Metropolitan Opera Preview: Don Giovanni

A new production, but the leading man won't sing the premiere
by Paul Pelkonen.

Poker face: Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni.
Photo by Nick Heavican © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

UPDATE: Due to a back injury suffered during the Oct. 10 dress rehearsal, baritone Mariusz Kwiecien will not be singing the title role in the premiere performance on Oct. 13. The singer will be replaced by Peter Mattei for this performance. Read full details here.

The Met has ditched the unpopular brick-and-mortar Marthe Keller production of Don Giovanni for a new staging by Broadway director Michael Grandage. Hopefully, this will break the company's long-running Giovanni jinx.

Don Giovanni is unique: part rollocking sex farce and part morality play. Although the title character has slept with over two thousand women (1,003 in Spain alone, as detailed in the famous "catalog" aria) he never scores in the course of two acts. He meets his end at the hands of the Commendatore, the spirit of a man who he murdered in Act I, when the statue of the dead man comes to life and comes to dinner.

But this opera is more than a simple ghost story. The Don is a morally ambiguous hero, but there is something noble about his lust for life and refusal to knuckle under to the statue's orders to repent. This quality inspired the Romantic generation of writers and composers, even as the brilliant music pointed the way forward to Beethoven, Schubert and their successors. Its influence cannot be overstated.

Although this Don Giovanni boasts a starry cast, most attention has been on the podium in the run-up to the premiere. These shows were supposed to mark Met Music Director James Levine's return to conducting regularly at the Met following a six-month hiatus to get back into fighting shape. But a fall suffered by the maestro on Labor Day weekend put Mr. Levine back on the bench. His replacement is newly promoted Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi.

Recording Recommendations
Don Giovanni is one of the most frequently recorded Mozart operas, and many fine recordings are available. Here are three that I like.

Vienna Philharmonic cond. Josef Krips (Decca, 1955)
Don Giovanni: Cesare Siepi
Leporello: Fernando Corena
Donna Anna: Suzanne Danco
Donna Elvira: Lisa della Casa
Il Commendatore: Kurt Böhme
One of the first stereo recordings of this opera, the Krips recording captures singers of a different age in the fertile ground of Vienna, just a decade after the war. Siepi and Corena play the roles of master and servant with gusto, and the conducting is terrific.

Philharmonia Orchestra cond. Carlo Maria Giulini (EMI, 1959)
Don Giovanni: Eberhard Wächter
Leporello: Giuseppe Taddei
Donna Anna: Joan Sutherland
Donna Elvira: Elizabeth Schwarzkopf
Il Commendatore: Gottlob Frick
It's over 50 years old, and still the bench-mark. Carlo Maria Giulini is a brilliant conductor with the right blend of comic drive and high drama. The all-star cast (which also featurs Piero Cappucilli and Luigi Alva) was assembled by producer Walter Legge, a feat unimaginable today.

Chamber Orchestra of Europe cond. Claudio Abbado (DG, 1998)
Don Giovanni: Simon Keenlyside
Leporello: Bryn Terfel
Donna Anna Carmela Remigio
Donna Elvira: Soile Isokoski
Il Commendatore: Matti Salminen
This was Bryn Terfel's third recording of the opera, and his first as Leporello. (He was the Don for Solti's recording, and also recorded Masetto.) The Welsh baritone seems much more comfortable as the Don's slippery servant, and gives a great reading of this part. Abbado's conducting is spot on, as is Matti Salminen's terrifying Commendatore.
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Contact the author: E-mail Superconductor editor Paul Pelkonen.

Tchaikovsky Gets Boxed

Composer's Music Opens Carnegie Hall, Focus of New Box Set

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who conducted the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1871.

The always interesting budget label Brilliant Classics have unleashed their latest boxed set edition containing all (or most) of the published works of a major composer. Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is the latest to get this treatment, in a 60-disc edition containing all of the orchestral works and most of the operas.

As with past Brilliant Classics editions, this set is a compilation from different labels. Here, the major operas and some of the minor ones are drawn from Russian opera companies, including a Bolshoi recording of Pique Dame and Mazeppa, and a pre-Valery Gergiev Kirov performance of The Maid of Orleans. Rare works include the early opera Oprichnik in an Italian radio recording under Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

The six symphonies are here, recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra under Rozhdestvensky and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio under Vladimir Fedoseyev. The ballet scores are the old (but excellent) recordings made by Ernest Ansermet and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. The set is rounded out with songs, piano works, and other rare Tchaikovsky works, many drawn from the old Soviet archives.

