Livermore Valley Opera was almost an unknown to me. I had been to one previous production, The Marriage of Figaro I think it was, some years ago, but it had not made much of an impression on me. But when a friend suggested Tosca with Marie Plette and Bojan Knezvic, it was “sign me up!”
The performance was at the Bankhead Theater in downtown Livermore, a new (2007) facility with just 507 seats. There is only a single level of seating, no balcony, and the floor is raked steeply enough that it’s easy to see over the heads of the people in the row in front of you. The orchestra pit, between the audience and the stage, is truly a pit; when the conductor asked the orchestra to accept applause at the beginning of the third act, most of the musicians held their instruments high in the air so that the audience would have something to see. LVO also provides a special intermission treat on Sunday afternoon performances: complimentary ice cream, French vanilla, in individual 6 oz. containers, complete with a little wooden spoon, and served at the perfect temperature, not too soft and not too hard.
The sets were simple but effective. For act 1, we had two of the stone columns of the church, with a small statue of the Madonna between them, and part of a rose window in the background. To the right was the painter’s scaffold and the almost-finished portrait of Mary Magdalene; to the left, the Attavanti chapel. In act 2, in Scarpia’s office at the Farnese Palace, we saw a small writing desk to the left, a reclining sofa in the middle, and Scarpia’s dinner table at the right. Above it all hung a large, wider than tall, tapestry depicting a hunting scene. The act 3 set was the simplest, just the stone walls at the top of the Castel Sant’ Angelo, with a gigantic foot and the lower part of the leg of the statue of the archangel Michael to the left.
Our cast:
Floria Tosca: Marie Plette
Mario Cavaradossi: David Gustafson (not Bojan Knezvic as originally announced)
Baron Scarpia: Philip Skinner
Cesare Angelotti: Torlef Borsting
Sacristan: John Bischoff
Spoletta: Chester Pidduck
Sciarrone: Jeffrey Goble
Conductor: Alexander Katsman
Director: Olivia Stapp
The performers may be used to singing in larger halls (some certainly are): there was no problem hearing anybody—or perhaps it is a tribute to excellent acoustics in the Bankhead Theater. Gustafson sang so loudly that my ears (in the third row) rang. Unfortunately a couple of his ringing phrases developed a little crack in them, but his cry of “Vittoria! Vittoooooooooooria!” in the middle of act 2 worked well. Skinner sang well, but his volume of tone did not vary much. Plette’s Tosca was nice but not particularly remarkable. What I did find remarkable was the sacristan of John Bischoff: very rich, deep, and well enunciated. I would very much like to hear him in a larger role. The Te Deum at the end of act 1 was underpowered. The stage at the Bankhead Theater must be fairly shallow, and they just couldn’t fit enough people on stage, even with good acoustics.
The mind wonders (as it wanders), particularly in act 3, how Tosca will fling herself from the parapet at the very end. I’ve seen many, but this one will stick in my mind. Plette jumped on the edge of the wall and then launched herself, arms and head first, feet last, perfectly horizontal, into the air. Dramatic!
Great opera, good cast, fine theater, goosebumps at times—definitely a beta. Next year LVO presents La Cenerentola and La Traviata. I’ll be there!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Ernani, Metropolitan Opera HD Live, Mar. 14 2012
The Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcast of Ernani was so good, and the opera is so rarely performed, that it was an easy decision to attend the encore broadcast. Lots of other people also made the encore decision: theater #14 was at least a quarter full. I particularly wanted to hear Angela Meade again, and I enjoyed her performance just as much as I had the first time around. And this time I caught more “references” to other Verdi operas: some of it sounded, unsurprisingly, like Nabucco, but some of it sounded like operas that were still in the future in 1843: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, a bit of La Traviata, and just a hint of Aida.
Our cast:
Ernani: Marcello Giordani
Elvira: Angela Meade
Don Carlo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Silva: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Production: Pier Luigi Samaritani
As mentioned, Angela Meade was superb—the Opera News review of her (on a different night) described her as “on fire.” I also appreciated Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s aria at the beginning of the third act more than I had before. A very strong beta.
Our cast:
Ernani: Marcello Giordani
Elvira: Angela Meade
Don Carlo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Silva: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Production: Pier Luigi Samaritani
As mentioned, Angela Meade was superb—the Opera News review of her (on a different night) described her as “on fire.” I also appreciated Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s aria at the beginning of the third act more than I had before. A very strong beta.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Ernani, Metropolitan Opera HD Live, Feb. 25 2012
Ernani was Verdi’s fifth opera, premiering in 1844 and lying between I Lombardi and I due Foscari in his operatic output. It is more in the bel canto style than any other Verdi opera that I have heard, and as we shall see, the singers addressed this challenge marvelously.
