Author: Zach Carstensen

Portland Opera’s La Calisto swings for the stars

la_calisto

Portland Opera hit a home run into the celestial skies with its new production of “La Calisto,” an opera written by the Venetian composer Francesco Cavalli in 1651. Exquisite singing by the entire cast (most of whom belong to the Studio Artists program), stellar playing by the Portland Baroque Orchestra under the conducting of Robert Ainsley, and an evocative set, designed by Curt Enderle, combined to make this “La Calisto” a charming experience. The near capacity audience at the Newmark Theatre on opening night (Friday, March 13) enthusiastically embraced this fanciful retelling of two myths (Calisto and Giove plus Diana and Endimione) that came from ancient Greece and Rome.

Sharin Aposolou sparkled in the role of Calisto, a young follower of the goddess Diana. Her clear and supple soprano was thrilling, especially in the way that she impeccably dashed off numerous runs as if they were the easiest things in the world. Apostolou conveyed the naiveté of Calisto with spot-on acting as well.

Jonathan Kimple created a convincing Giove, using his resonant bass to underscore his stature as the king of the gods. His seduction of Calisto was tempered at the end of the story when he promised her and her son a place in the heavens (hence Ursa Major and Ursa Minor). Baritone José Rubio artfully greased the wheels of Giove’s intentions as Giove’s sidekick Mecurio.

Mezzo Hannah S. Penn embodied two characters so convincingly that she could consider a second career as a double agent in the secret service. In the role of Diana, goddess of the moon and the hunt, Penn created a young woman who was torn between her pledge to chastity and her desire to love Endimione, a young shepherd. In the role of Giove disguised as Diana, Penn marvelously captured the swagger and chauvinistic pride of the top god in his pursuit of Calisto.

Gerald Thompson in the role of Endimione displayed his countertenor to stunning effect, dispatching all sorts of tricky passages with breathtaking control. Yet his tender duet with Penn was one of the many high points in this production.

Wearing a gown hemmed with the image of peacock feathers, mezzo Angela Niederloh as Giunone (the wife of Giove) strutted around the raked stage in peacock gown and high heels. The flinty wrath of her voice and the fire in her eyes could’ve torched the landscape a second time (it had already been burnt to a crisp when the story began).

Mezzo Kendra Herrington’s Linfea, a zealous follower of Diana, provided additional comic relief when she revealed her desire for a lover. Laughter reached an apex after the eager young satyr, Satirino, sung by soprano Anne Mckee Reed, impulsively kissed the astonished Linfea.

Tenor Brendan Tuohy sang superbly and reaped plenty of laughter as Pane, the god of the shepherds, who can’t really carry out any dastardly deeds no matter how much he threatens to do so. Baritone Bobby Jackson’s Silvano, a young satyr and cohort in Pane’s posse was terrific also.

Ainsley conducted a period orchestra of Baroque specialists with élan, shaping the music with sensitivity and purpose. A unique collaboration with Portland Baroque Orchestra helped to assemble these instrumentalists (playing violin, viola da gamba, lirone, theorbo, lute, guitar, recorder, dulcian, cornetto, harpisichord, and organ) and create a musical experience that would have been very similar to what Venetians heard 350 years ago.

Stage director Ned Canty made the story easy to follow. The minimalist set design by Curt Enderele and the lighting by Don Crossley enhanced the opera perfectly. Sue Bonde’s colorful costumes added wonderfully to the mix.

All in all, Portland Opera’s production of “La Calisto” is a knock out. I encourage you to get a ticket if any are available. Two remaining shows run on March 19 and 21.

Upcoming

The Bellevue Philharmonic brings Kevin Kenner to the Puget Sound as part of the Steinway Series.  Philharmonia Northwest plays a concert next weekend featuring Berlioz’s Beatrice and Benedict Overture, Mendelssohn’s 1st Piano Concerto, and Schubert’s 3rd Symphony.  The Ebene Quartet is in town this week too as part of the Seattle Symphony’s on-going cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets.

