HOT’s Education Coordinator and Orvis Opera Student Member Blythe Kelsey was recently featured in Opera News.
Learn more about her experience with opera as a youth, an opera singer, and with HOT Education, which reaches over 25,000 students throughout the islands each year.
You can read the article online here.
SINGING OUT – For its 2016-2017 season, Hawaii Opera Theatre continues to break out of the mold. In January, HOT will debut Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, adapted by acclaimed composer and conductor André Previn. In March, HOT produces the Hawai’i debut of Three Decembers, a bold drama about an aging actress estranged from her children. Some of the reason behind this exciting new direction is Simon Crookall, who took the role of executive director in 2013 and was reappointed as general director this year. Part of his mission is to grow and diversify HOT’s audience. A Brit who sang with the King’s College Choir at Cambridge University, Crookall came to HOT after serving with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Crookall grew up in a musical family; now, his job involves bringing opera to young people. HOT does outreach on four islands, with HOT Express. Last year, HOT visited 73 elementary schools doing a mini-performance of The Magic Flute. At five elementary schools each year, HOT offers a more in-depth program where students learn to perform an existing opera, or create their own. In 2014, the opera organization started a junior studio for teens. HOT also opens up each performance’s final dress rehearsal for middle school and high school students. “When you have a company that has such high resources in terms of music and theater, it would remiss of us if we didn’t offer it to the community,” says Crookall, adding that HOT reaches about 25,000 students each year. For some students, he says, it sparks a passion for music, inspires a career or even instills a future HOT patron. To support this mission, the organization is having its annu8al Opera Ball Nov. 12. The Sheraton Waikiki will be transformed into glittering Paris, with a La Bohème theme.
Hawai‘i Opera Theatre opened its 2016-17 season with a charming production of Puccini’s “La Boheme” (“The Bohemians”), a tragic love story of universal appeal that is at once personal and epic.
In “La Boheme,” four starving young men — a poet (Rodolfo), painter (Marcello), philosopher (Colline) and musician (Schaunard) — are struggling to make their way as artists in the Latin quarter of Paris when Rodolfo falls in love with the gentle Mimi, who is dying of tuberculosis. Marcello and his sometime girlfriend, Musetta, provide high-spirited contrast, and the six form a tight-knit band of working-class comrades, anti-establishment bohemians embracing the fleeting passions of life amid a cruel world.
HOT’s production, designed by Erhard Rom (scenery), Peter Dean Beck (lighting), Kathleen Trott (costumes) and Sue Sittko Schaefer (wigs and makeup), took a traditional approach, matching the opera’s 1896 period with an apt and artful look that supported without intruding.
Scenes are framed by large, proscenium-high cityscapes on side panels in urban grays and browns, with the bohemians and Yuletide celebrations providing color. The stage is dominated by a large central “V” step that interrupts symmetrical rectangularity, much as bohemians disrupted social structure.
The basic set transforms for each act: a slanted garret window for the bohemians’ cozy but cold attic; a festivity of lanterns for the street cafe and bohemians’ high spirits; a snowy city gate and lonely lamppost for the lovers’ spats and nadir; and a final return home to the attic.
HOT’s design sidestepped grinding poverty in favor of a more romanticized, genteel poverty that was disrupted only by Colline peeing into the stairwell, which didn’t seem to fit with the tone of the rest.
HOT’s casting was especially strong, and although outnumbered, the women ruled.
Elizabeth Caballero is a wonderful Mimi: Her warm lyric soprano has a gentle tone and an impressively large expressive range, with both power and delicacy. She is also an excellent actress, and her Act III aria — “Addio senza rancor” (“Farewell, with no hard feelings”) — was moving.
Caballero outpowered her partner, Rodolfo, sung by Mackenzie Whitney, whose beautifully clear tenor was stretched by the role but created an appealing leading man. Their Act I “Che gelida manina” (“Such cold hands!”) was charming.
As Musetta, Rachelle Durkin has an equally strong soprano, but with a ringing, brighter tone and more of an edge, which lent spice to her character. She worked well with Wes Mason (Marcello) as the spirited, quarreling couple that kept things lively. Durkin’s “Musetta’s Waltz” was a high point, and her off-stage “come-hither” snippet from the tavern in Act III was especially entrancing.
Mason’s virile baritone paired equally well with Caballero’s soprano, which made them especially simpatico friends.
