The Mozart Project: Le Nozze di Figaro

Mozart's high-speed comedy of domestic chaos yields infinite rewards.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The measuring tape and bonnet from the opening scene of The Marriage of Figaro.
Image collage by the author.

It was really hard to start writing this newest Superconductor Audio Guide devoted to five great recordings of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. It is an opera that (for this writer anyway) cures all ills. Not only does this mix of genuine pathos and knockabout comedy have some of Mozart's most sublime writing for the voice, but its message that the little guy can have his day and defeat the evils of patriarchy and patronage still resounds, inspired and comforts listeners today.

Spring Breakdown 2016: The Operas

The Five Best Operas of Spring 2016
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Theo Hoffman (right) and Kara Sainz as Papageno and Papagena
in Act II of Die Zauberflöte at Juilliard. Photo by Richard Termine for the Juilliard School.

This was a strange operatic spring for Superconductor. I missed most of the Met season (which turned out to be due to a computer battery problem (I couldn't sync with their computer to get rush tickets and it is still house policy not to bestow press tickets upon bloggers) so there were no Superconductor reviews of Les Pecheurs de Perles, Manon Lescaut or even Roberto Devereux. As they say, c'est la guerre.

Opera Review: A Madcap Marriage, Minus Mozart

On Site Opera mounts Marcos Portugal's Figaro.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Oh, Susanna: Jesse Blumberg as Figaro in the kitchen of 632 on Hudson.
Photo by Rebecca Fay for On Site Opera.

On Site Opera opened the second installment of a planned Beaumarchais trilogy on Tuesday night, with the North American premiere of The Marriage of Figaro, a version of the Beaumarchais play set to music by the largely forgotten Portuguese composer Marcos Portugal. Portugal's version of the opera came nine years after Mozart's and has been all but forgotten. Like Giovanni Paisiello's Barber of Seville (staged by this company a year ago) this is a noble work and well worthy of performance and revival. Figaro is still Figaro, and his wedding is always worth attending.

Opera Review: An Old-Fashioned Wedding

Juilliard Opera stages Le Nozze di Figaro.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Shenanigans: The Count (Takaoki Onishi, center) confronts Susanna (Ying Fang, right)
as Cherubino (Virginie Verrez) looks on. Photo by Ken Howard © 2015 The Juilliard School.

On Friday night, Juilliard Opera opened its last production of the spring season, a Stephen Wadsworth staging of Le Nozze di Figaro with a stellar young cast and a staging approach that was refreshingly true to the opera's text. This is the third (and final) Mozart/Da Ponte opera to be mounted by Mr. Wadsworth at Juilliard on the stage of the Peter Jay Sharp Theater. With designer Charlie Corcoran, he continues to rely on simple multi-proscenium sets, period costumes, lots of stage action, and young singing actors thoroughly steeped in performance tradition.