* (Tobias Ragg), Scott Ramsay* (Beadle), and Anthony Webb* (Pirelli).

Così Fan Tutte (1790); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte; Six performances: June 3, 6, 9, 14, 20 (matinee), 22.

Conductor: Jean-Marie Zeitouni; stage director: Michael Shell; set and costume designer: James Schuette; lighting designer: Christopher Akerlind.

Fiordiligi – Rachel Willis-Sørensen*; Dorabella – Kathryn Leemhuis; Ferrando – David Portillo; Guglielmo – Liam Bonner; Despina – Jennifer Aylmer; Alfonso – Matthew Lau.

This shimmering romantic comedy features Mozart’s most unabashedly beautiful score and is the finale to OTSL’s cycle of Mozart and Da Ponte’s great operas. Rachel Willis-Sørensen* and former Gerdine Young Artist Kathryn Leemhuis (Zerlina in 2011’s Don Giovanni) match wits with Liam Bonner (Pelléas in OTSL’s 2011 season) and David Portillo (Don Ottavio in 2011’s Don Giovanni), as Così’s star-crossed lovers. Jennifer Aylmer is the cunning maid Despina and Matthew Lau is Alfonso. Michael Shell directs and Canada’s Jean-Marie Zeitouni conducts. “His dynamically nuanced… approach to the score [was] filled… with the kind of vitality that transcends centuries of cultural change,” said the Toronto Star.

Alice in Wonderland (2007); Unsuk Chin and David Henry Hwang.

Six performances: June 13, 15, 17, 19 (matinee), 21, 23; American premiere.

Conductor: Michael Christie; stage director: James Robinson; set designer: Allen Moyer; costume designer: James Schuette; lighting designer: Christopher Akerlind.

Alice – Ashley Emerson; Cheshire Cat – Tracy Dahl; Mad Hatter/Duck – Aubrey Allicock; White Rabbit – David Trudgen; Queen of Hearts – Julie Makerov*; Mouse/ Dormouse/Pat/Invisible Man – Matthew DiBattista; King of Hearts – Bradley Smoak; Caterpillar/Mock Turtle (dancer) – Seán Curran; Caterpillar (bass clarinet) – James Meyer.

Unsuk Chin’s dazzling musical invention finds captivating new voices for familiar friends in an unforgettable journey down the rabbit hole. Ashley Emerson, who received glowing reviews for her 2011 performance as Marie in The Daughter of the Regiment, stars as Alice. “Armed with a bright smile... and a gift for physical comedy, Ms. Emerson was captivating,” wrote the New York Times. The production features Aubrey Allicock as the Mad Hatter, Matthew DiBattista as the Dormouse (both featured in 2011’s The Death of Klinghoffer), Tracy Dahl as the Cheshire Cat, and David Trudgen as the White Rabbit (both featured in 2010’s The Golden Ticket). Making a much anticipated debut as the Queen of Hearts is Julie Makerov*, with Bradley Smoak (2011’s Masetto in Don Giovanni) as the King of Hearts. Choreographer Seán Curran dances the role of the Caterpillar.

About Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is one of the leading American festival opera companies, known for a spring season of inventive new productions, sung in English, featuring the finest American singers and accompanied by members of the St. Louis Symphony. As of 2011, Opera Theatre has presented 22 world premieres and 22 American premieres – which is perhaps the highest percentage of new work in the repertory of any U.S. company. Described by the Sunday Times of London as “one of the few American companies worth the transatlantic fare,” and by Opera Today as “the leading summer opera destination in the United States,” Opera Theatre of Saint Louis welcomed visitors from 45 states and 12 foreign countries in 2011. Although the size of the theater limits box office income to 26% of the budget, the company has consistently produced work of the highest quality while never accumulating a deficit.

Deborah Voigt Stars in "Götterdämmerung" on Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast and HD Transmission

2012-02-08T13:12:00.003-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 11 a.m. (Note one hour earlier than usual start time.) Approximate running time 5 hours, 50 minutes, with intermissions at approximately 1:00 p.m. and 2:50 p.m.

The Met says:

With its cataclysmic climax, the Met’s new Ring cycle, directed by Robert Lepage, comes to its resolution. Deborah Voigt stars as Brünnhilde and Jay Hunter Morris is Siegfried -— the star-crossed lovers doomed by fate. Fabio Luisi conducts.

The New York Times reported on February 7, 2012 that

Deborah Voigt withdrew from the Tuesday evening performance of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung because of illness, the Metropolitan Opera said. Katarina Dalayman will take her place in the role of Brünnhilde.

Voigt is scheduled to perform on Saturday, February 11.

In the January 28, 2012, New York Times, Anthony Tommasini writes:

Götterdämmerung, the final installment in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle, which opened on Friday, is the most theatrically effective staging of the four works in this epic series, and the clearest representation of the director Robert Lepage’s vision. That’s because with each installment Mr. Lepage has simplified the staging and used fewer of the capacities of Carl Fillion’s 45-ton set: the machine, as it has been called, a huge gizmo of 24 planks that rotate on an axle in combination with video projections to evoke rivers, cliffs, mountain passes, forest dwellings and more.

The old-fashioned imagery reveals how, at its core, Mr. Lepage’s Ring is quite a traditional production. Call it high-tech traditional. When summoned by Hagen, the vassals (the phenomenal men of the Met chorus) appear in woodsmen garb with spears and swords. Sentries are positioned atop the rafters to guard the hall. François St-Aubin’s costumes, if unremarkable, are handsomely realistic.

Instead of continually twisting into different contortions, as in earlier installments, the set remained stationary during extended scenes. On Friday this allowed you to focus on the exciting musical performance. Fabio Luisi has taken over the conducting of the Ring from James Levine, who continues to grapple with health problems and has withdrawn from all performances at the Met through next season. Mr. Luisi drew an uncommonly articulate and nuanced account of this daunting opera (a nearly six-hour evening with two intermissions) from the Met orchestra.

At his best in years past Mr. Levine revealed more mystery and awe in the score. But Mr. Luisi’s lucid, textured and urgent conducting was distinguished. He received a huge ovation.

The American tenor Jay Hunter Morris, who took over the title role in Siegfried on short notice in October, was again impressive here. He has found his own way to sing this heldentenor role with a lighter yet athletic and youthful sound. His clarion top notes project nicely over the orchestra. With his barrel chest and limberness, he inhabits the headstrong young Siegfried. When he stumbles upon the flirtatious Rhinemaidens in Act III, Mr. Morris waves an endearing hello, like a gawking adolescent saying, “Hi there, girls.”

The soprano Deborah Voigt received a rousing ovation for her Brünnhilde, and it is hard to imagine that she has ever been as gratified. In recent years she has gone through a rough period as a singer. Whether her vocal problems were precipitated by weight-reduction surgery in 2004, which she discussed openly the following year, is hard to say. But her voice has lost gleam, warmth and power.

The High Definition transmission of Götterdämmerung will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; O'Fallon 14, 900 Caledonia Drive; and The Hett, McKendree College, 701 College Road, Lebanon, IL. Click here to buy tickets.

Anna Netrebko Stars In Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" On Met's Saturday Matinee Broadcast

2012-02-02T16:39:00.002-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 11 a.m. (Note one hour earlier than usual start time.) Approximate running time 3 hours, 30 minutes, with an intermission at approximately 1:45 p.m.

The Met says:

Anna Netrebko opens the Met season with her portrayal of the ill-fated queen driven insane by her unfaithful king. She sings one of opera's greatest mad scenes in this Met premiere production by David McVicar. Ekaterina Gubanova is her rival, Jane Seymour, Ildar Abdrazakov sings Henry VIII, and Marco Armiliato conducts.

In the September 27, 2011, New York Times, Anthony Tommasini wrote:

Since arriving at the Metropolitan Opera as general manager in 2006, Peter Gelb has been angling to make the soprano Anna Netrebko a house prima donna in the old-world sense: a first among equals. On Monday night Mr. Gelb must have felt that the plan was working.

To open the Met’s season, Ms. Netrebko sang the punishing title role of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena in the company’s first production of this breakthrough Donizetti work from 1830. The extended last scene was the high point of Ms. Netrebko’s performance as the distraught British queen (based on the historic Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII). Having been falsely condemned for betraying her husband, Anna drifts in and out of sanity.

Ms. Netrebko sang an elegantly sad aria with lustrous warmth, aching vulnerability and floating high notes. When the audience broke into prolonged applause and bravos, Ms. Netrebko seemed to break character and smile a couple of times, though her look could have been taken as appropriate to the dramatic moment, since the delusional Anna is lost in reverie about happy days with her former lover.

Then, at the end of this “Mad Scene,” Anna, restored to horrific reality, curses the “wicked couple,” the king and his new queen, and stalks off to her execution, insisting implausibly that she is not seeking divine retribution but going to her grave with mercy on her lips. Ms. Netrebko dispatched Donizetti’s cabaletta, all fiery coloratura runs and vehement phrases, with a defiance that brought down the house.

Review of Winter Opera's "Araidne auf Naxos"

2012-01-29T20:04:00.001-06:00

Winter Opera’s ambitious production of Strauss’s seriocomic Ariadne auf Naxos was impressive, given the size of the cast and intellectual complexity of the piece.

The combination of mythological drama and bel canto–style comedy might have been a bit of a stretch for the fledgling company, but ultimately the problems were more with the material itself and the venue than with the performance.

Ariadne auf Naxos is an odd duck by any standard. It was originally written as a one-act postlude to a German translation by Strauss’s frequent collaborator Hugo von Hofmannsthal of Moliere’s comedy “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” in 1912. The difficulty and expense of mounting a play and an opera on the same bill eventually forced Strauss and Hofmannsthal to produce a rewrite that allowed the opera to stand on its own. It was first performed in 1916 and has been in circulation ever since.

The comic Prologue sets up the situation: the “richest man in Vienna” has engaged both a production of the tragic opera “Ariadne auf Naxos” and a commedia dell’arte troupe as after-dinner entertainment for his guests. To save time, he decrees that both shows must take place simultaneously. The performers can work out the details. The resulting conflicts between the opera company’s Composer, Music Master, Prima Donna, and Tenor on one side and Zerbinetta and her group of buffoons on the other generate plenty of laughs, most of them at the expense of the self-important composer and his egotistical leading lady.

After intermission, we see the hybrid opera within an opera set up in the Prologue. Abandoned on Naxos, Ariadne (with the help of three nymphs) yearns for death, but her lamentations are repeatedly interrupted by Zerbinetta and company, who are determined to cheer her up. Drama eventually wins out, however, when Bacchus arrives, declares his love, and joins Ariadne in a long, rapturous love duet.

The opera within an opera has been a bit of a problem from the beginning. At least one early British critic, for example, found the scene with Bacchus to be tedious. My view is that getting the audience to take Ariadne seriously is a tough sell, considering how effective Strauss and Hofmannsthal have been at making fun of the pretensions of operatic tragedy. Strauss’s music shifts the mood appropriately, but you still need fully committed and compelling performances by Ariadne and Bacchus to pull off that big a change in tone.

Winter Opera had a pair of strong voices in soprano Meredith Hoffman-Thompson and tenor Scott Six, but neither of them were particularly convincing in that final scene. Ms. Hoffman-Thompson’s stock theatrical gestures, which worked so well when Ariadne was a foil for Zerbinetta and company, felt out of place, and Mr. Six seemed not to be acting at all. They made beautiful music, but I don’t think that’s enough to compensate for the problem Strauss and Hofmannsthal created.

Comedy was king in this Ariadne. Soprano Mary Thorne wowed the crowd with her coloratura fireworks and was convincingly seductive in her scenes with the terribly serious young Composer, a “pants” role sung with appropriate intensity by mezzo Sarah Heltzel. As Zerbinetta’s four clowns, John-Andrew Fernandez, Charles Martinez, Zach Rabin, and Jon Garrett impressed with their fine quartet singing and physical comedy. Director Marie Allyn King’s decision to make them into the four Marx Brothers, complete with choreography lifted from Duck Soup, was an inspired one.

Baritone Eric McCluskey was all wisdom, authority, and precise diction as the Music Master. His scenes with Philip Touchette’s pompous Major-Domo (a spoken role) set the comic tone for the “Prologue” nicely. The voices of Megan Higgins, Sara Gottman, and Rachel L. Smith blended beautifully as Ariadne’s long-suffering nymphs.

The costumes by Teresa Doggett (a.k.a. The Hardest-Working Woman in Show Biz) were unfailingly appropriate, and I loved the Marx Brothers outfits. Rebecca Hatelid is credited with the English supertitles, which are easily visible above the stage. The translation struck me as a bit clumsy, but it did the job.

Conductor Timothy Semanik’s small orchestra (20 players vs. the 30 or more Strauss calls for) had a surprisingly big sound, some opening night intonation issues aside. There were certainly balance issues with the singers, but fewer than I would have expected given then physical limitations of the venue.

Speaking of which: Ariadne was staged in the opulent second-floor ballroom of The St. Louis Woman’s Club, a converted 1895 mansion at 4600 Lindell in the Central West End. Given that the opera takes place in the ballroom of a mansion, that added a bit of extra-musical resonance, especially when you consider that there was an optional dinner preceding the show downstairs. The downside was that the orchestra had to be placed on the ballroom floor in front of the stage, with the audience behind them on freestanding chairs. There were no risers, so sightlines are a problem for all but the first few rows.

It was not, in short, an ideal arrangement. It’s a testament to Winter Opera’s skill and dedication that their Ariadne was, despite these limitations, both artistically satisfying and highly entertaining for most of its length.

Now in its fifth season and with a new home at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade Preparatory School, Winter Opera stands poised to be an important player in the growing opera scene locally. If this production was any indication, we can expect great things from them.

Winter Opera’s Ariadne auf Naxos was presented on Friday and Sunday, January 27 and 29. Their season concludes with “La Boheme” at the Viragh Center on March 2 and 4. For more information, you may visit winteroperastl.org.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic at 88.1 KDHX, where this review originally appeared.

The Critics on "Ariadne auf Naxos"

2012-01-28T16:11:00.003-06:00

Winter Opera Saint Louis' production of Ariadne auf Naxos opened last night. Here's a sample of what Sarah Bryan Miller of the Post-Dispatch and Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX had to say about the production:

Sarah Bryan Miller:

"Soprano Meredith Hoffmann-Thomson's Prima Donna/Ariadne has the goods for this demanding role, with a big, soaring voice that never stinted with the high notes. ... Sarah Heltzel, the Composer, has a gorgeous instrument and was a believably angst-ridden young man. Soprano Mary Thorne brought the requisite knowing sexiness, effortless coloratura runs and solid acting skills to the role of Zerbinetta."

Chuck Lavazzi:

"Comedy is king in this 'Ariadne'. Soprano Mary Thorne wowed the crowd with her coloratura fireworks and was convincingly seductive in her scenes with the terribly serious young Composer, a 'pants' role sung with appropriate intensity by mezzo Sarah Heltzel.

Now in its fifth season and with a new home at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade Preparatory School, Winter Opera stands poised to be an important player in the growing opera scene locally. If this production is any indication, we can expect great things from them."

Winter Opera Saint Louis' final performance of Ariadne auf Naxos takes place tomorrow Sunday, January 29 at 3pm at the St. Louis Woman’s Club located at 4600 Lindell Boulevard (map). The production is sung in German with projected English supertitles. Tickets for performances and the post-performance dinner may be purchased by calling Winter Opera Saint Louis at 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ For further information on the company, its future performances and special events, visit winteroperastl.org.

Patricia Racette Returns as "Tosca" on Met's Saturday Matinee Broadcast, January 28

2012-01-26T10:49:00.003-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, with intermissions at approximately 12:45 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.

The Met says:

Patricia Racette won plaudits when she first sang the title role at the Met in 2010. Now she she's back with Robert Dean Smith as her heroic lover, Cavaradossi. James Morris is Scarpia.

CBC Radio 2 reports:

"A shabby little shocker" is how the opera Tosca has been described. One French critic called it "coarsely puerile, pretentious and vapid." Even the New York Times felt compelled to comment that "Puccini will do better with a better story." It's a tale that features torture, attempted assault and murder, and to this day audiences can't seem to get enough of it. Before there was C.S.I. or Law and Order SVU, there was Puccini's Tosca!

The 2011-2012 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with a live broadcast of Puccini's Tosca, starring Patricia Racette as the fiery title character, Marcelo Álvarez as her lover, the idealistic Cavaradossi, and James Morris as the villain Scarpia. Finnish conductor Mikko Franck makes his Met debut with this season's performances of Tosca, and veteran bass Paul Plishka, whose distinguished Met career spans more than 40 years, sings the role of the Sacristan in his final Met performance.

Earlier this season, Plishka decided that this performance would be his farewell to the Met. Since his debut as a monk in Ponchielli's La Gioconda on September 21, 1967, he has sung more than 1,600 Met performances in 88 roles, including the title roles in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and Verdi's Falstaff, Philip II in Don Carlo, and Leporello in Don Giovanni. During the first intermission, an onstage presentation will mark his final performance. The radio broadcast will carry this special moment as part of its intermissions, along with backstage interviews with the stars and the "Opera Quiz."

"Ariadne auf Naxos" Opens Friday Night

2012-01-23T08:00:00.004-06:00

Winter Opera Saint Louis continues its fifth season this weekend. After a successful production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s A Grand Night For Singing at the newly opened Skip Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade, the company returns to the operatic repertoire with a production of Richard Strauss’ opera Ariadne auf Naxos to be performed on Friday, January 27th at 8pm and Sunday, January 29th at 3pm at the Saint Louis Woman’s Club at 4600 Lindell Boulevard.

Scored to a libretto by Strauss’ longtime collaborator Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Ariadne auf Naxos combines beautifully the elements of grand opera and commedia dell’arte slapstick. The wealthiest man in Vienna summons two groups of musicians to perform at his home: a burlesque ensemble led by the saucy Zerbinetta and an opera company to perform the serious opera Ariadne auf Naxos, written by a passionate young composer. When both groups arrive, the Major-Domo announces that bothcompanies have to perform simultaneously…or not get paid.

THE SINGERS

(Pictured Clockwise from top Left: Hoffmann-Thomson, Six, Thorne, Heltzel)

Winter Opera Saint Louis presents a cast, crew and orchestra comprised of artists from across the country. Several principal singers make their company debut: Soprano Meredith Hoffmann-Thomson, who has performed with Opera Theatre Saint Louis and Sarasota Opera, sings the role of the opera company’s Prima Donna (later Ariadne). Tenor Scott Six, a 2010 first place winner in the Wagner Division of the Liederkranz Vocal Competition in NYC, sings the role of the Tenor (later Bacchus). Mezzo-soprano Sarah Heltzel, an artist with Seattle Opera, Indianapolis Opera and Syracuse Opera, sings the pants role of the idealistic young Composer. A frequent soloist with Amato Opera and Bronx Opera, Soprano Mary Thorne sings the coloratura-infused role of Zerbinetta. The full cast list can be found by clicking here.

THE CREW

Conductor Timothy Semanik of Ann Arbor Opera and Great Lakes Lyric Opera makes his Winter Opera Saint Louis debut. Stage Director Marie Allyn King, well versed in opera, theatre, musical comedy and cabaret, returns to stage Ariadne after last season’s La Traviata. Nancy Mayo, adjunct professor of in piano and accompanying at Webster University and resident collaborative pianist with Winter Opera Saint Louis, serves as rehearsal pianist. Teresa Doggett, whose designs grace the stages of several theatre companies and Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis, serves as costume designer. Sean Savoie of Washington University’s Performing Arts Department and The MUNY in Forest Park serves as lighting designer.

IN THE MEDIA

Be sure to read Sarah Bryan Miller’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch story on the production including an interview with Meredith Hoffmann-Thomson. Patricia Rice has interviewed Artistic Director Gina Galati on Ariadne auf Naxos and the rest of the season for the St. Louis Beacon.

IF YOU GO...

Ariadne auf Naxos will be performed on Friday, January 27th at 8pm and Sunday, January 29th at 3pm at the St. Louis Woman’s Club located at 4600 Lindell Boulevard (map). The production is sung in German with projected English supertitles.

Why not add a sumptuous dinner with fellow opera patrons to your evening? Chef Leon Dubinovsky prepares a dinner on Friday evening at 6pm before the performance and after the Sunday performance. Dinner cost is $45 per person. Menu can be seen here.

Tickets for performances and the dinner may be purchased by calling Winter Opera Saint Louis at 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ For further information on the company, its future performances and special events, visit winteroperastl.org.

"The Enchanted Island" Met's Saturday Matinee Combines Shakespeare with Baroque Opera

2012-01-20T14:11:00.002-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of The Enchanted Island on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, 5 minutes. Intermission at approximately 1:30 p.m.

The Met's web site says:

In one extraordinary new work, lovers of Baroque opera have it all: the world’s best singers, glorious music of the Baroque masters, and a story drawn from Shakespeare. In The Enchanted Island, the lovers from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are shipwrecked on his other-worldly island of The Tempest. Inspired by the musical pastiches and masques of the 18th century, the work showcases arias and ensembles by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, and others, and a new libretto by Jeremy Sams. Eminent conductor William Christie leads an all-star cast with David Daniels (Prospero) and Joyce DiDonato (Sycorax) as the formidable foes, Plácido Domingo as Neptune, Danielle de Niese as Ariel, and Luca Pisaroni as Caliban. Lisette Oropesa and Anthony Roth Costanzo play Miranda and Ferdinand.

The High Definition transmission of The Enchanted Island will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; O'Fallon 14, 900 Caledonia Drive; and The Hett, McKendree College, 701 College Road, Lebanon, IL. Click here to buy tickets.

"Ariadne auf Naxos" at Winter Opera Saint Louis on Jan 27 & 29

2012-01-18T07:00:00.001-06:00

Can grand opera and madcap slapstick coexist onstage?

The richest man in Vienna seems to think so, as long as the fireworks at his party can go off at nine o’clock sharp!

Winter Opera Saint Louis invites you to experience the intersection of high and low art in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, which opens next weekend. Artistic Director Gina Galati and Music Director Steven Jarvi have assembled a cast and crew of artists from across the country to bring this beloved opera to St. Louis audiences. Performances take place on Friday, January 27th at 8pm and Sunday, January 29th at 3pm at the Saint Louis Woman’s Club (4600 Lindell Boulevard). Production sung in German with projected English supertitles.