Nathan Stark (Colline) is a bear vocally and physically, which made his farewell ode to his coat especially comical; Michael Weyandt (Schaunard) shone in his Act I caper about poisoning the parrot; and Kevin J. Glavin blundered and blustered memorably as both Benoit and Alcindoro.
Local singers in the hubbub of Act II included Johnathan Sholtis as Parpignol, the toy vendor; brothers Michal and Karol Nowicki, originally from Poland; Ian McMillan; and the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus.
Conductor Karen Keltner delivered an outstanding, carefully nuanced interpretation of “La Boheme.” Under her direction, the orchestra sounded excellent, and Keltner crafted a lovely dialogue between pit and stage, pacing the drama while giving singers room to soar.
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Opera is known for setting its stories in unusual, foreign locales, like “Aida” in Egypt, “Turandot” in China, or “Madame Butterfly” in Japan, or in unusual circumstances, like “Tosca,” set amid the ruling class during political upheaval in Rome.
“La Boheme,” the popular Puccini opera that opens the Hawaii Opera Theatre season this week, isn’t quite so exotic. It’s set in a grungy artistic community of Paris. The story involves characters with whom we readily identify, especially in a creative community like Hawaii: young artists, struggling to make ends meet or to make a name for themselves, preferably both.
WHERE:
Blaisdell Concert Hall
WHEN:
8 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Tuesday
COST:
$29-$130
INFO:
hawaiiopera.org, ticketmaster.com or 866-448-7849, HOT Box Office – 808-596-7858
“It’s a realistic story,” said stage director Chuck Hudson. “It’s set in Paris in the 19th century, so it’s all about romanticism and love. It’s a story that tells itself very cleanly. Puccini is a brilliant storyteller as well as composer.”
So universal is the story — a “boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back” plot that incorporates both noble sacrifice and tragedy — that it was adapted for Broadway in “Rent,” with AIDS substituting for tuberculosis, the deadly scourge in “Boheme.”
Hudson identifies strongly with the story. He spent part of his 20s studying with mime Marcel Marceau in Paris, living in an old apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower and windows that wouldn’t close.
“The 19th century arts studio in Paris, where a bunch of people are sitting around in these salons talking about art, talking about philosophy, that’s what this show is all about — but they’re also you and me,” he said. “We can really see ourselves— young, idealistic, in love, with a vision to change the world.”
Musically, Puccini’s work is considered one of the finest in the repertoire. Tenor MacKenzie Whitney, making his HOT debut, said his character, the poet Rodolfo, “is probably one of the top five tenor roles in all the repertoire — very demanding, because as an expressive man, you have to be able to sing with such gusto, be loud and heroic, but also be very sensitive.”
For Whitney, whose big aria is “Che gelida manina” (“What a cold little hand”) in the first act, it’s the pure pleasure of singing opera that drew him to the art. “The sensation of singing opera is like nothing you’ve ever felt in your life,” he said. “Your whole body is involved, and you create this sound, and just go, ‘Wow! I can’t believe I just did that.”
Soprano Elizabeth Caballero returns to HOT to portray Mimi, a fallen woman who becomes Rodolfo’s ill-starred lover. She especially enjoys the third act, when Mimi learns of the extent of her illness.
All of the lead characters have arias, including a rousing quartet at the end. “Musically that entire act is just so perfect,” she said. “From the beginning of that act, from where you hear the snow falling, it really sounds just like the way snow would sound.”
Caballero faces the challenge of singing beautifully while portraying a character with a fatal illness, but she said Puccini cleverly wrote that into the music. “Puccini wrote it very perfectly in act four, where he’s just asking Mimi to sound more faint of voice, and the orchestration for her is very faint and light. It’s really beautiful how he wrote it.”
It’s fitting for “La Boheme” to open the season for HOT, which is rolling out the red carpet for guests for today’s performance. “It’s the great first opera for people to see,” said conductor Karen Keltner, who waxed enthusiastic about the cast that HOT assembled for her debut here.
She expects newcomers to opera may see “La Boheme” and think, “Oh my god, these are people who feel the things I feel and go through some of the same things I go through.”
On October 14th, at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, Hawaii Opera Theatre opens a production of Puccini’s La Bohème. It’s considered one of the most romantic love stories to grace the operatic stage, and is his most popular work alongside Madama Butterfly.
Set in Paris during the start of 1830s, La Bohème tells the story of four young artists living in a garret (attic) and pursuing an idealistic “bohemian” lifestyle. When Rudolfo the poet meets Mimi they fall in love, but the poverty of their lifestyle affects her health and after a whirlwind romance she tragically dies.