On October 5th, Carnegie Hall is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its opening concert, which was conducted by Tchaikovsky in his one visit to New York City in 1871. The season kicks off with Valery Gergiev, leading his Mariinsky Orchestra forces in a gala performance featuring guest soloist Yo-Yo Ma.

The program opens with Shostakovich's Festive Overture, followed by Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations for 'cello and orchestra. Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral showpiece Scheherezade ends the program, which will be performed without intermission.

On October 6, the regular Carnegie Hall season opens with a week-long stand featuring Mr. Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. The first three concerts, on Oct. 6, 9 and 10 will feature all six Tchaikovsky symphonies, with two on each program. The final concert, on Tues. Oct. 11 features Prokofiev's ballet score Romeo and Juliet, the First Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with soloist Daniel Trifonov, and Shostakovich's First Symphony.

Who Are You, New York City Opera?

The 2011-2012 New York City Opera Preview

Act III of Jonathan Miller's production of La Traviata from the Glimmerglass Festival. 
Photo by Richard Termine. © 2007 Glimmerglass Festival.

The New York City Opera has fleshed out some of the details of its skeletal 2011-2012 season, the company's first since its April announcement that it was leaving Lincoln Center.

However, as the company has not yet reached a deal with Local 806 or AGMA over union contracts for its musicians and choristers, these performances may be met with picket lines and large inflatable rats.

The Fall schedule (which, in happier days started in early September and ran into early November at the former New York State Theater) will consist of one concert.

The songwriter Rufus Wainwright, possibly thinking about Puccini.
Photo from his official site.

This show, entitled Who Are You New York: The Songs of Rufus Wainwright will be performed at the medium-sized Rose Theater in the Time Warner Center on Nov. 17. The concert will feature Mr. Wainwright and a collection of young City Opera singers. They will perform his song cycle All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu, followed by selections from Mr. Wainwright's song-book.

"Who are you, New York?" is an apt question for this company, as it forges ahead into strange new territory under the guiding hand of general manager George Steel. The City Opera's Spring opera season will start in February of 2012, with two works performed in repertory at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's historic Howard Gilman Opera House.

The first of these is Verdi's La Traviata, presented in a Jonathan Miller staging imported from the City Opera's old friends at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY. Tenor David Pomeroy makes his company debut as Alfredo. Brooklyn native Laquita Mitchell is Violetta. Steven White, who led this opera at the Met in 2009, will conduct.

La Traviata will play in repertory with the New York premiere of Mr. Wainwright's opera Prima Donna. Melody Moore will sing the lead in this French-language opera, which was originally commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera until Met general manager Peter Gelb insisted that Mr. Wainwright write his libretto in English.

March sees the City Opera migrate to the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, just two blocks away from their old digs at 20 Lincoln Center. The opera: Mozart's Così fan tutte in an eagerly anticipated new staging from director Christopher Alden. Mr. Alden's version of Don Giovanni (set in a funeral parlor) was the first success of Mr. Steel's term as general manager, and the company is hoping for a repeat of that success in this smaller theater.

In May, the City Opera packs its bags again and moves to El Museo del Barrio on the Upper East Side. They will perform Orpheus, another version of the myth about the legendary musician from Greek mythology. This one is by German baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann, and may prove to be an intriguing way to end this abbreviated season. Baritone Daniel Teadt makes his company debut in the title role.

Opening Night: Some Heads Are Gonna Roll

The axe used to execute Anne Boleyn in 1536.

Tonight's Anna Bolena opens the 2011-2012 Met Season.

Conductors have been booked, singers have been confirmed, and after a dramatic off-season filled with cancellations, heavy union negotiations, and a whirlwind of drama surrounding music director James Levine, the Metropolitan Opera opens its doors tonight.

The 2011-2012 season starts with the 6pm gala premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena. (Curtain time is 6:30.) Anna Netrebko puts her head on the block in the title role. The supporting cast includes Ildar Abdrazakov as Henry VIII and Stephen Costello as Percy.

The opera will be transmitted as a live broadcast in Lincoln Center Plaza (for an audience of 1,000 people) and to Times Square. 2,000 seats are available, first-come, first- served.

But fear not opera lovers, the Met will also carry this opening Anna as a live-stream telecast on the Met's Listen Live site.

Starting tomorrow, the Met season rolls forward with an exciting slate of 26 operas. Five of these are new productions. Here they are:

• Don Giovanni (The new staging of Mozart's dramma giacoso) Oct 14.)
• Siegfried (Oct. 27, part III of The Ring).
• Faust (Nov. 29, with Jonas Kaufmann)
• The Enchanted Island (Dec. 31. The Met's first pastiche, starring David Daniels and Joyce DiDonato)
• Götterdämmerung (Jan. 27, 2012, the conclusion of the new Ring Cycle)
• Manon (March 29, 2012) starring (once again) Anna Netrebko).

