The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Here are two dramas behind the scenes in this weekend’s production of Mark Adamo’s “Little Women” by the Madison Opera

By Jacob Stockinger

The Madison Opera will present its production of Mark Adamo’s popular contemporary chamber opera “Little Women” this weekend.

Performances are in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center on this Friday at 8 p.m. and on this Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets to the opera, based on Louisa May Alcott’s famous novel of the same name, run $21-$101. You can call the Overture Center box office at 608 258-4141.

For more information about the opera, tickets, the cast and the production, and the pre-performance lecture and post-performance Q&A, visit:

http://www.madisonopera.org/performances-2015-2016/little_women/

But not all the drama involved with this production is visible on the stage.

One drama is the creative process of writing both the libretto and the music for the opera, which was Adamo’s first opera and which has seen some 65 productions around the world.

Longtime music critic and freelance writer Mike Muckian covers that quiet drama quite insightfully in the Wisconsin Gazette, where he published an interview with Mark Adamo (below). And Muckian even broke some news about Adamo co-writing a new opera with his spouse, acclaimed composer John Corigliano.

Here is a link:

http://www.wisconsingazette.com/on-stage/adamos-landmark-little-women-comes-to-madison-opera.html

The other drama concerns the conductor of the opera, Kyle Knox. Knox (below), who is a very experienced graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, has gone into conducting after physical problems forced him to give up his career as a clarinetist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

That story is covered exceptionally well in the UW-Madison music blog A Tempo by veteran journalist Katherine Esposito, who is also the concert manager and director of public relations for the UW-Madison School of Music.

Here is a link to that story:

https://uwmadisonschoolofmusic.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/kyle-knox-the-accidental-conductor/

The Ear will also post a Q&A with Mark Adamo. In the meantime, perhaps these behind-the-scenes dramas will whet your appetite for both the Q&A and the actual production.

Here is a YouTube video with an excerpt from “Little Women,” with acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato singing the aria “Things Change, Jo”: