Opera Review: The Help Strikes Back

The Metropolitan Opera revives Mozart’s Figaro.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The crowded house: Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Christiane Karg, Adam Plachetka and Luca Pisaroni
in Act II of Le Nozze di Figaro. Photo by Chris Lee © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

As Mozart's most popular romantic comedy, Le Nozze di Figaro is more than just the story of a crazy household in Spain getting ready for two of its servants to get hitched. Based on what was (at the time) a controversial play by Pierre de Beaumarchais, Figaro is an opera that makes the listener confront ideas of social justice and shouts of the need for equality between different classes within the microcosm of Aguas Frescas, the Almaviva estate. Looking at the opera in this way, the Met's current revival of the company's 2014 production could not be better timed.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Le Nozze di Figaro

Mozart's comedy of masters, servants and class warfare returns.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Ildar Abdrazakov and Isabel Leonard in a moment from Le Nozze di Figaro.
Photo courtesy the Metropolitan Opera.

An opera of revolution and class warfare disguised as a comedy. Mozart's masterful Le nozze di Figaro returns to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. See it with someone you love.

Opera Review: One Last Chance at Rosina

Javier Camarena closes the book on Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The cast of Il barbiere di Siviglia clown it up in Act II of Rossini's masterpiece.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

There's a reason some operas never go away. Take Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, which   is on the verge of celebrating 201 in the standard repertory this year. This month, the Metropolitan Opera's revival boasts an extraordinary cast, with Peter Maffei in the title role, soprano Pretty Yende as Rosina and tenor Javier Camarena, singing his final run as Count Almaviva before moving on to other repertory. All three stars shone at Wednesday night's performance, occupying their roles seamlessly in the company's flimsy but entertaining production by director Bartlett Sher.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Rossini's comic brilliance lights up the Met stage...again.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Figaro (on cart) makes his grand entrance in Act I of Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Photo © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Met brings joy and warmth into the middle of winter with this January 2017 revival of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. This version of the opera is sung in Italian and presented without cuts.

The Mozart Project

Seven great works from the genius who changed the world.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Somewhere around three-quarters of the way through the ten articles lay month chronicling the life and major stage works of Richard Wagner I started thinking about who I was going to write about next, I thought for maybe ten seconds and decided that the next composer in our spotlight will be Mozart.

Opera Review: They're Goin' Back to Cali

¡Figaro! (90210) bows at The Duke on 42nd Street.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Susanna (Samarie Alicea) admires her new wedding bonnet as Figaro (José Adán Perez)
enthuses about their new apartment in ¡Figaro! (90210) at Tthe Duke on 42nd St.
Photo by Ken Howard.

Attempts to update the Mozart-Da Ponte operas to a modern setting have often met with mixed results. One may remember Peter Sellars' Cosí fan tutte set in a diner, or the 2009 City Opera production of Don Giovanni that moved the entire opera to a funeral home. This week, the Duke on 42nd Street welcomed the Broadway premiere of ¡Figaro! (90210), which transports the madcap events of The Marriage of Figaro at a nouveau riche dream palace in Beverly Hills, California.

A Look Ahead: 2014-15 at The Metropolitan Opera

Superconductor gives a first look at next season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Marcelo Àlvarez and...Marcelo Àlvarez bring the tragedy as the Met unveils a new
Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (and five more new productions) for next season.
Photo by Anne Deniau © 2014 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season was announced today at 6pm. Recent seasons have been conservative (2012-13 with its abundance of Verdi and Wagner) or experimental (2013-14 with the return of Russian and Czech opera and a new work by Nico Muhly). 2014-15 looks to fall between two stools, presenting modern works by John Adams, Igor Stravinsky and Dmitri Shostakovich against a slew of Verdi operas and traditional repertory favorites.

Paging Doctor Mozart

Taking the Salzburg cure...in Brooklyn.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Will Dr. Mozart please report to the white courtesy harpsichord?

I own a ridiculous amount of Mozart.

People who read this blog may know of my obsessions with Mahler, Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss, the heavyweight champions of the symphonic and German opera canons. But the fact is, I have more Mozart in my CD collection than any other composer.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Le Nozze di Figaro

The Met revives Jonathan Miller's production.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Ildar Abdrazakov as Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Photo by Karin Cooper © 2010 Washington National Opera/The Kennedy Center

Bass Ildar Abdrazakov sings the title role in Mozart's evergreen comedy. This is the first of two Mozart roles for Mr. Abdrazakov this fall--he's also scheduled to sing Don Giovanni.

