Andrew's Opera

Magic Flute "cut down" but "revved up" at Sydney Opera House.

2012-01-10T15:52:00.003+11:00

The Magic Flute. Sydney Opera House. Friday 6th January 2012

I had the privilege of seeing the original complete German language version of this spectacular Julie Taymor production in New York and it is indeed a hard act to follow. The Met cast was led from behind with Kurt Moll as Sarastro and Rene Pape as The Speaker (yes, The Speaker). While the Sydney version of this ‘syndicated’ and cut-down production had all the elements of the original, albeit squeezed into our smaller stage, the singing was not quite of an international standard. The new English translation by American poet and librettist J.D. McClatchy is highly appropriate and sympathetic to the original without some of the hackneyed prose we have become used to.

Andrew Jones as Papageno was the only singer to fill the hall with both his substantial baritone voice and persona. Emma Pearson acquitted both Queen of Night arias with aplomb, a magnificent feat in itself. Stephen Bennett as The Speaker was excellent and the three ladies were well played. Mr Breen was also well cast playing a monstrous Monostatos.

However, none of the other main singers approached greatness in this cut down version of Mozart’s final comic singspiel. It may be that the company has spent so much on the production that they had to economise on fees of top class or better matched singers. Two of Australasia’s greatest operatic talents, Conal Coad and Teddy Tahu-Rhodes were employed front of house on the red carpet in the foyer greeting VIPs. Why weren’t they singing?

Some internet searching seems to indicate that about 35 minutes of the score has been cut in this version. It seems strange that one would cut not only entire vocal numbers, such as the sublime Papageno - Pamina duet in act I, but also slice the end off the Portrait aria at the beginning of the opera. The overture was another victim of the scissors, perhaps a little too heavily wielded.

The opera management has made it clear that this English language version is aimed at getting in new audiences, especially children. I don’t know how such folk are supposed to be able to afford the $300 being charged for good seats. The only empty seats on opening night were about two dozen restricted view seats in the upper decks. These are nearly always half-empty as the company has a policy of keeping prices high, even for such ordinary seating. It was in those very seats that I developed my love of opera.

The production is indeed like being at the circus. There are elements of Dr Who, macro-origami, acrobats and puppeteering. Clever lighting and projections also kept the audience engaged visually. It is just a shame that the standard of singing was so uneven. None of it was bad yet little was really grand either - with the above exceptions. And this is meant to be ‘grand opera’.

The chorus was the star of the night in my view, performing with their usual professionalism, talent and dedication against the odds. The orchestra was also in fine form under the baton of Jonathan Darlington. Maestro had to wave his handkerchief on high in acknowledgement due to the set elevation and extension in front of the pit in this extraordinary production.

Comments by Andrew Byrne .. Now relocated to Bowral but still in Sydney three days per week for work … and just ‘surfacing’ after a tumultuous house move. Wishing Happy New Year to all my readers.

Macbeth - Great opera returns to Sydney.

2011-09-13T02:11:00.002+10:00

Macbeth. Sydney Opera House Saturday 10th September 2011 8pm

Dear Colleagues,

This was a worthy opening of Verdi’s early opera Macbeth. The current Montreal co-production by Rene Richard Cyr (sets by Claude Goyette) is a single set of surrounding tree trunks and branches making for shadows laterally and a central focused ‘faux revolve’ with angular concretions which facilitate the main stage action. The four acts were separated by only one intermission making the feats of Elizabeth Whitehouse and Peter Coleman-Wright all the more impressive as, like the audience, they lacked the time to get over the energy and inertia of one act before starting the next.

These two veteran performers had most of the requirements needed for these demanding roles. The young Verdi was writing for singers who scarcely existed in his day and who come up but rarely even today. Ms Whitehouse sings incisively with a direct and accurate line. While she has a distinctive and pleasing timbre there were some problems with intonation at the highest register. Her acting was exemplary and it is a shame that we have heard her so seldom over the years during which she pursued a successful career overseas.

Mr Coleman-Wright started out weakly, almost as if he were ill. But he was either ‘saving’ himself or else purposely adding to the characterisation of Macbeth. While he lacks some of the heft to be ideal, he rose to considerable vocal and dramatic heights when required in this long and complex role. He well deserved the major acclaim he received from the audience.

Daniel Sumegi was a creditable Banquo, having a true basso range with a handsome almost ‘gravel’ quality worthy of the greats of his ilk. Sadly for bass fans Banquo is killed at half-time. Teresa La Rocca performed well as the handmaiden and she appeared to fill in some of the very high notes during the concerted passages.

Rosario La Spina played McDuff, the character with the great show-piece ‘Ah la paterna mano’. While he sang this flawlessly from a technical point of view, his voice seems to have developed a ‘closed’ sound rather than the thrilling ‘open’ quality of ‘ere. This might have something to do with his ever more imposing stature. With the tragic death of Salvatore Licitra this week we need to appreciate just how rare good tenors like these men are and how they all need to look after themselves.

It matters little whether the witches appear from a forest thicket, a grassy glade or a rocky outcrop. Likewise their garb could be that of a char lady or a wet suit … in this case the former. But most important is that they sing and act like witches which is exactly what they did for us on the night. I recall a production with Gwyneth Jones in San Francisco in the mid-90s in which the witches clung to ropes and moved up and down as they sang their evil predictions – and they sang no better than our excellent Sydney chorus this week.

Conductor Andrew Molino put in some quite contrasted tempi, some fast, some slow but commanding over an excellent overall orchestral performance. The gents’ chorus, while not having the demands of the witches, was equally professional as we have come to expect under the tutelage of chorus master Michael Black.

This is a rare opportunity to see Verdi’s early Shakespearian gem, an opera he reworked substantially twenty years later. Like Nabucco and I Lombardi, it has a patriotic call-to-arms, and also like his other early works there are some almost impossible vocal lines and a degree of relatively trite melodic invention amongst the lyric best of the maestro. It is said that perhaps more than any other composer Verdi learned new things with every new work during each of the seven decades in which he wrote operas. I also heard a quote from a colleague that Verdi wanted Lady Macbeth to sing, ‘not like an angel, but like a devil!’

Notes by Andrew Byrne ..

Lakmé. Sydney Opera House.

2011-08-27T03:28:00.001+10:00

Lakmé. Delibes. Sydney Opera House. Wednesday, 24 August 2011

This was a thrilling performance of a true French masterpiece - even if it may not be to everyone’s taste. And the reason was the world-class performance of Emma Matthews in what might be her ideal part to date, vocally as well as dramatically. It made me wonder how Joan Sutherland was credible in the same role … but she was, of course, with a commanding Nilakantha in Clifford Grant. I thought Stephen Bennett was very fine as the proud Brahmin father - and his diction was like a native according to two Parisians seated near me. Emma Matthews’ Bell Song in Act II was coloratura pin-point perfection and was rapturously received. Not only did the soprano sing in each register with flawless accuracy, her glorious capacity to sustain notes at the very top of the range with ease made this experience an unforgettable pleasure for those lucky enough to be in the audience.

The famous duet (Viens, Mallika) is just one of several hit tunes heard in Act I which is wall-to-wall melody. Mezzo-soprano Domenica Matthews (no relation, I gather) gives a strong performance as Mallika. Roxane Hislop, Angela Brun and Jane Parkin made an excellent trio of white ladies in India.

An added pleasure of the night was the superb performance by tenor Aldo di Toro as Gerald. His voice is highly placed and natural sounding with a resonant squillo and pleasing timbre. While he looks like many-a-tenor on stage, he acts creditably and certainly cuts a figure of his military character.

The settings by Mark Thompson are a colourful Hindu fantasy-land in the tropical jungle … and it all ‘works’, including the congested and cacophonous market scene where the chorus shows its worth to glowing effect. The death scene in the hut in the woods is moving and mercifully brief for a final act. Suicide by Datura flower in India or Oleander in Sri Lanka is a sad end indeed (take note Dr Nitschkie).

The orchestra and off-stage bands were excellent under baton of Emmanuel Joel-Hornak.

I would recommend these performances to anyone as providing a wonderful, old fashioned night at the opera … there are even two intermissions! The company should be congratulated on this artistic triumph.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Bell song by Emma Matthews from this production CLICK TO VIEW

The Merry Widow. Sydney Opera House

2011-08-27T03:26:00.000+10:00

The Merry Widow. Sydney Opera House. Thursday 4th August 2011
New season announcement for 2012.

The national company has just opened a new co-production with Leeds’ Opera North. This Merry Widow is not a happy event in my view.

While the original from 1905 lacked an overture, the composer wrote one for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra 35 years later. Like the rather unedifying new translation, the local company chose to ignore history and do their own thing. The now traditional overture was replaced with a few bars of some ukulele/zither emptiness which might well have presaged another heavy night at the theatre. But it was not all doom and gloom as there were moments of magic and windows of dynamic vocalism.

Despite being one of their most popular artists for many years, the company in its wisdom banished tenor David Hobson from opera almost ten years ago (he was last heard in a G&S in 2005). He is now back playing a regal Prince Danilo to the delight of his many fans. Amelia Farrugia had all of the notes and most of the stage persona required for Hanna Glawari’s demanding role. She has a hard act to follow after Joan Sutherland, June Bronhill and Yvonne Kenny (in her prime) down the decades. As Rossignon, Henry Choo sang with style and grace, yet he, like everyone else, was amplified. John Bolton-Wood played a perfect ambassador while other supporting characters were also well cast. The chorus did its usual top job, as did the orchestra.

The company has replaced the large sub-title board above the stage with a smaller panel with orange coloured letters pushed closer together. And much of the dialogue was not projected at all … which made it almost impossible for some in the theatre to know what was going on. The decision to use exaggerated cockney and French accents also made it harder to understand.

The production seemed to be based on a dozen or more purple-backed, painted-on chandeliers which came up and down on vertical flats at appointed times. It also had 8 naked lady mannequins holding ball lights. Although it all worked reasonably well it lacked originality, nor did it give us anything particularly beautiful to admire.

The text was a quite different and high-brow literary translation. It pointedly used none of the original words, phrases or rhymes from the very familiar English version. Some of this seemed to be simply petulant or maybe there were issues of copyright or royalties. Some of the Widow pieces are so popular, most notably ‘Vilja, Oh Vilja’, that it seemed very odd indeed to insert new words. Would they do so with G&S to save money, I wonder?

Subscribers who enjoy grand opera may feel slighted that each time there are another ten performances of La Boheme (30 total) or Merry Widow (20 total) that the company COULD have mounted Simon Boccanegra, Clemenza di Tito, Il Trittico, Don Pasquale, La Gioconda, Yeoman of the Guard or one of dozens of other popular works in their place (using high quality and unamplified Australian and imported ingredients).

The new season for 2012 announced this week involves only a very small number of first or second-rung international stars. Susan Foster should be a good Turandot but she is not even doing half the season. Johannes Fritzsch returns to conduct Cheryl Barker in Salome. Aida might as well be called Amneris considering the roles. Yet we are to hear a competent house singer in this role while true stars both Australian and international are passed over for unknown reasons. In the summer season three popular Mozart operas run simultaneously … and “The Magic Flute” is not the Magic Flute at all, but a one-act cut-down version! But no discounts for diluted opera: good seats are between $215 and $272 even at subscription rates! Youth subscription tickets to Madam Butterfly are still a steep $194. I think this is the third run of Butterfly in four years! After relentless increases in recent years I note that some subscriptions are about 4% cheaper this year and only hope this encourages more to renew.

Poor Teddy Tahu Rhodes sings 34 performances of South Pacific. So yet again, we have a trained opera singer performing musical comedy by an ‘opera’ company which is nothing of the kind any more. It is much simpler when one can do night after night of the same work. I have no problem in principle with South Pacific, Mary Poppins, G&S or Merry Widow - they are all great works. Just that serious opera companies usually leave such works to others. They compete on a very different market than with their core duties of opera. The OA mission statement deals with opera and opera singers and mentions nothing about light opera, operetta or musical comedy (* see below).

In another bizarre twist according to the season brochure Cheryl Barker is billed to ‘sing’ Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt … but she will do so separate from the orchestra in another hall and the audio will be piped into the opera theatre. This, along with amplification of other works and “opera afloat” shows the complete lack of insight on the part of the company. What opera fans want to hear is singing. Pure beautiful, unamplified singing! One hopes that Ms Barker will be suitable for this very demanding role – and that we might actually hear her sing it.

It is humiliating to hear what the company management is quoted as saying about subscribers, singers of less-than-svelte stature, Wagner and ‘alternative’ opera. It is like a teenage fantasy rather than mature management. The Australia Council should review how its public funds are expended by this company.

Sadly this opera company is in its death throes as any accounting student could plainly see. Will the government/s bail it out when the time comes? I doubt it in the current financial climate. The Merry Widow and South Pacific are just desperate attempts to right a listing ship … yet more poor programming for the national ‘opera’ company and probably another step in its slow demise under current management. Why would an opera company try to compete with Mary Poppins? It is a great sadness to see an established, vibrant and innovative opera company attaining irrelevance by years of mismanagement. The board members and other smug decision makers should be called to account, fall on their swords, concede their errors and allow an administrator to try a rescue (like Fidelio!) before all that is left is a post-mortem without an audience.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

* Mission Statement. Opera Australia.

Web site accessed 22/2/09
http://www.opera-australia.org.au/scripts/nc.dll?OPRA:STANDARD::pc=PC_90369#

To present opera of excellence that excites audiences and develops and sustains the art form in Australia

To this end, we will:

1. Interpret with integrity the indivisible musical and dramatic qualities of operatic works from four centuries including our own time and place;

2. Satisfy and extend the experience of the committed opera audience while actively encouraging and developing new audiences;

3. Operate year-round: mounting major seasons in Sydney and Melbourne,
and reaching a wider community through multimedia, regional tours and collaboration with State companies;

4. Strengthen our ensemble values of co-operative working, cumulative
learning and mutual respect between all areas and members of the Company;

5. Develop financial strength through long-term planning, prudent cost
control and maximising revenues from box-office, sponsors, donors, governments, tourism and other commercial activities;

6. Continue to build the confidence, trust and loyalty of the public,
governments and sponsors through efficient service and honest,
effective communication;

7. Attract, develop, challenge and retain people of the highest calibre
within an organisation that is effectively led, well informed and in which
their contribution is respected and celebrated;

8. Expect artists and staff to continue their professional growth throughout
their careers and to draw, as appropriate, on the accumulated knowledge within and available to the Company;

9. Continue the mutual benefit flowing from collaboration with international artists and companies;

10. Be rigorous in self-examination and open to informed, outside evaluation of both our successes and failures;

So that:

Australia's cultural landscape is enriched by a nationally and internationally acknowledged opera company;

Artists and staff collaborate in a unique working environment, which encourages them to give of their best;

Sponsors, governments and supporters receive a highly-valued artistic dividend and benefits of association; and,

The Company secures long-term and mutually profitable relations with key venues and multimedia.

A Boheme-led recovery?

2011-07-24T00:10:00.001+10:00

La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House. Tuesday 12th July 2011

This was an enjoyable and ‘different’ La Boheme. The publicity told us that the action is moved to Germany but I could see nothing uniquely German except for some Biedermeier-looking furniture at one stage.

The student ‘garret’ is a huge hexagon of which four sides are displayed, rather like the inside of a gasometer. There are two high rows of tiny windows to the outside with ladders, planks and a gantry from which one gathers that Marcello is painting the Red Sea as per the first line of the opera. And by Act 4 indeed we have an enormous vista of the biblical scene – which some sources intriguingly call the ‘Sea of Reeds’ rather than the ‘Red Sea’. So now I realise how the Pharaoh was to be drowned – this is the opera’s second line. Some research showed that this stage set may represent some sort of travelling ‘Globe’ theatre called a spiegeltent (Dutch for ‘mirror tent’).

The Café Momus scene has a mid-act coup when four lateral flats rotate to reveal eight theatre boxes and we are indoors again in a cabaret venue. The same set could be used for the casino scene in Manon. The Act III set is also tasteful with the requisite city gates, falling snow and adjacent inn.

Mr Ji-Min Park is an excellent Rodolfo. He is young and good looking with fine acting skills. His voice is pleasing in quality and size with effortless and even movements up the scale. His musicality is tasteful and appears natural. The diction in Italian is fine but I noted that he pronounced cinque as sinque in the first act (a small point indeed).

Ms Kizart is an equally fine Mimi, finding all the necessary nuances for this tragic role, yet avoiding the melodrama it could so easily become.

An announcement was made by Mr Lyndon Terracini that Marcello would be sung by Mr Andrew Jones, a young artist with the company, due to a winter virus which is going around. He was superlative in this very substantial role. Despite having no aria he is the fourth lovers’ link which is so crucial to the tension and balance of the story line.

Taryn Fiebig stepped up to the role of Musetta and was also highly satisfying and “out there”. Likewise David Parkin as Colline and Shane Lawrencev as Schaunard … although it was tiresome that the latter was made to play the fop, dandy and campy part over and over in the opera, (rather like ‘Harold’ in Boys in the Band - but without the depth).

The orchestra was again conducted by Shao-Chia Lu from Taiwan … with flare and pace … they received a great reception in the resumption of Act III (there was only one intermission – a mistake in my view).

We are told that the company is in deep trouble with a 15% annual contraction of their subscriber base … only saved on occasion by individual box office successes (Madam Butterfly, My Fair Lady, Carmen, G&S, etc). This time there are thirty performances of La Boheme over nearly four months with three different casts. Can this be a Boheme-led recovery? I don’t think so. This company has had two second-rate productions of Boheme in recent years so most subscribers have seen the opera numerous times of late, like Madame Butterfly. One only hopes that there are lots of newcomers out there to discover the joys of opera through these current performances.

I am intrigued and dismayed at the press statements from the company’s artistic director. Within days of joining the company he stated that doing a Ring Cycle would be a great idea - but not in Sydney(!). Now they have opera on the water with a ‘pontoon’ Traviata … will it be Aida-on-ice next? While doing overseas performances and these other side shows, the company’s subscribers’ are charged high prices for relatively ordinary quality opera. Mr Terracini’s pointed comments about looking-the-part on stage in last week’s newspaper are banal as they are naïve. So Pavarotti would not have measured up! Some of the greatest draw-cards at the New York Met today are on the large side - others are old - but they all have something special in their throats!

So rather than addressing a serious problem with the company, the present management seems to have no insight and plays popular pieces to a nebulous public (cruise ships and newcomers) while ignoring their own support base of 50 years. About ten years ago they started deviating from a successful traditional formula which had served the company well for decades. And now it shows in the disappearance of their audiences as well as in the quality and variety of their work. One only hopes that it is not too late … but when seemingly three quarters of this year’s performances are Butterfly, Boheme, Merry Widow or Carmen we have a problem, Houston. And yet at the other end of the operatic spectrum we have Capriccio, Partenope, Of Mice and Men and The Love of the Nightingale, none of which forms the meat of an operatic sandwich. Indeed, Macbeth is the only single opera I was really looking forward to this year (I concede narrow tastes). But one single opera?? How times have changed!

Otello by Verdi at Carnegie Hall Friday 15th April 2011

2011-04-22T13:31:00.002+10:00

Otello by Verdi at Carnegie Hall Friday 15th April 2011.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor: Riccardo Muti

The two best operas we heard during the month were at opposite ends of the spectrum. Comte Ory is a Rossini romp full of froth and bubble where Otello is as serious as it gets. We were indeed privileged to hear Riccardo Muti perform Otello at Carnegie Hall with his orchestra and chorus from Chicago and a group of highly talented principal singers. It was a marvellous and special performance, complimented by the near perfect acoustics of Carnegie Hall (c. 1891, seating 2800). These performances marked Muti’s return to the podium after 2 months following cardiac arrhythmia causing a collapse and serious facial injuries. After surgeries and a pacemaker he again looks his youthful and radiant self, bounding with extraordinary physical and musical energy.

The opera was stunning in every way. It was announced that Mr Aleksandrs Antonenko was under treatment for a stomach ailment and craved our indulgence. His performance as the moor was peerless. He has a big, beautiful tenor voice with the heft, depth and colour needed for this supreme operatic role. His Desdemona was played by Krassimira Stoyanova who sang the heart out of the role, again with style, power and tasteful intonation. Carlo Guelfi was a menacing Iago, starting out weakly and with a wide wobble but, like a locomotive he reigned in his powerful instrument to this long and challenging role. Unlike some other creditable singers we have heard in this role, Guelfi had all the high notes for the drinking song - and more besides. In the last note of his dramatic ‘credo’ he could not be heard due to the orchestra, something I found surprising with a conductor who is normally so sympathetic to singers.

Other roles were also well chosen with Cassio being played by a good looking young Argentinean tenor Juan Francisco Gatell who sang extremely well, despite being particularly short and having a terrible ‘mod-mess’ hair style. Barbara Di Castri played Amelia, Eric Owens played Lodovico and Michael Spyres, Roderigo. Each was admirable.

As ever in New York the audience was almost as interesting as the show. In the two rows in front of me were Bryn Terfel, Mrs Jonas Kauffman and Sarah Billinghurst of the Metropolitan Opera. The previous Otello I heard in this hall was the ill-fated return of Carlo Bergonzi in 2000. The ‘three tenors’ and many other famous people attended. Many left before the second half after the fabled tenor pulled out sick (and after giving one of the worst performances of his illustrious career – and following a reportedly magnificent dress rehearsal just the day before).

The Chicago orchestra provided an enormous chorus of perhaps 200 adults and 50 children who filled the hall with wonderful vocalisation. Apparently they all flew in for the occasion having done two performances in their home town. It demonstrates that a concert performance can be as exciting as the staged work (or even more so) and it would be almost impossible to imagine a stage which could fit this number of singers altogether in costume.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Comte Ory. Rossini. Met Opera (cinema then theater).

2011-04-18T22:53:00.002+10:00

Comte Ory. Rossini. Met Opera. Sat 9th (cinema), Thurs 14th (theatre) April 2011

For the third time now I have been extremely privileged to see an opera in the theatre AFTER having first seen a telecast of the same production. Prior to Comte Ory I had seen Rheingold and Tosca on the screen followed by visits to the ‘real thing’.

My notes on the operas in New York are now almost superfluous since anyone with a computer can listen in on Sirius broadcasts for almost any Met performance (and free public radio on Saturdays during the season). Suffice it to say that both live and electronic, Florez is incomparable, Damrau and DiDonato are magnificent and the comic production is a great irreligious romp, raunchy and with a great comeuppance at the end. It might be subtitled ‘Nuns on the Run’.

As readers would know, once every few weeks there is also a video transmission to participating cinemas across the world (43 countries, Egypt is the latest, we were told). These are Saturday matinees streamed in ‘high definition’ direct in the Americas as well as to Europe, where it is Saturday evening with the time zone. Due to the ungainly time difference, they are streamed to Australia and the Far East a week or two later at a more suitable hour. This necessarily loses that immediacy and ‘danger’ factor intrinsic to direct ‘live’ transmissions.

Only those in or near New York City have the choice for Met productions. The rest of the opera world may attend a cinema telecast or listen to a radio or CD/DVD recording. Hence I felt very lucky to be able to attend numerous live performances during a stay of almost four weeks in New York (see below for the operas I attended, with comments on: http://andrewsopera.blogspot.com/ ).

The most obvious difference is the immediacy of non-amplified voices, live in the theatre. Opera is about voice, after all. And opera singers of all things need to have a voice which can be heard from the back of a large theatre … as well as the rest. See my blog notes on stunt people being used and how much more obvious it is in the theatre: see Tosca and Rheingold notes also comparing live with HD viewing. There were also ‘stunt’ people in Comte Ory in the form of three men dressed as nuns who did some crazy synchronised steps including one calamitous spill on stage. I don’t believe that the principals were replaced as they were in Rheingold and Tosca on numerous occasions.

I was invited by a donor colleague to a lavish patron session at the Met on the afternoon of the HD telecast of their new production of Comte Ory on Saturday 9th April. Rather than just a panel introduction (which happened in March before the season started) it was in fact a fully catered brunch with all the bells and whistles. Bagel, cream cheese and lox, quiche Lorraine and salad served with champagne, petit fours, tea and coffee an hour prior to the start of the opera. During the vittels we heard an insightful speech by Sarah Billinghurst who is the Met Artistic Director (and a Kiwi). She spoke about their approach to repertoire generally and in particular, she said that they aimed to mount one new work each year … meaning an established opera which had never been done at the Met. This year was Comte Ory. I wondered if Anna Bolena was the new one for next year.

We were also given a few snippets about the Met’s policy on folio versions and translations in response to a rather critical piece in the New York Times on the subject that day (‘Timing is everything!’). The company had decided against the ‘new’ translation simply because it was not available when they programmed the opera three to four years ago. Changing text or music in such circumstances has contract and artistic implications and had to be rejected. Ms Billinghurst said that this did not mean that the company would not consider using the new translation in the future ‘by all means’. The cost of using a modern copyrighted versions of works is also a consideration when, as she reminded the room filled with generous donors (myself excluded but including my generous hostess) that the Met’s box office receipts only cover half of the budget so all expenditure has to be closely vetted. The ‘classics’, of course, come free of patent or royalties.

Ms Billinghurst then discussed the ‘good news’ that Mr Florez had agreed to sing at successive seasons at the Met in the foreseeable future. She emphasised that after a brief foray with the Duke from Rigoletto in South America, Mr Florez had determined to stay within his current fach by singing the lighter bel canto roles which he had started eight seasons ago with Barber of Seville (a season I heard him do Almaviva on two occasions - it was extraordinary). Mr Florez had also decided against singing in I Puritani.

Our speaker told us that the Comte Ory was one of Rossini’s last operas. The already very famous composer lived in London for a time but was lured back to Paris with a lucrative contract. He composed Voyage to Reims for the coronation of Charles X but withdrew the work in order to recycle six numbers for Comte Ory. His final opera, just after this, was William Tell, written when he was 38 years old after which he retired and wrote little else but charming songs.

Comte Ory will never be one of the ABC of popular operas, nor does it contain any classic concert items. However it is crammed full of wonderful melody and may contain Rossini’s “busiest” music. The act I finale is brilliant. It has some orchestration reminiscent of the Fledermaus overture as well as hints of Semiramide and Fille du Regiment.

We were told that Joyce DeDonato has been offered the role, despite it having no discrete aria. The role had huge vocal and dramatic challenges which suited her talents … and she had worked with the other principal artists already with great success. Ms Damrau likewise seemed ideally suited to the colossal coloratura and hilarious comedy situations. The opera has a night time bedroom scene in which there are three people in a bed but only two of them know they are not a couple. For once Mr Florez is on the butt of the joke and he also “loses the girl” and Ms Billinghurst told us that Ms DeDonato was the one who gets away with the girl - ‘two girls go off together’ she said mischievously. She then gave a rap for Maestro Benini who is very much at home in this sort of repertoire.

The production is original and well executed as a play within a play in an 18th century proscenium theatre. The telecast is introduced by Renee Fleming and I would recommend it to anyone.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Queen of Spades
Romeo and Juliette
Capriccio
Rheingold
Wozzek
Tosca
Comte Ory
Otello (Carnegie Hall, Chicago Orchestra with Muti)

New York Blog: http://andrewbyrneinnewyork.blogspot.com/

Wozzek inter alia.

2011-04-11T06:30:00.000+10:00

Dear Friends,

The Metropolitan Opera has restaged Berg's Wozzek. Although being one of the great works and a star case it is not my cup of tea being intellectual and dissonant. A mischievous friend wrote to say that I should know that half-way through it reverses and runs backwards so that it ends at the beginning.

This was also the Met debut of Australian tenor Stuart Skelton (Drum Major) along with Gerhard Seigel (Captain), Alan Held (title), Maltraud Meier (Marie) conducted by an extremely frail looking James Levine. The orchestration is phenomenal, complex and loud, if not always exactly beautiful. The last two scenes are particularly novel. The opera received a huge ovation in the house and especially the beloved maestro.

I will have been fortunate to hear Tosca, Romeo and Juliette, Queen of Spades, Rheingold, Otello and Comte Ory (see my notes on the opera blog). Some names include Domingo (conducting), Stephanie Blythe, Violeta Urmana, Salvatore Licitra, James Morris, Hei-Kyung Hong, Piotr Beczala, Vladimir Galouzine, Peter Mattei, Juan Diego Florez, Joyce deDonato, Diana Damrau, Dolora Zajick, James Levine and Riccardo Muti. Tickets for all operas were all easy to obtain over the internet, most costing less than $100 for excellent positions in the house. It makes the quality and price of opera in Sydney seem to be very poor options.

More notes on Comte Ory and Otello next week.

Tosca. Monday 4th April 2011. Metropolitan Opera.

2011-04-06T03:30:00.001+10:00

Tosca. Puccini. Monday 4th April 2011. Metropolitan Opera.

Dear Colleagues,

I enjoyed this production which is updated to the 1920s but still seems to ‘work’ in most every respect.

Violetta Urmana is now clearly a soprano, having done some ‘in between’ roles like Santuzza and Kundry. She did a most creditable Princess Eboli a few years back with Rolando Villazon in Amsterdam (available on DVD). On this occasion she sang Tosca, a dramatic soprano role. She was magnificent in this rather up-dated and somewhat controversial production. Her ‘Vissi d’arte’ was splendid. Rather than singing, she spoke her lines after killing Scarpia: “E avanti a lui tremava tutta Roma”.

Salvatore Licitra did a grand Cavaradossi, letting loose on all the top notes as well as putting in all the most delicate shadings to his legato singing.

James Morris is one of the few survivors of the ‘golden age’ and yet he can still pull it out of the bag for Scarpia. I was concerned as he had some ugly exposed notes early on with a wide wobbly beat, yet he reined it in and sang large and loud, as becomes the evil Rome Chief of Police.

Angelotti was played by Richard Bernstein who was also excellent. At the start, after a spotlight flashes around the darkened interior of the church annex, his appearance was from a high portcullis whence he descended by a thick rope to the stage floor only to walk through a side chapel and reappear to start the action of the opera. I had it pointed out to me that in fact it was clearly a ‘double’ who shinnied down that rope. This was revealed by a visiting Australian soprano we happened to meet at intermission (New York is teeming with Aussies at present). We were told that singers just hate doing that sort of thing. She and her partner were also mightily impressed with the Met goings on and were only disappointed to have missed Rheingold, saying ‘you had to kill someone’ to get a ticket (I know I was lucky, having booked some months ago). I should point out that Angelotti somehow managed to pull his rope free from the ground, a boy-scout trick I was never taught.

I was also concerned about the soprano’s final leap which did not come off as planned. From my seat I was able to see the soprano still standing on the stairs as a mannequin or stunt person leapt out into thin air (and a safety net) as the lights blacked out at the end of the drama. I think that maybe Luc Bondy wanted the mannequin thrown off the high turret into the oblivion but the management may have thought that their audience were not ready for that. Certainly many would have been deeply shocked and some might have thought to call the ambulance. Also, here in New York there are still too many memories of 9/11. I was also surprised that there were no stars for ‘E lucevan le stelle’, at least not from where I was sitting.

Despite these small production criticisms, another staggeringly exciting night at the Met.

Comments by Andrew Byrne .. (pinching myself to a bruise).

Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera

2011-04-06T01:47:00.003+10:00

Wed 30th March 2011. See also: Andrew’s review of HD telecast

This performance was an artistic and vocal success - yet somehow there was still something missing. The company has had teething problems with their novel 24-plank stage “machine” … and for this performance there was a 25 minute delay. An announcement was made at ten past the hour although no explanation was given. This is particularly awkward for a continuous work of just over 2½ hours. It does not augur well for the Die Walkure opening in a few short weeks based on the same concept and using the same ‘machine’. Little wonder that the dress rehearsal has been closed to the public.

I had seen the opera in the cinema in high definition back in December but this was very different, especially as I was sitting slightly to the side (and quite close). The main difference was that one noticed the intensity of the voices in the theater where there is no amplification, enhancement, balancing, etc. None of the voices needed the slightest enhancement and from where I sat in row J we were engulfed in a vast vocalism which is rare indeed. Stephanie Blythe as Fricka has a voice which may compete with the legendary Clara Butt who allegedly could be heard in France when singing at Dover. At times it was hard to believe that Ms Blythe was not amplified, yet she never sounds forced or harsh in the slightest. And Wendy Bryn Harmer as Freia was not far behind in the decibels department. Bryn Terfel did not tire in his portrayal of Wotan yet neither did he seem to impart the contrasting elements of resolve and confusion of this complex character in the theater.

There were two cast changes from the version broadcast to cinemas around the world last year. Alberich was played by Richard Paul Fink on this occasion rather than Eric Owens (they were both outstanding) and Loge by Dutch singer Arnold Bezuyen rather than Richard Croft (equally impressive performances). Mr Levine was replaced by Fabio Luisi owing to ill health. Otherwise the cast remained the same with Dwayne Croft playing Donner, Gerhard Seigel as Mime, Hans-Peter Konig as Fafner, Franz-Josef Selig as Fasolt, Adam Diegel as Froh (a new and substantial tenor talent to watch) and Patricia Bardon as Erda. None let the side down, despite some criticisms of the original performances.

The drama unfolded with one splendid visual vista after another, starting with the blue Rhine River at dawn and its suspended (literally) Rhine Maidens singing as they approached the sandy banks from which Alberich approached with his unwanted advances. The opening scene was more subtle and effective in the cinema since it was seen ‘head on’ by everyone with a gently increasing wave motion. The clunking Nibelheim scene was cleverly done but most impressive perhaps was the denouement which saw the central planks rotate to create a steep multicoloured bridge which each character (or their double) mounted as it levelled out, leaving only Loge on stage, being a mere demi-god, while the angled wall turned from fine grained black and white marble tones to stars in the last seconds of the opera as the curtain was lowered. There was much beauty in this avant-garde production, despite its mechanical limitations.

Two things made me realise for the first time that some of the action (and perhaps much more) was done by stand-in actors. I was baffled at the rapidity with which Wotan and Loge were able to exit stage left after the second scene to then reappear high above on the brilliantly synthesised lateral staircase across which they ‘langloffed’ towards Nibelheim. The use of stuntmen and women was also obvious using trapeze wires in the final scene. This was most evident for Ms Blythe whose imposing physical frame was not consistent with the similarly dressed ‘double’ joining the party of gods mounting the (initially) near vertical rainbow bridge as they marched slowly first up and then across towards Valhalla.

It may seem stupid, but after ‘seeing and believing’ in the cinema, I somehow felt cheated by this. We are led to believe that the named characters perform the stated roles and yet now it appears otherwise (same in the current Met Tosca in two instances at least). No names of stunt subs were given in the program from what I could see. Naturally, it made me wonder just how many such actions were performed by others taking non-singing roles. “Would Wagner have approved”? … and while complete speculation, this is the question I always ask myself about modern productions. After all, Wagner gave quite detailed instructions on what he wanted of his performers in the drama. And yet he also wanted his operas to be accessible to the wider public. Comparison with the Otto Schenk production would be odious and unnecessary.

In a discussion after the opera with some like minded friends we decided that if the staging does not distract either performers or audience from the drama then it is probably fine. I am still equivocal on that and may have to see the opera again to decide. Because I had no idea that there were doubles when watching in the cinema it could not have been distracting by definition - indeed I recommended it ‘to anyone’ at the time.

The 40 tonne machine with 24 rotating ‘gang planks’ was described by Mr LePage on the radio broadcast. These angled, fangled flaps can form a myriad of varied surfaces. By containing surface LED-like illumination they can become any colour, texture or shimmering effect. Bubbles going up, river stones rolling down … marble effects, stars on black … even a remarkable flashing lightning effect when struck by Donner in the last minutes of the opera … nothing is too difficult for the ‘machine’!

A narrow trench in front of the palisaded planks served for many entrances and exits including Alberich’s arrival early on as well as Erda’s appearance near the end. It may have served for quick swaps for stunt people too as they bobbed up and down.

The costumes deserve comment. Despite an ultramodern setting, the characters’ dress was from mythic history, breast-plates, leather belts, fur sleeves, scarves, capes and cuff laces. The two giants were particularly effective with mock-steroid deltoid and chest bulges, creating a singular impression. They were almost twin like in other respects as well. There were no horns, helmets or other head gear, probably because of the gravity defying necessities of the action (Tarnhelm notwithstanding).

The orchestra was exemplary, taking the piece at a measured pace and never dominating the vocal side. Robert Lepage and his team have indeed succeeded in transforming this epic work into a new and enjoyable production for their Manhattan audience and it is a bonus that we can all now join the Rhine journey in cinemas across the world. Die Walkure opens on Good Friday and the full ring in a year’s time.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

“To double or not to double, that is the stuntman question.”

2011-04-05T03:22:00.004+10:00

“To double or not to double, that is the stuntman question.”

A most interesting comparison. Rheingold in the theater (US spelling) was quite a different experience despite most of the same cast, same production, etc. Somehow I had expected more but got less. Most telling was that it was obvious live that there were stunt actors doing numerous feats we assumed (or at least I had assumed) were being done by the singers. The whole essence of opera, making it different from leider is that the singers dress up and act through a dramatic role as well as ‘bellow’ their challenging vocal parts.

Opera singers have always been called on to do the occasional stage ‘feat’ … like ride a horse, jump off a balcony, do a limp fall, sing in a harness about the stage, etc. I have even seen one modern tenor juggle on stage and do a hand stand (Roberto Alagna in Elixir of Love). But it necessarily interrupts the drama when scenes contain diversions where, during non-singing sections, the character disappears briefly and apparently reappears … sliding down a rope (Tosca), mounting a bridge or even being thrown across the stage (Tosca again) or doing other feats, only to reappear elsewhere on the stage before they start singing again.

Of course if this is all done cleverly and totally imperceptibly (as it was for me in the cinema) it can hardly matter. But when it is bleeding obvious (as must happen when it is slightly imperfect, the more so for those up close) then it is a distraction which necessarily takes ones mind and ear off the musical drama and back to the nuts and bolts of the staging details as happens at the circus and which is the very opposite, I believe, of what composers would have wanted for their works.

I am coming to some conclusions about telecasting operas … and there must be compromises made I know and funds from telecast will exceed the individual box office eventually I imagine. But this is a tectonic shift for the company and for opera generally where artistic decisions will now be based on the broadcast at the expense of those in the theatre itself … something I never thought would happen.

Link to Met site:
Andrew’s opera blog:

Met Talks: Die Walkure. Friday April 1 2011

2011-04-04T23:18:00.000+10:00

Met Talks: Die Walkure. Friday April 1 2011

An introduction to the new Die Walkure on Friday afternoon was supplemented by an interview with Mr Lepage before the Rheingold broadcast the following day. Because of other commitments (and the Met Guild changing the time from 5pm to 6pm at short notice) I had to leave the Friday evening session early. We were sitting in the huge half-empty ‘orchestra’ stalls of the Met auditorium listening to the Ring director, general manager Peter Gelb and 4 cast members who sat at a table with microphones and glasses of water on a platform raised above the orchestra pit with the music stands all moved to the sides. They did not sing … no ‘freebies!’

Deborah Voigt is to sing Brunnhilde, Jonas Kaufmann Siegmund, Eva-Maria Westbroek Sieglinde and Stephanie Blythe Fricka. We had an introduction from Mr Gelb about the genesis of this Ring series, the 45 ton “machine” which was ‘asleep’ a few yards away on stage left awaiting Saturday’s Rheingold broadcast performance (also the last for the current season).