TICKETS may be purchased by calling Winter Opera Saint Louis at 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ Why not consider adding a sumptuous dinner to your opera jaunt? Tickets for dinner at the Woman’s Club before the Friday performance or after the Sunday performance are also on sale!

Be sure to check back here at Operatic Saint Louis, the Saint Louis Beacon as well as the A&E Section of this Sunday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch for more news. For further information, visit http://www.winteroperastl.org/

Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne Star in the Met's Archive Broadcast Saturday Afternoon

2012-01-13T14:29:00.000-06:00

Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge from the New York Times, April 12, 1970

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera's archival broadcast of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma starring Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne from April 4, 1970 on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon.

Harold C. Schonberg reviewed a performance of Norma in the March 5, 1970, edition of the New York Times saying

There was screaming Tuesday night at the Metropolitan Opera and for once it did not come from the stage. The eagerly awaited debut of Marilyn Horne in Bellini's Norma, singing opposite Joan Sutherland, in a new production, was the stimulus.

After each aria and ensemble of those two thoroughbreds, Sutherland and Horne, the house erupted. Miss Horne, at the end of the third act (the two acts of Norma have been divided into four), received standing ovation. People just stood, applauding and yelling. Miss Sutherland got the same treatment after the fourth act.

Norma was last done at the Metropolitan with Maria Callas, in the 1956-57 season. Whatever the virtues of La Callas and of course they were many, she did not begin to sing the role as well as Miss Sutherland did last night. And this is despite the well-known category of Sutherland liabilities -- her sloppy diction ("Costa diva" instead of "Casta," and so on), her occasional lapses from pitch, her habit of sliding into notess, her rather sluggish rhythm.

I know it all, and I couldn't care less. Miss Sutherland has the most glowing, the richest and most sensuous-sounding voice, of any soprano before the public, and she is one of the most exciting technicians.

Miss Horne has many of Miss Sutherland's attributes with several pluses and one minus. Her big, securely produced voice does not have the sensuous sheen of Sutherland's. But she is a better musician, has better diction, sings with better rhythm and clearer shape to the phrase, and has a wider compass. Miss Sutherland is not happy with low notes. Miss Horne, a mezzo-soprano, has the low notes together with the top of a dramatic soprano.

During the intermission, Marilyn Horne and conductor Richard Bonynge will
discuss Joan Sutherland and their performance of Norma.

In the April 12, 1970, edition of the New York Times, Judy Klemesrud called the Norma "the big hit of the season." Klemesrud also wrote:

The first question is obvious. How did the world's leading prima donna, whose rich and glowing voice shoots arrows of spun gold all the way to the top balcony, react to all the praise and attention heaped upon Horne?

Miss Sutherland chuckles, not nervously but good-naturedly. Before she answers, she glances across the living room at her husband, Richard ("Ricky") Bonynge, a dark-eyed man with salt-and-pepper hair who is four years her junior (she's 43), who conducts all her operas, and who looks like a French matinee idol. He smiles and gently prods her, "Tell her, dear."

"Well," the Australian soprano says, "it was, after all, her debut at the Met, and she is an American artist, and frankly deserves no end of praise. Jackie [Miss Horne's nickname -- her brother wanted a baby brother] is a very fine singer, especially in this type of role. And, dear, it's not like I've never shared the spotlight before."

Bonynge cuts into the conversation. "The idea is not to have one great singer surrounded by a bunch of nitwits," he says. "When the others are good, too, that's when you get something happening in opera."

Engelbert Humperdinck’s "Hansel and Gretel" Met's Saturday Matinee Broadcast on January 7

2012-01-05T10:50:00.001-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 2 hours, 10 minutes with an intermission at approximately 1:00 p.m.

The Met's web site says:

The Met’s wickedly funny production returns as this season’s English-language holiday presentation for families. Aleksandra Kurzak is Gretel, with Alice Coote alternating as Hansel. Robert Brubaker is the witch who plots to bake them into gingerbread.

In a December 18, 2011, review in the New York Times Steve Smith says:

Grimm’s fairy tales are hardly kids’ stuff: a point that Humperdinck’s buoyantly luscious music, Adelheid Wette’s slightly softened libretto and David Pountney’s quippy English translation don’t disguise. Richard Jones, the director, cleverly based his imaginative 2007 production around the relatable notion of gnawing hunger; two acts set in kitchens frame a central scene set in a haunted forest that magically transforms into a whimsical dining room.

That second act, with its animated trees, pudding-faced chefs and dignified fish waiter, probably held the most charm for the scores of children on hand. A cheer also went up when the Witch — played to the hilt by the tenor Robert Brubaker — was booted into her own oversize oven in the end.

You had the sense that the cast knew its audience well. The mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey (who alternates in the role with Alice Coote), as Hansel, and the soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, as Gretel, sang beautifully and well. The Polish-born Ms. Kurzak’s lightly accented English earned mostly top marks.

Get Ready for the New Year with the Met's Saturday Matinee Archival Broadcast of Strauss's "Die Fledermaus" from 1951

2011-12-28T10:45:00.004-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera's archival broadcast of Richard Strauss's Die Fledermaus from 1951 on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon.

WETA's web site says:

The light-hearted work, a traditional New Year’s favorite at opera companies, features an extraordinary cast led by longtime Philadelphia Orchestra music director Eugene Ormandy in his Met debut season: Patrice Munsel as Adele, Marguerite Piazza as Rosalinde, Risë Stevens as Prince Orlofsky, Richard Tucker as Alfred, John Brownlee as Dr. Falke, Charles Kullman as Eisenstein, and Oscar-nominated comic actor Jack Gilford in the speaking role of Frosch.

Munsel, just 25 years old at the time of this broadcast, had a major success in the role of the ambitious maid Adele. She was already an established Met star by 1951, having made her Met debut in Thomas’s Mignon eight years earlier at the age of 18. Piazza—well-known to television audiences for her regular role on Sid Caesar’s enormously popular “Your Show of Shows” —- made her Met debut in the role of Rosalinde and went on to a long career in cabaret, Broadway, and television. This season’s performances of Fledermaus were the only times Stevens and Tucker sang in the operetta in their long and acclaimed Met careers, each of which spanned four decades and included hundreds of performances.

The single intermission will include “In Memoriam,” a tribute to Met stars who have passed away during the previous year. Among the artists to be featured are Giorgio Tozzi, Cornell MacNeil, and Salvatore Licitra.

Donizetti's "La Fille du Régiment" Met Saturday Matinee Broadast

2011-12-22T10:34:00.001-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Gaetano Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 2 hours, 50 minutes with intermission at approximately 1:20 p.m.

The Met's web site says:

Nino Machaidze is Donizetti’s spunky heroine in Laurent Pelly’s witty production. Her Tonio is Lawrence Brownlee, who delivers all nine high Cs of his famous aria with aplomb, and Kiri Te Kanawa is the Duchess of Krakenthorp

Caitlin McKechney, writing on The Classical Review web site says:

Donizetti’s comedies offer a mix of the bel canto fireworks of Rossini and an anticipation of Verdian majesty with a touch of Gilbert and Sullivan humor. La Fille may be one of Donizetti’s best-known operas, but it is largely famous for Ah mes amis, the “Mount Everest” of tenor arias with its nine high C’s.

Lawrence Brownlee delivered a magnificent rendition of the star-making aria, which famously catapulted a young Pavarotti to fame in the Met’s 1972 production. As the love-struck Tonio, Brownlee’s tone was full and even throughout, providing a bravura delivery of the Act 1 show-stopper. The tenor was also endearingly awkward in his lederhosen as he professes his love of Marie, the adopted daughter of the resident French soldiers, his vocal triumphs even more satisfying coming from this underdog character.

But, despite the renown of that famous aria, the show really belongs to Marie, who was enthusiastically portrayed and compellingly sung by Nino Machaidze. The Georgian soprano was spunky and appropriately tom-boyish, managing to bring dramatic interest to the regimental battle cry of the Act I Chacun le sait, turning the potentially sing-songy aria into an acrobatic display of comic gold.

Liping Zhang Stars as Madama Butterfly on Met's Saturday Matinee Broadcast

2011-12-12T09:43:00.000-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, 10 minutes with intermissions at approximately 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.

The Met says:

Anthony Minghella’s breathtakingly beautiful staging returns with Liping Zhang as the tragic heroine. Robert Dean Smith and Marcello Giordani share the role of the faithless Pinkerton and Plácido Domingo conducts.

In the December 8, 2011, New York Times, Steve Smith writes:
Puccini’s sumptuous music, potently allusive and ideally flowing as if unspooled in an endless thread, is the most obvious and unshakable asset in any account of Butterfly. The story, however familiar, is reliably gripping; the characters are relatable, whether through pity or revulsion.

The current production — created by Anthony Minghella at the English National Opera, introduced at the Met in 2006 as the calling card of the Peter Gelb era and now keenly stewarded by Carolyn Choa, the director and choreographer — is among the most effective productions Mr. Gelb has brought into the house.

A compelling Cio-Cio-San, the geisha of the title, is crucial; Liping Zhang, a Chinese-Canadian soprano who has sung the part at the Met and elsewhere around the world, was an arresting presence. She sang vividly and affectingly, and acted with palpable commitment.

Gounod's "Faust" Saturday Met Matinee Broadcast and High Definition Transmission

2011-12-08T10:43:00.011-06:00

Jonas Kaufmann as Faust
St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Charles Gounod’s Faust on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, 40 minutes with intermissions at approximately 12:50 p.m. and 2:15 p.m.

You may also listen to Faust via a live stream of the broadcast.

The Met says:

With Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, René Pape as the devil, and Marina Poplavskaya as Marguerite, Gounod’s classic retelling of the Faust legend couldn’t be better served. Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff updates the story to the first half of the 20th century with a production that won praise in London last season. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts on the heels of his Don Carlo success.

In the New York Times, November 30, 2011, Anthony Tommasini wrote:

It is best to put aside any knowledge you may have of Goethe when attending a performance of Gounod’s Faust. There is beautiful music -— stirring ensembles and a few gotcha arias —- in Gounod’s score. But this melodramatic opera is anything but philosophical.

The standard rap against Faust is that Gounod turns the characters into stereotypes, with music to match. As Gounod presents him, Faust, an embittered old philosopher who has signed a contract with the Devil, becomes just another in a line of dashing young tenor heroes pining for a young woman and showing off his top notes. Gounod’s Méphistophélès seems far too charming to be malevolent; and the pretty young Marguerite is a little shallow, smitten as much by a casket of jewels as by the young Faust’s ardor.

The High Definition transmission of Faust will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; O'Fallon 14, 900 Caledonia Drive; and The Hett, McKendree College, 701 College Road, Lebanon, IL. Click here to buy tickets.

Watch a brief video by clicking here

Union Avenue Opera Presents Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" This Weekend

2011-12-05T08:00:00.001-06:00

Union Avenue Opera adds to St. Louis' flourishing holiday music scene this weekend with Gian-Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, opening Friday evening. Journey back in time to the Middle East during the first century, and meet the young, crippled shepherd Amahl, and his widowed mother. Their lives are changed forever by a mysterious star in the night sky and the arrival of three kings seeking a wondrous child. What follows is an enduring tale of the power of faith and how ordinary kindness leads to miracles. Amahl and the Night Visitors is sure to captivate audiences of every generation. It’s also a perfect way to bring the family together!

St. Charles native Ricky Johnson, veteran of UAO’s production, returns to sing the title role of Amahl. Last seen in her critically acclaimed performance as Mrs. Patrick DeRocher in this summer's Dead Man Walking, Mezzo-soprano Debra Hillabrand makes her role debut as Amahl’s Mother. Also fresh from their appearances in Dead Man Walking are Tenor Clark Sturdevant as King Kaspar and Baritone Robert Reed as King Melchior. Returning after his company debut in the 2010 production, Bass-Baritone Todd Payne sings King Balthazar. Tenor Philip Touchette will sing The Page. A chorus of local singers and dancers rounds out the cast. No stranger to UAO, Allyson Ditchey serves as stage director. UAO Artistic Director and Conductor Scott Schoonover will conduct a chamber orchestra.

Last season, UAO opened its doors to school children for a complimentary Thursday matinee performance and will do so again this year on December 8th at 10am. Inquire with the company for ticket availability.

Join fellow opera patrons for a FREE opening night lecture on Amahl and the Night Visitors in the UACC Fellowship Hall on Friday, December 9th at 7pm. Non-ticket buyers welcome.

Amahl and the Night Visitors runs December 9th (8pm), 10th (5pm) and 11th (3pm). Tickets range $15-$47 and are available by contacting the Union Avenue Opera Box Office at 314.361.2881 or visiting http://www.unionavenueopera.org/ The opera was commissioned especially for television and was first performed by NBC Television Opera Theatre in 1951. The production will be performed in English with projected supertitles at Union Avenue Opera, 733 North Union Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108 and has a run time of approximately 50 minutes.

Renee Fleming Reprises Title Role in "Rodelinda" on Met Saturday Matinee on December 3

2011-12-01T09:08:00.001-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of George Frideric Handels’s Rodelinda on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 11:30 a.m. Please note the half-hour earlier starting time.

You may also listen to Rodelinda via a live stream of the broadcast. Approximate running time 4 hours, 5 minutes. Intermissions at 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Renée Fleming, sensational in the 2004 Met premiere of Stephen Wadsworth’s much-heralded production, reprises the title role. She’s joined by Stephanie Blythe and countertenor Andreas Scholl, and Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts.

In the November 15, 2011, New York Times, James Oestreich writes:

In addition to Ms. Fleming’s star power, Stephen Wadsworth’s direction has received much credit for the production’s initial success and durability. And direction is surely needed.

The plot —- here updated more or less to the time the opera was written, 1725 -— defies quick description. It involves Bertarido, a king of Milan thought by most onstage, including his wife, Rodelinda, to be dead; his sister, Eduige, betrothed to Grimoaldo, who is now bent on claiming Rodelinda and, not incidentally, the throne; and two counselors to Grimoaldo: the sweet Unolfo, loyal to Bertarido (and aware that he is alive), and the irredeemably base Garibaldo, who meets an appropriate end at the point of Bertarido’s sword.

Opportunities for drama are obvious, but the work’s structure is unyielding. Ms. Fleming, in a Playbill interview, calls Rodelinda “a Handel opera with 30 arias and no ensembles.” Though she discounts the gorgeous duet that ends Act II and the lively quintet that ends the whole, she might have added that the arias are of the da capo variety: an A section giving way to B, then returning, however decorated or transformed.

Mr. Wadsworth’s pointed direction keeps the action moving forward even when the music circles back, though not without occasional distractions. For one, as Eduige, the formidable mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, sings at center stage, Rodelinda travels to a remote perch in the palace library — which, in Thomas Lynch’s set design, spans the stage —- to fetch a book for her son, Flavio. Who can ignore Ms. Fleming even when she is marking time?

The High Definition transmission of Rodelinda will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; and O'Fallon 14, 900 Caledonia Drive. Click here to buy tickets.

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presents Joshua's Boots at the Touhill Performing Arts Center - Nov. 16 - 18

2011-11-10T16:25:00.006-06:00

Opera for young people celebrates the achievements of a young African-American cowboy facing prejudice and adversity in the 1870’s American West

St. Louis, MO – Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) will present school and public performances of Joshua’s Boots, an opera for young people featuring a cast of students from across the metro area, at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of University of Missouri – St. Louis on November 16-18.

Set in 1878, Joshua’s Boots is the story of a black teenager who flees from his Tennessee home to seek opportunity in the American West. After racial violence leaves him without a father, Joshua ends up in Dodge City where he is hired by the son of an ex-Confederate ranch owner. After battling hardship and prejudice, he eventually thrives as a cowboy – a fact symbolized by his handsome silver-tipped boots, an emblem of top achievement in the cowboys’ world. Introducing young audiences to opera and a new perspective on the American cowboy, Joshua’s Boots is recommended for families and children fourth grade through twelfth grade.

Written by Adolphus Hailstork with a libretto by Susan Kander, Joshua’s Boots was co-commissioned by OTSL and Lyric Opera of Kansas City in 1999. OTSL’s new production is directed by Michael Shell and conducted by Joseph Marcheso. The production is designed by Robert Morgan with costumes by Jennifer “J.C.” Krajicek and lighting by Joe Clapper.

Joshua’s Boots will be performed by a cast of twenty-one students from the metro area. Eight of the students are current participants or recent alumni of OTSL’s acclaimed Monsanto Artists-in-Training program, which provides college level voice instruction to select high school students throughout St. Louis city and county. The students will be joined by three young professional artists: soprano Katherine Jolly, a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions winner and Yum-Yum in OTSL’s 2007 production of The Mikado; baritone Jorell Williams, a recent prizewinner of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition; and tenor Kyle Erdős Knapp, an OTSL Gerdine Young Artist during the 2011 season.

Joshua’s Boots is made possible with a leadership gift from Dana Brown Charitable Trust, U.S. Bank Trustee and with generous support from Monsanto Fund, with special thanks to Pi Beta Phi/Sign of the Arrow. Joshua’s Boots is part of OTSL’s award-winning education and outreach programs, which annually reach nearly 11,500 children throughout Missouri and Illinois.

A public performance will be presented on Friday, November 18 at 7 p.m. at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, University of Missouri – St. Louis. Tickets are $12 per person and are available by calling (314) 516-4949 or (866) 516-4949 or online at www.touhill.org.

Four performances for schools will be held on Wednesday, November 16 at 11 a.m., Thursday, November 17 at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., and Friday, November 18 at 10 a.m. Tickets for the school performances are $6 for students and teachers. Excerpts from the opera will also be performed for home school audiences on Wednesday, October 26 at 10:30 a.m. as part of the Missouri History Museum’s Homeschool Days program. Contact Dan Mayo at (314) 963-4251 or 251@opera-stl.org to reserve tickets for the school performances.

Winter Opera Saint Louis: The Fifth Season

2011-10-25T18:20:00.000-05:00

Winter Opera Saint Louis' fifth season features a revue of American musical theater, a landmark in German opera and one of the most beloved Italian blockbusters. If that isn't enough operatic excitement, the company has recently acquired a new warehouse, permanent office space in the Hill neighborhood, a new venue and hired a music director. Company founder and artistic director Gina Galati shares her elation over the many improvements to the company's operations.

The company's permanent warehouse space "makes a big difference," says Galati. For the first three years of its existence, Winter Opera Saint Louis depended on the generosity of supportive individuals and arts organizations to help store accumulated props, sets and costumes. After discussing a need for storage space with production sponsor Dr. Daniel Phillips, Galati was soon approached by Phillips and Mark Tempkin with an offer of a 10,000 square foot warehouse they currently co-owned. The space has been in use since March, and Galati looks forward to the possibilities it will afford the company, primarily investment into more props, costumes and scenery. Once the space is filled, Galati wants to rent out inventory to other opera companies in the area. Above all, the artistic director finds having one dedicated storage location far easier on operations.

With a new storage space acquired, the hunt was on for permanent office space. Until mid-September, the opera office was set up in Galati's home on the Hill. The office situation was "getting to be too much in my house, and this is a logical progression," Galati says, "and in order for us to grow, we needed a workspace." The company found a partial sponsor for a space located on Marconi Avenue in the heart of the Hill neighborhood amidst popular establishments Amighetti's, Milo's and Gelato di Riso. Galati finds the location advantageous given the number of visitors to the Hill throughout the week. Even when the office is closed, passersby can take brochures from an outdoor stand. It is also quite fitting that Winter Opera Saint Louis' office sits right across the street from St. Ambrose Catholic Church, where the company (then under the name "New Opera Saint Louis") performed its inaugural production of Verdi's Rigoletto in 2007, followed by later productions of Don Pasquale, Gianni Schicchi and, most recently, Cavalleria Rusticana. Not surprisingly, Galati appreciates the lack of an office in her own home. "It's great to go to work and then go home with nothing from the office in my house!"

The fifth season kicks off with Rodgers & Hammerstein's A Grand Night For Singing at a new venue both for Winter Opera Saint Louis and Chaminade Preparatory School: the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts. When Galati heard of Skip Viragh's generous gift to Chaminade, she engaged the opera company's lawyer to arrange a meeting with Chaminade's School Board President to propose a seasonal presence at the venue. Galati says Chaminade received "several recommendations from Washington University" including several calls of support from local Monsignors. "We used the Catholic connection, for sure," she says. Noting that Chaminade currently has no vocal program, she also hopes Winter Opera's presence can create music education opportunities for interested students. Once the company was granted permission to perform, Galati was quite pleased with the venue's reasonable rental price and hopes to make the Skip Viragh Center a permanent venue. "It's a little bit big for us," Galati remarks, "but we hope to attract a larger audience, of course, and keep plugging away. It takes time to gain the support of people to attend your productions and build a subscriber base." Winter Opera will be one of many professional companies featured at the Skip Viragh Center, including Bach Society of St. Louis and STAGES St. Louis.

Last season, Galati announced the hiring of Conductor Steven Jarvi, Associate Conductor at the Kansas City Symphony and New York City Opera, as Winter Opera Saint Louis' Music Director. In 2009, Jarvi conducted Winter Opera's The Barber of Seville and returned earlier this year for La Traviata. Jarvi came into contact with Gina Galati through a mutual friend at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. "Some good words were put in and Gina decided to give me a try," Jarvi says. "I feel like we got along and respected each other right away." One of the first developments under the partnership of Galati and Jarvi was the addition of New York City as an audition site for the company in order to expand the company's singer base. In April, both were involved in a production of Rigoletto with Opera Company of Brooklyn, and took the opportunity to hear singers during their time spent in the area. "It was a big success for us," says Galati. "We heard about 56 singers--some managed, some non-managed. We found some really terrific people." Jarvi was pleased because the auditions helped "put us on the map ... and be a small part of that incredibly vibrant opera community that populates upper Manhattan." All in all, Jarvi is excited to help advance Winter Opera Saint Louis' mission. "I really like St. Louis as a community and I look forward to being more and more involved in shaping opera in the area."

