Live from MET – Der Rosenkavalier

Live from MET – Der Rosenkavalier

Fathom events, May – Richard Strauss’s (1864-1949) passionate and lush opera, Der Rosenkavalierwas presented live in High Definition cinema on Saturday, 13 May 2017 to hundreds of delighted audiences in movie theatres throughout the world.  It was a one-night-only performance broadcasted live from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.  It’s world premiere was at the Konigliches Operahaus  in Dresden in 1911 where it was enthusiastically received. It has remained a favorite operatic staple ever since.

 

Although designed as a comic-social opera, Der Rosenkavalier operates at a more emotionally deeper level. The end of the Habsburg’s dynasty was right around the corner, and the bitter-sweet quality of that time reflected on the plot. Only a few years after its premiere of Der Rosenkavalier, the symbolic end of the Habsburg Monarchy was marked. In 1916, Emperor Franz Joseph, after a reign of sixty-eight years died and then two years later Europe experienced First World War, the conflict that defined the century. The society never looked quite the same and new nation states were established in the former Habsburg territories.

 

Strauss was enamored by the female voice and his opera is famed for the beautiful arias for the three female roles consisting of two sopranos and a mezzo-soprano: Marschallin, Octavian and Sophie. Marschallin, Princess von Werdenberg, who is having an affair with the young count Octavian, conscious of the difference in age between herself and her lover, muses over the passing time, growing old and men’s inconstancy. Renee Fleming, who sings one of her signature roles as the Marschallin, received the warmest applause from the audience. Her opposite Elina Garanca as Octavian made her first North-American performance as the impulsive young title character, who easily changed an object of his feelings from Marschallin to Sophie, the young daughter of a wealthy arms dealer.

 

The intrigue begins when Baron Ochs, the Marschallin’s country cousin, who is engaged to Sophie meets Octavian, who is disguised as a chambermaid to avoid discovery in the Marschallin’s bedroom, makes advances towards “her’. The Marschallin is appalled at the thought of the rude Ochs marrying an innocent girl. In the second act on behalf of Ochs, Octavian presents Sophie with a customary silver engagement rose and two of them instantly fall in love. Sophie, who has never met the Baron before, is shocked by her fiancé manners and refuses to marry him. Octavian determines to teach the Baron a lesson, setting up a rendezvous as the “chambermaid”.  In the final scene, Octavian takes off his disguise, Ochs admits defeat and leaves, Octavian and Sophie are united, as the Marschallin with dignity wonders how she lost her lover so suddenly.

 

The additional attraction of Fathom events are interviews with its cast, crew and production teams. The host during Der Rosenkavalier’s intermissions was Matthew Polenzani, who makes a small appearance here as Italian singer.

 

 

Set Designer, Paul Steinberg and Costume Designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel have brilliantly succeeded in creating stunning sets of time at the end of Habsburg empire led by the vibrant conducting of Maestro Sebastian Weigle.

 

Once again, Fathom Events in cooperation with the Metropolitan Opera, has offered appreciative audiences world-wide an incomparable opera experience for which we are all grateful.

 

Eugene Onegin – an Opera in Three Acts by Tchaikovsky

Eugene Onegin – an Opera in Three Acts by Tchaikovsky

Fathom events, April –  Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s masterful Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, an opera in three acts and seven scenes, was presented live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York as part of the Live from the Met Series for a one-time only screening on Saturday, April 22, 2017. The libretto, adapted by the composer himself, closely follows Alexander Pushkin’s (1799-1837) classic poetic novel by the same name. Pushkin’s personal life was not without drama, for he was fatally wounded in a duel with his brother-in-law, a French officer serving with the Chevalier Guard Regiment (created by Catherine the Great in 1764), who was rumored to be having an intrigue amorous with Pushkin’s wife, Natalia Pushkina.

 

Eugene Onegin had its premiere in Moscow, March 29, 1879 at the Maly Theatre. The American premiere was given on March 24, 1920 at the Metropolitan Operas in New York at which time it was sung in Italian rather than the traditional Russian.

