A Mad Bride, Her Lover and an Evil Brother

Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor

New York Opera Exchange

February 27, 2015 - Church of the Covenant

Photo credit: NY Opera Exchange

Lei: Lucia and Edgardo are in love, but her evil brother Enrico won’t have it as Edgardo is an enemy of his estate and, most importantly, he needs his sister to marry a rich nobleman to restore the family’s finances. Evil brother and his chaplain sidekick do some letter forging and trick Lucia into believing that Edgardo betrayed her love with another woman. Lucia is very upset and ends up giving into her brother’s pressure to marry the rich nobleman. Marriage contracts are signed but, when it comes to the newlyweds’ first night, the bride goes mad, murders her groom and dies shortly thereafter in full dementia swing with visions of a happy life with her true love Edgardo. When the latter hears the sad news, he cannot stand life without Lucia and kills himself. Curtain.

Lui: Based on Sir Walter Scott’s sprawling novel, The Bride of Lammermoor, this Donizetti opera packs a lot of quintessential operatic drama into a tight little package, with a complex score laden with beautiful bel canto. Amazing singers always make a difference, but even more so in an opera like Lucia, which cannot really be done successfully with just mediocre singers. This is after all an opera that has for years served as a vehicle for gifted singers, sopranos, in particular, though the tenor role is also showcased.

Sarah Beckham-Turner

Lei: NY Opera Exchange’s cast not only did not have a single weak link (if only we could say this about every performance at the Met), but also featured some truly extraordinary singers. Lucia’s mad scene was a great display of virtuosity and was also very moving. Soprano Sarah Beckham-Turner made a couple of pauses in her a cappella moments with the flute as her only accompaniment that truly left me holding my breath. Her bursts of tenderness, despair and joy in Lucia’s rollercoaster of mood swings through a series of unhinged, staccato scales as she descends into insanity had me shed copious tears, making me connect and empathize with this character like never before. Before she got to the mad scene I thought this soprano was technically skilled and very powerful (with high notes a bit out of control at times) but not a particularly moving heroine. I changed my mind after hearing Beckham-Turner in the mad scene, that made me rethink entirely how this scene can work and how one can deeply and viscerally relate to it.

Alternate cast NYOE promotional material
Photo credit: Jiyang Chen

Joseph Michael Brent

Tenor Joseph Michael Brent made me weep too, his sound is beautiful, round and tender but also agile and powerful. Brent is truly a romantic hero, with a handsome stage presence and an expressiveness to match. He also worked great in his duets with both Lucia (Ah! Verranno a te sull’aure) and Enrico (O sole più rapido a sorger t’appresta). In his arias in the finale, Brent was heart breaking, particularly in Fra poco a me ricovero, when Egardo still thinks that Lucia betrayed him. He may have rushed a touch too much in Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali, but otherwise proved himself as a swooningly excellent tenor.

Alternate cast NYOE promotional material 
Photo credit: Jiyang Chen

Lui: Brent's Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali might have come out a bit rushed, but I nevertheless felt that the tempo gave the ending an appropriate sense of urgency. It is certainly one way to take Edgardo's final spellbinding suicide aria, though it may not the most contemplative interpretation. I found it emotionally raw and true to the character in the throes of his big exit from this world. Though I admit I have a weak spot for the plaintive repetition of "bell'alma innamorata" with which the opera ends. I found Brent very confident with his diction. His Italian was very good as was the sound of his voice, which is on the middle to higher end of the tenor spectrum but still remains very manly. He owned his every move in his delivery of this most moving of finales.

John Viscardi

Lei: Baritone John Viscardi as Enrico was by far my favorite singer on stage. True, I have a thing for mellifluous baritones playing evil characters, but Viscardi was next level. Smooth, musical, deep and dark, even snarling at times. His opening aria Crudel funesta smania and the Act III duet with Edgardo were the best moments of the evening. His singing is vigorous, fluid and agile. Viscardi’s acting was spot on too, with an intense and commanding stage presence.  Truly a pleasure to hear and see, this is a young artist to closely follow.

Alternate cast NYOE promotional material 
Photo credit: Jiyang Chen

Lui: Viscardi was out of this world. For such a young singer he really packed a punch. There were moments, like in his opening numbers in Act II, where I even felt like he was channeling his inner Peter Mattei. His voice was really so smooth when he sang: Appressati, Lucia. It was like he too was seducing his sister to his will. You could really feel that he was savoring the sensory sound of the words in his mouth, their flavor and musicality, and this to me is the sign of a really good singer. Someone who is able to open up a space to savor the music of the language in ways that are expressive while at the same manage to stop time. Viscardi did this a couple of times for me. In fact, both of the male leads really did that for me tonight.