In planning the upcoming season, Jarvi says that Puccini's La Bohème came up in discussion immediately. This will be Jarvi's first full Bohème, having served as Associate Conductor on the last New York City Opera production at Lincoln Center and conducting only segments or single acts of the piece. Jarvi shares a story about his first opera audition for Placido Domingo's Young Artist Program, in which he was instructed to conduct and sing all of Act I: "I learned it within an inch of my life," he says. Jarvi's hard work paid off when Domingo instructed him to conduct "Donde lietà" while the opera star sang. "I may be the only person to have ever heard Domingo sing Mimì." Galati has several good reasons to produce Bohème, especially at the Skip Viragh Center: "We always want to involve children, so it will be great to have a children's chorus once again. If we are going to have this big theatre, we might as well make it a big splash!"

"With Bohème as an anchor," Jarvi says, "we thought of what we could perform that was different from what has been done in the past but also could be performed with a smaller orchestra at the Saint Louis Woman's Club." Thus, Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos was chosen. Jarvi finds the German chamber opera "perfect for the kind of stage and theater that the Woman's Club offers." Galati felt that it was time to add a German opera to the company repertory and give some young singers the opportunity to perform it. "It will be a nice change to step out of our bounds," she says, and adds that with the dinner before (or after, depending) a production at the Woman's Club, "it's always a big event!"

Bohème and Ariadne chosen, Galati knew that the first-ever production at the Skip Viragh Center would need to be something lighter in order to attract new audience members and ease into the logistics of a much larger space before jumping into a big opera. "We had hoped to do a Pops Concert," she says, but the cost of full orchestrations was prohibitive. After searching high and low, Galati discovered A Grand Night for Singing, a 1993 Tony nominated musical revue of Rodgers & Hammerstein songs. This production was affordable and dovetailed well with Jarvi and Galati's desire to perform a piece in English from the American musical theater. Having conducted several Pops Concerts with the Kansas City Symphony, Jarvi is excited to dive into repertoire that holds a special place for him as a child. "I grew up with all of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals that were turned into films. My mother couldn't get enough of them," he says. Just last year, Jarvi had the honor of performing with the Von Trapp Family Singers (descendants of the Captain and Maria) and was moved over the most simple songs. "These tunes carry a lot of emotional weight for me since they are tied into so many memories of my childhood."

Winter Opera Saint Louis' fifth season begins with Rodgers & Hammerstein's A Grand Night for Singing on Friday, November 4th (8pm) and Sunday, November 6th (4pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade Preparatory School, 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO. Tickets can be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or visiting the company's website: http://www.winteroperastl.org/ where you can find more information on Ariadne auf Naxos, La Bohème and other special events throughout the year.

Winter Opera St. Louis, Broadway Style!

2011-10-18T19:27:00.013-05:00

Winter Opera Saint Louis kicks off its fifth season with musical theater sung by big operatic voices in a production of A Grand Night For Singing, a Tony-nominated revue of songs from the Rodgers & Hammerstein canon. Beloved favorites from The King and I, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, The Sound of Music and many more will be heard from soloists, ensemble, dancers and orchestra under the baton of WOSTL Music Director Steven Jarvi. Expect to hear performances from company founder and Artistic Director Soprano Gina Galati, Tenors Keith Boyer, Marc Schapman, Mezzo-soprano Nora Teipen and Baritone Eric McCluskey to name a few.

Performances take place Friday, November 4th (8pm) and Sunday, November 6th (4pm) at the newly-opened Siefert Theater at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School. Tickets can be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or visiting the company's new online ticketing site: http://winteroperastl.tix.com/

Keep visiting Operatic Saint Louis in the coming weeks for further coverage on Grand Night as well several exciting developments for Winter Opera Saint Louis in its new season. http://www.winteroperastl.org/

Opera Theatre Hosts Warehouse Sale - This Saturday!

2011-09-14T09:18:00.005-05:00

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is hosting its bi-annual warehouse sale this Saturday, September 17 from 9am to 3pm at the Witaker Opera Warehouse, 4607 Mcree Ave, between Aspen Spas and Rivertown Foods.

Hundreds of costume and thousands of shoes, gloves, hats, and other accessories will be available for purchase at great prices. It's the perfect chance to find that one-of-a-kind Halloween costume (like the robot costumes from The Tales of Hoffman, pictured to the right) and take home a piece of Opera Theatre history from your favorite production.

In addition to costumes, furniture and hand props will be available as well. All major credit cards are accepted. Doors open at 9am - shoppers are encouraged to arrive early to get first access to the best deals.

The Critics on "Dead Man Walking"

2011-08-22T12:00:00.006-05:00

Union Avenue Opera's Dead Man Walking has earned praise from Sarah Bryan Miller of the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, Gerry Kowarsky of Two on the Aisle, Chris Gibson of BroadwayWorld.com and Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX and Operatic Saint Louis. Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Chuck Lavazzi:

"...a searing and riveting presentation that is simply one of best local opera productions since Opera Theatre’s Glorianna back in 2005..."

"Baritone Jordan Shanahan doesn’t so much sing and act the role of de Rocher as inhabit it. Ditto for soprano Debra Hillabrand as de Rocher’s long-suffering mother. Their scenes neatly capture their characters’ tragic situation... Tim Ocel’s direction is clear and focused, assisted by Patrick Huber’s set... Artistic director and conductor Scott Schoonover holds Jake Heggie’s complex and evocative score together beautifully... Kaitlyn Breen’s lighting nicely delineates playing areas and Teresa Doggett’s costumes effectively capture the feel of rural 1980s Louisiana..."

"Union Avenue deserves hearty applause for bringing this work to St. Louis for the first time."

Chris Gibson:

"Elise Quagliata and Jordan Shanahan...are absolutely riveting and brave in their performances... Shanahan's confession aria is worth the price of admission alone... Tim Ocel's direction finds the heart at the center of this terrible happening, and Scott Schoonover conducts the orchestra, drawing all he can dramatically from their expert playing...

Union Avenue Opera's production of Dead Man Walking is a must-see event, heavy and searing, but well worth the humanity and the pain of forgiveness, for the sheer joy of seeing masterful performers at work."

Gerry Kowarsky:

"The richness of the score is fully evident in the playing of the orchestra conducted by Scott Schoonover… The acting has the kind of detail and moment-to-moment responsiveness that we'd be lucky to see on any stage, not just in opera. For this we have to give credit to the director Tim Ocel… Teresa Doggett provided fine period costumes. The spare set design by Patrick Huber was evocative and flexible, as was Kaitlyn Breen's lighting."

"...the most involving production of an opera I've ever attended...a landmark of St. Louis theatre."

Sarah Bryan Miller:

"Elise Quagliata gave the role Prejean's authentic strength and humor, fears and faith, and sang throughout with a dark, expressive voice that was strong in the upper register... [B]aritone Jordan Shanahan gave the convicted murderer Joseph de Rocher a completely human complexity that mixed the killer's darkness with a spiritual spark. His fine baritone voice sounded beautiful or rough in turn when his music called for it, and it was intelligently used throughout, in the service of the drama... [S]oprano Marlissa Hudson's portrayal [of Sister Rose] was warm, loving and slightly sassy, with a soaring high voice that didn't quit... As Joseph's mother, mezzo-soprano Debra Hillabrand gave a moving, well-sung performance that conveyed her character's grief and fears... As Owen Hart, father of the murdered girl, David Dillard was dramatically strong..."

"Artistic director Scott Schoonover, director Tim Ocel and everyone else involved really knocked themselves out for this one. It's probably the finest production that UAO has ever done."

Dead Man Walking continues its run this weekend: August 26 & 27. All performances begin at 8pm and take place at Union Avenue Christian Church located at 733 N. Union Blvd in St. Louis. Sung in English with projected English supertitles. Tickets range $30-52. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

"Dead Man Walking" at Union Avenue Opera August 19 through 27, 2011

2011-08-21T22:08:00.000-05:00

Jordan Shanahan and Elise Quagliata
© Ron Lindsey, 2011, All rights reserved

As I’ve noted in the past, Union Avenue Opera isn’t shy about tackling material that pushes the company’s artistic and physical limits. Sometimes, as with last month’s Turandot, the results have been mixed. With the local premiere of Dead Man Walking, the result is a searing and riveting presentation that is simply one of best local opera productions since Opera Theatre’s Glorianna back in 2005. Union Avenue couldn’t have chosen a better way to end their 2011 season.

Absolutely every aspect of Union Avenue’s work is spot on. The cast, headed by mezzo Elise Qualgiata as Sister Helen Prejean, is first-rate both vocally and theatrically—as good a collection of singers and actors (some roles are non-singing) as you will find anywhere. Tim Ocel’s direction is clear and focused, assisted by Patrick Huber’s set, which makes smart use of large, mobile chain-link fence units to suggest the oppressive prison atmosphere and also enable fast and fluid scene changes. Artistic director and conductor Scott Schoonover holds Jake Heggie’s complex and evocative score together beautifully, despite the challenges presented by the large number of singers and the difficult acoustics of the Union Avenue space. Kaitlyn Breen’s lighting nicely delineates playing areas and Teresa Doggett’s costumes effectively capture the feel of rural 1980s Louisiana.

The libretto—by noted playwright Terrence McNally, based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir of her experiences ministering to convicted killers in the Louisiana prison system—is literate and imaginative. It might benefit for an edit here and there, especially in the long “driving to Angola” scene and during some moments in the second act that struck me a repetitive, but on the whole it’s a remarkably gripping and, for the most part, even-handed look at the difficult emotional and ethical questions raised by America’s justice, prison, and execution system. The character of convicted murderer Joseph de Rocher is, perhaps, less repellant and more willing to seek atonement than the real-life killers that Sister Helen counseled, but this IS fiction, after all. You can’t put real life on stage without considerable modification.

Baritone Jordan Shanahan doesn’t so much sing and act the role of de Rocher as inhabit it. Ditto for soprano Debra Hillabrand as de Rocher’s long-suffering mother. Their scenes neatly capture their characters’ tragic situation. David Dillard, Stephanie Tennill, Cecelia Stearman and Jon Garrett create a powerful quartet of murder victim parents. Robert Reed is a strong presence as the sympathetic Angola warden George Benton, nicely contrasting with Clark Sturdevant’s work as the callous prison chaplain, Father Grenville. Phillip Touchette has a charming cameo as a motorcycle cop who stops the speeding Sister Helen on her way to Angola, only to tear up the ticket as ask her to pray for his sick mother.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Dead Man Walking, though, is the score. Mr. Heggie’s music is clearly “modern” without any of the deliberately off-putting clangor that characterizes a lot of the newer stuff in concert halls these days. Southern American folk, blues and popular music ideas are woven neatly and seamlessly into the aural fabric. It’s both accessible and smart, which is a neat trick.

Dead Man Walking is an emotionally draining and sometimes difficult work that is not for the faint of heart or mind, but it’s well worth seeing and hearing. It’s good to know that serious, theatrically canny composers are still writing operas out there, and Union Avenue deserves hearty applause for bringing this work to St. Louis for the first time.

The opera runs through August 27 at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union at Enright in the Central West End. It’s sung in English with projected titles that are easily visible throughout the theatre. That’s a plus, given how unintelligible some of the lyrics are rendered by the acoustics, especially in the big choral scenes. For more information, you may visit unionavenueopera.org.

Q & A With Elise Quagliata of "Dead Man Walking"

2011-08-19T00:53:00.002-05:00

Mezzo-soprano Elise Quagliata sings the leading role of Sr. Helen Prejean in Union Avenue Opera's Dead Man Walking. This production marks Elise's company debut. Operatic Saint Louis recently engaged her in a Q & A session where she offers her perspective and thoughts on the piece.

What was your particular process in inhabiting the role of Sr. Helen Prejean?

I started by researching Helen. She's all about transparency...transparency of her mission and of herself. I followed the links on her site to death penalty info sites and found some on my own, as well. I read all the statistics I could get my hands on. It was hard. The stats are jarring and disturbing. Her book gives enormous insight into what she calls this "secret ritual" of capital punishment. But there are also a lot of unbiased sites that give history and statistical analysis about the death penalty. This prepped me in understanding why this is so important to her. I empathized and understood her mission. It's most compelling to me because she's so focused on the humanity. I ask myself constantly if I would be able to do this: find love in my heart for someone who did something so brutal. I had to understand how she was able to do that before I could move forward and truly inhabit that moment of forgiveness.

Why do you believe the character of Sr. Helen takes a huge leap by meeting with Joseph De Rocher in person despite such strong warnings from Sr. Rose and the resulting frustration and animosity from the parents of De Rocher's victims? Are her choices possibly born of fascination with danger or risk?

Having spoken to Sister Helen the other day, she seems like an exceptionally focused person. She believes in her mission wholeheartedly, and it seems as though very little would get in her way. She pushes through in the opera because she's a self-proclaimed "hothead", as she states in the aria, a bit of a bull in a china shop, as it were, but also because she's invested. She's invested with this relationship she cultivated through letters and perhaps there were some promises to visit, etc. When he finally does ask her to go, she has to because she gave her word. Helen is a DO-er. I think she THINKS after. And she certainly did during this first experience. There was no precedent set. She couldn't do everything correctly right out of the gate. There has to be a learning curve with a situation as delicate as juggling an inmate, parents of victims, her friends...she has a lot of balls in the air. And I believe she was able to figure out how to do this process correctly only after there were some feelings hurt the first time.

Are there moments in the opera that you have found difficulty finding your way into as an actor?

The most challenging moment for me was the confession scene. How could I hear his confession and then give him the gift of forgiveness? I'm an actor who feels everything, and I want the audience to feel the honesty with which I perform everything I sing. I struggled making the moment she forgives him real because I couldn't understand how she found that genuine compassion. Elise Quagliata is not yet so enlightened. But I kept reading about her, trying to understand her mission, and finally I spoke with her. This helped enormously. Also with Tim's help, a lot of repetition and introspection, I feel we got there. I honestly do forgive him in that scene now.

Conversely, are there any moments in which you immediately knew what you wanted to do?

The ease and beauty of Helen and Rose's relationship was simpler for me. Rose is a beautifully written foil to Helen's impetuousness. I understood that relationship well. I am a bit like Helen in my "full steam ahead" attitude. I have been called stubborn in my day (just ask my husband!) I have friends like Rose who keep me grounded and mindful. I love and enjoy this relationship being played out on stage. Rose's protectiveness and the unconditional love she shows Helen really gives Helen the strength to carry on with Joe until the end.

What are the most affecting moments in the opera for you?

Anytime Joe shows his vulnerability. Anytime we see the human Joe is. It's easy to stick this label on him--and it's not INcorrect to do so: RAPIST, MURDERER. But all Helen sees is the human. "Strip away the ego and all you're left with is the purest essence...that's the human I wanted to save."--This is something I wrote down from our most recent conversation. In the opera, Joe gives Helen a lot to work with. He often cracks open to reveal his pulpy, vulnerable self. These moments are most affecting for me: the Elvis moment they share, the confession, and of course his apology to the parents.

Jake Heggie's music is at times tonal yet modernistic, with seemingly constant exposition in its musical development rather than repetition heard so often in the standard opera repertoire. What have you found to be the strengths of this score, especially in its interplay with the libretto?

This music is brilliant because each motif or theme has a personality, character or action associated with it. It comes with connotation. The intense 5/8 represents the crime, but the 6/8, which harmonically resembles the crime, seems to represent the institution of jail and those affiliated with it. When these themes interplay and are transformed, it's similar to dynamic character transformation. Nothing is static, musically or textually. That's the genius of the piece. As a listener, you experience the journey with us not only through our words, but also through the harmonic and thematic transformations. McNally's libretto is smart, smart, smart. Obviously, he's a brilliant writer. The libretto and Heggie's music beautifully complement each other.

Sr. Helen Prejean is an outspoken voice against capital punishment; the character in the opera reflects this viewpoint. Do you believe that the opera makes any sort of statement about or against the death penalty?

The opera forces the audience to examine the question. There's distance in a book or a movie; you don't necessarily have that visceral experience you get in the theater. Seeing this in person, hearing the screams, the tears, feeling that intensity, forces the audience to examine their own feelings about the issue. As Sister Helen said to me, "I am a window pane into a secret ritual." It's up to the audience whether they want to peer in and learn more.

What can you say to convince someone who might be on the fence about attending Dead Man Walking?

Art is entertainment, but art also pushes boundaries. Come see an historical work that is beautifully staged, wonderfully sung and engages the heart and mind.

Visit EliseQuagliata.com for more information on her upcoming career. All images ©Ron Lindsey, 2011.

Dead Man Walking opens tonight. The production runs August 19, 20, 26 & 27. All performances begin at 8pm and take place at Union Avenue Christian Church located at 733 N. Union Blvd in St. Louis. Sung in English with projected English supertitles. Tickets range $30-52. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

Reflections from Principal Singers of "Dead Man Walking"

2011-08-17T10:42:00.011-05:00

Mezzo-sopranos Cecelia Stearman and Debra Hillabrand appear in the Missouri Premiere of Dead Man Walking, opening this Friday. Stearman sings the role of Jade Boucher, mother of a murdered young man. Hillabrand sings the role of Mrs. Patrick De Rocher, mother of the convicted murderer. Both singers offer their thoughts and reflections on Dead Man Walking, especially how it has impacted them as an artist and a person.

Cecelia Stearman:
Jade Boucher

“It’s just an opera,” I keep telling myself… “It’s not your real life…” But each day, each evening when I go home from rehearsals, I take it all with me-the pain, the contemplation, the love, the forgiveness, the “understanding of humanity…” It’s all there. This part of Jade Boucher has moved me more than I knew was possible. I have been stirred to the core. But for me, the greatest impact has come from the blatant Christian subject matter: fallen, sinful man and a loving, forgiving God, even to the very end; and how that reality affects all of us and how we relate to each other, if we respond in like fashion with love and forgiveness and if we are to get the most out of “this journey.”

My sweet mother, a minister’s wife, began a maximum security prison ministry to women in Mississippi, after her retirement. This Southern belle, seemingly naïve, seemingly underprepared, went 1-2 times a week to maximum security to meet with known killers and those who still declared they were innocent. She treated them with such love and compassion. I was always impressed by this, but couldn’t begin to understand her desire to do what she did, until I started working on this show. Dead Man Walking is an incredible love story between a nun and an accused killer. It began simply with a letter and turned into a til-death-do-us-part relationship. In the opera (differing from the actual accounts in the book), the accused is indeed the killer. And, by the time he finally confesses to it, it doesn’t matter: Sister Helen already loved “Joseph.” And she forgave him. She forgave him because she believed that was what “her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” wanted her to do. She forgave him, and in his death, it seems that he received new life.

This is the “salvation story,” as we call it in evangelical circles. And in most situations today, to keep from “offending anyone,” lines like, “I will be the face of Christ for you,” are rare, omitted. But that’s a direct quote from the book. That’s exactly what Sister Helen said to Patrick Sonnier (Joseph, in the opera) and it’s incredible that the writers of the opera were brave enough to put it in just like that. But if they hadn’t, this would not be the same story. It had to be in there, because it is Sister Helen’s story. This text cannot be improved upon! It is powerful and it is sweet. It is sad, but with love being the constant undercurrent, it is beautiful. It brings me joy, as I sing, even through my tears. You see, I am the mother of one of the murdered teens. I should hate Joseph with all that I am. But, in the end, I feel some pain for him, as he asks the parents’ forgiveness for what he has done. It is as if, in that very minute, years of hate are wiped away. In the end I find myself weeping, not so much for my child anymore… I weep that I am free to forgive.

One year my mom asked me to do give a “concert” for some of the prisoners. They had been given special permission to come to the chapel. Of course, I was worried how my voice would be received. I was expecting country-loving, Motown-loving types. But each song I sang seemed to touch them. By the middle of the concert, my heart was so full that I wept. I had done many concerts by then, but that is still one of my sweetest memories. I suppose that when one is that alone, that persecuted, that to have anyone care for you is so appreciated, so surprising… That’s another part of this relationship between Sister Helen and “Joseph” that is so sweet, so unforgettable, to me. He was so appreciative. He was so greatful to her for her friendship, and later, her love. He wasn’t a horrible, cold killer when she visited. He was “human.”

I want to personally thank Sister Helen Prejean for her commitent that started her on “this journey” and for the commitment to it that lead her to record it for us all.

Debra Hillabrand:
Mrs. Patrick De Rocher

I can't say how much I love performing modern works. The sky is the limit for the composer, and he/she is free to write so much drama and emotion into the vocal lines and the whole piece. Jake Heggie certainly uses this freedom effectively, and the collaboration with Terrence McNally provides a monumental work that I am honored to be singing. On a personal and artistic level, I am thrilled to be singing a role written for Frederica von Stade. She has been an idol and role model of mine for years, and I get chills when I think about it!

The role has been emotionally draining and, more importantly, extremely rewarding at the same time. I've never left rehearsals this exhausted, but with the feeling of pride of being involved in something so very special. I've been getting in touch with my maternal side and all the delights and pain that go along with it: the love, happiness, guilt, worry. I can’t imagine what it’ll really be like. The work as a whole has such a strong message of love for all human-kind in which I whole-heartedly believe—so on a personal level, I'm very proud to be a part of a group delivering this message.

Dead Man Walking opens Friday, August 19 and will run for three more performances on August 20, 26 & 27. All performances begin at 8pm and take place at Union Avenue Christian Church located at 733 N. Union Blvd in St. Louis. Sung in English with projected English supertitles. Tickets range $30-52. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

Missouri Premiere of "Dead Man Walking" Opens Friday at UAO

2011-08-14T08:00:00.005-05:00

Union Avenue Opera concludes its 17th summer season with the highly-anticipated Missouri premiere of Jake Heggie's opera Dead Man Walking. Based upon the book of the same name by activist and author Sr. Helen Prejean, this opera tells the story of a nun's journey of faith tested by her controversial decision to give spiritual counsel to a convicted murderer on death row despite warnings from her fellow sisters, skepticism from the prison staff and animosity from the parents of the murder victims. This true-life story of compassion and redemption explores the depths of human evil and goodness.

Events surrounding the Missouri premiere include media appearances, book signings and a speaking engagement by Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, who will also attend the opening night performance. Union Avenue Opera and Union Avenue Christian Church are excited and grateful to welcome Sr. Helen to St. Louis to share in this premiere.