Camerata Northwest, a Portland based chamber music organization is coming through town this weekend and is playing at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford (one of my favorite music venues).  Oregon Symphony member and fellow blogger, Charles Noble, will be in town with the group.  On the program is an assortment of French chamber music.  Seattle audiences haven’t always embraced French chamber music.  This writer, however, is looking forward to the concert.

At the end of the week, Leonard Slatkin makes debuts with the Seattle Symphony.  The newly minted music director of the Detroit Symphony is bringing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, a piece the Seattle Youth Symphony tackled with aplomb, Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, and Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto.

Storm from Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes ; Columbia University Symphony

A Cornucopeia of Riches at the Moore

Il Ritorno d'ulisseThere is so much to see and hear in William Kentridge’s conception of Monteverdi’s “Ulysses” that it’s hard to take it all in.

There is always plenty for the senses in opera, but along with the usual singing, acting, sets, costumes and supertitles, add to “Ulysses” puppets and continually changing black and white visuals which range from drawings of olive groves to close-ups of a surgery in progress to cityscapes, x-rays, and buildings falling down to flowers growing at fast forward.

Like the Monteverdi “Orfeo” of a month ago conceived by Italy’s La Venexiana, this has the musicians and performers together on the Moore Theatre’s small stage without a lot of action, but what a difference! Where “Orfeo” seemed disjointed and static, Kentridge’s ideas becomes a fascinating, absorbing production.

“Ulysses” has been cut to 90 minutes, the length of time the puppeteers can hold up the lifesize puppets. One could spend the entire opera just watching them. Picture each puppet with two humans, one to hold and manipulate the puppet, and the singer, who takes charge of a puppet arm.

Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, which created these puppets and has traveled the world with this production (plus others conceived by Kentridge), brings them amazingly to life with close attention to tiny details of human movement. While the mouths don’t move, the hands, heads and body stances are remarkable lifelike.

At one point Ulysses and the ancient shepherd who recognizes him are walking through a landscape on the tier at the back of the stage, and it seems as though we are really watching it, as in a movie. The puppets (we only see their upper halves) “walk” through the scenery. And yet, as we draw back into reality, there are the puppet movers walking in place, moving their puppets as they move, and it’s the scenery on screen which moves past them. It’s extraordinarily realistic.

Kentridge, the puppets and stage director Luc de Wit traveled from South Africa for this revival, but the musicians and singers mostly come from the Seattle area, and were rehearsed by musical director Stephen Stubbs.

This is the opening production of Pacific Operaworks, a tiny presenting company established here and headed by Stubbs which aims to bring stellar productions to Seattle, like this one, of the kinds of opera and unusual concepts or performance practices which aren’t done by Seattle Opera. Stubbs intends to draw on the rich musical and theatrical resources of the Seattle area to complement what he brings in from elsewhere in the world. While Stubbs has been known for his work in the early music field, Pacific Operaworks does not intend to confine itself to that era.

Musically, this “Ulysses” is a joy.

Seven musicians led by Stubbs sit unobtrusively in a semicircular middle tier on stage, while the opera itself takes place on the tier behind them and the stage in front. Most are musicians well known to Seattle: Stubbs himself and Elizabeth Brown on chitarrone and archlute, harpist Maxine Eilander, violinists Tekla Cunningham and Ingrid Matthews, viola da gamba player Margriet Tindemans and cellist and lirone player David Morris.