Lei: Bass-baritone Antoine Hodge as the scheming chaplain was also solid, his Cedi Cedi very musical, and his recount of Lucia’s madness moving. Mezzo Chelsea Laggan had a minor role as Lucia’s confidante Alisa but sang it accurately and expressively. We discovered her in Die Fledermaus where she played the more comic role of Prince Orlofsky and it was a pleasure to see that she can as easily and effectively portray a tragic Donizetti bel canto character.

Chelsea Laggan
Photo credit: Jiyang Chen

Sets were virtually non-existent, boiling down to a black box of a stage framed by the curtain. The whole thing cried for something more to engage the eye. Some drapes in the background, a chandelier, some branches, some rocks, something. While this simplicity made scene changes as quick as it took to close the curtain and bring in or out a desk and a chair, I think that the overall experience could have benefitted from some more stage props. True, simplicity can help focus on the singing but I do stand by the fact that a staged opera is a full package that needs staging and here sets were just not there and direction was extremely basic.

Lui: If nothing else some attention to setting more the scenes could have contributed to the storytelling aspect of the performance, which needed just a little livening up. Though it really is about the music and what a pleasant surprise it was that the music was delivered so impressively by this cast. It is clear that the company is limited by the minuscule size of the stage. In scenes when the chorus is out there too, there really isn't much space for anything else. Solid singing that is bolstered by solid acting is enough for me to elevate a show like this from the level of a mere recital to that of a staged production. And these young singers had some pretty solid acting chops when it came to that.

Alden Gatt

Lei: While the 43 piece orchestra led by Alden Gatt did justice to Donizetti’s score and kept tempos brisk, the space’s acoustics were a bit unfortunate for an orchestra this size. The music was often too powerful for the space and singers were forced to go in full cry, other times the volume of orchestra and singers were off, not fully working together. With all the unused theaters around NYC, why on earth a company with this level of artistry cannot perform in a venue with better acoustics is beyond me.

Lui: I was actually glad to hear the orchestra playing all out. I felt like it gave the singers a chance to really go big. And all of the principals were strong enough to sing out over the orchestra. Rarely were they ever drowned out by the orchestra, which was remarkable. It is not a bad makeshift space for an evening of opera. Something more comfortable with a better balance between orchestra and singers, stage and audience could work better. Not only does the orchestra take up a third of the house but as it is the conductor becomes a bit of an obstacle for viewing the action on the stage from time to time. I would love to see the NY Opera Exchange find a place where they can spread their creative wings a bit more. They have incredibly well developed marketing and branding, their promotional photos have dramatic vision, and their website is first class, with character studies and informational materials to lure even the more reluctant contemporary opera virgin to the medium. They deserve a stage where they can realize a similar level of production values for their shows, a space capable of more nuanced lighting perhaps or one that opens up possibilities for staging a spectacle that matches their solid musical talent.

- Lei & Lui

NYC Indie Opera Wintry Mix

Baby, it’s cold out there – thankfully these brave NYC indie opera companies offer plenty of shows to keep us warm and entertained over the next month:

One can never go wrong with Wolfie and the newly formed Opera Cooperative (“opera by the artists”) opens its first season with a Così Fan Tutte. In case one needed extra incentive, “cabaret table” tickets are available, with a bottle of wine included in the admission…February 17-28 at Park Avenue United Methodist Church, 106 East 86^th Street. 

Photo Credit: Opera Cooperative

We were impressed by NY Opera Exchange’s Die Fledermaus earlier this year and look forward to seeing how they tackle Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Seriously, who does not want to get some bel canto and a murderous bride delivering one of the most famous crazy scenes in opera? February 27-28 and March 1 at Church of the Covenant, 310 East 42 Street.

Photo Credit: NY Opera Exchange

Image Credit: Pastore Vito

For a lighter hearted Donizetti, Opera Company of Brooklyn offers a BYOB Don Pasquale, performed in a private apartment in Inwood (“exact address is given after tickets are purchased”). The whole affair feels very much like a secret musical salon, we’re intrigued. March 7 somewhere in Inwood.

Image Credit: Regina Opera

We are fans of the work of Regina Opera since discovering them with an indie Rigoletto last summer, be sure to check out their Barbiere di Siviglia. Trust us, this company’s work is worth the trip to Sunset Park. March 7-8 and 14-15 at the OLPH Catholic Academy of Brooklyn, 902 Sixth Avenue (between 59th and 60th Streets).