Making her Union Avenue Opera debut, Mezzo-soprano Elise Quagliata sings the role of Sr. Helen Prejean. Returning after his UAO debut as Prince Yeletsky in last season's Pikovaya Dama, Baritone Jordan Shanahan sings the role of convicted murderer Joseph De Rocher. Mezzo-soprano Debra Hillabrand, also last seen in Pikovaya Dama as Paulina, portrays Mrs. Patrick De Rocher. Last heard as Bess in 2007's Porgy and Bess, Soprano Marlissa Hudson returns to sing the role of Sr. Rose. Fresh from his engagement as Pang in Turandot, Tenor Clark Sturdevant portrays Fr. Grenville, a prison chaplain. Baritone Robert Reed, King Melchior in the recent Amahl, sings the role of Warden George Benton.

Baritone David Dillard, seen as Sulpice in last season's La fille du régiment, is Owen Hart, father of the murdered girl. Soprano Stephanie Tennill, last seen in 2001 as Berta in The Barber of Seville, sings Kitty Hart. Tenor Jon Garrett, most recently seen as The Emperor in Turandot, is Howard Boucher, father of the murdered boy. Mezzo-soprano Cecelia Stearman, the Countess in last season's Pikovaya Dama, sings Jade Boucher. Soprano Joy Boland and Mezzo-soprano Victoria Carmichael portray Sisters Catherine and Lilliane, respectively. Baritones Thomas Sitzler and Nathan Ruggles sing the roles of Prison Guards. Tenor Philip Touchette sings the role of a Motorcycle Cop. The Union Avenue Opera chorus and children's chorus rounds out the cast.

UAO Artistic Director Scott Schoonover conducts. Stage Director Tim Ocel returns to UAO after staging last season's critically-acclaimed Pikovaya Dama. Allyson Ditchey serves as Stage Manager. The Design team includes Set Designer Patrick Huber, Costume Designer Teresa Doggett and Lighting Designer Kaitlyn Breen. Pianist Nancy Mayo serves as production répetiteur.

Several educational opportunities surround the production. On Thursday, August 18 at 8:00pm, Union Avenue Christian Church presents "Sharing the Deepest Desire: An Evening With Sr. Helen Prejean." This event is open to the Public; a free will offering will be taken. Sr. Helen will speak in front of the set. A book signing will follow in the Fellowship Hall of UACC. Books will be available for purchase at the event. Click here for more info. On opening night, August 19, Dr. Glen Bauer of Webster University will also give a lecture on the opera at 7pm (one hour before curtain) in the UACC Fellowship Hall. Lecture is open to the public; no ticket to the production required.

Media coverage and further reading: FOX 2 News In The Morning interviews Sr. Helen at 7:40am Friday morning; Cityscape on 90.7 KWMU this Friday (11:00am) welcomes guests Sr. Helen and Tim Ocel; Patricia Rice of The Beacon previews the production and interviews Sr. Helen; Sarah Bryan Miller profiles composer Jake Heggie in the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch; Gary Scott of STLMag.com examines the larger issues posed by the opera, its score and libretto.

You can also visit Operatic St. Louis for some upcoming Q & A sessions and reflections from the cast members.

Dead Man Walking opens Friday, August 19 and will run for three more performances on August 20, 26 & 27. All performances begin at 8pm and take place at Union Avenue Christian Church located at 733 N. Union Blvd in St. Louis. Sung in English with projected English supertitles. Tickets range $30-52. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

"Cityscape" on 90.7 KWMU to Feature Guests Sr. Helen Prejean and Tim Ocel

2011-08-13T09:00:00.003-05:00

KWMU 90.7 FM's broadcast of Cityscape this Friday, August 20th, features Union Avenue Opera's Dead Man Walking. Host Steve Potter welcomes onto the program Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, and Stage Director Tim Ocel to discuss the production opening that evening.

Cityscape airs on KWMU 90.7 FM at 11:00am-Noon this Friday, August 20th and will be repeated at 10:00pm that evening. You may also listen to archived audio of the program on KWMU's Website.

Set Model for UAO's "Dead Man Walking"

2011-08-08T09:00:00.003-05:00

Take a look at some shots of the set model for Union Avenue Opera's Dead Man Walking. You may click on images to view a larger resolution.

Director Tim Ocel and Set Designer Patrick Huber have collaborated on a design which suggests the various locales inside and outside of the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The model takes into account the architecture of the apse and pulpit areas of Union Avenue Christian Church's Sanctuary.

Several chain-link fence units will be used to create confined spaces, long hallways in the prison, etc.

Up center, there will be a 2'-tall stage-within-the-stage serving as various playing areas--most notably the meeting places of Sr. Helen and Joseph De Rocher.

Lining the church's apse, a gallery gives playing space to the various characters commenting on or merely watching the action below.

In order to help bring the action into the house, prison cells have been placed on the balconies at house right and house left.

Dead Man Walking opens next weekend, running August 19, 20, 26 and 27. All performances begin at 8pm. Production sung in English with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church; 733 N. Union Blvd, St. Louis, 63108. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

UAO Plans "Dead Man Walking" Events Featuring Sr. Helen Prejean

2011-08-05T09:20:00.013-05:00

Union Avenue Opera's Missouri premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking is fast approaching and will be opening in just two weeks from tonight. Director Tim Ocel, Conductor Scott Schoonover and the cast have been hard at work preparing the piece for over a week now. (Pictured at left: Elise Quagliata as Sr. Helen Prejean and Jordan Shanahan as Joseph de Rocher Photo: Ron Lindsey) UAO has planned some exciting events surrounding this production that you will not want to miss. The company announced several weeks ago that Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, author of the book Dead Man Walking and anti-death penalty advocate, will come to St. Louis to speak at Union Avenue Christian Church and attend the opening night performance.

SPEECH

On Thursday, August 18 at 8:00pm, Union Avenue Christian Church presents "Sharing the Deepest Desire: An Evening with Sr. Helen Prejean," which will take place in front of the opera’s set. The event will be free to the public and a free will offering will be taken to support the ministries of Sr. Helen. The Arts Group of Union Avenue (AGUA) will host a reception and book signing following in the Fellowship Hall. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

OPENING NIGHT

Sr. Helen shall attend the opening night performance of Dead Man Walking on Friday, August 19 at 8:00 pm. There will be a second book signing immediately following the performance in the Fellowship Hall of Union Avenue Christian Church.

Dead Man Walking runs August 19, 20, 26 and 27. All performances begin at 8pm. Production sung in English with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church; 733 N. Union Blvd, St. Louis, 63108. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

The Critics on "La Cenerentola"

2011-08-02T22:25:00.014-05:00

Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX and Operatic Saint Louis, Harrison Kaplan of BroadwayWorld.com and Sarah Bryan Miller of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch have seen Union Avenue Opera's La Cenerentola. Here's a sampling of what they had to say (to read full reviews, click on the reviewer's name):

Chuck Lavazzi:

"[Abigail] Fischer’s performance is pure brilliance — as is that of everyone else in this remarkable cast ... Bass Adam Fry gives us a delightfully pompous and brilliantly sung Don Magnifico, while bass Kenneth Mattice is all wry amusement as Dandini. Their second-act duet is a classic combination of physical and vocal comedy ... Baritone E. Scott Levin has less interesting material to work with as Alidoro...but he makes the most of it. It’s a fine performance, sung with complete conviction ... [Kara Cornell and Gina Galati] get the characters’ comic bitchiness just right ... Principal Director Jolly Stewart creates decent stage pictures and — unlike so many directors of comic opera — understands that her performers don’t need to be in constant motion to be interesting ... Union Avenue Opera has produced another winner in La Cenerentola."

Harrison Kaplan:

"Both [Abigail Fischer and Keith Boyer] prove capable of handling the demands of Rossini’s score which weaves vocal parts in and out and together in sometimes confusing, but ear-pleasing fashion ... Kenneth Mattice plays the part of Dandini...with a broadness that appeals ... Adam Fry is also over the top as Don Magnifico, with his rich bass voice punctuating a number of hilarious punchlines ... Elizabeth Hastings conducts the orchestral ensemble with considerable aplomb, making excellent work of Rossini’s bouncy and exhilarating score ... Union Avenue Opera's production of La Cenerentola (Cinderella) is an enchanting and mirth-filled production sure to please audiences."

Sarah Bryan Miller:

"Abigail Fischer made an appealing heroine. She's a real coloratura mezzo, with an attractively dark sound and a good technique. To go with it, she has a pre-Raphaelite abundance of red-gold curls, a pretty face, slender figure and likeable persona ... [Keith] Boyer has a big, ringing tenor that negotiated Rossini's demanding lines easily ... [S]oprano Gina Galati and mezzo Kara Cornell were nicely differentiated in their characters, and very funny ... Kenneth Mattice's Dandini, prince for a day, looked good and played the part of the impostor well ... Anthony Heinemann, Nathan Ruggles and Joshua J. Stanton sang well and earned plenty of laughs."

La Cenerentola continues its run this weekend on Saturday, August 6 at 8pm and Sunday, August 7 at 3pm (matinée). Production sung in Italian with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church; 733 N. Union Blvd, St. Louis, 63108.

Tickets range $30-52. Children’s General Admission Tickets (ages 12 and under) are available for $15. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

"La Cenerentola" at Union Avenue Opera July 29 through August 7

2011-07-30T17:31:00.001-05:00

The cast of La Cenerentola
© Ron Lindsey, 2011, All rights reserved.

Rossini’s romantic comedy La Cenerentola, based in part on the classic fairy tale Cinderella, was your prototypical rush job. He threw it together in three weeks at the end of 1816 when the libretto he was supposed to set was rejected by the Papal Censor. By way of contrast, mezzo Abigail Fischer spent months learning the elaborate flourishes of the title role for the current Union Avenue Opera production.

In both cases, it was time well spent. The score is a charming cornucopia of elaborate coloratura arias, rapid-fire patter songs, and the kind of layered ensembles that earned Rossini the nickname “Signor Crescendo”, while Ms. Fischer’s performance is pure brilliance — as is that of everyone else in this remarkable cast.

The role of Cenerentola is something of a rarity — a leading coloratura part written for a contralto — but Ms. Fischer sounded completely comfortable with both its range and ornamentation. She has power and flexibility to burn and respectable acting chops as well — a fine performance all the way around.

Rossini was generous to the lower male voices as well, with choice roles for two basses and a baritone — the social-climbing stepfather Don Magnifico, the Prince’s wise tutor Alidoro (substituting for the fairy godmother because Rossini hated supernatural elements in opera), and the wily valet Dandini, who spends most of the opera masquerading as Prince Ramiro so the latter can get an unvarnished look at the Magnifico family.

Bass Adam Fry gives us a delightfully pompous and brilliantly sung Don Magnifico, while bass Kenneth Mattice is all wry amusement as Dandini. Their second-act duet is a classic combination of physical and vocal comedy. Baritone E. Scott Levin has less interesting material to work with as Alidoro — the character is essentially a saintly fellow who delivers the libretto’s explicitly Christian message about the last being first — but he makes the most of it. It’s a fine performance, sung with complete conviction.

Tenor Keith Boyer is also completely invested in the role of Prince Ramiro, whether he’s mooning over Cenerentola or engaging in byplay with Dandini. He’s got a good, clear but not overpowering voice that serves him well.

Soprano Gina Galati and mezzo Kara Cornell are Cenerentola’s stepsisters Clorinda and Tisbe. In this version of the story they’re not so much wicked as foolish, superficial, and terminally self-involved. Both singers get the characters’ comic bitchiness just right and, along with their fellow cast members, navigate the elaborate score with ease.

For this small-scale production, Rossini’s chorus has been reduced to a trio of courtiers sung by Anthony Heinemann, Nathan Ruggles, and Joshua J. Stanton. All three are nicely delineated characters and their voices blend well.

That said, this Cenerentola is not without its issues. Patrick Huber’s set is a bit Spartan, to begin with, so that even the palace seemed threadbare. It also has, I think, too many levels and stairs for the available space, which cuts down on the usable playing areas. Many scenes are shoved off to platforms on the extreme left and right where viewing angles and acoustics are less than ideal, and actors are often left with no sensible way to relate to each other physically.

Given the physical constraints of the set, stage director and Union Avenue Opera Principal Director Jolly Stewart creates decent stage pictures and — unlike so many directors of comic opera — understands that her performers don’t need to be in constant motion to be interesting. Sometimes we just need to be able to enjoy the scintillating music.

Conductor Elizabeth Hastings does a respectable job with the score, but on opening night some of the playing was a bit scrappy, the big ensemble numbers did not always sound as tight as they should have, and the tempo for the famous overture was rather on the stodgy side. The lack of a percussion section also makes the overall sound a bit anemic to my ears, lacking that punch that is so much a part of the Rossini sound.

Still, when all is said and done, Union Avenue Opera has produced another winner in La Cenerentola. The evening, small flaws aside, is beautifully sung, smartly acted, and tremendously entertaining. This is not an opera that comes around often — the last local performance was by Opera Theatre back in 1987 — so it’s definitely worth your time.

La Cenerentola runs through August 7 at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union at Enright in the Central West End. The opera is sung in Italian with projected English titles that are easily visible throughout the theatre. If the relatively light attendance on opening night is any indication, there should still be good seats available for the remaining performances. For more information, you may visit unionavenueopera.org.

A Look At "Cenerentola" Costumes

2011-07-26T08:28:00.002-05:00

The light comedy and elegance of La Cenerentola will be reflected beautifully in the costumes of Michele Siler, who has shared with Operatic Saint Louis renderings of her designs for all the characters in their various settings and disguises throughout the opera. Click on the images for a closer look.

Angelina/Cenerentola (at home)

Don Magnifico (at home)

Clorinda (at home)

Tisbe (at home)

Alidoro

Dandini (left) & Prince Ramiro (right, in valet disguise)

Prince Ramiro (left) & Dandini (right, in princely disguise)

Angelina/Cenerentola (at the ball)

Clorinda (at the ball)

Tisbe (at the ball)

Don Magnifico (at the ball)

All images ©Michele Siler. All Rights Reserved. Not to be re-posted or redistributed without permission.

La Cenerentola opens Friday, July 29 and will run for three more performances on July 30, Aug 6 & 7(M). Performances begin 8pm, except for 3pm Matinee on August 7. Production sung in Italian with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church; 733 N. Union Blvd, St. Louis, 63108.

Tickets range $30-52. Children's General Admission Tickets (ages 12 and under) are available for $15. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

"La Cenerentola" Opens Friday at UAO

2011-07-24T09:00:00.004-05:00

Union Avenue Opera continues its season with Rossini's La Cenerentola, a sparkling rendition of the cherished fairytale Cinderella in this timeless story of the triumph of love. Rossini's interpretation is sure to delight audiences of all ages. Through a series of disguises and clever deceptions, Prince Ramiro aims to find his true love. Meanwhile, the gentle and kind spirited Cenerentola finds the courage within to defy those who stand in her way as she journeys from servants' quarters to a princess' throne.

St. Louis audiences last saw La Cenerentola at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 1987. The Metropolitan Opera recently broadcast its 2009 revival of the piece into movie theaters across the country. Click here for a full synopsis of the opera.

Singing the role of the rags-to-riches heroine, Mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer makes her Union Avenue Opera debut as Angelina (nicknamed "Cenerentola" by her step-relatives). Tenor Keith Boyer, who most recently sang the role of Tchekalinsky in Pikovaya Dama and performed on the 2010 Gala Concert at UAO, sings the role of Prince Ramiro. (Singers pictured at left | photo: Ron Lindsey) Returning after his engagement last summer as Hortensius in La fille du Régiment, Baritone Scott Levin will portray Alidoro, the Prince's tutor. Soprano Gina Galati (Giorgietta in 2008's Il Tabarro) and Mezzo-soprano Kara Cornell (Zweiter Dame in 2007's Die Zauberflöte) sing the wicked step-sisters Clorinda and Tisbe, respectively. Two baritones make their UAO debut: Kenneth Mattice as Dandini, the Prince's valet, and Adam Fry as wicked step-father Don Magnifico. Tenors Joshua Stanton, Anthony Heinemann and Baritone Nathan Ruggles comprise a chamber chorus of courtiers.

UAO Principal Stage Director Jolly Stewart stages the production. Conductor Elizabeth Hastings makes her UAO debut in the pit. The design team includes Patrick Huber (scenic) and Michele Siler (costumes). Sarah Rugo serves as Stage Manager and Vera Parkin serves as production répetiteur.

Dr. Glen Bauer of Webster University will be giving an Opening Night Lecture on the opera. The lecture begins at 7pm Friday, July 29th, one hour before curtain, in the Fellowship Hall of Union Avenue Christian Church. This lecture is free to the public.

La Cenerentola opens Friday, July 29 and will run for three more performances on July 30, Aug 6 & 7(M). Performances begin 8pm, except for 3pm Matinee on August 7. Production sung in Italian with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church; 733 N. Union Blvd, St. Louis, 63108.

Tickets range $30-52. Children's General Admission Tickets (ages 12 and under) are available for $15. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

Where's the glass slipper?

2011-07-22T09:00:00.009-05:00

Are you a little puzzled as to why the Prince (Pictured: Keith Boyer | photo: Ron Lindsey) in the picture is examining a bracelet instead of a glass slipper? It is fair to wonder why. Ones perception of the Cinderella story can be challenged by an adaptation such as La Cenerentola. By and large, our American understanding of the fairy tale is often influenced by adaptations derived from two tellings: Jakob & Wilhelm Grimm’s Aschenputtel (1815) and Charles Perrault’s Cendrillon (1697). The former largely influenced Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, while elements of the latter influenced Rodgers & Hammerstein, Walt Disney and Jules Massenet…and Perrault applies to Rossini as well.

Jacopo Ferretti’s libretto, for all of its quirks, has a general framework with the archetypes and symbolism in the Perrault (glass slipper, fairy-godmother, wicked step-parent). There has also been strong suggestion that Ferretti borrowed several characters (or at least an Italianization of their names) straight out of the earlier opera Cendrillon by Maltese composer Nicolas Isouard which debuted a mere seven years before Cenerentola. Nonetheless, the changes are worth a look.

Glass Slipper to Bracelet

Cinderella had lost some kind of footwear long before Perrault added the “glass” detail to the slipper. Rossini’s version replaces the slipper with two matching bracelets. When the opera premiered in Paris, some critics rudely suggested that the bracelet replaced the slipper because the original Roman Cenerentola—contralto Geltrude Righetti—had ugly feet. Signora Righetti fired back at these detractors, explaining that the bracelet was an exercise in good taste, since in Rome, the sight of a woman’s bare foot was considered indecent. “Signor Parisian Journalist,” she added, “should not think that I say this to defend my feet: he does not know me, and if he did, he might say that I have more to gain by adopting the original slipper than by clinging to the bracelet.” Though the bracelet has remained a unique quality of the Italianate Cinderella, it is worth noting that some G. Schirmer editions of the opera include an alternate recitative (in English only) that provides an ending with the glass slipper.

Fairy-godmother to Old Philosopher

The Alidoro figure was previously seen in Isouard’s Cendrillon. The character’s resurgence in Cenerentola might point to Rossini’s larger, overarching decision for the opera itself. Constrained by physical limitations in Italian theatres of the day, Rossini knew that this piece could not be a magical spectacle with an enchanted pumpkin-turned-carriage or helpful rodent-friends of the heroine. The presence of a philosopher fills the role of not only a friend to Cenerentola, but also the Prince’s tutor. Rossini also managed to depart from Isouard’s Alidor, who was far more magical, using an enchanted rose to transform Cendrillon for the ball. Nonetheless, it bears mentioning that Alidoro does have a slight measure of “magic” about him, given that he uses the art of disguise, appearing as an old beggar in order to elicit a response from the three daughters in Don Magnifico’s house.

Role Reversals

A common thread through almost all versions of Cinderella is role reversal: the poor girl becomes a princess, the wicked relatives are undone, etc. The Ferretti libretto adds even more role reversals. Usually, Cinderella only meets the prince after being magically transported to the castle, but in this version, the Prince actively seeks out Cinderella at the outset of the drama. In doing this, Ramiro and his valet embark on yet another role reversal by having Dandini swap clothing with him in order to do some important reconnaissance on the daughters in the Don Magnifico household. Possibly the most striking role reversal occurs at the ball. Cenerentola approaches the Prince, gives one of the bracelets to him and promises that if he really cares about her, he shall find her.

These changes are but a few made by Rossini and Ferretti. Composer and librettist certainly give the new listener a fair amount to chew on, and why not? Themes, archetypes and symbols have been visited and revisited often in literature and film. Why should Opera be any different? Composer and librettist have managed to provide the inevitable “happy ending” just as in other adaptations, but by a decidedly unique journey.

—Phil Touchette

Interview with "Cenerentola" Director Jolly Stewart

2011-07-20T09:00:00.009-05:00

Operatic Saint Louis interviewed Union Avenue Opera's Principal Stage Director Jolly Stewart about the company's upcoming production of Rossini's La Cenerentola. Stewart most recently worked with young artists at the Johanna Meier Opera Theatre Institute at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota. La Cenerentola marks her fourteenth production with the company.

Operatic Saint Louis: You have sung the role of Clorinda in La Cenerentola numerous times and used the opera as a scene study with voice students at Washington University. How do your past experiences with the opera inform your vision of this full production?

Jolly Stewart: An intimate knowledge of the music is of course very important, but when one has sung it and felt it in one's own body, the experience is much more visceral on some level than just hearing a piece.

As far as my vision is concerned, it is a fairy tale, but there is a reason that most of the world could tell you this tale. We can all relate at some point to feeling unappreciated or downtrodden about something in our lives. The wishes generated from this state are not always realized, but we recognize the unspoken hopes that things will get better. Although there are many comic moments in this opera, most of them are born of real human behavior we see in ourselves or others.

OSL: Rossini's librettist Jacopo Ferretti includes the character of Dandini, the prince's valet, an archetype rarely found in the Cinderella story (though there is a Dandin in Nicolas Isouard's Cendrillon of 1810). How does Dandini add spice to the Cenerentola plotline?

JS: It is always amusing to see a valet or butler who is more rules- and etiquette-oriented than the person he is serving. I imagine that it was barrels of fun for Dandini to be given full permission to imitate his master. In our production, Dandini and Ramiro have more or less grown up together as buddies, except Ramiro just happens to be a prince and Dandini becomes his valet. Having the sisters think that they are falling for Dandini, only to discover that he is not the prince at all and hearing the extreme snub they have given Ramiro, which later comes back at them, makes for lots of laughs. Keeping Dandini busy with the sisters also allows more time between Ramiro and Cenerentola.