Act 1 comprises two scenes. In the first, we saw the semicircular courtyard of a ruined castle, built from flat stones stacked up to form a wall. Ernani is a bandit, an “outlawed nobleman,” and the woman he loves, Elvira, is scheduled to be married the next day to her uncle (Silva). Ernani rallies his comrades to abduct her and prevent the marriage. The second scene presented Elvira’s apartment in the castle, with a seating area lavishly strewn with carpets; to the rear, a very large door; to the right, a very large painting. In the course of the scene, Don Carlo (the King of Spain) appears and declares his love for Elvira. So now we have three men, all in love with Elvira.
The remaining three acts all took place on staircases. In Act 2 there was a long straight staircase from the center of the stage up to the left, while a balcony ran along the rear of the stage. At this point the plot got complicated, with Ernani arriving in the guise of a pilgrim to break up the wedding. He was also pursued by the King’s soldiers, and despite Silva’s hatred of Ernani, the rules of hospitality forced him to protect his guest. Act 3 featured a giant semicircular staircase that enveloped a large equestrian statue and pedestal of Charlemagne’s tomb. Don Carlo hid in this tomb while the Electors gathered to choose the next Holy Roman Emperor—and Don Carlo was selected. In the final act the tomb of Charlemagne was replaced by a stone tower with ivy growing on it. Here Ernani and Elvira were married, but Silva appeared and cashed in Ernani’s offer (from act 2) to kill himself at Silva’s demand. According to stage directions, Ernani is to stab himself and Elvira is to faint, but here Elvira snatched the weapon and died along with Ernani.
Our cast:
Ernani: Marcello Giordani
Elvira: Angela Meade
Don Carlo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Silva: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Production: Pier Luigi Samaritani
Giordani, Hvorostovsky, and Furlanetto are well-known, and they all lived up to my expectations, in the best way. The “unknown” was Angela Meade—though not entirely unknown; she had been one of the winners of the 2007 National Council Auditions, which was documented in the film “The Audition.” The judges knew what they were doing. She sang magnificently, outdoing the legendary names that she shared the stage with. All of them made a persuasive case for this relatively obscure opera. Yes, truly bel canto: the plot was rather contrived, but it was a superb vehicle for some very beautiful singing. I’ll be back to catch the encore, mostly for Angela Meade. A very strong beta.
Act 1 comprises two scenes. In the first, we saw the semicircular courtyard of a ruined castle, built from flat stones stacked up to form a wall. Ernani is a bandit, an “outlawed nobleman,” and the woman he loves, Elvira, is scheduled to be married the next day to her uncle (Silva). Ernani rallies his comrades to abduct her and prevent the marriage. The second scene presented Elvira’s apartment in the castle, with a seating area lavishly strewn with carpets; to the rear, a very large door; to the right, a very large painting. In the course of the scene, Don Carlo (the King of Spain) appears and declares his love for Elvira. So now we have three men, all in love with Elvira.
The remaining three acts all took place on staircases. In Act 2 there was a long straight staircase from the center of the stage up to the left, while a balcony ran along the rear of the stage. At this point the plot got complicated, with Ernani arriving in the guise of a pilgrim to break up the wedding. He was also pursued by the King’s soldiers, and despite Silva’s hatred of Ernani, the rules of hospitality forced him to protect his guest. Act 3 featured a giant semicircular staircase that enveloped a large equestrian statue and pedestal of Charlemagne’s tomb. Don Carlo hid in this tomb while the Electors gathered to choose the next Holy Roman Emperor—and Don Carlo was selected. In the final act the tomb of Charlemagne was replaced by a stone tower with ivy growing on it. Here Ernani and Elvira were married, but Silva appeared and cashed in Ernani’s offer (from act 2) to kill himself at Silva’s demand. According to stage directions, Ernani is to stab himself and Elvira is to faint, but here Elvira snatched the weapon and died along with Ernani.
Our cast:
Ernani: Marcello Giordani
Elvira: Angela Meade
Don Carlo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Silva: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Production: Pier Luigi Samaritani
Giordani, Hvorostovsky, and Furlanetto are well-known, and they all lived up to my expectations, in the best way. The “unknown” was Angela Meade—though not entirely unknown; she had been one of the winners of the 2007 National Council Auditions, which was documented in the film “The Audition.” The judges knew what they were doing. She sang magnificently, outdoing the legendary names that she shared the stage with. All of them made a persuasive case for this relatively obscure opera. Yes, truly bel canto: the plot was rather contrived, but it was a superb vehicle for some very beautiful singing. I’ll be back to catch the encore, mostly for Angela Meade. A very strong beta.
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