The singing was superb almost across the board, with Ross Hauck a stand-out as Human Frailty in the prologue and Ulysses himself. Here is a singer who has not just a fine tenor voice and an operatic presence, but incorporates the florid 17th century ornamentation with understanding ease as part of the expressive portrayal of his character. I was gripped by his Ulysses; and that it was a puppet with a singer standing beside him became moot. Mezzo-soprano Laura Pudwell as Penelope has the same characteristics as a singer. She created with her voice the embodiment of strength and patience, yet also portrayed a spitfire and doubter.  The strong cast included Jason McStoots as the old shepherd Eumaeus and Zeus: Douglas Williams, James Brown and Zachary Wilder as the three importunate suitors (each with other roles as well), Cyndia Sieden as Love and Athena, and Sarah Mattox as Fate and Penelope’s maid Melanto. Each deserves mention.

While so much is going on plus the need to keep an eye on supertitles far overhead, the production could be overwhelming, but it isn’t. It does leave one, however, with a strong wish to see it again to catch some of the myriad details missed the first time around.

Remaining performances at the Moore are March 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 7.30 p.m.,. Tickets are $40-85 at 206-292-ARTS or www.ticketmaster.com

Baroque Band Hits its Stride

On an uncommonly warm, but commonly torrential, March day in Chicago, I was in attendance at the first concert of the new year for Chicago’s period-instrument orchestra, Baroque Band. The concert was entitled Suite Candy and featured, get this, suites. It was a decidedly French and German affair, with pieces by Lully and Rameau in the former camp and Telemann and Bach in the latter. The savvy PR minds at Baroque Band even imported hand-made chocolates from a chocolatier from Iowa. Beyond the great music as a draw was a true first for the orchestra – the inclusion of winds, two oboes and bassoon. What a pleasure it was to hear their reedy sounds mixed with the strings of the band. Overall, this confection was a real treat.

The concert began with the Baroque Band, fifteen string members strong, augmented by period oboes and bassoon, performing a suite from Lully’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. The sheer aural sensation of the added winds in the intimate space of the Grainger Ballroom made the suite truly enjoyable. I prefer my French baroque a little lighter in its string tone and much more florid, but there was a feeling of excitement on the part of the orchestra to have the winds on board, and to be performing again for its subscription series.

The winds having exited, the Baroque Band invited its own Craig Trompeter, one of the two continuo cellists, to be soloist in Telemann’s Suite for viola da gamba and strings, TWV 55: D6. The viola da gamba is an interesting-looking instrument. It is cradled between the legs of the performer, has many strings and has a much less resonant sound than the cello. Its sound is rather archaic, but was a wonderful contrast to the rest of the strings. I especially enjoyed the movements that brought that contrast to the fore, as in the Bourree, which had duo writing for the viola da gamba and its successor, the cello. Their timbral differences were evident and enjoyable. Mr. Trompeter’s playing was filled with assurance and poise. Hearing this tremendously pleasurable performance allowed me to realize how talented Georg Philipp Telemann was. Such committed performances of music that has so much surprise and novelty should lead to a deeper appreciation of the composer. If Vivaldi can be celebrated for a mere four violin concerti based on the weather, then certainly Telemann can be lauded for his music, numbering in the thousands of compositions. 

After the intermission, Rameau’s music for Les Indes Galantes, in English ‘The Galant Indians’, was performed. In it, Rameau attempted to present the dances and songs of four savage lands: Persia, Africa, Latin America and North America. I don’t know how successful he was, it being difficult to imagine African slaves singing “a charming French Air” as written in the notes. Once again, I found the playing to be less than transparent, and the characteristically French ornaments, like endless trills at the end of melodies, left me wondering about the Baroque Band’s versatility.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suite No.1 was chosen to conclude the evening. In both the Telemann and Bach, the orchestra was truly in its own comfort zone. The oboists, their faces bright red, were madly speeding through the infinite string of notes in the opening overture, as Mr. Clarke chose a break-neck speed for the movement. I was disappointed with that choice because it makes the music seem rather rushed. I know playing many of Bach’s pieces quickly is a sign of an orchestra’s virtuoso acumen, but it degrades the music when played so fast. The rest of the suite was given some room to breathe and came off much better.