OSL: How does Alidoro, the philosopher, influence the course of events?

JS: We refer to him as the "fairy-godfather." He serves three purposes in this opera. First of all in his appearance as the beggar, we discover Cenerentola's charity towards someone in need. Later we observe the prince asking for advice from his tutor and mentor. The third role of the philosopher with powers to help people change things in their lives is probably the most important role.

OSL: In terms of character, what traits of Rossini's Angelina/Cenerentola do you believe set her apart from other Cinderellas of Massenet, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and so on?

JS: Although I love the music Massenet wrote for Cendrillon, I find the character of Cenerentola vastly more interesting and fleshed out. We see her "goodness" acted out in many ways. Two of the most obvious ones being her interaction with Alidoro, where she gives "the beggar" bread and coffee; the other happens at the end of Rossini's piece, when despite all the despicable abuse taken from her step-father and step-sisters, she wants to reach out to them and share her wealth and happiness.

OSL: For a comedy, there are a few moments of the Ferretti libretto which are decidedly dark. For example, the step-sisters hurl insults such as alma di fango (literally, "soul of mud") and step-father Don Magnifico at one point claims Cenerentola is dead when Alidoro attempts to establish the existence of a third child in the house. How do you deal with presenting these darker moments in an otherwise sophisticated comedy?

JS: Sometimes insults are hurled out of habit. Even though there is no love at all from the other members of Cenerentola's household, I feel that she has learned to live with it, because it is part of what happens daily. She turns it off. Therefore she is able to recover quickly from Magnifico's declaration of "morì" (dead) and only a few measures later contradict her step-father. A page or so later he insists again that the "third" sister is dead. This time she ignores him and is amused and amazed at her family's confused state.

OSL: Rossini's scores never hurt for exciting coloratura and ensembles. What arias, duets and ensembles do you most enjoy bringing to life onstage?

JS: It is all so witty and full of bubbles and spritz. One of my favorite duets, however, is between Magnifico and Dandini, where the valet informs Magnifico of his humble state. Some of the large ensembles are astounding. The composer is able to repeat long coloratura passages in different characters all the while keeping the characteristic momentum of the Rossini "train" going at an amazing clip.

OSL: Can you recommend musical moments audiences should definitely look out for?

JS: There is one seven measure passage where Cenerentola is begging her step-father to allow her to go to the ball. The music is an ascending phrase which to my mind foreshadows some of Verdi's beautiful melodies. One of the ensembles I was describing earlier is what I call "gruppo." It comes pretty close to the end. Also the tenor aria rivals the "high C" aria from Donizetti's La fille du Régiment. At the very end of course Ceneretola sings one of the great lyric mezzo coloratura arias "Non più mesta."

OSL: The Cinderella story has taken place in a variety of times and settings, giving the director a number of possibilities. In working with your design team, what concept did you arrive at for sets and costumes?

JS: We debated between the Empire and Biedermeier periods and decided that especially for the sisters, the Biedermeier costumes would lead to more comedy. Without a curtain it is difficult to go back and forth between Magnifico's house and the palace/castle. So we are asking the audience to buy into the idea of having the set changed in front of their eyes during musical numbers. It becomes more and more part of the story. I won't give away more than that.

Operatic Saint Louis: Some folks might be flummoxed by a Cinderella without the familiar glass slipper, wicked step-mother, fairy-godmother and magical spectacle...how would you convince them into attending La Cenerentola?

Jolly Stewart: First and foremost, the music is absolutely delicious. It sweeps you off your feet. The glass slipper is not nearly as important as the actual thing which draws the two lovers together. They both find each other so appealing and full of goodness and joy, that even without a slipper or a bracelet, I feel they would have found each other again.

From One Fairytale to the Next...

2011-07-14T19:00:00.006-05:00

Just as Union Avenue Opera heads into its second weekend of the Chinese fairytale of Turandot, the company readies itself for quite possibly the most-told fairytale of them all with Rossini's La Cenerentola ("Cinderella"). The cast and crew arrived in town earlier this week and rehearsals are fully underway.

Mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer (pictured above | photo: Ron Lindsey) sings the title role with Tenor Keith Boyer as Prince Ramiro. Several UAO veterans and newcomers fill out the cast. Jolly Stewart directs alongside debuting conductor Elizabeth Hastings. Be sure not to miss this charming, effervescent, Italianate take on the Cinderella story. Don't forget to bring the kids, too!!

La Cenerentola opens Friday, July 29 and will run for three more performances on July 30, Aug 6 & 7(M). Performances begin 8pm, except for 3pm Matinee on August 7. Production sung in Italian with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church; 733 N. Union Blvd, St. Louis, 63108.

Tickets range $30-52. Children's General Admission Tickets (ages 12 and under) are available for $15. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

Critical Notices for "Turandot"

2011-07-13T09:00:00.005-05:00

Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX and Operatic Saint Louis, Harrison Kaplan of BroadwayWorld.com, Darren Orf of St. Louis Magazine, Gerry Kowarsky of Two on the Aisle and Sarah Bryan Miller of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch have seen Union Avenue Opera's Turandot. Here's a sampling of what they had to say (to read full reviews, click on the reviewer's name):

"Alexandra LoBianco is riveting in the title role...Her character is rock solid, her performance is completely 'in the moment', and her voice is a thing of beauty ... [Von Felker, Sturdevant and Papas] have created fully realized, credible characters. Their second-act trio...is one of the highlights of the evening ... [T]he Union Avenue choristers carry [the music] off splendidly, with crisp enunciation and great precision ... Whether you’re a fan of Turandot or encountering its unsettling mythic world for the first time, you can’t go wrong with this production." --Chuck Lavazzi

"[T]he orchestra, conducted by artistic director Scott Schoonover is in fine fettle with their achievements here ... Mark James Meier's stage direction is superbly mounted, and the action is always clear and concise in execution ... Patrick Huber's multi-level scenic design is eye-catching, conjuring up the locale in nice fashion ... Teresa Doggett's costumes are well done as always, and also aid greatly in setting the proper atmosphere and mood ... Union Avenue Opera has set the bar high with this equally tragic and hopeful presentation of Puccini's Turandot." --Harrison Kaplan

"LoBianco’s strong-willed princess Turandot came to life in her powerful arias, and [Adam] Herskowitz’ bold voice fit the bold character of Calaf perfectly, but the performance that was most captivating was [Christia] Starnes’ Liu...Starnes’ voice filled the theater with all the pain and suffering of her character, and performed the most moving parts of the piece perfectly ... [T]he stage director (Mark James Meier) successfully maneuvered the 30 or more actors, never detracting from the central action or voice of the piece ... Turandot is stunning." --Darren Orf

"The Union Avenue orchestra plays very well under Scott Schoonover's direction. The delicate parts of the score are especially gorgeous ... LoBianco is a powerful Turandot and she meets her vocal match in Adam Laurence Herskowitz's Calàf ... Stage Director Mark James Meier marshals his forces well in the limited space available ... Fine work of the children's chorus reflects well on their director Rose Fischer-Vargas ... Next year Union Avenue will be tackling a reduced adaptation of 'Das Rheingold.' That's a lot to chew off, but I'm not going to bet against this little opera company that could." --Gerry Kowarsky

"LoBianco exhibited a beautifully steely voice and rare dramatic commitment as the bloodthirsty ice princess...one of the best all-around performances I can remember at UAO ... [Adam Herskowitz's] money notes...are both thrilling and absolutely solid. Christia Starnes...sang with gorgeous tone and enviable technique, spinning out her high notes flawlessly; her death scene was deeply affecting ... Aaron Stegemoller sang well as her master, Calaf's father, Timur ... Tenor Jon Garrett made a strong impression as the Emperor. Artistic director Scott Schoonover has an excellent feel for the score ... Union Avenue Opera's production of 'Turandot' is a winner." --Sarah Bryan Miller

Turandot concludes its run this weekend: Friday, July 15 and Saturday, July 16. Performances begin at 8pm. Sung in Italian with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church located at 733 Union Blvd in St. Louis. Tickets range $30-52. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase tickets or learn more about this production, please visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/ or call 314.361.2881

"Turandot" at Union Avenue Opera July 8 through 16, 2011

2011-07-10T15:42:00.001-05:00

Alexandra LoBianco, Jon Garrett

Turandot is one of the most popular and, in many ways, most controversial of Puccini’s operas. Left unfinished at the time of the composer’s death in 1924, it has never been given a fully satisfactory finale. Critical opinion has been divided on the work’s merits from the first performance. Even the pronunciation of the title character’s name has been disputed. Do you pronounce that final “t” or not?

Judging from the response of the opening night audience, the one thing that’s not in dispute about this Turandot is the quality of the production. The fact that it’s so consistently engaging and entertaining despite the opera’s dramatic flaws is a testament to the talent and energy of a company that I have come to regard as one of the area’s great musical treasures.

Based on an old Persian fairy tale as retold by Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi, Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni’s libretto tells the story of the misandryst Chinese princess Turandot whose suitors must answer three riddles to win her hand. Failure means death, and as the opera opens the body count is already fairly high. Witnessing the execution of the latest loser, Prince Calàf falls instantly in lust with Turandot despite warnings from his blind father Timur, the slave girl Liù (in unrequited love with Calàf), and palace functionaries Ping, Pang, and Pong. He answers her riddles, poses one of his own, and finally wins her, generating his own share of death and misery along the way.

That’s the Cliff’s Notes version, anyway. Wikipedia has a far more detailed synopsis. The bottom line, though, is that Turandot and Calàf are two of the more appalling characters in operatic literature. The former is clearly unhinged; the latter a callow youth determined to possess his lust object regardless of who gets hurt (quite literally, in Liù’s case) in the process. Puccini’s music redeems them somewhat, but ultimately Turandot’s story is a fairly unpleasant business with a thoroughly unbelievable “happy” ending cobbled together from Puccini’s notes by composer and pianist Franco Alfano.

That means that if Turandot is to work at all, the principles have to be completely invested in their roles. Happily, Union Avenue has, with few exceptions, assembled a cast that can both act and sing up a storm.

Soprano Alexandra LoBianco is riveting in the title role, utterly convinced of her divine lineage and irrevocably determined that no man will ever posses her. Her character is rock solid, her performance is completely “in the moment”, and her voice is a thing of beauty. Her Turandot is a monster, to be sure, but a fascinating one.

The characters of Ping, Pang, and Pong might appear to be comic relief – and they are, to some extent – but Puccini and his librettists have given them a psychological depth that goes far beyond superficial laughs. Baritone Todd von Felker (Ping) and tenors Clark Sturdevant and Andrew Papas (Pang and Pong) have created fully realized, credible characters. Their second-act trio, in which they lament their service to the homicidal Turandot and long for bucolic homes, is one of the highlights of the evening and was the first number to generate spontaneous applause. Nicely done, gentlemen.

Every Puccini opera has a suffering heroine. In the case of Liù that means both romantic yearning and physical torture. The role demands a lot both dramatically and vocally, but soprano Christia Starnes is more than up to the challenge, with a voice that handles those soft high notes with ease and acting skills to match. Bass Aaron Stegemöller is a solid Timur and baritone Nathan Ruggles is appropriately imposing as the Mandarin who reads Turandot’s savage decree.

Tenor Adam Laurence Herskowitz brings a fine, ringing tenor voice to the role of Calàf but, alas, not much else. The problem is not that he acts the role badly but rather that he doesn’t act it at all, displaying no emotion when he’s not in focus and stock operatic gestures when he is. Tenor Jon Garrett’s Emperor Altoum sounds fine but looks rather like Buster Keaton at his most doleful. He’s been given a throne that leaves his slippered feet dangling, making him look like an aging toddler stranded in a high chair. It rather detracts from the role’s tragic dignity.

The chorus and children’s chorus carry much of the narrative weight in Turandot. Puccini has lavished some of his finest music on them, and the Union Avenue choristers carry it off splendidly, with crisp enunciation and great precision. This is not the first time I’ve remarked on the high quality of the choral work at Union Avenue; I expect it won’t be the last.

Like the West End Players, their fellow tenants in the Union Avenue Christian Church, Union Avenue Opera appears to be dedicated to presenting “big theatre in a small space”. Turandot, with its emphasis on spectacle and lush, exotic sound, pushes that dedication to the limit, sometimes resulting in awkward and static staging. Fortunately, under Scott Schoonover’s assured direction, Puccini’s consistently captivating score carries the work forward even when the sheer number of bodies on stage makes physical movement impossible. I heard some fatigue in the brasses towards the end of the third act on opening night, but otherwise this struck me as a very fine reading.

Colorful and well-chosen costumes by Teresa Doggett (the Hardest-Working Woman in St. Louis Show Business) and striking art deco-inspired sets by Patrick Huber add polish. Stage director Mark James Meier does a respectable job given the constraints imposed by the large cast and small stage. When he actually has some space to work with – during the Ping-Pang-Pong trio in Act II, for example – he creates some very memorable stage pictures.

Whether you’re a fan of Turandot or encountering its unsettling mythic world for the first time, you can’t go wrong with this production. It’s not perfect, but it’s well worth the time and attention of anyone who loves opera. Performances continue through July 16th at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union at Enright in the Central West End. For more information, you may visit unionavenueopera.org, check out their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter @UAOpera, or call 314-361-2881.

'Turandot' Opens Friday Night at Union Avenue Opera

2011-07-07T18:26:00.003-05:00

Puccini’s final masterpiece Turandot opens Union Avenue Opera’s 17th season under the baton of Artistic Director Scott Schoonover. This passionate opera tells the tale of Princess Turandot whose cruelty masks her fear of love as she subjects her would-be suitors to answer three impossible riddles. Failure to answer means death, until the brave and noble Calàf falls in love with Turandot and attempts to beat her at her own dangerous game.

St. Louis audiences last saw Turandot onstage here at UAO in 2004. Mark James Meier's production scored a critical and box office success for the company. Soprano Lise Lindstrom, the leading lady, went on to make the title role a staple of her repertoire, and in 2009 made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the ice princess. Click here for a full synopsis of the opera.

Singing the title role, Soprano Alexandra LoBianco (pictured at right \ Photo: Ron Lindsey) returns to the Union Avenue Opera stage after her critically-lauded 2009 company debut as Leonora in Il Trovatore as well as an appearance in UAO's 2010 Gala Concert. She recently debuted as Turandot with West Bay Opera in Palo Alto, CA and looks forward to singing the role once again. Fresh from an engagement with the Metropolitan Opera on Tour in Japan, Tenor Adam Herskowitz makes his UAO debut as Prince Calàf. Bass Aaron Stegemöller, another artist making his UAO debut, sings the role of Timur, deposed King of Tartary. Last seen in her company debut as Desdemona in 2008's Otello, Soprano Christia Starnes sings the role of Timur's devoted slave girl Liù.

(L to R: Todd von Felker, Clark Sturdevant & Andrew Papas as Ping, Pang & Pong \ Photo: Ron Lindsey)

Baritone Todd von Felker, seen last summer as The Pirate King (Pirates of Penzance) and Count Tomsky (Pikovaya Dama), will appear as Ping. After his company debut as Major-General Stanley in Pirates last season, Baritone Andrew Papas sings the role of Pong. UAO veteran Tenor Clark Sturdevant, who sang the role of The Emperor in the 2004 production, returns to sing the role of Pang. Click here to see Ping, Pang and Pong in action. Tenor Jon Garrett, who most recently sang the role of Major-Domo in Pikovaya Dama, will appear as The Emperor. Baritone Nathan Ruggles sings the role of Mandarino.

Operatic Saint Louis interviewed Mark James Meier on his directorial vision of the production. Last week, UAO Artistic Director/Conductor Scott Schoonover, Alexandra LoBianco and Adam Herskowitz sat down with Steve Potter of Cityscape on 90.7 KWMU to discuss Turandot as well as the upcoming season. Click here to listen (interview located on July 1st archive, Segment A). Ms. LoBianco spoke with Sarah Bryan Miller for a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article on the characters of Turandot and Liù. Patricia Rice also interviews both leads in a recent St. Louis Beacon article.

Dr. Glen Bauer of Webster University will be giving an Opening Night Lecture on the opera. The lecture begins at 7pm Friday, July 8th, one hour before curtain, in the Fellowship Hall of Union Avenue Christian Church. This lecture is free to the public.

Turandot opens Friday, July 8 and will run for three more performances on July 9, 15 & 16. All performances begin at 8pm and take place at Union Avenue Christian Church located at 733 N. Union Blvd in St. Louis. Sung in Italian with projected English supertitles.

Tickets range $30-52. Student Rush Tickets are $15 with valid Student ID (cash only) for any remaining seats available 15 minutes before curtain. To purchase Tickets or find more information about Union Avenue Opera, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

Interview with 'Turandot' Director Mark James Meier

2011-07-05T07:00:00.004-05:00

Operatic Saint Louis recently interviewed Stage Director Mark James Meier about Union Avenue Opera's Turandot. Mark made his UAO directing debut with a wildly popular 2004 production of Turandot and has returned to stage it once again. He most recently directed Bach's Coffee Cantata and Douglas Moore's Gallantry for Main Street Opera in Chicago. This Fall, he will stage Rossini's La Cenerentola for Fargo-Moorhead Opera.

Operatic Saint Louis: What qualities of Turandot resonate with you as an artist, and why do you believe it has achieved such high status in the operatic repertoire?

Mark James Meier: Being Puccini's last piece, it is the final work of a master. Puccini had an inner theatrical bug and could write the most incredible music you had ever heard--there are several lush tunes. He was also very dramatic, as well, so there are many layers to his work. In the piece, you get what most opera-lovers want: a love story, some gore, live action--all of which are wrapped up in this piece. In addition, there are at least four standard arias in this piece that most listeners recognize--namely "Nessun dorma."

OSL: You have a definite career history with Turandot both as a singer and stage director. As you direct this piece for the second time with UAO, have your ideas and perceptions about the opera changed or evolved since the last production, and if so, how did they influence this current production?

MJM: I have had a lot of time on the inside of the piece as a singer long before directing it in 2004 and, later, assistant directing. Each time, I find myself reviewing the piece more in order to find further depth, which is fantastic with Turandot. What did I hear before? What did I miss before? Specifically, certain characters and relationships have deepened for me. The strange dynamic between the slave girl Liù and Princess Turandot especially fascinates me this time around.

OSL: Puccini based this opera on an earlier commedia dell'arte play of the same name by Carlo Gozzi. How does Puccini's and his librettists' (Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) vision of Turandot compare to that of the original play? Did you find any directorial inspiration in the Gozzi text?

MJM: The original play is very different work. The basic dramatic structure is the same: Turandot pulls a promise out of her father that she would not marry until a Prince could answer the three riddles; Calàf proposes that she may kill him if she can guess his name. However, the play lasts five acts as opposed to the opera's whittled-down three. There are also several more characters involved. Furthermore, Liù was a new creation by librettists Adami and Simoni which morphed several tutors of Calàf into a love-stricken slave girl. The play was also written at the height of commedia dell'arte's popularity. Ping, Pang and Pong in the opera are based upon commedia archetypes from that era, though they do not function in the way that Gozzi's characters did. They provide comic elements, but do not rely on improvisation--which cannot be done in a medium where the drama is written out.

The librettists did a wonderful job of reshaping the original piece into grand opera. One part of the play which fascinates me is the lead-up to the riddle sequence of Act Two, Scene Two. Traditionally, Turandot appears and sings "In questa reggia"--a tale of her ancestress--and then off we go. In the play, Turandot writes multiple riddles in the presence of the wise men before the riddles take place. In front of the assembled court, she would select three from a tray. In the opera, it is assumed that the wise men have three riddles decided some time ago. I use that idea in this production for Turandot before she launches into her first aria.

OSL: Which sequences of the opera do you enjoy staging the most?

MJM: I love the opening scene of the opera. I've spoken to the chorus about it because the scene establishes the chorus as its own character. When I directed Otello, I told the chorus the same thing. Both operas have choruses that drive the beginning of the drama with fantastic music. There is so much going on in the first ten minutes of Turandot with constant mood shifts and a crazy, bloodthirsty crowd. As a performer, I sang Pang several times, so the Ping, Pang and Pong sequence is delightful to revisit and play with. That sequence is possibly the longest of its kind solely devoted to comprimario character singing and acting.

OSL: The 3rd-act tenor aria "Nessun dorma" is quite possibly the most known, quoted and excerpted theme from Puccini's score. In addition to this aria, what arias, ensembles and orchestral music ought the audiences listen for?

MJM: The first aria proper is Liù's "Signore ascolta" in Act One. Audiences will recognize it if they have ever listened to a Puccini soprano. It progresses into another great sequence--"Non piangere Liù"--which adds Calàf and Timur, then eventually a finale with chorus. The role of Liù is almost completely made up of three arias: "Signore ascolta" and two back-to-back pieces in the final act which are not to be missed. One of my favorite arias is "In questa reggia" in Act Two, where Turandot tells Calàf of her ancestress' cruel fate and why it has turned her away from love. The best sequence for me is the following riddle scene. It is one of the most thrilling in all opera.

OSL: The score of Turandot calls for mighty vocal forces onstage, especially for the leading roles (Princess Turandot and Prince Calaf) which are not easily cast. What can you tell us about the casting of Alexandra LoBianco and Adam Herskowitz?

MJM: Alexandra sang for us two years ago in Il Trovatore. When we heard her sing, I thought that this is a voice that will be going up the dramatic scale. It was her first soprano role. It was a true, full Verdian dramatic voice now blossoming further into Puccini dramatic territory. In the future, she will be singing Strauss and Wagner quite easily. That casting choice was far easier because we had our eye on her out front. From there, we were not hearing what we wanted to hear in auditions for Calàfs. Incidentally, Alexandra had just won the Liederkranz Competition in New York with a young tenor, Adam Herskowitz, whom she recommended we hear. Upon her strong recommendation, we hired him.

OSL: What can you tell us about the vision of this production in regards to your collaboration with set designer Patrick Huber and costume designer Teresa Doggett?

MJM: One of my favorite periods is art deco and I wanted to have a set inspired by it which would work really well with the piece. Patrick and I discussed it and he has designed a 1930s-inspired art deco set which makes my heart go pitty-pat. I love it! With the costuming, we are going for a 1930s Peking Opera influence.

