Obituary: Gerard Mortier (1943-2014)

A trail-blazing impresario who put directors first.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Gerard Mortier at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
Image © 2012 Teatro Real.

Gerard Mortier, the Belgian opera impresario and director who carved a unique and controversial path through four major European opera houses in the course of a long international career, died yesterday from pancreatic cancer, the New York Times reported. Mr. Mortier was 70 years old.

Opera Review: The Easy Life in Paris

La Rondine returns to the Metropolitan Opera.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

She loves...lamp? Kristine Opolais is Magda in the Met's La Rondine.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

Composed during World War I and premiered in 1917, Puccini's La Rondine ("The Swallow") has always struggled to find its perch in the repertory. Perhaps it's the work's cheerful appropriation of waltzes from both Strausses (German and Austrian) to serve an Italian libretto. The glittering Paris backdrop, inhabited by rich, cynical bourgeois is an obverse to the pain of La Bohème. Finally, the libretto, ignores operatic conventions of murder and revenge for an ordinary tragedy; it's La traviata without death.

Monday night's performance at the Metropolitan Opera showed that Rondine is a noble work, full of lush, hummable melodies, genuine comic warmth and jarring human drama in the final act. Ion Marin led a pointed, detailed performance that brought out the high points in this short but intensely packed score, the bright energy of the opening, the waltz rhythms in the second act and the light, delicate orchestration that accompanies the tragic denouement.

As Magda (the migrating "swallow" of the opera's title) Kristine Opolais displayed tremendous potential in a role that marks her house debut. The aristocratic Latvian soprano has a smallish instrument, wielded needle-like to create a sympathetic portrait of the courtesan who has to choose between true love with the country-born Ruggero (Giuseppe Filianoti) and the easy life in Paris as a courtesan. (She picks the latter.) Ms Opolais supplanted her instrument with her acting. In Act III, she made the audience realize that Magda's decision, while heartbreaking, was essentially the correct one.