For my ears, the Telemann was the true winner in this concert, eliciting an inspired performance from all involved. The audience also found reward from the inclusion of the period-instrument wind instruments. They will no doubt make subsequent appearances as the next set of concerts for this small ensemble is nothing less than Handel’s Messiah. Having had the pleasure to see the Baroque Band mature since its inception, I look forward to what this new jewel in Chicago’s musical cap will come up with.

Deep Impact

As the economy continues to struggle, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs released a report stating what should be obvious – corporate gifts to arts organizations are down.  The same report also offers suggestions for making beneficiary organizations more efficient and advice to donors on how to leverage their contributions more effectively.

What strikes me most about our local arts community is how conservative organizations are when the very essence of art is the creative process.  Established organizational paradigms that are at the very least outdated persist.  And donors continue to demand the same product, presented the same way for their money.  Regardless of whether others want the same thing.  It’s a curious arrangement, one resembling the American auto industry more than that of a community where ideas, creative freedom, and experimentation are the principles binding organizations to art.

Talking with Sharin Apostolou about Portland Opera’s La Calisto

apostolouPortland Opera is reaching way back into the past to bring something new to Portland, mounting a production of “La Calisto” a Venetian-Baroque opera that was written by Francesco Cavalli in 1651. For this production, Portland Opera is collaborating with Portland Baroque Orchestra to create an ensemble of 17th Century instrument specialists, including cornetto virtuoso Bruce Dickey who is based in Venice, Italy, to give you a real Baroque experience.

Most of the singing in La Calisto will be provided by members of the Portland Opera Studio Artists program, including Sharin Apostolou, the vivacious soprano who, last season, did an amazing job of stepping in at the last minute to sing the title role in Portland Opera’s “Rhodelinda.” This time, Apostolou will sing the title role in “La Calisto,” and I recently talked with her at Portland Opera’s offices.

How long have you been studying for your part in La Calisto?

Apostolou: I started studying La Calisto during The Turn of the Screw; so it was the middle of January. That wasn’t an ideal situation, because all of the Studio Opera singers have had a very busy season.

What is the vocal range for your part in this opera?

Apostolou:

The top is a high B-flat, and it’s an ornament. It’s not written in the score. Middle Cs are the lowest notes. That’s usually not where my voice likes to live, but I love singing this work. It has a speech-like quality to it.

What is Calisto’s character like?

Apostolou: She goes through quite a change in the opera. First of all she is daughter of King Lykaon who served Jove a meal of human flesh. So Calisto ran away from her family and became a follower of the Diana, the goddess of the hunt.

Calisto is very strong willed but very naïve. She is a chaste follower of Diana, but then she meets Jove and everything gets turned on its head. She can’t tell the difference between the real Diana and the Jove-Diana, and they treat her in polar opposite ways. Then Jove’s wife, Juno, finds out what’s going on, and Calisto doesn’t realize who she is and spills the beans, and gets turned into a bear. Such is the way of the gods.

This opera has comedy and tragedy in it. Do you prefer one over the other?

Apostolou: I like both comedy and tragedy. My voice sort of leans towards comedy – to the girls who get married at the end, more than the girls who die at the end. There’s a joke among sopranos that you know that you’ve grown up when you go from the girls who marry to the girls who die.

Tell us more about the demands of this opera.

Apostolou: Baroque is not necessarily a different way of singing, but a different mind-set. Robert Ainsley, our conductor, has been a tremendous help. He is an absolute expert in this style of music. He has taught us how to learn the music. In Mozart and Handel, there’s a lot of give and take. Baroque doesn’t allow for you to play with the notes on the page. But you don’t have to. Monteverdi, Cavalli, and their contemporaries wrote the rhythms exactly how they wanted the speech to sound. So you can play with the tempi, but the music just sings itself. When you try it, you find that it does really work that way.