Operatic Saint Louis: What would you say to convince the undecided or unfamiliar to run out and get Turandot tickets?

Mark James Meier: This opera is worth coming to for its epic scale. The stage action at the beginning will sweep you away and the arias will absolutely melt you. The ensembles are trademark big Puccini. I have the stage packed with principal singers, chorus, dancers, supers, children...what grand opera is all about. If you want to be sent on an emotional ride, this is the piece for you.

Turandot opens this Friday, July 8 and will run for three more performances on July 9, 15 & 16. Performances begin at 8pm. Sung in Italian with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church located at 733 Union Blvd in St. Louis. To purchase tickets or learn more about this production, visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/ or call 314.361.2881

Sneak Peek at UAO "Turandot" in Rehearsal

2011-07-01T06:00:00.002-05:00

Click on the YouTube video below to see a sneak peek at staging rehearsal of Turandot. The video features Baritone Todd von Felker, Baritone Andrew Papas and Tenor Clark Sturdevant as Imperial Ministers Ping, Pong and Pang, respectively.

Turandot opens one week from tonight! Get your tickets now by calling 314.361.2881 or visiting http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

90.7 FM's "Cityscape" Features Union Avenue Opera

2011-06-29T09:00:00.005-05:00

KWMU 90.7 FM's broadcast of Cityscape this Friday, July 1st, features a discussion of Union Avenue Opera's 17th Festival Season. Host Steve Potter welcomes onto the program UAO Artistic Director/Conductor Scott Schoonover as well as Soprano Alexandra LoBianco and Tenor Adam Herskowitz, appearing as Princess Turandot and Calaf in the upcoming Turandot.

(Alexandra LoBianco & Adam Herskowitz)

Cityscape airs on KWMU 90.7 FM at 11:00am-Noon on Friday, July 1st and will be repeated at 10:00pm that evening. You may also listen to archived audio of the program on KWMU's Website.

Union Avenue Opera: 17th Season Overview

2011-06-28T00:25:00.007-05:00

Union Avenue Opera prepares to raise the curtain on its 17th Festival Season. After great success with last season’s local premiere of Tchaikovsky’s psychological drama Pikovaya Dama (Queen of Spades), the comedic operetta The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan, and the romance of La fille du régiment (Daughter of the Regiment) by Donizetti, the company brings two well-loved operas and one local premiere to the stage.

Audiences will experience the passion and pageantry of ancient China in Puccini's Turandot, laugh through a whimsical Italianate telling of the Cinderella story in Rossini's La Cenerentola and plumb the depths of human evil and goodness in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking.

IN THE PIT AND BEFORE THE FOOTLIGHTS...

Artistic Director and Conductor Scott Schoonover is set to conduct both Turandot and Dead Man Walking. Conductor Elizabeth Hastings makes her UAO conducting debut with La Cenerentola.

Chicago-based Stage Director Mark James Meier returns to stage the upcoming Turandot. UAO Principal Stage Director Jolly Stewart will return next month to stage La Cenerentola. Stage Director Tim Ocel returns to stage Dead Man Walking.

Set Designer Patrick Huber has designed a festival set for the summer season. Costume Designer Teresa Doggett is at the helm for Turandot and Dead Man Walking, and Michele Siler will make her costume design debut with UAO on La Cenerentola.

THOSE BASKING IN THE FOOTLIGHTS...

Union Avenue Opera welcomes back artists from past seasons:

Cast of Turandot: Alexandra LoBianco (Turandot), Christia Starnes (Liù), Todd von Felker (Ping), Clark Sturdevant (Pang), Andrew Papas (Pong), Jon Garrett (Emperor) and Nathan Ruggles (Mandarino).

Cast of La Cenerentola: Keith Boyer (Prince Ramiro), Kara Cornell (Tisbe), Gina Galati (Clorinda), and Scott Levin (Alidoro).

Cast of Dead Man Walking: Jordan Shanahan (Joseph De Rocher), Debra Hillabrand (Mrs. Patrick De Rocher), Marlissa Hudson (Sister Rose), Robert Reed (Warden George Benton), Cecelia Stearman (Jade Boucher), Jon Garrett (Howard Boucher), David Dillard (Owen Hart), Stephanie Tennill (Kitty Hart), Victoria Carmichael (Sister Lillianne), Joy Boland (Sister Catherine), Clark Sturdevant (Father Grenville), Philip Touchette (Motor Cop), Thomas Sitzler and Nathan Ruggles (Guards).

Several artists will make their UAO debut:

Tenor Adam Herskowitz (Calàf, Turandot)
Bass Aaron Stegemöller (Timur, Turandot)
Mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer (Angelina, La Cenerentola)
Baritone Kenneth Mattice (Dandini, La Cenerentola)
Baritone Adam Fry (Don Magnifico, La Cenerentola)
Mezzo-soprano Elise Quagliata (Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking)

WHEN, WHERE and WHITHER TICKETS?

Turandot runs July 8, 9, 15, 16. La Cenerentola runs July 29, 30, Aug 6, 7(Mat). Dead Man Walking runs August 19, 20, 26, 27. All performances at 8pm, except for the La Cenerentola matinée at 3pm. Turandot and La Cenerentola are performed in Italian. Dead Man Walking is performed in English. All operas will be presented with projected English supertitles. Venue: Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 N. Union Blvd, St. Louis.

To purchase tickets (running $30-52) and find more information about UAO, please call 314.361.2881 or visit http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

"The Death of Klinghoffer" at Opera Theatre June 15 through 25, 2011

2011-06-16T19:31:00.001-05:00

If you want to know why The Death of Klinghoffer, the 1991 opera by John Adams and Alice Goodman, poses such a challenge for audiences, you need look no further than the title. The murder of wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer by the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985 is the key incident of the work, yet it takes place offstage. As with most of the dramatic moments in the story, we encounter it only at a remove, retold by others and commented upon in often obscure language by the chorus. The fact that the current Opera Theatre production is still often compelling and fascinating is an indicator of just how strong all the performances are. With material like this, nothing less than the best will suffice – and “the best” is what we got on opening night.

Mr. Adams and Ms. Goodman were apparently aware of the work’s challenging structure. They originally regarded it as more akin to the dramatic oratorios of Bach or Handel than a conventional opera. Not surprisingly, therefore, most performances of it have been concert versions.

For this first fully staged American production since 1991, director James Robinson has added on-stage action that mostly amplifies and clarifies the text, helping to create some moments that have an undeniable impact. Examples that come immediately to mind include the opening choruses of exiled Palestinians and Jews, the hijacker Mamoud’s soliloquies on the romance of distant radio stations and the freedom of birds (beautifully realized by bass-baritone Aubrey Allicock), and the hallucinatory “Night Chorus” that concludes the first act. But the result is still, at least for me, a work that lacks any real dramatic impact, appealing more to the head than the heart.

A detailed and highly recommended synopsis of the opera is available on Wikipedia, but the basics will be familiar to those who remember the events of 1985: four hijackers take over the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and demand the release of fifty Palestinians held in Israeli jails. When their demands are met with silence, they murder Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled Jewish American, throw his body overboard, and threaten to kill others. Once negotiations begin, the remaining passengers are set free and the captain and Klinghoffer’s wife are left to deal with their grief and anger.

Some events, including a fictional confrontation between Klinghoffer and the hijackers, are played out in real time, but for the most part characters either give us their own spin on events or reveal their inner lives in soliloquies. There are even a couple of roles – the Austrian Woman and the British Dancer, both played brilliantly by mezzo Lucy Schaufer – whose superficial blather would work as comic relief, were the overall background not so grim.

Individual scenes are separated by choruses that comment on the action, usually in oblique and poetically complex language that contrasts sharply with the more prosaic text assigned to individual characters. The music for these chorales is, to my ears, the most powerful and complex in the opera (which may explain Mr. Adams’s Choruses from The Death of Klinghoffer, composed in the same year as the opera), presenting a considerable challenge to Chorus Master R. Robert Ainley and his forces. It’s a challenge they meet brilliantly, producing ensemble singing of the highest order. Even when the words seem deliberately opaque, the vocal sound is beyond reproach.

The strong choral singing is matched by impressive performances in the named roles. I have already commented on the fine work of Mr. Allicock and Ms. Schaufer. There are also impressive interpretations from baritone Christopher Magiera as The Captain, baritone Brian Mulligan as Klinghoffer, and mezzo Laura Wilde (a Gerdine Young Artist) in the “pants” role of the hijacker Omar. Mezzo Nancy Maultsby is appropriately and believably tragic as Marilyn Klinghoffer (a performance rendered even more remarkable by the fact that the role is actually intended for a contralto) and baritone Paul La Rosa is an impressive figure in every sense of the term as both the First Officer and the brutal hijacker “Rambo”. Tenor Matthew DiBattista isn’t given much to work with as the lead hijacker Molqi, but his powerful, ringing voice makes the most of it.

Conductor Michael Christie leads the orchestra of St. Louis Symphony musicians (augmented by keyboardists Adam Burnette and Andrea Grant) through Adams’s demanding music with consummate skill. The composer himself was in attendance on opening night and I think he couldn’t have asked for a better reading of this score.

Allen Moyer’s set is dramatic and attention grabbing in its simplicity. Massive flats painted to look like a riveted steel hull shift quickly and easily to change scenes, assisted by a wide scrim that descends as needed to project still and moving images. It all enables the large chorus to appear and disappear quickly and helps compensate for the often-static nature of the drama.

If all this leaves you with the impression that I’m feeling somewhat ambivalent about The Death of Klinghoffer, you’d be spot on. It seems to me that I should like the piece much more than I do. Its heart and head are in the right place, it doesn’t take cheap political shots, and it aims high. But ultimately the work suffers from the same theatrical inertia that sank the first Adams-Goodman collaboration, Nixon in China. I think it’s worth seeing – especially given how rare a staged performance is – but you should be prepared for the possibility of a less than satisfying experience.

Performances of The Death of Klinghoffer continue at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus through June 25th. For more information, visit experienceopera.org or the company’s Facebook page, call 314-961-0644 or follow them on Twitter @OTSL.

"Pelléas and Mélisande" at Opera Theatre June 5 through 24, 2011

2011-06-08T01:55:00.001-05:00

Opening night for Pelléas and Mélisande was an evening of notable firsts. It was the first local performance of Debussy and Maeterlinck’s elusive and compelling drama, the first OTSL appearance by noted bass John Cheek, and the first time (at least in my memory) that a director was loudly booed by some members of an audience that had just given a standing ovation to the conductor and singers.

And, brother, did he ever deserve it. Stage Director David Alden (making his first and, with any luck, last appearance with the company) has taken a subtle work in which nearly everything of importance is implied rather than stated outright and turned it into a heavy-handed catalog of psychosexual dysfunction that would not be out of place in a cable movie of the week. Imagine a play by Harold Pinter done in the style of (say) Charles Busch’s Die Mommie Die! and you’ll have some idea of the crashing dissonance involved.

The story of the opera is a classic romantic triangle. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version, adapted from Wikipedia. Prince Golaud finds a mysterious young woman, Mélisande, lost in a forest. He marries her and brings her back to the castle of his grandfather, King Arkel of Allemonde. There, Mélisande becomes attracted to Golaud’s younger half-brother Pelléas, arousing Golaud’s jealousy and driving him to bizarre lengths to learn “the truth”. At one point Golaud forces his own child, Yniold, to spy on the couple. Pelléas prepares leave forever but arranges to meet Mélisande one last time. As the two finally confess their love, Golaud rushes out and kills Pelléas. Mélisande dies shortly after, having given birth to a daughter, with Golaud still begging her to tell him “the truth”.

Pelléas was Debussy’s only opera, and he seems to have poured his heart into it. Seeking a refuge from the long and ponderous shadow of Wagner, he was drawn to the consciously anti-naturalistic work of the poet and dramatist Maurice Maeterlinck who, like other artists in the early 20th century Symbolist movement, believed that dramatic truth should be suggested rather than shown. His setting follows the original play closely, mirroring the playwright’s subtlety with an evocative score that unfolds in a series of tableaux rather than in conventional solos and choruses. It is, in short, a nearly perfect match of music and text.

Or it was before Mr. Alden got his hands on it. Again and again throughout the production, he imposes interpretations on scenes that are entirely unjustified by any plausible reading of the text or music and often actively contradict both. This nonsense reaches its peak (or its nadir) in Maeterlinck’s Act IV Scene 3, in which an elliptical little scene involving Yniold and a shepherd is played out as a hallucination that ends with the shepherd (who is actually a sinister doctor in this version) injecting Yniold with a sedative. I would have laughed had I not already been so annoyed by the incredible arrogance all of this implied. Does Mr. Alden really think his neo-Freudian clichés are more interesting than the repressed sexual tension implied by but never stated in the music and libretto? It would seem so.

But enough of this. Let us consign the director’s concept to the ash-heap of history and concentrate on the musical performances, which are as consistently right as the stage direction is wrong.

And let us begin with the orchestra. Led by OTSL Music Director Stephen Lord, they deliver a luminous and compelling reading of Debussy’s hypnotic and consistently fascinating score. This is a work in which the orchestra is as essential to the drama as the characters, and Mr. Lord integrates everything seamlessly.

The singers, despite being saddled with absurd and demeaning blocking, all deliver performances that are beautifully sung and acted. Yes, their characters largely contradict the libretto, but that’s hardly their fault. The important thing is that they all sound terrific.

Baritone Gregory Dahl, who was such a commanding presence in OTSL's Salome, proves to be equally impressive as the conflicted Golaud. He has a dark, powerful voice – almost more of a bass-baritone – that contrasts nicely with the clear and ringing tones of his fellow baritone Liam Bonner, who makes a striking OTSL debut as Pelléas.

Former Gerdine Young Artist Corinne Winters has a radiant soprano that’s ideally suited to the role of the inexplicably troubled Mélisande. She also seems to understand the repressed sensuality that is part of the core of this character.

A familiar figure in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses, bass John Cheek, brings authority and yet another great voice to the role of King Arkel. It is, happily, an understated performance in an evening otherwise given over to heaving bosoms and rolling about on the floor. As Yniold, boy soprano Michael Kepler Meo (who made such a strong impression as Charlie in The Golden Ticket last season) once again displays a remarkably clear and well-developed voice along with acting skills well beyond his years.

Adam Silverman’s lighting and Paul Steinberg’s set are so strikingly ugly that I’m forced to conclude that they are exactly what the director wants. The former is all harsh glare and deep shadows, while the latter looks like an art deco living room complete with chandelier. For outdoor scenes, a stiff curtain covered in what looks like cheap wood grain contact paper is lowered to suggest the forest. To me, it mostly suggested a 1950s suburban rec room.

As you have no doubt gathered by now, my bottom line is that (to paraphrase an old Monty Python sketch) this is not a production for seeing; this is an production for running away from and avoiding. If you’ve never seen Pelléas and Mélisande, this is not the way to make its acquaintance. You’d be better off with one of the many audio recordings, especially those by some of the opera’s champions such as Ansermet, Boulez, or von Karajan. I’d suggest one of the video versions available on Netflix, but it seems that taking this lovely work rife with musical and verbal depictions of nature (Debussy’s love of the sea is especially apparent here) and stuffing it into claustrophobic interiors has become in vogue recently.

Performances of Pelléas and Mélisande continue at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus through June 24th. For more information, visit experienceopera.org or the company’s Facebook page, call 314-961-0644 or follow them on Twitter @OTSL.

UAO Season One Month Away

2011-06-04T14:47:00.009-05:00

In a month, Union Avenue Opera will commence its 17th summer festival season with Puccini's Turandot, followed by Rossini's La Cenerentola ("Cinderella") and concluding with the midwestern premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. Rehearsal for the season is fully underway, as artistic director and conductor Scott Schoonover has begun preparing the ensembles of all three productions as well as the children's ensembles of Turandot and Dead Man Walking. In two weeks, the cast and crew of Turandot will converge in St. Louis to begin a three-week staging process before the season opening.

Season Subscriptions and Single Tickets are currently on sale. 3-Opera Season Subscriptions run $85-$111. Single Tickets run $30-52. Student Rush Tickets ($15) will be sold 15 minutes before curtain time (cash only). Tickets may be purchased online at the UAO website or by calling the Box Office at 314.361.2881

Visit Operatic Saint Louis throughout the coming months to view further exclusive content and information on UAO's 17th season and special events surrounding each production. http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

"The Daughter of the Regiment" at Opera Theatre May 28 through June 26

2011-05-30T23:12:00.000-05:00

Donizetti’s 1840 romantic opéra-comique romp The Daughter of the Regiment has always been popular with audiences and performers alike, but it’s unusual to see two first-rate professional productions within a year of each other. Union Avenue Opera gave us a delightful Daughter (in the original French) last July, and now we have an equally entertaining English version from Opera Theatre. For those of us who admire this cheerful bit of musical fluff, it has been a pleasant coincidence.

The circumstances that led Donizetti to write a French romantic comedy were, ironically, less than joyous. His wife Virginia died in 1837 and the broken-hearted composer fled Italy for Paris where, as historian Herbert Weinstock notes, “he began a new life”. Originally written as a quick replacement for a delayed opera by another composer, Daughter was initially greeted with indifference by the Parisian public and hostility by Berlioz (then music critic for the Journal des débats). Audiences quickly came around, however, and over the years the title role has become a favorite of high-flying sopranos from Jenny Lind to Joan Sutherland.

The titular daughter, Marie, is a war orphan adopted as a baby by the rather tender-hearted French soldiers of the 21st Regiment. Now a beauty with the voice of an angel and a colorful military vocabulary, she loves and is loved by Tonio, who saved her from toppling off an Alp. Their love is opposed initially by her guardian, Sergeant Sulpice, and the other soldiers (who mistake Tonio for a spy) and then by the snobbish Marquise de Birkenfeld, who is determined to marry Marie off to the son of the pompous Duchess of Crackentorp and who also, in a classic comic opera revelation, turns out to be Marie’s long-lost mother. All ends happily, of course, with plenty of rousing ensembles and solo vocal fireworks along the way.

Although a former Gerdine Young Artist and therefore still in the early stages of her career, soprano Ashley Emerson, as Marie, has an understanding of comic acting (both physical and vocal) and a light, nimble voice that would do credit to a more experienced singer. Petite and energetic, her Marie is perhaps the very embodiment of the adjective “feisty”. She is sometimes overpowered by her male co-stars, but her performance is so completely right that I, at least, am willing to cut her a lot of slack in the volume department. Besides, coloratura and comedy are difficult enough individually; in combination they can be a major challenge.

As Tonio, tenor René Barbera is not, perhaps, the strongest actor on the stage, but there’s no doubt that he’s one of the strongest singers. His voice is clear, powerful, and, as far as I can tell, pretty much seamless throughout the wide range called for in the role. Besides, this is a part that is mostly about singing beautifully and accurately hitting those high Cs in the bravura air “Pour mon âme” – a song reckoned to be one of the most difficult in the repertoire. Mr. Barbera’s performance on opening night brought on a spontaneous ovation and cries of “bravo” that were well deserved.

History tells us that the original 1840 Tonio, Mécène Marié de l'Isle, had pitch problems. Had Mr. Barbera lived back then history would have a different story to tell.

Baritone Dale Travis completes the strong leading trio in the buffo role of Sulpice. A big actor with an equally large voice, his mere presence on the stage with the diminutive Ms. Emerson can’t help but provoke a smile in the best “Mutt and Jeff” tradition, and his gruff-but-lovable performance is just perfect.

Mezzo Dorothy Byrne is the self-consciously upper-crust Marquise. It’s normally a contralto role and didn’t seem to be the best fit for her voice, but she certainly made the most of her one and only solo. As the Marquise’s snooty servant Hortensius, bass-baritone Jason Eck is appropriately fussy and the two work well together on stage.

Given that director Seán Curran is also a choreographer, you might expect more than the usual amount of scripted movement and dance, and you’d be right. There is even a small corps de ballet which is so neatly integrated with the singing cast that the overall effect is more like a Broadway musical in which everyone sings and dances to some degree. The women of the corps have a particularly funny bit with Ms. Emerson at the opening of the second act as Marie tries (and hilariously fails) to execute classic choreography (think Swan Lake or Les Sylphides with Carol Burnett’s Princess Winifred thrown in).

In his director’s notes, in fact, Mr. Curran acknowledges that his chief source of inspiration for this production is Broadway stage – especially “tomboy” shows such as Annie Get Your Gun, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Once Upon a Mattress. There is, as a result, a fair amount of knockabout farce to supplement all the dancing. Personally, I found much of it a bit too broad – with comedy, less is usually more, in my view – but the music and libretto easily support it and the opening night audience seemed to enjoy it immensely.

This production of Daughter of the Regiment incorporates another element of the Broadway stage, at least as it existed in the early 20th century: the show-stopping star turn. The role of the Duchess of Crackentorp is normally a spoken part, which has often, in recent years, been taken by retired or semi-retired singers with high name recognition. Casting noted soprano Sylvia McNair in the role falls right in with that tradition. Giving her an interpolated song and accompanying it with a fair amount of extra gag lines, however, is straight out of 1920s Broadway.

The added song – “A Word On My Ear” by the great British comic songwriters Flanders and Swann – is a hilarious send-up of tin-eared (but LOUD) singers in the Jonathan and Darlene Edwards vein. As with much of the rest of the evening’s comic business, I found it a bit overplayed, but the audience loved it and seemed perfectly content to let the entire show come to a halt while Ms. McNair did her bit.

Down in the pit, St. Louis native John McDaniel – a gent with an impressive Broadway and cabaret resume of his own – leads a polished performance of the score, played with the usual professionalism by musicians from the St. Louis Symphony. Chorus Master R. Robert Ainsley and English Diction Specialist Erie Mills have done their usual fine job of keeping everything crisp and comprehensible.

Set and costume designer James Schuette has given the whole production a bright, comic book look, complete with a whimsical fleur-de-lis–inspired false proscenium and imitation footlights in the shape of drums. Christopher Akerlind’s lighting nicely compliments it all and does a find job of signaling the applause points.