Hawai‘i Public Radio continues its series with a behind-the-scenes look into the making of La Bohème. Hosted by HOT Executive Director Simon Crookall.
“A Curious Person’s Guide to La Bohème” airs on HPR-1 during Evening Concert around 6:30 on Friday October 7th, and again on Tuesday at 3pm on HPR-1.
Tickets and information can be found at hawaiiopera.org.
From Hawaii Public Radio.
Hawaii Opera Theatre brings the great mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, a star at the Metropolitan Opera since her debut in 1970, to the stage. She will grace the Hawaii Theatre stage for “Three Decembers,” a modern opera based on a play by Terrence McNally about an aging actress.
HOT also will debut Andre Previn’s adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” along with opera favorites “La Boheme” and “Tales of Hoffman.”
As has become practice in the past few season, it will present one production in the fall, “La Boheme” in October, with the remaining three productions in the spring: “Streetcar” in January, “Three Decembers” in March and “Tales of Hoffman” in April.
“We’re excited about the season because it’s such a mix,” said HOT Executive Director Simon Crookall. “We’ve got two operas by living American composers, which I think is a first for HOT and a very good sign that we’re embracing the new and trying to move the art form forward.
“Obviously, we want to continue to present the great masterpieces of opera. ‘La Boheme’ is an example of that — it will be a fabulous cast and a great production. … And then ‘Hoffman’ at the end of the year is such a great vehicle for singers and for innovative production. I think we’ve got terrific variety and should be proud of that.”
Getting Von Stade to perform here stemmed from HOT’s interest in American composer Jake Heggie, who has also written the operas “Moby-Dick,” “Dead Man Walking” and “The End of the Affair,” Crookall said.
“Three Decembers,” which premiered in 2008, is an intimate production, with three singers and a small ensemble. Von Stade starred in the lead role, and she was happy to reprise her performance in Hawaii, having come here in recent years to work with young opera singers, Crookall said.
“We’re bringing the original cast from the first production,” Crookall said. “Obviously, that means they know the work best and can present the work best.”
HOT will be taking the production to three neighbor islands — Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island — another first for the company.
The Honolulu shows will be significant as HOT’s first full productions in the historic Hawaii Theatre.
“‘Three Decembers’ is about an actress coming to the end of her career and looking back over her life, and this actress has probably played many venues like the Hawaii Theatre, so it’s just the perfect venue for that,” Crookalls said. “It will suit the atmosphere of the piece.”
Hawaii Opera Theatre will also be bringing back Sol3 Mio, the trio of Samoan-New Zealanders who wowed the audience with their blend of pop, Broadway and Polynesian songs. They’ll be coming in January in the midst of the run of “Streetcar.”
“I think one of the important things to say about HOT now is that we are able to be much more flexible about what we do and where and how we tailor our programs,” he said. “We’re not trying to do a one-size-fits-all in the Blaisdell, and that’s it.”
By Steven Mark, The Star Advertiser TGIF
Sunday’s concert performance of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” marked a first for both Hawaii and Hawaii Opera Theatre, which has built its 55-year reputation on fully staged operas.
At first blush, a concert production lacking sets and costumes may seem somehow “less” than a fully staged production, but HOT’s performance was such a resounding success, it revealed unexpected advantages.
The concert format focused attention on the story as told through the music – the entire point of opera.
HOT’s was not the typical concert rendition in which soloists sing in place from behind their music stands. In this production, singers were “off book” and acted their roles fully, lending an immediacy that was as powerful as, and in some ways even more powerful than, a staged production. Without visual effects, both music and imagination leapt to the fore, becoming more vivid.
Most importantly, voices matched their roles to a degree that’s difficult to achieve when singers’ ages, heights and bodies matter for staging.
The big draw for many in the audience was Quinn Kelsey, the now renowned baritone born and raised in Hawaii, on stage with John Mount, his voice teacher from “back in the day” at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Kelsey has a large and loyal following: Blaisdell was packed full, and the line for will-call tickets wrapped around the building, delaying the start.
“Rigoletto” has become something of a signature role for Kelsey, whose large, rich baritone has the power and nuance to convey the demanding role’s wide range of emotions.