The cast, he told us, had been rehearsing Walkure already on “level C”, three floors below the current stage and the first formal stage rehearsal would commence this Sunday. Mr Gelb made a few pertinent but slightly nervous jokes about the last minute problems with the set and production but did not allude to the half hour delay to this week’s performance on Wednesday. “The rainbow bridge worked THIS TIME!” He also made a quip about the new steel girders needed to take the weight!

We were told that the whole thing had been an enormous undertaking after 21 years since the Met last mounted a new Ring series. Ms Blythe spoke first, saying that she found the role of Fricka very rewarding and that she said she constantly had to defend the Goddess of fidelity who was ‘always right’ … “after all, marriage between a brother and sister is just not right, is it?” And she went on to remind us that her character had to look on as her wandering husband made one disastrous decision after another, knowing there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. She spoke with a jolly joy and fluency as well as a slight wickedness and obviously could have spoken for the whole hour herself. She did not need the microphone given to her and Mr Gelb had reminded us that these singers had to do all of these roles unaided by amplification in this enormous theater.

Next Deborah Voigt spoke about the demands of the iconic role of the favourite Walkirie, Brunnhilde. ‘Daunting’, ‘challenging’ and other such terms were used. She declined a question about what she found most difficult, saying that everyone would look out for it if she let on. She had been asked by another opera house to do this role several years ago but she had declined for two reasons. She felt that she was not quite ready and that once she had done it, it would become her major career choices. She also wanted to do the role of Minnie in Fanciulla del West before tackling the even bigger Ring roles. We then saw a brief video of main scenes and stage highlights from the current Rheingold to an orchestral medley.

Robert Lepage spoke about the major differences between the ‘prologue’ of Rheingold which is mainly superhuman events with gods, demigods, thunder and lightning to the very human stories starting in Die Walkure, namely a love affair in a little house in the woods, albeit a very strange affair in a particularly strange house. He had visited Iceland and said that with some of the Norse myths originating there it was telling for his retelling of the story since there were glaciers, volcanos and mountain ranges as tectonic plates met, like some elements in the first opera. Whether he manages to focus this worldly dimension down to the intimate scenes between the twin lovers, Wotan and his daughter, etc in Walkure we will have to wait another few weeks (it opens on Good Friday).

I missed the comments by Kaufman and Westerbroek but gather that they described their approaches to learning the respective roles (the tenor was apparently reluctant to describe how long it took him to learn his part). I was told that at the end of the talk at 7pm there were patrons already waiting for the evening performance of Cappricio, the elegant set of which we had seen briefly. The evening’s speakers had entered by way of the fire curtain being lifted. Apparently there was no time for questions and answers which was a shame. I had one of my own about stunt-persons involved in the production.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Queen of Spades at the Met. March 27 matinee

2011-03-29T06:31:00.004+11:00

Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades also had its final season outing on my first Saturday in the city so the matinee saw Conductor Andris Nelsons along with Vladimir Galouzine, Peter Mattei, Karita Mattila, Dolora Zajick, Paul Plishka … causing something of Stendahl shock for opera-staved visitors. I took some time to come down to earth after the substantial Saturday pleasure.

Mr Galouzine sang with his usual forthright style but always with a reserve suitable to the nature of the character. Ms Mattila gave a fine interpretation, again with a slight reticence to the part.

Yeletesky’s Act II aria ‘Ya vas lyublyu’ received a deservedly rapturous ovation as Peter Mattei showed just how it is done. It was the high point of the performance for me, not that there was anything less than engaging in this often neglected Russian masterpiece. [Pique Dame aria on YouTube with Vladimir Chernov.]

The story revolves around a mere soldier falling for a highly place lady and assuming that finding fortune is the only way to facilitate the union. It involves alcohol, gambling and cheating, not a good trio for a happy marriage and fate has it that his world finally collapses in the last act when the winning formula of three, seven and Ace fails him on his third supposedly triumphant wager.

The entire production was set in a large shiny white picture frame architrave. From large ballroom scenes to lonely bedroom all was sympathetic to the book. An old video of this opera from the Met with Domingo has been shown on Australian television.

Brief and inadequate comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Romeo and Juliette at the Met. March 27 2011

2011-03-29T04:41:00.006+11:00

Romeo and Juliette. Gounod. Sat 27th March 2011 at the Met.

An announcement craved our understanding for Mr Beczala who had a cold. As Romeo, one of the most difficult roles in opera, Mr Beczala was magnificent and the performance went ahead without a hitch. He looked the part and acted brilliantly in this very avant-garde ‘zodiac’ production. In a prologue and 5 acts he has to sing numerous arias and four love duets including much high tessitura and many exposed high notes. Beczala used style, control and beauty to accomplish his success.

No less impressive was his Juliette Hei-Kyung Hong who returns to the Met undiminished. She is able to do all the callisthenics required of the director … including a limp fall, sex scene on a small bed suspended high above the stage and more. Her initial ‘Waltz song’ was a tour-de-force indeed … but rather than simple joyous soliloquy she sang it to a mute but attentive Romeo, the as yet unknown object of her projected hapless happiness. The ‘party piece’ ended with a mutual limp fall, one of the few production details of questionable taste to my view, approaching slapstick.

Other parts were played by James Morris (cleric), Dwayne Croft (Capulet), Wendy White (Gertrude), Lucas Meachem (Mercutio), each more than competent Met artists. Placido Domingo conducted the Met orchestra to great and well deserved acclaim.

Each side of the stage was an Italian street scenes of arches, facades, architraves, etc in wood in-lay colours to match the flooring which was made of checkerboard squares of light and dark polished timber. The floor was marked out in both pictorial and nominal signs of the Zodiac in French. It also had a unique ‘revolve’ which was raked so as to initially be flat with the stage. On turning 180 degrees the large central circle became a metre above the stage at the front and a metre below it at the rear. This was used to great effect throughout the opera, but never to excess as so often happens when directors are given such stage devices.

Romeo and Juliette is replete with astronomical references - “Star-crossed lovers” is just the best known while a search turned up over a dozen including one reference to the phases of the moon. These astronomical/astrological aspects of the production made for an exceptional mise-en-scene for amateur star-gazers like me. Each tableau had three giant full circles, one at the rear, one of the floor and another, I presume, although I could only see the solar system “mobile”, high above the stage. The rear stage circular aperture had circumferential gradations plus a golden ball on a tangent, presumably representing a planet.

With much of the opera’s action taking place at night, the rear circle reflected the sky in all its guises starting with the milky way, followed by a spiral galaxy. Rather than the usual random star patterns one sees in Tosca and other operas, this production’s backdrop becomes a telescopic window onto the heavens. There was even gradual movement of the sky as anyone who has struggled with a toy telescope would know. Next we were presented with two cloudy intruders on the black which may have represented the Magellanic clouds (first seen by Magellan being near the Southern Cross and thus never visible from the northern hemisphere - but we put that down to artistic licence). These were followed by magnificent images of deep sky objects, planetary nebulae and other Messier objects, images of which may have even been from the Hubble telescope. In the next scene we saw an enormous full moon enlargement, replete with the Copernicus impact crater, its radiating lines, as well as a near-complete circular ‘sea’, possibly Mare Crisium.

At the start of Act III the stage had an electrified scrim in front of the action. This revealed the entire panoply of stars around the constellation Orion, the triplet stars of hunter’s belt (called ‘the saucepan’ in the southern hemisphere) with the night sky’s brightest star, Sirius in Canis Major, the dog constellation. Also clearly depicted were Gemini’s twin stars [sic], Hyades in Taurus (pink Aldebaran depicted correctly) and even (with the eye of faith) Pleiades (the “seven sisters”) beyond it. During the dual (NOT duel!) killings the rear projection became a black-centred eclipse which seemed appropriate. By the very last scene the rear circle contained an Escher-esque series of ‘stairways to nowhere’, paralleling a REAL giant paired stairway down which Romeo made his agonal entrance.

By chance and through unusually clear Manhattan skies I had noted Orion high above the Met as I crossed 65th Street (upside down from my usual point of view).

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Partenope Act I. Then I lost patience.

2011-03-13T08:41:00.001+11:00

Partenope – Saturday 12th March 2011 Sydney Opera House.

George Frederick wrote this work knowing that it had a bizarre and unfathomable story line with many comic one-liners included. However, Handel also knew that since it was done in Italian and most of the London patrons were already inebriated before the show, the story would not matter as long as the orchestra strummed its bits and the castrato did the requisite numbers.

I have to confess that your correspondent has let you down on this occasion, being unable and unwilling to sit through more than the first act of this long and tedious show.

To me, the audience was more interesting than the opera … containing as guest of honour one of the great singers of the age, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli who was seated next to the artistic director Lyndon Terracini while Governor Marie Bashir sat with Adrian Collette. Further along the row was Leo Schofield. Aubrey Murphy was in the audience rather than playing his fiddle. Bronwyn Bishop is an obligatory fixture at opera openings. Robert Gay the opera savant was there with lots of other hopefuls.

There were over a hundred good seats unsold and there were also numerous opera company members, some VERY casually dressed in what must have been complimentary seats (nobody I know in the company could afford $300 for such seats). Empty seats on a Saturday opening night are not a good sign for a company intent on doing Wagner’s Ring operas (and in a single year by all reports!).

The opening set was splendid, being a surrealist curving white stairway leading to a full-width mezzanine which strangely was not used in the action of act one. Much of the drama in fact took place on the lower few stairs, stage left. This was almost in the wings as if it were designed for a larger theatre. And it was! This was a co-production with the English National Opera whose enormous stage it was designed for (see their set pictured below). It is not called the “Coliseum” for nothing: its stage is 17m wide versus 11-14m in Sydney.

The opera company has again broken with tradition by casting Kanan Breen in the part of Emilio. While Breen is a capable comprimario singer he struggles with Handel’s florid vocal lines and has trouble rising to the dramatic heights needed for a ferocious military adversary of the queen of Naples. That he was given a childish cellophane and elastic mask and a flash camera on stage does not deserve further comment.

Emma Matthews sang and acted flawlessly yet she was unsupported by her numerous suitors. Christopher Field as the obligatory Handel counter-tenor did not produce a beautiful sound: his feeble and cloying character is supposed to be dreary … so was his singing. Catherine Carby sang more than competently in her major aria in Act one … the act lasted an hour and had no particular musical or dramatic high points. Richard Alexander always sings well but it was asking too much for him to be the only true male operatic voice of the night. An opera without a baritone? Really? And no operatic tenor. And no chorus. And no ‘hit tune’. Handel did make it difficult and the only means to success would have been superlative showcase singing (it was not to be).

The conductor Christian Curnyn seemed to know what he was doing yet he had a strange habit of looking around to the left and into the auditorium as if there were some additional instruments or singers in the galleries. I spoke to two good friends the following day to learn that much of the audience left before the end. Poor Mr Breen was required to sing some enormously complex aria in Act 3 lying on his back with his legs in the air while the rest of the crew also struggled with the difficulties Handel’s vocal lines. Even some of the guests of honour departed early, or so I was told. What an embarrassment for a company which used to boast world-class opera! A DVD of the old Sydney Alcina has surfaced recently showing just one of these high points in stark contrast to the mish-mash presented today.

I was vexed to have missed Mahler’s seventh and Mendelssohn’s violin concerto in the next hall. There was nothing to entice me back for Acts 2 or 3 of the opera and I went to my favourite Thai in Macleay Street for their excellent prawns and ‘spicy drunken noodles with beef’. As an added bonus at the restaurant I ran into some friends who commiserated. Host Kham of Arun Thai brought us a first rate Bordeaux white wine which was, however, just too flinty for me … yet the others thought it was very fine drinking. Dessert of home-made coconut ice cream and rock melon with fresh mint was delicious. All highly recommended and a cure for a rotten night at the opera.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Arun Thai Ph: 9326 9135 Address: 28 Macleay St, Potts Point, 2011 (opp Ikon Building). Worth a visit.

Barber of Seville at Sydney Opera House

2011-02-08T00:17:00.001+11:00

The Barber of Seville - Sydney Opera House Fri 4th February 2011

Dear Readers,

This was another exciting and exhilarating opening night at the opera.

Velvet-voiced mezzo-soprano Domenica Matthews rose to the occasion to be as good as any Rosina I have heard. Her customised version of ‘Una voce poco fa’ was perfectly suited to her very considerable vocal range and agility. Her dramatic side also showed great craft skills of comedy and farce.

Henry Choo excelled himself as Count Almaviva, singing a creditable first act aria/chorus and ending with the optional high note (a top C, I think), sustained, strong and exciting, causing an instant ovation. Mr Choo has developed his talents over the years to a very great degree and is a credit to himself and the company.

Newly ‘discovered’ Italian baritone Giorgio Caoduro is certainly an impressive young opera singer with a handsome, large and ‘natural’ baritone voice, dramatic flair and presence. He did not outshine the locals but may have raised the standard by his much promised involvement. Like the other characters, Caoduro was given gags aplenty in this hilarious production. It was nice to see the company responding to popular demand and good taste by returning to the brilliant Moshinsky/Yeargan production set in an Edwardian doctor’s surgery/residence. There was full-length leadlight, electric door bell, floral wall paper, illuminated cocktail cabinet, 78 rpm records, upright piano and even a Charleston dance scene.

Warwick Fyfe sang a most credible Bartolo, managing the almost unsingable patter piece berating his ward’s misbehaviour. The company’s regular basso Jud Arthur has done what might be his best role to date as Don Basilio the music master and wayward cleric. His ‘La calunnia’ was a sustained vocal progression accompanied by stage effects, hissing, thunder, lightning, etc which all set off the sinister plan of slander which was described so well by Shakespeare*.

Even with this cast of substantial opera stars possibly the most memorable character was the white-coated surgical dresser Ambroglio played by Christopher Hillier. His black sunken eyes, morbid gait and dead-pan expression made the lady sitting beside me break-up into laughter several times.

Even the relatively small part of Berta played by Teresa La Rocca was marvellous, giving us a drunken maid’s vocal escapade ending on a stratospheric high note!! With all this high-class opera on show it would seem churlish to comment on the absence of ‘Cessa di piu non resistere’ - an optional extra which is hardly ever performed (see my review of Lawrence Brownlee at the Met last March - link to 2010 reviews).

The orchestra under Maestro Antony Walker was supplemented with keyboards in the pit. Beginning with a masterful rendition of the popular overture, the playing was superlative with this opera’s tuneful cadences, often on woodwinds moving from bassoon through the range to piccolos in rapid succession and back again. All in all a highly enjoyable night at the opera. A friend commented that the most attractive feature of the evening was the vivacity on stage, both vocal and dramatic. He felt that with such rich vocalising coming across the footlights encouraged the audience to engage with the characters and plot, in turn adding further to the energy on stage. Not a bad summation to my mind.

There were many dignitaries present. I was told that the King of Tonga was attending. Much loved and esteemed Governor Marie Bashir led the official party. Nearly all of the expensive seats were sold out which is gratifying (there had been gridlock and many arrived late). For those worried about ticket prices there are still some reasonable seats on the sides with restricted views for between $44 and $67. The rear 4 seats in loges Y and B are highly recommended by this opera goer.

Written by Andrew Byrne ..

* On slander or defamation: “Good name in man and woman is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands. But he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed.”

Shakespeare’s Othello, Act 3, Scene 3

Brilliant Carmen opening at the Sydney Opera House

2011-01-18T09:22:00.003+11:00

Carmen. Sydney Opera House. Saturday 15th January 2011

The opera company has pulled it out of the bag again with a highly satisfactory reprise of Carmen in the production by Francesca Zambello. Not one but four international artists were engaged, headed by Israeli mezzo Rinat Sharham who sang a most creditable gypsy. Tenor Richard Troxell was Pinkerton in the famous 1995 movie and also makes a very fine Don José. Teddy Tahu Rhodes played the Toreador to a tee. The other minor roles were all up to scratch, and even Lillas Pastia was well cast, running as he/she does the tavern of Act II on the outskirts of Seville. Nicole Car as Micaela was the only local in a leading role and she was excellent, being, I was told, amongst the youngest on the stage at 24.

Maestro Guillaume Tourniaire bounced, danced, bobbed and leapt on the podium, arms swinging up to two metres at times, two centimetres at others. I cannot imagine that such animation could possibly induce the orchestra members to respond any more sympathetically. Indeed, the exhausting routine could have been a distraction. The overture was the fastest I have ever heard - at least initially - and I have heard some fast Carmen overtures in my time. Yet he took some passages more tenderly and seemed sympathetic to the piece overall despite the calisthenics.

Orchestra and chorus were up to their usual high standard and the hall was packed out.

This original production was given in 2008 with Richard Hickox conducting and his wife doing the title role. However, there were animals which for some reason were all left out of this current production. The first scene had a mule and chickens on stage while Escamillo arrived on horseback. A most memorable moment was that beautiful black horse taking a ‘bow’ at the end.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Madama Butterfly. Sydney Opera House. Friday 7th January

2011-01-14T01:47:00.000+11:00

Madama Butterfly. Sydney Opera House. 7.30pm Friday 7th January 2011

Dear Readers,

This was an auspicious opening night repeating the same successful gala two years ago. An even higher standard was achieved with the welcomed return of American soprano Patricia Racette who we heard in Faust ten years ago. She sang and acted the part of Cio-cio-san superlatively, providing some her own interpretations. On two occasions to my ear this just went into a vocal limbo zone, showing perhaps that she made the right decision to omit the optional D flat at the end of Butterfly’s entrance. She received a justly deserved standing ovation from the premium seating area.

Tenor Mr La Spina sang the ‘cad’ role of Pinkerton with style and was even booed (slightly) at the end, as is traditional. It is a shame that he was not permitted to remain in his smart US Navy jacket for Act one as his imposing physique is not given to a bib-and-brace white pantaloon outfit.

As the American consul one-time tenor Barry Ryan showed that he has developed a substantial baritone voice which equalled and at times even dominated the tenor who he was counselling ‘diplomatically’ in Act 1. This moved to consoling and even condemning his countryman by the end of the opera.

The performance was billed to be conducted by Phillippe Auguin but for some unexplained reason Massimo Zanetti is on the podium until 28th Jan when Tom Woods takes over (and Ms Racette is replaced by Antoinette Halloran). The orchestra under Maestro Zanetti was excellent and received a huge ovation. We are fortunate also to have the chorus of the national company which is well schooled under chorus master Michael Black.

It was gratifying to see a full house and let’s hope this bodes well for the rest of this season in contrast to previous ones. I can recall very few full houses at the Sydney Opera House since Sutherland’s farewell 1990. The price of a good seat can nudge $300 now and the average seat is significantly more expensive than at the Met in New York. Cinema presentations may seem like competition but they are also a useful recruiting ground.

While this 'high-octane' production and would be ideal for any new opera goer, even Madama Butterfly can suffer from over-exposure. The company will have done 40 performances in barely two years! I don't think I need to see Madama Butterfly again for some time … and when I do I would prefer a more traditional production.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Joan Sutherland Memorial Service, Sydney Opera House.

2010-11-24T02:59:00.008+11:00

Joan Sutherland memorial concert. Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. 10.30am Tuesday 12 November 2010

This was a moving and appropriate tribute to our departed diva. The speeches were all genuine and heart-felt - from Julia Gillard, Adam Bonynge, Moffatt Oxenbould and Marie Bashir. The host was Adrian Collette of Opera Australia.

In the assembled chorus I recognised Ken Collins, Joan Carden, Anson Austin, Don Shanks, Bob Gard, Paul Ferris, Ros Illing, Henri Wilden, Jennifer McGregor, Amelia Farrugia and numerous familiar faces who may have been former chorus ladies and gents (the company has now largely relocated for the Melbourne season). Bob Allman, Malcolm Donnelly and Cheryl Barker were in the audience. I also noted Elizabeth Allen, long serving chorus member, now retired, who was an old school friend of Joan Sutherland. There would have been others who I have forgotten and numerous people who I did not spy with my little eye.

The service was broadcast on national television and radio. The sound quality of Bell song and Parigi o Cara were top notch but then something happened and the system seemed to be below par for the Mad Scene and Borgia finale. I thought it was a little odd that they chose Va Pensiero from Nabucco, an opera Sutherland (wisely) never sang in.

Unfortunately Maestro Richard Bonynge was unable to attend, having been conducting ballet in Cuba. His son Adam spoke eloquently on his father's behalf. Richard Bonynge was the most important person in Joan Sutherland’s life.

While there were no titles for the Concert Hall projections, I was pleased to see that the broadcast did include sub-titles for the clips of Sutherland’s singing. This is so very important for the novice … as well as some of us more seasoned folk I suspect.

Rest in peace, dear Joan.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Vale Joan Sutherland.

2010-11-03T03:00:00.000+11:00

Joan Sutherland RIP.

Yes, what days they were. Sydney was privileged to hear Sutherland’s middle and late career with a (then) good quality opera company. We also heard her great career retirement extravaganza which was the full-fledged French grand opera, Les Huguenots or the ‘night of seven stars’. Few provincial opera companies then or now would be able to muster such talents as Grant, Johnston, Austin, Pringle, Wegener, Thane, Sutherland. It was one of the saddest night of my life - of course I was just sorry for myself!

From about 1975 to 1990 I recall each year opening the new season’s brochure and being excited to read what opera(s) Sutherland and Bonynge would be doing next and who would sing with them. While the latter were not always as great, they were mostly superior singers to the standard we hear today at the Sydney Opera House. And each rose to the very substantial occasion, giving us all world class goose bumps year after year. I think that Lucrezia Borgia was her best, but comparisons may be odious. She did two seasons of it if I recall correctly. I have been listening to the YouTube video of the finale aria – a true coup-de-force to end an opera!

During those years we also heard Il Trovatore, Suor Angelica, Der Fledermaus, Lakme, Merry Widow, La Traviata, Otello, Tales of Hoffman, Lucia di Lammamoor, Norma, I Puritani, Semiramide, I Masnadieri, Huguenots, Dialogue of the Carmelites and Idomeneo (only the last two were disappointments for me - but I have very narrow opera tastes). The Lucia, Norma and Traviata were indeed immortal performances. She also did a Rigoletto in the Domain one year: I was in raptures.

It is hard to convey to a younger generation just what it meant when it was a ‘Sutherland night’ at the theatre. As well as the soprano, there were higher ‘gears’ for just about everybody in the place from the bar staff to the orchestra … not to mention that amazing buzz amongst the audience, some of whose members might have even heard Nellie Melba (albeit also past HER prime).

I recall that each year when La Stupenda commenced singing we may have wondered if she was still up to it. There was often a wobble and flutter and even some flat sounds. She definitely took some time to warm up but by the end of the initial recitative or aria she would launch into the most miraculous high-performance and unique vocal delivery for the remainder. It was no longer a “tsunami” of sound, just a large, moving, dancing vocalism which dazzled through every range of emotion, rhythm and texture. We shall not see or hear the likes again.

RIP big Joan.

Comment by Andrew Byrne ..

Old story on La Stupenda.

2010-11-03T02:59:00.001+11:00

JOAN SUTHERLAND - A PHYSIQUE TO MATCH THE VOICE OF THE CENTURY!
by Andrew Byrne (1994)

The aspirations of a nation were epitomised for two generations by the singing career of Joan Sutherland. Her consistent high artistic standards and dependability are rare in the history of opera and may be due in no small way to her staunch Scottish Australian upbringing in Sydney during the depression years.

Sutherland rarely cancelled due to illness. Many years ago, an Australian doctor who happily advised against tonsillectomy, commented on the perfection of her vocal cords. She suffered throat and sinus infections in the 1950s said to be due to London smog. Regular antral lavages were done by ENT consultant Mr Ivor Griffiths. After her first Glyndebourne season, she was advised to have her teeth capped. This she describes as a long, painful series of treatments. In the 1960s, she was stricken with backache which the headlines exaggerated to 'SOPRANO PARALYSED!'.

Although always a big woman, she basically has a 'solid constitution'. She attempted weight reduction on occasions. On her yearly tours of Australia in the 1980s rumours often arose that Sutherland had influenza. These were confirmed by all who heard her speak, but when she sang, as she nearly always did, only her most exacting fans could tell that she was below par. I recall on one such night overhearing her say "Gooty gooty gubdrops!" when told that it was another full house. Despite her obvious rhinitis, she sang the evil heroine Lucrezia Borgia to an appreciative audience.

Only once in sixteen years did she cancel a performance at the Sydney Opera House. The final performances of Norma were taken over by a very competent local understudy when the diseased diva declined. She was once let down by a union dispute in Melbourne, and on another occasion, she sang La Traviata at 12 hours notice due to the sickness of several colleagues in Mozart's Idomeneo.

Having gone to London in 1951 aged 25 to study singing, she was assigned progressively more demanding dramatic rôles until dazzling the opera world with her Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti at Covent Garden in 1959. She was suddenly in demand all over the world. A wise contract at this period took her over the English Channel to record a bracket of opera scenes with Nello Santi conducting the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra. Although she has made many fine recordings, some believe this accessional piece to be her most outstanding legacy. It featured the fountain aria from act one as well as the celebrated mad scene from Lucia. It also contained three rarely performed works brought from obscurity by earlier 'microgroove' recordings of the great Maria Callas who shared some repertoire, but little else with Joan Sutherland. The full recording session is now available on budget CD and displays pure crystal coloratura.

Sutherland next performed Verdi's La Traviata to great acclaim. Bellini's Norma was another of her great triumphs. With Bonynge's encouragement, she embraced the lesser known Bellini operas in turn: La Sonnambula, Beatrice di Tenda and I Puritani. Her Lucia was heard in many great opera houses including Milan, Amsterdam, Vienna, Palermo, Barcelona, New York and Buenos Aires. Everywhere but Australia.

The year 1965 saw a grand return tour to all the Australian capitals with the greatest opera season since the Melba-Williamson days of 1930. They brought the unknown tenor Luciano Pavarotti whom Bonynge had auditioned for the tour. The company sang Rigoletto, Lucia, Semiramide, Faust, La Sonnambula and La Traviata, all to great acclaim.

The couple did not return again until 1974 with Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann in Sydney, a sell-out recital in Melbourne and an Australia-wide broadcast. This saw the beginning of annual tours of this country and setting up of home in Australia where son, Adam, his English wife and young family had also settled. For a further sixteen years she sang regularly with The Australian Opera and performed recitals in Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and New Zealand while continuing a busy international schedule.

The presence of Sutherland and Bonynge in Australian musical life has been a catalyst for others artists to achieve greater artistic heights. Usually with Bonynge conducting, Sutherland performed a variety of works in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane in the theatre, concert hall and even the open air park's concerts. These ranged from The Merry Widow to Verdi's Otello and Rigoletto, modern French repertoire with Poulenc's The Dialogue of the Carmelite's, Puccini's Suor Angelica, Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia and Lucia di Lammermoor, always her pièce de résistance.

She continued creating new rôles and recordings until the late 1980s, her last great new rôle being Anne Boleyn by Donizetti. This rare work contains the first ever 'mad scene', concluding with Sutherland's trade-mark: a spectacular vocal display and final high note soaring above the combined sounds of the chorus and orchestra.

Like her debut performance in Lucia over thirty years earlier, her final operatic stage appearance created a sensation. Les Huguenots has seven starring rôles which allowed the maximum number of her colleagues to share the stage for this most memorable season. On the final night, she sang to a theatre full of devoted fans, some of whom had waited all night for the few cheap seats available in the Sydney Opera House. At the final curtain, the audience gave a tumultuous reception and the company put on a fireworks display inside the theatre all of which was broadcast across the world. An era ended with a simple encore of Bonynge accompanying Sutherland in Home Sweet Home.

Sutherland's remarkable career has lessons for us all. She schooled her god-given gift, developing it to the unique instrument that has brought such pleasure for so long. Although having her share of illness and personal problems, she triumphed over adversity, as ever in the theatre, the show must go on!

Written in 1994. Dr Andrew Byrne is a general practitioner in Redfern, NSW.

References
Pleasants H; The Great Singers. Gollancz Ltd, 1967.
Anderson J; Dictionary of Opera and Operetta. Bloomsbury 1989.
Oxenbould, M; Joan Sutherland - A tribute. Honeysett Publications, 1989.
Major, N; Joan Sutherland. Queen Anne Press, 1987.

Das Rheingold live from the Met (delayed in Australia and Japan). Eurotrash is OUT, Lepage is IN.

2010-10-28T02:39:00.003+11:00

Richard Wagner – First Ring Opera in new ‘cycle’ directed by Robert Lepage at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Telecast third performance early October 2010, shown in Australasia Sunday 24th October.

This Rheingold Met telecast shown at cinemas around the world was glorious vocally and spectacular visually. I would recommend it to anyone, especially the Wagner neophyte. With subtitles, an excellent cast and coherent staging, this is a user-friendly, 21st century extravaganza without a ‘dead patch’ in it. The 2½ hours flashed by in what seemed like minutes. Apparently the Met demanded a concept which was novel, yet which followed Wagner’s instructions.

To do this, the stage settings are all provided by a 40 tonne machine with 24 rotating ‘gang planks’. These can form a vertical, horizontal, angled surface or even a series of lateral steps going almost the full width of the Metropolitan stage. By some clever device they can also be illuminated with any colour, texture or shimmering effect. Bubbles going up, river stones rolling down … marble effects, nothing is too difficult for the ‘machine’. The initial effect was of the Rhine river bank at dawn with an almost imperceptible wave motion as the introductory music led into the Rhine Maidens who were apparently (and actually) floating in mid-air (or mid-water).

A narrow trench in front of the palisaded planks served for Alberich’s arrival and Erda’s appearance. It may also provide a home for Norns, a launching pad for Walkiries and possibly a dragon lair, etcetera, in the later operas. The final exit of the gods to Valhalla took them through centre-stage between what looked like technicolour hologram stripes to walk seemingly vertically half way up the stage and then to level out towards the out of sight sky-castle in the sunset. A rainbow passed behind while a scheming and yet quizzical Loge looked on as the curtain finally came down to thunderous applause [Loge got booed for some reason in his curtain call]. This applause came from both the live audience at the Met as well as appreciative cinema attendees.

Bryn Terfel did a fine job of Wotan. He did not tire. His portrayal of the vacillating wanderer god was consistent and strong. His weaknesses were also well exposed. Stephanie Blythe as Fricka the goddess of marriage (and ‘Mrs Wotan’) was magnificent. Her enormous velvety voice pervaded the whole opera with an emotional and romantic side to a story which when it is all said and done is basically about imminent foreclosure on a sub-prime castle mortgage, bail-outs and penalty clauses. If the piece were classified by a criminal lawyer we would start with sexual harassment followed by breach of promise and then grand larceny as the gold is stolen under the eyes of the ‘nice but naughty’ Rhine Maidens. The litany goes downhill from there, ending in ‘possession is nine tenths of the law’ as Valhalla is occupied by its immortal miscreants.

By the end of Rhinegold, and all due the possession of the ring, there has been one murder, a kidnapping and a ransom demand. The philosopher might observe Lord Acton’s thesis exemplified here, or at least some of it, as power and money corrupt so very totally. Yet the good Lord was wrong about one thing at least: beautiful things don’t always make money (vide Wagner whose works are more likely to bankrupt an opera company than make money for it! The Met may be the exception.).

The male star of the night for me was Eric Owens as Alberich. An imposing African-American man with a glorious rich baritone voice, he reigned dramatically and vocally through numerous scenes in the opera. His most challenging portrayal was perhaps after he was turned into a frog and had to face capture in a terrine and then humiliation in front of his slaves, having been lord of the world (or underworld). At this point in her humorous spoof on the Ring, Anna Russell said: “I am not making this up, you know!”

Other supporting soloists were Wendy Bryn Harmer as Freia, Patricia Bardon as Erda, Richard Croft as Loge, Dwayne Croft as Donner, Franz-Josef Selig as Fasolt and Hans-Peter Konig as Fafner. Each was chosen for being an exemplary Wagnerian - and none disappointed. Froh was played by a tall, handsome young American, Adam Diegel who has a natural and almost perfectly produced tenor voice. Lengthy close-up camera encounters were not so kind for all of the others who, while all perfectly suited to Wagner, were not necessarily headlines for Hollywood.

In contrast to the Tardis-like timeless settings, the costumes by Francois St-Aubin were traditional theatrical ‘dress-up’ with even a shade of fantasy-land which is not inappropriate. The giants had enormous deltoid padding as in a school play and Wotan had a big plastic breast plate. Erda was in black and white while others had lavish amounts of rich fabrics and adornments in no particular earthly tradition.

James Levine and his orchestra were exemplary, taking the piece at a measured pace and never dominating the vocal side. I was disappointed that we did not have more shots of the orchestra … some of the long stretches of stage close-ups detracted from the telecast as one sometimes could lose track of what was happening on the stage as a whole, something which cannot happen in the live theatre.

Robert Lepage and his team have indeed succeeded in transforming this epic work into a new and enjoyable production for their Manhattan audience. It is a privilege to be able to join the Rhine journey in cinemas across the world.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Link to Met site:

Rigoletto falls flat in Sydney. Inaudible “maledizione”! Ossia ‘The silent curse’.

2010-09-28T19:47:00.000+10:00

Rigoletto - Sydney Opera House Sat 18th September 2010 7.30pm

Despite the hype, this opera performance was disappointing. The veteran English baritone who was to sing the title role got sick during the dress rehearsal on Thursday and was replaced by Warwick Fyfe who did a fine job according my informant as well as a company insider who confirmed it. The Englishman went on for the opening night even though it was clear he was still sick. So obviously weak was his singing in the first act that an announcement was made after the interval. But rather than pulling out, Mr Opie ‘consented to continue’ but ‘craved our indulgence’, going on to murder the role and dent his fine reputation.

Verdi’s great genius made Rigoletto a ‘gift’ to the baritone, tenor, soprano and two basses. But in this performance hardly anyone on the stage excelled. Despite her unique talents and deserved popularity, Emma Matthews is just not quite right for Gilda ... not enough ‘heft’ in my view. And her particular talent with high coloratura was not used for some reason. I suspect the conductor may have banned her from doing anything that was not in the score, something I disagree with. She omitted the high note from the end of the quartet. She did not do the Roberta Peters ending of Caro nome (which I have never heard live, but which Ms Matthews could have done superbly). There are numerous variations used to end Caro nome by the many famous sopranos who have recorded it.

So would new tenor Paul O’Neill do HIS high note at the end of the cabaletta to ‘Ella mi fu rapita’? No, unfortunately not! It is rarely done, but when it is, it is electric. And while we are at it, he also faked some notes in ‘La donna e mobile’. The same note in each verse. While it sounded like a mistake the first time, twice proves he just could not sing it. So why was he given the role? It is one of the toughest in all the repertoire but that is part of the reason the opera is so popular and successful. Dramatically he was fine, but there is a drama theatre downstairs!

Sparafucile was played by David Parkin who had won a television singing contest and is one of that rare breed who could be advised to quit his day job. He was excellent and sang his final Act I note well into the wings. Such praise was not due his professional colleague playing Monterone. Gennadi Dubinsky has an unprepossessing voice. The powdery quality of his upper register contrasts with his lower notes which are simply not there. This small but important role shows off none of his good qualities and emphasised his failings. This is not a part for a comprimario. He could only have been cast in this role by a computer program as any live audition would have determined his inability to sing the notes adequately.

Now for the title role. Mr Alan Opie has been singing for 40 years and whether he is just passed his prime or simply sick, I do not know. He left out a few notes in the second scene and did not seem to have any volume to his otherwise handsome baritone voice. After the interval announcement by Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini matters improved briefly only to fall apart again in the last act. His ‘Cortigiani, vil razza’ was commendable considering his condition. However, the story of this opera hinges on a father’s curse or ‘maledizione’ and Rigoletto’s repeated plaintive exclamation of this word needs to be vocally thunderous. Mr Opie’s first two were weak and the final tragic bereaved cry of the father which should bring a chilling vocal end to the opera was simply inaudible. It was either omitted or else sung an octave lower. [And just occasionally that ending can be sung with a falling grace note by a capable baritone to phenomenal effect following the dramatic death of his daughter on stage.] The overall performance was a great let-down.

The orchestra and chorus performed in an exemplary manner. Even the soft brass sections came off perfectly while the tempi were slow and challenging with brilliant effect. The conductor Giovanni Reggioli received a huge and well deserved ovation. The chorus performed well in this up-dated mid-20th century version.

A web site states that Mr Opie has been ‘a fulcrum for Chandos records’, he is 65 years old and that he was a long-time company member at the English National Opera. It is hard to understand why he is currently guest artist here when there are so many Australian artists of equivalent calibre. There are also dozens of more qualified overseas ‘star’ artists in their prime who could raise the standard of the company by their presence. In a past generation we heard Peter Glossop, Sherrill Milnes, James Morris and Donald McIntyre on this stage. Brian Asawa, Luciano Pavarotti, Eva Marton, Sumi Jo and Kiri Te Kanawa are just a few of other international names seen with this company. Yet the management and board seem to believe that ‘stars are an unnecessary expense’ and that the audience would not know the difference. A company member actually told me that the focus groups they organised found just that. So the management seems happy to put on ordinary opera to half empty houses when we used to be able to fill the house even mid-week. There were about 200 empty seats on this Saturday night with dozens of people on free ‘grey’ tickets (whatever they are) including two sitting beside me. They even have a separate private ticket booth advertising ‘complimentary tickets’. I wonder how one gets one of those?

If my memory is correct, the last English baritone to sing this role in Sydney was Peter Glossop. He was the only English baritone in history to sing Verdi’s great tragic roles at La Scala, Milan according to Wikipedia.

I note from the season manifesto that there is more than one day’s break between each performance of Mr Opie, singing the first six performances in 20 days. However, when Warwick Fyfe takes over the title role from 21st October, the cast sings six performances in 15 days, breaking the ‘two day’ rule three times. I imagine that one of the reasons Mr Opie has been singing opera for 40 years is that he follows a few well established rules - including rest days. The management shows contempt for its own artists by forcing them to sing more often than is usual or safe, risking their voices and possibly shortening their careers. As others have workplace rules, such as noise exposure in the pit, OHS elsewhere, so it is high time to stop exploiting opera singers in this way by insensitive or incompetent employers. Singers and their agents may also have some responsibility to resist these unreasonable demands of management trying to make up for patent failings.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

La Sonnambula - Richard Bonynge's final performance in Australia (?).

2010-08-27T04:18:00.006+10:00

La Sonnambula Tues 24th August 2010 (final season performance).

A pessimist might say this was the last vestige of the ‘golden age’ of opera in Australia. Whatever one’s predictions for the federal election outcome or other less important games of chance, this evening marked the final scheduled Australian performance for Australia’s greatest living conductor [Charles Mackerras, the only other contender, died just a few weeks ago].

Richard Bonynge’s exemplary career has spanned four decades with the company. This rarely performed Bellini masterpiece was last done professionally in Australia in 1965 to my best knowledge (also under Bonynge’s baton). Its rarity is because it is ‘tough’. Tough casting, tough settings - it could easily made to look trite dramatically and ‘chocolate box’ scenically in its Helvetian alpine location. Most of all, of course, it has tough tessitura - two sopranos, one tenor and a bass baritone need to be of the highest order.