The slate of revivals for this year includes Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, and three full cycles of the new Robert Lepage staging of Wagner's Ring.

For non-Wagnerians, the schedule includes:

• Nabucco (opens Sept. 27 with Zdneko Lucic in the title role.)
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia, (Bart Sher's madcap staging.)
• Satyagraha (Philip Glass' version of the life of Gandhi, sung in Sanskrit)
• Rodelinda (A Handel opera, starring Renée Fleming.)
• La bohéme (The Zeffirelli classic,still packing 'em in.)
• Madama Butterfly (Anthony Minghella's striking production.) 
• La Fille du régiment (Donizetti's bel canto comic confection.)
• Hansel and Gretel (featuring Robert Brubaker as the Witch.) 
• Tosca (Luc Bondy's much-reviled, much-revised 2009 staging.) 
• Ernani (starring Marcelo Giordani as Verdi's bandit chief.)
• Aida (Verdi's Egyptian business, a testament to '80s excess.)  
• Khovanshchina (Mussorgsky's political opera for these troubled times.)
• L'Elisir d'amore (reuniting Juan Diego Flórez with Diana Damrau.) 
• Macbeth (Verdi's take on the Scottish play starring Thomas Hampson.)
• La Traviata (Natalie Dessay dons the little red dress.) 
• The Makropoulos Case (Karita Mattila makes a bid for immortality.)
• Billy Budd (with Nathan Gunn manning the topsail.)

(Whew!)

Consult the Superconductor Metropolitan Opera Season Preview, your guide to what's on, who's singing, and which recordings to pick up if you're building a collection. Each opera has its own page, so just click on the titles or search the site for the opera you're planning on attending.

Going to the Met for the first time? Then our Metropolitan Opera User's Guide is the article for you--some basic tips and tricks on dress code, opera etiquette and getting to the house on time.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Nabucco

The Met revives its production of Verdi's first hit.

The Met's staging of Nabucco. Photo by Marty Sohl. © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

Italian audiences yearning to breathe free loved Verdi's opera chronicling the Jews' escape from Chaldea and the eventual conversion of King Nebachudnezzar (the titular "Nabucco.") Nabucco was Verdi's third opera, and his first success. Although the work is not as polished as later masterpieces from the composer of Aida and Rigoletto, it crackles with raw energy and enthusiasm.

The fame of Nabucco rests largely on the back of the famous chorus "Va, pensiero", which became the unofficial theme of the Risorgimento, the movement to unify the Italian peninsula in the 19th century. It still serves as a sort of second Italian national anthem, and was recently sung at La Scala as a protest against government cuts to the arts. Here, Željko Lucic sings the title role in a revival of Elijah Moshinsky's production.
Nabucco opens on Sept. 27.

Recordings Recommendations:
Vienna State Opera Orchestra cond. Lamberto Gardelli (London, 1965)
Nabucco: Tito Gobbi
Abagaille: Elena Souliotis
Zaccaria: Carlo Cava

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin cond. Giuseppe Sinopoli (DG, 1984)
Nabucco: Piero Capuccili
Abagaille: Ghena Dimitrova
Zaccaria: Evgeny Nesterenko

Philharmonia Orchestra cond. Riccardo Muti (EMI, 1986)
Nabucco: Mateo Managuerra
Abagaille: Renata Scotto
Zaccaria: Nicolai Ghauriov

There are three studio recordings of Nabucco. The first is in crisp Decca sound from the 1960s, with Tito Gobbi in the title role, a good supporting cast and a reliable Verdian in Lamberto Gardelli.

The Berlin recording features the great baritone Piero Capuccili in the lead. Sinopoli's sometimes unpredictable approach to the music is always entertaining. The tiny tenor part features an in-his-prime Placìdo Domingo.

Finally, Riccardo Muti conducts a great "Va, pensiero." for EMI. The drawbacks: a lesser Nabucco in Mateo Managuerra and a weak pair of ladies, with a faded Renata Scotto and the odd casting of Elena Obraztova as Fenena.
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The Fall of the Tower Scene--UPDATE

Condemned man's aria restored Anna Bolena.

Giovanni Battista Rubini, the tenor who
created the role of Percy in Anna Bolena.

UPDATE: According to a news item from our friends at Parterre Box, the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Anna Bolena will no longer be subject to a serious cut in its final act.

The aria is "Vivi tu," sung by Riccardo Percy while he is imprisoned in the Tower of London awaiting execution. Met press representative Peter Clarke told parterre that the decision to cut the number was made for "dramatic reasons." The aria was to be sung by tenor Stephen Costello.