The story is the tragedy of Rigoletto, a hunchbacked court jester serving the womanizing Duke of Mantua. When Rigoletto mocks Monterone, a man whose daughter has been ravaged by the Duke, Monterone curses the Duke and Rigoletto. The rest of the opera is the unfolding of that curse (the opera was originally named “La maledizione,” or “The Curse”): The Duke seduces Rigoletto’s daughter, Gilda, who ends up dying to save the Duke’s life.
Kelsey’s highlights included his touching duet with Gilda (Nadine Sierra), and his portrayal of a father’s anguish as he tries to find out what has happened to his missing daughter. It was a knockout performance, and he is clearly at the height of what will surely be a long and storied vocal career. Let’s hope HOT brings Kelsey back regularly to perform for his hometown fans.
The evening’s surprise was all the other outstanding leads.
Sierra’s spectacular Gilda was a perfect a match between singer and role. She has sung the role for La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera. The role is so challenging it is usually sung by mature singers in their 40s. Sierra is, unbelievably, still in her 20s, and is, quite believably, the youngest singer ever to win the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition.
Sierra’s voice is already very large and presumably still growing, with a clarity and purity of tone rare in large voices. Hers is a lyric soprano with the highest of high notes and a marvelously wide dynamic range. Her “Caro nome” aria was met with a well-earned storm of applause.
Barry Banks, as the womanizing Duke of Mantua, was another great vocal match and the quintessential Verdian tenor: high notes, warm tone and the power to deliver. His rendition of “Rigoletto’s” iconic ironic aria, “La donna e mobile” (“Woman is fickle,” in which the fickle Duke is oblivious to Gilda’s steadfast love) was terrific.
Matthew Trevino was a dashingly dark assassin, Sparafucile, his long, low note a muted threat as he slowly exited. And Cynthia Hanna was both comically beguiling yet endearing as Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister who seduces the Duke while Gilda watches.
Notable local singers included a strong male chorus, John Mount as Monterone, a trio of courtiers — Buz Tennent, Erik Haines and Kip Wilborn — and even Kelsey’s sister, Blythe Kelsey, as Giovanna, Gilda’s maid.
Casting made the production click: The powerhouse voices represented faithful, steadfast and pure love; the beguiling voices — fickle and false, assassins and seductresses — were powerful but in the end overpowered by purity.
In another first for opera in Hawaii, the orchestra was seated on stage, between chorus and soloists, which made balancing orchestra and soloists in climaxes challenging, but which also resulted in a more integrated sound, punctuated by brilliant solos, such as Lance Suzuki’s flashes of lightning on piccolo.
HOT’s “Rigoletto” was not staged, but sets and costumes were nonetheless conjured by Sandy Sandelin’s lighting — deep blues for night, red for the curse, dappled green-blues for the garden, flashes of white for lightning — and by the singers’ concert dress — a canary-yellow gown for Gilda, the sunshine of Rigoletto’s life, a black lacy, spaghetti-strapped, bustier gown for the seductress Maddalena, and dusky red for Countess Ceprano, the object of the Duke’s lust.
The success of this HOT production suggests opera in concert may have a future in Hawaii. It’s a popular format in cities elsewhere, mostly Europe and some on the mainland, and if this is a way to offer more productions per year or to bring in singers without the time in their schedules for a full production, let’s hope there will be more.
By Ruth Bingham, Special to The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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Concert production of “Rigoletto,” composer Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave; conductor Hal France; rehearsal pianist/chorus co-director Beebe Freitas; chorus co-director Nola Nahulu; stage director Barett Hoover; lighting designer Sandy Sandelin; stage manager Kale Okazaki.
With Quinn Kelsey (Rigoletto); Nadine Sierra (Gilda); Barry Banks (Duke of Mantua); Matthew Trevino (Sparafucile); Cynthia Hanna (Maddalena); John Mount (Monterone); Buzz Tennent (Marullo); Kip Wilborn (Borsa); Erik D. Haines (Count Ceprano); Toby Newman (Countess Ceprano); Blythe Kelsey (Giovanna); Jacque Comer (Page); Keane Ishii (Herald).
Photo by Jamm Aquino from The Star-Advertiser
Quinn Kelsey, the heralded baritone born and raised in Hawaii, returns to Honolulu for a concert performance of what has become his signature role, Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”
It is a moment local opera lovers have been waiting for. Since first performing the role in 2011 in Norway, Kelsey has performed “Rigoletto” around the world.