Yet the evening went by without a hitch in a charming new production. Emma Matthews is the star of the night - and despite being overworked by the company’s punishing roster, her voice sounded fresh and light with a dazzling top register. This she uses with style and taste, only occasionally moving into the ‘showy’ category. Her penultimate phenomenal sustained F with orchestra and chorus was indeed over-the-top. In Act I, ‘Come per me sereno … Sovra’il sen la man mi posa’ set a high standard indeed. This was well matched by Stephen Bennett in his haunting ‘Vi ravisso’ with slightly ornamented second verse cabaletta. One wonders if it was intentional to make him look like Basel Fawlty in Act II. Ms Gore also did some extraordinary things with her extended upper register, especially in her bridal aria in Act II. From the opening lines her ‘Lisa’ plays Amina’s rival for Elvino’s affections.

Mr Di Toro was the ‘weak’ link, if there was one, yet he was anything but weak. He has a habit of singing some phrases and notes pianissimo, broadening into a full voice forte and retreating again, something like a waxing and waning radio which is off-station or during a storm. This may be a return to a classical style of singing but was unfamiliar to me. At times he rose to greatness, especially in Act II. He was never inadequate. Of course we are inevitably comparing these singers with Pavarotti, Sutherland and Ghiaurov which is hardly fair.

For this auspicious and yet in some ways unfortunate occasion, after the final performance, there were speeches on the stage with Moffatt Oxenbould telling glowing snippets from the 36 years that Maestro Bonynge had been a part of the company. A crystal bowl trophy for “life membership” was given by current General Manager, Adrian Collette who spoke briefly.

Maestro himself then said some words of thanks, after which we were treated to some tickertape and streamers. While this was a moving tribute, it was poignant that Bonynge has apparently not been asked back to conduct with the company for future seasons. The lauded maestro even announced that in fact he was ‘still alive’ and ‘available’ (in case anyone in Sydney was interested). He looked fit and youthful considering his (almost) 80 years. I was told that he is engaged to conduct at La Scala.

The particularly awkward situation on stage had the makings of another opera. It was yet another reminder of the many misguided decisions the opera management has made in recent years, moving it further and further from its audience and its own mission statement. No wonder they cannot sell seats - so few were sold to a recent performance that apparently the dress circle was closed for the evening. The company presents fewer real stars, less real opera and much, much more spin. Just read the hype in the new season’s brochure which came out this week! It says that numerous singers are in great demand around the world … yet they are the same old singers as we have heard for years with only a couple of international names for select performances. The company is putting on 17 Butterfly performances, 27 of La Boheme, 20 of Merry Widow, 15 Don Giovanni, 8 Macbeth, 8 Lakme and 22 Carmen. Why the company would break formulae used here successfully for half a century is beyond my comprehension.

As if to cement the memories of a once great opera company some of the many unsold seats were given (at least I hope they were given) to a bevy of retired veteran singers from the Bonynge years, almost all being of a higher calibre than most of the current incumbents: Robert Allman, Clifford Grant, Geoffery Chard, Anson Austin, Maureen Howard, Donald Shanks, Lamberto Furlan, Andrew Dalton and John Pringle to name just a few. Bernadette Cullen and Fiona Janes were also present .. evidently there was also a small back-stage reception afterwards to honour Mr Bonynge. This is the Australian tall poppy syndrome taken to a ridiculous redundancy. They could have put on a big gala performance for the 80th birthday … and possibly made some money for the company while displaying some new and old operatic talent.

There were many other notable people in the audience among the regular Tuesday night subscribers. One couple I spoke to had been disappointed that their normal subscription had Ms Matthews’ alternative singing and thus they returned to hear this final performance with the company’s hottest property.

It was telling that this high quality performance of such an operatic masterpiece still had about 250 empty seats (besides the many subsidised for the VIPs). It is hard to conceive that this company would be capable of putting on Wagner’s Ring operas as announced this week for Melbourne in 2013.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

La Sonnambula at the Sydney Opera House

2010-08-07T13:39:00.004+10:00

La Sonnambula, Vincenzo Bellini. Sydney Opera House, Thursday 5th August 2010

Dear Colleagues,

This bel canto opera was ripping and gripping from start to finish. It was a delight and a pleasure to finally see a fully mounted production of this immortal opera - one of my own favourites, along with Norma. And for those keen to hear high notes this may have broken some records!

Richard Bonynge, who turns 80 this month, was completely at home in the pit and his orchestra responded in kind.

The production was charming, using a three sided palisade with painted mountains putting us in a Swiss valley. The village centre was a large raised square wooden platform set on an angle and positioned on the now ubiquitous stage revolve. Mercifully, the turning of this was used sparingly but only occasionally with any particular dramatic purpose. Projections were only used for some finale flooring, also for no apparent reason.

The story of La Sonnambula is a variation on the theme of boy-meets-girl where girl ‘two-times’ boy and is rejected, only to be exonerated using the sleepwalking defence. Ask any lawyer! Gilbert and Sullivan would have been proud, 50 years later! And there were audience chuckles at times, so rapid were some of the changed affections. [*see a historical note on somnambulism down the ages by Dr Colin Brewer, link below]

Emma Matthews has a voice which is light-years away from Joan Sutherland’s yet she performs many of the same roles in an exemplary fashion. Some may say Matthews is even more credible than La Stupenda in this opera. Her act I set piece ‘Come per me sereno … sovra il sen la man mi posa’ was of a high standard which was even excelled in the act II tour-de-force culminating in ‘Ah non giunge, uman pensiero’.

Stephen Bennett was an excellent choice for the Count. It is just a shame that this company overlooked him in favour of inferior artists for a decade. He was dressed to look like Basil Faulty in Act II. His ‘Vi ravviso’ was ravishing but I heard a complaint that he did not ornament the second verse of the cabaletta, a mortal sin in the view of the complainant, at least for bel canto reprises. I was also told that the singer playing the Count in a production of this opera by Pacific Opera last year was in the chorus of the present production. I believe that another chorus member played Elvino in the Rockdale amateur production I saw (twice) in 2002. To my knowledge this opera has not been performed by a professional company in Australia for many years, probably not since 1965 - when it had the same conductor!

Our tenor lover was played by Aldo di Toro who seemed a little ill at ease in the first half when he avoided some high options and had some ‘wooliness’ of tone. He made up for it in the second with sensitive singing and one particularly stunning high held note with the chorus, who also sang well. The chorus and orchestra remain the backbone of this company.

Ms Lorena Gore played the jealous rival with great aplomb. It was extraordinary that the two sopranos seemed to be competing in their final two nuptial scenes (to the same man!). Each sang a rapturous stretta ending in a penultimate sustained F natural followed by a B flat. This is the most phenomenal, glass shattering, ear splitting perfect cadence that, while it might offend some, is also a great draw-card for the die-hard opera goer. One could dine out on a lesser story for years. The degree of difficulty is very great and few opera companies would be able to present this sort of thing on their stages in a lifetime … but to have two sopranos doing it on the one night is exceptional and extraordinary, regardless of the rest of the show, in my view. Each of the high notes was a MOST exciting punctuation of what was balanced and beautiful singing - which is the very meaning of bel canto.

I was surprised to learn that the company is doing this opera five times in 8 days which may also be a world record - but a worrying one to my medical opinion. On one night the lead soprano is replaced by Ms Gore and her role, Lisa, is played by a third soprano. It is still a gruelling schedule which breaks a long-held rule in major theatres for major roles that there are always two rest days between performances. A prominent ENT surgeon informed me that most singers he has examined the day after singing a major role have haemorrhages and exudates on their larynx. This must take time to heal. Do marathon runners have rest rules? It was highly disappointing that this opening night had many, many empty seats as well as the now familiar coterie of familiar freebie faces - some being only distantly related to the company (even ex-employees). It is clear that the company’s marketing and the ~$300 top ticket price need to be reviewed to prevent the company going backwards financially. The management’s decision to eliminate the cheap D reserve “entry level” tickets also needs to be reviewed. While the top price is about the same at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, the cheapest seat being advertised for the Sydney Opera House is still over $100, while over 1000 seats each night at the Met are under $50. Even the (tiny) number of standing room positions in Sydney was reduced and nothing done to replace this market for young or poor or would-be opera enthusiasts.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

This tiny video clip is of the second half of the final aria/chorus from the OA Melbourne production recently …
La Sonnambula finale in Melbourne 2010

* Somnambulism down the ages by Dr Colin Brewer.

Andrew Byrne’s grandfather's letters circa 1924

Somnambulism down the ages.

2010-08-07T03:29:00.003+10:00

ROYAL OPERA HOUSE PROGRAMME NOTE:

LA SONNAMBULA. FINAL DRAFT 10/2/02

Re-published here on the occasion of the first professional season of the opera in Australia since 1965 (and with the same conductor, Richard Bonynge).

Written by Dr Colin Brewer. Medical Director, The Stapleford Centre.

SLEEPWALKING: NATURE OR NURTURE?

Amina was lucky. The Swiss are presumably no more prone to sleep-walking than any other nation but in late 20th Century Basel, an episode chillingly similar to the one in the last act of La Sonnambula ended not in joyous reconciliation but in serious injury and would have been fatal in Amina's time. A seventeen year old boy somnambulated straight out of his bedroom window onto the grass six floors below. He suffered several fractures and his spleen, stomach, colon and other useful abdominal organs burst through his diaphragm into his chest cavity but after some clever anaesthesia and stitch-work, he recovered completely. In a case reported from America, the somnambulist got as far as the window ledge of his 35th floor apartment before waking.

In one respect this young Swiss was more typical than his operatic counterpart. Most sleepwalkers are boys but most of them are not yet teenagers. In children between the ages of 4 and 6, sleepwalking is so common (up to a third have at least one episode) as to constitute a normal variant. Like bedwetting (from which, significantly, the Swiss boy also suffered) it is usually due to a slight delay in the growth, maturity and coordination of the brain and like bedwetting, most people grow out of it without treatment.

Sleep, for the technically minded, has several stages which are clearly demarcated by changes in the pattern of waves seen on the electroencephalogram (EEG) - a recording of the brain's electrical activity similar in principle to the more familiar electrocardiogram but more difficult to interpret because the brain is a much more complex organ than the heart. Normally, we pass through sleep stages 1 to 4, characterised by progressively slower waves on the EEG. This progression is followed by periods of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep - the stage most closely associated with dreaming, during which the brain is relatively active and, as the name indicates, the eyes move rapidly from side to side behind closed eyelids. Anyone who has watched a sleeping dog apparently chasing an imaginary cat may have seen something like this phenomenon. A few further cycles of stages 1-4 sleep followed by REM sleep occur before waking. Perhaps surprisingly, sleepwalking (which sometimes runs in families) does not usually occur during REM sleep but in the deeper stages - 3 to 4 - of non-REM sleep. Stage 3-4 sleep is most frequent in children and usually disappears (as, therefore, does sleep-walking) after the age of 40.

Somnambulists usually have blank expressions and seem to be indifferent to their surroundings. Their behaviour during the episodes, which typically last only a few minutes, often seems clumsy, purposeless or trivial but sometimes involves complex actions. If they wake up before returning to their own bed, they are often confused for a few moments and the usual advice is not to wake them unless they are in imminent danger. Sadly, they don't usually speak, let alone sing, but in many important respects,
Sonnambula presents a clinically accurate picture, including the fact that somnambulism is commonest during the early part of the night. (And just as well: it might be difficult to devise a convincing plot that required the entire population of the village to be out and about and in chorus mode at 4 am)

Like most disturbances of human behaviour, sleepwalking can easily lead to arguments between those in the neuropsychiatric camp who think that the main problem is an abnormality in brain function (for which medication might, in principle, be helpful) and those of the psychodynamic persuasion who favour largely or exclusively psychological explanations and remedies. These two explanations are not mutually exclusive, of course. A physical abnormality affecting the brain or any other organ may be made worse by strong emotions. However, if the underlying physical abnormality or vulnerability isn't there in the first place, the condition associated with it will not occur however much stress and emotion are flying around. The trouble is that while most neuro-psychiatrists readily accept that manifestations of brain dysfunction can be modified by personality, stress, emotion and so forth, the psychodynamic inheritors of the Freudian mantle sometimes behave as if the brain, despite its marvellous complexity, is the only organ of the body that never goes on the blink. Under the microscope, one bit of liver, heart muscle or lung, looks very like any other bit. The brain is much more specialised and the various parts have some splendid Graeco-Roman names (hippocampus, mammillary bodies, locus coeruleus) which are almost a match for Freudian buzzwords like Oedipus and the vagina dentata.

Despite the conclusion of most studies that sleepwalking has 'no demonstrated associations with...psychopathology', and that it chiefly reflects cerebral rather than psychological abnormalities, sleepwalking, like dreaming, provides a fair amount of obvious grist for the Freudian mill. Dreams, for Freud, were famously "the royal road to the unconscious" but as we have seen, somnambulism and dreaming are typically separate and even incompatible activities, characterised by different and fairly specific neurophysiological processes. Although he started his professional life as a neurologist, Freud did not know this, which explains and perhaps excuses his use of 'somnambulism' to include the perambulations of a patient in a hypnotic trance - a horse of a very different colour.

To paraphrase Samuel Butler, 'God cannot rewrite history but psychoanalysts can. Perhaps that is why He tolerates their existence'. Despite Freud's well known caveat that there are times when 'a cigar is only a cigar', Freudians remain enthusiastically wedded to the idea that the complex is preferable to the simple, that sex is a universal rather than a common factor in human behaviour and relationships and to imaginative speculation rather than prosaic evidence - in short, to a baroque as opposed to a Spartan view of mental processes. Baroque is more fun, of course, with lots of interesting decorative details to divert attention from more important considerations, such as whether the foundations are sound but in the past quarter century, a seismic change has affected the status of these foundations. The change is that most people in psychiatry - who are at least as concerned as physicians or surgeons to concentrate on evidence-based treatments - do not now regard psychoanalytic theories as having much explanatory or therapeutic application.

Forty years ago, the psychiatric journals - particularly American ones - were full of learned papers incorporating psychoanalytic concepts and taking them for granted. Around the mid-1970s, these papers gradually disappeared off the face of the academic planet, surviving only in a few specialist psychoanalytical journals. The historian Edward Short has documented the way that the psychiatric establishment in America was very strongly influenced by psychoanalysis and its practitioners before, during and after WW2 and to a much greater extent than any other country. Indeed, it could be argued that as with some of the nastier Latin-American regimes, psychoanalysis could not have survived without US support. Now that that support has largely vanished, psychoanalysis has retreated to the more academically and heuristically undemanding habitats provided by journalism, the counselling industry and the arts - a Pollyanna archipelago where no beautiful hypothesis is ever slain by an ugly and inconvenient fact.

Can psychoanalysis help in cases like Amina's? It's true that she's an orphan and adopted, and both Freudians and neuropsychiatrists might reasonably make something of that. (Perhaps she was dropped on her head as a baby.) On the other hand, she is not obviously unhappy except on account of Elvino's jealousy and she seems popular with her peers for all the right reasons. Losing two parents might have seemed like carelessness to Lady Bracknell but wouldn't have been so unusual in a pre-Bazalgette age when lethal epidemics were still common (and when successful adoptions could occur without the involvement of platoons of social workers). Whatever the underlying causes, the Aminas of this world clearly need help if they're not going to end their days expiring dramatically (perhaps Traviata-style in some rustic Swiss 1830s version of a hospital soap-opera). So what can we actually do to help persistent sleep-walkers who repeatedly somnambulate into dangerous situations? (Amina's compatriot apparently somnambulated again in the orthopaedic ward just as soon as he was unencumbered by weights and pulleys.) Do we go for talking-and-listening or do we reach for the Prozac aerosol?

In many psychotherapy programmes, people are talked through their problems, with or without interpretations, until at some stage they say something like: 'Well, I guess I never really saw it that way before'. The cognitive behaviour therapist treating a patient with spider-phobia will only be successful when the patient comes in practice to see spiders as less frightening and not worth responding to as if they represented a mortal threat. For the patient of a cognitive therapist, progressively exposed to pictures of spiders, then to small dead spiders and finally a real live frisky one, this is likely to be seen on both sides as a matter of familiarity breeding contempt. The patient in psychoanalysis may be more likely to say: 'I have stopped being frightened of spiders because I have come to agree with your view that I am frightened of them because their long legs activate the repressed memory of a time when I saw my parents having sex'. (Which was more or less how Freud interpreted a child's fear of horses in the famous case of 'Little Hans'.) So long as both patients can cope with spiders, does it matter which therapy is used or whether the 'explanation' underpinning the treatment is correct? Isn't relief without explanation better than explanation without relief? (And let's not forget that many conditions improve, sometimes dramatically, once people recognise that they have a problem and go and see someone about it.)

If somnambulism, in a particular case, seems related to stress or distress, a bit of listening, probing, speculating and advising would seem a sensible beginning, especially if their bedroom isn't on the sixth floor. But what do you do if there is no obvious precipitant, or if there is an obvious source of tension or unhappiness but it cannot easily be resolved or come to terms with and they keep on walking despite understanding perfectly why it's happening? The first choice wouldn't actually be Prozac, which can sometimes make sleep problems worse, but that classic mother's little comforter of the 1960s. The texts say that sleeping-tablets of the benzodiazepine group, of which Valium (diazepam) is the best-known member, reliably suppress stage 3-4 sleep, thus removing the particular pattern of brain activity that is necessary for sleep-walking. Like drugs for bedwetting, it shouldn't usually have to be taken forever because somnambulism rarely outlasts adolescence. How fortunate for opera-lovers that Valium, though originally synthesised by a Swiss firm, wasn't around in the 1830s to complicate a touching little story of love and jealousy.

Written by my friend and colleague, London psychiatrist Colin Brewer. Posted with his permission.

Mad scene gone mad! Sydney University musical muck-up day!

2010-07-26T20:14:00.003+10:00

Victoriana at St Paul’s College, Sydney University. The mad scene gone mad. Letter from Dr Bill Brooks, Sydney Alzheimer’s Disease researcher.

Dear Andrew,

Many thanks for keeping us up to date on what’s been happening – we are sorry we missed Mr Bonynge’s birthday bash but unfortunately we were OS. No music or opera, but several galleries – the Huntington (great collection of portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Romney, et al.), the Getty, and LACMA (LA County Museum of Art, which has a major collection including several Rembrandts).

Mlle Brun (the former Angela Edwards, who sang for Mr Bonynge in the Auber and Thomas) has been appearing at St Paul’s College with her husband Julian in this year’s Victoriana season – unfortunately not accompanied by me. I would have given my eye teeth to have done it but was overseas for part of the season this year. A young Beardsley-esque pianist called Daniel Ward, in College after studying with Gerard Williams, played brilliantly.

After last year’s Queen of Night (Der Hölle Rache) followed by the Ride of the Valkyries, the powers that be managed to put together a slightly shortened version of Lucia’s Mad Scene, beginning with a very creditable “D’immenso giubilo” (helpfully translated as something like “With jolly minstrelsy...” sung by the small but enthusiastic ensemble of wedding guests, followed by a dramatic announcement from the kitchen door by Raimondo, to which the chorus replied, “What hath happened??” There followed Angela’s entrance in bloodstained dress through the kitchen door, bravura dramatics and then thrilling coloratura singing.

Subtle dramaturgical elements to assist the audience’s understanding were helpfully included. As Lucia chased the elusive flute runs, a canary was hung from a fishing rod for her to chase. When she caught it, it was found to contain a party popper which unfortunately exploded. There was some business with balloons which was reminiscent of Charles Chaplin and the Lohengrin Prelude in “The Great Dictator”. During the cabaletta “Spargi d’amaro pianto” she despatched the balloons one-by-one with a pin, and then each of the singers with a dagger! By the concluding high E flat, the stage was littered with bloodied corpses. The final coup-de-grace was administered by Raimondo, in this production a Franciscan friar, who stabbed Lucia before removing his cowl to reveal his mask as the phantom of the opera.

Written by Bill Brooks who has performed in the Victoriana festivities regularly for over twenty years.

Richard Bonynge's 80th birthday recital.

2010-07-23T22:15:00.005+10:00

Richard Bonynge’s 80th birthday concert. Angel Place Recital Hall. Sydney. Sunday 17th July 2010

Dear Colleagues,

It was a pleasure to hear 20 or more fine artists performing in concerted operatic pieces in this delightful 1250-seat auditorium at Wynyard in the city. The carefully chosen program was skillfully introduced by Moffatt Oxenbould. It involved some famous pieces as well as some quite obscure works, parallel to Mr Bonynge’s own career. There were six duets between female voices (and none was from Norma or Rossini’s Semiramide!) along with numerous trios and quartets. Each was masterfully accompanied by Sharolyn Kimmorley on a concert grand piano.

Most impressive of the evening perhaps was last, the finale from Faust, with Daniel Sumegi, Rosamund Illing and David Corcoran. It received a rapturous response from the enthusiastic audience.

The bass/baritone duet Suoni la tromba from I Puritani (and its entire preceding scena) with John Wegner and Daniel Sumegi also brought the house down. Hearing it from two such talented singers made one realise why it almost caused a riot when first performed in Paris. I had goose bumps on my heels! Something happened at the very end when neither singer went up to the high tonic note, even though both are capable of it – nothing lost, it was still magnificent!

Ms Cullen, in her Aida duet with Ms Aivale Cole, showed that she is an imposing, even incomparable Amneris, just as Ms Cole makes an excellent young dramatic Aida.

Fiona Janes and Ms Cole sang from Meyerbeer’s early opera Semiramide Reconosciuta ‘Ella e la fiamma mia’ . To my ear it was as Rossinian as Rossini, written when Meyerbeer was 28, almost 20 years before Huguenots and over 40 years prior to his final mature work, L’Africaine. It was another charming pearl in this enjoyable recital.

Other prominent artists were Jose Carbo, Amelia Farrugia, Emma Matthews and Catherine Carby amongst many others.

As the official party entered the hall after interval Mr Bonynge received a five minute standing ovation from the doting audience. He sat next to Bob Hawke in the first half. Margaret Whitlam, Megan Evans, Malcolm Donnelly and Lauris Elms were also present, along with many other admirers of the maestro.

The evening’s performances made one wonder yet again at the rostering of singers by the national company. Their current Fanciulla del West is a case in point. The soprano and tenor leads acquitted themselves well … yet they are not in the class of the singers they replaced (Gasteen and O‘Neill) nor of their baritone colleague John Wegner. Indeed, there were some bigger and more exciting voices on show in this concert for Mr Bonynge’s birthday. Rosamund Illing has a magnificent voice and dramatic presence. It is a mystery as to why we have not heard her for some years with the national company. Also, Australian opera audiences, at least in NSW and Victoria, have been denied Ms Cullen’s unique artistry in place of competent but far less qualified singers.

It is yet another fault that the national company is apparently not honouring Mr Bonynge’s long and dedicated service to their company and to opera generally in this country. They could have used their otherwise empty hall on a Sunday, made a few dollars and showcased some young (and not so young) artists. But Opera Australia management seems content to continue purveying mediocre performances, often using untrained, amplified voices and thus ignoring their own company’s published mission statement.

So that readers can see the broad range of this wonderful concert I have listed the artists and their songs below. Some new contestants and Richard Bonynge himself will be at St Paul’s Church on Sunday 25th July for the final scholarship adjudication of the Joan Sutherland Society (at 2pm).

At the end we were addressed in a slightly long winded speech by Alan Jones and all were exhorted to join the Joan Sutherland Society. Governor Marie Bashir spoke succinctly and sincerely about the amazing career of Richard Bonynge who responded with brief but gushing gratitude to all for the ‘unexpected pleasure’ of the evening.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Programme Part I

'Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso' from La Rondine - Giacomo Puccini Rosamund Illing, Amelia Farrugia, Aldo Di Toro, (replaced by Mr Choo), David Corcoran

'Si, fuggire' from I Capuleti e I Montecchi - Vincenzo Bellini Emma Matthews and Catherine Carby

'Fu la sorte dell'armi a'tuoi' from Aida - Giuseppe Verdi Aivale Cole and Bernadette Cullen

'Dal tuo stellato soglio' from Mose in Egitto - Gioacchino Rossini Daniel Sumegi, Henry Choo, Catherine Carby, Dominica Matthews

'Nedda.... Silvio' from Pagliacci - Ruggero Leoncavallo . Amelia Farrugia and Jose Carbo

'Ella e la fiamma mia' from Semiramide - Giacomo Meyerbeer Fiona Janes and Aivale Cole

'Suoni la tromba' from I Puritani - Vincenzo Bellini John Wegner and Daniel Sumegi

Interval

Programme Part II

'Fiero incontro' from Tancredi - Gioacchino Rossini Lorina Gore and Fiona Janes

'Over the hills and far away' from The Beggar's Opera - John Gay arranged by Richard Bonynge and Douglas Gamley Phoebe Humphreys and Sam Roberts-Smith

'Through the world' from The Bohemian Girl - Michael William Balfe Emma Moore, Henry Choo, James Roser

Duet from Haydee - Daniel Francois Auber Angela Brun and Henry Choo

'D'un Coeur qui t'aime' - Charles Gounod Emma Moore and Dominica Matthews

'Je suis le joli geolier' from La Perichole - Jacques Offenbach Dominica Matthews, Henry Choo, Sam Roberts-Smith

'Revons, c'est l'heure' - Jules Massenet Rosamund Illing and Catherine Carby

'Doubte la lumière' from Hamlet - Ambroise Thomas Angela Brun and James Roser

'Allerte! Allerte!' from Faust - Charles Gounod Rosamund Illing, David Corcoran, Daniel Sumegi

This evening's programme was created by Sharolyn Kimmorley & Moffatt Oxenbould

'A Little Night Music' at the Sydney Opera House. Too Little, Too Late.

2010-07-05T19:51:00.008+10:00

How are the mighty fallen. A Little Night Music. Sydney Opera House. Monday 26th June 2010 7.30pm.

Dear Colleagues,

While never really ‘mighty’, the Australian Opera company has done many highly satisfying productions over its long life since the 1950s. It has seen many of the world’s great singers on its stage. Such names include Blasi, Botha, Cole, Connell, Glossop, Horne, Jo, Kaash, Loringar, Marenzi, Marton, McIntyre, Milnes, Mitchell, Morris, O'Neill, Pavarotti, Resnick, Schorg, Sutherland, Te Kanawa, Terfel, Tourangeau, Vaness and Zschau. And many highly polished Australasian artists have formed the back-bone of the company (Allman, Austin, Begg, Carden, Cullen, Elkins, Gard, Janes, Martin, Pringle, Shanks, Smith and Summers to name just a few). Conductors, directors, designers and others have also often been of the highest calibre.

In contrast, this year’s opera opening was an inauspicious cold Monday evening performance of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. It only has one very famous song, ‘Send in the Clowns’, which was ‘sung’ by exemplary actor Sigrid Thornton who was unfortunately unable to do it justice. In fact she did not so much sing as wheezed, croaked and talked her way through it. While her dramatic portrayal was consummate, at least one in ten of her words ‘cracked’ or ‘broke’ as a glottal or chest sound. Yet the crowds applauded, if unenthusiastically. The embarrassing best the ‘Herald’ critic could say of the song was: “it was fine”. At one of her entrances the famous actor slipped precariously up-stage from behind some curtains which obscured one half of the rear of the revolving stage. Ms Thornton was not the only cast member to fall victim to the fast revolve being used. This unimaginative but utilitarian set design was used throughout the performance.

I found little stage energy or theatrical panache from most major or minor characters. Anthony Warlow played the middle aged lawyer well and was probably the pick of the night. Nancye Hayes was also in her element as the world-weary and sceptical grandmother. Erica Lovell who played the granddaughter Frederika was also excellent.

The strong amplification did not prevent much of the very clever dialogue being lost. I was closer to the stage than at least half the audience so others may have missed even more. And there were no subtitles, another miscalculation by this misguided company management.

So this ‘opera’ company, whose mission statement mentions only opera and not operetta or musical theatre, opens their new season without an opera. Only 4 out of 15 cast members have had significant opera experience to my best knowledge. The company’s major asset, the chorus, was absent. Even the orchestra was at half strength and amplified, something they have fought against for years. I ran into a long-serving chorus member on the way out. He had been attending the symphony concert next door, having seen the Sondheim dress rehearsal that morning.

How have the mighty fallen!? How indeed.

Comment by Andrew Byrne ..

PS – it may be that comparison with the current Broadway production (with Angela Lansbury, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Alexander Hanson) which I saw in March would be unfair … even the most minor character was full of dramatic energy, flair and talent (’look at me! I am here to entertain YOU!’) … unlike the Sydney version. I never thought I would see an Opera Australia performance where Kanen Breen had the best voice. Even though he only had about a dozen lines, his tenor voice was a reminder of the stark difference between a trained opera singer and a Broadway artist. And Breen is essentially a comprimario singer.

PPS - I have just heard some news about the West Side Story at the Sydney Casino Lyric Theatre and it is all good. And it appears to be cheaper than the Opera’s Broadway digression in what is probably a rather higher calibre show all-in-all. But it would be reckless of me to advise opera patrons to save their money and spend it on the other side of town. Parking is probably cheaper; there are Sunday matinees; there is a chorus (dancing) and there are many toe-tapping melodies to drive the blues away ... which is what the theatre is all about, isn’t it?

Opera Australia Mission Statement.

2010-06-29T09:47:00.000+10:00

Mission Statement. Opera Australia.

Web site accessed 22/2/09
http://www.opera-australia.org.au/scripts/nc.dll?OPRA:STANDARD::pc=PC_90369#

To present opera of excellence that excites audiences and develops and sustains the art form in Australia

To this end, we will:

1. Interpret with integrity the indivisible musical and dramatic qualities of operatic works from four centuries including our own time and place;

2. Satisfy and extend the experience of the committed opera audience while actively encouraging and developing new audiences;

3. Operate year-round: mounting major seasons in Sydney and Melbourne,
and reaching a wider community through multimedia, regional tours and collaboration with State companies;

4. Strengthen our ensemble values of co-operative working, cumulative
learning and mutual respect between all areas and members of the Company;

5. Develop financial strength through long-term planning, prudent cost
control and maximising revenues from box-office, sponsors, donors, governments, tourism and other commercial activities;

6. Continue to build the confidence, trust and loyalty of the public,
governments and sponsors through efficient service and honest,
effective communication;

7. Attract, develop, challenge and retain people of the highest calibre
within an organisation that is effectively led, well informed and in which
their contribution is respected and celebrated;

8. Expect artists and staff to continue their professional growth throughout
their careers and to draw, as appropriate, on the accumulated knowledge within and available to the Company;

9. Continue the mutual benefit flowing from collaboration with international artists and companies;

10. Be rigorous in self-examination and open to informed, outside evaluation of both our successes and failures;
So that:

Australia's cultural landscape is enriched by a nationally and internationally acknowledged opera company;

Artists and staff collaborate in a unique working environment, which encourages them to give of their best;

Sponsors, governments and supporters receive a highly-valued artistic dividend and benefits of association; and,

The Company secures long-term and mutually profitable relations with key venues and multimedia.

Hamlet at the Met - Ambroise Thomas

2010-04-04T04:44:00.004+10:00

Hamlet at the Met. Ambroise Thomas. Wed 24th March 2010

This was a splendid performance of the Bard’s classic story in a less classic French opera, albeit with immortal moments. Hamlet was brilliantly portrayed by English baritone Simon Keenlyside who has gone from strength to strength, now doing one of the most dramatic mental undoings of the stage. His drinking song (O vin, dissipe la tristesse) was rousing with the mighty Met chorus, reminiscent of Sherrill Milnes in his heyday (he did this role in Sydney many years ago).

The curtailed play ‘within’ was a brilliant pas-de-deux ballet with the ‘girl’ played by a tall male dancer with rouged cheeks as per Shakespearean times when women could not be seen on stage (at least in England). Bizarre, but most enjoyable - and most effective in raising the regal ire. Following the king’s outburst, Hamlet, in “j’accuse” mode, leaps onto the royal banquet table and pours a pitcher of blood/wine onto the damask. He then wraps himself in the bloodied cloth and even drinks/gargles/spits between his taxing vocal lines with his velvet voice and strong characterisation. As if to add yet another degree of difficulty, the director had the table on wheels, an unnecessary and inappropriate device in my opinion (OHS issue pending if I were the house doctor).

Popular soprano Natalie Dessay pulled out several weeks before the opening due to illness (who would want to run an opera company?!). The second-cast Ophelia German soprano Marlis Petersen stepped up. And she has all that is takes for this oppressed and rejected character, culminating in her marathon mad scene. Rather than drowning which is mentioned in the text, in this production she slowly cuts vertical incisions on both wrists which bleed liberally, finally doing the same in her cleavage, creating a blood bath of technical difficult only matched by the phenomenal coloratura she was singing at the time. I wonder if this looked too surgical or artificial on the HD telecast … it looked perfect from my stalls seats. But in my opinion this is another liberty taken by directors - asking singers to do extraordinary things while they ‘chew gum’. Ms Petersen not only had to do all this blood letting in the last minutes of her cabaletta, ‘Pale et blonde’ but also had to sing the final climactic notes lying prostrate facing away from the audience. Ridiculous! Gone are the days of standing and delivering, yet all these dramatic demands cannot possibly improve the vocal line.

Jennifer Lamore was marvellous as the conniving queen Gertrude.

The opera’s music, like the story, is dark and brooding. Unfortunately the Met artistic management decided to omit most of the ballet music which to my mind is uplifting and crucial in balancing for the work as a whole. I have often said that it could replace Prozac in suitable cases.

I read that Hamlet was intended to be a tenor role but no suitable singer could be found (can someone lend me a tenor?!). So Thomas re-wrote it for a famous baritone of the time and it has been thus ever since. The other important minor roles were taken by Met singers of high calibre including Toby Spence, David Pittsinger, Matthew Plenk, Richard Bernstein and Maxim Mikhailov. James Morris has had a glorious bass/baritone career and is probably now beyond doing major roles such as Wotan. However, like Samuel Ramey, Paul Plishka and numerous others, the Met continues to use their services in appropriate and less arduous roles. In such cameo or minor roles such senior singers form an important connection with a previous age for young artists, something which unfortunately does not happen in Australia to any great extent despite the wealth of ‘senior’ talent around.

Louis Langrée conducted a solid score - my only criticism the absent ballet music.

The performance was filmed by perhaps 8 cameras across the auditorium which was distracting, especially for those nearby. I gather this was done as a back-up for the high definition cinema simulcast the following Saturday afternoon which will reach participating Australian and Japanese cinemas later in April. Due to the time difference it is largely Europe and the Americas which benefit from these matinee performances direct in real-time. These are usually then released onto DVDs and television and continue the Metropolitan Opera’s contribution to operatic posterity which goes back 50 years or more with the Saturday radio broadcasts.

This Hamlet production from Geneva is by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser. It involves two large symmetrical wheeled sets cleverly designed to be castle exteriors on one side and domestic interiors on the other, both somewhat curved and thus self supporting.

The production and performance were of extremely high quality and I am sure that the cinema broadcast will be well received. However, it must be said that the opera itself is less than an enduring masterpiece, despite having numerous high points. Rather than one intermission it should have two to space the five acts (and accommodate my favourite ballet music!).

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Travel, food, etc: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/

New York in 1922 from grandfather: http://bpresent.com/harry/code/09n_new-york.php

Exemplary Aida at the Met: performance number 1113(!). Faulty scenery!

2010-04-02T04:35:00.006+11:00

Aida Friday 26th March 2010 8pm. The Metropolitan Opera

Dear Colleagues,

My father (aged 83) and brother were in town from Australia for this Met performance with a new cast and conductor. We were fair bowled over by the incomparable quality and power of the show which was one of the high points of my opera-going experience. Chinese soprano Hui He made her Met debut and she proved to be a dramatic and vocal force to be reckoned with. She has done Turandot in Italy. The voice is large and well placed with an even production (happily there was no triumphal E flat attempted!). Her expressive diminuendos, portamento and soft high singing were exemplary. Not to be outdone, Salvatore Licitra sang the most creditable Radames I have heard in a long time. He sang Celeste Aida conquering the pianissimo ending which is written but which few tenors can manage. His dramatic portrayal was superb.

But perhaps the star of the night was Dolora Zajick (and some say the opera should be called ‘Amneris’). Her strong mezzo voice was again in evidence. Carlo Guelfi was also a fitting if slightly rough Ethiopian king.

Stefan Kocán was a suitable Pharaoh who leads the patriotic concerted piece ‘Su del Nilo’. As Ramfis Carlo Colombara was more than adequate.

Conductor Marco Armiliato kept the orchestra producing wonderful music at sympathetic paces. There is obviously chemistry happening in the pit unlike what happened on the La Traviata opening on Monday 29th March under Leonard Slatkin. On that night, as well as singers missing beats, I noted three brass players returning mid-act to miss a cue, an almost unforgivable lapse, like a sailor missing the boat.

Enough has been said and written about the magnificent Met Aida extravaganza directed by Sonja Frisell. All I can add is that despite their imposing nature the sets by Gianni Quaranta contain a major error. They all look well aged, despite the opera taking place in royal palaces and temples of one of the great waring dynasties (18th most likely). The columns, capitals, walls, hieroglyphics and other architectural detail each look just like the Egyptian items at the Metropolitan Museum. Yet in reality they would have been bright coloured and fresh, perhaps with gilding, lapis and ebony decoration. Of course we are all more familiar with the faded sepia tones, broken statues, incomplete cartouches, etc, so I am being picky.

I happened to spy Atlanta tenor Lawrence Brownlee in the foyer a few days ago. He had been supporting Met debut of colleague tenor Mr James Valenti. I complimented him on his excellent recent Met Almaviva and would eagerly await hearing (if not seeing live) the Armida with Ms Fleming. I said that I hoped he might come downunder some time as we were short of tenors … to which he replied that he had heard that our opera company no longer took overseas artists. Now I wonder where he could have heard that? Sadly it is largely true. This is 'small town', 'tall poppy' and ‘false economy’ syndrome all rolled into one. Many subscribers who have heard great opera in the past must seriously have reconsidered their expensive and poor quality opera-going experience. Contrary to their mission statement, much of it is not “opera” at all nowadays with musicals, G&S and experimental works dominating true opera. And the average prices in Sydney are far higher than the Met. ‘D’ reserve has disappeared and standing room is restricted by fire laws, thus losing an important cheap “gateway” for young people to learn about opera. *Shame* on opera management in Australia.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Travel, food, etc: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/

New York in 1922 from grandfather: http://bpresent.com/harry/code/09n_new-york.php

"Boys in the Band" in New York: the playwright attended! [OFF TOPIC!]

2010-03-31T15:18:00.005+11:00

Boys in the Band. The Penthouse Apartment, 37 W26th St, NYC 7pm Sun 28th March 2010 The playwright attended!

Just the anticipation of seeing this play was a pure delight. I have known about it all my life but never seen it, nor the movie. My mother went to see it in Sydney over 30 years ago and talked about it for a year or more! But the surprise of the night could not have been predicted by me.

The play was fresh, (almost) timeless and very familiar. Little had changed (rotary telephones notwithstanding; $20 no longer buys a hustler) and the play had every detail one could imagine about gay life in the city pre-HIV and pre 9/11. It is essentially a private gay birthday party with an unexpected and unwelcomed ‘straight’ arrival.