With its sweet melodies and soaring high notes, "Vivi tu" is a highlight of the score, allowing the tenor (who has a relatively small part in the opera) his chance to bring the house down. It was sung in New York in 2010, at the Dell'Arte Ensemble's "black box" production of Anna Bolena. But the aria is also one of the most challenging in the entire bel canto repertory, including a sky-scraping high E♭ above the stave.

Donizetti wrote the aria for Giovanni Battisti Rubini, the 18th century super-tenor who created the leading roles in many bel canto operas, including Lord Arturo Talbo in  Bellini's I puritani. The high E♭ note is so difficult that most singers choose to simply transpose the aria down a couple of steps, to make it a nice, safe high C.


The aria was cut for "dramatic purposes" but restored on Aug. 31.

Anna Bolena will open the Met's 2011-2012 season. The opera stars Anna Netrebko in the title role of the doomed English queen who falls out of favor with her husband, the capricious Henry VIII. The production (by David McVicar) is the first staging of the opera by the Met. It will be part of the Met's Live in HD schedule in the coming months.

According to Brad Wilber's (now defunct) Metropolitan Opera Futures page, the run of Anna is to be followed in the coming decade by Donizetti's other two "Queen" operas, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux. These operas have not been heard at Lincoln Center since the 1970s, when soprano Beverly Sills made the "Three Queens" a central part of her repertory.

Breaking Down Valhalla

The Madness of the Met's New Ring Schedule.

Gary Lehman as Siegfried: waking the cast for an 11am curtain?
Photo by Brigitte Lacombe © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera

In the last few decades, attending Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera House was a simple, if expensive affair.

The options were:

A) Four matinee performances on Saturday afternoons (timed to coincide with the live broadcasts.)
B) All four operas the way Wagner intended: in the course of a week.
Monday: Rheingold at 8pm. Tuesday: Walküre at 7. Thursday: Siegfried at 6:30.
Saturday Götterdämmerung starting at 6pm.
The operas ended at midnight. It was all very civilized, and felt like Bayreuth...on the Hudson.

The production was good, too.

Well, this year's schedule changes all that. Three cycles are offered, and the scheduling options are bizarre.

Cycle I starts on April 7th with a Saturday night Das Rheingold that goes curtain-up at 9pm. (So much for earlier start times!)
Die Walküre has its season premiere on the following Friday (the 13th) at 6:30pm Good scheduling for a production that had two onstage accidents (with singers falling off the "Machine" set) last spring.
Siegfried (with Gary Lehman) is a matinee on April 21st, starting at 11am. Tickets should be easy to get for non-subscribers, if they decide to get up that early.
Finally, Götterdämmerung (with Stephen Gould as Siegfried and Katerina Dalayman as Brunnhilde) starts on Tuesday night at 6pm, which means that opera-goers with jobs (the only ones who can afford the doubled ticket prices) will be leaving work early and racing to the opera house. Considering that the first act is two and a half hours long, expect List Hall and the downstairs viewing lounges to be jammed.

The other cycles are a little better. Cycle II opens with an 8:30 Rheingold on April 26. Die Walküre is April 28, again a "rehearsal schedule matinee" at 11am. Siegfried is Monday night at 6pm, and Götterdämmerung is Thursday, May 3 at 6. Ms. Dalayman sings Brünnhilde.

Cycle III is similar. Das Rheingold bows on May 5, a Saturday night performance at 8:30pm. Die Walküre is Monday, May 7 at 6:30pm. Siegfried is Wednesday at 6pm. The final Götterdämmerung is at 11am on Saturday, May 12. The last cycle pairs Ms. Voigt with Mr. Gould.

To order tickets to this year's performances of Der Ring des Nibelungen, visit the official subscription page at the official site of the Metropolitan Opera.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: La Fille du régiment

Ed. Note: This is the opera preview. Visit here for a full review of the Dec. 19 2011 performance of La Fille du régiment.
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee goes sailing the nine high C's.

Dame Kiri te Kanawa as the Duchess of Krakenthorp.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2010 The Metropolitan Opera.

Donizetti's ultra-light comedy features some of his most scintillating writing for the voice. This is the story of a beautiful orphan tomboy, loved and protected by a regiment of Napoleon's troops. She falls in love with a soldier from another unit. The hitch: he can't marry her without the consent of the entire regiment. It could be argued that this libretto is the blueprint for the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan.


La fille is best known for Tonio's Act I aria "Ah, mes amis", which features a staggering nine high C's in a row, a feat that brought Luciano Pavarotti to worldwide fame and has also helped the career of bel canto tenor Juan Diego Flórez. Here, Lawrence Brownlee will attempt the feat.