A 2014 production by the English National Opera catapulted him to prominence as perhaps the world’s leading “Verdi baritone” — a term reserved for the uniquely challenging roles that the composer created for the baritone voice, with “Rigoletto” at the head of the list. Kelsey has performed it in four productions since then, in Sante Fe, N.M.; Canada; Paris; and Switzerland, with the reviewers gushing over the quality of his voice and his stage presence.
“Top vocal honours went to the magnificent Rigoletto of Hawaiian baritone Quinn Kelsey. What a voice! He has beauty of tone, ample dramatic intensity, volume without resorting to pushing, youthful timbre, and most of all, his is an authentic Verdi baritone, a rare breed,” said the Canadian online music site La Scena Musicale.
When: 4 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $34-$135
Info: ticketmaster.com or 866-448-7849
KELSEY TOOK his time and paid his dues before performing the role of the jester with a secret. He covered the role — akin to understudying — in Chicago in 2006, then stepped away from it for five years before actually performing it.
“This is one of those roles for which they always warn young singers, ‘Be careful. This is not a little kid’s kind of role,’” said Kelsey, who now makes his home in Chicago. “It’s the kind of role where you really have to pay attention to it, because it requires a lot of stamina, it requires a lot of really intelligent singing. It’s the kind of role where one can really let it run away from them, in getting caught up in the emotion of it.
“I really think it was these five years that really made the difference — that I studied it, had the opportunity to sing the whole thing through in rehearsal, then left it on the shelf for awhile.”
Kelsey, still young by opera standards at 38, said he believes he’s the only baritone of his age who has performed “Rigoletto” as often as he has. He has three more productions slated for next year, and while he is interested in other Verdi baritone roles, he has to “be careful not to burn myself out.”
The story of “Rigoletto,” based on a Victor Hugo play, calls for him to portray one of the more complex characters in opera. Rigoletto is a court jester, poking fun at people for his master, the licentious Duke of Mantua. At the same time, Rigoletto is keeping secret the fact that he has a daughter, Gilda, securing her away in a church. It’s like a politician hiding away a secret love-child.
“The conflict is him balancing his ‘professional life’ and his personal life, and how sensitive, how delicate that balance is,” Kelsey said.
The duke’s predatory ways eventually lead to a curse being put on both him and Rigoletto, with tragic results for Gilda.
“Rigoletto is a bully. That’s his job,” Kelsey said. “He goes around the court every day, picking on the courtiers, all for the duke’s pleasure. The duke will prey on the women within the court as well, and this is the way the curse comes about. The duke has preyed on Monterone’s daughter. Monterone is an older lord of the court, and he’s had enough of it, and he goes right into the duke’s own court and calls him out.
“And at the same time, he calls out Rigoletto as well. He says ‘You, as the father,’ and no one else catches it because no one else knows, but Rigoletto kind of flinches, because somebody else knows his secret.”
THE ROLE calls for Kelsey to alternately be a jokester with a mean streak, a protective father, a panicked parent and a schemer.
A moment of insight is portrayed in his second-act aria, “Pari Siamo,” (We are two of a kind”), in which Rigoletto compares himself to an assassin. “The assassin uses his knife, and he uses his voice,” Kelsey said.
In his other main aria, “Cortigiani,” in the third act, Rigoletti rages against the court that has played him for a fool. “This is the one that everyone thinks of when they think of this role,” Kelsey said.
Kelsey played a major role in putting together the cast for the concert performance, recommending his sister Blythe Kelsey, well-known to local audiences, for one role, and bringing in guests for others.
“I’m so pleased that (Hawaii Opera Theatre) gave me such flexibility to recommend the cast,” he said.
Playing the lascivious duke is tenor Barry Banks. Kelsey performed with Banks at the English National Opera, enjoying the tenor’s “energy” so much that he promised to pick Banks for the role if given the opportunity to cast a production.
Portraying Gilda is Nadine Sierra, who has sung at La Scala and the Met. Kelsey has not sung with Sierra, but heard her perform in Europe, and is enthusiastic about working with her. “She knows exactly what her voice is, and she uses it perfectly,” Kelsey said.
Matthew Trevino, as the assassin Sparafucile, and Cynthia Hanna as Maddalena fill out the cast. Hal France conducts the orchestra.
In its early centuries, opera was focused on delivering satisfying endings, natural conclusions to human dilemmas, endings that reinforced the natural order and goodness of the universe. All that changed in the Romanticism of the 1800s, which began to explore the darker sides of human nature and the many ways that fate can go wrong.
In the 1850s, Verdi produced three back-to-back blockbuster hits (“Rigoletto,” “Il trovatore,” “La traviata) that ushered in his mature style, catapulted him to world renown, and established shocking as a titillating norm.