The play’s end, like its beginning, was marked by the young visitor from Long Island attending to each of the lamps around the apartment. After some generous applause, initially in the dark, we were asked by the director to stay in our seats as they introduced an old gent called Mart Crowley - the man who wrote the play! Only in New York!!

I was able to chat with Mr Crowley for a while about the Australian connection, queens through the ages and other things. He said that his play had a bumpy ride in Australia. Despite a successful seven month season in Sydney in 1968, when it moved to Melbourne the cast were apparently arrested and spent a night in custody due to a complaint to the Vice Squad. The episode made a mockery of the laws which apparently were changed shortly afterwards. In Adelaide some minor changes were required after an uncensored version was given for the Attorney General and his staff. I got this from a Google search and can only presume it was accurate (http://www.ains.net.au/~raystan/boys.html).

Mr Crowley kindly autographed my program as he was spirited off to a post party event. He seems to have written an almost timeless play and I am sorely embarrassed that I never saw it originally as most people who at least saw the movie if they missed the original runs of the play.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/shows/the-boys-in-the-band_161537/

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/137094-Boys-in-the-Band-in-an-Intimate-Setting-Opens-in-NYC

Met Traviata - debut of Mr Valenti already taking risks!

2010-03-30T20:21:00.003+11:00

La Traviata. 8pm Monday 29th March 2010 Metropolitan Opera House.

This opera had some high points as well as some low ones. Angela Gheorghiu has a gorgeous voice but she seemed out of sorts and that beauty was only in evidence intermittently. Unlike the description of her by Papa Germont in Act II, she displayed little elegance and poise in her dramatic approach on the night. On many occasions she shook her head, sending the two sides of her flowing hair to the wind as she ‘skipped’ to the right then the left in what appeared to be a calculated yet awkward and ‘girlish’ manoeuvre. It did not help her singing as she got out of time with the conductor frequently. In two or three of these occasions, one with Mr Hampson, she caused a ‘train wreck’ of incoordination with the podium.

Her ‘Ah forse lui’ was less than sublime and she took major applause in the middle (before ‘Follia’) as if she wanted a break. At times she sang recitative pianissimo for no apparent reason, especially towards the end of the opera. She sounded as if she was intending to nail the E flat at the end of act I, omitting the second ‘il mio pensier’ but then just ending on a sustained A flat, a note most mezzo-sopranos can sing with ease.

The surprise and delight of the night was the Met debut of young American tenor James Valenti after numerous auspicious roles overseas including at La Scala. He has several of the important qualities required of a great singer. Tall, handsome, high notes, excellent breathing for a long vocal line, accurate pitch (not always THAT accurate on the night), lovely portamento, beautiful quality voice and good acting abilities. He was clearly very nervous and lost his timing ever so briefly in Act I before the Brindisi. However on balance it was an auspicious start for a young man who might turn out to be the (next) great white hope we have lost in Mr Villazon’s absence. It is tough now that Pavarotti is gone to g-d, Carerras is retired and Domingo sings baritone roles or conducts.

Act II saw Mr Valenti sing De miei bollenti spiriti as well as the full cabaletta Oh mio rimorso infamia including the sustained high C at the end (almost unheard-of at the Met or most anywhere else!). After a powerful and exciting vocal line he ended by nailing the upper tonic, held it respectably and then ran off stage to great and well deserved applause.

Unfortunately Mr Hampson and Ms Gheorgiou managed to almost destroy their second act duet (others might have called it a ‘train wreck’). It seemed to me that the soprano just was not looking at the conductor - she might have been doing what we were told in the program notes that Nellie Melba started singing Dit’alla giovine facing up-stage.

Mr Hampson is possessed of a full bodied and gratifying voice, showing his rightly deserves the Warren, Merrill, Milnes succession of anointed American baritones. He sang ‘Di provenza il mar il suol’ with strength and elegance, gaining enormous applause. For unknown reasons he left out the cabaletta so hated by some musicologists (in fact we are all musicologists in my view!). I have heard people say: 'Verdi did not really mean to write that cabaletta' … but he did! And it should be included in my view. The act thus ended precipitously with Alfredo finding the invitation on Violetta’s desk and declaring he will attend to take his revenge.

As Nellie Melba pointed out 100 years ago, most people in the audience would probably not notice, nor would they therefore care less about particular details of singing or repertoire (’sing them muck’).

The timing problems are obviously a combination of conductor and singers - it takes two to tango. Leonard Slatkin may not have been free of guilt in the numerous episodes of incoordination between the pit and stage. It was the first night and also nerves or inadequate rehearsal might each also have played a role. Despite numerous high points, this was not an overall satisfying performance in my view. That is a disadvantage of seeing the opening performance of anything - it is always the most unpredictable and rarely the best artistically. This is in stark contrast to the Aida on Friday which was electrifying in almost every respect.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

[post script: please note that shortly after this posting it was announced that the conductor would be replaced for the remainder of the season. The reasons given seemed euphemistic. See http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/conductor-slatkin-leaves-mets-la-traviata/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/arts/music/31traviata.html

Shostakovich and "The Nose" at the Met.

2010-03-21T07:54:00.002+11:00

The Nose by Shostakovich. Metropolitan Opera. Thurs March 11 2010 8pm.

I knew that this opera would be a challenge for me but I went along with a positive attitude despite some trepidation. Clearly for people who like that sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they would like!

For me, even reading Gogol’s short story on which the opera is based did not help. I found the opera to be a meaningless cacophony with ugly vocal excesses albeit in a brilliant and original visual production by a William Kentridge. There was no intermission and the piece went for about 95 minutes. Yet the crowds seemed delighted with the bizarre occurrences on stage and in the pit. The season of 6 performances is a sell-out and reviews are positive so I am clearly in the minority. I heard complaints that there is no HD video broadcast planned this season - perhaps later.

Valery Gergiev conducted Paolo Szot (baritone) as Kovalyov, Gordon Gietz (tenor) as The Nose and Andrei Popov (tenor) as the police inspector. I waited in vain to hear the words ‘nostrils’ or ‘flared’. ‘Sniff’ was used in relation to a joke about haemorrhoids and snuff.

The story is theatre of the absurd. That should be no stranger to the opera house where bizarre and unbelievable stories are common in successful operas (I just saw a DVD of La Sonnambula which is also crazy). Yet for me this opera was a failure since it lacked the two essential ingredients of visual and vocal beauty. We don’t need much, but some contrasts between the desirable and the unpleasant are necessary to my mind. This opera seemed to have no defined vocal arias nor melodic orchestration which complimented dramatic situations in the libretto. Some stressed lines of singing were written too high for the tenor to sing, creating a strained, ugly and uncomfortable noise from someone trained to do the opposite.

Nevertheless, one’s interest was certainly kept engaged with the various scenes complimented by brilliant B&W projections of shadow wire figures. These started as a central curtain projection of a slowly rotating silhouette of what looked like a complex mobile mechanism which finally coalesced in an instant to a static human face, possibly Stalin. The brilliant effect caused applause, yet the device did not seem related to the story in any particular way from my vantage point. It also interrupted what passed for an overture. Other images were horses galloping (on one occasion a limping horse with three legs) and these were sometimes used to give the appearance of dragging large pieces of the set around the stage.

There were scenes in a barber’s shop (strangely set with the residence below); bedroom; village square; bridge; newspaper offices, etc. The (absurd) drama unfolded, essentially of a man who wakes up to find his nose is gone and his face flat while another man in the town finds a nose in his breakfast and tries to dispose of it without being detected. The rest just eluded me.

As well as the normal sub-titles we were presented with frequent convenient stage projections of words, sometimes identical to our libretto titles (English and German choices this time). At times however, there were random and provocative words projected in various languages and fonts and colours, even sideways and upside down. The text disambiguation seemed to be an attempt by the production team to compliment and already confusing story.

The orchestration appeared to be constantly aiming for what one could not expect or predict. The usual orchestral instruments were complimented by a piano I believe with other keyboards and additional percussion instruments. One bracket consisted of a five minute loud drum solo. While this arguably had something to do with the libretto, it became boring and repetitive after the first minute or so of drums and cymbals.

If an honours undergraduate drama student had been asked to do the most outrageous and bizarre theatrical things on a large budget this would have gained top marks. Yet it was all completely meaningless for me … as well as another regular opera subscriber who was sitting beside me. Yet for another person in our row, this was her third performance and she was convinced that it should be a life-changing experience for all participants. So each to their own! I just missed the magic which others described. Shostakovich is a special taste and think I just missed out on the essential chromosome to appreciate such Russian cultural material.

Web site for the short story by Gogol found on Google!
http://h42day.100megsfree5.com/texts/russia/gogol/nose.html

An insightful review found on an internet search: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-live-0318-nose-review-20100318,0,5768315.column

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Eglise Gutierrez recital - best value for high soprano singing.

2010-03-19T18:32:00.004+11:00

Eglise Gutierrez in recital at Merkin Hall, Kaufman Center, NYC.

Ms Eglise Gutierrez gave a most impressive recital at this relatively small venue mid-week to an enthusiastic audience. She is a Cuban American soprano who is performing all the famous bel canto roles in the middle sized opera houses at the moment. She has sung several major roles for the Opera Orchestra of New York, a company which seems to have disappeared from its usual prominence during the recent world financial crisis. Ms Gutierrez’s choice of repertoire was pretty wide ranging and she did not disappoint. In fact, her arias and Spanish songs were little short of amazing.

The very first piece most sopranos would not even dare consider singing, let alone its full extent. The almost impossible and hauntingly beautiful Russian Nightingale song was followed by a Spanish one La maja y el ruiseñor by Granados.

She had E-flats, E naturals and a couple of spare F’s I do declare. She was dressed in all black for the first half, looking every bit the diva. Her canary yellow spiral lace layer dress in the second half was one of the most extraordinary I have ever seen on a woman (thus I exclude Mardi Gras, of course).

After ‘Nel cor piu non mi sento’, our soprano was joined by a fine flautist for the Proch theme and variations, degree of difficulty: unmeasurable.

For the opening of the second half, Ms Guttierez had begged the audience’s indulgence to hear the first encore at the start of the second part – which seemed rather odd … yet it was the entire final scene from La Sonnambula, Oh se una volta sola … Ah no credea mirati … Ah non giunge. It was a phenomenon and the small private audience (with piano and flute) went wild with applause at all the pieces. Her FINAL encore (but one) was Ah forse lui … Sempre libera from Traviata act I. Amazingly (and “only in New York”), a man who appeared to be the video operator suddenly became the tenor, Alfredo, who sings a couple of lines at the end of the Traviata excerpt. This was delightfully bizarre the erstwhile cameraman broke into fabulous song with a strong and accurate youthful tenor voice (off stage as required by the original!).

We were sitting near Eve Queller the Carnegie Hall conductor whose company (OONY) has gone broke, sad to say, with the economic downturn. There was a flurry in the second half as the star realised that in the front row on the right side of the theater was Licia Albanese, a star of yester-year, and always a supporter of young artists. Remarkably, she is nearly 100 years old, and made some of the most enduring early micro-groove opera recordings! Only in New York!

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

YouTube exerpt 'Ah non giunge' - link on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUZYh4e6qwU&feature=related

Sondheim's Night Music on Broadway - great fun!

2010-03-19T18:06:00.001+11:00

Stephen Sondheim: A Little Night Music. The Walter Kerr Theater, West 48th Street.

As if the composer’s 80th birthday concert the previous night was not enough, we attended Sondheim’s A Little Night Music with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angela Lansbury and Alexander Hanson at the classic Walter Kerr Theater built in 1921 (originally The Ritz Theater).

It was a splendid and clever production involving a set of about 8 or 10 large smoked glassed doors in a curve across the rear of the stage. This became the great outdoors of the country estate in the second half for the ‘dirty weekend’ which became so terribly complicated.

The beginning was brilliant with Stephen R. Buntroon as the young religious son playing the ‘cello on stage … while his father and new young wife decide they will go to the theater. The plot really gets going when old thespian faces are recognised, not always with happy memories.

‘Ordinary mothers’, ‘Send in the clowns’ and numerous other classic pieces punctuated clever concerted pieces, duets and dance scenes. Ms Lansbury, as the grandmother, appeared in most of her scenes playing patience on the table of her wheel-chair. She has an instantly recognisable voice and persona … and looked perfectly fit and agile in her curtain calls. Likewise Ms Zeta-Jones, Mr Hanson and the rest sang and acted well for a highly polished and exciting show.

Although listening to musicals is not my favourite pastime, the energy and excitement of the actors and audience responses were infectious. To my taste both the 8 piece orchestra and actors were over-amplified, especially for a small theatre with one about 1000 seats.

Another unforgettable experience about New York theatre is coming out of the building onto the pavements at the same time as dozens of other Broadway shows … and then running the gauntlet of the crowds making their way to the Subways, pubs clubs and hotels nearby.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Sondheim turns 80 - Big Birthday at Lincoln Center

2010-03-18T12:26:00.004+11:00

New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Sondheim: The Birthday Concert.

7.30pm Monday 15th March 2010

We were privileged to obtain premium mid-orchestra seats for Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday concert tonight at Avery Fisher Hall. The great man himself was sitting a few rows in front of us and he even took a bow and said a (very) few words at the end (“Roosevelt said that first you are young, then you are middle aged, then you are ‘wonderful’ - thank you all very, very much!”).

The entire stage was ‘wrapped’ in a metre of red satin ‘ribbon’ including a huge bow/rose. Each number had original lighting projections below the red giving a festive feel to the venue. The concert was professionally and tastefully arranged with split second timing.

It was one of the most moving concerts I have attended with many of the greats of Broadway performing on the platform with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra hosted by David Hyde Pierce who also sang. Despite over a dozen sterling performances from Broadway stars, the night was probably stolen by old-timer Elaine Strich along with Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Mandy Patinkin, George Hearne, Bernadette Peters and about a dozen others.

Before Sondheim made his name musically, he wrote lyrics for Leonard Bernstein and so we first heard “I want to be in America” from West Side Story sung by six Musical first-ladies. Then we heard an ‘ordinary mother’ from Little Night Music followed by a number of solos and duets, some from performers who created the roles.

The second half started with a ‘sweet parting’ pas-de-deux based on the movie ‘Reds’ for which Sondheim wrote the music. It was beautifully danced by Blaine Hoven and partner Maria Riccetto. The finale consisted of six Broadway divas dressed in red seated in a semi-circle singing in turn. Finally to an enraptured house Ms Strich sang “I’m still here”. LuPone had sung “The ladies who lunch” as well as a complex and clever duet/trio from Sweeney Todd “Have a little … priest!” with Michael Cerveris and George Hearne (who had each played the demon barber of Fleet Street with LuPone). Nobody sang ‘Bring in the clowns’ (probably everyone would have like to have done it).

Perhaps the most moving part of the night was towards the end of the night when the host announced that ‘a few friends’ from Broadway had agreed to come up-town to join the birthday celebration - being Monday much of Broadway was closed. At that point about 300 black clad singers/actors filed into the Avery Fisher auditorium from each and every entrance. About a hundred of them filed onto the stage with the rest singing a Sondheim excerpt (‘Sunday’) from the aisles and entrances to the hall as the orchestra played on. Hence everyone in the theatre could hear both singers close up as well as the glorious ensemble.

Sweeney Todd is the only Sondheim work I am really familiar with but other pieces rang bells of course. It was indeed a gala night and a broadcast and DVD can be expected with eager anticipation.

Comments by Broadway novice, Andrew Byrne (visiting from Sydney, Australia).

http://www.playbill.com/features/article/137906-The-Glamorous-Life-Stars-Come-Out-for-Sondheim-at-Philharmonic-

Barber of Seville at the Met Thurs 4th March 2010

2010-03-12T09:20:00.002+11:00

Barber of Seville - Metropolitan Opera Thurs 4th March 2010

This performance reminded me that Barber is a comic masterpiece - a fact which had almost eluded me after some recent second rate performances. This Met performance was like any human endeavour at its highest level: being based on a good formula, it should be exciting, appear easy and have elements of the Olympic Games and Guinness Book of Records all rolled into one. And that is what the capacity audience got at this performance, the last in a run beset by illness and replacements. It may have been the first performance when everything (well, almost everything) went according to plan.

This production by Bartlett Sher breaks with many prevailing traditions. He utilised a wooden plank stage extension going right around the orchestra. The stage itself was bare apart from sporting numerous mobile double doors, each in its own architrave. One was surmounted with a balcony with rear ladder as required by the story, like Romeo and Juliet.

This production premiered a couple of years ago with Juan Diego Florez as a sensational Almaviva … but Lawrence Brownlee was a fine artistic force in the current production (Barry Banks did the previous performance due to illness). Brownlee's Ecco ridente was marvellous, ending on the high tonic to rousing applause. This was just one of many, many optional extras put in by almost all of the principal singers in the true original spirit of bel canto. Even Berta’s aria was ornamented by Claudia Waite. It is a great shame that this was not a scheduled national radio broadcast.

Diana Damrau is a glorious ‘high octane’ soprano with a few extended high notes which she can make sound like a glass harmonica. She is beautiful and a fine comic actress to boot. Her ‘Una voce poco fa’ came without a break as she simply walked through one of the many doors for her entrance.

Franco Vassallo is also singing Figaro this season at La Scala and it is obvious why. He took complete control with his ‘Largo al factotum’ and ensuing famous duet with the tenor.

The patter song of the guardian Dr Bartolo (Maurizio Muraro) admonishing Rosina for her excuses was little short of amazing, ending as it did in front of the conductor. Many ensembles and duets took place, at least in part, on this platform, changing the acoustics significantly - and for the better. Obviously, the closer one is to a singer the more powerful the voice will sound. In addition, the orchestra was partially obscured and it seems somewhat reduced in size as well.

In the same way, as Don Basilio, Samuel Ramey demonstrated everything that it is to be a professional (and many decades at that!). He must be one of the few singers left standing from the last “golden age” which included Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes, Beverley Sills, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Leontyne Price and the rest.

There was careful appreciation of the libretto throughout the performance. We were presented with numerous major stage ‘gags’, some straight out of the text like the crash in Dr Bartolo’s larder as the shaving equipment is being sought - indeed it became an explosion with sparks, noise and smoke to prove it. Inevitably Ambroglio, played by actor Rob Besserer, was the butt of the joke. Other gags, large and small, seemed to come from both the text but some from the vivid imagination of the production team. An oddity ended Act I in which the rear scrim slowly rose to reveal a blinding white backdrop and an ever-so-slowly descending enormous anvil above the rear of the stage. As our protagonists sang the complex concluding piece at the front of the stage, Ambroglio tries to deal with a cart of giant pumpkin gourds which was dragged on by a donkey. With the animal and driver departing, we saw a dishevelled and panicking Ambrogio trying to warn of the impending doom which finally occurred on the last note of the act as the enormous weight above dropped and crushed the entire cart with bits of pumpkin, spoked wheels, etc flung asunder. Weird! It did not add to the drama to my mind.

Another gag involved Mr Brownlee seriously drunk in the second act wielding a large soldier’s sword which chopped the trunk of a large ornamental orange tree. After a little encouragement the tree fell, pinning a screaming Ambroglio to the floor. Not to be outdone by Juan Diego Florez, Mr Brownlee sang the “Cessa di piu resistere” scene which is familiar from the end of La Cenerentola. He ended on a sustained B flat according to a man sitting next to me, a concertmaster who had his own tuning fork. It was a sensational end to a glorious scena leading to the happy finale.

All in all a very, very satisfying night at the opera. Maurizio Benini conducted. Sets by Michael Yeargan.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

All casts can be found on the Metropolitan Opera web site http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/season/index.aspx

Boheme with Netrebko on this Saturday night in Zeffirelli’s gigantean Met production.

La Traviata, Sydney Opera House

2010-02-12T01:32:00.001+11:00

La Traviata, Sydney Opera House, Fri 22nd January 2010

Violetta Valéry - Elvira Fatykhova
Alfredo Germont - Aldo De Toro
Giorgio Germont - Jonathan Summers
Marquis - Andrew Jones
Baron Douphol - Shane Lawrencev
Flora - Domenica Matthews
Gastone - Andrew Brunsdon
Doctor Grenvil - Stephen Bennett
Conductor - Phillipe Auguin
Director - Elijah Moshinsky (rehearsed by Richard Jones)
Designer - Michael Yeargan

Dear Colleagues,

You can hear the two famous Traviata duets on a brilliant skit on YouTube choreographed and filmed at the city markets in Valencia in Spain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds8ryWd5aFw. It is almost as much fun as the real thing in the opera house!

In its turn, the Friday night Sydney Opera House opening of La Traviata with Elvira Fatykhova, Aldo di Toro and Jonathan Summers was a magnificent spectacle. I heard Sherrill Milnes sing Papa Germont in the early 1990s and he showed why he was then in a class of his own. Also a class act is Mr Summers who pulled it out of the bag to give a voluble display of warmth and balance in his portrayal of the manipulative father without whose input the story would be boring indeed.

Ms Fatykhova started somewhat weakly but rose to the occasion for her big numbers with just enough heft to be heard in the relatively small Sydney Opera House. She is a fine actress. There seemed to be something odd towards the end of the Sempre Libera cabaletta whereby she sang momentarily without orchestra but when they came in again it seemed to be in another key - perhaps I was dreaming. She held a more-than-respectable E flat (if it was an E flat) topping off a creamy act and to great applause.

Mr Di Toro sang well but wisely omitted the (very) high note while running off stage at the end of O mio rimoso, o infamia. I think it would be a D.

Chorus and orchestra were up to their usual high standards and the crowds were satisfied at this the third Friday night opening in as many weeks.

There was a time when opening nights were usually sold out but this is no longer the case. It is my view that unsold seats should be granted to conservatorium students, musical people, retired opera singers and/or underprivileged people rather than simply giving them to company employees and their families. One administration employee was seated with his party in the centre of the front of the dress circle which hardly sends the right ‘message’. Yet again, one senses that the company has put on a good quality opera in spite of the management and not because of it. I earnestly hope that I am wrong in these concerns.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Manon Gala Sydney Opera House Fri 22 Jan 2010

2010-01-24T20:58:00.004+11:00

Manon - Jules Massenet - Sydney Opera House Friday 15th Jan 2010

This opera gala was another success in nearly every respect. For reasons known only to the current management, five acts and six scenes were only broken by one long interval, not two, for this revival of Stuart Maunder's traditional and rather beautiful production. The continuous action can be torture on the singers' vocal cords. It is also tough for the orchestra/chorus, difficult for the audience and a profit-buster for the house bar and caterers. While it shortens a long night at the opera, it does so at an unacceptable price in my view. Massenet apparently intended four breaks! But what would HE know?

Amelia Farrugia shows that she has what it takes - and that is a whopping big talent, voice and presence to carry off this enormous role. Her town square gavotte song drew a great ovation from those on stage and in the theatre. She spanned the gamut of emotions from teenage adventure, intimate love to public adulation and beyond with her own death scene.

Julian Gavin is possessed of a warm, natural tenor voice and was magnificent, especially from the St Suplice scene onwards. His 'En fermant les yeux' (The dream) seemed somewhat 'studied' but by the time he sang 'Ah fuyez, douce image' in the church scene he was incomparable, as he was in the tragic finale.

Stephen Bennett was an excellent father figure. It is hard to understand why he was not seen or heard for so long but gratifying his substantial talents are now being used again, albeit in some smaller roles such as the doctor in Traviata (which could well be played by an aspiring newcomer).

Possibly Australia's pre-eminent young baritone Jose Carbo likewise is 'under-parted' as the eligible Lescaut, cousin of Manon. Both Bennett and Carbo should be singing big roles, title roles and be 'stars' of the opera, yet neither has been given a significant challenge in some years. Carbo did a superlative Barber of Seville in 2004. It is hard to understand why someone who has a contract with La Scala is currently only singing secondary (if still substantial) roles in Sydney. Much more common, sadly, is the reverse where less capable singers are given tasks beyond their abilities as part of casting mysteries which happen in the national company.

This production has Kanen Breen portraying Guillot de Monfontaine as a campy calculating and unpleasant 'dirty old man'. This seems unnecessary when the character can, at least initially, be portrayed as a sympathetic if slightly pathetic sexed-up old man, only later to become the litigious protagonist. While we can never know exactly what Massenet and his librettist wanted, I doubt if it was the caricature played by Breen. The director has him drawing attention to himself rather than the opera's story line in my view.

I still find that Manon can be long and difficult - unless it is done to perfection - I recommend the Netrebko and Villazon DVD from Berlin. Apparently Sir Thomas Beecham is quoted as saying that Manon by Massenet would take precedence over JS Bach's Brandenburg Concertos if there were ever a choice to be had.

We should never lose sight of the fact that the orchestra and chorus performing with our national opera company in Sydney are of a high standard. Maestro Emmanuel Plasson conducted inconspicuously and with appropriate aplomb.

Throughout the hall on two Fridays in a row there were company members sitting in good seats, presumably free or at reduced prices, showing that even on a Friday night in high tourist season with one of the best known operas in the canon there seems to be a problem with the opera company's marketing. The previous Friday's Tosca opening was a full house but this Manon I estimate was only 85% sold and many seats clearly were 'papered'.

It is gratifying to have experienced two successful openings in a fortnight but this needs to be followed up with continued high quality opera and good marketing. Too often in recent years performances have been marred by replacements, ill-prepared singers and even absent understudies. Furthermore, the best seats are now $297 which is more than the best 'orchestra' seats at the Met in New York. Yet "rush" seats are sold for $50! While this is a bargain, it is also a slap in the face for regular subscribers who are the main supporters of the company.

Comments by Andrew Byrne.

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

New York, restaurants, recipes: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/

Tosca at the Sydney Opera House directed by Christopher Alden.

2010-01-10T01:52:00.003+11:00

Tosca - Friday, 8 January 2010 - Sydney Opera House.

Dear Colleagues,

Despite all the critical hoopla over this updated production I enjoyed it and would rather like to see it again. The solo voices were magnificent, orchestra in fine form under Andrea Licata and company chorus singers doing their usual professional job.

The mod-drab production would take several pages - even to describe the essentials - and others will do that I dare say. Tosca does not jump in front of the A-Train in Act III but she does not jump off the Castel Sant’Angelo either! You will have to go along to see how the ending of this ‘shabby little shocker’ has been made - certainly more shabby and in some respects more shocking.

We saw the clever arrival in church (actually the vestry) of the Marchese Attavanti in Act I during the Te Deum commotion (the Te Deum has become a parish raffle). Played by Sian Pendry, the beautiful blue-eyed blonde of the story, normally only seen in her portrait, manages to hide in, behind and then atop the confessional box which also serves as the family capella. She responds mutely to the various pieces of news about her brother, the Napoleonic advances and Scarpia’s bad behaviour. Act III is run straight from the end of Act II and it all seems to ‘work’ somehow with the Marchese singing the sad shepherd boy’s song (in tune, unlike some boy sopranos). Her brother’s ‘body’ is brought in, obviously a rag-doll mock-up, and strung up as demanded in the libretto but not normally seen on stage (and to the sister’s mute horror).

There were innumerable other details to this production, many stemming from the story (like the electrocution used for torture) and others seemingly out of nowhere. All were thought provoking and some were quite humorous. Spoletta and Sciarrone were presented as disinterested henchmen who despised Scarpia, just like everyone else. They even conspire to facilitate his stabbing. Surprisingly, each gets a laugh at times in this otherwise grisly thriller.

The death of Cavaradossi remained a mystery to me, as if he just died of delayed electric shock and somehow Tosca could tell as much from the other side of the stage: ‘Presto su, Mario’. There were a few other incongruities - such as how did Cavaradossi ‘fail to recognise’ Angelotti when he was still in the next room (or confessional)?

Rosario La Spina sang brilliantly. His high notes were ringing, his low register secure but with a few glottals and possibly phlegm briefly present. His acting was just fine and compared to Pavarotti he was academy award material. He even youthfully bounded up a tall window frame with Angelotti to make their escape from Scarpia and his hounds in Act I.

Ms Takesha Meshé Kizart gave a sensuous and sensational performance. In contemporary dress and literally ‘to kill’, she was jealous, loving, superior and finally stoic in the face of death. Boots, dress, Ray-Bans and gossamer hair. Her Vissi d’arte was a triumph and the ovation she received ecstatic. The final audience applause included a huge and prolonged standing ovation by a large majority of the stalls patrons but also with a small number with prominent boo’s, largely when the design team finally came out for their own curtain call.

John Wegner, like his stage colleagues, rose to great heights with his portrayal of Scarpia. He had to eat pizza, assault numerous males and rape the heroine and all while belting out a grand velvet tsunami of vocalism. Accolades in anybody’s language.

It must be rare to fine a Sacristan with a louder voice than the other principal singers. Warwick Fyfe did a sterling if coarse and unsubtle job in the minor clerical part … also doubling as jailer in Act III which took place as a continuum from Act II without a break still in the vestry of the church on (or off) the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. Fyfe smoked, coughed, grumbled, genuflected and lit the 12-volt miniature of Jesus … while also doing the gaoler’s bidding in Act III.

Full marks also to Maestro Michael Black and his chorus who provided an excellent and original Te Deum scene and then the off-stage cantata in Act II. Puccini called for an off stage chorus in numerous operas including Madam Butterfly. The chorus appreciate this as they can scrub up, do their last scene and go home early. Puccini also knew the benefits both in drama and practicalities of having his soprano sing initially off stage, a device he does not only use in Tosca. ‘Mario, Mario, Mario’ (shades of ‘Maria, Maria, Maria’ by Bernstein).

The opera finished early, allowing us to take a full and wholesome supper along with the inevitable operatic autopsy.

Unanswerable questions will arise about whether it is appropriate to do anything with this opera after the glorious authentic enstagements of Copley, Zeffirelli and others. If your answer is ‘no thanks’ you need to stay home. Otherwise, with great singing and Puccini’s immortal score this will not fail to exotically entertain.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog:
http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Australia's national "opera company". Is it a joke?

2009-12-24T21:21:00.007+11:00

Dear Colleagues,

At last there is a ray of hope from our national opera company with the last minute engagement of Ms Kizart to sing the role of Tosca following the withdrawal of Cheryl Barker. Ms Kizart’s YouTube clip of ‘Tu che le vanita’ from Don Carlos is very impressive and she should make a fine Tosca in this new, updated production. John Wegner as Scarpia and Rosario La Spina as Cavaradossi should combine to make a marvellous first cast.

There seems to have been nothing but bad news from the national company in recent months and now, due to the expense of building the new Benedict Andrews production and the ‘financial risk’ involved, the company has regretfully decided to re-present the Neil Armfield production instead this season.

Lisa Gasteen, who was billed to sing Fanciulla del West, has also unfortunately withdrawn, as she did from last season’s Fidelio.

The impeccable Emma Matthews was unwell for much of the Sydney season of Montagues and Capulets but we look forward to hearing her again in Candide in the Parks Concert in January with David Hobson who is finally making a welcomed return to opera in Sydney with the national company. NOT TO BE MISSED! I hope it is televised.

Wishing all readers a safe and sound holiday season,

Andrew Byrne ..

See tides and tidings posting on web site: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/2009/12/king-tides-and-kind-tidings.html

Tosca and Rome - both immortal.

2009-11-01T17:55:00.001+11:00

Tosca and Rome - both immortal.

It is worthwhile spending some time with this opera before moving on to the Wagner.

Tosca is rare in the field of opera regarding its ‘realism’. The events of the opera mean that its date is exact. Napoleon was then conquering areas well beyond France. You might say it was one of the many attempts to unify Europe which has now happened peacefully with the same currency, foreign policy and trade laws for most of the countries. The Battle of Marengo is mentioned in the text somewhere and 1799 was the year. He had already tried to conquer Egypt!

Further, each act takes place in a location which actually exists … and most tourists to Rome will see at least one of these either on purpose or just because they run into it. Opera fans will make a point of seeing all three! The church of Saint Andrea del Vallé is in the Corso Vittorio Emannule II and is magnificent … but no more magnificent than a dozen or more churches in Rome. The Farnese Palace became the French embassy. The Castel St Angelo has a long history and it is said that whoever holds this castle ‘will hold Rome’. It was originally a tumulus burial monument for Nero I believe and has since been built on, used as a prison, palace and tourist attraction. While it is not far from the Vatican itself, I believe there used to be tiny, narrow streets which Mussolini bulldozed to create the now magnificent avenue leading to St Peter’s square. It had been hemmed in for hundreds of years and pilgrims had to weave their way past the poor district to get to see the ONLY completed cathedral in the entire country (I kid you not). The Pope now owns the Castel St Angelo and he apparently has a small apartment there. Although it is huge, most is just firmament with ramps, stairs, tunnels, etc within. Its fenestrated battlements are recognisable for miles around and it is literally on the Tiber River, with only a small but busy two lane road in between, not to mention a little bridge directly in front … called (naturally!) the Ponto St Angelo.

So this opera is very popular, perhaps the 6 or 7th most popular of all operas at a guess, slightly after the famous 1,2,3 or “ABC” (Aida, Boheme, Carmen) of opera which no company can ignore in ANY season without risking bankruptcy.

Maria Callas was the most famous exponent of the part but Monserrat Caballé made by far the most impressive recordings of ‘Vissi d’arte’, the very famous soprano aria (act 2). Apart from this, the opera is famous for not one but two immortal tenor arias, ‘Recondita armonia’ (act 1) and ‘E lucevan le stelle’ (act 3). Pavarotti (and most famous tenors) often sang one or even both of these two in their concerts.

This is also a good demonstration of the difference between a coloratura soprano and the dramatic soprano. The former, ‘a big canary’ would be taking big risk in attempting this role while the latter is more like a vocal locomotive for whom it is a gift.

So, get with the strength and vote number one: “TOSCA!!”

Peter Grimes at Sydney Opera House.

2009-10-18T21:49:00.003+11:00

Peter Grimes: Britten. Sydney Opera House 2009 Thursday 15th October 2009

Dear Colleagues,

This was an extraordinary night at the opera, honour being had by all. Even the fussiest Britten fan should not be disappointed by the overall effect of this production. It was set in a classic 20th century British community hall, complete with angled windows, swinging double doors, wall clock, hanging fluorescent lights and curtained stage with central steps for prize recipients. Only the portrait of ‘her maj’ was missing.

Maestro Mark Wigglesworth was the hero of the evening as he conducted an experienced and well placed orchestra with flair and knowing enthusiasm. Full-throated Australian international tenor Stuart Skelton played the title role with sufficient ambiguity to be sympathetic, despite the obvious negatives. He sang Grimes to the cleaners with extended, exciting high and mighty vocalising. He also managed to often appear shy and insipid dramatically to augment the uncertainty about his motives and circumstances.

Ms Susan Gritton played a fine Ellen Orford with an incising and substantial soprano voice. I note that she has recorded with Pamela Helen Stephens under Richard Hickox. While her portrayal was marvellous it is hard to imagine that there is no Australian soprano available, despite the challenges of this role.

Peter Coleman-Wright was an effective (retired) Captain Balstrode. The two chirpy nieces were played well by Lorina Gore and Taryn Fiebig. Kanen Breen was appropriately cast as the clergyman.

Along with the solo village characters (David Corcoran, Richard Anderson, Elizabeth Campbell, Andrew Moran, Peter Carroll and Catherine Carby) the chorus was excellent. They acted separately and then in concert, unity and purpose when required.

The opera is meant to take place in numerous locations from the seashore to boat house to village court house. With ubiquitous modern economies we see almost the entire opera take place in the village hall. Ropes, tackle and nets are carted through the hall as if it were the marine seaside. A boat is even dragged through the building which is beyond bizarre. Lightning occurs inside and a storm is quite cleverly mimicked within. Such is modern opera. At one point the rear proscenium is pushed forward to become the fisherman’s cliff-top hang-out for the death scene.

As in the excellent old John Copley production in 2001 we were presented with apprentices who were very young pre-pubertal boys rather than the mid-teenagers one might glean from Crabbe’s source poem - and its libretto by Montagu Slater. I find Slater’s constant scrambling of English grammar to be tiresome, despite its initial cleverness. Peter Grimes is a 20th century masterpiece but it is clearly not everybody’s cup of tea as the theatre was far from full, even with large numbers of free tickets given away. This may be one of the company’s best efforts this year. The audience literally screamed at the end with cheers for all those involved.

For those who enjoy Benjamin Britten (I exclude myself) this opera is a ‘must-see’ … and there are only 5 more performances (one being on Saturday night, after only one day’s break!).

It seems unbalanced and unfair that most operas billed to be conducted by the musical director in recent years had internationally acclaimed casts singing with the best of Australia’s resident opera singers. Peter Grimes has five artists who have reputations at a high international level (Wigglesworth, Armfield, Skelton, Gritton, Coleman-Wright). At the same time most of our other operas this year have had only one or two who might fit this category - some had none. While less notable productions of La Boheme and Cosi fan tutte were televised by the ABC, the operas with world-class casts and productions were passed over for mere audio recordings with an English record company, denying posterity the sight of such unique performances from down-under.

It is sad to see such a poor quality televised production of Cosi fan tutte recently on the ABC. While it was not as bad as last year’s La Boheme, there is still a major contrast with previous video efforts of this company as well as with modern high definition broadcasts from New York and elsewhere. There were no sub-titles. The commentary was excruciating. Jennifer Byrne’s cues (no relation) were visible written on the palm of her hand! While there was some fine singing, the production and camera work did not compliment it. I have just watched the second half of Les Huguenots from 1990 and it is superior in every way.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

New season comments: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/
New York, restaurants, recipes: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/
New York in 1922 from grandfather: http://bpresent.com/harry/code/10b_bowery.php
Travel log: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/2007/10/lord-howe-island-naturalists_4153.php4
Shul notes: http://cantorialcrossoverculture.blogspot.com/

2010 season for the national opera company advertised.

2009-10-01T03:42:00.005+10:00

Opera season 2010 hard to understand ... preliminary summation.

I read through the next season’s OA brochure with a feeling of persistent and profound disappointment. It would appear to be the final nail in the coffin of a spent company whose direction is decidedly downhill.

Tosca (Barker/Youl) in a modern production with ONE intermission? [Surely that is a misprint!] And although La Spina may be fine vocally as the opening Cavaradossi, Barricelli was last year’s disappointing second cast Rodolfo and is not up to standard to my mind/ear/eye, etc. And an updated production which is meant to be a successor to the magnificent John Copley version? Seriously? The scene shown in the subscription brochure is not endearing, looking like a smoky and sepia back-room - a very long way from the Farnese Palace of history (or even the glorious present). Scarpia is not billed at all on the web site but apparently opens with John Wegner who is a fine artist and I think has done the role here before. Fyfe is second cast having been Sacristan initially. They should both be interesting … one with a most beautiful voice, the other large and unsubtle (and possibly even better suited to the role). Sacristan to Scarpia is indeed a steep learning curve!

The only visiting singer I would have really liked to have heard was Lisa Gasteen as Fanciulla. She has pulled out with “a neck injury”, according to a leaflet in the brochure as an addendum. Some brochures were received without the leaflet and such patrons reapplying may be sorely disappointed when seeing the Girl of the Golden West. Dennis O'Neill is billed to do Dick Johnson while Jack Rance is John Wegner. One hopes that the company has talented understudies available this time. If they had been professional (and honest) with their audience Ms Gasteen would have had an understudy chosen and available for Fidelio. In such a case, no debate would be necessary as a talented soprano would just take her place as is ‘normal’ for such situations, short or long term in the theatre.

La Sonnambula is with Emma Matthews and Hye Seoung Kwon as second cast with Aldo di Toro as Elvino with Lorina Gore as Lisa. Bonynge conducting (if he makes it - apparently he wanted to pull out of Capulets but Dame Joan apparently pushed him to do it despite the ugly production and other hurdles last season). It is extraordinary for any opera company to do two rare Bellini operas in successive years - yet more bizarre choices in this company.

I note that one week (starting Mon 16th Aug 2010) the company is expected to give quality performances of La Sonnambula on the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings, despite this being one of the most demanding operas in the entire repertoire. Likewise, between 16 and 29 October the cast of Rigoletto has to perform 6 times. On no less than 3 occasions this very taxing opera has to be sung with only one day’s break. This is a criminal act in my view, especially for young singers who may not have the stamina to do such a feat without damaging their voices.

The publicity shot of Rigoletto includes long-time chorus stalwart Mr Theo Connors who died quite some years ago. Surely in his memory if nothing else, they might get an up-to-date shot of this excellent production.

There are only a small number of imported artists of international calibre in the entire season as far as I can see. Dennis O’Neill has apparently just done a successful La Juive in Amsterdam while Elvira Fatykhova, billed to do Traviata, is also well known internationally. Tahu Rhodes, Opie, Coad, Bonynge also ‘rate’.

Other Traviata roles are assigned to Di Toro, Summers/Lewis. It is unlikely that any of these singers will give a better performance that we have heard from them in the past.

Manon: Farrugia, Gavin, Carbo, Bennett. Again we have Carbo in a minor and in some ways unrewarding role of Lescaut despite his prodigious talents, vocal and dramatic. Nonetheless, this promises to be a good choice with the wonderful Julian Gavin and always reliable Amelia Farrugia.

Rigoletto with David Corcoran (alt. cast Paul O’Neill) and Emma Matthews. The jester is Alan Opie, aged 65, (alt. Warwick Fyfe). Mr Corcoran also does Nick in Fanciulla. It is inconsistent and unconventional casting in my view. Let’s hope it pays off.

Rosenkavalier: Barker Carby Kwon Choo Fyfe

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Cole, Durkin, Arthur, Carby, Coad

In short: Most operas I either don’t care to see (Pirates, Bliss, Night Music, Midsummer Night’s Dream and Rosenkavalier) or else I have seen so often that I don’t need to see again just now (Tosca, Rigoletto, Traviata, Nozze) … leaving Manon, La Sonnambula and Fanciulla (if they can find a worthy Minnie) as the only operas I would look forward to seeing in the 2010 seasons.

I suspect I am not alone in these views and I predict the company will have a lot of trouble keeping the bottom line with such a devalued artistic product. This is tragic and just another part of the ‘operatic’ story being played out in what should be a happy tale.

Note that there is no New Year's Eve concert, nor any explanation as far as I could find. The main season opens with Sondheim … not that I have anything against Sondheim, but opera it ain't - see the company’s clearly worded mission statement. It takes two and a half weeks into the season before we actually hear an opera from this opera company with Fanciulla del West.

Likewise in January for the first time the company joins the Festival of Sydney (whatever that means, but they say Candide in the Park is ‘opera’ which is fair enough in my book) yet in the first two weeks of January there are only two true opera performances (with 12 in the following two weeks).

I have never been able to work out why there are so many gaps in opera schedules, especially Fridays and Saturdays. Most rehearsals are during the day. Uniquely, I note that in a four week period in March 2010 (3rd to 30th) there are 26 out of 28 possible performances (Mon to Sat evenings plus a matinee) and there are no 'gaps' at all on Fridays or Saturdays. This is “making money” if the houses are reasonable. By contrast in June, July and August there are 13, 7 and 10 'gaps' where there is no paying public. Each night empty the company loses big time. Remarkably, 7 of these 'skipped' performance spaces are on Friday or Saturday dates which are the only ones traditionally for the theatre which ‘make money’.

Take your pick, it’s a lottery.

Cosi fan tutte at Sydney Opera House.

2009-09-29T16:40:00.002+10:00

Cosi fan tutte. W. A. Mozart. Sydney Opera House Thursday 17th September 2009

Ferrando - Henry Choo
Guglielmo - Shane Lawrencev
Don Alfonso - Jose Carbo
Fiordiligi - Rachel Durkin
Dorabella - Sian Pendry
Despina - Tiffany Speight
Conductor - Simon Hewitt
Director – Jim Sharman
Sets – Ralph Myers

Dear Colleagues,

This opera opening failed to inspire. The production makes the convoluted but symmetrical drama even more bizarre by placing it as the feature at a Japanese wedding - and the opera is about wife swapping! Seriously! By chance I was seated next to a young man visiting from Japan – he seemed suitably bemused by it all.

My seats were towards the end of the first row of the circle and much of the stage set was hidden from view. Mozart’s magnificent aria ‘Un aura amorosa’ was rather beautifully sung by Henry Choo although he was invisible to us at the rear of the stage. This was not the only important aria to be sung at such a disadvantage. What was Jim Sharman thinking? Does he know opera? Does he like the voice? Does he have any respect for the opera audience in B-reserve? At musically melting times like ‘Un aura amorosa’, production details, costumes, wigs and all disappear from relevance to the opera fan. Would Mr Sharman have the show-piece sung off stage, perhaps? Or a mad scene in the Green Room? They are the only times when it is essential to ‘stand and deliver’.

Conductor Simon Hewitt tried to be clever-by-half by just starting the overture without the usual entrance bow. Maestro Cillario once did this in the Concert Hall with the Otello storm opening … and it was stunning. This time it fell flat as the audience was clapping weakly while the orchestra struck up, spoiling the beginning but giving promise of a problematic night at the opera.

Jose Carbo is one of the country's best baritones (he recently landed work at La Scala, Milan). His voice and good looks would have made him ideal as the young lover yet he was cast with a grey wig to be Don Alfonso, the sceptical old drama devisor.

Fordiligi and Dorabella had to do a scene in 1950s bathing suits. While Pendry and Durkin shape up well, this decision limits the production substantially for understudies, future participants and for use by other companies. The inevitable result is that voice will not be the main attribute in casting, but rather the figure of the soprano auditioning. Few of the world’s best opera singers would present well in bathing suits on stage so this would be like having a masters golf tournament where all participants had to be over six foot tall … or under 30 … or blond … or blue-eyed. The ‘main game’ of opera is big, beautiful, unamplified singing (in case that needed stating!). While ‘Hollywood’ choices may sometimes work as Baz Luhrman’s La Boheme, or Netrebko/Villazon Manon, this time it failed by demanding too much of the work and the audience.

In place of a large mock-magnet to resuscitate the ailing men, this director had Doctor Mesmer use a huge plastic phallus to excite the boys back to consciousness … which was as illogical as it was tasteless. Equally out of place was the confetti used throughout the production, despite there being two brief wedding scenes in which it might have been appropriate. At the start the ‘boys’ are taking a shower ‘under confetti’ for no particular reason while the tenor scratches his groin. This school boy humour is quite out of place, adding nothing to the drama. A full-length white see-through stage curtain was frequently and demonstrably dragged open and closed, rarely revealing or obscuring anything substantive.

The language argument will never be won or lost but I personally never wish to hear this opera performed in English, although much of the vocal translation contained very beautiful language, unlike some others we have heard over the years.

On several occasions a paparazzi video-cameraman walked onto stage filming singers close up with rear stage projections. At one point he turned his lens toward the audience and several women at random who suddenly found themselves in the show on a magnified screen, perhaps to their delight but equally possibly, embarrassment. This detracted from both Mozart's music and the drama. Again, it is hard to know what Mr Sharman was thinking.

Each of the main singers performed well, despite the disadvantages of having to do extraordinary and sometimes quite athletic things on stage. As usual, the company orchestra and chorus were the backbones of the performance. It was just such a shame that the management, lacking any real supervision, had again allowed a few clever ideas to get in the way of good opera, rather than enhancing it.

And next year’s season looks to be more of the same unbalanced pedestrian fare. No flair, no fire and few stars in really starring roles. Details on request or see the web site.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Kiri conquers Sydney again - concert of opera arias.

2009-09-08T02:48:00.002+10:00

Kiri Te Kanawa at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Vladamir Ashkenazy Principal Conductor). Saturday 5th September 2009.

Concert conductor: Brian Castles-Onion. [see program items below]

Dear Reader,

The orchestral content alone would almost have been worth the ticket price. Each of four overtures/interlude from three centuries was played with gusto, accuracy and flair. Ms Te Kanawa appeared after the Nozze overture looking radiant yet relaxed and youthful in a full length red dress with sheer black jacket. Her bracket of songs from Mozart operas was immaculate and regal. Each is exacting in every way and Te Kanawa gave a veritable singing lesson with each one. Tempi were measured and much of the vocal line was taken softly with floated notes of great beauty contrasting with her strong and rather bell-like forte production. The voice is not as large as it once was but in this hall with excellent acoustics it carried perfectly well, even with a large orchestra and no amplification.

In the second half the diva was dressed in a splendid gown of kingfisher blue for an equally ambitious opening bracket of three Puccini songs.

This was the Saturday reprise of Thursday’s opening and it was a full house apart from some scattered seats in the organ gallery. The audience was politely appreciative. I suspect most were not regular opera goers. There was obviously a strong Kiwi contingent, including the singer’s son who we were told in a slightly awkward bit of banter, had ‘come over for the weekend’. Mr Castles-Onion looked somewhat nervous and sounded slightly awkward with his attempts at humour in his ‘talk time’. Nonetheless he had the orchestra sounding magnificent. Ms Te Kanawa made some generous remarks about Sydney as well as a comment Barry Humphries had made about her being ‘well preserved’ (which she is).

I enjoyed the Te Kanawa concert immensely and it would be hard to find better value for $150 anywhere. My favourites were probably the traditional Boheme extract (also one of Nellie Melba’s last) and Liu’s aria. The Arabella finale was also brilliant. None was ill-chosen and all well executed while her ‘O mio babino caro’ encore brought the house down. After the beautiful unaccompanied Maori love song ‘Pokarekare ana’ there was a standing ovation.

By chance there was a simultaneous intermission with the opera hall adjacent. While I did not recognise anyone in the concert hall audience, there were plenty of familiar faces in the opera foyer including Neville Wran, Andrew McKinnon and the Whittens. They were all attending another in the bumpy run of Bellini’s rarity Capulets & Montagues, conducted by Richard Bonynge. I was told that there were hundreds of empty seats. It is a shame that the marketing people did not do something clever to remind the potential audience that this otherwise obscure opera was “the composer of Norma’s tragic and tuneful version of the Romeo and Juliet story”.

Notes by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Program:
MOZART
The Marriage of Figaro: Overture
The Magic Flute: “Ach, ich fühl’s”
The Marriage of Figaro: “Porgi amor”
“E Susanna non vien! … Dove sono”
SAINT-SAËNS Samson et Dalila: Bacchanale
GUASTAVINO “La rosa y el sauce” (The Rose and the Willow)
GINASTERA “Canción al árbol del olvido” (The Tree of Forgetting)
R STRAUSS Closing scene from Arabella
VERDI The Force of Destiny: Overture
PUCCINI
Turandot: “Signore, ascolta”
La bohème: “Donde lieta uscì”
Edgar: “O fior del giorno”
BERNSTEIN Candide: Overture
KORNGOLD Die tote Stadt: Marietta’s Song
CHARPENTIER Louise: “Depuis le jour”
Encores: PUCCINI O mio babino caro; Maori love song ‘Pokarekare ana’.

Sydney opera season continues ... much worth seeing and hearing.

2009-09-05T02:23:00.002+10:00

I Capuleti ed i Montecchi. Bellini. Sydney Opera House Tuesday 1st September 2009. Mikado, Fidelio and Aida seasons continue.

Dear Readers,

I had the good fortune to return to the Capulets and Montagues this week to hear the advertised first cast after a spate of illness and incidents to afflict this company and its artists. On various nights Henry Choo replaced Aldo di Toro; Hye Seoung Kwon replaced Emma Matthews; Domenica Matthews replaced Catherine Carby.

Catherine Carby, who I heard twice, is perfection as Romeo (leaving aside gender issues). Emma Matthews is back in fine form with her elegant portrayal of Juliet. Her ‘O quante volte’ was very moving indeed and she worked well in the duets and choruses, ending Act I with a ripping E flat to great applause. Aldo di Toro has a distinguished tenor voice and a fine dramatic presence, yet he lacked the youthful enthusiasm in Choo’s equally fine portrayal.

Stephen Bennett did not seem at home in his role as Capellio. I find it hard to warm to the gruff voice of Gennadi Dubinsky as Lorenzo … to me he was more appropriately cast in Aida as Ramfis.

There was a Juliet ‘double’ who was used and abused by being suspended from the fly tower and physically thrown through mid-air across the stage from one aggressive party to another. This was one of the most distracting and unnecessary stage devices I have seen in recent years.

Bellini’s score for Capuleti has many elevating melodic moments but this production, inspired apparently from Northern Ireland, is persistently depressing and dreary, lacking any contrasting beauty. The main curtain has become an enlarged shooting range target – complete with bullet holes.

Despite being originally set in grand Italian dwellings, the stage in this production remains virtually bare and lacks furniture, carpets, fixtures or fittings … only a suspended panel ceiling which might as well have fire sprinklers for its realism. Just a single chair, Persian rug or table would have made a difference as something tangible and elegant to balance the smoky gloom of the setting. Juliet’s first sentiment is “Here am I in my finest garments” and she is lying on a bare stage in a negligee and cardigan. Did the director read the script? One wonders about the judgement of the company accepting this package without significant changes.

There were many empty seats on the nights I attended which is a tragedy for such a rare Bellini master-work conducted by Richard Bonynge who is one of the world’s great exponents of this genre of bel canto.

The company has been battling sickness again this winter. Perhaps they should write influenza vaccination into the singers’ contracts. While some have blamed the economic downturn for poor ticket sales, other Sydney theatres have apparently maintained or improved their audience base.

A Fidelio fiasco the previous week saw a performance delayed for over half an hour while a second understudy was sought. According to a press report the first understudy was in Melbourne! Anke Hoppner came from her home at very short notice, having to sing from the side of the stage while Nicole Youl acted the role, mute with sudden laryngitis. I hope that some explanation is forthcoming as to why all this happened when illness was in the air and up to 1500 people would otherwise have had to be given refunds (and perhaps they should have anyway). This is not some provincial, part-time amateur company but one of the world’s longest running professional establishments which has included some of the world’s greatest talents on their stage.

There was also the matter of the overfilled pond in Aida and the painfully distorted amplification in the Fidelio opening night. These were yet more examples of this company lurching from one disaster to another like a ship without a captain. One hopes that the new artistic director is able to turn this wayward ship around.

The company might be reprieved temporarily by full houses to Aida even though the production is not really up to an acceptable international standard in my view. The sets are somewhat flimsy and ‘cardboard’ like although the movement and ballet steps are very inventive.

The Mikado season has also started with a far from full house for what should be a sold out night. It may be that everyone in Sydney who wants to see Mikado has already done so, considering its last season was in 2004. The company is well overdue to do a new G&S and Yeoman of the Guard would be a good choice in my view.

Despite all of these criticisms, the company is still afloat, like the Australian economy. Its orchestra and chorus are indeed top notch. And it has one of the most prominent theatres in the world with both passing tourist trade and a local subscriber base in both Sydney and Melbourne. So one wishes the new artistic director well in his difficult new job where he will have to made many tough decisions.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Andrew Byrne MB BS (Syd) FAChAM (RACP)
Dependency Medicine,
75 Redfern Street, Redfern,
New South Wales, 2016, Australia
Email - ajbyrne@ozemail.com.au
Tel (61 - 2) 9319 5524 Fax 9318 0631
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/
Concord Seminar blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/concord/
Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/
New York, restaurants, recipes: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/
New York in 1922 from grandfather: http://bpresent.com/harry/code/10b_bowery.php
Travel log: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/2007/10/lord-howe-island-naturalists_4153.php4
Shul notes: http://cantorialcrossoverculture.blogspot.com/

Every theatre is an insane asylum, but an opera theatre is the ward for the incurables.

Capuleti e i Montecchi & Aida in Sydney.

2009-08-19T16:39:00.005+10:00

Sydney winter season up-date: two operas worth seeing.

I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Bellini. Sydney Opera House Tuesday 11th August 2009.
Aida - Verdi - Sydney Opera House Saturday 15th August 2009 7.30pm

The Sydney ‘winter’ (it feels more like summer at present!) opera season continues with Bellini’s little known take on the Romeo and Juliet story as well as a second cast for the new Graeme Murphy Aida (with “Mexico” high E flat!!).

The Bellini never quite caught fire for me even though individual performances were mostly very fine. Aldo di Toro joined this season’s indisposed, replaced by Henry Choo who performed quite superlatively on this occasion. He looked the part and was a fine Tebaldo vocally as well. Ms Matthews seemed to be a bit below par in this role specifically chosen for her. The part of Juliet does not have much of the vocal fioritura which is her forte. Catherine Carby was the star of the night as Romeo. Suitably cross-dressed, she sang with a wide vocal range, giving colour to every note.

The chorus sang with their usual flair and gusto - and their dramatic moves were convincing and synchronised - they are the backbone of the company.

It was sad to see that Joan Sutherland was not present. She has attended most of her husband’s openings since her own retirement 19 years ago, at least when she was in Sydney. Maestro Richard Bonynge had the orchestra sounding balanced, fluid and ever-tuneful as for all of Bellini’s operas. The overture is a masterly piece of symphonic engineering, almost a continuous fanfare … it was one of the evening’s few high points for me.

There were a significant number of empty seats on this opening night which may reflect the company’s obvious decline in standards over recent years. Traditionally their gala openings have generally been virtually full and for this reason the company could afford to put some of them on a weekday.

This Capuleti production had its genesis in Ireland and came via Opera North with a sectarian destructive flavour appropriate to the book. Unfortunately there was little counter-balancing beauty to find in the sets, costumes or lighting to my taste. The curtain was in the form of a wall with illuminated bullet holes joined by a black line. The stage had a large quadrangular piece of stylish blond parquet with a ripped and damaged corner. In the last act much of the flooring had been rent asunder in the melee, cleverly evoking the violence in the intermission. There was much violence threatened on stage but little actually happening. One patron said it was a lesson in pacifism!

Some opera directors and designers seem to have forgotten that most fans go to the opera for the singing and the other things need to ‘fit in’ rather than the other way around. Ms Matthews was made to sing her first phrases lying on the ground facing the rear of the stage. With the odd resonation I thought for a moment we were having amplification again as in Fidelio. The apparent amplification was strenuously denied by several company people afterwards … but why was a test of recording equipment (the reason given) allowed to occur during an opening night performance? Surely this is what rehearsals are for.

I was so disengaged at one stage that I wondered just what makes an opera ‘special’, deciding that there must be something or things which raise goose flesh. With limbic reward pathways in the brain, even logical sensible people can develop a desire to revisit the experience. Samuel Johnson said it was an exotic and irrational entertainment. This is almost the definition of an addictive behaviour, including tobacco smoking. There was little or nothing in this Capuleti performance which I wanted to re-visit, so addiction was not a consideration. For those who have experienced a satisfactory performance of Lucia’s mad scene or the quartet from Rigoletto or the duets from Lakmé or Pearlfishers, they will know what I mean. If one had seen and heard the Mexico City Aida with Fabriitis, Callas and Del Monaco … or Norma with Sutherland … or Tosca with Caballe and/or Pavarotti … THEN one would be inoculated with opera for life. Just one such performance could provide dinner party stories forever.

The Saturday 15 August performance of Aida had a most impressive second cast. Claire Rutter did a mighty job with Aida, daring to risk taste and tonsil with a brief but accurate terminal high E-flat in competition with the entire Triumphal chorus, orchestra (and original score). Maria Callas had done this to great acclaim in Mexico City in 1951. Rosario La Spina was superb as Radames - I think this is his best role yet although he is not the most ‘subtle’ singer. Elizabeth Campbell as Amneris and Barry Ryan as Amonasro were both adequate. David Parkin’s Pharaoh was more comfortable and consistent than he had been on opening night. As Ramfis we heard Gennadi Dubinski who is new to me in the poorly served and important field of bass-baritones. I would say that this second cast was as worthy as opening night across the board. Some excellent casting decisions have been made for Aida. The full audience shows that a good performance of a popular opera can still get a full house.

The Nile pond, featuring prominently at the front of the stage was apparently overfilled, causing a spill into the orchestra during the first intermission. They may have needed umbrellas! The audience was kept waiting for some time while the problem as rectified. Like the loud-speaker problem in Fidelio it is hard to explain how this kind of thing could happen in a tightly run opera house. Water on stage, like amplification, needs constant minute-by-minute supervision.

These operas are still worth seeing if you are in Sydney. Capuleti has some glorious moments in what is, in my view, an imperfect opera. Aida needs no introduction and novices should consummate their acquaintance with this masterpiece before going to their next dinner party (do people still have ‘dinner parties’?).

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Andrew Byrne MB BS (Syd) FAChAM (RACP)
Dependency Medicine,
75 Redfern Street, Redfern,
New South Wales, 2016, Australia
Email - ajbyrne@ozemail.com.au
Tel (61 - 2) 9319 5524 Fax 9318 0631
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/
Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Fidelio at the Sydney Opera House.

2009-08-02T14:41:00.003+10:00

Fidelio. Ludwig van Beethoven. The Sydney Opera House. 7.30pm Thursday 30th July 2009.

Jaquino - Stephen Smith
Marzelline - Lorina Gore
Rocco - Conal Coad
Leonore - Elizabeth Stannard
Don Pizarro - Peter Coleman-Wright
Florestan - Julian Gavin
Don Fernando - Warwick Fyfe
c. Jonathan Darlington
p. Michael Hampe

Dear Colleagues,

The sublime Lisa Gasteen had pulled out some months ago – possibly due to vocal indisposition - so Nicole Youl had been engaged to do the title role … but she was also unable to sing - due to a ‘winter virus’. According to General Manager Adrian Collette’s announcement Ms Youl’s understudy, Elizabeth Stannard had been singing Ariadne auf Naxos in Melbourne during the Fidelio rehearsal period, something which is hard to understand. Hence the audience was asked for patience and understanding. Ms Stannard was a member of the company’s chorus from 1998 to 2000. Her performance was satisfactory in the circumstances and she received a strong ovation, not all just sympathy either. Nevertheless, for a first night audience expecting the advertised Ms Gasteen this was far less than adequate.

Julian Gavin was absolute perfection as Florestan, putting colour, energy and light into every note he sang. Even his opening ‘Gott!’ was done in an original manner, sounding as if he turned from facing the back of the stage towards the audience in the course of that searing note. It is just one of the imperfections of this work that a great tenor is required for less than an hour, singing only in Act II. I wonder if a prologue from happier days of yore might be an improvement. The company could have done one of the other ‘Leonora’ overtures before Act II but we seem to get nothing extra from this company any more.

For their parts, Peter Coleman-Wright and Warwick Fyfe were well cast and effective. Stephen Smith as Jaquino was top rate while the Marzelline of Lorina Gore was also excellent. Conal Coad played a fine Rocco however his voice and others were mysteriously and loudly amplified from speakers in the rear of the auditorium in numerous intermittent bungles towards the end of Act I. This created an ugly and off-putting display of electronic anti-wizardry and interrupted the otherwise excellent singing of Mr Coad as well as some classy chorus singing in the prisoners’ scene. Full marks to chorus master Michael Black! Mr Darlington’s fine conducting was another link which held the performance together despite the diverse difficulties.

To my mind there is no excuse for (nor requirement for) amplification in the opera house setting (ever!). Indeed amplifying opera singers debases their art and training. With subtitles it is no longer necessary to amplify dialogue, especially in a relatively small house with good acoustics.

I was fortunate to hear Erika Sunnegardh and Richard Margison in the Met Fidelio in 2002 … but even with lowered expectations somehow the Sydney performance was all a bit flat, especially the first half. Michael Hampe and John Gunter’s production cleverly joins the scenes of Act II. Thus they cut straight from the marvellous 'private' reconciliation dungeon duet directly to Beethoven’s very 'public' final choral tour-de-force. How this is done needs to be seen rather than tediously explained by me. Suffice it to say that it received bigger applause than some of the singing.

Still worth a visit to the Sydney Opera House …

Comments by Dr Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/

Manon Lescaut at the Sydney Opera House. Worth seeing!

2009-07-21T18:20:00.000+10:00

Manon Lescaut - Giacomo Puccini. Thurs 16th July 2009 Sydney Opera House.

Lescaut - Teddy Tahu-Rhodes
Manon - Cheryl Barker
René Des Grieux - Jorge Lopez-Yanez
Geronte di Ravoir - Richard Alexander
c. Alexander Polianichko
d. Gale Edwards

Dear Colleagues,
The opera company has pulled it out of the bag again with another ‘adequate’ performance containing enough high points to keep the crowds happy. Mr Tahu-Rhodes is a great opera singer and he was crucial to the success of the piece. However, this casting decision left a great singer without as much as a famous aria and further, it allowed him to play another ‘scallywag’ role, hardly a great dramatic feat.

Each of the principal singers used their considerable resources, showing that grand opera is always a vocal marathon. The artists deal with it variously but there are some ground rules most agree on such as resting the day before a ‘big sing’.

Mr Lopez-Yanez eschewed some high notes initially but warmed into the role of the student Des Grieux. He looks the part, and moves emotionally from adolescence to manhood in Act I between his light ‘Tra voi belle’ to the profound ‘Donna non vidi mai’.

Ms Barker is an ‘immaculate’ singer and her attention to detail in this as every role was near flawless. More important perhaps were the couple of times when she has to ‘let it rip’ and take a risk. Each of these paid off handsomely and the audience received that thrill which opera is all about. Her impetuous phrasing of ‘Tu, tu, amore tu’ contrasted with the lilting ‘In quelle trine morbide’ and finally her woeful American denouement ‘Sola, perduta, abbandonata’. For some reason she was not made up to look like the debutante we know she can portray so well.

The set and setting for act one was rather clumsy to my taste being two large unhitched stage-coaches, neither being the one Mlle Lescaut arrived on, nor either the one the lovers fled in. It was unclear why so much activity happened atop these Cobb & Co cabooses.

Act two, by contrast, was a magnificent Parisian salon with large double doors (which seemed to lead to nowhere). Unlike Massenet’s slightly earlier 5 act version, Manon is already beyond her fling with young des Grieux and in the Parisian household of rich old Geronte. It appears that Puccini wished to present an original version of the events as well as a more concise adaptation of Prevost‘s story. Auber had also written an opera on the same story 30 years earlier.

Richard Alexander played an excellent Geronte. Dominica Matthews and Stephen Smith were also fine as madrigal singer and student.

The chorus and orchestra were up to their usual high standards.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Sydney Aida by Graeme Murphy - clever spectacle, adequate singing.

2009-07-12T16:54:00.002+10:00

Aida. Sydney Opera House Tuesday 7th July 2009

Dear Colleagues,

The national company has a coup with Aida, one of the classic “ABC’s of Opera”. Along with Boheme and Carmen, these are the operas which impresarios ignore at their peril. After 12 years, Aida is back in Sydney. True to this maxim, there was hardly an empty seat for this Tuesday night opening. Dance supremo Graham Murphy has injected colour, light, movement and thought into the piece. A projected pyramid stands behind a flat illuminated triangle in which much of the intimate action takes place in this great work from 1871.

Other Egyptian motives included the Udjat eye of Horus, falcon wings, sphinx, columns with capitals, papyrus buds and lotus flowers. Some of these were literally cardboard cut-outs in black and white while others were enormous models. There was frequent projection of hieroglyphics onto the set, mostly of the Middle Kingdom classic written script rather than the more impressive coloured raised relief seen on Old Kingdom temples, obelisks and tombs. There were no pharaoh’s cartouches to tell us the period … although this story could have happened at almost any time in Egyptian history - except the 25th dynasty when the Ethiopians put their own southern pharaoh on the Egyptian throne.

American soprano Tamara Wilson sang the title role with flare and verve. She has an effortless and impeccable vocal production. However, at 27 years, this is still a young voice with many more life experiences to add further maturity and deeper expression.

Korean Mr Dongwon Shin passed the ultimate test for the tenor by conquering Celeste Aida. Unlike many tenors, he was more secure at the end than at the beginning. Remarkably, he sang the final words ‘… vicino al sol’ (‘close to the sun’) with a final diminuendo … and then repeated the words an octave lower! I have never heard it sung this way live or on recordings but I was told by one singer this is the way it was intended by Verdi. Mr Shin also maintained his vocal form both for forte contributions as in the big chorus scenes as well as in piano sections such as the final duet, O terra addio.

Ms Nikolic managed the role of Amneris, using her height and stage presence to support her vocal powers. With some clever devices, such as clipping initial notes, she brought herself up to this gigantean role. But Ms Nikolic did not dominate vocal proceedings as should probably be the case in this opera. Some say the opera should be called “Amneris”! It is a shame that the audience was not able to hear a truly great opera singer in this role as before (eg. Cullen, Elkins, Connell, Elms).

Michael Lewis acquitted himself well as Amonasro. This dramatically important role still seems somehow vocally unrewarding. He does not get any of the ‘hit’ tunes, and he is not involved in the opening or closing moments of the drama.

None of the other cast members really shone out … but none was inadequate either. While Mr Shin and Ms Wilson each had an artistic success, it seems intriguing that they were chosen ahead of the numerous Australian singers of comparable or better repute.

English Conductor Richard Armstrong seemed to keep a governor on the tempi, rather like the flow of the Nile. At times one longed for some variation in this measured movement. The AOB orchestra was back, making glorious music in their confined pit, having missed the season opening. They were replaced for the Purcell and Handel works by a baroque ensemble (and THAT is another story). The brass was particularly secure this time around and six of their members played ceremonial trumpets on stage in costume … only to be briefly flummoxed by the sliding ‘people-mover’ which jerked them to a precipitous halt in mid-bar.

The all-essential chorus was well prepared musically and they did major on-stage choreography including synchronised lines of lateral movement.

The production suffered from the dictum ‘when in doubt, add more’ with some aspects being overdone. The use of a conveyor belt at the front of the stage started during the introductory music with Aida gliding across the stage while admiring and caressing a silent and statuesque Radames. This paired moving footway was used for people going in both directions, individually and in groups. Unfortunately, this clever apparatus became a distraction and was overdone. Did they have to justify its installation or its inventor? Other motifs, tricks and devices were used with taste and due reserve. Wings of Horus, Anubis, Thoth and mummy masks were in evidence. The costumes were fittingly sumptuous, featuring leopard skins and gold raiment.

Dance was an integral part of this opera - as originally intended for the Paris opera style. Murphy presented the audience with 8 dancers performing a complex and varied routine of original and tasteful callisthenics at the appropriate musical and dramatic moments. This was very special choreography and superb dancing of the highest order. And it received as large a round of applause as any of the singing.

Like his Turandot, this Aida production by Graeme Murphy will serve the company well as long as they use adequate singers. Once upon a time this company had sufficient resources to mount two parallel star casts for this great work, very largely from their own ranks. Now they cannot muster one. Sign of the times?

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

New York in spring: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/

Shul notes: http://cantorialcrossoverculture.blogspot.com/

Il Trovatore at the Met: May 2009

2009-05-29T20:22:00.001+10:00

Il Trovatore, Met Opera, Friday 8th May 2009 8pm.

Conductor - Riccardo Frizza
Manrico - Marco Berti
Count De Luna - Zeljko Lucic
Leonora - Hasmik Papian
Azucena - Mzia Nioradze
Ferrando - Burak Bilgili
Inez - Laura Vlasak Nolen

This David McVicar opera production was a major improvement to the Graham Vick fiasco of 2001 yet it still had its weaknesses and one shocking event which I believe is beyond any good taste (see below).

Utilising the full revolve of the Met stage, the opera opened, like Don Giovanni, to an enormous wall with attached ‘full-height’, vertiginous stairway-to-heaven with a landing and a door mid-way. This became the backbone of the various scenes, front, side and angled. The sets were not fully realistic but stylised using rough rocks, a portcullis, monastic items, crucifix, anvils and enormous outdoor stake for burning witches.

The cast members were all excellent with the artists warming into their roles and vocal confidence improved in each of the 4 acts. There was one intermission between act 2 and 3 which added to the task for the principal singers.

Ms Papian as Leonora paced herself carefully for this long role but was unassailable by the last act where her D’amor sull’ali rosee and Miserere were followed by the fiendish cabaletta ‘Tu vedrai che amore in terra’ to great acclaim. Ms Nioradze was strong and dramatically credible as the gypsy witch.

As Manrico Mr Berti was excellent. His almost impossible task of “Ah si ben mio ..”, followed by “Di quella pira” was well executed (one verse of the latter). And there were cheers all round at his capable and exciting terminal high C.

At one point Mr Lucic as De Luna pulls out his sword, grasps it with his left hand and runs the blade through his clenched fingers to the sight of spurting blood which then haemorrhages visibly for the remainder of the scene. On his exit he wipes a red stain onto the castle wall. I found the unexpected episode to be shocking and the audience seemed to gasp and recoil as it was done. It was most distracting and unnecessary, bearing little relation to the story-line (such as it is). If it derived from the libretto (which I doubt) it also distracted from the words, music and subtitles. Blood brothers may be one thing, but self mutilation on stage is quite another.

Lucic’s ‘Il balen’ was a high point vocally along with the chorus and cabaletta following.

Mr Bilgili and Ms Nolen as Ferrando and Inez both had substantial and important voices which would have eclipsed lesser singers in the major roles.

The anvil chorus deserves special commendation, being the only realistic anvil use on stage I have seen. The chorus members were at one, strong-voiced and sympathetic to the piece. By chance the same week the Met was also performing the only other anvil song I know from opera. The first act of Wagner’s Siegfried makes quite a different, energetic workman‘s song - first performed 20 years after Verdi’s version.

Overall a very enjoyable performance … but a production which shows just how difficult it is to present this opera without major breaks and clunky scene changes. I vote for two or even three intermissions as Verdi intended.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Cenerentola at the Met: May 2009

2009-05-08T11:22:00.008+10:00

Cenerentola (Cinderella) Rossini Wed 6th May ‘09. The Metropolitan Opera, New York City.

The first person on stage in this brilliant comedy was Australian soprano Rachelle Durkin as an ‘ugly sister’. The title role was sung by sensational young Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca (pictured above in Met publicity shot). She played the perfect ‘ash to cash’ heroine including the final magnificent ‘atonement’ tour-de-force Naqui all’affano. She has a smooth, large and exciting voice without a hint of strain over a wide range.

African American tenor Lawrence Brownlee was also excellent, along with Corbelli, Alberghini and Relyea as the fine bass-baritone roles in this hilarious romp. Corbelli as the Baron on this occasion had played Prince Ramiro in 1997 showing both his versatility and longevity.

Mounted for Cecilia Bartoli, the 1997 production by Cesare Lievi is a fantasy with many clever and amusing moments. Conductor Maurizio Bennini.

The evening was filmed by ‘floating’ cameras in the auditorium and I gather is to be broadcast ‘live’ this Saturday (31st May in Australia). These Met broadcasts have brought high quality opera to every corner of the world - and at much lower cost than sitting in the opera house itself. Subsequent DVDs become available at modest cost, putting opera within reach of almost anyone.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

For my original notes on the premiere of this production in 1997 see
http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/1997/10/review-metropolitan-opera-premiere-of.php4

New York in springtime: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/2009/04/manhattan-in-spring-2009-wagner-and.html

The Ring at the Met April/May 2009

2009-05-08T07:36:00.003+10:00

The Ring operas Metropolitan Opera, New York. Starting on Monday 26th April 2009 Brief notes.

Das Rheingold was a triumph in almost every respect. The cast was led by German bass baritone Albert Dohmen as Wotan. His voice is accurate and warm with a strong high range as well as a reasonable low extension. He did not tire in the three operas whose drama Wotan the Wanderer fashions by his arrogance and miscalculations.

This may be the last time Domingo as Siegmund could or should do this ‘handsome teenager’ role in Walkure. But people may have said that 4 years ago when he did the same role in the same house, and he is still incredible. No reservations, not even the slightest vocally even though his old age naturally shows up the closer one sits. Unfortunately, he became ill during the Walkure of the following week and had to be replaced by Gary Lehman before the Wintersturm aria.

Rene Pape did the rather unrewarding role of Hunding while Adrianne Pieczonka was his beautiful and effective Sieglinde.

Katarina Dalayman is a glorious Brunnhilde. For absolutely no apparent reason she was loudly booed by a single man in the upper part of the theater and everyone (including the singer) seemed shocked. She had sung superbly. Her voice has a controlled hard steely edge just on occasions when she really wants to use it, such as some sopranos may have in a completely uncontrolled manner. So she has gifts, like a trill (and she’s got that too!), which just put her in her own league above the ordinary. An excellent Linda Watson did the Siegfried Brunnhilde for some reason - perhaps Ms Dalayman was too thin.

Christian Franz as Siegfried was excellent and did not appear to tire up to his untimely but rather necessary death. The ‘woofle’ heard from him on the broadcast the week before was almost completely absent in the theater on Saturday to my ear.

The cast of the whole Ring is balanced and nobody let the side down. Equally, no single singer particularly dominated either vocally or by taking the dramatic lime-light. Orchestra, soloists, chorus were all in top form. Maestro James Levine received multiple rapturous receptions at each act and final curtain.

This production of the Ring by Otto Schenk is now a museum piece. Like the liner QEII, it is 19th century technology and simply cannot be continued indefinitely. It has scrims, pulleys, models, back-lighting, anvils and every trick of the stage … but is now dated and in some cases tatty and nearing obsolescence. The scrim front paired curtains still failed to operate properly but it hardly mattered. There were a few clunks and squeaks between scenes (but for all I know these may have been present 20 years ago). To my best knowledge this production follows most closely to what Wagner ordered in his very detailed staging instructions. This includes underwater simulations, people disappearing on stage, transmutations, dragons being killed, smelting, rope binding, cooking, etc, etc. I was told by a Wagner expert that only Vienna in living memory has done comparable Rhine operas.

I have been fortunate enough to see this in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2009 but this is the end of the line, sad to tell. A preview of the new proposed Met Ring on Tuesday 5th May was cancelled for some reason, hence little more is known about it.

I think that the Met is probably the only opera company to make money out of Wagner. The huge capacity opera house with excellent acoustics are factors. In their lead up, the company does two or three weekday performances of the two more popular operas, Rheingold and Walkure. The ‘first cycle’ is broadcast series of Saturday matinees over 5 weeks. These are broadcast live internationally (except Australia, of course). The company then does two complete cycles of Mon, Tues, Thurs and Sat of Rheingold, Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung. Tickets were available for every performance of this particular cycle. Top seats were $400 but there were many seats available for prices down to $65 with standing room half that only available on the week of the operas. This is a sign of the times which are affecting New York as much or more. Restaurants, shops and businesses that have been going for generations are closing down. Hickey Freeman, Balducci, City Opera, OONY, Carnegie Hall have all been affected with ‘bail-out’ specials offered by many who are still trading.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Crikey commentary on languishing opera company.