The Marriage of Figaro was the first of three collaborations between Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte, comedies that took Europe by storm and predicted the tumult of the French Revolution. Beyond the politics is the brilliant score, packed with hummable tunes and rich, human characters.

These performances are conducted by David Robertson, a craftsman who led last year's successful (if brief) revival of Billy Budd. Gerald Finley is the Count Almaviva. Soprano Maija Kovalevska is the Countess, and Mojca Erdmann takes on the role of Susanna, Figaro's intended. Christine Schäfer dons the trousers as Cherubino, the lovestruck page who gets some of the best arias.

Le Nozze di Figaro opens Oct. 26.

Opera Review: The Glittering Undead

The Manhattan School of Music resurrects The Ghosts of Versailles.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Marie Antoinette.
Painting by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun.

In 1991, John Corigliano's opera The Ghosts of Versailles was the toast of New York. The witty libretto (by William Hoffmann) fearlessly combined Beaumarchais' robust comedy with the grief of an uncertain afterlife and the bloody nightmare of the French Revolution. Mr. Corigliano's music is a perfect complement, a polymath score rife with references and musical riddles, incorporating modern music alongside classicism. Its vibrant, emotional heart is wrapped in gilt.

Following one revival at the Met, Ghosts was silenced in New York. This sparkling revival is mounted by the Manhattan School of Music. (The school also happens to be Mr. Corigliano's alma mater.) Due to limitations of the Borden's orchestra pit, certain large instruments (percussion, harps) had to be played elsewhere in the school, and digitally mixed with the main performance.

These performances were also the first New York stagings of a smart, spiffy production by Jay Lesenger. The massive orchestration was also carved down (by orchestrator John David Earnest) to a lean 48 players under the taut control of Steven Osgood. These two artists (exiles from New York City Opera after that company's recent turmoil) worked together to create a grand evening, and one of the most enjoyable opera performances of this spring season.

Confessions of a Mozart Addict

The great composer as drug of choice.
by Paul Pelkonen

Trust him. He's got what you need: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

OK. I admit it. I'm a Mozart addict.

The works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart take up one and a half shelves of my CD collection. Stacked, they'd make a collection about six feet high. Taller if you add the Complete Mozart Edition from Brilliant Classics, which goes nicely next to the older Complete Edition put out by Philips. (That one is incomplete--I'm missing a few sets. All in good time.)

I have (at last count) multiple complete recordings of Le Nozze di Figaro, (seven) Don Giovanni (six)  and Die Zauberflöte (seven). Those three operas never diminish for me upon repeated listenings. Many more have passed through my shelves in the 20 years I've been collecting CDs.


I have several Entführung aus dem Serails (three), Così fan tuttes (five) and Clemenza di Titos (two). I even own four: (counted 'em) four recordings of Idomoneo. Though it's not my favorite Mozart opera it's still one of the best examples of serious 18th century opera, and should be performed more.

I have piano concertos, symphonies and piano sonatas. Serenades, divertissements, and A Musical Joke.

I even own two recordings of his vulgar little Canon in B Flat Major: "Leck mich im arsch."

My first live Mozart opera was probably The Magic Flute although I seem to remember a City Opera attempt at the fragment L'Oca del Cairo.

My first date with a girl in high school: I took her to four hours of Le nozze di Figaro.

And I've been to Salzburg and Vienna, weeping at a performance in the Hohensalzburg of that old party favorite Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

I know the details of his life. The real ones, not the dramatized falsehoods in Amadeus. I know that he was a genius, and no saint. His unusual gifts led to an unusual childhood, and 37 bright-burning years immersed in the creation of music that has lived in the consciousness of Western thoughts for over two centuries.

I'm hooked on Mozart....and I'm proud of it.

With the exception of the month of August and the occasional opera review, I don't get to write much about Mozart on this blog. But his music, with its rich humanity, endless inventiveness and capacity to surprise the ear even when you've heard it an uncountable number of times never ceases to amaze.

Even a turgid performance of one of the symphonies (like the one the other week) offers opportunities to analyze and marvel the perfect, crystalline structures of notes: houses of cards that glow in rich colors and never collapse.

Yep. I'm addicted. Thank God.