Foreign Correspondent: Baroque in Paris

Vivica Genaux Recital

Salle Gaveau, Paris

February 2, 2016

The stunning Vivica Genaux.
Photo credit: Christian Steiner

Let me introduce myself. Well, maybe later, music first. Not surprisingly, Paris has an incredibly intense opera scene, which goes well beyond the world famous Opéra. Less internationally-known theaters or independent opera companies often offer high-quality productions of less popular operas in more intimate settings (which makes these productions a must for opera lovers). Upcoming not-to-be-missed shows include Mitridate Re di Ponto at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées (under superstar director Emmanuelle Haïm, which delivered one of this season’s personal favorites, Francesco Cavalli’s Xerse at the Opéra de Lille), and DivinOpera’s production of Offenbach’s La Périchole.

Genaux captivates the Salle Gaveau.
Photo credit: L'Altro

The equally intense concert scene this week offered a superb performance of Vivica Genaux at the Salle Gaveau. The program included Baroque arias expressly written for Farinelli, the most famous castrato of all time. We all know how demanding these arias are, and that very few singers today can actually match the score challenges. Well, no doubt Genaux is one of these singers.

Genaux’s voice is not incredibly big, and her register is fairly limited. But she is a true master of the art of coloratura and has always done a great job in choosing a repertoire that perfectly fits her voice. The concert program included both arie di bravura and lamenti. Genaux literally nailed all of them, especially in the second half of the show, when her voice warmed up and the audience was totally at her feet. Genaux’s coloratura is always extremely fast and precise, and she is able to deliver the most difficult arias (apparently) without any effort. Genaux strikes a stunningly elegant figure and has a huge stage presence, which made the public almost forget that we were listening to a concert (as opposite to a full-staged performance).

I was particularly impressed by Porpora’s Come nave in ria tempesta, while my charming companion was more deeply moved by slower arias such as Porpora’s Alto Giove. It is always a pleasure to see friends who are not used to going to the opera so deeply touched and enthusiastic about a performance. This should be the goal of all performances, and Genaux perfectly reached the goal on Tuesday night!

The spirit of Farinelli was invoked throughout the evening.
Photo credit: L'Altro

At the end of the concert’s program, Genaux delivered two additional virtuoso arias. The first one was a recently re-discovered aria that Giacomelli composed for Farinelli. I was so excited when I heard how the aria had been neglected for centuries that I forgot to note down its name (please forgive me).

The second aria was one of Genaux’s signature tracks, Vivaldi’s Agitata da due venti. Once again, Genaux’s fireworks and pyrotechnics were impeccable (especially in the second aria, which Genaux masters like very few other singers in the world). A true musical orgasm. As soon as the orchestra stopped playing, the audience tore down the house, with an enthusiasm that I have rarely heard in a solo-concert (this was even more surprising considering the relatively-advanced average age of the audience).

Right after the show, an ever-smiling Genaux joined the super enthusiastic audience in the foyer, to take pictures with the fans and sign copies of her bestselling albums. (I have to admit that I re-bought her stunning Arias for Farinelli just to have it signed.) I like her even more for her non-diva and smiley attitude. Quite surprisingly, a good number of superb mezzos specialized in the baroque repertoire (including personal favorites Joyce DiDonato and Ann Hallenberg) have the same positive and friendly approach to their public.

Genaux was superbly accompanied by Les Musiciens du Louvre, an ensemble that commands the baroque repertoire like few other orchestras in Europe (and, likely, the world). I do not know how many times Genaux and the orchestra actually rehearsed, but they definitely gave the impression of having worked together for years, being in perfect synchronization piece after piece. Les Musiciens du Louvre also gave moving performances of Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 Violins and Cello in G minor, RV 578A and Hasses’ Fuga e Grave in G minor.

I almost forgot to introduce myself. I am a close friends with Lui and Lei, with whom I share a deep passion for bel canto. Musically trained in La Scala’s unforgiving Loggione, I spent the last two years around the Met and New York’s hipster independent opera companies. Currently based in Paris, I am always looking for great performances all across Europe. Ad maiora!