Image Credit: Heartbeat Opera

Heartbeat Opera (co-founded by the super talented director Louisa Proske) is offering an interesting double bill festival. First goes Kurtag’s Kafka Fragments, a 1985-6 opus where a mezzo soprano and a violin explore forty “fleeting moments” based on Kafka’s letters to Milena Jesenska, ranging from ironic observations to philosophical musings, to fantastical visions. Followed by the New York premiere of Offenbach’s operetta Daphnis & Chloé, a raunchy story of two innocent country youths who are initiated into the art of love by the lecherous God Pan and a horde of rowdy Bacchantes. March 18-22 at Sheen Center Blackbox, 18 Bleecker Street.

- Lui & Lei

A Young and Bubbly Operetta

Die Fledermaus

Johann Strauss

NY Opera Exchange

November 7, 2014 - Church of the Covenant

From the moment we took our seats, it felt like something extraordinary was happening: the average age of the public was clearly under 30, which is about 4 decades younger than the usual crowd at pretty much any opera performance in NYC, whether mainstream or indie. And it gets better: during the waltzy overture several patrons were itching to dance in their seats, swinging heads, shaking shoulders and tapping their feet, which also very unusual from the average snoozing public. The energetic crowd was not deceived as NY Opera Exchange’s Die Fledermaus turned out to be a whole lot of fun and an all around highly entertaining evening at the operetta.

This was my first “‘Maus” and I was surprised by how much I liked it. It’s truly a bubbly and lighthearted piece with terrific music and hilarious comic vignettes. Director Melissa Frey’s decision to present the piece with recitatifs in English translation and arias sung in the original German was very successful in keeping the gags alive for the non-German speaking public. While I am generally a purist when it comes to tampering with the original language of an opera, in this specific case I found NY Opera Exchange’s to be a welcome compromise between respect for the source material and approachability. Also, the original itself already had recitatif bits in English, Italian, French and Russian, representing the cosmopolitan hodge-podge of languages spoken in Vienna at the end of the XIX century. So, expanding a bit the English parts did not sound too awkward.

The plot boils down to a complicated prank to the detriment of an entitled (and a bit dense) nobleman orchestrated by a vindictive friend of his (the eponymous “bat” of the title). A broad and disparate cast of characters is somehow involved in the scheme, including the nobleman’s flirty wife, her ex-lover (an Italian tenor), a maid cum actress, an extravagant party-throwing Russian prince, a prison guard and a lousy lawyer. The director’s notes state that the action was set in Venice (instead of Vienna) and the piece got a commedia dell’arte spin. Quite honestly I did not get that much of an Italian flavor from the production but little matters as I found it highly effective in conveying the effervescent spirit of the operetta.

Rosalinde (the flirty wife) is by far the character with the most stage time and the most challenging and extensive singing. Soprano Margaret Newcomb was outstanding and the strongest singer on stage, both in her solo arias and in the numerous duets, trios and other ensemble pieces. Her acting was on point too, with a snobbish and elegant flair representing Rosalinde as a two-faced yet charming woman one cannot entirely dislike. Her husband, Gabriel von Einstein, was played by tenor Kevin Delaney, who had outstanding acting skills and great comic timing but unfortunately the strength of his singing did not match his other talents, particularly in ensemble pieces when he tended to get drowned by the orchestra and the other performers. I found Rosalinde’s old flame, Alfred, to be one of the funniest characters, delivering bits of blockbuster arias (Una furtiva lagrima, Che gelida manina, Libiamo nei lieti calici) in a parody of Italian opera that really elicited a few belly laughs. This Italian tenor was hilariously portrayed by Lindell O. Carter, who was 100% in character even in the recitatifs feigning a thick Italian accent.

Coloratura soprano Rebecca Shorstein, in the role of Adele (the ambitious maid), delivered some excellent and challenging singing although her acting was often a tad too forceful, unnecessarily pushing the envelope into the slapstick side of things. If only she toned it down a notch, she would have been perfect. Mezzo-soprano Chelsea Laggan as Prince Orlofsky was the best well-rounded performer, together with Ms. Newcomb. Hers is a pants role in which she plays an ennuied and slightly despotic aristocrat who participates in the prank with detached bemusement, all the while laying some heavy flirtation on Adele. Ms. Laggan’s voice is velvety and her singing fluid and nuanced, definitely a young artist to keep an eye on. Bass-baritone Costas Tsourakis played Dr. Falke (the mastermind behind the joke) with commanding stage presence and a deep, rich tone. Of lighter voice weight compared to Mr. Tsourakis, bass-baritone Andrew Luzania was the prison guard Frank, who displayed some pretty hilarious acting (particularly when he pretends to be a French aristocrat), not to mention during his waltzes (with real like partners as well as with a broom), and he also delivered generally solid singing.

