Opera Review: Promotion Commotion

La Fille du régiment marches on at the Met.

The conquering tenor: Lawrence Brownlee
in Act I of La fille du régiment. 
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Ever since its premiere in 2008, Laurent Pelly's cheerful production of Donizetti's La Fille du régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) has been a showcase for young singers of bel canto repertory with something to prove. On the Monday, December 19 performance, the role of Tonio is taken by American singer Lawrence Brownlee, a versatile tenor with good comic timing, boundless energy and a mustard-keen stage presence.

Mr. Brownlee has sung this role before at the Met, but this is the first run of La Fille that has him as the unquestioned leading man. He handled all of the challenges of this role, from looking good in lederhosen to hitting nine high C's in rapid succession in the aria "Ah mes amis." 

This is the aria that made the reputation of Luciano Pavarotti and Juan Diego-Flórez at the Met. In conquering its nine peaks, Mr. Brownlee displayed formidable talent and a total lack of fear. His performance was stellar, met with a rousing "bravo!" from the upper reaches of the house. (No, it wasn't me.)

DVD Review: Blonde Ambition

Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera of Covent Garden.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Busting out: Eva-Marie Westbroek as Anna Nicole Smith.

Photo by Catherine Cooper © 2011 

Royal Opera at Covent Garden/ Opus Arte

Mark Anthony Turnage's ambitious opera Anna Nicole is a scathing indictment of American celebrity culture, materialism and media hype. It's an opera about the things in society that have replaced opera in the popular culture. Its focus, the rise and fall of a girl from Texas named Vicki Lynn Hogan, who became an international celebrity as Anna Nicole Smith.

Beethoven, Wagner, and...Humperdinck?

Hänsel und Gretel go to Bayreuth.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Arnold George Dorsey, AKA
Engelbert Humperdinck.
by P

Mention the name "Engelbert Humperdinck" and most people in the 20th century will think of the British-born singer who followed in the wake of Elvis Presley with hits like "The Last Waltz." But opera aficionados know that the former Arnold George Dorsey borrowed his stage name from the German composer of the opera Hänsel und Gretel, currently playing at the Metropolitan Opera in an English translation.

The older Humperdinck is chiefly remembered for his work in the genre of märchenoper or fairy-tale opera. Hänsel (which premiered in 1890) tells of two lost children and their encounter with a nasty old Witch in the forest. Königskinder (Royal Children) is less well known but worthy of attention. It received a hearing last year from dell'Arte Opera Ensemble.

Before he found success with his musical trail of bread-crumbs, Humperdinck was associated with Richard Wagner. He worked as an assistant conductor at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, the theater designed by Wagner and built in that German city as a shrine to himself. But what is not generally known is that Humperdinck was one of only three composers to have his music heard at Bayreuth.

DVD Review: Hell is for Minimalists

Robert Wilson vs. Monteverdi's L'Orfeo.

Doomed, I tell you: Orfeo (Georg Nigl) and Euridice (Roberta Invernizzi) prepare to get hitched.
Image by Mario Brescia © 2011 Teatro della Scala Archives/Opus Arte.

Theatrical styles clash across a 400-year gulf in this Opus Arte DVD of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, shot at La Scala. American director/designer Robert Wilson applies his trademark minimalist style to this opera, the oldest work from the Italian renaissance to remain in the repertory today. But fear not. If you can't stand the visuals, turn off the TV and run your player through the stereo. This is a beautiful performance.

Monteverdi's setting of the Orpheus myth is the oldest work in the repertory--a stark retelling of the story that combined dance, solo singing and skilled choral writing in a way that would prove enduring for the next four centuries. First performed in Mantua at the court of the Duke of Gonzaga in 1607, L'Orfeo proved instantly popular. Conceived as an entertainment for the nobility, it was soon discovered to resonate with the common man, sowing the seed for the entire operatic genre.

L'Orfeo takes place on the fields of Thrace and in the underworld below. Mr. Wilson chose a painting by Titian (well actually, a small bit of the background from Venus and Music) to create a Greek grove that, by his standards, qualifies as an actual set. the second act takes place mostly in the dark.There is not much action, but by the standards set by this director's Wagner productions or his work with Philip Glass, this staging is positively hyperactive.