The Venetian-Baroque style has a lot of recitative. I have more arias than most of the characters in La Calisto. But it’s not like the way we normally think of arias, not like Mozart or even Handel. This opera is very speech driven. You don’t use ten measures to sing a sentence, you sing it in three. So the plot is constantly being pushed along.

My character has small moments of reflection, and it’s usually before something big happens. My last aria is about a page and a half of repose, taking everything that has been going on and processing it, and that’s when Juno comes in with the furies and turns me into a bear.

You won the Met competition in Oregon and did pretty well at the regional in Seattle as well. Congratulations!

Apostolou: Thanks! I won the encouragement award in Seattle, and it was a lot of fun. It was on my birthday, too. The singing there was amazing. We just went out there and did our best.

Are you planning to enter more competitions?

Apostolou: Yes, I plan to do more, like the Giulio Gari competition in New York City in May. Competitions can be a good way to get your name out there. Being a finalist helps to make people take notice.

After you appear in Portland Opera’s Rigoletto, your time with the Studio Artists program comes to an end. So what are your next steps?

Apostolou: This summer, I’ll sing in two productions at the Green Mountain Opera festival in Vermont. I’m Barbarina in Nozze de Figaro and Andina in the Elixir of Love.

How did you choose to become an opera singer? Did you grow up singing a lot?

Apostolou: I started off dancing. I was a very energetic child. My parents enrolled me in dance class. I loved it and got into theater doing dance and musicals. Everybody did choir. The public schools in New Jersey had a very strong music program. Then I went to high school, a private school, and they took all everyone involved in the music program to see the dress rehearsals at the Met. That’s when I fell in love with opera and became obsessed with it. The Magic Flute was the first opera that I had ever seen – I was just 14 – and I came back home and told my parents that I was going to become and opera singer. And they said, okay! Go ahead and try and see what happens. I applied to music schools and went to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, they have an excellent drama and music programs in the country. Then I got my masters from the Manhattan School of Music.

I was a Central City Opera for two summers and in the outreach program at Tulsa Opera before coming to Portland.

You’re a die hard!

Apostolou: (Laughs) Yes, we just keep pressing on. After Vermont, I’m moving to New York and will audition and see what happens.

Good luck with everything!

Apostolou: Thanks! See you at the opera!

Sweet Home Seattle

Final Curtain

The last leg of the Spectrum Dance Theater’s four-state US tour took us to Ogden, Utah. Located about 45 minutes north of Salt Lake City and surrounded by mountains, Ogden is only 25 minutes away from a ski resort. I was wishing that I had the time and gear to hit the slopes.

We performed for a full house at Weber State University. This was an excellent way to conclude the tour and the audience was enthusiastic, especially during the question/answer forum afterward. Some audience members were interested in the performance’s interpretation of Irwin Schulhoff’s music with regard to the Holocaust, since the pieces we performed were mainly written in the 1920s. Others struggled with how to walk away from the performance with hope in light of such dark subject matter.  One woman remarked that she “felt like a ragdoll” afterward. Audience members often ask Donald Byrd, the artistic director and choreographer of Spectrum, what a particular element of the piece means or symbolizes. He never answers, but instead responds, “What do you think it means?”

I performed during the first half of the show and had the opportunity to watch the second half from the back of the hall. Once again, I was struck by Donald Byrd’s expressive choreography and the dancers’ athleticism. Judith Cohen (piano) played throughout this difficult program with stamina and virtuosity. Rajan Krishnaswami (cello) was a fantastic collaborator in Schulhoff’s Duo and played a haunting rendition of the slow movement of Schulhoff’s Cello Sonata to end the program.

Both the musicians and dancers seemed pleased with their final performance. Although Ogden was a beautiful town, we were all relieved to return to Seattle and find snow on the ground. It was a pleasure to be a part of this important work, and to bring the music of Schulhoff to a wider audience.