– L’Altro

Vivica on tour with Les Musiciens du Louvre.
Photo credit: Laurent Barbotin

Venetian Ghosts from the Baroque Past

Francesco Cavalli’s Veremonda, L’Amazzone di Aragona

Dock Street Theater – May 30, 2015

Spoleto Festival USA

Amazon warriors in formation.
Photo credit: Spoleto Festival

It was a warm early summer night in old Charleston as we took our seats in the balcony of the historic (1736) and exquisitely charming Dock Street Theater. As the lights went down, a thick fog engulfed the stage, two spectral figures wearing Venetian carnival masks emerged from it and baroque music erupted from the pit. And so began the modern-day premiere of Cavalli’s Veremonda, l’Amazzone di Aragona, exhumed from a decrepit manuscript at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice on a Spoleto Festival commission. The intrepid Aaron Carpenè (conductor) and Stefano Virzioli (director) conjured the ghosts of this baroque opera straight from the seventeenth century (by way of this initial spectral fog), giving us the thrill of experiencing for the first time a work that has not been performed since 1653.

The historic Dock Street Theater.
Photo credit: Opera News

Saying that the plot is complex is an understatement. We’re in Gibraltar, during the Spanish siege of the Moorish fort of Calpe, which is taking quite a long time, basically because the general leading the Spanish army (Delio) has a secret love affair with the Moorish queen (Zelemina). The Spanish queen (Veremonda) is quite upset with the ineptitude of her general, not to mention with her husband, a king who is more interested in astronomy studies than in war (or even his wife). Veremonda decides to take matters into her own hands and puts together a contingent of “amazons” (her ladies-in-waiting repurposed in shiny sexy armor) and, after many convoluted adventures and sidebars, she successfully leads them to victory and ends the war (without ever really needing to fight). The Moorish queen converts, marries Delio and everybody’s happy.

Veremonda battagliera.
Photo credit: Spoleto Festival

All this would be linear enough, if it was not for Delio having an old grudge against Veremonda but also being very aroused by her and trying to rape her in the woods (which leads her to pretend to fall in love with him in order to escape his advances). Or for Zelemina also being wildly attracted to Veremonda (disguised as a soldier) and then immediately throwing a jealous fit thinking that Delio is cheating on her with the amazon queen. Or the subplot of Delio’s servant having a crush now on Zelemina’s nurse (Zaida), now on one of the amazons (Vespina). Or the inexplicable non-sequitur of the “dance of the bulls” at Zelemina’s court...

While I was initially taken a bit aback from the absurdity of the plot, once I stopped trying to make coherent sense out of it and just rolled with whatever was thrown at us, I really started to have a lot of fun.  At the end of the day, this opera was composed to entertain the paying Venetian public during Carnevale and that’s exactly what it does, one crazy transgressive plot twist after the other. Cavalli and his librettist Giulio Strozzi set the stage for this semi-serious work from the opening scene. In the prologue, Twilight exhorts the audience to enjoy the evening's entertainment, while the setting Sun warns the ladies that their own splendor is destined to fade.

The astronomer king girds himself for war.
Photo credit: Julia Lynn

Director Stefano Virzioli was very successful in bringing the story to life with the right dose of lightness and humor, using commedia dell’arte styles for the comic relief bits and only rarely falling into slapstick (even when characters deliver saucy lines such as “E’ quello che fanno le donne d’oggi dí / e come si suol dir, disse di sí’”*). Virzioli fully embraced the entertaining spirit of the piece with sass. Think of the astronomer king becoming pompously belligerent and exiting the stage on a wooden ramping white horse. Or the hilarious war training of the “amazons” who struggle to even lift a sword. The idea of having the characters emerge from the fog in the prologue and disappear into it in the finale was also a very poetic touch.

Zelemina in her bath.
Photo credit: Amadeus Online

The sets were hyper-colorful and stylized panels and screens created by visual artist Ugo Nespolo. I conceptually liked the two-dimensional approach to the sets as that was how scenes were done back in the 1600’s, the execution though was hit or miss. While I enjoyed the “forest” and “Moorish bathhouse” scenes for their multiple layers that filled the depth of the stage, I was not too engaged by the “war” and “astronomy” scenes, which felt a bit too flat and abstract. While I am usually not too crazy about ballet intermezzos in operas, the choreographies by Pierluigi Vanelli were extremely enjoyable crowd-pleasers, from the amazon’s training gymnastics to the inexplicable “dance of the bulls.”

Delio gets his way.
Photo credit: Spoleto Festival

The real hero of the night was maestro Aaron Carpenè for the herculean archeological efforts that went into transforming a messy 1652 manuscript into a fully orchestrated score. The challenges of this task were not only the lack of specification of the instruments used but also the very skeletal representation of what would have been actually played, based on the assumption that musicians of the time usually riffed on themes as they went (how very jazzy of them). Carpenè spiced things up by adding castanets to the percussion section, highlighting the exotic flair of the opera, and the ensemble New York Baroque Incorporated sounded both airy and fiery at the same time, bringing to life the resuscitated score in the most pleasurable way for the 2015 audience.