This is, in short, a solid production of a lively and tuneful score by one of the masters of bel canto. If you love comic opera and like your humor broad, you can hardly go wrong with this Daughter of the Regiment. It is, as they say, “family friendly”, and as an introduction to opera for those who might otherwise find the genre intimidating it’s hard to beat.

Performances of Daughter of the Regiment continue at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus through June 26th. For more information, visit experienceopera.org or call 314-961-0644.

Winter Opera Saint Louis' Gina Galati to Perform with Compton Heights Concert Band on Memorial Day

2011-05-30T01:44:00.001-05:00

Soprano Gina Galati, founder of Winter Opera Saint Louis, will guest with the 65 piece Compton Heights Concert Band, under the direction of band conductor Edward Dolbashian, on Monday, May 30, at 3:00 p.m. The Band's 33rd Annual Memorial Day concert will be held in the Henry Shaw Memorial Bandstand in Tower Grove Park. The concert is free and open to the public.

Galati will sing a variety of patriotic and popular selections including "God Bless America," "I Could’ve Danced All Night," "Over the Rainbow," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and "America The Beautiful."

"Spotlight on Opera" at Ethical Society of St. Louis, Monday, May 23

2011-05-23T14:35:00.001-05:00

Opera Theatre of St. Louis will host a series of dialogues featuring a variety of local experts and creative teams that will explore different themes in each of this year's operas.

The "Spotlight on Opera," series will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Monday evenings throughout May at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Road.

The evenings will also feature live performances by Opera Theatre's "Gerdine Young Artists."

On Monday, May 23, Amy Kaiser, director of the Saint Louis Symphony Chorus, will discuss The Death of Klinghoffer in a program called "John Adams: An American Musical Master. Taking part in the panel discussion will be James Robinson, OTSL artistic director, and conductor Michael Christie.

Single tickets are $10 and $5 for students and groups of at least 15. More information available by clicking here or by phone at 314-961-0644.

"Don Giovanni" at Opera Theatre May 21 through June 25

2011-05-22T22:07:00.003-05:00

Don Giovanni
Photo by Ken Howard

Opera Theatre’s Don Giovanni is oddly schizoid. Conductor Jane Glover and the singers are doing solid Mozart/Da Ponte but stage directors James Robinson and Michael Shell appear to be doing Marat/Sade, repeatedly undercutting the music and text with contradictory or just plain distracting stage business. You know it's going to be a bumpy night when the opera opens with Leporello pretending to urinate on a wall.

This is hardly a problem unique to Opera Theatre. I opened the Sunday New York Times the day after OTSL’s opening night to find an article by Charles Isherwood critiquing Robert Lepage’s Ring cycle at the Met in ways that closely mirrored my thoughts on what I had seen and heard the night before. When he writes that “the first responsibility of the director should be serving the musical drama,” and describes a production that “seems to be perpetually in competition for our attention with the opera itself,” he could just as easily be commenting on Mozart in St. Louis as on Wagner in New York.

The central problem with this Don Giovanni can, I think, be found in the brief directors’ note in the program. The characters who are seduced and/or abused by the Don “are not happy people to begin with.” They’re “self-deceiving, insomniac, and conflicted, and none of them seems to know how to escape from a tortured orbit around Giovanni.” Their Don may be a sociopath but instead of leaving a trail of innocent victims he’s dogged by broken enablers.

Nor is he the heedless libertine the libretto suggests. This Don Giovanni is “aware of his own vulnerability, his fleeting youth. Fear has set in.” For those who don’t read program notes, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Shell underline the point by having elderly ghosts confront Giovanni throughout the opera. In the end it’s the ghostly geezers who drag him to Hell, not the libretto’s chorus of demons.

The production, in short, injects a note of contemporary psychobabble that is at odds with both the music and libretto and serves neither of them well.

Still, to quote Mr. Isherwood again, a “pre-eminent truth about opera-going is that the quality of the music-making will always remain the matter of paramount importance…a great night at the opera relies infinitely more on the singers and the players in the pit than on any conceptual innovations from the production’s director.” The fine work by Ms. Glover, the St. Louis Symphony musicians, and the strong singers on stage is, ultimately, what rescues this production from the doldrums to which the stage direction seems determined to consign it. I’d like to think they were the motivation for the standing ovation the show received on opening night. They certainly deserved it.

Baritone Elliot Madore is a compelling and powerful Don Giovanni. He has clearly been directed to chew the scenery – almost literally so, in the final banquet scene – but he does it well. Baritone Levi Hernandez makes an impressive OTSL debut as the Don’s wily and put-upon servant Leporello, and his crystal-clear diction is a real plus in the patter songs.

As Don Ottavio, David Portillo was a great favorite of the opening night crowd, and with good reason. His “Il mio tesoro” allowed him to show off a fine, clear tenor to great advantage. Soprano Maria Kanyova, who gave us top-notch performances in Marriage of Figaro last year and Nixon in China back in 2004, is in fine form again as the grieving Donna Anna. It’s a beautifully sung performance – and even better if you close your eyes and ignore the ludicrous costumes and unflattering hairstyle with which she has been saddled.

Mezzo Kathryn Leemhuis, whom I described as a “lively and provocative Flora” in 2007’s La Traviata, brings a fine sense of comedy and vitality to the role of the peasant Zerlina. Bass Bradley Smoak, who was such a hit as the comically inebriated Antonio in last season’s Marriage of Figaro, once again demonstrates his humor chops as Zerlina’s befuddled (and, as it happens, intoxicated) bridegroom Masetto.

As the chronically indecisive Donna Elivra, soprano Kishani Jayasinghe falls a bit short of the vocal power and clarity of her fellow cast members, but her acting is convincing and in the end she won me over. Bass Andrew Gangestad cuts an imposing figure as the Commendatore, both in life and death.

Chistopher Akerlind is credited as the lighting designer but, as my fellow critic Gerry Kowarsky noted during intermission, he might more accurately be described as the “darkness designer”, given how dim the stage is. I understand that this is part of The Concept, but it does make it difficult to see what the actors are doing often enough to be distracting.

Equally distracting are Bruno Schwengel’s sets and costumes. The former feature fake three-dimensional scenes on painted flats with plenty of forced perspective – presumably to underscore the falseness of the Don’s world. The latter seem to place the action of the opera in both the 18th and 21st centuries simultaneously, which only further muddles the character relationships. Still, it’s all executed with great skill. It’s the overall concept that’s the problem.

That’s not to say that all of Mr. Robinson and Mr. Shell’s ideas were bad. Using on-stage musicians for the first act “battle of the bands” sequence is a nice touch, for example, and the Don’s final descent into Hell was appropriately dramatic. Playing some scenes “in one” in front of midnight blue curtain to cover lengthy scene changes was also a good choice – or would have been if those changes hadn’t been so protracted and so noisy.

I won’t say this Don Giovanni isn’t worth seeing because it’s certainly worth hearing, and if you love this opera you’ll find considerable musical pleasure in this production. I just wish directors would have a bit more faith in their material and their audiences. Honestly, we don’t need to be distracted by non-stop stage business. We understand that a Mozart opera has different ground rules than a Rogers and Hammerstein musical. Just trust us, OK?

Opera Theatre’s Don Giovanni continues at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus through June 25th. For more information, you may visit experienceopera.org or call 314-961-0644.

"Spotlight on Opera" at Ethical Society of St. Louis, Monday, May 16

2011-05-16T12:35:00.001-05:00

Opera Theatre of St. Louis will host a series of dialogues featuring a variety of local experts and creative teams that will explore different themes in each of this year's operas.

The "Spotlight on Opera," series will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Monday evenings throughout May at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Road.

The evenings will also feature live performances by Opera Theatre's "Gerdine Young Artists."

On Monday, May 16, Simon Kelly, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum will lead the discussion "French Impressionism: Monet and the Maeterlinck." Panelist are Stephen Lord, OTSL Music Director; David Alden, director of OSTL's production of Pelléas and Mélisande, and the production's designer Paul Steinberg.

Single tickets are $10 and $5 for students and groups of at least 15. More information available by clicking here or by phone at 314-961-0644.

Deborah Voigt and Bryn Terfel Star in Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast of "Die Walküre"

2011-05-13T22:42:00.000-05:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 11 a.m. Please note the one-hour earlier starting time. You may also listen to a live stream of the broadcast. Approximate running time 5 hours, 10 minutes.

The Metropolitan Opera's season comes to its conclusion this Saturday with a new production of Die Walküre, starring Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt.

In the April 23, 2011, New York Times, Anthony Tommasini said:

What moved me about this Walküre and made the five-hour-plus evening seem to whisk by was the exciting, wondrously natural playing that James Levine drew from the great Met orchestra and the involving singing of the impressive cast. Mr. Levine has had a rough time recuperating from back surgery. His conducting on Friday, if not as commanding as his work in Berg’s Wozzeck this month, was inspired and beautiful. Certain passages were perhaps not as together as in Levine Walküre performances past. But this one had fresh urgency and sweep. Taking bows onstage at the end, with the supporting arms of Mr. Terfel and Ms. Voigt, he looked frail. Still, he did superb work and was greeted with a huge ovation.

Among the cast Ms. Voigt had the most at stake. A decade ago, when she owned the role of Sieglinde at the Met, she seemed destined to be a major Brünnhilde. Her voice has lost some warmth and richness in recent years. But the bright colorings and even the sometimes hard-edged sound of her voice today suits Brünnhilde’s music. I have seldom heard the role sung with such rhythmic accuracy and verbal clarity. From the start, with those go-for-broke cries of “Hojotoho,” she sang every note honestly. She invested energy, feeling and character in every phrase.

The High Definition transmission of Die Walküre will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; and AMC Showplace Edwardsville 13, 6333 Center Grove Road, Edwardsville, Illinois. Click here to buy tickets.

"Spotlight on Opera" at Ethical Society of St. Louis Monday, May 9

2011-05-09T15:36:00.001-05:00

Opera Theatre of St. Louis will host a series of dialogues featuring a variety of local experts and creative teams that will explore different themes in each of this year's operas.

The "Spotlight on Opera," series will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Monday evenings throughout May at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Road.

The evenings will also feature live performances by Opera Theatre's "Gerdine Young Artists."

On May 9, St. Louis Post-Dispatch fashion editor Debra Bass will moderate "The Daughter of the Regiment: The Ultimate Makeover, Clothes and Character," with guests Grammy-Award winning conductor John McDaniel, stage director Seán Curran and designer James Schuette. They will explore the role of military style in popular fashion across the centuries.

Single tickets are $10 and $5 for students and groups of at least 15. More information available by clicking here or by phone at 314-961-0644.

Stauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" Will Be Met Saturday Matinee on May 7

2011-05-05T09:27:00.001-05:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. You may also listen to a live stream of the broadcast. Approximate running time 2 hours, 40 minutes with an intermission at approximately 12:40 p.m.

The Met's web site says, "Violeta Urmana and Joyce DiDonato star in Strauss’s brilliant opera-within-an-opera. Fabio Luisi conducts Elijah Moshinsky’s witty production."

'Carmen and the Bull' Children's Opera at Union Avenue Opera

2011-04-28T09:00:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, May 14th, join in the fun as a singing, dancing, traveling gypsy befriends a little bull, his mom and most unlikely of all—a bullfighter! Using the music from the opera Carmen, and loosely based on the beloved story Ferdinand the Bull, Union Avenue Opera’s education team delights young and old audiences alike with a new depiction of a timeless theme: Be True To Yourself. As it turns out, when Ferdinand is the best version of himself, good things happen to everyone involved!

Carmen and the Bull was created by Elise LaBarge (Ferdinand’s mom) with a lot of help from Anthony Heinemann (Ferdinand), Debra Hillabrand (Carmen), Robert Reed (Bullfighter) and Scott Schoonover (Piano).

Suitable for audiences of all ages.

When: Saturday, May 14th, 2:00pm (Doors open 1:30pm)
Where: Union Avenue Opera; 733 N. Union Blvd; St. Louis, 63108
Tickets: $5 general seating. All tickets sold at the door for this event.
http://www.unionavenueopera.org/

Verdi's "Il Trovatore" Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast on April 30

2011-04-27T18:25:00.001-05:00

Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora. Photo by
Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. You may also listen to a live stream of the broadcast. Approximate running time 2 hours, 45 minutes with an intermission at approximately 1:10 p.m.

The Met's web site says: "David McVicar’s popular production returns with Patricia Racette, Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Željko Lucic. Marco Armiliato conducts."

In the April 21, 2011, edition of the New York Times, Zachary Woolfe said:

With its cackling Gypsies, mistaken identities and secret brothers, the convoluted plot of Verdi’s Il Trovatore can seem like the setup for a joke. Already verging on chaos, it makes a natural backdrop for the anarchic final scene of the Marx Brothers’ Night at the Opera.

Il Trovatore overcomes its absurdities, though, with its vitality, its irresistible melodies and tightly driven rhythms. Oh, and it helps if you have four amazing singers.

That is where things can get tough. Nothing arouses apocalyptic lamentation in opera fans like the loaded question “Where are today’s great Verdi singers?” For a revival of Il Trovatore that opened on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Opera reassembled the core cast from the premiere of David McVicar’s 2009 production, and it gave an accurate snapshot of the company’s current Verdi lineup: gamely energetic, effective if unglamorous, it gets the job done.

The High Definition transmission of Il Trovatore will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; and AMC Showplace Edwardsville 13, 6333 Center Grove Road, Edwardsville, Illinois. Click here to buy tickets.

UAO Auditioning Child Singers for 'Turandot' and 'Dead Man Walking'

2011-04-26T20:51:00.004-05:00

Union Avenue Opera seeks children to perform in its upcoming summer productions of Puccini's Turandot and Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking.

The company seeks unchanged boy voices and girls up to the age of 12. The audition takes place Monday, May 9th, 4:00pm-5:00pm.

To participate in this audition, please call Emily DePauw at Union Avenue Opera at 314.361.2881 or email emily@unionavenueopera.org by Thursday, May 5th.

Full details on the audition process can be found here.

Renee Fleming to Star in Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast of Strauss' "Capricco" on April 23

2011-04-21T16:58:00.001-05:00

Renee Fleming
St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Richard Strauss’ Capriccio on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. You may also listen to a live stream of the broadcast. Approximate running time 2 hours, 16 minutes; performed without intermission.

The Met web site says:

On Opening Night of the 2008–09 season, Renée Fleming dazzled audiences when she sang the final scene of Strauss’ wise and worldly meditation on art and life. Now she performs the entire work, in which the composer explores the essence of opera itself. Joseph Kaiser and Sarah Connolly also star, and Andrew Davis conducts.

In a review titled "Words or Music: Why Choose?" in the March 29, 2011, edition of the New York Times, Anthony Tomissini said:

Strauss described Capriccio, with a libretto by the composer and the conductor Clemens Krauss, as a “conversation piece for music.” It is certainly a chatty opera. Countess Madeleine, a young widow who lives in a chateau outside Paris with her brother, the Count, is being courted by the composer Flamand and the poet Olivier. It is her birthday, and for the occasion Flamand has written her a string sextet, and Olivier a sonnet. The love triangle becomes an allegory for an aesthetic debate about whether music or words are more important, on their own terms or when the two arts are combined.

This realistic production by John Cox, introduced in 1998, moves the setting from the 1770s to the 1920s. For this revival, new costumes and décors were designed by Robert Perdziola. The idea of the updating was to make the aesthetic issues seem more pertinent to opera today, and it works, though you have to accept the talk among the characters about their reactions to the latest opera by Gluck.

For the Countess, being courted by two artistic men is both flattering and threatening. There is no reason to choose between words and music. But between her two suitors she must make a choice. Confronted by their ardor, she realizes how arbitrary such important choices are.

The opera is presented here without a break, as Strauss intended it, lasting about 2 hours 20 minutes. The Countess is onstage almost the entire time. Ms. Fleming, looking radiant, brought verbal crispness and coy charm to the Countess’s conversational singing but grabbed every chance to let her voice bloom in the fleeting melodic bits.

The High Definition transmission of Capricco will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; and AMC Showplace Edwardsville 13, 6333 Center Grove Road, Edwardsville, Illinois. Click here to buy tickets.

Alban Berg's "Wozzeck" Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast on April 16

2011-04-13T15:24:00.001-05:00

Alan Held and Waltraud Meier
(AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Cory Weaver)
St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 1 hour, 40 minutes; performed without intermission.

The Met web site says: "James Levine interprets Berg’s masterpiece. Alan Held sings the title role and Waltraud Meier brings her interpretation of Marie to the Met for the first time."

Anthony Tommasini writes in the April 7 New York Times:

Mr. Levine’s continuing health problems, primarily chronic back pain, compelled him last month to cancel the rest of his performances this season with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and to give his notice of resignation as its music director. And he curtailed his spring schedule at the Met.

Mr. Levine made it a priority to conduct Wozzeck, a work he reveres and has performed stunningly over the years, the last time in the 2005-6 season. But I never heard him give a better account of this harrowing, deeply moving opera than this one. Mr. Levine must still be coping with back pain; he did not make it to the stage at the end for bows. Instead he simply waved to the audience from the pit.

On the podium, though, sitting in his conductor’s chair with his arms flailing, he seemed inspired. Could the extra urgency and sweep on this occasion, and tempos slightly faster than those I remember from his earlier performances, have been motivated by a determination to prove that he was still a dynamic maestro? Whatever the cause, the results were thrilling.

Mr. Levine still drew plenty of depth, spaciousness and glow from the orchestra during the despairing passages of Berg’s gravely beautiful atonal score, first performed in Berlin in 1925. But his work had greater overall shape and more prickly energy on this night than in years past. Played without breaks, Wozzeck lasts just 1 hour, 40 minutes. The time passed without notice; the score has seldom seemed so compact and inexorable.

Rossini's "Le Comte Ory" Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast and High Definition Transmission on Saturday, April 9

2011-04-08T15:48:00.002-05:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Gioacchino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 2 hours, 45 minutes.

The Met web site says:

Rossini’s vocally dazzling comedy soars with bel canto sensation Juan Diego Flórez in the title role of this Met premiere production. He vies with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, in the trouser role of Isolier, for the love of the lonely Countess Adèle, sung by soprano Diana Damrau. Bartlett Sher, director of the Met’s popular productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Les Contes d’Hoffmann, describes the world of Le Comte Ory as, “a place where love is dangerous. People get hurt. That can be very funny and very painful. Rossini captures both -— with the most beautiful love music he ever wrote.”

The High Definition transmission of Le Comte Ory will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; and AMC Showplace Edwardsville 13, 6333 Center Grove Road, Edwardsville, Illinois. Click here to buy tickets.

In an article titled "Whose Version of Rossini? Scholar Disagrees With the Met" in the April 8, 2011, New York Times, Anthony Tommasini reports on a controversy surrounding the new production of Le Comte Ory:

The scholar and editor Philip Gossett is an expert on early-19th-century Italian opera, particularly the works of Verdi and Rossini. So naturally, the Metropolitan Opera asked him to write program notes for its premiere production of Rossini’s penultimate opera and last comedy, Le Comte Ory, which will be carried live on Saturday in an HD transmission to movie theaters and on the Met’s radio network.

Mr. Gossett refused. He did not want to be associated with the Met production, and he has not been reticent about explaining why.

He strongly objected to the Met’s decision to use the standard edition of the opera, prepared by Eugène-Théodore Troupenas and published in 1828, the year Ory received its premiere at the Paris Opera. Mr. Gossett considers this a butchered edition, seemingly intended for a “provincial opera house that couldn’t perform the music Rossini wrote,” as he explained in an essay for Das Bärenreiter-Magazin.

Wagner's "Das Rheingold" Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast on April 2

2011-03-23T18:26:00.003-05:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 2 hours, 45 minutes.

The Met web site says:

Two unparalleled artists join forces to create a groundbreaking new Ring for the Met: Maestro James Levine and director Robert Lepage. “The Ring is not just a story or a series of operas, it’s a cosmos,” says Lepage (La Damnation de Faust), who brings cutting-edge technology and his own visionary imagination to the world’s greatest theatrical journey. Bryn Terfel (pictured above), singing his first, much-anticipated Met Wotan, leads the cast in Das Rheingold, the Ring’s first installment. Levine, who has conducted every complete cycle of Wagner’s masterpiece performed by the Met since 1989, says, “The Ring is one of those works of art that you think you know, but every time you return to it, you find all kinds of brilliant moments that hadn’t struck you with the same force before.” “The Ring is about change,” director Lepage says. “I try to be extremely respectful of Wagner’s storytelling, but in a very modern context. We’re trying to see how in our day and age we can tell this classical story in the most complete way.”

Natalie Dessay Stars in "Lucia di Lammermoor" on Saturday, March 19, Met Matinee Broadcast

2011-03-18T15:58:00.000-05:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, 40 minutes, with intermissions at approximately 12:40 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.

The Met web site says, "Natalie Dessay returns to her triumphant portrayal of the fragile heroine in the Met’s hit production. Also starring Joseph Calleja."

Zachary Woolfe writes in the the New York Times:

In this revival of Mary Zimmerman’s grayly atmospheric production, there is an empty space where Lucia ought to be. Not that there’s not a soprano onstage, and a redoubtable one, in Ms. Dessay, returning to the company after a two-year absence. Her cool voice has thinned a bit, but it still impresses in coloratura and rises to the score’s climactic moments. The issue is not the voice so much as what that voice should serve: the character.

Ms. Dessay and Ms. Zimmerman have clearly, carefully considered every motion (the soprano’s physical performance Thursday was essentially identical to the one she gave in 2007, when the production was new) and the result is a Lucia almost entirely blank. The main consideration seems to have been avoiding going over the top, being too “operatic.” But in this version, Lucia —- that supremely expressive Romantic character, the one who weeps, swoons, trembles and is often, as the libretto describes, simply “beside herself with misery and fear” in a work dominated by passions and blood —- is so internal that the audience perceives her only as indifferent and detached.

Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" Opens This Weekend

2011-03-11T08:48:00.004-06:00

Winter Opera St. Louis continues its season this weekend with Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. Witness the passionate Sicilian drama of Santuzza, who is betrayed by her lover Turiddu. Soaring choruses, heartrending arias, dramatic duets and a famous orchestral Intermezzo are just a few reasons to see this masterpiece which ushered in the operatic genre of verismo.

