The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: University Opera announces a new season that is politically and socially relevant to today. The two shows are a virtual revue of Marc Blitzstein and a live operatic version of “The Crucible.”
4 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
David Ronis (below), the director of the University Opera at the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, has posted the following notice about its upcoming season on social media.
The award-winning Ronis is known for being creative both in programming and staging. The new season is yet another example of that. It features one virtual original production about an American composer to see and hear online, and two live performances of a mid-20th century American opera.
Both works seem especially pertinent and cautionary, given the times we currently live in in the U.S.
Here are the details:
FINALLY!!!
Things have fallen into place for the University Opera 2020-21 season and we are happy to announce our productions:
“I Wish It So: Marc Blitzstein — the Man in His Music”
“A biographical pastiche featuring songs and ensembles from Marc Blitzstein’s shows, spoken excerpts from his letters and working notes, and a narration.
“Oct. 23, 2020
8 p.m. Video Release
____________________________________________________________________________________
“The Crucible” (1961)
Music by Robert Ward
Libretto by Bernard Stambler
Based on the 1953 play by Arthur Miller
March 19 and 21, 2021
Shannon Hall, Wisconsin Union Theater
_____________________________________________________________________________________
We will post more information as we get it. For now, we are very excited about both projects! Stay tuned.”
(Editor’s note: To stay tuned, go to: https://www.facebook.com/UniversityOpera/)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
And what does The Ear think?
The revue of Marc Blitzstein seems a perfect choice for Madison since his papers and manuscripts are located at the Wisconsin Historical Society. For details, go to: http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-us0035an
Focusing on Blitzstein (1905-1964) also seems an especially politically relevant choice since he was a pro-labor union activist whose “The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles,” was shut down by the Works Progress Administration of the federal government.
For more about Blitzstein (below in 1938) and his career, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Blitzstein
“The Crucible” also seems an especially timely choice. In its day the original play about the Salem witch trials was seen as a historical parable and parallel of McCarthyism and the Republican witch hunt for Communists.
Read about the Salem witch trials here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials
Now that we are seeing a time when Democrats and others with progressive ideas are accused of being radical leftists, socialists and destructive revolutionaries, its relevance has come round again. Like McCarthy, President Donald Trump relies on winning elections by generating fear and denigrating opponents.
For more about the operatic version of “The Crucible” (below, in a production at the University of Northern Iowa) — which was commissioned by the New York City Opera and won both a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Music Critics Circle Award in 1962 — go to this Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucible_(opera)
You can hear the musically accessible opening and John’s aria, from Act II, in the YouTube video at the bottom. For more about composer Robert Ward (1917-2013, below), go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ward_(composer)
What do you think of the new University Opera season?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #20thCentury, #AmericanComposer, #ArthurMiller, #BernardStambler, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChoralMusic, #CityofMadison, #CommissionedMusic, #DavidRonis, #DonaldTrump, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FederalGovernment, #JacobStockinger, #LaborUnion, #LivePerformance, #MadisonWisconsin, #MarcBlitzstein, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #NewYorkCityOpera, #NewYorkMusicCriticsCircle, #NorthernIllinoisUniversity, #OperaLibretto, #OrsonWelles, #PoliticallyRelevant, #PresidentTrump, #PulitzerPrize, #RobertWard, #SalemWitchTrials, #Sen.JosephMcCarthy, #ShannonHall, #SocialActivist, #SociallyRelevant, #SocialMedia, #SpokenWord, #staytuned, #TheCradleWillRock, #TheCrucible, #TheEar, #TheUW, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #VocalMusic, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinHistoricalSociety, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WitchHunt, #WorkingNotes, #WorksProgressAdministration, #YouTubevideo, 