Veremonda in the midst of her transformation.
Photo credit: Julia Lynn

Baroque specialist mezzo Vivica Genaux in the title role was the superstar in the cast and I was very much looking forward to seeing her live. Ms. Genaux has incredibly charismatic stage presence, equally at ease (and truly fabulous looking) in frilly fairy-tale queen gowns and sexy leather leggings, silver boots and amazon armor. Her acting was very specific as she embodied the strong-willed queen turned Amazon warrior, however, the Veremonda role did not give Ms. Genaux much to work with vocally, other than a lot of baroque recitatives and a small handful of arias, none of which were particularly show-stopping. Knowing what Vivica is capable of when it comes to baroque pyrotechnics, I was a bit disappointed that as Veremonda she really did not get a chance to unleash her signature fiery vocal agility. Don’t get me wrong, she sounded and looked amazing and her performance was definitely masterful, but her talents felt way under-utilized here. Still, I do get the ticket selling power of Vivica Genaux for the premiere of a baroque rarity (worked on me!).

Delio and his prey.
Photo credit: Julia Lynn

Despite the fluidity with which Veremonda is able to transgress normative gender roles, she does not really come across as the most prominent or dramatically complex character. Rather, Delio (the double-faced lusty army general) seems to play a more central role both plot-wise and vocally, with a far more dynamic musical stage presence and flashier arias than the title role. Interestingly, this opera was originally supposed to be named “Delio,” but Cavalli and his librettist Strozzi decided against it because it would have sounded too much like “Celio,” an opera of 1646 by Cicognini on which Veremonda’s libretto is largely based. So, it is not surprising that the juiciest role is that of Delio, in this production played by countertenor Raffaele Pe, who to me really was the vocal star of the opera.

Gran tormento è l'esser bello.
Photo credit: Spoleto Festival

Mr. Pe is a rambunctious, little countertenor who exuded all the self-important narcissism that an international playboy ought to possess (one of his major arias is “Gran tormento è l’esser bello”**). Vocally he really embodied all the melismatic fireworks demanded of him by the score, which can be a rarity in the castrati deprived world in which we live. Somehow he managed to be both manly and musically composed in the upper register of his countertenor voice. He was a pleasure to listen to, never dragging as he sang his long baroque lines and always forceful whether he was attempting to force himself on the Amazon queen in the forest or trying to seduce the Arab queen through the wall of her palatial, if cartoonish, bathing complex, his duets with the two women really being the musical highlights of the evening.

Zelemina flees her predator.
Photo credit: Spoleto Festival

Right up there with Pe was soprano Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli, who sang the role of the Moorish queen Zelemina with stirring passion. She belted out her arias of love and longing with crisp, clean lines and a sound that pierced the air in the intimate theater. Ms. Lombardi Mazzulli was definitely one of the highlights of the show. She sang with an intensity that seemed to stop time anytime she was in the spotlight, she so commanded the attention of the audience, particularly in her final aria “Invitta Veremonda.”*** Also noteworthy was mezzo Céline Ricci as the “Amazon” Vespina, who had great comic stage presence and showcased some very agile coloratura.

Gently down the stream.
Photo credit: Spoleto Festival

The rest of the cast had smaller roles in the very complicated plot and all in all delivered a solid performance as an ensemble and team effort (as it’s typical for 17th century opera): bass Joseph Barron (Roldano), baritones Jason Budd (Giacutte) and Steven Cole (Don Buscone), tenor Brian Downen (Zeffiro / Crepuscolo), countertenors Michael Maniaci (Zaida) and Anrey Nemzer (Re Alfonso / Sole) and soprano Danielle Talamantes (Sergente).

Most of all, this evening was about the excitement of discovering a fully staged opera that has not been performed for over 350 years as if it were a brand new piece and actually having a lot of fun with it. Thank you Spoleto Festival USA for the bravery in commissioning its resurrection.

