Mercadante's Orazi e Curiazi
Minnesota Opera production, 2006
April 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 2006 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Minneapolis.
Review by Dan Foley, photographs by Michal Daniel.
Minnesota Opera has recently added to its reputation for staging rare bel canto opera with a well received performance of Mercadante's Orazi e Curiazi, its first performance in the USA.
The cast was Camilla: Brenda Harris, Curazio: Scott Piper, Orazio: Ashley Holland, Sabina: Karin Wolverton. The conductor was Francesco Maria Colombo, the conceived by Eric Simonson (but staged by Peter Kozma). The designer was Neil Patel and costumes Káren Kopischke.
Karin Wolverton as Sabina, Scott Piper as Curiazio and Brenda Harris as Camilla.
Photographs by Michal Daniel. More photographs below.
For the full set of his photographs, please see http://proofsheet.com/mnopera/orazi/
Dan Foley in Donizetti Society Newsletter 98 wrote that " Almost every aspect [of the production] - the singing, the acting, the staging - was exemplary. The result showed what opera can be when lavished with the appropriate care and attention to detail. Much larger and more hallowed opera companies could learn from the example set by the Minnesota Opera's high standards of artistic quality. But a few disappointments do deserve mention. A company intrepid enough to present a Mercadante opera shouldn't be embarrassed about it. Yet all but two of the cabalettas were shorn of their repeats, and the banda music was simply taken by the orchestra. Driven mercilessly by conductor Francesco Maria Colombo's hurried tempi, the orchestra sometimes became a runaway freight train, and in more than one instance the singers and instrumentalists (particularly the solo trumpet) deserve added respect for keeping their heads and averting arrant disaster. Moreover, Colombo's inexplicable rush to get through the score squandered opportunities to tease out subtle variations in mood and color, as David Parry did in his capable handling of the same opera on Opera Rara's recording.
But one simply can't have everything, and on the whole the evening exceeded my wildest expectations. From the coordination of the movements of the principals, chorus, and supernumeraries to the sets and costumes - the production integrated with the libretto tastefully and thoughtfully, and served the needs of the text and music rather than overshadowing them as is all too often the case. The costumes by Kárin Kopischke and sets by Neil Patel were inspired by costumes and architecture from the American Civil War. Transporting the action of an opera to another place or time period is always a calculated risk, but here that risk paid off. The theme of the libretto - family pitted against family in wartime - was equally well suited to ancient Rome and 1860's America."
...
" But in the end, it's really about the singing, and Brenda Harris's Camilla could hardly have been bettered; this must certainly be one of her finest portrayals. Harris's voice, at its peak volume, has an exciting, steely edge that makes her performance ideal for such a dramatic role. Yet, when called upon, she was able to spin delicate and moving pianissimi. Her coloratura - including some fine trills - was cleanly dispatched. The role lies painfully high and one sometimes had the impression that some of its challenges tested Harris's limits. But she coped beautifully, and I can think of few sopranos who would have done as well. Her huge scene in Act II was sung and acted flawlessly, and she introduced new ornaments into the second verse of the cabaletta "Arde già l'atroce guerra." The final confrontation with Ashley Holland in Act III was electrifying, and the excitement and tension in the house was palpable as Harris steered it to its thrilling climax. Her pitiful death scene - at least half of which was sung while lying on her stomach on the floor - was deeply moving and garnered her a well-merited standing ovation. Harris's overt histrionics Camilla's extremes of rage, grief, and madness created great excitement; yet it was her subtler gestures, eye movements, and nervous fiddlings that elevated this portrayal to greatness. That Harris was able to maintain her exacting vocal standards and still deliver some of the finest acting I've witnessed on an operatic stage is nothing short of miraculous. Could Frezzolini herself have been any better?
Harris had a most capable partner in the young tenor Scott Piper. Piper's voice has a big, ringing Italianate sound, and indeed his previous triumphs include Verdi and Puccini roles. Like Harris, his acting went far beyond the usual wooden histrionics and singerly gestures one often sees from opera singers. In his parting duet with Ashley Holland, the Orazio, Piper sang the line "Vedimi....a ciglio asciutto da te mi scioglio," his facial expressions and body language were rife with repressed emotion. In his first act love duet with Harris, there was touching intimacy between the two when they parted from the chorus and hid behind some scenery, sharing their fears and longings. And Piper's rousing rendition of Curiazio's aria garnered one of the biggest ovations of the evening.
Holland's Orazio was more stoic, as befits the character, and his acting consisted mainly of stolidly scowling. It was only in the final scene - after the murder of Camilla - that he finally sank to his knees and showed real emotion. Holland seemed be holding back a bit vocally, but in all his performance was one any Verdi baritone would be proud of.
The smaller roles were sung and acted competently. Bass Christopher Dickerson was most impressive in Old Orazio's dramatically pointless double-aria in Act III. Karin Wolverton, who sang the role of Ines in Maria Padilla last year, was seriously underparted as Sabina, but made the most of her few lines nonetheless. As the high priest and the oracle, Theodore Chletsos and Seth Keeton were both quite effective. The chorus sang marvelously and acted not as idle commentators, but as three-dimensional participants in the drama. Stage Director Peter Kozma and Movement Coordinator Heidi Spesard-Noble should be singled out for special praise for their contributions to the smooth and natural stage movements of the whole cast, from the principals to the chorus and supernumeraries."
Ashley Holland as Orazio
Brenda Harris as Camilla and Scott Piper as Curiazio
Ashley Holland as Orazio, Brenda Harris as Camilla, Scott Piper as Curiazio
Karin Wolverton as Sabina and Brenda Harris as Camilla
Brenda Harris as Camilla
Minnesota Opera's next bel canto production is Rossini's La donna del lago, September 23 - October 1