Salt Lake City Airport
Salt Lake City Airport

Seattle Youth Symphony gets Berlioz’s macabre ideas

Seattle Youth Symphony

Chalk it up to today’s youth being avid readers of the fantasy/reality mix: Harry Potter, the Twilight series, Artemis Fowl. (A generation ago the rage was Judy Blume, at least for the girls, and the trials of being a teen in today’s world.)

So the way-out phantasmagorical work that is Berlioz’ “Symphonie Fantastique” is music today’s kids have no trouble getting inside. Whether it was their understanding, the skill of the orchestra’s music director Stephen Rogers Radcliffe, or their astonishing technical ability, the SeattleYouth Symphony musicians gave a performance at Benaroya Hall Sunday which sent chills and thrills down the backs of at least one listener.

This is not easy music to play. From the long lines of the beginning theme, which sang light and beautiful with pauses which felt like breath and helped shape it, to the skittering sound of the witches in the last movement combined with the exuberant headlong rush of their dance, the performance absorbed the hearer. Clear, well phrased solos particularly from clarinet and english horn, excellent synchronization-it’s always a treat to hear an entire section playing as one instrument-and the sheer aliveness of their playing made this performance a memorable treat.

Difficult as is the Berlioz, what had come before was equally so. Radcliffe has the confidence to stretch his young musicians with works any orchestra would find a challenge and expect them to come up with the goods, which they did. Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” swung with foot-tapping forward motion, and no player seemed fazed by the intricate cross rhythms which abound. I checked in frequently to hear the claves (wooden sticks) or wood box player, who had to be counting with fierce concentration the off-rhythms he was playing spot on, but kudos must go as well to the entire percussion section. At the end, there was a long pause of total silence in the audience, which included many young children.

In between the Gershwin and Berlioz came Britten’s “Sinfonia da Requiem,” which began with a startling bash on the bass drum. As befits a requiem the emotions were quite different, but the high quality remained, again with the percussion section doing excellent work. That’s not to short change the rest of the 122 players for whom there was barely room on stage, and it was notable that there were some very young musicians in responsible positions. String tone shone, energy and a fine sense of togetherness marked the playing. I’ve never heard theYouth Symphony sound better, and I look forward to their next concert.

Portland Youth Philharmonic – These Kids Can Play!

A large crowd assembled at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Saturday evening to hear the Portland Youth Philharmonic’s winter concert and to acknowledge the contributions of one of its former conductors, Jacob Avshalomov, who had become somewhat estranged from the orchestra since his retirement in 1995. The orchestra gave Avshalomov (who will turn 90 on March 28th) its lifetime achievement award and performed the world premiere of his “Season’s Greetings. The program also included works by Modest Mussorgsky, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Samuel Barber, whose Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was given an incredible performance by the PYP’s 15 year-old concertmaster Brandon Garbot.

The Portland Youth Philharmonic, founded in 1924, happens to be the oldest youth orchestra in the nation and has always maintained a high level of playing. Under its new conductor, David Hattner, the orchestra showed its sensitive side with its handling of Mussorgsky’s Prelude to “Khovantchina,” which evokes the dawn rising over Moscow.

Garbot excelled in every moment of in the Barber Violin Concerto. In particular, his lyricism in the first movement soared and the exacting, fast, pace of the third movement was like butter in his hands. He played with impeccable tone throughout. It was a breathtaking performance and truly memorable. The orchestra, for its part, supported his playing extremely well.

Avshalomov’s “Season’s Greetings” seemed to be a pastiche of different ideas that were inspired by the poetry of his wife, Doris. Over five movements, dissonant and harmonic sounds careened throughout the orchestra. The references to Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” added a dash of warmth, and piece concluded charmingly with a wink rather than a grandiose chords.

The concert ended with a Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, which the orchestra played with passion. I loved the enthusiasm of the musicians, especially in the strings, who clearly enjoyed digging into this masterpiece. The brass and wind sections had many fine moments. Hattner encouraged his orchestra effectively, and together, they demonstrated a commitment to the music that would’ve made Tchaikovsky proud.