2020-21, 20th-century, 20th-century music, accessible, act, activist, American, archive, archives, aria, Arthur Miller, Arts, audience, award, award-winning, Bernard Stambler, biographical, blog, career, choice, choral music, citstion, Classical music, commission, Communism, Communist, composer, creative, cuationary, current, current events, David Ronis, Democrat, Democratic, denigrate, denigration, destructive, details, digital, direct, director, Donald Trump, drama, Election, ensemble, era, excerpts, excited, Facebook, fear, federal, federal government, finally, forward, government, hear, historical, hunt, ideas, insult, Jacob Stockinger, labor union, left, leftist, letter, libretto, like, link, live, located, Madison, man, manuscript, manuscripts, Marc Blitzstein, McCarthyism, Mead Witter School of Music, Music, narration, narrator, new, New York City Opera, New York Music Critics Circle, Northern Illinois University, notes, notice, online, opera, Orchestra, original, Orson Welles, paper, papers, parable, parallel, pastiche, perfect, performance, performer, pertinent, play, political, post, posting, President, President Donald Trump, President Trump, pro, production, programming, progressive, project, Pulitzer Prize, radical, release, relevant, Republican, revoltuion, revolutionaries, revolutionary, revue, Robert Ward, Salem, Salem Witch Trials, Season, see, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, senator, Shannon Hall, share, show, shows, shut down, shutdown, sing, singer, Singing, social, social media, socialism, socialist, song, spoken, stage, staging, stay, stay tuned, tag, The Cradle Will Rock, The Crucible, The Ear, theater, theatre, things, time, timely, Trump, Trumpism, tuned, U.S. Senator, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, upcoming, UW, UW-Madison, video, virtual, vocal music, we, Wikipedia, win, winning, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Union Theater, wish, witch, witch hunt, working, working notes, Works Progress Administration, WPA, YouTube
Classical music: University Opera’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” is a musical treat despite its outdated story. Performances remain this afternoon and Tuesday night
3 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog
By Jacob Stockinger
Larry Wells – the very experienced Opera Guy for this blog – took in the University Opera’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” Friday night at Music Hall on Bascom Hill and filed this review. (Performance photos are by Michael R. Anderson.)
By Larry Wells
I attended the opening night of University Opera’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” (So Do They All or Such Are Women).
Considered a musical masterpiece, the opera features a cast of six singers who participate in a comedy about love and fidelity. (Below, from left, are Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi, Benjamin Hopkins as Ferrando, James Harrington as Don Alfonso, Kelsey Wang as Despina, Kevin Green as Guglielmo and Chloe Agostino as Dorabella.)
In director David Ronis’ attempt to make the story more timely, the action took place in a vaguely early 20th-century setting – the Roaring Twenties, to be precise — suggested by the women’s costumes and the art deco set.
Two of the men, who are called off to war, brandished swords, which I believe were not widely used in World War I. (Below, from left, are Benjamin Hopkins as Ferrando, James Harrington as Don Alfonso and Kevin Green as Guglielmo in the opening scene from Act I.)
In any event, an attempt to make an historic artifact with its incumbent unenlightened views of women relevant to the 21st century may be fruitless, and I believe that audiences today recognize the archaic attitudes expressed therein as comic and dated.
That sexist manipulation needs to be discussed today, as suggested in the director’s notes, and that women’s “agency” — to quote an overused academic term — remains an issue today is the tragedy. This comedy goes only a small distance in helping us realize that some things have not changed, even though many have.
But on to the performance.
The three female characters (below) included the vocally stunning Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi. Her “Come scoglio” was a showstopper. (Below, from left, are Chloe Agostino as Dorabella and Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi in their Act I duet.)
Chloe Agostino’s sweet soprano perfectly reflected her Dorabella, and Anja Pustaver’s comic turn as Despina revealed an interesting voice that reminded me of Reri Grist’s Oscar in the Erich Leinsdorf recording of Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” – which is a compliment, albeit possibly obscure.
