The Milanese soprano Barbara Frittoli has been a regular fixture at Covent Garden for a decade, during which time she has appeared in a variety of roles including Mozart’s Fiordiligi and Vitellia and Verdi’s Luisa Miller. After it closed for two years of refurbishment, she also took part in the House’s reopening production of Falstaff as Alice Ford. Successes at Salzburg with Abbado and Vienna under Muti in the 1990s secured her position as one of the world’s foremost lyric dramatic sopranos, with Verdi a specialty; she remains a favourite in Vienna and at the Met. Her discography includes roles in Il trittico for Decca and Turandot for BMG, while her albums of arias by Verdi (under Colin Davis) and Mozart (with Charles Mackerras) remain highly-esteemed examples of this repertoire on disc.

Now Frittoli is back at Covent Garden to play the Countess in the second revival of David McVicar’s production of Le nozze di Figaro under Mackerras, a regular partnership. I chatted to her on the eve of the dress rehearsal to ask her about her welcome return to London and her plans to add roles such as Aida and Thais to her repertoire.

Le nozze di Figaro is one of Mozart’s best-loved opere buffe but as Frittoli sees it, the Countess is far from being a comic character. ‘Well, I think that none of the characters is comic!’ she declares. ‘It’s very important to remember where these people have come from. The Countess is Rosina from Il barbiere di Siviglia. Of course, she is married now, and she’s growing up a bit, but she’s still the same person. She’s a bit like Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, very pathetic, and she finds herself in a strange situation with the Count and the others. Perhaps Bartolo and Marcellina can be comic characters, but none of the others is.’

Does that mean she’s a weak person? ‘No of course she’s not weak. It’s a little bit of a shame that this production is set a century after the play, because in the era Beaumarchais was writing about, women were not allowed any power: they could not have a say about anything. The Countess has to go on as she is, and the Count makes all the decisions for her. That’s why she has to have help from Susanna and Figaro, whose actions are in her favour as well as their own.’

In La mere coupable, the third of Beaumarchais’ Figaro plays, the Countess has had an affair with Cherubino. But Frittoli doesn’t think that’s part of the action of Mozart’s Figaro. ‘There’s not even a mention of it. But in the second act, there’s the brief scene where Susanna and the Countess play with Cherubino and dress him up. It’s obvious that he’s madly in love with her and wants her. But at the end of the day, they are just two young women who want to play with a boy, no more than that. In this production, there’s a brief indication that the Countess will have a baby with Cherubino, but for me it’s not so important. We know what happens in the future, but that’s enough.’

Although the Countess has two big arias and various other important numbers to sing, she doesn’t appear at all in Act I. Does that bother Frittoli? ‘It doesn’t bother me in the least. I mean, the title role is Figaro, and he and Susanna are the most important characters. Beaumarchais intended it that way: the servants were the people he wanted to write about. When the play was first performed, it was a social scandal because of the way it depicts the serving class and their interaction with their masters. So for me, it’s not a problem. Also, it needs to be clear to the audience what has happened in Act I before the Countess arrives in Act II, so I don’t care about not appearing in the first act. And I never care if I’m playing the title role or a small role – when the cast is so nice and good at what they do, as they are here, you don’t care.’

What’s the working relationship like with Sir Charles Mackerras, the conductor of this revival? ‘Oh, it’s very special. Of course, sometimes it’s not easy because he knows so much about the music and is so famous for doing it! And not everyone does Mozart like he does, but that makes it very interesting. The main thing is that he is so energetic, which is very important for Mozart. Mozart must be kept alive, and if anything, Sir Charles is even more energetic and funny in this production than he normally is. He’s also a great musician, of course, and he matches his energy to the stage action: to conduct this music well, you have to know how to follow what happens on stage.’

David McVicar’s production updates the action to around 1830. What does Frittoli make of that? ‘Beaumarchais was alive in the eighteenth century, not the nineteenth century, and for me, I normally like Mozart to be performed in period. However, the way they have done this production is fantastic – the costumes and scenery are beautiful. I did a modern production once, and I hated it: although I like the modern way of acting, I don’t like to update the setting. How can you talk about the droit de seigneur in a modern period, for instance? They’ve done it all well here, but in other productions I’ve worked on, they’ve changed the words because, unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work. It’s like Shakespeare: it doesn’t really make sense to do Romeo and Juliet in anything other than the original time period.’

Read more here!

Well, that is the opinion of the New York Post critic James Jordan, evidently he is not shy about laying it all out there.  He recently reviewed the final production of the season for New York City Opera, Telemann’s Orpheus.  Check out his ‘candid’ views in the Operagasm Review Rundown!

Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg

Looking at the bright side:  “About the only good thing that can be said for New York City Opera’s “Orpheus,” which opened Saturday night, is that it made the rest of the company’s feeble season seem scintillating by comparison.”