He will sing opposite Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze. Marie is the role that launched the international career of this fast-rising star at La Scala, and remains a cornerstone of her repertory. These performances also feature Dame Kiri te Kanawa in the comic, autumnal role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp.

Recording Recommendation:
Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden cond. Richard Bonynge
Marie: Joan Sutherland
Tonio: Luciano Pavarotti
The second teaming (ever) of Sutherland and Pavarotti makes this 1967 recording the best reading of the bel canto classic. As always, Richard Bonynge conducts his wife. Excellent if you want to hear the early Pavarotti, and understand what all the fuss was about. And yes, the young, virile Pavarotti hits the nine high C's straight out of the park.
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The 2011-2012 Metropolitan Opera Season Preview

All the operas, from Anna Bolena to Billy Budd. 
by Paul Pelkonen.

Queen Anna: Ms. Netrebko in Anna Bolena. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera

After spending the summer in deep negotiations with the various unions that make up the staff of the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center' sole remaining opera company is gearing up for an exciting 2011-2012 season.

Come blow your horn. Gary Lehman as Siegfried. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera

The schedule this year is already fraught with drama, and the gold curtain has yet to rise on the company's new staging of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, the final chapters of the Robert Lepage Ring cycle, or The Enchanted Island, the "baroque pastiche" that opens on New Year's Eve.


There are a few things to note before we get to the season:

All performances now start at 7:30 instead of 8. Whether this is an attempt to appease bridge-and-tunnel opera lovers or get more people to watch the operas in the comfort of List Hall is anyone's guess.

Ticket prices are once again higher. Subscribers who want to change out an opera have to now pay a $7.50 service fee per ticket--a 50% increase--unless you're changing the night you're going but not switching operas.

The company is doing three full cycles of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen this year. Unfortunately, they've changed the scheduling of the operas so it's no longer possible to go to a complete cycle in the course of one week.

Here's a quick breakdown of the season by month:



September:
The season starts on Monday, Sept. 26 with a gala performance of Anna Bolena with Anna Netrebko in the title role. For the rest of us mortals, Nabucco is the first generale opera of the year.

Ladies' Man: Mariusz Kwiecien is Don Giovanni. Photo by Nick Heavican © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera

October:
The repertory operas in October are Anna, Nabucco, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and two new productions: Don Giovanni and Siegfried. Gary Lehman (a late replacement for tenor Ben Heppner) takes on the arduous task of being the world's dumbest hero. There's also a recital featuring Jonas Kaufmann on Oct. 30.

November:
As the leaves turn, revivals of Philip Glass' Satyagraha (part of the celebration of the composer's 75th birthday) and Handel's Rodelinda (starring Renée Fleming) join the repertory. La bohème returns (again) and the new "atomic age" Faust (a co-production with English National Opera) starring Mr. Kaufmann and Marina Poplavskaya has its premiere.

Witchy Woman: Joyce DiDonato is Sycorax in the new pastiche The Enchanted Island. 
Photo by Nick Heavican © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

December:
Featured operas this month include revivals of Madama Butterfly, La Fille du régiment and Hansel and Gretel. New Year's Eve marks the premiere of The Enchanted Island, a pastiche of works by Handel and Vivaldi starring David Daniels and Joyce DiDonato. It is a sort of Shakespearean prequel to The Tempest, with a new libretto by Jeremy Sams.

January 2012:
The Luc Bondy Tosca gets another go-round. Expect another set of directorial tweaks. The month ends with the premiere of the new Götterdämmerung, the last chapter of the Ring.

February: February features a number of operas continuing in repertory, a rare revival of Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina along with two Verdi classics: Ernani and Aida.

March: 
The busiest month on the Met calendar opens with the re-teaming of Juan Diego Flórez and Diana Damrau in a revival of L'Elisir d'Amore. Also, Adrian Noble's well-received 2007 production of Verdi's Macbeth. Madama Butterfly returns (with Patricia Racette in the title role) alongside a second run of Don Giovanni starring baritone Gerald Finley.

Is this a bust? Anna Netrebko as Manon. Photo by Bill Cooper © 2010 Royal Opera House of Covent Garden.

April: 
Das Rheingold and Die Walküre return, as the Met schedule is dominated by the three scheduled Ring cycles. But in between the clanks and thunks of Robert Lepage's whirring machine set, the company's new production of Manon and last year's La Traviata finds both of these ladies open for business.

May:
The very end of the season features the last of the three Ring cycles, alongside rare revivals of Billy Budd (starring Nathan Gunn in the title role with James Morris as the evil John "Jemmy Legs" Claggart) and The Makropoulos Case (with Karita Mattila in the title role). These are important operas that deserve to be more than an afterthought on the schedule.