Kevin Green as Guglielmo grew on me as the evening progressed and as he became more confident. But the standout was James Harrington as Don Alfonso. I feel that he is a major talent in our midst. (Below in the foreground are Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi and Benjamin Hopkins as Ferrando; in the background are James Harrington as Don Alfonso and Kevin Green as Guglielmo.)
Green and his partner, Benjamin Hopkins’ Ferrando, had to don disguises in order to tempt each other’s intended. In the libretto they disguise themselves as Albanians.
In what I can only hope was a nod to political correctness in order to spare the feelings of our Albanian brothers, they disguised themselves in this production as lumberjacks clad in flannel shirts and denim jeans — which was incongruously absurd but amusing at the same time. (Below,Kelsey Wang, left, as Despina examines Benjamin Hopkins as the Albanian Ferrando in a fake medical examination during the finale of Act I.)
The vocalists shone most in their many ensembles – duets, trios, quartets and sextets. The blendings of the various voices were always harmonious. The trio “Soave sia il vento” (Gentle Be the Breeze) — featuring Rosché, Agostino and Harrington (below) — was sublime and worth the price of admission on its own. (Below, from left, are Chloe Agostino as Dorabella, James Harrington as Don Alfonso and Cayla Rosché as Fiordiligi in the famous Act I trio “Soave sia il vento,” which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The UW Symphony Orchestra was ably and nobly led by new conductor Oriol Sans (below) whose hiring proved to be a major coup for the university. Everything I’ve heard him conduct so far has been excellent, and this performance was no exception.
The harpsichord continuo by Thomas Kasdorf (below) was captivating in its nuance and effortlessness – very impressive.
I enjoyed the abstract unit set designed by Joseph Varga and complemented by the effective lighting designed by Zak Stowe.
In all, it was an evening primarily in which to close one’s eyes and listen.
Repeat performances, with alternating cast members, take place this afternoon – Sunday, March 1 – at 2 p.m. and again on Tuesday night, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. Running time is about 3 hours with one intermission. The opera is sung in Italian with English surtitles.
Tickets are $25, $20 for seniors and $10 for students. For more information about the opera, the cast and the production, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/2020/02/10/cosi-fan-tutte/
Tags: #20thCentury, #21stCentury, #AMaskedBall, #ArtDeco, #BascomHill, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #CosifanTutte, #DavidRonis, #DeminCoveralls, #ErichLeinsdorf, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FamousMusic, #FlannelShirt, #GeneralAdmission, #GiuseppeVerdi, #HarpsichordContinuo, #HomeWebsite, #HumanVoice, #JacobStockinger, #LarryWells, #LoveintheTimeofCholera, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedicalExamination, #MichaelR.Anderson, #MusicHall, #MusicReview, #OpeningNight, #OperaLibretto, #OperaReview, #OriolSans, #PoliticalCorrectness, #Roaring20s, #RoaringTwenties, #RunningTime, #SeniorCitizen, #SopranoSinger, #TheEar, #ThomasKasdorf, #UnBalloinMaschera, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VocalMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WordWarI, 20th-century, 21st century, A Masked Ball, abstract, absurd, academic, act, action, admission, agency, Albania, Albanian, archaic, aria, art deco, artifact, Arts, attempt, attitude, audience, Bascom Hill, blog, bluejeans, brother, captivating, cast, character, Classical music, comedy, comic, complement, compliment, composer, conduct, conductor, confident, continuo, correctness, Cosi fan tutte, costumes, coup, coveralls, dated, David Ronis, delight, denim, denim coveralls, design, director, discuss, disguise, distance, don, duo, effective, effortless, English, Erich Leinsdorf, eveing, examination, excellent, exception, Facebook, fake, famous, female, fidelity, flannel shirt, forward, fruitless, fun, Giuseppe Verdi, harmonious, harpsichord, hiring, historic, hours, I, impressive, information, interesting, intermission, issue, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, Jeans, Larry Wells, libretto, lighting, like, link, Love, lumberjack, Madison, major, manipulation, masterpiece, Mead