Werk it!  “In this long and demanding role, soprano Jennifer Rowley overshot a few high notes, but delivered wild, billowing tone and deliciously over-the-top acting in the queen’s diva tantrums. Tall and full-figured, she fearlessly lurched about the stage in her taffeta ball gown and spike heels.

As Pluto, king of the underworld, Nicholas Pallesen landed his two numbers solidly in a warm baritone. He even maintained his dignity while gobbling oysters in between vocal fireworks.”

I’ll be your private dancer:  “…nothing could redeem in the clunky, cliché-ridden production of Rebecca Taichman, who managed to degrade high tragedy to low camp.  Perhaps her worst idea was the invention of a character called “Thanatos,” giving dancer Catherine Miller a chance to upstage everyone with her wiggling.”

In summation:  “For the past five years, we’ve been asking: Can NYCO survive? But after this fiasco of an “Orpheus,” I begin to wonder: Should it?”

AND ACCLAIMED LIBRETTIST GENE SCHEER TEAM

FOR THE FIRST TIME TO CREATE A MOVING ONE-ACT,

TDO WORLD PREMIERE—BASED ON A TRUE STORY!

~~~~

EVEREST

TAKING DALLAS BY STORM IN FEBRUARY 2015

~~~~

New Commission Announced This Evening at the Dallas Opera’s Latest “Composing Conversation,” Focused on the Work of Joby Talbot

DALLAS, MAY 15, 2012 – The Dallas Opera is tremendously proud to announce the commissioning of a new original one-act opera by renowned British composer Joby Talbot (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and the critically acclaimed American librettist Gene Scheer (Moby-Dick, Cold Mountain) in their first joint project.

EVEREST is expected to command center stage in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in February of 2015 (cast and specific dates to be announced at a later time).

This new commission, the first since the company announced that composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally are at work on Great Scott, a rapid-fire new comedy slated to open the Dallas Opera’s 2015-2016 Season, will become the fifth world premiere work commissioned by the Dallas Opera for the new millenium: Thérèse Raquin, Moby-Dick, A Question of Light (song cycle in partnership with the Dallas Museum of Art) Great Scott, and now, Everest.

Based on a harrowing 1996 expedition (the subject of two films and at least five books thus far) to summit the world’s tallest mountain peak.  Everest will blend documented facts and contemporary recollections of the transformative journey experienced by Everest survivors, with flights of the imagination designed to keep audience members transfixed in this harshly beautiful place at the top of the world.

This project will mark composer Joby Talbot’s first foray into opera, after establishing himself as a significant composer of original works for the recording studio, stage and screen.  Among his best-known composition are the rapturously received ballet Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2011) commissioned by the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden and the National Ballet of Canada, and original film and British television scores including The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, based on the iconic science fiction of the late Douglas Adams, who also contributed the screenplay for the 2005 release.

“We thought it was vitally important to the success of this project to encourage Mr. Talbot to find a librettist with vast operatic experience and a collegial temperament,” explains Dallas Opera Artistic Director Jonathan Pell, who announced the new commission earlier this evening.  “Gene Scheer, who has worked with us on several important commissions in recent years, immediately sprang to mind.  We arranged for them to meet in Toronto and then again in New York,” Pell added, “and the composer and librettist evidently hit it off at once.”

“I’ve been intrigued by the idea of Joby Talbot composing for the opera stage since experiencing his brilliant work on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” says Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny.  “I was fortunate enough to attend the premiere, which made a strong impression on me.  It was clear that Joby’s score supported the ballet magnificently as it progressed through a wide range of scenes, characters, and stage effects.  I found myself taking a serious interest in his body of work and quickly realized that this was a composer ‘without borders’; who had proven successes in film, ballet, choral writing, chamber music, orchestral writing, and many other genres—so, why not opera?

“And it goes without saying,” Mr. Cerny added, “that I’ve been in awe of Gene Scheer’s tremendous abilities as both a lyricist and librettist—whether capturing the essence of an American classic like Melville’s Moby-Dick for a 21^st century audience, or creating the beautiful poetic language that flowed throughout our world premiere song cycle, A Question of Light—from the moment I arrived here in Dallas.

“We wouldn’t be enlisting Gene’s services for the fourth time if he didn’t have something very special to bring to the table.”

Composer Joby Talbot and Librettist Gene Scheer were on-hand for the announcement this evening in Nancy B. Hamon Hall.  Work on the project will commence later this summer.  Mr. Scheer is currently crafting the libretto for the 2015 Santa Fe Opera world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s opera, Cold Mountain, based on the best-selling 1997 Civil War novel by Charles Frazier, which won the National Book Award for Fiction and became an Academy Award winning film.