Shocker plots are harder to devise than one might think, and the plot of “Il trovatore” is about as convoluted as they come.
At its heart, “Il trovatore” is about the destructive power of revenge: The elder Count burned at the stake an old gypsy woman he believed had cursed one of his two sons. In revenge – and while her mother was burning – Azucena, the younger gypsy woman, kidnapped the Count’s younger son, intending to throw him onto the burning pyre. In her frenzied delirium, she instead threw her own son onto the pyre.
You would think that would be lesson enough, but all that happens before the opera has even begun.
Fifteen years on, with the elder generation dead, Azucena has raised the Count’s younger son as her own and renamed him Manrico, the titular troubadour. Now in his early twenties, Manrico has fallen in love with Leonora, a lady of the court who represents all that is innocent and pure, and she loves him in return. The conflict is that the elder Count’s eldest son, who has inherited everything, including his father’s title of Count di Luna, is also in love with Leonora and not about to give her up to some riff-raff of a gypsy.
From there ensues a tale involving not only infanticide and murder but also war, duels, suicide, fratricide, class warfare – and more. In the end, of course, everyone good dies. Classic opera.
Perhaps most fascinating of all is the transition mid-opera from the old-style “number opera” into a then-brand-new integrated style.
The first half feels old-school, with its staged storytelling (the action happens off stage) and standard cavatina-cabaletta arias for each of the major characters. In the second half, suddenly verses from different arias – the monks’ chorus, Manrico’s off-stage lament, Leonora’s anguish aria – are all interwoven in the same scene, at the same time. It was revolutionary and psychologically powerful.
“Il trovatore” has some of opera’s most famous and vocally demanding roles, so it is almost impossible to find vocally mature singers who can convey the hormonal passions of youth. Kisses may have been more chaste than passionate, but the voices HOT chose were excellent.
Victoria Livengood was absolute dynamite as the gypsy Azucena, with her powerful, exceptionally expressive mezzo soprano voice, from ringing head notes to growling chest voice. A strong actress, Livengood held focus in each scene, so that the opera seemed more her story than the troubadour’s.
Both male leads were impressive, as well: Count di Luna (the younger Count) may not be very nice character, but baritone Michael Chioldi made him the most powerful – he has a beautiful voice! – and although tenor Carl Tanner is not close to Manrico’s age, he delivered a well-crafted performance born of experience. Both men displayed impeccable vocal technique well worth making an effort to hear.
Michelle Johnson (Leonora), the youngest of the leads, is just hitting her vocal maturity, and her lovely tone and bel canto lyric soprano promise a great career. Her voice was the lightest of the four in the first half, but perhaps she was saving for her powerhouse scene in the second half, when her voice was stronger.
Brandon Coleman was memorable as Ferrando, the Count’s Captain of the Guard who explains the backstory in the first scene, his smoky-dark, weighty bass lending gravity to the role. Also notable were Maya Hoover, as Leonora’s confidante Inez, and Ryan Souza as Ruiz, one of Manrico’s soldiers.
The singers were supported well by Conductor Emmanuel Plasson, who set singable pacing and ensured that every note by every singer was clearly audible. The orchestra’s performance was good but lacked the nuance that delivers dramatic impact.
HOT delivered its usual high standard in visual artistry, from richly-hued costumes to an impressive set.
Peter Dean Beck’s rectilinear set in foreshortened perspective presented castle walls around a central pathway, which transformed into various scenes via drops and rotating towers on either side of the stage. For the gypsy camp, a particularly lovely and effective drop suggested a forest camp with overlapping open-weave cloths hanging from an angled beam that cut across the rectangles, much as both gypsies and Verdi’s opera cut across traditions.
Beck’s lighting may have overplayed the symbolism of red conjuring fire, revenge, passion, and blood, but was otherwise effective, from the rectangles of light shining on the floor to the cross of light mirroring the church’s hanging cross.
Every opera has its challenges, and for “Il trovatore,” it is trying to stage scenes in which almost all of the action takes place elsewhere. A war is fought between scenes; swords are drawn, but the duel is offstage; a pyre is built, but then the scene shifts away; and the soldiers sing the happiest tune imaginable for “soon our swords will be dripping with blood.”
Director Paul Peers elicited every bit of action possible and used the chorus and extras to enhance the storytelling.
For Star-Advertiser by Ruth Bingham