The NY Opera Exchange orchestra is a serious sized one (45 musicians), even more so for an independent opera company. It was energetically led by conductor David Leibowitz and, with the exception of a slightly disjointed overture that I’d attribute to opening night jitters, delivered an impressive display of musical firepower, bubbly and waltzy, the way it should be. Delicious! Costumes and sets were also serious business and noteworthy for the level of polish, inventiveness and cohesion, particularly for a company of this size.

All in all, I was very impressed by the work of NY Opera Exchange that put together a seriously entertaining operetta and left us wanting for more. Next in their season is Lucia di Lammermoor and we’ll be curious to see how this young company copes with our most beloved Donizetti.

- Lei & Lui

Even More Indie Fall Opera!

Just when we thought that we had uncovered all indie operatic goodies for this fall and planned our calendar accordingly, new intriguing shows are popping out left and right. To those who say that opera is a dying and expensive art form for a geriatric audience: do come to NYC and experience first hand how opera is not only alive and well but also young and hip. Rossini is performed in a loft, Fidelio is a BYOB show, rare Donizetti is sung in a jewel box space in Cobble Hill and Die Fledermaus gets a commedia dell’arte spin. Also, the spirit of Halloween will be conjured with a séance-like opera and a Fairy Queen drag costume party.

Matisse,  La leçon de musique
oil on canvas, 1917

Who can resist rare bel canto arias performed by a fiery mezzo-soprano in a quirky space behind a little unassuming red door? Surely not us. As part of its recital series Miniatures Behind the Door, Vertical Player Repertory shows Stella Nemica Infausta, described as “an evening of treasures plucked from the dusty attic of Italian opera and polished to their former luster.” The program will feature works by Donizetti and Mercadante but also Nini, Pacini and Ricci. Mezzo Hayden de Witt, whom we were lucky to discover in last year’s pastiche by Opera Feroce, will perform. October 30 – 7:30PM at 219 Court Street, 
Brooklyn.

Image Credit: Heartbeat Opera

This summer we were blown away by Louisa Proske's take on Salieri’s Fasltaff. This impressive young director just founded Heartbeat Opera, a new company that has the most enticing mission statement: “What if it were possible to experience opera classics, with the singers only feet or even inches away from you, and the miracle of the operatic voice happening so close you could feel the vibrations of a great aria pulsating on your skin? What if the dramatic performance matched musical mastery, with acting that was bold, and specific and unafraid of comparison to great theatre acting? This is what we propose for our new opera company – work that is intimate, powerful, physically and emotionally committed.” To discover more about their upcoming new season (and contribute to the cause), one can go to their Halloween benefit drag extravaganza, with performances of excerpts from Purcell’s Fairy Queen, music, dancing, champagne, raffle prizes, glitter, and more. October 30 – 7:30PM and 10PM shows at the Cotton Candy Machine (235 South 1st Street, Brooklyn).

Image Credit: The Secret Opera

In a creepier Halloween fashion, Secret Opera will stage Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium, an opera commissioned to the Italian-American composer by Columbia University and first performed on May 8, 1946. Menotti was inspired to write and compose this work after attending a séance in the small town of St. Wolfgang (near Salzburg, Austria) in 1936 during which he was struck by the séance attendees’ powerful desire to communicate with lost loved ones. November 1 – 8PM at 353 Studios (Studio 1), 353 West 48^th Street, NYC; November 8 – 8PM at Community Congregation Church, 200 Hartshorn Drive, Short Hills, NJ.

For those who like their Beethoven with a side of booze (and, seriously, who doesn’t?), Opera Company of Brooklyn offers Fidelio as part of their BYOB Opera Series. November 8 – 7PM at 353 Studios, 353 West 48^th Street.

It looks like NY Opera Exchange is revamping its brand with an impressive display of social media savvy and a sexy new website. If their performances prove to be as hip as their online presence, we’ll sure be in for a treat. NY Opera Exchange’s season opens with an intriguing Die Fledermaus set in Venice with a commedia dell’arte twist. Strauss’ work will be sung in the original German but with dialogues in English (which seems like a very bearable and welcome compromise to us). November 7 (7:30PM), 8 (2PM and 7:30PM) and 9 (3PM) at 310 East 42^nd Street.

Image Credit: NY Opera Exchange

Loft Opera found itself in the spotlight earlier this month for its collaboration with Joyce DiDonato in the NYC launch party of the diva’s new album, Stella di Napoli. The party served also as teaser for this indie company’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia and we were told by reliable sources that Loft Opera’s performers were a very pleasant surprise (even after Joyce). We look forward to verifying this first hand. November 11, 12, 18, 19 and 21 – 8PM at The Green Building (452 Union St. Brooklyn).

- Lei & Lui

Photo Credit: Loft Opera