“I am thrilled to be working with Joby Talbot on this exciting new project for the Dallas opera,” says librettist Gene Scheer.  “About a year ago, Jonathan Pell, the artistic director of the Dallas Opera, arranged for me to see Joby’s stunning ballet based on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in Toronto.  In addition to being so impressed with the brilliance of the score, Joby and I got to spend quite a bit of time together.  With each conversation it became more and more clear that Joby is someone who, in addition to his great musical gifts, has keen theatrical instincts and that an opportunity to collaborate with him would be a privilege indeed.

“As we discussed a number of subjects, the idea of doing a piece about the people who experienced the tragedy on Mount Everest in 1996 sparked both of our imaginations. The story, which captured the world’s attention when it happened, offers a wonderful chance for music to explore aspects of the human spirit.  There is clearly one common theme that emerges from the stories of those who endured that storm over Everest.  They all felt that their lives were profoundly changed by the tragedy and by the acts of heartbreaking heroism and love that they all experienced on the top of the world.”

Adds Mr. Scheer: “I look forward to working with Joby to find ways to illuminate those transformations and to bring this thrilling story to the Dallas opera.”

A similar sentiment was echoed by the composer, Joby Talbot, who writes: “I am enormously excited at the prospect of working with Gene Scheer and the Dallas Opera on Everest.  I have been keen to write an opera for some years now.  Many of my recent projects have been narrative pieces and I’ve found that I very much enjoy the challenge of communicating a story through music.  In its breadth of scale and emotional drama, Everest seems to have all the ingredients for a wonderful collaboration.”

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Full season subscriptions are now on sale (three performances) for the 2012-2013 “Pursuits of Passion” Season range from $75 to $1,020 through the Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214.443.1000 or online at www.dallasopera.org.  Single tickets will become available September 10^th.  Student Rush best-available tickets are available for $25 (one per valid Student I.D.) at the Winspear box office, ninety minutes prior to each performance.  Inner Circle seating may be higher.

I guess Gilbert & Sullivan does make everything funnier….

Artist E.V. Day’s incredible work appears in all the prestigious arts venue, the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Art, the New York Library…. and most recently Southern Methodist University Meadow School of the Arts.  The Texas-based University is hosting Carmen, Merry Widow and Hats, part of the fourteen suspended sculptures, which encompass Divas Ascending.

The sculptures are fabricated from retired costumes from the New York Opera’s archives, a collection comprised from prominent international opera houses.  Dresses from Carmen and The Merry Widow originate from the Metropolitan Opera and and New York City Opera, respectively.  Hats is made up of pieces from numerous houses.

E.V. Day explains the work specific to Divas Ascending:

“In my art, I use tension to suspend, stretch, and shred garments and to create forms that I liken to futurist abstract paintings in three dimensions.  The challenge… was to do justice to the retired costumes, which still have a majesty and degree of craftsmanship unlike any I’d ever encountered.  I wanted the sculptures to reflect and refract the specific roles the costumes had played.  The interplay between the story of the opera from which each costume came, the moment created by the sculpture, and the physicality of the transformed garment – its materials, its shapes, its colors, floating in this celestial space – is the work that I hope viewers of my installation will appreciate.”

The SMU Meadows Museum hours are 10:00am – 5:00pm from Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00am – 9:00pm on Thursday, and 1:00pm – 5:00pm on Sunday.  There is no charge to view the costume sculptures.  For more information call the museum at 214-768-2516 or visit www.meadowmuseumdallas.org.

Talkin’ costumes today. Fan me!!!

Countess Connoisseurs, what is your favorite costume plan for this fabulous role? What lovely dressing gown would you have her in for her opening aria? What gorgeous shawl would she reach for during Cherubino’s entrance? Or, would she? LOL!

I love to arrive early to the opera.  For one, I want to sit down and see what everyone else is wearing…. the gowns, the sequins, THE SHOES!  Once that is done, I delve into the program!  I want to read the ‘who’s who, all of the singers’ bios, and the miniature reproductions of their glossy 8 X 10′s (which I usually go back to during intermission and estimate how many years ago that photo was taken), the director’s notes, the conductor’s notes!  It is one of the best parts of going to the opera!  So let Operagasm get you ready with the down low on new and exciting upcoming productions.

The Operagasmic Production of the Week is Opera Manhattan’s Opera Festival!

Following the critical acclaim of February’s trio of monodramas themed Women on the Verge, Opera Manhattan is proud to announce its 2012 Opera Festival.  Three riveting operas will be presented from May 17 – 21 at the historic Theatre at St. Clement’s, 423 West 46th Street, in Manhattan.  A special performance of arias and ensembles presented by Opera Manhattan’s Artist Development Program will be offered as a later part of the festival at another venue.