To order tickets for the Metropolitan Opera's 2011-2012 season, visit the box office at Lincoln Center, or buy your seats at MetOpera.Org.

Come in and burn: Deborah Voigt is Brunnhilde in Götterdämmerung.
Photo by Brigitte Lacombe © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

2011-2012 Live in HD Schedule:
Anna Bolena: Oct. 15, 2011
Siegfried: Nov. 5, 2011
Satyagraha: Nov. 19, 2011
Rodelinda: Dec. 3, 2011
Faust: Dec. 10, 2011
The Enchanted Island: Jan. 21, 2012
Götterdämmerung: Feb. 11, 2012
Ernani: Feb. 25, 2012
Manon: April 7, 2012
La Traviata: April 14, 2012

Contact the author: E-mail Superconductor editor Paul Pelkonen.

City Opera: The Downward Spiral

Protests Outside, Dissemination Inside Mark NYCO Season Announcement at the Guggenheim

Local 802 and AGMA protest outside the Guggenheim Museum this morning.
Photo by the author.

The eyes of the opera world turned to the Guggenheim Museum today, site of the New York City Opera's much-delayed press conference announcing the company's 2011-2012 season.

Normally, a City Opera season announcement would be a fairly routine affair, conducted either at the former New York State Theater or a conference room somewhere on the Lincoln Center campus. But this season, which has seen the 68-year-old opera company uproot itself from its home at Lincoln Center, is anything but routine.

Close-up of one of the protestors' signs outside the Guggenheim museum today.
Photo by the author.

Outside the white concrete Nautilus shell of the museum, a protest was gathered, featuring tuxedo-clad members of Local 802, the musicians' union representing the NYCO orchestra members, and AGMA, who count the company's choristers among their constituents. The protest was led by soprano-turned-opera-director Catherine Malfitano. The singer, an alum of the City Opera, has been spearheading the protest against NYCO general manager George Steel.

"I am here to express outrage at the expulsion of the New York City Opera from Lincoln Center," Ms. Malfitano said. She went on to read a statement from former NYCO music director Juluus Rudel, expressing "dismay at the systematic dismemberment of the New York City Opera." "To perform opera with a pick-up orchestra is insane," she added.

The musicans have good reason be upset. Under the contract being offered by City Opera management (as reported by Daniel Wakin in the New York Times), the company will pay their singers and choristers a mere fraction of their former salaries, with no more guaranteed weeks. This has led to suspicions on part of both unions that the entire move is an elaborate piece of "union-busting" by the opera company. Both unions have expressed a vote of "no confidence" in Mr. Steel's leadership.

Last week, Ms. Malfitano wrote a much-publicized letter to the City Opera protesting the decision to vacate Lincoln Center. That letter was signed by industry luminaries.  Placído Domingo, José Carreras and director Harold Prince all signed. All are veterans of the troubled opera company.

Catherine Malfitano at today's protest.
The Local 802 banner is to her right.
Photo by the author

Inside the chilly Guggenheim lecture hall, City Opera general manager George Steel outlined the company's 2011-2012 season, which apparently will not start until February of next year. No mention was made of the NYCO plans to perform a 19th century opera in concert in October, although that show may be announced at a later date.

Next year, those who follow City Opera's trail of musical breadcrumbs through Brooklyn and Manhattan will catch performances of the Jonathan Miller production of La Traviata at BAM. No word yet on whether the company will use the Harvey Theater or the more opera-suited space of the Howard Gilman Opera House.

La Traviata (which is also on the Met's slate for next year in a revival of the Willy Decker production starring international superstar Natalie Dessay) will be performed "in repertory" with the U.S. premiere of Rufus Wainwright's first opera, Prima Donna. Mr. Steel was quick to drop Elton John's name into the conference as an endorsement of Mr. Wainwright's abilities.

Next up: Cosí fan tutte at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, located within spitting distance of the company's old home at 20 Lincoln Center. The season concludes with Orpheus by Georg Philipp Telemann, at the Museo del Barrio on Fifth Avenue. All of these are small theaters. Mr. Steel tried to turn this into a selling point, mentioning that he expects a "scarcity" of tickets for next year.

In other news, Mr. Steel was quick to mention the City Opera's new partnership to perform free Shakespeare-based operas in Central Park at the Delacorte Theater. The first of these will be in August or September of 2012. Tickets will be free.

Stadtoperdämmerung

("Twilight of the City Opera.")

Read the fine print.
 Image © Topps/Major League Baseball.