- Lei & Lui

Ugo Nespolo's surreal sets.
Photo credit: Julia Lynn

Amazons ready themselves for battle.
Photo credit: Julia Lynn 

Delio can't keep his hands to himself.
Photo credit: Post and Courier

Feigned romance.
Photo credit: Post and Courier

Commedia dell'arte touches abound.
Photo credit: Post and Courier

Fading back into the mists of time.
Photo credit: Post and Courier

* That’s what women do today / as the say goes, she “said yes”

** Being handsome is such a big torment

*** Undefeated Veremonda

2012-2013 SEASON RECAP

- HIGHLIGHTS -

Photo Credit: Lucie Jansch

Einstein came to Brooklyn.  A year ago Satyagraha cast a meditative spell on me at the Met, this year I remained entranced by the utterly unique experience of watching that bar of light in Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach almost imperceptibly rise to the beat of Glass' signature droning score. If you’ve seen it, you know which bar of light I’m talking about. Brilliant the places it takes you. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced, in completely unexpected ways. Thank you BAM. (Lui)

Photo Credit: Met

Giulio Cesare went to Bollywood (and other places too).  The most delightful and entertaining show of the season.  Not only we got baroque opera, which is in itself too rare a pleasure at the Met, but David McVicar spiced up this Giulio Cesare with Bollywood dances that went beautifully with Handel’s score and he played with times and styles mixing up roman armor, British colonial helmets, flapper fringes and baroque wigs. This pastiche fully worked, making the opera timeless and revamping its core. Also, it was a real pleasure to see Natalie Dessay at the top of her form as a multi-faceted whirlwind of a Cleopatra. Encore, s’il vous plait! (Lei)

Photo Credit: Met

Rigoletto went to Vegas.  If Lucic is singing it, Rigoletto could be staged in a safari in Tanzania and still work. Nobody made me cry more copiously than him this season. His duets with Damrau were the quintessential heartbreaking expression of father-daughter love and in Cortigiani vil razza dannata he was deep, raging and moving at the same time. On top of the extraordinary singing, the bold Vegas setting was refreshing and actually worked in unexpected ways. The Met should take these risks (and get Lucic) more often. (Lei)

Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg

Mosè in the digital desert.  With their production of Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto, NYC Opera is responsible for the most visionary staging of the year that made so very much out of what deceptively seemed like so little. The animated computer generated projections and use of rotating platforms on the stage floor were responsible for many surprising effects that I found dynamic and extremely captivating. Director Michael Counts and his production team are pointing the way to something new. His is a vision rife with possibility for future productions in this mold. (Lui) 

Photo Credit: Richard Termine

Eliogabalo brought sexy back.  It didn’t get much hotter than Gotham Chamber Opera’s titillating production of Cavalli’s Eliogabalo at the Box. The whole thing exuded sex. Gyrating virtually nude female torsos greeted the audience as they arrived. The emperor worked the catwalk that was set up through the center of the nightclub like a glam rocker. But the steamy sensuality of the whole thing was just icing on the delicious cake of Cavalli’s baroque score. Particularly memorable amongst the singers were Christopher Ainslie’s Ziggy Stardust of an Eliogabalo and Emily Grace Righter’s Alessandro. (Lui)

Image Credit: Opera Mission

Rodrigo (finally) made it to a NYC Hotel.  Rodrigo was Handel's first opera written for performance in Italy in 1707 but premiered in the U.S. only in May 2013. Opera Mission brought this baroque jewel to American life in the intimate lobby of the Gershwin hotel, with a committed cast of singers and a wonderful period orchestra. Second’s act thumping bass “Siete assai superbe, o stelle” by the tormented king Rodrigo was a great surprise of pure baroque fiery power. I hope there are many other hidden eighteen-century operas out there and more companies like Opera Mission to dig them out for us. (Lei)

- LOWLIGHTS - 

Photo Credit: Met

Elisir lost its magic powers.  Gala openings should make a statement, either showcasing rarely performed pieces or revisiting old favorites in a new light. Elisir is my favorite Donizetti and I am still quite upset with the Met for having missed an opportunity to make it extraordinary at the underwhelming September 2012 season opening, that did not bring anything remotely new to the table and was certainly not gala material. Netrebko and Kwiecien were as usual quite good but not enough to save the production. Here’s to the Met redeeming itself with Eugene Onegin this next September 23rd. (Lei)

Image Credit: New York City Opera

Too much Powder [on] Her Face.  The NYC Opera had its hits and its misses this season. Their production of Adès’ Powder Her Face at BAM missed the mark. Jay Schreib and his team simply had too many ideas, too much going on, too many distractions packed into their staging rather than just let the varied and idiosyncratic music breathe. (Lui)

Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg 

La Perichole & Jim Carrey.  Turning an opera buffa into a stupid screwball comedy will always be a turn off for me. No matter how good everything else may be, I just cannot forgive NYC Opera having its singers act like they’re in the dumbest of Jim Carrey’s movies. (Lei)