Opera Manhattan will reprise and fully stage Poulenc’s monodrama La Voix Humaine. Based on a 1930 play by Jean Cocteau, the one act opera follows an agonizing phone conversation between a young woman and her former lover as she desperately tries to win back his love. First presented in a semi-staged performance by Opera Manhattan as part of Women on the Verge, La Voix Humaine features the original cast in alternate performances:  Kala Maxym, whose performance “had a fearful kind of dignity, even at her most frantic.  The warmth of Maxym’s soprano conveyed a tenderness more terrifying than fury”; and Roza Tulyaganova, who “gave a pointed, convincing portrait of this young woman’s breakdown, from the desperate pleas to her lover to evocations of their tender past.”

The idea for Menotti’s opera The Medium was first conjured up during a séance the composer attended with friends in 1936.  A psychologically complex tale of the medium Flora, portrayed by Caroline Tye and Elizabeth Moulton in alternate performances.  The deception and hysterics of Madame Flora are boldly contrasted by the innocence of Monica, played by Megan Candio and Mary Langston, already favorites to Opera Manhattan audiences.

Suor Angelica is the moving story of a young woman from a noble family who becomes a cloistered nun.  The Principessa, her aunt, visits her after seven years of silence and brings Angelica a shocking and life altering revelation. Opera Manhattan newcomers Diana Wangerin and Kristi Bulot sing the demanding role of Suor Angelica, while Opera Manhattan veterans Sahoko Sato and Anna Yelizarova sing the Principessa.

Tickets and more information here!

Alan Pierson, Artistic Director

ends its 2011-12 relaunch season with the orchestral culmination

of the Brooklyn Phil’s 3-part Bed-Stuy Series:

YASIIN BEY (MOS DEF), LENA HORNE, AND THE BED-STUY TRADITION

Saturday, June 9, 8:00PM

Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street

Free

Featuring:

Alan Pierson, conductor & artistic director

Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), hip-hop artist

Leslie Uggams, voice

Linda Twine, conductor

Christopher Rountree, assistant conductor

Student string players from the Noel Pointer Foundation, under the direction of Jesse Henkensiefken

Nate Smith, drummer

Carlos Homs, keyboard

Darryl Small, a.k.a. DJ Eddie Marz, DJ

Andrew Norman, composer & orchestrator

Derek Bermel, composer & orchestrator

Program:

Beethoven: Symphony no. 3, Finale; Remix by DJ Eddie Marz, Arr. Andrew Norman

Lena Horne tribute
Linda Twine and Leslie Uggams, arr. Gordon Goodwin:

Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane: Love

Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein: Can’t Help Lovin Than Man

Fats Waller and Andy Razaf: Honeysuckle Rose

Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler: Stormy Weather

Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), Arr. Derek Bermel

Yasiin Bey: Life in Marvelous Times

Yasiin Bey: Revelations

Tony Williams: Something Spiritual

Yasiin Bey: Climb

Derek Bermel: Migration Series, “Landscapes”

Beethoven: Symphony no. 7, 2nd mvmt. (Allegretto)

Yasiin Bey: Casa Bey

A profound and authentic lover of language, renowned Bed-Stuy native Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) is one of the most influential hip-hop stars of all time. He joins Artistic Director Alan Pierson and the Brooklyn Philharmonic in bringing together the energy and charged lyrics of American hip-hop, the classic ballads of legendary Bed-Stuy singer and activist Lena Horne, and the revolutionary music of Beethoven, remixed anew by Beethoven Remix Project winner, DJ Eddie Marz.

Grammy-nominated composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel has arranged Yasiin Bey’s original songs, including his 2008 single “Life In Marvelous Times.” Bey returns to the stage as 2011-12 Artist in Residence with the Brooklyn Phil, following this season’s preview concert in October, which New York Times writer Zachary Woolfe noted took place “in front of the most diverse crowd I’ve ever seen at a ‘classical music’ concert.” Watch the videos here and here.

Conductor Linda Twine and vocalist Leslie Uggams honor the influential Lena Horne, who passed away in 2010, presenting songs by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, Fats Waller, and Harold Arlen.

The concert will also feature the winning remix from the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s community-based Beethoven Remix Project. DJ Eddie Marz’s selection was chosen from five finalists who were asked to remix the finale of Beethoven’s Third Symphony (the Eroica), following an open application process with Brooklyn-based artists. Marz’s remix has been adapted by acclaimed contemporary composer (and 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist) Andrew Norman. WNET’s MetroFocus posted this report on the Remix Project.

This scene has never been a favorite of mine, but maybe it’s just because I hadn’t heard it sung so exquisitely! Take a minute to experience Popp and Janowitz nuancing the pants off of this duet. Such beautiful phrasing and such perfectly juicy and vibrant voices for these roles!

The more I’m indulging in the Countess this month, the more I am re-thinking her purpose in every scene. What was Mozart going for with this music? What does this exchange tell us about the Countess? How would you stage this if you were directing? Any radical ideas? Let’s hear from you honorary Countesses!

- Joseph Solman