Witter School of Music, medical, member, men, Michael R. Anderson, Mozart, Music, Music Hall, musical, new, nuance, obscure, opening night, opera, Opera review, Orchestra, Oriol Sans, outdated, perfect, performance, performer, photo, photos, political, political correctness, post, posting, price, production, progress, Quartet, quogte, recording, reflect, relevant, remain, repeat, review, Roaring 20s, Roaring Twenties, running time, scene, senior, set, setting, sex, sexist, sextet, share, showstopper, singers, soprano, standout, story, string sextet, Student, stunning, sublime, sung, surtitles, sweet, sword, symphony, tag, talent, term, The Ear, Thomas Kasdorf, tickets, today, tragedy, trio, Un ballo in maschera, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, Verdi, view, vocal music, vocalist, vocalists, voice, war, Website, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, women, World War I, YouTube
Classical music: Background discussions, lectures and documentaries lead up to Madison Opera’s production of the LGBTQ-themed, McCarthy-era opera “Fellow Travelers” on Feb. 7 and 9
1 Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison Opera continues its foray into 21st-century operas with Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers on Friday night, Feb. 7, at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, Feb. 9, at 2:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater at the Overture Center.
(Production photos below are by Dan Norman of the Minnesota Opera production, which is being encored in Madison. You can see and hear a preview of the Minnesota Opera production in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The acclaimed 2016 opera is set in 1950s Washington, D.C. The “Lavender Scare,” in which suspected homosexuals saw their livelihoods and lives destroyed, has enveloped the U.S. government. (Below are Andres Acosta as Timothy Laughlin and Sidney Outlaw as Tommy McIntyre.)
Against this backdrop, Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and an ardent supporter of Wisconsin’s anti-Communist Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, meets Hawkins Fuller, a State Department official.
The two men (below, Acosta on the right) embark on a relationship, tangled in a web of fear and necessary deceit. Their friends and colleagues fill out a story of individuals grappling with their beliefs and emotions.
With a libretto by Greg Pierce that is based on Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel, Fellow Travelers was praised as “a near-perfect example of fast-flowing musical drama” by The New York Times and tells of the very human consequences of prejudice and fear, with compassion, nuance and incredible beauty.
The opera will be sung in English with projected text.
The performance will last approximately 2 hours 25 minutes, including one intermission.
For more information, go to: www.madisonopera.org/FellowTravelers
Tickets are $26 to $118 with discounts available for students and groups. Go to the Overture Center box office at 201 State Street or call it at (608) 258-4141 or go online to www.MadisonOpera.org/Tickets
“When I saw Fellow Travelers, I knew before it was over that I would be producing it in Madison,” says Madison’s Opera’s General Director Kathryn Smith (below in a photo by James Gill). “I fell in love with the haunting music and the well-drawn characters, and the emotional impact at the end was even more powerful than I had anticipated. I am truly looking forward to sharing this modern masterpiece with our community.”
Peter Rothstein (below) directs this production in his Madison Opera debut. Rothstein, who received his MFA from the UW-Madison, directed Fellow Travelers for Minnesota Opera in 2018.
The Twin City Arts Reader called his production “equal parts sweeping love affair and tragic circumstance. To some, the events will feel comfortably distant for this doomed period romance. For others, they will seem all too real and possible in this day and age. It’s a powerful combination.”
Making his Madison Opera debut as Timothy Laughlin is Andres Acosta (below), who performed this role to acclaim at the Minnesota Opera.
Ben Edquist (below), who debuted at Opera in the Park this past summer, sings Hawkins Fuller.
Adriana Zabala (below, of Florencia en el Amazonas) returns as Mary Johnson, who works with Hawkins and is a friend and voice of conscience for him and Timothy.