The New York City Opera will announce its schedule for 2011-2012 next Tuesday at the Guggenheim Museum. But thanks to New York Times scribe Daniel Wakin, we can now share with you most of the details of that schedule, complete with analysis.

The "season" will kick off in October with a concert performance of an unannounced opera by an unannounced composer at a location that will be disclosed following the completion of a scavenger hunt. To get the location, and opera performed, would-be opera-goers must collect the following five objects before next Tuesday's press conference:

1. an uncensored 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken baseball card. (pictured right.)
2. Giuseppe Sinopoli's baton.
3. A lock of wig hair from the Broadway production of Elton John's Aida.
4. One of the stays from La Cieca's favorite corset.
5. The original "Grail" prop from the Met's Otto Schenk production of Wagner's Parsifal.

The first four objects must be placed within the Grail and burned at Belvedere Castle during a new moon at 12am Friday night.

In other words, we don't know what the first opera is.


The rest of the schedule is fairly pedestrian. La Traviata and Rufus Wainwright's Prima Donna will be staged at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Not sure which theater yet. At least it's close to Junior's.

Good move, by the way, doing an opera that the Met is mounting this year. The Met's version has Natalie Dessay as Violetta, in the "red dress" production by Willy Decker that bowed last year. The City Opera's is by Jonathan Miller. This well-traveled show is a rental from their old partners at Glimmerglass in Cooperstown, NY.

The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at the John Jay College for Criminal Justice will host Mozart's Cosí fan tutte, in a new staging mounted by Christopher Alden, who directed the company's 2009 staging of Don Giovanni.

I liked my idea better--of performing the opera in various Cosí sandwich bars around the city. Better coffee, Mozart and free WiFi are a winning combination.

Finally, baroque opera by Telemann to be performed at the Museo del Barrio. Considering that Telemann wrote 33 operas, the choice may be determined by the following means:

Either way, this looks like a zero.

If I Ran the Zoo City Opera

"So I’d open each cage. I’d unlock every pen, let the animals go, and start over again."
 from If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss.
"I have just created something totally illogical."
--Ray Kinsella, from Field of Dreams.

The Nerd, from If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss.
© 1950 renewed 1978, the Estate of Theodore Geisel/Dr. Seuss. Published by Random House.

A little thought experiment, bloggers. Let's say that I, your humble scribe, suddenly found myself at the head of a certain opera company that used to occupy the New York State Theater. The economy has recovered. The Republicans: curiously silent. A certain industrialist took his name off the building. The opera company moved back in, and could afford to put on a real opera season: ten operas that people would want to see.

And things were just peachy keen.

What kind of a season would I put together?

Allow me to wax poetic....

What kind of an opera season could there be,
if New York's City Opera was managed by me?

It is such a challenge in these trying times,
when arts are defunded by right-wing pond-slimes.

But think on this fancy. And give it some weight,
I'd put on TEN operas: an ambitious slate!

Minor works by Puccini! They're audience-pleasing:
La Rondine paired with Schicchi to kick off the season.

Our schedule would echo with two guys named Strauss,
First Daphne by Richard, then Die Fledermaus.

But waltzes and myths aren't all that draw raves,
It's Eye-talian opera that New Yorkers crave.

Let's not forget Verdi, great man of the theater:
A new-mounted Falstaff: nothing could be sweeter.

The music of Korngold can melt one's cold heart
For spring, Tote Stadt would make a good start.

Boito's clever devil: Mefistofele,
with the right basso lead they'd be whistling with glee.

And of course dear reader it's the story of Faust,
Let's pair it with Gounod's! Then paper the house!

Our Gypsy friend Carmen t'would brings list'ners pleasure,
To cap it all off, here's a sweet baroque treasure:

It's Handel's Semele: she'll rake in a few bucks!
A relic from before the house ran out of luck.

Maybe I'm just dreaming it back from the dead.
But what if City Opera wasn't drowning in red?

Carnegie Hall 2011-2012 Season Preview

View from the top. Photo from the balcony of Carnegie Hall by Melissa Kunz.

Trying to pack eight months of Carnegie Hall programming into one preview article is like trying to write instant bios of every character to ever appear on The Simpsons. There's too many concerts, too many events, and too much exciting programming to cram into one article. So this is just an overview, mentioning some of the most exciting programs on the slate for the 2011-2012 season. It's broken down according to the subscription brochure.

The Heavy Hitters: International Orchestras
The Berlin Philharmonic returns to New York under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, offering a weighty program that pairs Mahler's massive Resurrection Symphony with works by Hugo Wolf. If that's not enough, he's leading the unfinished Bruckner Ninth Symphony, in a rarely-heard completion by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs.