Soprano Sarah Price, recent winner of the St. Louis District Metropolitan Opera Auditions, sings Santuzza. Tenor Gary Seydell, last seen as Canio in I Pagliacci, returns to sing the role of Turiddu. Baritone Eric McCluskey sings the role of Alfio. Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Petillot sings the role of Mamma Lucia. Recently seen as Flora in La Traviata, Soprano Sarah Gottman sings the role of Lola.

Ms. Price, Mr. McCluskey and Ms. Petillot all make their Winter Opera Debut.

Performances take place at St. Ambrose Church on the Hill (5130 Wilson Ave) this weekend: Saturday March 12th at 8pm and Sunday, March 13th at 5pm.

Tickets are available for $30, $25 and $20. Dinner packages available from Dominic's Restaurant. To purchase tickets, dinner packages and more, call 314.865.0038 or visit http://www.winteroperastl.org/

René Pape Stars in "Boris Godunov" on Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast March 12

2011-03-10T11:30:00.001-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 11 a.m. Please note the earlier than usual start time. Approximate running time 4 hours, 15 minutes, with intermissions at approximately 12:45 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.

The Met Opera website says:

Bass René Pape takes on one of the greatest roles in a production by Stephen Wadsworth. Valery Gergiev conducts Mussorgsky’s soulful spectacle, which captures the suffering and ambition of a nation. Aleksandrs Antonenko, Vladimir Ognovenko, and Ekaterina Semenchuk lead the huge cast in a work that is also a breathtaking showcase for the Met’s formidable chorus.

Tickets for Union Avenue Opera's 17th Festival Season Now On Sale

2011-03-05T19:14:00.003-06:00

Tickets for Union Avenue Opera's 17th Festival Season are now on sale. The 2011 summer season opens with Giacomo Puccini's last opera Turandot, followed by Gioacchino Rossini's effervescent comedy La Cenerentola ("Cinderella") and the Midwestern Premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. UAO will once again present Gian Carlo Menotti's holiday classic Amahl and the Night Visitors in December.

Union Avenue Opera offers Season Tickets in the following packages: 4 Operas (summer productions + Amahl) or 3 Operas (summer productions only). Single Tickets (ranging $30-$52) are also available. To purchase tickets, call the UAO Box Office at 314.361.2881 or visit the company's website.

Be sure to revisit Operatic Saint Louis in the coming months for further news on the upcoming season at Union Avenue Opera.

Rene Fleming and Six Tenors in Rossini's "Armida" on Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast

2011-03-04T15:56:00.002-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Gioachino Rossini's Armida on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, 30 minutes, with intermissions at approximately 1:10 pm and 2:20 p.m.

The Met says, "Renée Fleming revisits Rossini’s powerful but conflicted sorceress in the Met’s new production directed by Tony Award® winner Mary Zimmerman. Lawrence Brownlee is Rinaldo, the object of Armida’s love and revenge."

In a less-than-rapturous review in the February 20, 2011, New York Times, Zachary Woolfe writes:

With a voice of reduced agility, size and power, Ms. Fleming now paces herself cautiously, simplifying or dodging many of the coloratura fireworks. In the first and second acts she limits her singing in full voice, clearly saving herself for Act III, in which Rossini ingeniously relaxes the ornamentation as Armida’s powers disappear, and she is left a mere woman. Here, the line lyrical and the range congenial, Ms. Fleming is finally persuasive.

But caution isn’t what you want in an Armida, and singing the opera like a one-act misses Act I’s glittering runs and the great Act II aria “D’amore al dolce impero,” moments that establish the commanding and loving sides of this complex character. Ms. Fleming acts naturally, but in this repertory acting and singing are even more unified than elsewhere in opera. Since she doesn’t seduce or dazzle — do what Rossini has built into the music — her later humiliation and rage lose their impact, and the character loses its depth.

Mary Zimmerman’s wanly Neo-Classical production doesn’t help locate the depths of an opera about intense emotions and the possibilities and limits of illusion. Instead of passion or fantasy, Ms. Zimmerman tries cuteness: animatronic insects, demons in tutus, a winsome girl personifying love.

While adorable may suffice for the frolics in Armida’s enchanted garden, when the opera takes on more heart-wrenching dimensions, the production is stumped. Ms. Zimmerman seems more interested in winking at operatic style —- with antiqued footlights, Italianized placards reading “Ballo” and “Fine,” the conceit that Armida is reading her aria from sheet music -— than in believing in its complexities.

Riccardo Frizza conducted sluggishly, and while the opera features no fewer than six tenors, only Lawrence Brownlee, as Armida’s lover, Rinaldo, sang with freedom and fervor. His Act III solo was the highlight of the evening, a reminder of the infectious excitement Rossini makes possible, if only you do what he tells you.

Photo above from Parerre Boxm, who say:

“Renee Fleming and Timothy Jessell arrive for the formal artist’s dinner for the Kennedy Center Honors at the United States Department of State December 4, 2010 in Washington, D.C.”

Graham and Domingo Star in Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast of Iphigénie en Tauride

2011-02-24T15:04:00.001-06:00

Susan Graham and Placido Domingo.
Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.
St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Christoph Willibald von Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 2 hours, 25 minutes. Intermission at approximately 2:00 p.m.

The official Met press release states:

Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride was revived at the Metropolitan Opera beginning February 12 for a series of performances featuring three of the stars of the 2007 new production premiere: Susan Graham as Iphigénie, Plácido Domingo as Oreste, and Paul Groves as Pylade.

Patrick Summers conducts the revival of Gluck’s critically heralded but rarely staged opera, which the Met performed in only one season (1916-17) prior to the premiere of the current production in 2007. Gordon Hawkins sings Thoas and Julie Boulianne is Helen; Boulianne is making her Met debut and Hawkins his Met role debut. The production, by Stephen Wadsworth, will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world on Saturday, February 26 as part of The Met: Live in HD series.

The title role of Iphigénie en Tauride, Gluck’s adaptation of the Euripides tragedy, is a touchstone role for Graham, who has performed it with great success at the Salzburg Festival, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera and Teatro Real de Madrid. Domingo added the role of Iphigénie’s long-lost brother Oreste to his extensive repertoire for the 2007 premiere of Wadsworth’s production and earned excellent reviews for his performance in what has traditionally been considered a baritone role. Groves reprises his Pylade, which he has sung at leading opera houses in Madrid, Paris, London, Chicago, and San Francisco. Conductor Summers, who has conducted a diverse range of works at the Met ranging from Salome to Rodelinda, also conducted the Met’s revival of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

In a February 14 review in the New York Times Zachary Woolfe said:

Gluck’s operas can seem bloodless in description but are vividly involving when you’re immersed in them. After the young Schubert heard Iphigénie en Tauride for the first time, he “was totally beside himself over the effects of this magnificent music,” a friend reported, “and asserted that there could be nothing more beautiful in the world.” Leaving the Met on Saturday, you didn’t find that notion so far-fetched.

The High Definition transmission of Iphigénie en Tauride will be presented at AMC Esquire 7, 6706 Clayton Road; St. Louis Mills 18; 5555 Saint Louis Mills Boulevard; AMC Chesterfield 14, 3000 Chesterfield Mall; and AMC Showplace Edwardsville 13, 6333 Center Grove Road, Edwardsville, Illinois. Click here to buy tickets.

Rachelle Durkin To Take Role of Norina in Met's Saturday Matinee Broadcast of "Don Pasquale"

2011-02-18T10:49:00.001-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 2 hours, 45 minutes. Intermission at approximately 1:32 p.m.

The New York Times reports that, "The soprano Anna Netrebko is ill and has pulled out of Saturday’s matinee performance of Don Pasquale, the Metropolitan Opera said on Thursday. Rachelle Durkin will sing the role of Norina in her place."

Winter Opera St. Louis Begins 4th Season with Verdi's "La Traviata" This Weekend

2011-02-15T19:13:00.005-06:00

Winter Opera St. Louis begins its fourth season with Giuseppe Verdi's classic La Traviata. Experience the heart-wrenching story of the doomed Violetta, and her devoted lover, Alfredo.

Soprano Gina Galati, company Artistic Director, will sing the role of Violetta Valery. Fresh from his appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in La Fanciulla del West, Tenor Hugo Vera returns to St. Louis to portray Alfredo, Violetta's lover. Baritone Cory Schantz makes his Winter Opera St. Louis debut in the role of Giorgio Germont. Maestro Steven Jarvi of the Kansas City Symphony and New York City Opera, conducts the orchestra.

Performances take place at the St. Louis Woman's Club (4600 Lindell Blvd) this weekend: Friday, February 18th at 8pm and Sunday, February 20th at 3pm.

Tickets run $35 (General Seating) and $40 (Front Section). [Note: Front Section is currently SOLD OUT for Friday Performance.] To purchase tickets, dinner packages and more, click here. For more information on the company visit http://www.winteroperastl.org/

Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast of John Adams' "Nixon in China" on February 12

2011-02-05T19:29:00.000-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of John Adam's Nixon in China on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, 40 minutes. Intermissions at approximately 1:12 p.m. and 2:35 p.m.

The Met web site says:

“All of my operas have dealt on deep psychological levels with our American mythology,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams, whose most famous opera has its Met premiere. “The meeting of Nixon and Mao is a mythological moment in world history, particularly American history.” Acclaimed director and longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars makes his Met debut with this groundbreaking 1987 work, an exploration of the human truths beyond the headlines surrounding President Nixon’s historic 1972 encounter with Mao and Communist China. Baritone James Maddalena stars as Nixon, a role he created to widespread acclaim. Nixon in China, Sellars says, “shows you what opera can do to history, which is to deepen it and move into its more subtle, nuanced, and mysterious corners.”

Dmitri Hvorostovsky Stars as Simon Boccanegra on Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast

2011-02-03T18:23:00.002-06:00

Dmitri Hvorostovsky
St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Giuseppe Verdi's Simon Boccanegra on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours with intermission at approximately 2:31 p.m.

The Met web site says:

Dmitri Hvorostovsky takes on the landmark title role of Simon Boccanegra for the first time at the Met. James Levine leads the Met forces, including Barbara Frittoli, Ramón Vargas, and Ferruccio Furlanetto.

Anthony Tommasini said in a New York Times review of the January 20, 2011, performance:

On Thursday night Simon Boccanegra returned to the Met as Verdi intended it, with a baritone in the title role, and a great one: Dmitri Hvorostovsky. With his distinctive dark vocal colorings, the Siberian-born Mr. Hvorostovsky is not a classic Italianate baritone. But this role ideally suits him, and he was a magnificent Simon.

All in all, it was a great night at the Met. James Levine conducted a majestic, vibrant and insightful performance. The undervalued Italian soprano Barbara Frittoli, as Maria (known as Amelia), was in peak form; the formidable Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, as Fiesco, gave a master class in Verdi singing; and there was a notable Met debut by an appealing and handsome 42-year-old Sicilian tenor, Roberto De Biasio. He replaced Ramón Vargas, who was ill, as Amelia’s lover, Gabriele Adorno. Formerly a professional flutist, Mr. De Biasio has been singing for only four years, to increasing success. There were rough patches and some unevenness in his performance, but he has a virile voice and potential.

An Unamplified Voice, in reviewing the same performance, praises the Met for presenting, "An excellent night [of] Verdi singing and playing." However, the blog's author notes:

Dmitri Hvorostovsky sang the eponymous former corsair beautifully, but I'm not convinced that Boccanegra plays to his real strengths. For all his exquisite shape of phrase, Hvorostovsky is most compelling when some dangerously strong emotion (usually rage) explodes from his usual civilized surface -- witness his Onegin, or di Luna, or Renato. Boccanegra, for all his pride and checkered past, spends most of his onstage time conciliating passions, not indulging them, and only his reminiscence of the sea near the end seems to engage Hvorostovsky in full.

Puccini's "Tosca" Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast on January 29

2011-01-22T20:16:00.002-06:00

Sondra Radvanovsky
St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met Opera broadcast of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hrs. 10 min. Intermissions at approximately 12:46 p.m. and 2:07 p.m.

From the Met's web site:

Luc Bondy’s dramatic new production returns, with Sondra Radvanovsky singing the title role for the first time at the Met. Also starring Violeta Urmana, Marcelo Álvarez, Salvatore Licitra, Falk Struckmann, and James Morris.

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, and Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich.

From a review of the January 10 performance by Steve Smith in the New York Times:

Ms. Radvanovsky rose to the challenge of her first Met Tosca. As ever, her sound was idiosyncratic and personal, and her characterization was more kittenish than fiery and jealous during a first act that lumbered and flailed at times.

But in Act II Ms. Radvanovsky found credible ways to carry out Mr. Bondy’s unorthodox notions while remaining true to character. Her “Vissi d’Arte,” passionate and finely controlled, was a showstopper. Here and in the final act Ms. Radvanovsky was at her inspiring best, and you sensed that hers was an interpretation that could yield still greater thrills as the run settles.

Verdi's "Rigoletto" Met Saturday Afternoon Broadcast

2011-01-21T16:49:00.000-06:00

Diana Damrau (photo by John Palmer)

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met broadcast of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours.

The Met says, "The Verdi favorite returns with great casts, including Diana Damrau, Joseph Calleja, Giuseppe Filianoti, and Željko Lucic."

Intermission #1 at approximately 1:00 p.m. features:

Backstage Pass: Loren Toolajian interviews Nino Machaidze and Giovanni Meoni, and Margaret Juntwait interviews Joseph Calleja and Dimitri Hvorostovsky

Intermission #2 at approximately 1:57 p.m. features:

Toll Brothers Metropolitan Opera Quiz with moderator James Maddalena and panel including Susan Ashbaker, Michelle Krisel, and Willie Anthony Waters.

La Traviata with Marina Poplavskaya as Violetta Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast

2011-01-13T15:30:00.003-06:00

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met broadcast of La Traviata on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 2 hours, 35 minutes. Intermission time at approximately 12:30 p.m.

From the Met web site:

Willy Decker’s strikingly beautiful production, a hit when it premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2005, arrives at the Met with soprano Marina Poplavskaya starring as opera’s most fascinating heroine. “Violetta is an outlaw,” Decker says. “Society shuts her out and looks down on her as a person without feeling, without love. But the further you look into the piece, you see that it’s the other way around: she is the only person in the opera who truly loves, selflessly. Verdi follows her like an obsessed lover throughout the piece, and by the end, our sympathy too is completely on her side.” Matthew Polenzani plays Alfredo with Andrzej Dobber as his father; Gianandrea Noseda conducts Verdi’s timeless tragedy.

Anthony Tommasini reviewed the New Year's Eve debut production in the New York Times:

Even die-hard fans of the director Franco Zeffirelli’s productions for the Metropolitan Opera have to concede that his 1998 staging of Verdi’s “Traviata” was terrible. With its opulently garish sets and knee-jerk realism, the production dwarfed the cast, no matter what stars were singing. So the time has long since come for something different. And the intriguing production by the German director Willy Decker that the Met introduced on New Year’s Eve could not be more different.

The entire story is played within the confines of a tall, curved grayish-white wall, as if the action were taking place in an arena under clinically bright lights. And during crucial scenes groups of choristers lean over the wall like voyeurs, watching the deteriorating relationship between the dying, defiant courtesan Violetta and her smitten lover Alfredo, here played by the glamorous Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya and the sweet-voiced American tenor Matthew Polenzani.

The costumes are modern. Violetta appears at the party in the opening scene in a short blazing red dress, and all the guests, male and female choristers alike, wear black tuxedos, making the crowd look androgynous and threatening. This “Traviata,” which originated at the Salzburg Festival in 2005 and was the hottest ticket of that summer, lives on as a popular DVD starring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón.

Puccini’s Wild West Opera Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast on January 8

2011-01-07T14:57:00.001-06:00

Deborah Voigt as Minnie in the San Francisco Opera's production of La Fanciulla del West
St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met broadcast of La Fanciulla del West on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, 10 minutes. Intermission times at approximately 2:00 p.m. and 3:25 p.m.

The Met's web site notes that "Puccini’s wild west opera stars all-American diva Deborah Voigt and Marcello Giordani, and is conducted by Nicola Luisotti. The performances mark the 100th anniversary of the opera’s world premiere at the Met."

Celebrate New Year's Day with Simon Rattle Conducting "Pelleas et Melisande" on KWMU-3

2010-12-31T14:00:00.003-06:00

Celebrate New Year's Day with St. Louis Public Radio as they carry the Met broadcast of Pelléas et Mélisande on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 12 noon. Approximate running time 3 hours, 55 minutes. Intermission times at approximately 1:08 p.m. and 2:15 p.m.

Simon Rattle makes his Met debut conducting Debussy’s impressionistic masterpiece, starring Stéphane Degout, Magdalena Kožená, and Gerald Finley.

Anthony Tommisini writes in the New York Times:

It took until he was 55, but Simon Rattle finally made his Metropolitan Opera debut on Friday night. Mr. Rattle, who has been a major conductor for 30 years and the artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2002, led the season premiere of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, a revival of Jonathan Miller’s gothic 1995 production. At the end of this four-hour evening, some of the most ardent participants in the ovation for Mr. Rattle were the musicians in the orchestra pit, who stood and heartily applauded.

In perhaps the most impressive performance I have heard Mr. Rattle give, he drew lush and plangent yet clear-textured and purposeful playing from the great Met orchestra. He was blessed with what he described in an interview on “Charlie Rose” on Thursday night as a “dream cast”: the elegant French baritone Stéphane Degout as Pelléas, the alluring Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena (Mr. Rattle’s wife) as Mélisande, and the intelligent Canadian baritone Gerald Finley as Prince Golaud.

Click here to read the entire review.

KWMU-3 To Carry Met Broadcast of Don Carlo, Saturday, December 18, at 11:30 a.m.

2010-12-17T15:19:00.007-06:00

Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II.
The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 80th season of Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts -— the longest-running classical music series in American broadcast history -— with a 22-week season featuring many of the world’s greatest operatic artists, beginning Saturday, December 18. Broadcast live over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, the season begins with Verdi’s grand epic Don Carlo.

St. Louis Public Radio will carry the Met broadcast of Don Carlo on their HD channel, KWMU-3 beginning at 11:30 a.m. Approximate running time 4 hours, 30 minutes. Intermission times at approximately 1:10 p.m. and 2:20 p.m.

The Met's production of Don Carlo will star Younghoon Lee in the title role with Marina Poplavskaya as Elisabeth de Valois, Anna Smirnova as Princess Eboli, Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo, Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip II, and Eric Halfvarson as the Grand Inquisitor. The conductor will be Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Don Carlo was composed by Giuseppe Verdi, with the original French libretto by François Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the play by Friedrich Schiller. The Italian translation by Achille de Lauzières and Angelo Zanardini . The world premiere was given by the Paris Opera (Salle Le Peletier), on March 11, 1867 (French version). The U.S. premiere was given in New York by the Academy of Music on April 12, 1877 (five-act version, in Italian). The Metropolitan Opera premiere was given on December 23, 1920 (four-act version, in Italian.

From the Met's web site:

For Nicholas Hytner, Verdi’s Don Carlo is no mere operatic tragedy. A sprawling epic of powerful individuals clashing with each other and with destiny in 16th-century Spain, this “ferociously pessimistic drama” is about as dark and somber as Romantic opera gets. “But what makes it so attractive,” says Hytner, who made his Met debut directing the new production that opened November 22, “is that almost every individual in it fights, with every fiber of their being, against the opposition. Nobody gives in.” Tyrannical kings, despairing princes, and innocent young women are not in short supply in the world of opera, but few works of musical theater boast a dramatis personae of such depth, complexity, and passion as Don Carlo. “Not one of these characters is prepared to accept his or her own tragic destiny,” Hytner continues. “They fight. They scream. They holler. They deny what their inevitable end will be.”

KWMU-3 is a HD channel and online service dedicated to live classical music programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our hosts guide listeners into the heart of the classical repertoire, with carefully selected music that represent both classical favorites and lesser-known masterpieces, while ensuring that every hour of music is accessible and stimulating for novices and aficionados alike.

Lester Lynch Stars in "Here I Stand: A Tribute to Paul Robeson" at SLAM Friday, December 17

2010-12-17T09:05:00.000-06:00

Lester Lynch as Porgy in an Lyric Opera of Chicago production.

The St. Louis Art Museum's "Art After 5" series will present Lester Lynch in "Here I Stand: A Tribute to Paul Robeson" in Grigg Gallery on Friday, December 17, at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free.

Rising operatic star Lester Lynch, who is recognized for a voice that it is commanding, rich and vocally, nuanced, presents an evening of song in honor of the legendary singer, activist, athlete, and actor Paul Robeson(1898–1976). Lynch will perform works by Schubert, Ravel, and Mussorgsky, as well as a selection of Negro spirituals.

Lester Lynch is known in St. Louis for his striking performances as Porgy in Porgy and Bess with Union Avenue Opera and as Sharpless in Madame Butterfly with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Lynch is the recipient of many distinguished awards, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the George London Vocal Competition, and the Sullivan Awards. His work with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis earned him the prestigious Richard Gaddes Award.

Preview of UAO's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" Opening Tonight

2010-12-10T10:24:00.011-06:00

Union Avenue Opera continues its annual holiday tradition in presenting Gian-Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, which opens this evening. Enjoy an audiovisual preview of the current revival below:

Amahl and the Night Visitors runs December 10 (8pm), 11 (5pm) and 12 (3pm). Tickets range $15-$47 and are available by contacting the Union Avenue Opera Box Office at 314.361.2881 or visiting http://www.unionavenueopera.org/ For more details on this production, view this previous post.

Join Dr. Glen Bauer in the UACC Chapel at 7:15pm on Friday, December 10, 2010 for a brief insight on the history behind Amahl and the Night Visitors. This lecture is presented free of charge. Non-ticket buyers welcome.

The opera was commissioned especially for television and was first performed by NBC Television Opera Theatre in 1951. It will be presented in its original English language at Union Avenue Opera, 733 North Union Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108 and has a run time of approximately 50 minutes.

Washington University Opera Scenes This Tuesday

2010-12-10T08:30:00.004-06:00

This weekend, Washington University Opera Workshop presents scenes from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Gounod's Faust and Britten's Albert Herring.

Tim Ocel, stage director
Christine Armistead, musical director
Sandra Geary, Piano

The scenes program takes place Tuesday, December 14th at 8pm in the Ballroom of the Washington University 560 Music Center (560 Trinity Ave; University City). Admission is Free.