Of course they had ensembles in opera before Mozart. (Remember Semele’s amazing duet for Semele and Ino?) But more than perhaps any other composer before or since, Mozart reveled in the glory of the operatic ensemble, its potential to explore multiple human characters simultaneously and to bring to the foreground the beauty and conflicts of any relationship (or network of relationships).
No other art form has anything quite like the ensemble. By nature it’s a little bit surreal, which may explain why it arose in comic opera, where playing around with the laws of reality adds extra fun. Mozart’s operas taught later composers how to create both kinds of ensembles: those of mounting confusion and hilarity, which always form the climax of great comic scenes, and those exploring complicated characters in serious conflict, which became one of the delights of nineteenth century opera.
Given the extraordinary fertility of Mozart’s genius, it’s no surprise that he never repeated himself, neither in terms of music nor in dramatic situation. We raided our archives for the four great Mozart masterpieces we regularly present at Seattle Opera and found a remarkable range of different types of ensembles. Below are some samples from our favorite Mozart ensembles, demonstrating what he was able to do with each type of form.
Seattle Opera presents Mary Stuart. Philip Newton photo
A big thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for supporting our upcoming production of Mary Stuart with a $30,000 Art Works grant! This gift will support a wide range of our education and community engagement activities surrounding this Donizetti opera (performances for Mary Stuart are Feb. 27-28; March 2, 5, 9, 11 and 12. 2016). Through these offerings, we hope to connect with people who may be new to opera, in addition to keeping our art form accessible to as many people as possible. The funding will support our partnership with Classical King FM 98.1, which will broadcast a preview of Mary Stuart on Feb. 27 (hosted by General Director Lang), and a broadcast of the live performance on March 5.
Larry Brownlee is doing awesome things
If you're an opera lover, (or even if you're not), you probably know that the great bel canto tenor Lawrence Brownlee is one-of-a-kind. He sang his "highflying arias with an ease, purity and polish that could hardly be bettered" as the lovestruck Tonio in our 2013 Daughter of the Regiment, for example. (Off the stage, he's also a wonderful friend, husband and father) Next up for Mr. Brownlee -- he'll be performing in Rossini’s La donna del Lago at The Met with Grammy Award Winner Joyce DiDonato.In addition to being two of the world's finest singers, these two are also totally buddies. He's referred to her as his "sister of the opera business," which we think is pretty darn cute.
Luckily, Seattleites don't have to buy a plane ticket to hear these two opera buddies sing next. Tune in to KING FM on 12/19 to listen to a broadcast of the matinee performance.
But wait -- there's more! In addition to starring at The Met, Brownlee recently gave a concert in Harlem in the crypt of the Church of the Intercession. With pianist Damien Sneed, Brownlee performed some of the traditional spirituals (in Sneed’s arrangements) released on his 2013 album. The crypt performance was one of a new series known as The Crypt Sessions. (A little spooky, yet very cool!).
An important opera leader is stepping down
Like Larry Brownlee, The Royal Opera's director Kasper Bech Holten is also a devoted dad. This is why he's stepping down from his position in 2017. Holten said that when he joined the Royal Opera he and his partner had no children. “Now we do, and after much soul searching we have decided that we want to be closer to our families and inevitably that means we make Copenhagen our home, where the children will grow up and go to school.”
Kasper Bech Holton has been Director of the ROH since 2011.
A treasured diva stars in Rigoletto
The opera-goers of Warsaw, Poland are in for a treat: Rigoletto opens tonight at Teatr Wielki, starring the great Aleksandra Kurzak. When Kurzak starred in our Lucia di Lammermoorin 2010, we asked her:
People in our audiences and on our website have been comparing Callas and Sutherland and Sills, among other Lucias. Do you have strong feelings about any of those performances? Did any of them influence yours?
The singer replied:
"I've heard all of them, but I don't like to compare myself with anybody. I always like to find my own character, and it was like that this time, as well."
Clearly, this approach paid off -- as her performance is still legend among Seattle Opera staff, Board members, audience members and critics. TheSeattle Times for one wrote, "...But it was Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, making her company and role debut as Lucia, that set the theater alight both vocally and dramatically. She made me believe she really was Lucia."
Polish opera singer Aleksandra Kurzak.