 

The current production has a distinctive Russian “feel” to it, with costumes and setting reminiscent of a Chekhov play.  In fact, Prince Gremin’s aria, “To love both young and old surrender” from Act III, Scene 1, is actually hummed by the characters Vershinin and Masha in Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece, Three Sisters. 

 

The time and place of the action is a St Petersburg dacha (country estate) and surrounding countryside in the 1820s. Tchaikovsky’s story line is faithful to Pushkin’s novel. Madame Larina, a widow (uncredited in film’s info sheet), has two daughters: the shy and romantic Tatiana, sung by Anna Netrebko,  who spends her time reading novels, presumably “romantic,” and her free-spirited younger sister Olga, sung by Elena Maximova. Olga is being courted by their neighbor, a young, naive poet named Lenski, sung by Alexey Dolgov. Lens visits with his aristocratic, boorish and arrogant friend Eugene Onegin with whom Tatiana instantly falls in love.

 

In the second act, Onegin reluctantly accompanies Lenski to Tatiana’s name day celebration. Bored by the event, he distracts himself by flirting with Olga which infuriates  Lenski and prompts him to challenge Onegin to a duel in which Lenski is killed, an irony that foreshadows Pushkin’s own demise.

 

Act III takes place several years later. Upon returning to St Petersburg after traveling abroad, Onegin attends a ball at which Prince Gremin introduces his young wife.  Much to Oregon’s astonishment, he recognizes her as Tatiana and now realizes he actually does love her. He sends her an impassioned love letter, begging her to leave the Prince and run away with him. Tatiana confesses she still loves him but cannot leave her husband. Onegin is thus left desperate, and alone.

 

Curtain.

 

This strong musical production, featuring Tchaikovsky’s magnificent score and fine orchestration provided by Maestro Robin Ticciati, with much vocal virtuosity by the cast, suffered considerably due to the lifeless and bland production provided by Deborah Warner with sets by Tom Pye.  The sunroom windows and doors of the dacha, for example, were completely draped with lifeless canvas from floor to imagined ceiling (the set had no walls or ceiling to help project the voices into the house). The drearily drab canvas not only deadened the vocal projection of the singers, but also visually presented an unremittingly dull and wearisome backdrop which was not changed for all three scenes of Act I. The extraordinary singers deserved better.

 

Otherwise, this “Onegin” was a worthy effort on the part of the inimitable Met and a valuable experience for opera cinema lovers world-wide who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience a live performance from the world-renowned Met.

by Lidia Paulinska and Hugh McMahon

The Met Live: Roberto Devereux

The Met Live: Roberto Devereux

April, Fathom events – On Saturday, April 16, 2016,  Fathom Events presented Gaetano Donizetti’s del canto* masterpiece Roberto Devereux for a one-night only cinematic presentation in hundreds of theaters throughout the United States.  The screening was part of the year-long celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera’s Peabody and Emmy award-winning series, “The Met: Live in HD.”

This magnificent program, which has included some of the greatest operas of all time, also features during intermissions, fascinating behind-the-scenes interviews with the Met’s illustrious stars, the supporting cast, crew, and production teams, giving us an “up close and personal” insider’s glimpse at what’s involved in staging these operas.

Roberto Devereux is the climatic opera of a Trilogy which also includes Anna Bolena  and Maria Stuarda, all three having been staged by Sir David McVicar, and astonishingly, Soprano Sonar Radvanousky who magnificently portrays Elizabeth I in the third piece of the trilogy, completes a marathon at the Met, having sung all three of Donizetti’s daunting queens in a single season:  Anne Boleyn, Mary Stuart, and Elizabeth I  (Queen Elizabeth II coincidentally celebrated her 90th birthday April 21, the same week Roberto Devereux was presented.)