Valery Gergiev brings St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Orchestra back for a run of Tchaikovsky symphonies, and Lorin Maazel offers his Ring Without Words, an orchestral version of the Wagner epic, as played by the Vienna Philharmonic. Other concerts include appearances by the London Philharmonic and the acclaimed Budapest Festival Orchestra.


The Home Teams: American Orchestras
The Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Minnesota Orchestras are coming to the Hall this year. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is scheduled as well, although there's some question as to whether James Levine (who steps down as music director this September) will conduct the performances. However, Mr. Levine will lead three programs with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Michael Tilson Thomas brings the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra to town for a slate of 'American Mavericks' featuring the music of Charles Ives, John Cage, and other modernists. The New York Philharmonic will also make a rare appearance at Carnegie Hall, playing the Mahler Sixth under the baton of music director Alan Gilbert.

Recital Debut: Anna Netrebko. Photo by Clive Arrowsmith © 2010 Camera Press

Across the Stage: Piano and Vocal Recitals
Lovers of piano music have reason to celebrate this year. In addition to veteran keyboard wizards Maurizio Pollini, Leif Ove Andsnes, Andras Schiff, Evgeny Kissin and Mitsuko Uchida, next season features the first Hall recitals by Yuja Wang and Christian Zacharias. Downstairs at Zankel Hall, pianists Juho Pohjonen and Simon Trpčeski will offer the music of Debussy and Liszt. Vocal recitals include appearances by Susan Graham, Matthias Goerne, Ian Bostridge, and for the first time in a New York recital, Anna Netrebko.

From the Baroque to the Modern Age
Carnegie Hall continues to offer a balance of baroque music and modern works with performances at the smaller Zankel Hall and the still more intimate Weill Recital Hall. The American Composers Orchestra will pay tribute to the music of Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt.

The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique offers their unique interpretations of Beethoven symphonies under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner. And baroque groups like Tafelmusik and The English Concert explore the continuing fascination with early instruments and the sounds of the 17th and 18th centuries.

These little paragraphs barely scratch the surface of next year's season at the Hall. The Orchestra of St. Luke's, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and other independent organizations rent the Hall on a regular basis, creating a rich tapestry of concert programming. For more information, keep an eye on the Carnegie Hall Official Website.

The New York Philharmonic 2011-2012 Season Preview

Alan Gilbert is starting his third season at the helm of the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee, © 2010 The New York Philharmonic

The oldest professional orchestra in the United States (founded in 1842) returns for the 2011-2012 their, third under the baton of music director Alan Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert's leadership has seen the orchestra break new, exciting ground in the last two seasons. While the planned schedule lacks the operatic flair of Le Grand Macabre or this year's Hungarian Echoes festival, this should still be an exciting season at Avery Fisher Hall.

Here are, as well as we can determine it, the themes of the season:

Mahler Milestones
The Philharmonic continues celebrating the 150th birthday and 100th anniversary of the death of Gustav Mahler, the composer, symphonist and conductor. Mahler served as the Philharmonic's music director from 1909-1911, and the Philharmonic has been at the forefront of internatonal orchestras celebrating his work. Performances of the 1st, 2nd, 9th and 10th are scheduled for next year, with conductors including Mr. Gilbert, Daniel Harding and Jaap van Zweden.

The Return of the Three M's
Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, and Lorin Maazel, (who happen to be the three music directors who preceded Mr. Gilbert at the Philharmonic) are all conducting at Avery Fisher Hall next season. Mr. Mehta will conduct Bruckner's Eighth Symphony in January. Mr. Masur will lead a program featuring Shostakovich's "Babi Yar" symphony. And Mr. Maazel is offering Mozart and Debussy, one week, followed by the Strauss showpiece Ein Alpensinfonie the next. The latter piece required 150 musicians, including a full complement of horn players offstage.

Conductor David Zinman leads a program of Beethoven paired with modern music.
© DavidZinman.Org

The Modern Beethoven
David Zinman offers the start of a Beethoven cycle (well, six symphonies, anyway) in this three-week festival. Here's the catch: Each pair of Beethoven symphonies is programmed alongside 20th century music by Stravinsky, Samuel Barber, and Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Sadly, there's no Ninth planned for this year. Bernard Haitink makes an appearance leading the Sixth. And in June, Alan Gilbert offers Beethoven overtures in June, alongside works by Korngold and Carl Nielsen.

New Season, New Music
Alan Gilbert continues his initiative of offering New Yorkers the very best in contemporary music alongside traditional servings of Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Dvorak. This year, the Philharmonic offers the New York premieres of new music by John Corigliano and composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg. The season ends with a "spatial" performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen, a difficult work which requires three separate orchestras, playing simultaneously in different parts of the hall.