Opera is all about details. We practice and polish and hone and obsess, sometimes to the point where we forget what all those details are in service of: performing. All of it is so that when we get up on that stage we have the tools to really, truly, make the art as we want it to be. We so desperately want to share and communicate with the people watching on a primal level, and working towards perfection allows us to communicate more easily and deeply.
Last Saturday I was able to do that thing where you make a roomful of people forget to breathe and wait to clap. Where they're still with you as the last chord fades and they need to sit with you for an extra few seconds while you hold the final energy of your aria. Honestly, that's the moment I live for in opera. It was exactly what I was aiming for with that particular piece, so even though I didn't advance in the competition I was singing for, I'm proud of myself. I didn't sing perfectly, but I took the audience somewhere else. I performed. That's what it's about. That's why I do this. To make people feel, to make them empathize. Not sympathize; empathize. To help them immerse so deeply their neurons line up with mine and they feel with me. I forget what I'm about sometimes when I get caught up in the day-to-day of making specialized throat noises, but that was not one of those days. I lost, but I won.
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I have finally started making vlogs! This first installment is my adventures on Sunday, 29 April. So excited to share this first video with you! I had the privilege of attending the Met Opera National Council Finals and learned a lot. If you are a singer, I highly recommend watching as many competitions as you can. It teaches you about, in no particular order:
In case you were wondering (and didn't just click on the MONC link above), the winners are: Ashley Dixon, Mezzo-Soprano, Northwest Region Jessica Faselt, Soprano, Upper Midwest Region Madison Leonard, Soprano, Middle Atlantic Region Carlos Santelli, Tenor, Western Region Hongni Wu, Mezzo-Soprano, Eastern Region I had a lot of fun making my first MezzoNerd video. Please subscribe to my youtube channel - there will be more vlogs in the future! I was lucky enough to represent OperaWire at the Girls of the Golden West Works and Process presentation at the Guggenheim on September 21st and had the opportunity to write an article about it. They let me write from whatever angle I wanted (!), and Peter Sellars (librettist/director) and John Adams (composer) were so woman-oriented in the way they talked about the opera that I had to go with a woman-centric take. It was really special to be able to hear them talk about the show. Both men are so meticulous -- everything they do is well thought out -- and I love hearing Sellars in particular speak about opera. He always touches on something profound or historical and makes me think about the work in a way I hadn't considered. I heard a radio interview about his Clemenza this summer and it completely blew my mind. Watching the creative team during the discussion last Thursday really brought home that there is no excuse for writing operas dominated by white males. These two white men, one of whom just turned 70, spent a majority of the time talking about the forgotten multiculturalism of the Gold Rush. The story they wove for the opera revolves around real-life accounts of two women, Louise Clappe and Josefa Segovia, and although they took artistic license with the details and how they structured the story, especially given the lack of historical records surrounding Josefa, they clearly did extensive research and made every effort to create real, powerful women. These men looked around at their privilege and opportunities and decided to tell someone else's story. Click below to read my article! Also, on a personal note, I got to meet J'Nai Bridges and Peter Sellars, and re-meet John Adams and let him know what an impact he had on my affinity for new music (On the Transmigration of Souls was one of my earliest experiences performing contemporary vocal music). It was awesome! "Opera is sexy!" I remember the time this innocent tweet from a music community tweep sparked a long, lively conversation between me and another tweep. His problem was that people always say that in an attempt to give opera broader appeal and reel in new audience members. He argued that not everything needs to be sexy, that opera can stand on its other merits, that "sexy" doesn't have to come into play. He's right. For example, The Met's ad campaign from last year clearly utilizes the sex appeal of the international stars gracing its stage, with Anna Netrebko in the throes of ecstasy, Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo entwined atop silk sheets, and Elina Garanca giving us her best 90s Leonardo DiCaprio, one hand seductively stroking Renee Fleming's hair. This is only the latest in a string of aesthetics-based choices at The Met. Then we have those regie European productions, where nudity is practically de rigeur. Gratuitous nudity is in vogue, for example the shower scene in Glyndebourne's Der Rosenkavalier.
So, yes, not everything needs to be sexy and this trend towards hyper-sexualization is not doing the art form any favors. He's right. He's also wrong. Opera IS sexy. It's intrinsically sexy, for so many reasons. The stories are emotionally charged and sparks constantly fly between lovers. They deal with seduction, revenge, sex, and passionate love. The music is intoxicating and sweeps through the fourth wall to envelop and arouse the audience. Singing opera can be arousing. Opera is a safe space to explore and experience the many facets of desire. Opera doesn't need to be sexy. It just is. In case you missed me yelling about this in person or on every social media platform known to man -- I have a concert this Friday, June 23rd. I am insanely proud of this particular concert. It features works by a bunch of composers, and excerpts from an opera in progress. I am singing one of the lead roles in the opera scenes and an entire song cycle by the super-talented and crazy-nice Ross Crean, who is in absurdly high demand in the Chicago new music scene. I am extremely passionate about new vocal works, and this is an opportunity to really dig into some very satisfying music. These composers are all so smart; their music is full of nuance and little touches that bring home just how talented and brilliant they are. AND THE SINGERS. We have a group of amazing singers who have really brought this music to life. I'm so excited to bring this concert to fruition. I can't fully express how important it is to me, and I hope you come to see it. TICKETS June 23, 7pm at Opera America National Opera Center (330 7th Ave) I'm going to start a regular vlog in the next couple months. Keep your eyes peeled! It's going to be a smorgasbord of things that interest me, published in vlog form! You can find me under the tag MezzoNerd once it's live. For now, get a sneak peek at my title sequence: David McVicar directed a production of Händel's Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne in 2005. It starred Sarah Connolly and Danielle de Niese, and was set in 19th-century colonial Egypt. Some kind soul uploaded a complete version of it to YouTube, although it has since been taken down. A while back, I watched the entire opera, absolutely loved it, then proceeded to read the comments. I recently rediscovered a document where I had recorded some of those comments. While there were many many positive comments, there were a few people who wrote that the "absurd modern production" was "a disaster" and the opera was "spoilt".