The Met has assembled an ideal cast for this outstanding production, featuring the superb tenor Matthew Polenzani who excels with lyrical elegance in the title role and Ms Radvanousky who sings with sharp-edged searing power perfectly portraying an aging,  broken Queen tragically in love with Devereux, a  manipulating nobleman 34 years her junior. The great Mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca brings her sumptuous voice to the role of Sara who is in love with Deverux, Earl of Essex, and baritone Mariusz Kwiecien in the role of her husband the Duke, singing with both virile power and soaring lyricism.

For an interesting balance, this reviewer highly recommends a 1998 film starring Cate Blanchette titled Elizabeth , and although obviously not an opera, it vividly portrays Elizabeth as she first ascends the throne of England and was nominated for several Academy Awards, winning one for make-up.

* Del Canto (“beautiful song”).  According to The Harvard Dictionary of Music, del canto  “denotes the Italian vocal technique of the 18th century with its emphasis on beauty of sound and brilliance of performance, rather than dramatic expression or Romantic emotion … it must be considered as a highly artistic technique and as the only proper one for Italian opera and for Mozart.”  We might safely add Rossini and Handel to that statement.

Today, the  term del canto seems to have fallen out of favor and tends to be viewed as vague and ambiguous and lacking any semblance of relevance in the 21st century.

 

by Lidia Paulinska and Hugh McMahon

The Met Live: Madama Butterfly

The Met Live: Madama Butterfly

Fathom events – Hailed by The New York Times as “A gorgeous cinematic spectacle,” and in continuation of their invaluable cultural service by offering stunning live filmed performances, Fathom Events presented Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly for a one night only screening on April 6, 2016 in over 700 movie theaters worldwide. It was truly an incomparable operatic and cinematographic event not to be missed!

Anthony Minghella’s* breathtaking production has delighted and thrilled audiences at the Met ever since it premiered in 2006.  Soprano Kristine Opolais reprises her unanimously acclaimed performance in the title role opposite the extraordinary Roberto Alagna who masterfully portrays the American naval officer Pinkerton who abandons his delicate Japanese Butterfly and breaks her heart. Ms Opals was recently seen at the Met one month earlier in the title role of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut with Roberto Alagna in the role of her indomitably suitor des Grieux. That performance was also offered to movie-goers throughout the world compliments of Fathom Events.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly had its world premiere in 1904 at Teatro alla Scala, Milan. It was initially received poorly, but after numerous revisions it became a much-lauded success and today it is one of the most celebrated operas in the world. Puccini was inspired to create his opera after seeing a one-act play in London in the summer of 1900 titled Madame Butterfly, produced by the American theatrical impresario David Belasco. Belasco in turn had based his play on a short story by an American writer of little note by the name of John Luther Long.

The opera premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1907 with the composer in attendance and featured world-renowned tenor Enrico Caruso as Pinkerton. From that point onward, its popularity has never waned.

In addition to first-rate performances delivered by Ms Opals, Mr Alagna and the supporting cast and chorus, the simplicity of the production not only allows us to focus our attention on the performers without distraction, but also offers a milieu reminiscent of the austere minimalism of a Japanese Kabuki stage. Set Designer Michael Levine has created an unencumbered performance space, utilizing unadorned sliding framed fabric screens to indicate scene changes while upstage a broad staircase, extending the width of the massive Met stage, functions to herald significant entrances and exits.

Costumes by designer Han Feng, are traditional Kabuki in style, being grand and colorful when appropriate to character, and stand in bold contrast to an essentially bare stage. As in the Kabuki theatre, so too in this masterful production, our focus is drawn exclusively to the performers with appropriately minimalist production values in a subordinate yet supportive role.

The story is simple but the emotions run deep.

Captain Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, an American sea captain who, while visiting Japan, marries Cio-Cio-San, a beautiful Geisha nicknamed “Madama Butterfly.” He departs for America (and here Puccini interpolates a couple of bars from “The Star-Spangled Banner” as he does in every Pinkerton scene) and doesn’t return until three years later. By this time Butterfly has given birth to their son and Pinkerton has remarried, this time to an American with whom he returns to Japan. In despair, Butterfly, who has been faithfully awaiting his return, hopefully watching every ship that arrives in Nagasaki Harbor, takes her own life and Pinkerton, in realizing his folly, collapses in abject grief.