2009-04-15T18:00:00.000+10:00

http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/09/08/letter-to-opera-australia/

Opera Australia in shifty AGM lock-down

Our national opera company continues to behave like a naughty adolescent instead of the mature adult of 50 which it is. For the past few years one rule after another has been broken and nobody is holding the present management to account.

Uniquely, this year’s OA Annual General Meeting will be in Melbourne. No problem with that, but by the time it was announced, it was too late for Victorian subscribers to register. Also, many others from interstate will be unable to attend due to the awkward timing of 3pm on “Easter” Thursday April 9.

For the first time in a decade I did not received a notice about the AGM. I called the company to be told that I am no longer a voting “member”, despite fulfilling the simple criteria of contributing $160 to the company in a given year. I donate a modest sum each year and have two subscriptions. It may be that I did not tick the appropriate box or filled out the right form with my subscription or donations. Whatever, other subscribers and supporters may have done likewise. I now have the application forms but it is too late to register for this year’s meeting. Touché!

I discussed this matter with a current company insider. He also found it particularly odd, especially for a company supposedly open to public scrutiny and currently in the process of finding new artistic and musical administrators.

One wonders if holding a meeting away from head office at short notice on the Easter break is a sign of a “closed shop”. From various blogs and talk-back radio we know that there are some opera subscribers who are still keen to attend the AGM and possibly propose motions from the floor. Good luck, I say!

Back to the stage: like marathon runners, opera singers and their teachers have long held that sufficient rest is needed to recuperate from a “big sing” for their own health and vocal longevity. Most of the great operatic roles are in this category and famous singers of history would rarely do more than two such performances per week. To assist with the bottom line, Opera Australia has obliged singers to perform with just one day’s break on many occasions in the past few seasons. Some instances were of a Thursday evening performance and then a Saturday matinee, making even less than 48 hours between shows, a risk to tension and tonsil alike.

The company’s “Mission Statement” makes it clear that the company is to be involved (only) in opera and opera singers, purveying “opera of excellence that excites audiences and develops and sustains the art form in Australia”. For this it receives substantial government funding both State and Federal. There is no mention of musical comedy in the Mission Statement.

The Sydney opera gala opening for 2008 was My Fair Lady which ran for one of the longest seasons ever (in three different theatres!). The show did not employ many opera singers, nor did it fulfil the obligations of the mission statement. While the company does Gilbert and Sullivan operettas every few years at the end of the season, we now find musical comedy as a major activity, clearly at the expense of mainstream opera. Other companies perform high quality musical comedies but there are few alternative providers of opera. Tax payers might well ask where their funds are going. While the company justifies this by box office receipts, they could also install poker machines in the Green Room with the same outcome to profits.

The final paragraph of the company’s Mission Statement says that they will: “Be rigorous in self-examination and open to informed, outside evaluation of both our successes and failures”. I can see no sign of this from management or board.

Until there is a catharsis, absolution and re-statement of intention from management I for one will remain sceptical about this board deciding on the new musical and artistic administrators. It is more like a war cabinet, delightful and open individually perhaps, but secretive and closed to its public as a board.

One wishes the company well in the search for new leadership. There is still much to admire aboard this rudderless ship. One guide from this perplexed subscriber might be that rather than a profit, this company needs a prophet to lead it out of its current woes. An open discussion at a well attended AGM would do no harm either.

Dr Byrne runs an addiction clinic in Redfern, NSW.

Werther and Butterfly at Sydney Opera House.

2009-03-22T20:57:00.003+11:00

‘Werther’ by Massenet at Sydney Opera House Thurs 12th March 2009
Madame Butterfly long summer/autumn season continued on 16th March.

Dear readers,

Werther is being performed with a marvellous cast in Sydney for the next week or so and Massenet fans should not miss out. The opening played to a half empty house on Thursday in stark contrast to Monday’s excellent performance of Madame Butterfly which was packed out.

An expert on French opera wrote that Werther is ‘one of Massenet’s finest creations’ and that the title role a great part for a truly gifted tenor … and apparently many famous tenors claimed it as one of their favourites.

Still a Werther novice, I managed to raise a few goose bumps but nothing to compare with Manon … which may be just unfamiliarity and ignorance of the genre on my part.

This Elijah Moshinsky production is very clever (a shame his name is spelt Moshinksy in the cast list). The opera opened with a huge silk sheet covering almost everything on stage: tables, chairs, bicycle, toys, fence, etc. As the prelude progressed it was gradually pulled away, ‘sucked’ into a hole in the middle of the stage! A weird and wonderful way to expose the scena of bright green grass, garden furniture, classic entrance architrave, etcetera.

Aldo Di Toro, a graduate of WA Conservatorium, played the title role with flair and confidence. He was little short of magnificent in both vocal lines and characterisation as well as cutting a fine figure on stage. His only great pot-boiler, “Pourquoi me reveiller” was indeed moving (and the only part of the opera I really warm to). After shooting himself in the next scene the drama seemed interminable … but of course others will disagree and want it even longer. I compare it with the (female) death scene of Manon which I once found boring but now adore every note!

Canadian mezzo-soprano Michele Losier was engaged at the last minute as Charlotte since Pamela Helen Steven had withdrawn after the tragic death of her husband, Richard Hickox. Ms Losier was very fine, saving the best to the last act. It is still odd that an Australian mezzo-sopranos was not asked to do the role (Kirsti Harms had a major success in the last run). Soprano Sarah Crane as Sophie was also well cast in her couple of memorable scenes (Taryn Fiebig was originally billed to do the role). The supporting and character roles were also excellent, notably Stephen Smith as Schmidt and Stephen Bennett as Le Bailli.

The orchestra was conducted by Emmanuel Plasson, a most didactic, athletic maestro who nearly danced on his podium at times.

The result was very high quality opera yet one looked around the auditorium with regret considering all the empty seats. It is clear that Sydney only has a small audience for these lesser known operas. People who are keen on these ‘connoisseur’ pieces will travel for such performances. But nobody is on a limitless budget and so to have Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the same time may be asking too much for this ‘niche’ audience. Some must have agonised about which to see, especially when neither sadly were being televised or put onto video, as far as I know. The same was true of Billy Budd and Makropulos Case being done simultaneously last year, a financial disaster one suspects at the same time as triumphs artistically, but not committed to video which is yet another fault of the current management and board who seem to believe that nothing matters but the bottom line.

Just as there are more Papaganos in this world than Taminos … so there is a large base of subscribers who pay top money for what one might call the “DEF” of opera or the middle ranking or timelessly popular operas: Tosca, Rigoletto, Trovatore, Traviata, Pearlfishers, Cav/Pag, Faust, Cosi, Don Pasquale, Flying Dutchman, Barber, Cenerentola, (there are 25-50 more in this category). There is less interest in the rarer master-pieces (including Britten, Janacek, R. Strauss, etc) despite their undoubted success artistically … even if savants wax lyrical about the details … these are works which have rarely filled opera houses for very long.

It is still a privilege to be able to attend a range of such operas, faults and all, at some distance from the rest of the world with a relatively small population base as Sydney and Melbourne. It is to be hoped that the new artistic and musical director of the company will be able to bring more balance and cohesion to things. For a start, the company needs to follow some basic rules of the theatre. The second performance of Werther was a hair-raising 48 hours after the opening instead of 72, the traditional minimum for grand opera. No excuses!

Madama Butterfly - Monday 16th March 2009 - Sydney Opera House.

I had wanted to hear the second cast of the Puccini only to find that Antoinette Halloran had finished her run and Cheryl Barker was back as Cio-cio-san 10 weeks later in this long season. She did not disappoint, after a rather shaky start in which her high notes developed an ugly beat (Joan Sutherland used to do the same), she then warmed up to give a memorable dramatic delivery. Rosario La Spina was Pinkerton. He appears to have put on more weight but his glorious voice is still perfect for this part. I am getting goose-bumps just writing about it. His Addio fiorito asil was sensational.

Catherine Carby played a suitably mournful Suzuki. Barry Ryan was an adequate ambassador, also doleful. Particularly moving was Andrew Jones as Yamadori. It is nice to hear a large, beautiful, well projected voice in someone who can act as well.

This opera is indeed a ‘recession buster’. After a half empty Thursday night gala opening of Werther last week we now had a packed and enthusiastic house on a non-subscription Monday night. I did not recognise one single face in the theatre or foyers or bars or taxi queue … which is unusual for ‘small-town’ Sydney. It may indicate a new or different audience. There was no cruise liner in dock and most looked like relaxed locals, out for the night. I suppose regular opera goers who wanted to hear Butterfly had already had their many chances. And there is still another performance next Monday.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Andrew Byrne MB BS (Syd) FAChAM (RACP)
Dependency Medicine,
75 Redfern Street, Redfern,
New South Wales, 2016, Australia
Email - ajbyrne@ozemail.com.au
Tel (61 - 2) 9319 5524 Fax 9318 0631
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/
Concord Seminar blog: http://concorddependency.blogspot.com/
Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/2009/01/resplendent-madame-butterfly-at-sydney.php4

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk - Sydney Opera House 3 March 09.

2009-03-07T13:42:00.004+11:00

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk - Sydney Opera House Tuesday 3rd March 2009.

Katerina - Susan Bullock
Zinovy - David Corcoran
Boris - John Wegner
Sergei - Simon O’Neill
Orthodox Priest - Gennadi Dubinsky
Police Chief - Warwick Fyfe
Drunkard - Kanen Breen
Convict - Jud Arthur
Female convict/Cook - Jacqueline Dark
Sergeant - Richard Alexander

Conductor - Richard Armstrong
Director - Francesca Zambello
Chorus master - Michael Black
First Violin - Aubrey Murphy

Music - Dmitry Shostakovich
Libretto by Alexander Preis and the composer
In English, with titles.

Dear Colleagues,

This re-staging was one of the most raunchy, “in-your-face” musical-vocal dramas I have ever seen. It was also one of the best cast operas we have seen from the national company. Clearly the company management knew what it was doing when aiming at excellence. In a huge cast, they chose high quality international stars as well as local talent incredibly well matched to the stage and vocal requirements. Kanen Breen as the frail drunkard almost stole the show in his brilliant scene and sequel. Warwick Fyfe likewise as police commissioner took control with his vocal power and rough edges, perfectly suited to the role.

Russian born bass Gennadi Dubinsky sang and acted a creditable Orthodox priest, compulsively lying to his flock as priests do. I gather this talented man has been hidden as an understudy. The company seems not to give their ‘cover’ singers exposure like the Met and elsewhere. And sometimes the ‘covers’ are better than the engaged performers.

The major stars of the night were tenor Simon O’Neill and soprano Susan Bullock. With these incredibly taxing vocal roles they both also acted creditably in what was everything from rape, assault, conspiracy, double murder, sex on stage and final denouement of suicide and abandonment in Siberia. The sex may have been simulated … but in three or more Karma Sutra positions in an excruciating burst of energy. The orchestral accompaniment included double bassoon and tuba in over-drive along with rhythmic cadences, hasty progressions and hesitations followed by major plosive ejaculations. There was some brief tenderness but only very brief.

Ms Bullock has a large, focussed and radiant soprano voice. She has sung Brunhilde at Covent Garden. Her portrayal here was highly effective as she looked sexy and revealed the longings of a neglected young wife.

The philandering lover, Simon O’Neill, although cutting an imposing figure, sang and acted brilliantly. His voice is penetrating, accurate and beautiful. His CV is staggering, including Florestan, Siegmund and Parsifal.

John Wegner played the father in law who is eventually killed by rat bait in the mushrooms after gratuitous taunts and violence. As always, he was vocally and dramatically exemplary.

Shostakovich chose a dour and depressing story for his shocking opera. Almost everything represented if is drab and boring. The opera covered much that is negative in life, starting with just one precipitated extra-marital fling. We were made to feel the cold, hunger, boredom, crowd anger, filth, alcoholism, violence, loveless marriage, hateful in-laws and destitution. For me at least, balancing beauty was hard to find. The sets were appropriately drab: white dirty bathroom tiles, plastic props, single strip fluorescent lights. The clothing was all dreary. Yet this undoubted masterpiece is lost on me (and a lot of patrons who did not return after the intermission).

There was some contrast with the final death camp scene including a rousing chorus of prisoners and some of the brass sections from the auditorium raised goose bumps on even this crusty subscriber’s flesh. The chorus, orchestra and conductor deserve the highest acclaim in this challenging and unfamiliar work.

The opera company management assembled all the elements which make for truly great opera. It was the second time recently that this was done (Billy Budd was the other). Like my criticism at that time, it is a great tragedy for Shostakovich fans that this will apparently not be televised or videoed. It is unlikely that such a strong cast and production will be assembled anywhere in the world for a very long time. In stark contrast to this world-class opera production, most of the other season operas have glaring deficits with few international standard star artists. This opera had three or four (or five if you include the conductor).

The clear ‘quality bias’ of the company towards the 20th century repertoire (eg. Makropulos Case and Arabella - which were also excellent) is a boon for opera goers who like that sort of thing. However, as a result many standard repertory works are performed on a mediocre level and others displaced altogether by long seasons of over-exposed popular works (La Boheme, Carmen, Butterfly and My Fair Lady). In this way, subscribers may have been deprived of choices (and opera singers of jobs, experience and exposure). There is also a dearth of star performers in these works, most clearly exemplified in the embarrassing La Boheme season which was shown on “ABCTV-2”, a station some sets don’t even receive. In the circumstances that might be as well.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Joan Sutherland Society concert at St Pauls Burwood.

2009-02-22T19:08:00.003+11:00

Lucia di Lammermoor 50th Anniversary Concert. Sunday 15th February 2009 2pm. St Paul’s Church, Burwood.

Dear Reader,

Doug Cremer and the Joan Sutherland Society have done themselves proud with an afternoon of great singing at St Paul's Church in the presence of some divas of the past and the present.

Lauris Elms, Morag Beaton, Malcolm Donnelly and Amanda Thane were in the audience to support the younger singers in an adventurous program. There were 2 Lieder excerpts (Brahms), grand opera (Bizet, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner) with two Italian canzone (Musica proibita; Cor ingrato) and three items from light operas/musicals (If I were a rich man; Gendames' duet; Anything you can do). The afternoon finished with the rather rude English folk song 'Oliver Cromwell' which ends "If you want any more you can sing it yourself!"

The afternoon was compered by tenor Glenn Winslade. Sharolyn Kimmorley played the ivories with aplomb as ever. I hope she is never taken for granted. We were reminded that Ms Kimmorley was belatedly honoured in this year’s Australia Day awards for her services to singing and singers. With ease she straddled the different styles, solos, duets and two large concerted pieces, turning pages on her own.

The hit of the afternoon for me was Daniel Sumegi singing Banquo's aria from 'that opera'. It shows off his deep, expressive voice in a more dynamic way than in Mozart. As in Nabucco, he reaches the heights and limits of his fach ... and the genre. Then, to show his versatility he joined in the Lucia sextet, “We run them in” duet (with John Wegner) and finally the "I can do anything" duet (with Domenica Matthews).

Mr Wegner was splendid in ‘If I were a rich man’ from Fiddler on the Roof as well as doing a great rendition of Escamillo's difficult Toreador aria.

Michael Lewis and his wife Nicole Youl sang some fine Brahms to kick off the program, first reading the English translations for our benefit which was most helpful. Lewis then sang the first act baritone aria from Lucia (‘Cruda funesta’) including the fiendishly difficult cabaletta.

Ms Youl sang Dich teure Halle with confidence, strength and that edge Wagnerian sopranos need. Perhaps this is the direction she is headed after the current excellent Santuzzas finished up this weekend.

In the absence of the indisposed Mr Andrew Goodwin, Christopher Hillier, a baritone in the OA chorus, stood in at short notice, singing a very fine 'Bella si come un angelo' from Don Pasquale as well as Musica proibita. Both were class acts indeed for his light and pleasant voice.

Stephen Smith, with his indelible Pacific smile sang 'Una furtiva lagrima', followed in the second half by Cor Ingrato. He also featured prominently in the sextet from Lucia. After a great success as a very energetic Beppe in Pagliacci this season, he is a talent to watch.

Domenica Matthews and Teresa la Rocca did the program's first opera excerpt, Hoffmann's famous 'Barcarolle'. They both also sang in the Lucia sextet ‘Che mi freni’ while Ms la Rocca sang a creditable ‘E strano .. Ah forse lui .. Sempre Libera’ from La Traviata. She tackled the hard options on both, each at her considerable and exciting limits.

This concert was in memory of Deborah Riedel who died recently after a long battle with cancer. The speaker reminded us of her magnificent Norma duet at a previous St Paul’s concert with Fiona Janes as Adalgesa.

We were told to look forward to the next event in which it is hoped Dame Joan and Richard Bonynge may ajudicate the most deserving young singers.

Unsurprisingly there was no (apparent) representative of the opera company present - but that is just what happens in a company bereft of direction. At a recent performance of Cav/Pag I attended there was no accompanist for the Siciliana which Dennis O'Neill bravely sang in its entirety alone, happily ending the long aria on the right note for the massive orchestral segue. Does the company have any standards? The singing was very fine yet the house was not well sold and there is a feeling of inertia rather than enthusiasm. Let's hope there is a renaissance under new management, and soon.

Comments by Andrew Byrne.

Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/#news

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/2009/01/resplendent-madame-butterfly-at-sydney.php4

The Magic Flute. Sydney Opera House. Thursday 22nd Jan 2009. Don't miss it!

2009-01-28T13:15:00.002+11:00

The Magic Flute. Sydney Opera House. 7.30pm Thursday 22nd Jan 2009.

Dear Colleagues,

This David Freeman production is a smash hit for the Sydney Summer Festival and I recommend everyone should consider getting a ticket if they like that sort of thing or if they are new to Flute. Don’t be put off by the price since tickets are freely available from $42 mid-week … in restricted view positions in the middle loges - Y / B which were empty on opening night. While I find this opera (or ‘singspiel’ more correctly) has long dull patches, it is still a favourite with audiences down the ages. And it contains some of the most glorious arias ever written, linked as they are by a somewhat tiresome text akin to a pantomime or moral play. Glyndebourne had the right idea 20 years ago by cutting all the talking!

My comments are incomplete as I had to leave shortly after the second Queen of Night’s aria - which was brilliantly sung by Emma Pearson. She was indeed a splendid Queen of Night in every respect. After her stratospheric second aria she received a roar of cheers and acclaim from the audience. Her vocal and dramatic performance had been dazzling indeed - including her first act O zittre nicht which was sung sitting in an oversized alabaster illuminated quarter moon suspended by wires high above the stage. She deserves risk money!

Daniel Sumegi as Sarastro sings the haunting In diesen heil'gen Hallen which has some of the lowest notes written. The previous aria had the highest! Mozart must have been a mean machine … or else he disliked singers!

It seemed curious that Emma Matthews was playing Pamina again since she is so ideally suited to the great coloratura roles like Lucia. Marilyn Horne said in a master class that once a soprano had the fiendishly difficult Ach! Ich fuhls ‘in the voice’, the rest of this role was a ‘walk-over’. Matthews’ Konstanze in Seraglio two years ago was excellent and perfectly suited to her remarkably agile voice. She could also sing the Queen of Night I imagine.

Warwick Fyfe as the bird man was a bit ‘rough and ready’ and the dialogue he was given sounded ‘Ocker’ and even embarrassing at times. He even came on stage with his personal barbecue and tinnies. And he has a large voice and sings in tune.

Kanen Breen was Monostatos and this is possibly the best thing I have seen/heard him do. And his mostly original dialogue, being quite poignant with the new white house incumbent this past week. Stephen Bennett is back as an excellent Masonic mentor, as was his priestly partner in Graham MacFarlane.

Mr Goodwin makes a fine Tamino, a difficult role somewhere between cantor singing and performing in a radio play. The high point for me is the famous portrait aria.

Ollivier-Phillipe Cuneo conducted confidently and the brass players did themselves proud on this occasion.

The clever and quirky production looks to be set in the Amazon jungle … vines and unexpected animals/birds everywhere in dark shadows. Other sections seem to take place in a giant pietra dura jewel box. As valid as any other interpretation, I suppose, considering it is a fantasy work … and Schikaneder would probably be delighted (the impresario also played Papageno at the opening). It is amazing to know that this was written in the same period as La Clemenza di Tito in the final months of Mozart’s short but productive life.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/#news

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/2009/01/resplendent-madame-butterfly-at-sydney.php4

New York in 2008: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/

Cav and Pag compete favourably with Sydney Festival.

2009-01-15T23:25:00.001+11:00

Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci at the Sydney Opera House Sat 10th Jan 2009

Cavalleria Rusticana - Mascagni
Turiddù - Dennis O’Neill
Santuzza - Nicole Youl
Mama Lucia - Jaqueline Dark
Alfio - Jonathan Summers
Lola - Domenica Matthews

I Pagliacci - Leoncavallo
Tonio - Jonathan Summers
Canio - Dennis O’Neill
Nedda - Amelia Farrugia
Peppe - Stephen Smith
Silvio - José Carbo
Directed by Andrew Sinclair
Sets by Shaun Gurton
Conductor Andrea Licata

Dear Colleagues,

Renowned baritone Jonathan Summers provided the dramatic and to some extent the vocal focus for this pair of immaculate thriller operas. He demonstrated a staggering depth of character, volume and texture of vocal line and showed what it is to be a star of the operatic stage. At the end of his moving prologue aria “Si puo?“ he nailed an A flat which seemed unassailable.

His tenor counterpart in both operas was Welshman Dennis O’Neill who showed equal mastery of the art. Again, there were fast, slow, high and low to show off his prodigious talents, nowhere more so than in the clown’s dressing-room aria, ‘Vesti la giubba’.

Ms Youl was ideally suited to the role of Santuzza. Her ‘Regina cœli’ and ‘Ineggiamo’ scene was high art indeed with the freeze/flashback very cleverly staged using blacked out rear and fly lighting with linear precision indicating pews in a church. The return to the village square and conversation between the excommunicated and mother in law seemingly seamless.

Ms Farrugia played a suitable Nedda and had all it takes dramatically and vocally even though the role is unlike her usual (everyone has to be adaptable in this day and age). Ms Domenica Matthews played a sexy and detached Lola.

Village lover Silvio was played brilliantly by Jose Carbo. This smaller role is often left to a lesser talent but Mr Carbo looked the part in white poplin, his voice coming over as confident, even and large, befitting his engagement at La Scala this year.

I had forgotten that after the scripted bloodshed, Canio stabs himself at the end of I Pagliacci which was an added dramatic shock to an action-packed evening of opera.

Mr Licata conducted with gusto and flair with all points going to the woodwinds and the prominent scoring especially for flute and bassoon. I must say that again there were jarring noises from the brass, evidently the trumpet section on several occasions and one wonders if there is a problem there needing attention.

I note from the new season schedule that the company is still calling on singers to do major roles with only one day’s break on occasions. Nobody in the company seems to heed history, medical and occupational health experts, singing teachers or agents. The company gives … and the company takes away. It is like the editor’s decision being so very final. If our singers had a strong union like the orchestra this would never have been allowed to happen, at least not without serious danger money being paid.

It is hard to imagine that the opera company management has such entrenched problems when opera of this high standard is being put on. Yet operas are scheduled 2 to 3 years ahead of time … and the first two operas of the season are repeats of standard repertoire using known talents with little if any ‘risk’ or exposure.

Following the sudden death of maestro Richard Hickox in November, another untimely and tragic loss this past week will also impact upon opera in Australia with the passing of soprano Deborah Riedel after a long battle with cancer. Our sympathies and thoughts go to her family and friends at this difficult time.

Ms Riedel, 50, had prodigious talents in both dramatic and coloratura roles. Her stage skills were well honed and she had consistently favourable notices in her formidable international career. She sang in many of the great opera houses and worked with some of the world’s top talents including Jose Carreras, Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge. Despite this, and along with numerous other top Australian artists, Ms Riedel was engaged less and less by the national company in favour of a small group of younger, ‘safer’ and perhaps more amenable female singers. The opera company’s initial media release (since corrected) had Ms Riedel performing in the 50th anniversary gala concert when in fact she was in the audience. It is all very sad. Rest in peace. The funeral is on Friday morning.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/#news

Resplendent Madame Butterfly at Sydney Opera House.

2009-01-03T13:15:00.003+11:00

Madame Butterfly - Sydney Opera House Tuesday 30th December 2008, 7.30pm.

Cio-cio-san - Cheryl Barker
Pinkerton - Julian Gavin
Sharpless - Barry Ryan
Suzuki - Catherine Carby
Cond. - Shao-Chia Lu

Dear Colleagues,

This performance of Butterfly was a triumph in every way. It was a worthy outing of Puccini’s masterpiece and an important psychological threshold for a company under stress from several angles, culminating in the sudden death of Maestro Richard Hickox last month in the UK.

Ms Barker is unrivalled in Australia today as Cio-cio-san. While she did this role in 1997 with charm and poise, the intervening years have not diminished her powers. Puccini’s heroine is one of the most difficult operatic characters, needing to look like a delicate Japanese teenager yet sing like a Walkurie!

Returned Australian Julian Gavin is every bit of the international star tenor and his Pinkerton is worthy indeed. The voice is well supported and secure up to a resplendent top. His dramatic presence is such that he was given some ‘in character’ boos at the end. Puccini and his librettists made sure that this role was the ultimate insult for American foreign policy … some things never change … but this IS opera, after all!

Barry Ryan looks and sounds like a competent comprimario singer which is just fine for an embassy delegate, especially one without an aria. The other brief but important roles were also well cast.

Not since the Sutherland days had I seen virtually every single seat occupied at the Sydney Opera House. Balcony boxes, rear rows and standing room were all occupied … and few if any tickets appeared to have been given away, a common practice last season. On the other hand, an ambitious season of 23 performances may be stretching the opera market beyond its boundaries. Also, the season opening, usually the 2nd or 3rd of January, had been advanced by 4 days, altering the plans of all Gala patrons who renewed. This strategy appears to have paid off so far. Those wishing to hear the vocal and dramatic chemistry between Julian Gavin and Ms Barker will have to be quick as they only sing together for another 5 performances with the season continuing for three full months (with cast changes).

The orchestra under Taiwanese Mr Lu played well but we seem to have to tolerate frequent blurts and off pitch notes from the brass section, over which Mr Lu probably has little control.

I personally find this production irritating and unsympathetic. It seems to be a slowed down version of Miss Saigon which has the same story line. Yet it is popular with the crowds and that is what matters these days.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Andrew Byrne MB BS (Syd) FAChAM (RACP)
Dependency Medicine,
75 Redfern Street, Redfern,
New South Wales, 2016, Australia
Email - ajbyrne@ozemail.com.au
Tel (61 - 2) 9319 5524 Fax 9318 0631
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clinic web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/
Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/
New York in 2008: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/
New York in 1922: http://bpresent.com/harry/code/10b_bowery.php
Travel log: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/2007/10/lord-howe-island-naturalists.php4
Vincent Dole in Nepal Diary: http://vincentdolehimalaya.blogspot.com/
Old photos of Sand Souci: http://sanssouciphotos.blogspot.com/

Every theatre is an insane asylum, but an opera theatre is the ward for the incurables.

Manon from Berlin on DVD - magic night at the opera, at home!

2008-12-15T03:08:00.000+11:00

Manon by Massenet. Berlin Staatsoper April/May 2007. Deutsche Grammophon DVD of live performance.

Manon - Anna Netrebko
Chevalier des Grieux - Rolando Villazon
Comte des Grieux - Christof Fisch Esser
Lescaut - Alfredo Daza
Guillot de Morfontaine - Remy Corazza
Bretigny – Arttu Kataja
Grisettes – Hanan Alattar, Gal James, Silvia de la Muela
Innkeeper – Matthias Vieweg

Conductor: Daniel Barenboim
Director: Vincent Paterson
Stage design: Johannes Leiacker
Costumes: Susan Hilferty
Chorus and orchestra of Staatsoper, Unter den Linden, Berlin.

Dear Colleagues,

I am still reeling from the beauty and sheer class of this magnificent live opera from Berlin. It shows just what can be done with talent, imagination and a true operatic masterpiece. I have not enjoyed an opera so much for years, live or recorded! Second and third viewings have yielded even more pleasures in a clever, up-dated and sympathetic production with top rate singers, dancers, actors and musicians. The character development, main love theme, side stories and final disastrous denouement are all absolutely captivating.

The opera seems perfectly credible in the mid 20th century as long as one takes Manon’s capital crime as more than just cohabiting (there is an implication that she has stolen money from Guillot).

The opera opens in a bustling grand railway concourse where Manon emerges from a huge crowd to be first greeted and then lectured by her cousin soldier Lescaut. We also meet the scheming veteran Guillot who tries to befriend the young lady while Lescaut is away briefly. Next, during a slightly longer absence at the barracks, a more intense and yet equally hopeless liaison commences.

Chevalier Des Grieux takes her attentions. His self-conscious boyish behaviour is most engaging for both audience and the object of his attention. He is in a school blazer and his shirt is hanging out. Netrebko and Villazon become lovers within minutes, yielding the first of many glorious scenes which New York publicity called “a chemistry lesson”!

Next we have a light-hearted rustic boudoir scene with pillow fight in underwear. Our cupid-struck couple are self involved and enraptured. And they again sing expressively with their characteristic interactions.

Netrebko adds some soft porn to her famous aria bidding farewell to their little table which so often brought them together. She showing a deal of flesh while lying face up on the very table she is singing about. Following the applause for Villazon’s glorious rendition of ‘The Dream’ we hear an urgent double ring on a modern electronic door bell ‘ding-dong, ding-dong’, reminding us that we are in 1950 … and that the plotters are calling, meaning that the lovers are about to go their separate ways.

The outdoor jour-de-fete scene sees Netrebko at her most evocative in her famous gavotte. Guillot brings the ballet to the open air and also pays for the drinks. The short but intense ‘pas de trios’ dance scene involves two men and a woman as the opera’s three protagonists. An unusually tall dancer represents Des Grieux while an attractive female along with her uniformed ‘protector’ made a synchronous and appealing burst of movement, beauty and energy. The ballet does not have the desired effect as Guillot is left alone while Manon calls for a carriage to seek out her Chevalier on his monastic mission.

In the Saint Suplice scene we now hear Villazon at his best in “Ah fuyez, douce image” which is answered by another rapprochement between the lovers.

The Hotel le Transylvanie Casino scene could be in Las Vegas itself with the bright lights, dance and seemingly modern music. After some festivities, drinking, gambling and alleged cheating or even theft the authorities are involved rather like prohibition scenes in old movies.

The Louisiana scene (actually ‘the road to Le Havre’ in the Massenet version) sees pathetic changes as a waisted waif who started out the hale novice brunette, developed a Marilyn Monroe shocking blond by act IV but by now is grey and thinning. The death scene is ravishing, as the tenor carries our soprano off into the sunset (exactly like the Disney spoof on Wagner, limp arm dangling).

The chorus, solo singers and actors are all of the highest standard in this performance. Even the extras seem to have been chosen based on individuality.

Maestro Daniel Barenboim draws things together without drawing attention overly to himself or his excellent orchestra. They take the final curtain call, smaller instruments in hand, centre stage - well deserved and apposite. The trade-mark Berlin on-stage spot-lights were still in place from the death scene.

The overall performance is opera at its very best in my estimation. Highly recommended.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Andrew Byrne MB BS (Syd) FAChAM (RACP)
Dependency Medicine,
75 Redfern Street, Redfern,
New South Wales, 2016, Australia
Email - ajbyrne@ozemail.com.au
Tel (61 - 2) 9319 5524 Fax 9318 0631
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Medical web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/#news

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

New York in 2008: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/

New York in 1922: http://bpresent.com/harry/code/10b_bowery.php

La Boheme TV travesty from Sydney Opera House.

2008-11-06T02:26:00.002+11:00

La Boheme, Wednesday 29th October 2008. Broadcast on ABC2.

This was a sorry piece of opera on television. The inevitable comparison with recent live broadcasts from the Met and elsewhere shows this was a dismal failure in almost every respect.

La Boheme revolves around Rodolfo yet Italian tenor Carlo Barricelli was not up to the mark. He looked awkward on stage and while he may be adequate in the opera theatre, he was not the man for close-ups, visually or vocally. His voice sounded strained and unpleasant at times. He managed the most taxing notes of ‘Che gelida manina’ but had little nuanced line to his singing.

Ms Halloran (Mimi) and Ms Farrugia (Musetta) both sang adequately, as did the students, played by Jose Carbo, Richard Anderson and Warwick Fyfe. Mr Carbo has a fine stage presence and it is a shame he seems to be underutilised by the company. John Bolton-Wood was good as the Jewish landlord and elderly paramour, Alcindoro. However, with the exception of the Waltz Song in Act II, the opera never quite came to life for me. It was like a cast of competent understudies.

From a technical viewpoint a series of things went horribly wrong. In fact, hardly anything went right. Latecomers walking down the rows blocked the picture like an old fashioned cinema. The lighting seemed to be skewed pink and orange at times, notably in the Café Momus scene. In the middle of Act III there was a sudden break of continuity as the scene jumped forward a minute or more. Rodolfo appears from nowhere, like a ‘Scotty beam me up’ character. The camera views were conventional but they excluded the orchestra and conductor which should be half the pleasure of live opera. The characters each had head microphones so the sound was artificially mixed and unlike what it sounded like in the theatre, most obvious with Mimi’s tubercular coughing. We expect better than this from our national broadcaster

During the 15 minute intermission a non-English speaking singer was interviewed without an interpreter. Unlike Manuel on Fawlty Towers, it was not funny. Why would the ABC choose to use one of the country’s best known comedians, Chris Taylor as co-host? He looked and sounded like he was playing a comedy routine. Along with Jennifer Byrne, they showed not the slightest insight into the opera and each used an enthusiastic ‘over-the-top’ approach as if this were the greatest show on earth which it certainly was not!

Chris Taylor told us, incorrectly, that this was a ‘brand new’ production. In his interview with Ms Farrugia he mis-pronounced Musetta as Masetto on repeated occasions despite being corrected. Maestro Cuneo’s corridor interview was haltering and meaningless, following shallow and leading questions from Jennifer Byrne. There was also an irrelevant reference to Puccini being ‘popular with the ladies’.

Mr Taylor may have jinxed the broadcast in saying they would ‘try to cross to Federation Square later’. When they did, our screen went blank for several minutes, without explanation. And when we did finally see the southern capital, only about a dozen diehards were in the huge square watching the big screen. Simon Phillips’ only useful comment was that his production was not really meant to be seen from close-up.

They say that everything in the theatre is about timing. Well, it was hopeful at best, incompetent at worst, to broadcast La Boheme mid-week at the end of a run of 6 performances in 12 days. The singers could not have been in top form. The commentary was unrehearsed and amateurish. The transmission and camera work had deficiencies. The Benoit ‘rent-collection’ scene had almost 50 changes of camera, more like a tennis match than a clever verbal stoush between seated characters. Both Mr Barricelli and Mr Fyfe took liberties with Puccini’s score.

As a cruel twist, the broadcast finished with the famous vocals of David Hobson and Cheryl Barker singing the Act I duet during the credits. The original video of La Boheme from this company with Baz Luhrmann is still popular to this day and serves to remind us of what this company could do with some imagination and flair which is sadly lacking today.

Rather than trying to repeat history, a broadcast of the company’s recent production of Billy Budd would have been much more logical. It had a world renowned cast, director and conductor and would have been a unique and worthy Australian contribution to the world of opera on film with an international market. It might have even made money!

This La Boheme broadcast provides further evidence that the opera company is being mismanaged. Such pedestrian standards should cause an immediate review of the company before it is too late. If the subscriber base wanes and public funding tied to jobs and standards dries up then repertory opera could cease to exist in this country.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Adequate La Boheme does not imply adequate management.

2008-10-19T12:29:00.000+11:00

La Bohème, Sydney Opera House. Tuesday 14th October 2008.
Rodolfo - Carlo Barricelli
Mimi - Antoinette Halloran
Musetta - Amelia Farrugia
Marcello - José Carbó
Schaunard - Warwick Fyfe
Colline - Richard Anderson
Benoit/Alcindoro - John Bolton Wood
c. Ollivier-Philippe Cunéo

Dear Colleagues,
This non-subscription La Boheme outing went ‘without incident’. Most of the cast members were more than adequate and the performance seemed well rehearsed and balanced.
Australian tenor Carlo Barricelli had quite a success, with a ringing top to the voice if some slightly rough edges elsewhere and a couple of unimportant flat notes. He is a tall, well proportioned figure on stage, acting confidently with a good grip on this long and difficult role. Ms Halloran gave us a credible Mimi. Basso Mr Anderson sounded better than he did in Lucia - but I cannot condone singing the famous “Coat” aria seated on the toilet! Mr Carbo is almost too good for Marcello. This role should normally be done by an ‘up and coming’ baritone: Mr Carbo has definitely ‘arrived’ on the international scene and is to sing at La Scala in a few months. Needless to say he sang well, even if Puccini did not give him an aria. Warwick Fyfe sang with his usual gusto.

The company has given these young Bohemians the Herculean task of singing four acts with only one intermission … as well as six performances with only one rest day between, rather than the two normally allowed. This sort of scheduling is dangerous and uncalled-for in my medical opinion. Does occupational health and safety not extend to vocal cords? After singing major performances endoscopy often shows oedema and inflammatory changes and these need time to resolve. Every opera singer is familiar with this ‘cycle’, yet few young singers can afford to refuse to sing, even excessively, when invited by the impresario. Management seems to forget that these roles were written as vocal ‘marathons’. I note that the recent Britten and Janacek performances conducted by Richard Hickox had an average 2.7 days between performances compared with 1.5 for the La Boheme company.

This demonstrates further the deep flaws of which the company stands accused in the media across the country in recent times. The casting of Pearlfishers, Cinderella, Don Giovanni and My Fair Lady was mostly unadventuresome, using local artists and hardly an international star singer between them. Yet Billy Budd had four international stars (Tahu Rhodes, Langridge, Hickox and Armfield) and two Australasian stars of the first order (Wegner and Coad) in the one opera!! This is obviously lopsided, biased and inconsistent. And great if you are a Britten fan but too bad for the rest.

The Tuesday night, near sell-out house seemed delighted with this performance of La Boheme. So the management will again justify themselves based on the profit line and audience response. Yet management has been derelict on so many fronts that it is tragic as it is indefensible. The Saturday Age newspaper has a major front page feature pointing to some of these deficiencies (see links below). Yet the musical director, general manager and the board chair have continued to deny any shortcomings which is unrealistic and self defeating in the circumstances. Sadly, soprano Cheryl Barker has moved from her regal neutrality by writing an uninsightful and blistering letter to the editor in support of current management while condemning ‘a few bitter and disgruntled people’. I have not found any independent expert opinion in favour of opera management recently. Something has to ‘give’.

To justify its large public grant, the company used to employ several dozen Australian soloist singers who could count on job security, buy a house, raise a family like the rest of us. Now all soloists are on short term contracts and there are no on-salary positions - except in administration.

Comments by Andrew Byrne .. http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/chorus-of-controversy-not-in-the-same-key-20081017-5390.html?page=-1

http://www.theage.com.au/national/opera-legacys-fraught-finale-20081017-53ag.html

Janacek’s Makropulos revisited in Sydney.