Returning to Madison Opera are Sidney Outlaw (below top, of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet) as Tommy McIntyre, a political insider, and Alan Dunbar (below bottom, in a photo by Roy Hellman, of Mozart’s The Magic Flute) in multiple roles, including Senator Joseph McCarthy and a government interrogator who puts Hawkins through a lie detector test.
Andrew Wilkowske (below) debuts in several roles, including Senator Potter and General Arlie.
Filling out the cast is Madison Opera Studio Artist Emily Secor (below top) as Miss Lightfoot, who works in Hawkins’ office; soprano Cassandra Vasta (below bottom) as Lucy, whomHawkins marries; and Madison Opera Studio Artist Stephen Hobe in five different roles.
John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) conducts, with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in the pit.
Madison Opera’s production of “Fellow Travelers” is sponsored by: Fran Klos; Sally and Mike Miley; David Flanders and Susan Ecroyd; John Lemke and Pamela Oliver; Sharyn and Carl Stumpf; and Dane Arts. Community events are sponsored by The Capital Times.
RELATED EVENTS
In addition to the two performances, Madison Opera offers several events to allow deeper exploration of the opera and its historical background.
They include a free discussion of the “Wisconsin Dimension” of this period in history at the Madison Central Library and a free showing of The Lavender Scare documentary at PBS Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin Public Television).
OPERA NOVICE: WELCOME TO THE 21st CENTURY
This Friday, Jan. 17, 6-7 p.m. FREE and open to the public at the Madison Opera Center (below), 335 West Mifflin Street
New to opera? Not sure how you feel about modern opera? Come to the Madison Opera Center for a short, fun and informative evening, led by General Director Kathryn Smith.
Learn about some of the new American operas that are shaping the operatic landscape in the 21st century, including Fellow Travelers. Studio Artist Stephen Hobe (below) will sing an aria from Fellow Travelers, and there will be plenty of time for questions. It’s the perfect jump-start for the opera-curious.
FELLOW TRAVELERS: THE WISCONSIN DIMENSION
This Sunday, Jan. 19, 3–4:30 p.m.; FREE and open to the public at the Madison Central Library, 201 West Mifflin Street
Join us for a discussion of how the Lavender Scare and its fallout was felt in Wisconsin, led by R. Richard Wagner (below top), activist and author of We’ve Been Here All Along: Wisconsin’s Early Gay History (below middle), and Susan Zaeske (below bottom), a UW-Madison campus leader in the arts and humanities who has taught an experiential-learning course on LGBTQ history.
THE LAVENDER SCARE– Documentary Screening
Friday, Jan. 24, 7 p.m.; FREE and open to the public at PBS Wisconsin, 821 University Avenue
PBS Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin Public Television) presents a screening of The Lavender Scare, the first documentary film to tell the little-known story of an unrelenting campaign by the federal government to identify and fire all employees suspected of being homosexual.
Narrated by Glenn Close, the film was praised as “a gripping, nimbly assembled documentary… vivid, disturbing and rousing” by the Los Angeles Times. The screening will be followed by a discussion.
OPERA UP CLOSE: FELLOW TRAVELERS
Sunday, Feb. 2, 1-3 p.m.; FREE for full-season subscribers; $10 for two-show subscribers; and $20 for non-subscribers; at the Madison Opera Center, 335 West Mifflin Street
Join the Madison Opera for a multimedia behind-the-scenes preview of Fellow Travelers. General Director Kathryn Smith will discuss many aspects of the opera, including the historical events that provide the story’s backdrop, the novel on which it is based, and how this 2016 opera swiftly spread across the country.
Principal artists, stage director Peter Rothstein, and conductor John DeMain will participate in a roundtable discussion about Madison’s production and their own takes on this acclaimed 2016 work.
PRE-OPERA TALKS
Friday, February 7, 2020, 7 p.m. and Sunday, February 9, 2020, 1:30 p.m. FREE to ticket holders at the Wisconsin Studio in the Overture Center
Join General Director Kathryn Smith one hour prior to performances for an entertaining and informative talk about Fellow Travelers.