Here’s Kurzak singing Lucia’s mad scene in Seattle. (Do you have a favorite opera mad scene? You should weigh in here).
Also, in the Rigoletto production, Kurzak will be singing under the baton of Carlo Montanaro, music director at the Polish National Opera. Montanaro conducted a fantastic Nabucco for us last summer and returns in February for Mary Stuart. We wish a Amahl a Merry Christmas!
It’s that time of year, isn’t it? Just swing by McCaw Hall, where PNB’s new production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker is pleasing Seattle’s arts lovers.
Snow scene from PNB's new Nutcracker.
In the opera world, we don't have a Nutcracker. However, we do have Amahl and the Night Visitors--a one-act opera that's no doubt being performed on many a stage across America this month.
The story is: One night in Judea, a disabled shepherd boy-turned-beggar and his mother are visited by three strangers. They are the Three Kings, and they are on their way to Bethlehem to visit the Christ Child, who has just been born.
Amahl and the Night Visitors.
Amahl was composed by Gian Carlo Menotti (remember The Consul?) with an original English libretto written with children in mind. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in America.
Mary Elizabeth Williams sings Abigaille’s aria, posted by her agencyDo you and your family have a favorite holiday performance tradition?
Seattle Opera will be ringing in the new year with wedding bells — The Marriage of Figaro, to be precise! Mozart's most popular opera is headed to McCaw Hall Jan. 16-30, 2016. Beloved Maestro Gary Thor Wedow is at the podium for General Director Aidan Lang's directorial debut at Seattle Opera. While Aidan doesn't plan to direct on a regular basis, it's not surprising he's made an exception for this particular production, which audiences fell in love with when it premiered at New Zealand Opera.
“The Marriage of Figaro has something for everyone," Aidan says. "This is the story of one madcap day; a day where people’s follies are exposed for all to see and laugh at, but one which concludes with one of opera’s greatest scenes of forgiveness and reconciliation. While these characters are highly flawed, they’re also drawn with a warm humanity we can all relate to.”
In addition to opening night, Jan. 16 marks SeattleOpera’s 3rdAnnual Opera Ball. With the purchase of an additional ticket, you can enjoy live music, dancing, hors d’oeuvres, signature cocktails and the opportunity to meet members of the cast after the performance. This is a great opportunity to help benefit our learning and engagement programs (and party like you're at Figaro and Susanna's actual wedding reception!).
P.S. Whether you love opera or not, we bet you've heard thisFigaro tune before!
The New Zealand Opera in The Marriage of Figaro. Neil Mackenzie photo
Story
It’s the night before Figaro and Susanna’s marriage when the curtain rises, and Count Almaviva’s wandering eye has landed on the bride-to-be. Servant and master must go head-to-head on a day of chaos, planning and missed chances that will result in a wedding—or two! Thankfully, with a little unintentional help from the page Cherubino, three very different couples will ultimately walk away a little wiser and with true love in hand. From its toe-tapping overture to joyous ending, The Marriage of Figaro offers fun for opera goers of all ages—as well as newcomers to opera, too. [ Full story in our Spotlight Guide ].
Figaro and Susanna couples: Shenyang & Nuccia Focile | Aubrey Alicock & Laura Tatulescu.
Sicilian soprano Nuccia Focile returns in the role of Figaro’s beautiful bride, Susanna. Focile, a regular star on the McCaw Hall stage, has previously been praised in various leading roles at Seattle Opera, including La Voix humanie (2013), a one-woman show. Focile shares the role of Figaro’s beloved with Romanian-American soprano Laura Tatulescu, who makes both her role and company debut.
Morgan Smith returns to Seattle Opera after this summer’s An American Dream (2015) to play the philandering Count Almaviva, opposite Bernarda Bobro as the Countess in her company debut. John Moore will also sing Count Almaviva in his company debut opposite Caitlin Lynch.
The Counts and Countesses: Morgan Smith, Bernarda Bobro, John Moore and Caitlyn Lynch.
American mezzo-soprano Karin Mushegain will don trousers to sing the “pants role” of Cherubino, the cheeky adolescent page boy. Elizabeth Pojanowski will make her company debut in Figaro, also singing Cherubino.