2008-10-12T03:04:00.002+11:00

The Makropulos Secret - Sydney Opera House Tuesday 7th October 2008

As Emilia Marty, Cheryl Barker shone in this stellar performance of Janacek’s second last opera. The company’s longest serving soloist, John Pringle was splendid as Prus in his final role before retirement from the company. He showed once again how his professionalism can carve out a complex character in opera. English tenor Peter Wedd had the vocal and dramatic goods for Gregor. I was a little surprised that he was chosen over a local artist, although good tenors are always in short supply. The supporting singers were also all excellent, opening with Kanan Breen as the legal librarian, Vitek. Almost up-staging everyone was Robert Gard as Hauk. Rather like Elena Obratsova in a wheel chair, he was a perfectly credible senior citizen: audible, geriatric and pathetic. One might say ‘beyond Falstaff’.

Richard Hickox was in his element and the Opera and Ballet Orchestra did a fine job with this singular score. They received a thunderous ovation.

The curtain first went up on this Prague thriller in 1926. Whether unconsciously or not, Janacek seems to have taken many strains, orchestrations and rhythms from Fanciulla del West which premiered in 1910. Most 20th century composers were influenced by Puccini in some way … and yet Makropulos Secret (or “Case” or “Affair”) is no ‘copy-cat’ work.

During act one of the performance all the stage lighting suddenly blacked out while the principals’ spotlights continued to shine for their duet. After struggling on for several bars, Richard Hickox gestured for the orchestra to stop, turned to the audience and said something like “well, stumped by electricity” in his strong English accent. At that very moment, the stage lights came back on. He turned back several pages, as in a rehearsal, announced a particular suitable bar number, then starting only when the characters had resumed the earlier positions on the stage. It was edifying to see company members coping in such unusual and unpredictable circumstances. By coincidence I had said to a friend before going in that something extraordinary often happens in this opera - once a singer even died on stage in a Met performance.

The story could only exist in opera or a religious text, yet it is a foil for a marvellous unfolding ‘who-done-it’ drama based between an immortal diva and a long standing inheritance dispute along the lines of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Armfield’s production and Oberle’s settings are so stylish that one wonders why the company let it all languish in the basement for 12 years. And while I am not a Janacek fan, his operas have always been quite popular in Sydney, notably Jenufa of which we have had three productions in living memory.

The opening night house was heavily ‘papered’ with lots of company members, family, friends and hangers-on seen in good seats. I made a point of sitting in the back row of the circle (completely alone, of course) for one act to take in the least favourable acoustic in the hall. It was surprisingly good as every note and word could be clearly heard, thanks partly to excellent diction of the singers.

Like the Billy Budd season, the high quality of the work should promise better houses and there are many Janacek fans who should not miss this outing. I heard that last week the Britten was almost a sell-out.

It is a great shame that the management has still not responded productively to the current severe and widespread media criticism. Much of the ‘commentary’ could be put to rest by a few phone-calls, yet digging in and denying any shortcomings is not a wise strategy, especially when lives and careers of vital Australian artists are involved, not to mention the quality of opera performances. An impresario needs to be like the curator of a museum … yet we are dealing with live exhibits here. Artists, like management, can be difficult and egotistical. But the public deserves better and communication is the name of the game. Let’s hope that reason shines through and people manage to swallow their pride and return to the armistice lines before the ‘war’ started. And a ‘sorry’ here and there would not go astray I believe.

We hope that the new season of La Boheme is a great success and that returned Australian-born Italian tenor Carlo Barricelli makes a classy Rodolfo. The company has already made unusual demands by providing only one ‘lay day’ between most performances. But the show must go on! Season starts Tuesday 14th October

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Crikey letter to Opera Board Chair ...

2008-09-15T17:55:00.001+10:00

http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/09/08/letter-to-opera-australia/

Monday, 8 September 2008

Letter to Opera Australia

A concerned Opera Australia subscriber writes:

Thursday, 4 September 2008Mr Gordon Fell,Chairman, Opera Australia,Elizabeth St, Surry Hills, 2010

Subject: Performance standards

Dear Mr Fell,

I wish to contribute to the current debate on standards at Opera Australia. We have read strong criticisms by previously employed opera singers and equally powerful letters of support from currently employed artists. Because each of these could be seen as self interested, I believe that it may be more instructive to deal with facts in an unemotional manner.
Major concerns as raised by others and which I share:

The employment of the wife of the musical director as a mezzo-soprano soloist in the company. This is a most unusual but not unique situation. Your Board has a responsibility to subscribers, other artists and funding agencies to ensure that Mrs Hickox has been engaged in a manner which is fair and equitable as well as at arm’s length from her husband (and consistent with his contract). Similar situations in business, politics, or medical practice would normally not permit such an arrangement at all and the spouse would need to seek employment elsewhere…

Guest artists in the past four years, with few exceptions, have been of a lower standard of fame, quality and probably cost (in current dollar terms) than previously. In addition, the guest artists have often been used for small numbers of performances of what might be termed “boutique” or “connoisseur” operas such as Britten, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. While this is not a criticism in itself, it does mean that such guest artists have only been heard in a very small proportion of the performances given by the company.

Each year under former administrations the national company showcased at least one and sometimes three or four very famous singers each year, even if we exclude Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge’s appearances. The names include people who have made significant recordings, memorable performances at the great opera houses of the world and are or were draw-cards of the highest calibre. Such names include Botha, Connell, Jo, Schorg, Mitchell, McIntyre, Cole, Zschau, Marton, Vaness, Glossop, Milnes, Tourangeau, Horne, Pavarotti, Te Kanawa, Loringar, Resnick and Marenzi, a very incomplete list.

A more recent list includes some fine artists, but fewer in number and often of a second or third order in comparison to the above. Several of the artists have been somewhat disappointing such as Rhys Meirion, Richard Berkley Steele and Michael Todd Simpson.
Some recent problems raise questions about how professionally the company is being managed at the moment. Examples that come to mind are:

i) Why did our opera season start with musical and not an opera? An opening night Gala should be an important event in the life of an opera company, its chorus and orchestra. It is also potentially a major fund raiser. This was denied our company this year. This was an artistic decision that many long term subscribers were not happy with.

ii) Why did Orlando start at 7pm and finish at 9.35pm? And why were audiences not informed the reason at the time? Also, why did the advertised and seriously promoted conductor Mr Pinnock not conduct? Why was the audience not informed of these facts and given some reasons at the time? This seems to be the result of last minute decision making and a disregard for inconvenience to subscribers.

iii) Why was Mr Kanen Breen given the roles of Cassio and Arturo recently. He is a comprimario artist. In these two roles he was well out of his fach which is bad for him and bad for the audience. It was most disappointing to learn that the understudy for Edgardo has sung the role of Arturo and would have made an ideal cast member (and probably cost very little to use). Putting Ms Nikolic in the role of Amneris next year is highly questionable when there are more appropriate Australians to do the part. Also, Mr Carbo is obviously inappropriate for the role of Don Alfonso. He should be Guglielmo. These are just a few recent examples of poor or even outlandish casting decisions.

iv) The argument that the company is currently making a profit provides evidence that some of this surplus could have been used to employ at least one top line artist over the past year. There is an argument that this would have resulted in more ticket sales for at least one opera and possibly more subscription sales, further improving the profit line. The drawcard of the Sydney Opera House has proven irresistible to many great artists in the past. Has the OA been on contact with any agents for the great artists of our time such as Fleming, Florez, Hvorostovsky, Blythe, Licitra, Alagna, Georgiou, Netrebko, Dessay, Voigt, Pons, Villazon, Boccelli, Theorin, Pape, Westerbroek, d’Intino, de Niesse, etc?

Many of the “great performances” of recent years have been from artists who will not be singing for much longer (e.g. Connell, O’Neill, Summers, Kenny). The company needs a source of inspiration and that can best come from those with world class reputations.

v) There are many Australian singers currently overseas who should be given the opportunity of working with their national company. For example, why have we not heard Maria Pollicina, one of the best Australian singers of her generation in my view? Could it be that the management is reluctant to showcase singers with true operatic sized voices?

I hope that the board will review what is happening under its stewardship and see to it that there is quality opera in Australia instead of the current creeping mediocrity.

Billy Budd opening Wed 24th September. Sydney Opera House.

2008-09-09T13:46:00.003+10:00

Dear Colleagues,

This Gala opening demonstrated the best and worst features of Australia’s national opera company.

The performance was exemplary by any standards, including four artists of major international reputation (Tahu Rhodes, Hickox, Armfield and Philip Langridge). Almost their equal in world repute and rising to the operatic occasion were local talents Conal Coad and John Wegner. With more than adequate supporting singers, this was probably the highest standard cast seen in Australia for any opera in a very long time. It is a shame, even a crime, that it was not filmed and broadcast to high definition cinemas around the world for those who enjoy Benjamin Britten’s works. I am personally not a Britten fan but clearly his works are considered masterpieces by the experts.

Billy Budd is a handsome, free-thinking rating who is first lauded then set-up, accused, tried and hanged for mutiny on board an English warship circa 1800. Speculation about gay love, jealousy, morals and Christian themes seem to have taken on a life of their own, well beyond the rather clunky libretto in my view. This production uses an enormous revolving rectangular stage-upon-a-stage. This in turn has two levels, rising hydraulically at limitless angles to create the sense of a ship’s decks in many situations. It moved flawlessly and slow enough not to cause sea sickness.

Despite all of these positive factors, the opera hall was poorly patronised. The back three rows of the stalls and rear 7 rows of the circle had nary a seat filled. The rest of the hall was patchy and after intermission it was even worse.

It is disappointing and demoralising for artists to perform to unfilled houses … so what went wrong? Why is a modern English masterpiece ignored by the Sydney audience, despite a world-class cast? Is seven performances an excessive number? There were 20 or more Carmens and Bohemes this year, but these are for a different ‘mass’ audience. Billy Budd is a 20th century opera with a limited appeal to the average opera-goer. I call it a connoisseur’s opera.

From an artistic standpoint, all companies should occasionally do this sort of work, even though hard, cold economics might argue against it (and one would do My Fair Lady year-round). Yet the decision to do two such operas concurrently is highly questionable. Makropoulos Case is also conducted by Richard Hickox. This is another 20th century ‘boutique’ opera with 6 scheduled performances before an unscheduled return of La Boheme with a ‘house’ cast.

After all the recent adverse publicity on nepotism I was surprised to see the Hickox family name in not one but three places in the program. One hopes that all cast members had open auditions for their roles in this opera to ensure standards and equity for artists.

It is disappointing that Maestro Hickox was overseas the first four operas of this main Sydney season and that he leaves before the end of it (Stephen Mould conducts the final two performances of Makropoulos Case). I understand that Mr Hickox was not even present for the announcement of the new season for 2009. His avowed commitment to Australia would currently seem to be limited to little more than 7 weeks at a time.

2009 promises more of the same with a recycling of some good ‘stable’ singers but without as many of the world’s top artists as in previous seasons. It is the presence of such stars which can ignite that spark where good opera can rise above the ordinary and create emotive and memorable art. Just like films and football, opera needs its stars to rise above the ordinary. A cursory look at any month’s roster from 1990 to 2004 will show numerous ‘greats’. I just pulled out winter of 2000 to find Hagegard, Cole, Prokina, Sylvester, Rootering, Tahu Rhodes, Coad, Ransom, Shelton, Summers, Fritzsch, Auguin, Young. Our local resident ‘stars’ were also of a higher standard than today: Carden, Shanks, Allman, Cillario, etc. It is depressing to think of the decline in numbers of such stars appearing in recent years and this is one of the major criticisms I have of the company. Ten years ago it was rare to have a performance without at least one international ‘star’. Now it happens all the time.

“Life amplified”? Small deal, perhaps, but it is another embarrassment that the company is still using this slogan on its advertising material. Amplification is anathema to grand opera and the slogan should be changed. Why does a quality opera company need a slogan anyway?

Some more good news is that the problem only needs minor adjustments to fix it. We have a good orchestra (although the brass section made some frightful noises at the Billy Budd opening) and chorus. We have the world’s best known opera house. The management needs to get onto the world’s top agents to secure the (expensive) services of some of the top 50 opera singers (their names are no secret) to slot into 2009 season if at all possible, but certainly for 2010 if the company is to survive as a serious purveyor of good opera. And they need to audition local singers fairly and put them on 5 year contracts, just like the management.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Pedestrian Pearlfishers at Sydney Opera House.

2008-09-09T13:46:00.002+10:00

The Pearlfishers. Georges Bizet. Sydney Opera House. Thursday, 4th September 2008

Zurga - Michael Lewis
Nadir - Henry Choo
Leila - Leanne Keneally
Nourabad - Shane Lawrencev
Conductor - Emmanuel Joel-Hornak
Director Ann-Margaret Pettersson
Sets - John Conkin

Dear Colleagues,
This Pearlfishers opening was passing pedestrian, never quite reaching ignition temperature in my view. In this engaging and original production Zurga is a British officer, living a flash-back.

Michael Lewis, an artist I admire enormously, seemed to be at his vocal limits on two occasions in the first act, yet his confident professionalism shone through. He is a veteran of three seasons since 2000 but by now the age difference with his on-stage tenor rival is showing.

Henry Choo managed the difficult tessitura of Nadir and his sense of drama made the role ‘work’.

Ms Kenneally also sang competently, even beautifully at times. She was ‘believable’, which is saying something in opera!

Shane Lawrencev played a fine Norabad.

Emmanuel Joel-Hornak conducts the present run - a lot of good music came from the Opera and Ballet orchestra. The chorus was also first rate.

The principal vocal performances would all have been considered grand as understudies but on the night, none really had that ‘star’ quality which is so easy to recognise but so hard to define. The ‘wow’ factor. It seems that Australian audiences are no longer offered ‘stars’ as often as we were in the past.

On looking at the last two outings of this opera in Sydney in my own diary I note further evidence of the depressing decline in standards of the opera company. Last time we heard up-and-coming American tenor Eric Cutler and previously David Miller as Nadir. The former went on the greater things (Chicago Lyric, Covent Garden, the Met, etc) and a recent guest return to Sydney. The latter joined the highly successful international ‘cross-over’ group Il Divo. Past conductors Patrick Summers and Richard Bonynge are both of vast international renown. This is not to denigrate any of the participants in the current 2008 run, but it reflects the company’s current policies of scaling back on international-quality guest artists.

Mr Joel-Hornak has a handsome conducting CV, making one or two fewer international-class artists in the opera on this occasion. The world of opera is a small one and dependable tenors are probably the rarest artists in practice.

The Sydney auditorium on Thursday was far from full with rear rows and side boxes all near empty, making it a marketing disaster. And it is bad for the performers too. Why were these seats not given to students, donors, ‘frequent flyers’ or others? Also bad for performers, I note that including the dress rehearsal, there will have been three performances within 5 days this week, a punishing schedule for any principal singer. The same happens later in the season with a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (matinee) marathon for the company. It seems that the bottom line is more important than caring for voices which normally requires at least two rest days between “big-sings”.

The opening night audience showed its satisfaction with a large ovation. This is gratifying, especially at a time when subscriptions are being renewed. However, as Nellie Melba knew, this does not prove much about technical and artistic standards (“Sing ‘em muck, it’s all they understand” she once wrote of the Australian audience). Yet one should never underestimate an audience, especially when so many in it could recall the heady ‘Sutherland years’.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Sydney opera review 1928 http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/2006/07/grand-opera-toti-dal-montes-success.php4

Lunicidal Lucia mid-season. Show saved by Pacific tenor.

2008-08-29T14:54:00.002+10:00

Lucia di Lammermoor. Sydney Opera House, Wed 27 August 2008

I don’t often do mid-season reviews, but this performance was notable, albeit in adversity. Eric Cultler as Edgardo was indisposed with a winter virus and new Kiwi/Islander tenor Benjamin Makisi took the role.

He is a substantial man with a substantial talent. He is an imposing figure on stage, also being quite tall. He has singular big-eyed good looks, being of Samoan and Tongan ancestry we were informed in the notes supplied. His voice is silky and even up the register with a ringing top which he only ‘let rip’ momentarily once towards the end of the first act duet with Ms Matthews, possibly touching a high C or even E flat. He takes centre-stage in the Act III Scene 2 cemetery scene, and he did not disappoint. Right at the end as he stabs himself a loose-fitting wig was saved by a quick wit. And he did all this without a central prompter - this was one role for which Sutherland did NOT need a prompter ... and the original classic John Copley production was in the Concert Hall.

I do not understand why Mr Makisi was not being used for the role of Arturo. Kanan Breen struggles valiantly as he did with the Cassio character recently. Such roles are clearly inappropriate for his voice, and there are more suited singers like Mr Makisi on the payroll just waiting ‘in the wings’. I note that Mr Makisi is not on the company web-site. Good tenors are so rare that this stellar performance should surely be recognised as Mr Makisi’s ‘big break’.

Jose Carbo sang and acted superbly as Enrico, the ambitious brother. His first act aria and cabaletta were breathtaking. He has a way of dramatic ‘freeze-framing’ which makes each movement or expression, when it comes, all the more meaningful.

Emma Matthews has come into her own as Lucia under Richard Bonynge’s baton. Her mad scene was a tour-de-force the likes of which we have not seen or heard since the Sutherland days. In some respects she was better, even with a smaller voice. While she ‘copies’ the Sutherland vocals closely, she plays a quite different Lucia dramatically. She is more a character of ‘pity’ than of fear and lunacy which Sutherland played. And this is appropriate as she is only half the size. Her terminal high notes were accurately placed, beautiful in quality and as long as I have ever heard - and yet were still tasteful. Her final limp-fall collapse down the central stairs was spectacular and her performance received a (partial) standing ovation.

The management of any organisation involves the making of large numbers of decisions, each ultimately aimed at the same thing, maintenance of standards and possibly improving them. So, while management should be congratulated on retaining Mr Makisi, one wonders about many other decisions.

The current media debate about artistic standards is one that has to be had. With so many participants having vested interests one way or the other, an independent review is what is needed in my view. The contrast could not be more stark between previous periods’ high profile artists (Botha, Connell, Schorg, Mitchell, McIntyre, Cole, Tsau, Marton, Vaness, Glossop, Milnes, Tourangeau, Horne, Pavarotti, Te Kanawa, Loringar, Resnick and Marenzi) and recent promises (Meirion, Berkeley Steele, Todd-Simpson, Owens and other less-than-satisfactory encounters). Certain other notable overseas artists came for less popular ‘connoisseur’ operas, and were thus not heard by many regular subscribers. Something has to “give”.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Orlando - Handel. Sydney Opera House. Monday 18th August 2008

2008-08-21T20:07:00.002+10:00

Dear Colleagues,

This Monday night Gala demonstrated some serious points raised in the media in recent days. There is just nobody in charge of this ship and there are doubts as to her seaworthiness to my mind. The seven o’clock starting time was obviously a blunder as the opera had been pared down by 50 minutes, thus ending at 9.35pm, an early night indeed! I don’t think this is Handel’s greatest work - at least as it is presented here. That the second night is on Wednesday is also a serious deviation from long-time theatrical rules where 2 rest days are normally allowed between opera performances.

Handel wrote highly inspired and memorable operatic scenes as well as a lot of his own original orchestral and vocal continuo some might term “wall-paper”. Orlando seems to have more of the latter than the former, starting out with a ‘skipping-time’ overture. It might seem unfair to the singers who each had difficult vocals … yet none reached the heights of his immortal pieces like “Lascia, io piango” (Rinaldo), “Ombra mai fu” (Xerxes) or “V'adoro, pupille” (Julius Caesar), “Iris hence”; “Sleep why dost”, “Where ere you walk” (Semele, his last opera), not to mention “Tornami a vagghegia” (Alcina). While Orlando’s ‘mad scene’ is a most spectacular aria technically, it does not have the invention of melody, phrasing and custom ‘pauses’ of any of the above to my ear. The opera is certainly an interesting piece of musical archaeology … and it may even be a truly great opera in its original form - the Sydney audience may never know. Apparently it only received 10 performances in 1733 and was not revived until 1959.

There was no regular brass section in this baroque orchestra (two horns appeared at intervals). There was no chorus. There is no part for solo tenor or baritone voice in this opera. Orlando was clearly written as a show-piece for the male divo yet this production uses a contralto, Sonia Prina for the hero. The soldier Medoro is sung by Tobias Cole in falsetto range, a role originally written for mezzo-soprano according to Wikipedia. Dressed convincingly as a man, Ms Prina’s mid-range coloratura was indeed phenomenal and one wonders what other vocal music of hers was omitted in the savage cuts. It is unlikely to be 50 minutes of da capo repeats but it is hard to believe that there was anything ‘too difficult’ for Ms Prina either. Rachel Durkin sang ‘regally’ throughout as Angelica but without raising any goose bumps on this listener’s old flesh.

Richard Alexander seems miscast in the ghost role, not showing his substantial talents in their best light. Some of the lowest notes were just not in the voice. This ‘Sarastro’ type role needs a bigger, deeper basso profundo voice, especially when he is the only character who is not some sort of soprano. Hye Seoung Kwon seemed under-powered and retiring as the shepherdess. One wonders who is making these odd casting decisions or are they just distant copies of others’ decisions elsewhere (Salzburg Festival, for instance).

The opera opens in a war office with a writing desk, table lamp, globe of the world and large wall map. The next scene saw the entire set replaced by the wall map, hugely enlarged. This then broke into columns, openings and walls at various depths to create and interesting and diverse setting for progress of the story. The confusing, cross-gender dramatis personae all taking cupid’s aim for each other was incorporated into a quirky and charming production. Orlando was dressed in a beautiful tan coloured leather suit. He/she suddenly fainted to the floor in the first scene creating dramatic tension from the very start … as well as creating a flaw in the great general’s persona. The direction by Justin Way was sympathetic and original with just enough of the unexpected.

Because of the shepherd connection, there were models of sheep on stage throughout the opera. The cute idea became laboured when they started to multiply and fly, as if to ignite some distant Greek cauldron! At one stage the text promised goats but these did not materialise, mercifully. At one point there were ‘stars above’ which must have been designed by some deprived city soul who had never actually seen the sky at night and how beautiful it actually is. The last act featured a massively enlarged electric lamp pointing our way … then a miniature of the original setting … all very clever if not entirely original (Hansel and Gretal) nor particularly meaningful. Fantasy is fun, but an opera is opera - and that means voice and melody.

Singing is all around us in our daily lives … but grand opera is the Olympics of singing. It is the loudest, highest, finest and most original performers who should win out and be heard again. We often see operas in concert ... but even with the cleverest production, we never see opera dramas without singing! The first job of an opera singer is to be heard up the back. If that voice is still beautiful and expressive, this is a measure of success. Not all of the singers in Orlando fitted this category. If management either sat up the back more often themselves or else interviewed subscribers who do, we may have less criticism and more logical decisions on repertoire and who should sing it.

Our brochure promised ‘early music specialist’ Trevor Pinnock as conductor. There was no explanation given on the night that maestro was Paul Goodwin who is not even on the company’s web site. He led the small, specialist orchestra proficiently. I wondered if he was responsible for all the cuts or if it was a joint vivisection.

For me, Orlando remains a city in Florida. This Monday evening Opera Gala was not an auspicious event and fault must be sheeted back to management. Musical director, Richard Hickox has not been sighted for months, which is a fault.

Comments by Andrew Byrne .. http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Sydney Lucia success. Sutherland's costumes severely cut-down!

2008-08-01T11:56:00.000+10:00

Lucia di Lammermoor. Sydney Opera House, Wed 30th July 2008

This Lucia opening was a splendid affair. John Copley knows how to present opera while Bardon’s sets and Stennett’s costumes are classics. Such a production should be treated as history lesson for modern directors, every aspect enhancing the story line while never impeding the singing which is what an opera audience wants above all else. Nothing in the production draws attention to the director which cannot be said of many modern productions. This production was originated for Joan Sutherland to be done in the Concert Hall before being re-sized for the Opera Hall. This run is being conducted by Richard Bonynge, just like the original, proving his artistic longevity.

Emma Matthews is ready for this role. While her voice has little in common with that of Joan Sutherland, it is a role in which Matthews plays her own particular bride of Lammermoor. She can afford to be more energetic on stage, especially during her mad scene from crouching to lying on the ground and spinning, sautéing, collapsing, etc. Likewise, her vocal acrobatics were extraordinary, only once briefly departing from good taste in a duet. She used virtually all of the ‘Sutherland’ ornaments with great style and accuracy. Full throated high E flats ended the fountain cabaletta as well as the two third act show-pieces. With a tall, handsome tenor they made the perfect, if tragic couple.

Jose Carbo was an excellent Enrico, putting in all the baritone flourishes with his usual flair. Happily, the Wolf Crag scene was included, allowing us to hear this rare gem of the male duet repertory. In many ways Carbo was the star of the night.

American Eric Cutler returned to Australia and was a creditable Edgardo. He has a pleasant vocal timbre with a strong projection and fine dramatic sense. His cemetery scene was vocally engaging as it was devastating dramatically.

Basso Richard Anderson has a large range, singing the tutor’s role more youthfully, but with a plunging richness to his low notes.

The support singers were not up to the high standard of the main roles. The company used to employ over 100 solo singers but now has only a small group of ‘favourites’ of varying competence doing small roles. Some of the problem may be casting while some may be nerves on opening night. These roles should usually be done by young singers ‘on the way up’ in my view. Sutherland played Clotilde, the maid, long before she played Norma.

As I often state, we are privileged to have such a professional orchestra and chorus and neither let the side down (if we ignore the very first note of the opera, ‘fluffed’ by the horns).

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Surgery web page: http://www.redfernclinic.com/

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

New York in 2008: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/

New York in 1922: http://bpresent.com/harry/code/10b_bowery.php

Travel log: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/2007/10/lord-howe-island-naturalists.php4

Full blooded Otello at Sydney Opera House: Friday 18th July 2008.

2008-07-24T11:56:00.002+10:00

Otello by Verdi. Sydney Opera House Friday 18th July 2008

At last the opera company has managed a smash hit, full blooded opera after two near misses. The revival of Harry Kupfer’s stair-mounted production of Otello was well received by a discerning Sydney public.

The best thing about Otello was the title role. Dennis O’Neill sang splendidly in the relentless tale of his undoing. His ‘Esultate’ was ringing and focussed, as were ‘Si pel ciel’ (with Summers), ‘Ora e per sempre, addio’ and the death scene. He was indeed the Venetian Lion!

Jonathan Summers has all it takes for the role of Iago, vocally and dramatically. He bounded around the stage like someone half his years and the voice was responsive across the wide range required. The challenging drinking song in Act 1 was energetic and proficient, its high notes rolling off perfectly. His ‘credo’ was solid. He made an entirely credible ‘mean machine’.

Cheryl Barker has a fine middle voice, however, she can tend to sound ‘plum in the mouth’ or nasal when outside this range. Few however could complain at her sympathetic portrayal of Desdemona which is well crafted, making her captivating yet vulnerable. Her ‘Willow song’ and Ave Maria following were poised and beautiful.

Kupfer’s modern production has all 4 acts dominated by a massive ‘face-on’ staircase, the right quarter of which has been ‘bombed out’ (there are even circular remnants of the damaged ceiling above). Two strips of richly patterned carpet intersect at right angles with a massive Atlas-holding-the-world statue half way up the relentless bank of stairs. Atop are half a dozen double louvre doors leading to a vertiginous veranda. Much of the action takes place on the steps themselves, making it very awkward for the singers. Only the distant upper landing, narrow strip near the footlights and a mere gap to the left are available for normal performing. The latter is all we have to resemble a bedroom for Act 4.

Kupfer has the chorus rush from the upper level at the first roaring notes of the opera to populate the stairs like a wave rushes up a beach. It is very effective dramatically yet an occupational safety officer may have some objections. The staircase might not pass muster under today’s building codes, having 20 steep, uninterrupted steps. I was told that the rear ‘stage’ stairs are even more perilous.

Kanen Breen managed the role of Cassio but it is not his ideal part (his Hoffmann characters were marvellous). On the other hand, Stephen Bennett, a one-time very fine Leporello for this company was performing the relatively small role of Montano. Jacqueline Dark again played a credible Emilia, the composite role of Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s maid. She and Mr Summers were in the original 2003 production featuring Frank Poretta conducted by Simone Young. The latter happened to be in the opening night audience along with lots of other dignitaries in town for the Catholic festivities and Pope’s visit. I was surprised that we still have not seen musical director Mr Richard Hickox so far this season.

The orchestra under Simon Hewett was equal to the enormous demands of this complex work. The fortissimi and pianissimi were most marked. From this performance, I find it hard to imagine a better sound coming from an improved pit design, although any measure to reduce aural damage in orchestra members is to be encouraged.

The opera company chorus also did a superb job, dealing with difficult demands vocally - not to mention the dangerous stage work.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Don Giovanni at the Sydney Opera House 5th July 2008

2008-07-19T11:56:00.002+10:00

Don Giovanni at the Sydney Opera House. 7.30pm Saturday 5th July, 2008. Beautiful singing, unsympathetic production.

Gala opening of new production by Elke Neidhardt, designs by Michael Scott-Mitchell. “Bathing machines are 'in', "Il mio tesoro" is out!”

Dear Colleagues,
During the overture we were confronted with a huge hanging digital sign flashing numerals from 4000 down towards zero along with images, strokes and hurdy gerdy effects interposed across the stage. Like much of what occurred later, there seemed no rhyme or reason to this neon wizardry.

We were then led through the evil, small-town narrative of Don Giovanni … on this occasion with no recognisable town, no villa, no balcony, no furnishings, no decor, no Spanish streetscape for Elvira to get lost in as well as for the Don to be chased through.

The set was dominated by ugly ‘floating’ black and white triangles bearing the enlarged images of burnt tree-trunks. They were manoeuvred awkwardly on hydraulic rams and might better have been simply suspended from the flies without all the fuss. Numerous other angular illuminated shapes appeared and disappeared to little purpose until some were spray-painted by the Don who turned his hand to graffiti, as if the libretto did not give him enough bad behaviour.

These triangles framed rows of black and grey ‘lavatories’ in various guises used as hidey holes, entrances and exits. It was not clear why the Don had to take a shower on stage in the middle of the action unless it was to draw attention to the director. The nudity warning was spurious and probably a publicity stunt as there was simply no nudity on stage … unless you count an indistinct image through frosted glass.

This ugly and unsympathetic production displayed both lavish expense as well as economy. There was no statue of the Commendatore, no carriage (or limo) for Donna Elvira, and only a gap in the set for the famous serenade, ‘Deh vieni a la finestra’ (which was beautifully sung). The perspex chair and table for the Don’s ‘dinner with death’ were hardly original and the folding garden chairs demonstrate the company’s commitment to recycling. Not one scene brought a vista of any beauty to the eye. Does somebody think that Mozart’s music is so beautiful that it needs to be balanced by unsightliness on stage?

There seemed no unifying idea to the production and little to commend it overall. There were frequent crude sexual references, some just a little smutty, others grossly “out there”, such as groping episodes and Donna Elvira being wheeled around the stage with legs wedged apart, seated on a small tray-mobile.

The singing was from adequate to splendid. The two baritones excelled, starting with Joshua Bloom as Leporello. He ‘rabbited’ his way through this glorious ‘gift’ of a role with humour and poise. His voice is large and focussed with a velvet timbre, smooth and even throughout the range.

Hungarian Mr Gabor Bretz looked and sounded the full Don. He acted creditably and has a pleasant, imposing voice. Apart from the baritone roles of Massetto, Leporello and Ruggiero (La Juive), I note that he has also sung the bass roles of Fiesco, Rocco and The Grand Inquisitor.

Catherine Carby played Donna Elvira well but may have been slightly uncomfortable on the highest notes. I do not know if she is a mezzo or a soprano now. ‘Mi tradi’ was taken at a cracking pace, almost too fast for the singer, composer and audience. But at least the aria was heard, unlike previous Sydney performances in which they left out both Dalla sua pace and Mi tradi for supposed ‘historical’ reasons. This production leaves out both Il mio tesoro and the epilogue. One wondered if Mr Henry Choo was unable or unwilling to sing the more difficult aria, although he sang Dalla sua pace quite liltingly. I am not aware of any performances of Don Giovanni (with the exception of Mozart’s first season) from which Il mio tesoro has been omitted. There would be a good legal case for a refund in my view as this was not ‘goods as advertised’.

Rachel Durkin was a reliable Donna Anna. There was some sharpness to her voice but she presented a dignified and consistent character.

Amy Wilkinson and Richard Anderson were a fine young wedding couple.

It was reported in the weekend press that conductor Richard Hickox withdrew ‘due to European commitments which were brought forward’ which did not make sense to me. This is a fault and is most disappointing in someone who aspires to be a serious musical director of a serious opera company. Nevertheless, we had young Russian/American conductor Mikhail Agrest who did agreeable things on the podium.

This opening night was an abysmal failure from my perspective. I would prefer to see a concert version of an opera than sit through this post-modernist Euro mish-mash.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

New York in 2008: http://ajbtravels.blogspot.com/

New York in 1922: http://bpresent.com/harry/code/10b_bowery.php

Travel log: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/2007/10/lord-howe-island-naturalists.php4

My Fair Lady - is this appropriate for an Opera Gala Opening?

2008-05-07T11:56:00.009+10:00

My Fair Lady - Sydney Opera House 7.30pm Saturday 22nd June 2008. Gala Season Opening.

Despite being an artistic success, in some respects this was an acutely embarrassing event, sadly reflecting the current management's lack of commitment to opera, singers and their traditional audience. They continue to chase the theatrical dollar rather than respecting the art form their organisation is named for. Nobody minds some lighter pieces and the company does musicals and G&S as well as anyone. Yet this is an opera company and we paid for opera tickets and we deserve an opera for our season opening! It would be like going to the tennis and being told there would only be basketball playing! Enough of that.

Reg Livermore successfully played Henry Higgins, a character perhaps half his own age. I heard complaints that he sang too much while others said he sang too little, so he probably got the balance right! While no opera singer, his singing voice is quite pleasant, if a little nasal at times. His quip and quiddity on stage are superlative where he is the true professional. So too was his mother, Misses Higgins, played by another veteran, Nancye Hayes who was hilarious.
Eliza was Taryn Fiebig, a trained opera singer who, like everybody else, was seriously amplified. She played this ‘gift’ part beautifully including the accents. She was sensitive, vulnerable and yet self confident and independent by the end - with its ambiguous dénouement.
Colonel Pickering was played by Rhys McConnochie; Alfred Doolittle by Robert Grubb; Mrs Pearce by Adele Johnston. All the main and supporting roles were excellent. The chorus was also in fine form.

The production is original and engaging with a revolve to allow immediate scene changes. Clever detail allowed a glance at patrons inside the pub before it rotated further to become a street frontage where we heard some of the many pot-boilers of the score. The costumes were splendid, especially the Royal Ascot ladies in their grey, black and coral outfits with some extraordinary and enormous hats. Costumes by Roger Kirk, sets Richard Roberts, direction Stuart Maunder.

The two scenes in the Higgins residence in Wimpole Street were brilliantly created. We heard ‘The rain in Spain’ in the comfortable gentleman’s studio while the stunning entrance of the transformed Eliza (and her disappearance later on) occurred in an elegant entrance hall and stairway.

The orchestra played well under maestro Andrew Greene. The audience was appreciative and obligingly clapped along with the rum-tee-tum strains accompanying the curtain calls. The best performance, however, may have been the glorious full moon which rose 15 minutes before the show, clearly visible from the balcony, foyer and eastern walkways of the Opera House.
Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Travel log: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/2007/10/lord-howe-island-naturalists.php4

Salute to the life of John Cargher.

2008-05-07T11:56:00.008+10:00

Mr John Cargher 1919-2008

Australia has lost a great musical ambassador with the death of John Cargher on Wednesday 30 April 2008 at his home in Melbourne aged 89. He was a self-taught expert and critic on voices, composers, opera and classical music generally. His 'Singers of Renown' has been a Saturday afternoon fixture on ABC Radio for forty two years. I listened avidly to his broadcasts whenever I could and they often raised discussions between family and friends.

I only knew John from his occasional outings to the opera in Sydney and from numerous email exchanges. Many in Melbourne knew John personally from his involvement in record stores and theatrical exploits from 1951 when he arrived from London. Yet it was his broadcasting which took his softly spoken European accent and his personality into homes across Australia and beyond. His father Jacob was a rabbinical student in London where John was born. He was raised in Germany and Spain due to the illness and early death of his German mother. John then returned to London as a teenager to learn a trade and also attend operas and concerts in cheap seats.

John’s choice of items was always novel as were his eclectic commentaries between them. Even many non-opera people know John's signature tune, the 'nostalgia' duet from Il Tabarro with Mario del Monaco and Renata Tebaldi. This glorious and previously obscure piece of soaring Puccini is now probably the most often broadcast opera excerpt in the world after more than 2000 programs. Dame Joan Hammond also popularised a famous aria from this Puccini Trittico masterpiece "Oh mio babino caro".

Even up to recent weeks John was still making his pre-recorded weekly broadcasts, despite some repeats due to illness. On the week of his death the ABC replayed a program from the 1990s featuring Verdi’s opera Ernani with excerpts from the 78 era to the present day. While personally favouring the great baritone arias, he played a vastly varied selection from the last castrato to strained falsettos and booming basses. My own favourite ‘oddities’ were the delightfully drunk soprano song, the famous pussy-cat duet "Miaou" and the tone-deaf Florence Foster Jenkins. He avoided the temptation to showcase Callas, Sutherland and Pavarotti who he played infrequently. Other century greats he played included Gigli, Tucker, Di Stefano, Schmit, Warren, dal Monti, Ponselle, Muzio and Caruso. His historical notes often included how the Second World War affected careers and lives of individuals. He often mentioned the cantorial tradition and occasionally mentioned his Jewish roots.

John Cargher wrote numerous books popularising classical music and he was made a member of the Order of Australia for his services to music and the theatre. His wry wit, profound knowledge and occasional exposed mistake will always be remembered by this listener. Rest in peace. May his passing inspire others to such heights. He leaves his second wife, Robyn Walton and daughter Penelope.

[Written by Sydney addictions physician and opera critic Andrew Byrne]

Fille du Regiment - Note cinema broadcasts of this production.

2008-05-07T11:56:00.006+10:00

La Fille du Regiment. Donizetti. Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Monday 21st April 2008 - opening night.

Juan Diego Florez - Tonio
Natalie Dessay - Marie
Alessandro Corbelli - Suplice (Sergeant Major)
Felicity Palmer - Marquise de Berkenfield
Marian Seldes - Duchess of Krackenthorp (acting role)
Conductor - Marco Armiliato
Production - Laurent Pelly
Sets - Chantal Thomas

Dear Colleagues,

In a French-inspired ‘geographic’ alpine production coming via London and Vienna this opera was raised from the relatively superficial to a level equal to anything the Met has done in my experience. The set flooring was made up of five or more overlapped maps of central Europe. Three corners peaked behind as if real mountains while one corner draped naturalistically into the orchestra pit. We had heard from the designer in the introduction that the military were the origin of all maps, obviously for strategic purposes.

Following the plot in which the alpine village is defending itself against the enemy, this extraordinary production opens with a blockade across the entire Met stage. The barrage consisted of furniture, wheeled carts, lumber, garden equipment, bric-a-brac and other household goods, all piled against each other. Most amusingly, a curtained wardrobe in the middle became the temporary refuge for the all-too-sensitive Marquise before it was wheeled off as her unceremonious exit. The next scene sees Marie doing the washing and ironing with bunks set up as a deserted army camp in the open.