Tags: #21stCentury, #AdrianaZabala, #AlanDunbar, #AndresAcosta, #AndrewWilkowske, #Anti-Communist, #ArtisticDirector, #BenEdquist, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #CapitolTheater, #CassandraVasta, #CastList, #CharlesGounod, #CollegeGraduate, #ContemporaryOpera, #CriticalAcclaim, #DaneArts, #EmilySecor, #EmotionalImpact, #EnglishLanguage, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Fast-Paced, #FellowTravelers, #FlorenciaenelAmazonas, #Fridaynight, #GayHistory, #GeneralDirector, #GlennClose, #GregorySpears, #GregPierce, #JacobStockinger, #JohnDeMain, #JosephMcCarthy, #KathrynSmith, #LavenderScare, #LGBTQrights, #LieDetector, #LivingComposer, #LoveAffair, #MadisonCentralLibrary, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonOperaCenter, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #McCarthyEra, #MinnesotaOpera, #ModernOpera, #MusicalDrama, #NewMusic, #OperaCast, #OperaInThePark, #OperaLibretto, #OperaMusic, #OvertureCenter, #PBSWisconsin, #PeriodRomance, #PersonalRelationship, #PeterRothstein, #R.RichardWager, #RedScare, #RomeoandJuliet, #SeniorCitizen, #SidneyOutlaw, #StageDirector, #StateDepartment, #StephenHobe, #Sundayafternoon, #SusanZaeske, #The1950s, #TheCapitalTmes, #TheEar, #TheLavenderScare, #TheMagicFlute, #TheNewYorkTImes, #ThePit, #TheU.S., #ThomasMallon, #TwinCities, #TwinCitiesArtsReader, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWProfessor, #VocalMusic, #We'veBeenHereAllAlong, #WisconsinPublicTelevision, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 1950s, 21st century, acclaim, Adriana Zabala, age, Alan Dunbar, Andres Acosta, Andrew Wilkowske, anti-Communism, ardent, Artistic director, Arts, backdrop, background, beauty, belief, Ben Edquist, bisexual, blog, Book, box office, Campus, Capitol Theater, Cassandra Vasta, cast, characters, Charles Gounod, circumstances, Classical music, classicalmusic, colleague, college, Communism, Communist, community, compassion, composer, Concert, conduct, conductor, conscience, consequences, contemporary opera, course, D.C., Dane Arts, day, debut, deceit, destroy, direct, discount, discussion, distant, documentary, doom, embark, Emily Secor, emotion, emotional, encored, English, entertaining, era, event, experimental, Facebook, fast, fast-flowing, fear, Fellow Travelers, Florencia en el Amazonas, foray, forward, free, Friday night, friend, gay, gay history, General director, Glenn Close, Gounod, graduate, Greg Pierce, Gregory Spears, group, haunting, historical, History, homophobe, homophobia, homosexual, Homosexuality, human, humanities, impact, individuals, information, intermission, interrogator, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Joseph McCarthy, Kathryn Smith, Lavender Scare, learning, lecture, lesbian, LGBT, LGBTQ, library, libretto, lie detector, like, link, live, livelihood, Living composer, Love, love affair, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Opera Center, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marriage, marry, masterpiece, McCarthyism, men, MFA, Minnesota Opera, modern, modern opera, Mozart, Music, musical drama, narrator, New Music, novel, nuance, official, online, opera, Opera in the Park, Orchestra, Overture Center, PBS, PBS Wisconsin, period romance, personal relationship, Peter Rothstein, photo, possible, post, posting, powerful, Prejudice, produce, production, professor, public, queer, R. Richard Wagner, reader, real, Red Scare, relationship, Republican, Republican Party, role, Romance, Romeo and Juliet, screening, senator, senior, senior citizen, share, showing, Sidney Outlaw, sing, sponsor, stage director, State Department, Stephen Hobe, story, Sunday afternoon, sung, supertitles, supporter, surtitles, Susan Zaeske, suspect, symphony, tag, talk, Television, test, text, The Capital Times, The Ear, The Lavender Scare, The Magic Flute, The New York Times, the pit, Thomas Mallon, tickets, tragedy, Tragic, transgender, TV, Twin Cities, Twin Cities Arts Reader, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, video, vocal music, voice, Washington, We've Been Here All Along, web, weekend, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Television, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, WPT, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | welltemperedear on What do you think of the… |
 | Scott on What do you think of the… |
| welltemperedear on Yunchan Lim’s Chopin etudes ar… |
 | bratschespeilerin on What do you think of the… |
 | MARVIN P WICKENS on Yunchan Lim’s Chopin etudes ar… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: In Dvorak’s “Rusalka,” the Madison Opera demonstrated how beautiful music and convincing stagecraft can overcome a weak story
2 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event
By Jacob Stockinger
The Opera Guy for this blog – Larry Wells – took in last weekend’s production by the Madison Opera of “Rusalka” and filed the following review. Performance photos are by James Gill.