The two Cherubinos: Karin Musegain and Elizabeth Pojanowski.
Along with General Director Aidan Lang, Robin Rawstone (Sets) and Elizabeth Williams (Costumes) make their company debuts bringing this sleek production— which includes period costumes fashioned out of denim—to life.
World premiere
Monday night, December 7, will be a big night at Lyric Opera of Chicago: it’s the world premiere of Bel Canto, the new opera by Jimmy López (above), with a libretto by Nilo Cruz based on the popular novel by Ann Patchett. The high-powered cast features Seattle Opera’s beloved Andrew Stenson as the young translator, Gen, held hostage in a palace in Lima, Peru (home of William Burden, who plays the Peruvian vice-president) with a Japanese mogul, the American opera singer he loves, and a band of guerrillas (among them countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, our Oberon in Midsummer Night’s Dream a few years ago). Fond wishes for a great opening to Director Kevin Newbury, who makes his Seattle Opera debut in February with Mary Stuart, and Lighting Designer Duane Schuler, who comes home to Seattle to light The Marriage of Figaroin a few weeks.
Upcoming Seattle Diva
Meanwhile, in Zurich, soprano Serena Farnocchia, who makes her Seattle Opera debut as Mary Stuart in February, opens her run of performances of Rossini’s curious opera Il viaggio a Reimson Sunday. Rossini wrote this opera for a once-in-a-lifetime occasion in 1825 starring fourteen of the world’s greatest singers. Anticipating that it would never be performed again, he adapted much of the music to his delightful French comedy of 1828, Le comte Ory. Here she is (above) singing in a rather interesting looking Butterfly.
Colin, center, in Opera Atelier's Armide. Bruce Zinger photo.
Dashing Dutchman tenor
Meanwhile, Canadian tenor Colin Ainsworth—coming to Seattle next May to sing the Steersman in The Flying Dutchman—just had a remarkable experience singing Renaud, the hero of Lully’s Armide, at the Château de Versailles. This rarely-performed tragédie lyrique is about as far as you can get from Wagner; Mr. Ainsworth is a versatile singer and cut a dashing figure as the chivalric hero Renaud (see above).
Spooky Midsummer
Elsewhere in Swizterland, the Grand Théâtre de Genève has just closed their first-ever production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which left critics reaching for superlatives. Slovenian soprano Bernarda Bobro, who makes her Seattle debut as Countess Almaviva in our upcoming Marriage of Figaro, earned raves as the Fairy Queen Tytania; among the mortals who got trapped in her enchanted forest was Mary Feminear (Helena), who sang Semele at Seattle Opera last spring. Get a taste of the show with this trailer.
Russell Thomas and Jamie Barton in LA Opera's Norma (left) and then in Seattle Opera's Nabucco.
Opera buddies portray naughty druids
Closer to home, there’s only a couple more performances of Norma at Los Angeles Opera, with a set designed by Neil Patel, who makes his Seattle Opera debut in Feburary with Mary Stuart. (The tireless Duane Schuler lit the production.) The illicit lovers of LA Opera’s Norma are Russell Thomas and Jamie Barton, who most recently romanced each other in Seattle as Ismaele and Fenena in Nabucco. (Before that, they played mother and son in Cincinnati’s Il trovatore!)
Seattle Opera’s General Director Aidan Lang is about to make his Seattle Opera debut as an artist! Lang, who worked as a freelance stage director for many years before becoming an administrator, brings his own New Zealand Opera production of one of his favorite works to Seattle in January. Listen to or read this downloadable podcast to find what Lang thinks about this extraordinary masterpiece and its beloved characters.
Hello, everyone! So I’m going to be quite busy for about three or four weeks over Christmas, directing The Marriage of Figaro and continuing as General Director of Seattle Opera. But this isn’t the first time I’ve done that; I did it with The Marriage of Figaro in New Zealand when we first did this production in 2010. It’s not something I’m going to replicate in the future. We in the administration get a bit detached from what we’re creating, and so it’s quite salutory, being General Director, to be on the rehearsal floor once again, just to as it were recharge my batteries and to remind us that the art we create is our raison d’être.
How did they like this production of The Marriage of Figaro at its premiere? I’m glad to say this production went down exceedingly well in New Zealand.
Posts