I honestly don't empathize with their objections. I understand what they are driving at: they want opera productions to be historically accurate and serve the composer's music first and foremost. These traditionalists are necessary because they constantly challenge new choices, which encourages the innovators to really think through their choices and make sure they make sense instead of doing something just for the sake of being the first person to do it. They are a valuable part of the artistic and historical dialogue in the opera world. However, I despise the immediate dismissal of anything that attempts to approach a work in a new way. They have a bad habit of using the fact that something isn't historically accurate to justify their personal dislike for a production. They have a resistance to just saying, "this didn't speak to me," possibly for fear of seeming uncultured. It is fine to dislike a production, or even an opera. Operas span hundreds of years; there is bound to be at least one era or composer that rubs you the wrong way, in the same way that one of the hundreds of stagings of a repertory opera will not work for you. Some of them are truly bizarre. That is all fine. But don't invalidate someone else's approach. This Cesare was not even close to the most ridiculous production I've seen. Hardly any of the choices detracted from the opera and many enhanced it. Go pick on the one where Cecilia Bartoli sings "V'adoro, pupille" astride a missile like everyone else. I discovered this buried in my drafts. Apparently I finished it, but never posted it. Oops! The performance was on April 26, 2014. Enjoy! The setting: The not-so-distant future, when overpopulation and global warming have made water and other natural resources very, very scarce. The cast: A traveling acting troupe, a gaggle of orphans, and a tribe of desert people. The fare: Theatre of the Absurd bookended by environmentalist surrealism. Opera Parallele's presentation of two one-acts warning of selfishness and decadence was excellent. OP seamlessly melded the two works and crafted them into a play-within-a-play form. They presented it as a wandering theater troupe who stops to present a morality play for a group of desert people. The staging was a bit static in a couple places and the acting unfocused at times, but the singing was very good throughout. The least exciting moments came in Mahagonny at the beginning. The ensembles are very challenging, so the director catered to that, clumping the unsavory gentlemen beautifully singing the quartet ("Auf nach Mahagonny") together for a card game at the edge of the stage. This was fabulous for the sound and the cohesion between the orchestra and singers and was in keeping with the narrative and characterization, but visually and emotionally it was somehow not engaging. The set design was inventive, with a full-sized, functioning boat on wheels that had a foldout platform attached as the biggest and most impressive set piece. Unfortunately, it was quite heavy, and it seemed the cast had not had enough time to play with and get used to it. The lighting catered and contributed to the atmospheric changes onstage. The costumes were interesting but not distracting. In short, the design team did a great job. All of the performers were top-notch. Even the chorus was engaged and vibrant. They sang well, with good verve, volume, and cohesion. The children, culled from the San Francisco Girls' Chorus, were charming with a healthy dose of annoying (when they were supposed to be so). The main cast was quite excellent. Rachel Schutz particularly stood out and did a good job changing her physicality for her different characters. Her lovely and expressive voice carried clearly through the hall. Throughout his life, Bertolt Brecht was adamant that theater should make the audience THINK, not FEEL. He put forth that theater should be a call to action; the audience should leave the theater uneasy and wanting to DO something, rather than feeling cleansed by and reveling in the catharsis they just experienced. However, his Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect) tends to not be very endearing. People enjoy being immersed and lost in a narrative; escapism is the name of the game, with fantasy films (yes, superhero movies count as fantasy) and comedies topping the movie box office charts. OP struck a working balance between call to action and narrative. It was a cerebrally and emotionally engaging and thoroughly enjoyable show. Washington Concert Opera's concert production of I Capuleti e i Montecchi was sublime. End of story. I wanted to write something insightful and nuanced about this experience, but I really don't have much beyond the fact that it was practically flawless, deeply moving, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Antony Walker's conducting was splendid. He literally jumped up and down on the podium and had incredible energy through the whole opera. I started smiling literally seconds into the overture; he was so into the music and the orchestra played so brilliantly together that I knew this was going to be a great show. Walker also kept the tempi moving, which was lovely because there is nothing worse than lugubrious, self-indulgent Bellini. Bravo Maestro. Kate Lindsey (Romeo) stole the show. Apparently this was her first time performing the role, but you wouldn't know it to experience her sensitive phrasing and nuanced acting. Her voice was warm and even through the registers. Her consummate artistry had me riveted and breathless almost the entire time. The entire cast was wonderful. Nicole Cabell (Giulietta) gave a beautiful and committed performance. The role of Giulietta can easily drift into wallowing teenager mode, but Cabell gave her character exactly the right amount of sadness and was never over the top. David Portillo (Tebaldo) really made an impression with his clarion, pleasant voice and engaging presence; after Kate Lindsey, he was my favorite performer of the night. Jeffrey Beruan (Capellio) sang with a lovely round tone. The weakest performer was Liam Moran (Lorenzo), but even he sang very well and delivered a solid performance. I enjoyed every second of this excellent production. Bravi tutti! I am presenting a recital as a farewell to San Francisco before I move to New York City on September 17th. The all-operatic repertoire features arias by W.A. Mozart, G.F. Handel, Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Charles Gounod, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Pietro Mascagni, and San Francisco-based composer Kirke Mechem, as well as duets by Mozart. I will be joined by baritone Matthew Tierney, and accompanied by Kerrilyn Renshaw.
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AuthorMaayan is a Manhattan-based opera singer. Archives
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