By Larry Wells
I thoroughly enjoyed attending the Sunday afternoon performance of Antonin Dvorak’s opera “Rusalka” presented by Madison Opera in Overture Hall. Until then I had only heard recordings of this lushly orchestrated work.
The opera is a fairy tale involving a rather dithering water sprite (below right) who does not follow her father’s wise advice not to pursue a mortal prince (below left) and to stick to her own kind. She ignores his advice, and this leads to her eventual unhappiness and to the death of her prince.
That she also becomes mute when in the presence of the prince adds to everyone’s woes, and it seems a peculiar device to have the lead soprano not be able to sing for most of the second act of the opera.
Her inability to communicate naturally leads to the prince’s frustration, and my companion suggested that she could simply have used paper and pencil to communicate. But since she had been brought up in a river, perhaps she never learned to read and write.
Nevertheless, common sense did not seem to inhabit either Rusalka or her prince. As my companion also pointed out, love isn’t always logical.
In any event, the production and the music made up for the libretto’s shortcomings.
The set featured beautiful projections, from the Minnesota Opera, of forest, water and woodlands during the first and third acts.
The second act took place at the prince’s palace. It appeared to be an International Style palace in the manner of architect Mies van de Rohe, which must have also been disconcerting for Rusalka. Nonetheless, the set was very striking and beautifully lit.
Tenor John Lindsey (below top) portrayed the prince and William Meinert (below bottom left, with Emily Birsan) was Rusalka’s father, a water goblin. Both sang well, although Lindsey had the distracting habit of casting his chin and eyes downward as he sang.
But the stage belonged to the women.
Emily Birsan (below) as Rusalka was a study in subtle shadings of her expressive soprano voice (below, singing the famous aria “Song to the Moon”). She is a powerful singer and convincing actress who was engaging to watch and to hear.
Lindsay Ammann (below) as the sorceress Jezibaba was powerful in voice and in her command of the stage. Her third act aria was sensational, and her calling Rusalka a “empty little water bubble” was so apt it made the audience titter.
The villainous Foreign Princess portrayed by Karin Wolverton (below, standing over John Lindsey) seemed to be the only sensible character in the opera. She likewise commanded the stage and displayed a powerful voice with passionate commitment to her role.
Three water sprites – portrayed by Kirsten Larson, Saira Frank and Emily Secor (below, in order from left) – provided Rhine maiden-like commentary and gorgeous vocalizations despite having to wander around the stage at times seeming to be fascinated by twigs.
A shout-out goes to tenor Benjamin Liupaogo (below), still a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, who only sang a couple of lines but sang them very beautifully. He is someone to watch!