An additional indigenous Japanese theatre form Minghella was inspired by was the ancient Bunraku, the puppet or “doll” theatre of Japan. In this production, the puppets are manipulated by traditional three puppeteers, all veiled in black, from San Francisco’s Blind Summit Theatre, appearing initially in Act I representing Cio-Cio-San’s servants. In the Second Act her young son is represented by a puppet of remarkable life-like quality, and in the final act, puppets dramatize the conflict between Butterfly and Pinkerton in a dream-like play-within-a-play sequence.

This wonderful Metropolitan Opera production by Minghella is now celebrating it’s tenth anniversary and one can easily understand why it’s one of the Met’s more popular offerings and why Puccini’s masterpiece continues to be an enduring staple of the operatic repertoire around the world.

*Anthony Minghella (1954-2008) was a renowned British film director, producer, playwright, and screenwriter. His much-celebrated The English Patient won 9 Academy Awards in 1996, followed by The Talented Mr Ripley which garnered an additional 5 Oscars. In 2003 he won another Oscar for Cold Mountain. Minghella was married to Carolyn Choa who masterfully directed and choreographed this current production of his magnificent Butterfly” . He died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 54.

 

By Lidia Paulinska and Hugh McMahon

The Met Live: Puccini’s Manon Lescaut

The Met Live: Puccini’s Manon Lescaut

The redoubtable Metropolitan Opera of New York has done it again!  A carefully crafted and finely balanced production of one of Giacomo Puccini’s twelve operas, Manon Lescault, a work in four acts composed in 1893, was offered for one night only on March 9, 2016 and shown simultaneously in 1,400 movie theaters in 50 countries throughout the world.  It was an operatic gem not to be missed.

Puccini’s tragic love story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chavalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévos.  In 1884, a French composer by the name of Jules Massanet had written an opera titled Manon, and although based on the same novel, it has never reached the international acclaim as has Puccini’s work.  In addition, another French composer by the name of Daniel Auber had also written an opera on the same subject with the title Manon Lascaut in 1883, but like Massanet’s work, it too is considered to be inferior to Puccini’s enduring composition.

The story deals with the urgency of young love and is the tragic tale of a beautiful young woman, Manon, who is ultimately destroyed by her conflicting needs for erotic love and a life of opulence and luxury.  She is obsessively pursued by her young lover des Geieux for whom she yearns while being held captive by Gerona, a wealthy old lech who offers her a loveless life of luxury she willingly accepts.  In the end, this conflict of desire leads to her loss of riches, love, and finally life itself.

Puccini’s Manon Lescaut premiered February 1, 1893 at Teatro Regio in Turin.  It was Puccini’s third opera and his first great success.  It was first performed in New York at the Metropolitan Opera on January 18, 1907 in the presence of the composer himself with Enrico Caruso in the role of des Grieux and legendary Arturo Toscanini conducting.

Puccini’s next work following Manon Lescaut was La Bohéme which premiered in Turin in 1896, conducted also by Arturo Toscanini and remains one of the most popular operas ever written.  Puccini’s next work after La Bohéme was Tosca (1900) followed by Madama Butterfly which premiered at La Scala in 1904.

This latest Metropolitan Opera production of Manon Lescaut, brilliantly staged by the incomparable Sir Richard Eyre, was wonderfully accessible in a crisp, clean modern style, set as it was in 1941 Nazi-occupied France;  it was magnificently balanced, melding voice, orchestra, costume and set design into one unified organic whole.  The compact cast was perfect, featuring soprano Kristine Opolais in the title role and tenor Roberto Alagna as her distraught  lover des Grieux. The leads were ably complimented by baritone Massimo Cavalletti as Manon’s protective brother Lescaut, and the ever-villainous bass Brindley Sherratt as the lecherous old Gerona.  The Met’s Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi expertly lead the stirring score.

This was a production not to be missed and through the unfailing production expertise  of Fathom Events, it was made available to be enjoyed by audiences world-wide.