Tonio’s arrival caused great mayhem as he was an outsider who had caught the eye of the Regiment’s daring, Marie who was already ‘promised’ to a company soldier when she was old enough. We were told in song that Tonio had risked his life to save Marie from falling to her death while picking flowers. A rare encore was performed by Mr Florez in his famous aria (‘Ah mes amis … Pour mon âme’). This turned the already incredible 9 high C’s into 18. And none was clipped or insubstantial. And most were on ‘the terrible vowel’, ‘a’ (ame, and flame). There was some banter between conductor and tenor during the initial applause and finally the bis was indicated on the conductor’s fingers. A colossal effort! Florez then received one of the few spontaneous standing ovations I have seen at the Met. A friend said it was the only spontaneous standing ovation he had seen in over 50 years of Met openings.

Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez is the darling of the opera world at present and has gone from strength to strength on the world stage adding Olympic-type records to his repertoire. These include the extra scene in Barbiere di Siviglia (others have attempted it but few succeeded so comprehensively). On this Met Gala he sang, danced and acted his way into the hearts (and pockets) of the elite of New York, many of whom had paid well over five hundred dollars for dinner, supper and premium tickets. His act 2 pleading aria was taken as slowly as I have heard it – moving, legato and effective dramatically, quite the opposite of the ‘rapid-fire’ act 1 aria with all the high C’s. Yet both speak of his love for Marie in different company and for different reasons. Both are successful.

Florez was in good company with the quirky and beautiful Natalie Dessay who did a captivating if unusual Lucia recently to great acclaim. In ‘Fille’, she took dramatic control initially as a coquettish tomboy, but revealed the most feminine of attributes in her performance. She took her time. At one point she mumbled incoherently for an age on stage, making a funny skit funnier. She bounced gracefully all over the stage and was carried aloft more than once for her phenomenally difficult cadenzas. Singing a high E flat while being carried aloft must be unique. Dessay’s ‘Il faut partir’ was dramatically moving and vocally flawless.

Both lovers were aided by a fine natural comedian, Alessandro Corbelli as Suplice who ends up marrying the Marquise. He had sung Gianni Schicchi last year with great acclaim. Well known Broadway actress Marian Seldes played the Duchess of Krackenthorp with great aplomb. She partnered Angela Lansbury in Deuce last year.

Act two took place on the same set but with an entire ballroom floor positioned diagonally across the stage. It was wedged up from the existing stage floor with (you-guessed-it) rolled up maps! The formal entrance, windows, pictures, fireplace and servants’ door were all hollow black frames. Stage left was a grand piano used for the famous singing lesson scene - and actually played by Ms Palmer as she coached Marie in a genteel song which always seemed to have a rhythmic, regimental second subject. The Met chorus made up a brilliant band of soldiers (see photographs of uniform on web site) and in the second act a ludicrous bunch of geriatric invitees for the arranged marriage (initially minus groom, then minus bride as well!).

This clever production contained more small comic details than one could possibly write about in a review. At one point early in the opera the townsfolk sing to the Madonna to save them from the advancing enemy. Momentarily the haughty Marquise thinks they are singing to her! The soldiers’ rescue comes in the form of a mechanised army tank rolling onto stage right, machinery sound effects and all! Tonio sang atop the tank as if in a war zone. While the French dialogue had been rewritten it all seemed perfectly attuned to the story. Also, it occasionally broke into English, each time to comic effect.

At the end there was a phenomenal ovation. The crowds screamed for Mr Florez and his paramour. Each time they took a bow it sounded like the stadium crowd roaring over a winning goal.

This may be the most exciting opera performance I have seen since the Sutherland days. I wrote later that night on the internet that the notices should be on the FRONT pages of the papers - and I was right! [see New York Times 23 April]
Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Review of Toti dal Monti in ‘Fille du Regiment’ in 1928:
http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/2006/07/grand-opera-toti-dal-montes-success.php4
Short review of Fille du Regiment Gala written on the night:
http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/2008/04/la-fille-du-regiment-met-magic.php4
Review of Met Open Day and Rehearsal of Fille du Regiment.
http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/2008/04/fille-du-regiment-rehearsal-friday-open.php4
Beverly Sills doing the final scene at The Daughter of the Regiment
Wolf Trap Festival 1974. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUhvGMVnKMo
YouTube item from this production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aS6M8j3pvQ

Edgar at Carnegie Hall.

2008-04-30T17:04:00.000+10:00

Edgar - Puccini - 8pm Sun 13th April 2008 Carnegie Hall, Opera Orchestra of New York (OONY).

Dear Colleagues,

We were privileged to hear this excellent early opera of Maestro Puccini with a superb orchestra, chorus and principal singers. Eve Queller has reached 35 years in her remarkable campaign to bring rare works to the public at a high standard.

Mr Giordani in the title role was in spectacular form and took all the hard options successfully as in the final performances of Ernani at the Met recently. He is an artist who sometimes seems to sound better in the theatre than on broadcasts. Latonia Moore as Fidelia showed a magnificent crystal pure yet rich soprano to rapturous applause in an almost-full Carnegie Hall. Jennifer Larmore also sang extremely well but somehow never reached ‘goose bump’ level. As “Frank”, Stephen Gaertner’s baritone voice proved to be equal to anything. High, low, loud, soft he was expressive and effective. The adult chorus was magnificent while the Catholic school children’s chorus seemed rag-tag.

The work is a splendid opera, and far superior to many 20 century “operas” in my view. The story is certainly original and leads to plenty of dramatic situations including a resurrection on stage! It is balanced by some real corpses before the end. Like his early Messa there is melody, orchestral invention and balance. The arias are original and choruses fitting and exciting dramatically. There is hardly any melody reminiscent of his other works but perhaps some orchestration from Manon Lescaut to my hearing.

I hope a recording is released of this performance and that this opera is given its proper place in the repertoire of serious opera companies.

Andrew Byrne .. (Also seen/heard The Gambler; Fanciulla del West; Candide – notes on request).

La Fille du Regiment. Met magic this evening. Brief notes.

2008-04-22T19:22:00.000+10:00

Donizetti. Metropolitan Opera New York City. Monday 21st April 2008.

Dear Colleagues,

This was indeed a night of nights. The company has pulled out all the stops and provided high class comic opera without rival. In a French-inspired ‘geographic’ alpine production coming via London and Vienna this opera was raised from the relatively superficial to a level equal to anything the Met has done in my experience. For one thing, a rare encore was performed by Mr Florez (‘Ah mes amis’). This turned the already incredible 9 high C’s into 18. And none was clipped or insubstantial. A colossal effort! He then received one of the few spontaneous standing ovations I have seen at the Met (a colleague said it was the only spontaneous standing ovation he had seen in over 50 years of Met openings).

Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez is the darling of the opera world at present and has gone from strength to strength on the world stage adding Olympian records to his repertoire. These include the extra scene in Barbiere di Siviglia (others have attempted it but few succeeded so comprehensively). He sang, danced and acted his way into the hearts (and pockets) of the elite of New York, many of whom had paid over five hundred dollars for dinner, supper and premium tickets. His act 2 pleading aria was taken as slowly as I have heard it – moving, legato and effective dramatically, quite the opposite of the ‘rapid-fire’ act 1 aria with all the high C’s.

And he was in good company with the quirky and attractive Natalie Dessay as well as a fine natural comedy man, Alessandro Corbelli as Suplice the sergeant major. He sang Gianni Schicchi last year with great acclaim. Famous actress Marian Seldes played the Duchess of Crackenthorp with great aplomb. She was in Deuce last year with Angela Lansbury.

At the end there was a phenomenal ovation. The crowds screamed for Florez. Each time he took a bow it sounded like the stadium roaring over goals. This may be the most exciting opera performance I have seen since the Sutherland days.

It should be on the front pages of the papers, not buried in the entertainment section! [and it was!]

Andrew Byrne .. 1922 review of Toti dal Monti in the opera:
http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/2006/07/grand-opera-toti-dal-montes-success.php4

Fille du Regiment rehearsal Friday open-day' at the Met

2008-04-22T07:25:00.003+10:00

Fille du Regiment rehearsal - Friday open-day at the Met. 11am Friday 18th April 2008

This was another successful demonstration of the Gelb Dynasty way of doing business at the Met. Following an advertisement in the New York Post, I called by phone (internet was unresponsive) at the appointed hour the previous Sunday, and eventually got thru after 20 minutes of trying. We secured two free tickets in the Grand Tier, as did our friends. We all did as we were told and arrived an hour early to view some displays in the main foyer involving costumes, house organisation, special effects, lighting, scenery painting and stage modelling. These displays were all original and interesting … remote controlled revolving spotlights, on-stage illuminated handbags for Macbeth, understudy’s costumes, flaming sword, stage models (‘maquette’ is the trade term I am told), smoke making machine, etc.

I asked each representative in turn about the worst disaster in their department - with some startling responses. The special effects man had designed an exploding book for the end of Faust but one night he accidentally stapled the wires together and it refused to ignite at the crucial time. This was highly embarrassing for the performer so a large ’grovel’ was called for.

The costume lady had a very sad tale involving the death on stage of Richard Versalle (January 1996 - Makropoulos Secret). They required a new costume for his understudy for the very next performance (it was not clear if this was due to the singer’s size, respect for the dead or if the original was damaged in resuscitation attempts). After two full days of sewing over a cold weekend, the next performance was also cancelled - this time due to a massive blizzard which shut down the entire US east coast.

I had two disasters recounted by the sets representative. The new Madama Butterfly design had a huge wall of dangling flowers which were rolled up after the first night. When unrolling them for the second performance it was found that they had all stuck together and it took a Herculean effort of every available pair of hands in the building to separate the mass of rolled up flowers, strand by strand to help get the disentanglement sorted before curtain time.

In another disaster there was a scrim across the stage in an opera which ripped right across as it was being taken out. Apparently these scrims have heavy balance weights on each side to stop them wrinkling but these obviously are meant to be removed before raising the delicate fabric. The weights were left in place on this occasion and the curtain predictably ripped right across its top section. As there was another performance in a few days’ time a careful sewing job was needed to first cut the break cleanly on both sides and then resuture the smooth edges with invisible thread in time. Fortunately there was only a small strip lost and enough spare to use the same scrim. A replacement at such short notice would not have been possible.

The sets person explained about the loss of an expensive stage model which had been left in a box which was taken accidentally for trash. These models can take two of three people a number of weeks to make up and so such a loss would have been a calamity. The box was on board the trash truck some blocks away from Lincoln Center before it was stopped and the model retrieved intact for posterity. One of these very models was on show representing the three overlaid maps making the set and three mountains behind the Fille du Regiment design.

It is not appropriate to comment on a rehearsal so suffice it to say that honour was satisfied and the Monday Gala opening should be a swish event mirroring the London success of this production with practically the same cast from a year or more ago.

After the performance the (exhausted) singers, actors, conductor and production team sat on the Act 2 set and were interviewed by Margaret Junthwaite. We were given lots of insights into geography (hint), comedy, acting, stagecraft and other matters.

All in all a real treat for us out-of-towners – and locals alike. I am very grateful for having been able to attend this splendid event. It has got to be good for public relations and would have cost the company little or nothing since there were some generous sponsors named who defrayed the additional expenses over a closed rehearsal.

Andrew Byrne ..
Travel log: http://www.redfernclinic.com/c/2007/10/lord-howe-island-naturalists.php4

Masked Ball at the Met. April 19.

2008-04-19T11:56:00.000+10:00

Saturday 19th April 2008

Ballo in Maschera. Metropolitan Opera, New York City.

King: Salvatore Licitra
Amelia: Angela Brown
Ulrica: Stephanie Blythe
Renato: Dmitry Hvorostovsky
Oscar: Ofelia Sala
cond: Gianandrea Noseda

Dear Colleagues,

Another marvellous Ballo outing at the Met. I have seen this production several times as well as its classic video with Pavarotti, Millo and Nucci. This evening had a dream cast of Salvatore Licitra, Angela Brown, Stephanie Blythe and Dmitry Hvorostovsky. Also, the Oscar of Ofelia Sala was a fine performance.

As the king, Mr Licitra was almost eclipsed by the finesse of the baritone and lead soprano. Both baritone arias were sung with such intense conviction that at times in Eri tu Hvorostovsky seemed to move out of the aria itself, taking pauses and extensions which, while not written (and could not reasonably have been written), were perfectly attuned to the character of the piece. He also interpolated some notes from the traditional versions. The conductor seemed to take some of the main arias very slowly, to great advantage with such fine artists.

Remarkably Ms Brown did a similar thing with her Act 3 aria Morro ma prima ingrazia with some incredibly beautiful phrasing at the end. I only recall hearing this effect once before with Sherril Milnes as papa Germont also here at the Met almost 20 years ago in Di provenza (and taken to an extreme on film with Jose van Damm at the end of Cortigiani). Neither Pavarotti nor Sutherland ever did this, at least not for me. I think the singer has to get wholly within the characterisation before doing this … and obviously needs to be in complete control vocally.
Despite being almost midnight, the acclaim at the end of Ballo, was rapturous. The production is over-the-top and final ball scene unbelievably detailed, large, colourful and yet still sympathetic to the story. It even has a ‘play within’ and its own on-stage audience.

This performance was well above the usual standard seen here (or anywhere). Two members of the Australian Opera were also in the audience and they were also impressed by proceedings. We noted, however, some minor pitching errors of the tenor and some repeated timing problems with the conductor. His musicality may not be quite as refined as his colleagues yet Mr Licitra has a formidable and beautiful instrument and being able to ‘deliver’ as well as or better than many others in his field.

The day before, we were treated to an ‘open-house’ at the Met, incorporating a dress rehearsal of the Fille du Regiment (see my web site for full details). Already I have received responses about each item posted on some enthusiast opera list-servers. Some replies are not for the faint-hearted. But at least a lot of people read one’s messages and any obvious mistakes are pointed out, sometimes politely, otherwise tersely, allowing me to live and learn while also enjoying the opera. This is a form of cheap and quick ‘peer-review’. One learns to ignore the rudeness as being insecurity of people who often have nothing better to do than ‘kvetch’. Sharing ‘diary notes’ publicly is all a matter of timing … too early and they are incomplete or inaccurate … too late and nobody is interested!

Best wishes to all from Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Ernani - Verdi - Metropolitan Opera New York.

2008-04-12T11:42:00.013+10:00

Thursday 10th April 2008 7.30pm.

Ernani - Marcello Giordani
Elvira - Sondra Radvanovsky
Don Carlo - Thomas Hampson
de Silva - Ferruccio Furlanetto
Conductor - Roberto Abbado

Dear Colleagues,

The Met web site calls this opera a ‘gem’ yet this is being kind. While it has some of the most magnificent arias and choruses, the story is a mish mash of not just unlikely but ludicrous events, underlined by the theme ‘a slave of duty’ like the Pirates of Penzance, but without the humour. Both hero (a bandit) and villain (a nobleman) are bound by such serious personal honour that they would die before allowing themselves even a minor transgression of “the gentleman’s code”. A suspicious suitor turns out to be the king incognito while a pilgrim who arrives at a wedding turns out to be a rival who nobody happens to recognise before allowing him into the castle for alms and refuge.

Two glorious scenes occur in the first 20 minutes and one wonders if there could be anything else (there is!). Ernani sings of his lost love and his henchmen sing of their devotion and willingness to fight to get her back. They are standing on and below a large curving stairway around what looks like an open-cut coal seam as their brigands’ hide-out. Next scene is Elvira’s ‘Surte e la notte’, ‘Ernani, Ernani involarmi’ and ‘Tutto sprezzo’. Sondra Radvanovsky sang superbly and took all the hard options. This takes place in a massive palace room where she is confined. Massive drapes on an unseen window are billowing in the breeze reminding us of the great outdoors she is longing for. She sings part of her scene sitting on a sofa on the right side and moves around the stage as her thoughts progress.

The tenor has a major challenge in Act 2. ‘Odi il voto o grande Iddio’ has elements of ‘Ah la paterna mano’ from Macbeth as well as hints at ‘Ah si ben mio’. Next Ernani launches into a chorus ending with a ‘Di quella pira’ style cabletta, ‘Sprezzo la vita, ne più m'alletta’ ending the act on a magnificent ‘high’ combining ‘vendetta’ and true love. Mr Giordani’s performance was exciting and accurate in the theatre.

This makes two choruses swearing allegiance to their leaders and it appears that the whole opera revolves around keeping one’s oath and observation gentleman’s accepted codes of conduct. Other more personal things such as self, family, king and country are all subordinate to the ‘codes’ espoused here. Even to the point of ‘honour suicide’ on demand on one’s wedding day.

Anyone in these roles now has the inevitable comparison with the Met DVD of this production (with Pavarotti, Milnes, Mitchell and Raimondi). In this, Milnes ends his Act 3 ‘Oh de verd’anni miei’ with an almost unbelievable, ringing high A flat, sustained for over 5 seconds, sending the audience wild.

Mr Hampson sang with conviction and confidence as King Carlos. In the act 3 aria’s conclusion he touched uneasily on a high G in an otherwise ringing and exciting performance, finishing (correctly) on the lower A flat.

Ferrucio Furlanetto was excellent as the nobleman de Silva. His voice is warm and secure. He received a large ovation, as did all the other singers and conductor.

The finale sees the happiest scene turn ugly with the newly married Ernani hearing the horn-call of de Silva on whose sound he had promised to commit suicide ‘on that day’. He bids farewell to Elvira and stabs himself after which da Silva uses the same dagger to slash the bride’s throat giving us an extra corpse for the final curtain. This was not done in the original production and seems like a gratuitous excess to me. In a concert version of this final trio done by Sutherland and Pavarotti the bass-baritone role was played by Marilyn Horne, proving her versatility. It was splendid, unlike the full recording which was under-par in some respects, especially Sutherland’s worrying wobble by that time in her glorious career.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Satyagraha at the Met Monday 14th April 2008.

2008-04-12T11:42:00.012+10:00

Metropolitan Opera, New York City

Satyagraha. Travesty and con-job in my estimation.

Richard Croft, Bradley Garvin, Richard Bernstein, Rachelle Durkin, Ellie Dehn, Maria Zifchak. Conductor Dante Anzolini.

Dear Colleagues,
The Met has let us down badly with this ‘opera’ entitled Satyagraha. They have stated in various places that subtitles are available to all their operas – yet this was apparently an exception with major disadvantages for all involved. Because it was sung in an Indian dialect the entire opera was incomprehensible to most of us. A recent religious movie was made in Aramaic but subtitles kept viewers abreast of events. The only distant benefit was to remind us how much we missed before titles were introduced.

My opera notes are normally written from my experience in the theatre. Since the advent of titles I have made a point of not researching operas before seeing them in most cases. In fact I have not purchased a program for many years, preferring to use books, musical scores, CD booklets and even Google for my references ‘after the fact’. This has enabled me to form an impression from the work itself and not from various explanations from directors, designers, composers and (worst of all) opera managements. Since this is a great story of a great man, it is a shame I still have little idea of what it is about. I am still not certain how to pronounce the title. I missed ‘Gandhi’ the motion picture, but those who had seen it clearly were able to enjoy the opera better for the experience.

The ‘music’ of Satyagraha is nothing if not repetitive. All composers repeat their music yet this must break all bounds for cutting and pasting in music. One single semi-quaver note on the word ‘ha’ was sung 80 times at one stage - I was so bored that I started counting, like sheep in the night! And this monotony went on for what seemed like 20 minutes: ‘ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha’ 8, 16, 32 or more times in half or quarter notes separated by arpeggios of 4 crochets. If this is a useful, pleasant or beautiful musical device, and I am not sure that it is, then only a mighty ego in a composer could think that repeating it with only the slightest chromatic modulations over 100 times would be musical, tasteful or indeed, tolerable. I found it boring and unimaginative. Many patrons near me slept during much of the performance. If the words were of profound wisdom poetry then they were lost on most listeners. Occasional large projections which could only be read by those in the center of the theater gave little indication of events and some were in poor English translations (eg. ‘very excellent’).

Yet for boring repetition (and there was lots and lots of that) it would be hard to beat the final 15 minutes in which Gandhi, played by Richard Croft, repeats the same brief Sanskrit phrase on the same rising melodic minor scale of 8 notes what seems like 35 times in a very slow tempo. Mr Croft has a beautiful voice and while it is a pleasure to behold, after attending a 3 hour master class last week it was hard not to analyse. In this ‘scritto’ repetition, the ‘gear change’ occurred variably in the last 1, 2 or sometimes 3 notes. Males have head and chest voices, just like females, although it may not be talked about as much. Hence boring music became a singing lesson of sorts, and this is not a criticism of Mr Croft, just of Philip Glass and his poverty of invention. Speaking of which, one repeated motif I recognised from Cavalleria Rusticana, note for note. And that was repeated at least 3 times for me to be sure. No problem with that, it is just a shame that there was no development of the motif from that point, nor more interesting ‘borrowings‘ to balance the ‘machinery’ noise from the pit. I was reminded of the below-deck scene on “The Ship Sails On” where the famous singer competes with the steam turbines of an ocean liner. Doubtless some enjoy this sort of music which I personally consider a slow torture.

The other singers, chorus and orchestra should all be commended for accurate production of a work with so many alien features (a whole scene in act 1 appeared to be in 7/4 time!!). I think Rachel Durkin as Gandi’s assistant received the biggest applause apart from Croft himself.

The end came close to midnight and remarkably, many patrons remained in the expensive seats. A friend who sat in the Family Circle said that there was an exodus after the second intermission as people gave up on the work after a decent hearing of 2 acts. Neither had as much as an aria, a poem or a beautiful tableau from the stage. I had hoped for some particular high point in honour of the great man of the story.

The orchestration relied heavily on an electric organ which was quite overpowering at times, even against perhaps a half sized Met orchestra. Sometimes the tempi were extremely fast, other times embarrassingly slow. Much of the action on stage was in apparent slow motion. Again, if this is a clever device (and I am sure it can be) it can also be over-done and as with much we witnessed in the theater during the opera, excessive repetition was the order of proceedings.

On the other hand, the production was one of the most extraordinary and original I have seen in my life. Yet much of it was hard to connect with the life and times of the great man. Much was clearly drawing attention to the originators themselves more than to their story-telling skills. There were huge puppets operated by wires and rods; twice people are taken off stage via a ‘sky wire’ for no apparent purpose; alcoves in the massive curved corrugated iron set had inane household things going on as people climbed, or were pushed in or out. In one chorus scene variously dressed members all removed their outer garment as three rows of coat-hangers on chains were lowered from the fly level. It was bizarre as several dozen items had made their way from a dark wardrobe to grace the upper levels of the Metropolitan stage, the symbolism, beauty or utility of which was lost on me and others I spoke to.

Much of the story line depended on newspaper clippings which I learned later were emphasising this important means of communication for the resistance movement in South Africa. A Google search reveals that Satyagraha means nothing more than ‘non-violent resistance’. I still do not know how much if any of the story involved India. While there were dates from the late 1800’s to the 1920s there was no clear indication of what was going on. The entire floor of the Met stage was made up of glazed old newspapers (although they were in colour which seemed incongruous).

Another crazy scene saw about twenty minutes taken up with a slow motion chorus as one character after another rolled out cello-tape across the stage, each at a particular level and all horizontal. The result was a series of taught tape ties across the stage. These were snipped, cut, bundled and jettisoned, again to no particular effect … except to wonder what the director had in mind with this odd waste. In another scene a circular section was cut out of the floor, attached to a wire and flown off to the top of the stage accompanied by a stunt person - to no particular effect. Except that it did leave a fire at center stage into which each chorus member one by one monotonously threw what I learned later were Government ID cards (like Draft Card burnings in the US). This may have been the only meaningful part of the whole production, yet I missed it in the theater.

The act 1 puppets appeared to be made up of screwed up paper which was immensely clever artistically if over-my-head dramatically. Those used in act 2 were quite different and formed a hounding or herding band around the protagonist. The tallest could easily have passed for Fassolt of Fafner in the Ring. The others took the form of huge expressive Dickensian characters operated by rods, each with its own unusual anatomical features. Once again, I am not sure what it all meant, then or now.

All in all a disappointing night at the theater.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/blog/

Marilyn Horne Master Class in New York.

2008-04-12T11:42:00.002+10:00

Manhattan School of Music: Voice Master Class with Marilyn Horne.

9th April 2008

Marilyn Horne held a free Master Class which was the culmination of two weeks of intensive coaching for 9 singers and their accompanists at the Manhattan School of Music, 122nd Street on Broadway. The event was open to the public free of charge, yet the Borden Auditorium was only about three quarters full. The evening ran from 7 to 10pm.

Ms Horne looked abundantly well in a brightly coloured outfit, seated for most of the evening at a desk on the stage opposite a black grand piano and music stand (which nobody actually used). The program notes stated that she had her 70th birthday in 2004.

Nine advanced vocal students appeared to be in their mid to late twenties … with almost as many piano accompanists. All were of highest calibre and indeed each would deserve a review in his/her own right … yet this would be unfair as we were not attending a performance, as Ms Horne stressed, but a coaching session. The first chose to sing Delilah’s first act aria which was splendid, as was the second who sang ‘I hear an army’, words by James Joyce and music by Samuel Barber. Ms Horne made a remark about the small number of Joyce books she had read. She also stopped and started the singers at various points, each clearly explained - sometimes with dramatic changes in the vocal results.

We heard sing Ah ichs fuhls; Baby Doe male aria; Delilah’s act 1 aria; Doppelganger; Fiesco’s first act aria; ‘I hear an army’; Oh mio Fernando (sung in Italian); Porgi amor; Spanish song: ‘El e muerte’.

Her commentary and banter throughout was pleasant and relaxing for everyone, without being in any way self-centred or tedious. She has something interesting and pertinent to say about just about everything – including the spring trees, bushes and bulbs lining Broadway on the way up to Columbia which all revealed spring to be the season she awaits with most impatience. This was in direct reference to the mention of ‘printemps’ and the mood needed for the phrase.
Ms Horne used many singing terms, as did her students, explaining the less familiar ones to those of us attending who were not trained or training in the voice. She talked about tempi, diaphragm, palate, jaw, breathing, nasal, head and chest voices, pitch, volume, dynamic, balance, technique, learning, speaking voice and lip movements. All made abundant sense at the time, but getting it altogether clearly takes a long period of intense training.

On several occasions Ms Horne pointed both extended index fingers laterally at her own cheek bones, raised her nose and upper lip slightly, while also making a gesture with her back and body. The latter was to indicate the “support” needed for each note from the diaphragm and everything below it (some say the heels are the most important!). The facial focus was to demonstrate the need to keep the ‘air flowing’ and the voice production up in the ‘resonant passages’.

She emphasised the wisdom of just following the enunciation of the words of any song, avoiding the temptation to force the lips and jaw into unnatural positions (especially sidewards), inevitably affecting the sound. I was a little surprised that there was no mention of trills or other ornaments. She did, however, emphasise the importance of a proper Italianate rolled ‘r’ sound which some of the singers had neglected.

Each singer began by singing their chosen number right through (or trying to). Ms Horne would then read out several pertinent points about the performance using some praise for the good parts and then going into detail about the parts she felt needed attention. These sections were repeated, sometimes up to 5 times and for the listening audience the difference was often dramatic and obvious. On other occasions the improvements seemed more obvious to the experts (and there were many of them present). One singer started with an obvious nasal sound, making one wonder if it had all been worthwhile. Ms Horne recognised the problem within seconds. She stopped the candidate and suggested that nerves had made them pout their lips (or some other labial contortion) which, when remedied, immediately yielded a most beautiful resonant sound, not in the least bit ‘nasal’.

On many occasions she pointed up the need to get the vowels correctly phonated. She quoted Ebi Stignani, ‘possibly the greatest mezzo-soprano who ever lived’ who called the ‘a’ vowel the ‘terrible’ vowel (in Italian). Apparently she often just turned it into an ‘e’ or an ‘i’ when singing to avoid the problem on high notes! We were all told about the need for a clean, accurate start to any song and several of the candidates demonstrated with false or weak starts. Another gripe only brought up on two occasions in the whole evening was not singing exactly what was written in the music. We were reminded of dotted notes and double-dotted notes, as well as those with half or quarter measures, triplets, couplets, syncopated starts and the like. It made one realise just how much effort must have already gone into each aria prior to the Master Class.

At one point Ms Horne said that the soprano in question had to pretend to be a tenor for a particular stressed phrase. She then demonstrated by imitating a tenor in full flight – using her completely intact mezzo voice – bringing the room to stitches of laughter. She sang many lines, notes, phrases and noises in full voice to demonstrate points to the candidates. On the subject of singers in full flight, she recommended The Gambler at the Met where she said cheap or even free seats might be available. She said that Vladimir Galouzine is one tenor today who has the staying power and beauty of voice she has not seen since the days of Gedda and Del Monaco. I had attended the same Gambler performance but without the same positive sentiments. I thought it was musically and dramatically woeful yet the stage design is most original and engaging (and would be ideal for a new Don Giovanni in my view).

There was much humour during the evening. Often her comments on and interactions with the singers were hilarious, sometimes just from unfamiliarity or surprise events: from clenched buttock muscles to ‘wiggles’ (“DON’T call them wobbles” she said – implying, however, that they mean the same thing). As the last singer presented her music to Ms Horne she opened to the wrong page and started to sing out loud Urbain’s first act aria from Les Huguenots, saying “I know this one!” “Non, non non non non non …”.

The last was the best performance to my ears and I made a point of going up to the elegant young lady who had been grilled by Ms Horne in detail thru the long recitative, aria and cabaletta. In particular, she pointed out that this young woman had a huge and natural chest voice and so, unlike others, she had to concentrate on emphasising and broadening her head register to ensure long life of her ‘instrument’. Ms Horne even asked her what note her register changed and the singer insisted that she never thought of things like that. Yet it seemed from what Ms Horne made her then do this ‘gear change’ at several notes lower, keeping the legato of certain phrases in the Donizetti. The cabaletta ‘Scritto e in ciel, il mio dolor’ was spectacular with the final notes nailed perfectly. Goose bumps all round!

Ms Horne gave several personal insights into the various roles. She said that the big aria is the major test for the role of Pamina in Magic Flute. She had never sung it herself due to the difficulties of the aria, although she had sung ‘Porgi amor’ from Nozze. She made the intriguing comment that Charles Mackerras had told her that he had found some evidence that ‘Ach ich fuhls’ should be sung much faster than traditionally done nowadays (he has also promoted some apparently authentic ornamentation for some Mozart gems). While she was not ‘ready’ for a fully andante version of this aria, she believed that the tempo should not lag, lest it make the aria more difficult to sing as well as less appealing in its purpose in the opera as Pamina shows her grief. Ms Horne said that she had done Italian roles in her ‘soprano days’ and very usually ‘auf Deutsch’.

Most bass students of hers rated Cesare Siepi as their favourite and this included the present candidate playing Fiesco from Simon Boccanegra. She said this was because of Siepi’s ability to stick strictly to the legato line. We were told that this aria is known in some quarters as the ‘National Anthem’ for basses. Ms Horne pointed out that this student had the ‘dollar notes’ (meaning the lowest) and now needed to attend certain other parts of his production, which he followed carefully with excellent results. Individual story lines of each of the songs and arias were emphasised in detail, including the Spanish song (grief, suicidal thoughts) and Doppelganger (shock at seeing one’s own reflection ringing hands in anguish).

I spoke to Ms Horne briefly after the master class to compliment her on her marvellous work with the young artists. She was delightful, even with a crusty gent who accosted her with a pile of old 33 RPM records for her to sign!

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

La Boheme on the big screen - an Australian view from inside the theatre.

2008-04-07T10:43:00.008+10:00

Matinee Sat 5th April 2008

La Boheme with Gheorghiu/Vargas. Puccini. 1.30pm Sat 5th April 2008.

Dear Colleagues,

This was a marvellous example of the hundreds of outings of this Zeffirelli production beamed out to the cinema screens and radio stations across the world. I may see it on the wide screen or DVD some day but it was certainly interesting to see such an opera in the theatre itself. As the curtain rose on each setting there was applause which now seems inevitable … as one is transported to the attic garret, bustling inner Paris or its outskirts. There seemed to be more people than ever on stage at the start of act 2.

Two minor accidents occurred: in the first, two round hat boxes bounced off a cart in the Momus scene, one ending up in the orchestra pit. It appeared to be light and probably caused no damage as one orchestra member passed it to the 'rear' of the deep Met pit. Musetta and her consort arrived in a Surrey drawn by a donkey which seems to have had an incident on the stage left which was quickly cleaned up by a black cloaked stage hand or chorus member as the action moved to the right. The poor animal was only on stage for less than a minute!

From the rear orchestra stalls seats it was somewhat disconcerting to have six cameras in one's lateral field of view throughout the performance (and another two behind). Two of them were on long roving rods which were constantly raised and lowered from long telescopic booms originating in the front lowest box on each side. There was also one remote-controlled camera which rolled constantly from side to side on a track above the footlights (and just above the height of the prompter's box). Some of the cameras were actually in the orchestra seating so that a small number of patrons must have been distracted and I imagine those adjacent would have been compensated in some way by the Met.

The cameras were a reminder of the immediacy of this performance going out to the world on digital high definition and high fidelity audio. Opera is always like walking a 'tight-rope’ and live filming raises the tension, stakes and risk levels greatly.

The lovers Ramon Vargas and Angela Gheorghiu sang superbly as radio and cinema audiences can judge for themselves. While they are well known to opera goers the world over, the rest of the strong cast and conductor were all unknown to me until this performance (except the ubiquitous veteran Paul Plishka who ‘played Paul Plishka’ as rent collector and Alcindoro). Ludovic Tezier as Marcello; Oren Gradus as Colline; Quinn Kelsey as Schaunard; Ainhoa Arterta as Musetta. Conductor Nicola Luisotti directed the orchestra in a score they must all know by heart. He kept the pace lively and happily did not try to put his own ‘stamp’ on this opera gem.

I hope others enjoyed the performance as much as I did. I personally disapprove of Vargas going up to the high note for the finale of Act I off-stage, but no further correspondence will be entered into on this subject. OK, he did it. It was accurate, if somewhat shortened. It was not beautiful, while the soprano could have sung for much longer (as could Vargas) if using the notes come scritto by Puccini. One correspondent thought it was taken down a semitone but I left my tuning fork at home for fear of setting off metal detectors.

Lots more to say (elsewhere) about the other principals who all sang brilliantly.

The intermission quiz was great fun (for once only half full), taking place in the theatrette in the Met basement on OP side of the stage. It was hosted by bass Justino Diaz who was well humoured and knowledgeable. We saw bits and pieces of Ms Fleming interviewing the cast backstage, yet another imposition of this modern exercise of televising performances. The principals, (tenor especially) are on stage for much of the opera and now they are expect to give interviews in the brief intermissions! We were told that the libretto of Boheme contains mention of 20 animals and the panellists were asked to name as many as they could. The ran out after beaver, salmon and a couple of others given hints and in desperation the audience was asked to help. A voice recognition question had 4 basses doing a few bars from the coat song (they could have used Caruso but chose Ezio Pinza). The pianist played some music representing cold scenes from Arabella, Mazappa, Fanciulla and others.

I can recommend the new arrangements for obtaining returned tickets on the day of the performance by using the Met internet booking site. But you need to log on at exactly 10am for best results. This means that one can be almost certain of getting tickets in some reserve or other (even if only standing room, of which over 100 are sold ONLY on the day of the performance).

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/

Falstaff – Giuseppe Verdi. Wednesday April 2 2009 7.30pm

2008-04-05T10:43:00.000+11:00

New York City Opera. Lincoln Center.

April 2 2008

Falstaff – Ian Opalach
Meg – Heather Johnson
Alice – Pamela Armstrong
Quickly – Ursula Ferri
Nannetta – Anna Skibinsky
Fenton – John Tessier
Ford – Timothy Mix
c. George Manahan

Dear Colleagues,

This is a sympathetic production of a unique comic opera involving the twin genius of Shakespeare and Verdi … and one of my favourite works.

The production was simple yet effective, starting with two huge angled white panels forming the walls of our knight’s lodgings as he demanded food and wine while hatching his plot to seduce not one but two local Windsor women. Ian Opalach played Falstaff well, never losing the buffoonery, constant self-confidence and double deflated comeuppance episodes, lastly in the winter snow after midnight. The ‘honour’ monologue was excellent, as was the shorter and less known ‘ode to sherry’.

The rest of the cast were all of equally high calibre and well matched. The young lovers were particularly effective, tenor John Tessier and his Nannetta Anna Skibinsky, whose act 3 ‘aria’ was splendid. The final fugue was the high point it was meant to be (‘Tutto nel mondo e burla’). It is a nice change to end an opera without bodies or blood on stage!

The huge and ‘clunky’ State Theater was 90% full and their audio-enhancement system worked well. All singers could be heard well and without any noticeable amplification, feed-back, etc.

Comments by Andrew Byrne ..

Un Ballo in Maschera, Sydney Opera House, Wed 19th March 2008

2008-03-22T23:06:00.010+11:00

Un Ballo in Maschera, Sydney Opera House, Wed 19th March 2008

Conductor: Andrea Licata; Director: John Cox.

King - Dennis O’Neill
Anckestroem - Michael Lewis
Oscar - Loren Gore
Ulrica - Bernadette Cullen
Amelia - Nicole Youl
Count Horn - Richard Alexander
Count Ribbing - Richard Anderson

Dear Colleagues,

Another mid-season update on this wonderful opera production. We had a new Oscar with Loren Gore who is also singing Fiakamilli in Arabella at the moment. The pants role of Oscar shows off her considerable talents to better effect as she takes the scene both dramatically and vocally on three occasions in Masked Ball. Fiakamilli is a small but important role involving largely high coloratura ‘punctuation’ in a noisy chorus. It may be a big song but not a ‘big sing’. Oscar is a big sing, involving arias, chorus work and recitative. Ms Gore has a large voice with an even production up to a ringing top. I hope we hear much more of her.

Nicole Youl was in fine voice as was Michael Lewis. Dennis O’Neill’s command of the role of Gustavus is supreme. A retired baritone I know called the performance a veritable singing lesson. It is also hard to imagine a better witch than Bernadette Cullen who was in fine form, fair raising the roof with her prophesies and soothsaying.

Richard Alexander and Richard Anderson are the two basso conspirators who start and finish the action of this grizzly opera. They ceremoniously light and extinguish the old footlights as in another era. Along with the chorus they are unfailingly professional both vocally and dramatically. Andrea Licata and his orchestra received yet another rapturous ovation.

The production has much going for it and is an excellent foil for this near-perfect opera. The king’s writing desk is covered with a large Persian rug which looks rather odd in the regal apartments. The conspirators’ names are drawn out of a drawer, not an urn as stated in the libretto. The king wears a sailor’s suit to the fortune teller, not the attire of a fisherman as called for by the score. But these are small details in an otherwise charming and original production.

comments by Andrew Byrne ..

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Dr Andrew Byrne MB BS (Syd) FAChAM (RACP)
Dependency Medicine,
75 Redfern Street, Redfern,
New South Wales, 2016, Australia
Email - ajbyrneATozemail.com.au
Tel (61 - 2) 9319 5524 Fax 9318 0631
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http://www.redfernclinic.com/
Opera blog: http://www.redfernclinic.com/opera/critique/