The Madison Symphony Orchestra was conducted by John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson). The strings and winds sounded particularly good that day, and DeMain brought out all of the interesting Bohemian folky gestures Dvorak included in the score. I found Dvorak’s orchestral score engaging throughout the performance. (You can hear the opening Overture in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Altogether it was charming afternoon of beautiful music, excellent singing and fetching staging of a strange tale.
Madison Opera has announced its upcoming season offerings, which are Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” (Nov. 1 and 3), Gregory Spears’ “Fellow Travelers” (here Feb. 7 and 9, it has already hit Chicago and Minneapolis and is slated for Tucson next season as well), and Jacques Offenbach’s comic “Orpheus in the Underworld” (April 17 and 19).
It seems a very interesting season, and subscription tickets will go on sale in early May. For more information, go to: https://www.madisonopera.org
Share this:
Tags: #AntoninDvorak, #BenjaminLiupaogo, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #ChicagoIllinois, #CommonSense, #Czechcomposer, #EmilyBirsan, #EmilySecor, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FairyTale, #FellowTraveler, #FolkMusic, #GiuseppeVerdi, #International Style, #JacquesOffenbach, #JamesGill, #JohnDeMain, #JohnLIndsey, #JosephMcCarthy, #KarinWolverton, #KirstenLarson, #LarryWells, #LaTraviata, #LindsayAmmann, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonOperaChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiesvandeRohe, #MinneapolisMinnesota, #MinnesotaOpera, #OperaAria, #OperaGuy, #OperaLibretto, #OperaMusic, #OperaOverture, #OrpheusintheUnderworld, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #ReadandWrite, #RhineMaiden, #RhineRiver, #RichardWagner, #RingCycle, #SairaFrank, #SongtotheMoon, #SopranoSinger, #StrangeTale, #StringSection, #Sundayafternoon, #TucsonArizona, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WaterGoblin, #WaterSprite, #WindSection, #YouTubevideo, act, actress, advice, afternoon, Antonín Dvořák, architect, aria, Arts, audience, beautiful, beautifully, below, Benjamin Liupaogo, blog, Bohemian, character, Chicago, chin, choral music, Classical music, command, commentary, commitment, common sense, communicate, Compact Disc, composer, conductor, convincing, death, device, distract, drama, Emily Birsan, Emily Secor, engaging, enjoy, everyone, excellent, expressive, eyes, Facebook, fairy tale, fascinate, father, Fellow, fellow traveler, fetching, Folk music, folksy, foreign, forest, forward, frustration, Giuseppe Verdi, goblin, gorgeous, habit, hear, ignore, image, interesting, Jacob Stockinger, Jacques Offenbach, James Gill, Jezibaba, John DeMain, John Lindsey, Joseph McCarthy, Karin Wolverton, kind, Kirsten Larson, La Traviata, Larry Wells, learn, LGBT, LGBTQ, libretto, lighting, like, Lindsay Ammann, lines, link, lit, logical, Love, lush, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Opera Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, maiden, matinee, May, Mead Witter School of Music, Mies van de Rohe, Minneapolis, Minnesota Opera, mortal, Music, mute, offering, opera, Opera Guy, Orchestra, orchestrated, Orpheus, Orpheus in the Underworld, Overture, Overture Center, Overture Hall, palace, passionate, peculiar, performer, plot, powerful, presence, prince, princess, production, projection, read, recording, Rhine, Ring cycle, river, role, Rusalka, Saira Frank, sale, sang, score, Season, sensible, set, shading, share, shortcoming, shout-out, sing, singer, someone, Song to the Moon, soprano, sorceress, sprite, stage, stagecraft, staging, story, strange, striking, string, study, subscription, subtle, Sunday, tag, tale, tenor, theater, theatre, Tucson, twigs, underworld, unhappiness, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, upcoming, villain, Viola, Violin, vocal music, vocalization, voice, Wagner, wander, watch, water, weak, winds, Wisconsin, wise, woe, women, woodland, work, write, YouTube