Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – 2018’s Best in Opera

• By drediman
• January 4, 2019
• No Comments

Serena Malfi, Kelli O’Hara, and Amanda Majeski in Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” at The Metropolitan Opera.

2018 was a relatively strong year for opera in New York. The year was pretty well balanced in terms of worthwhile new works, new productions, and revivals. Although I mostly found myself at the Metropolitan Opera, New York’s various performing arts festivals (e.g., Mostly Mozart, White Light, Prototype, Next Wave) also proved to be fertile ground for this largely misunderstood art form. In no particular order, here are my picks for 2018’s top ten opera experiences.

GREEK
By Mark-Anthony Turnage (music) and Steven Berkoff (libretto)
Presented by Scottish Opera/Opera Ventures and BAM Next Wave Festival at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House 

Mark-Anthony Turnage made a name for himself with Greek, his raucous 1988 operatic updating of the Oedipus tale (based on the play by Steven Berkoff, who provided the libretto to Mr. Turnage’s score). The stylish and laser-focused new Scottish Opera production, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins, gut-punched audiences at the BAM’s 2018 Next Wave Festival, as it was designed to, with its punk and apocalyptic “Trainspotting” mindset. Alex Otterburn led a sensational quartet of performers who were quite game for making audiences at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera house uncomfortable.

COSÌ FAN TUTTE
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (music) and Lorenzo Da Ponte (libretto)
At the Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera inaugurated a new hit production when it unveiled Phelim McDermott’s colorful new staging Così fan tutte in early 2018. By setting the Mozart/Da Ponte opera during the heyday of Coney Island (highlighting the topsy-turvy ways of love), Mr. McDermott mostly solved the problematic plot twists of this gorgeously-scored opera. The initial run featured a delightful, totally unexpected comic turn from soprano – and Broadway favorite – Kelli O’Hara as Despina.

TOSCA
By Giacomo Puccini (music, libretto)
At the Metropolitan Opera House

When the highly anticipated – albeit much-maligned – new staging of Puccini’s Tosca first premiered a year ago (at the Met’s 2017 New Year’s Eve gala), I thought Sir David McVicar’s traditional and handsome new production was nothing if not rock solid. Indeed, the initial cast, which featured an ardent Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo, seemed to have saved the day with their ideal if not totally remarkable performances. However, when superstar soprano Anna Netrebko stepped into the title role later in 2018, the production smoldered with intoxicating and unbridled passion.

PROVING UP
By Missy Mazzoli (music) and Royce Vavrek (libretto)
At the Miller Theatre at Columbia University

Two years ago at the Prototype Festival, up-and-coming composer Missy Mazzoli deeply impressed me with her operatic stage adaptation of Lars von Trier’s film Breaking the Waves (which she co-wrote with her insightful regular librettist, Royce Vavrek). This year, the New York premiere of her short but intense post-Civil War/Nebraska-set opera Proving Up (adapted from Karen Russell’s short story of the same name) at the Miller Theatre proved to be just as disturbing and musically compelling as it unsettlingly dissected the American Dream. I look forward to watching Ms. Mazzoli’s career blossom in the coming years.

ONLY THE SOUND REMAINS
By Kaija Saariaho
Presented by Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center

It’s nice to finally see women composers getting substantial recognition in the opera world. Apart from the aforementioned Missy Mazzoli, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho has also been making waves (the Robert Lepage-helmed production of her 2000 opera L’Amour de loin at the Metropolitan Opera two years ago was exquisite). At the 2018 White Light Festival, her similarly mystical and mysterious Only the Sound Remains – based on a pair of Japanese Noh plays – mesmerized audiences at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Ms. Saariaho’s austere score was complimented by renowned stage director Peter Sellars’ gorgeously stripped-down vision.

FELLOW TRAVELERS
By Gregory Spears (music) and Greg Pierce (libretto)
Presented by the Cincinnati Opera and the Prototype Festival at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Perhaps the most immediately and conventionally accessible but nonetheless artistically noteworthy new score of 2018 was Gregory Spears’ work on Fellow Travelers, which was presented as a part of last year’s Prototype Festival at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater. In fact, the entire production – from Greg Pierce’s expertly plotted libretto, to Kevin Newbury’s unfussy but moving direction, to the cast’s dramatically heartfelt and vocally gleaming performances – screamed of quality. Cumulatively, they made the potentially clichéd mid-20th Century story of a doomed gay love affair (based on Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel) positively heartbreaking.

PARSIFAL
By Richard Wagner (music, libretto)
At the Metropolitan Opera House

Then there were a trio of absolutely fabulous revivals at the Metropolitan Opera, each worthy of the mighty company’s branding. First up was François Girard’s bleak and sensuous production of Richard Wagner’s singular Parsifal. This was the staging’s first revival since it premiered five years ago, and I still feel that the production is one of the Met’s very best. Despite a somewhat less starry cast this time around, it’s a testament to Mr. Girard’s transcendent production, as well as Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s (the Met is very lucky to have him as its new music director) radiant conducting, that the languorous opera had audiences raptly compelled throughout its nearly six-hour running time.

ELEKTRA
By Richard Strauss (music) and Hugo von Hofmannsthal (libretto)
At the Metropolitan Opera House

Soon thereafter came the revival (also the first) of the late Patrice Chéreau’s shattering production of Elektra, which was new to the company two years ago. Like Nina Stemme’s performance in that initial run of Ricard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal brief – a far cry from Parsifal at less than two intermission-less hours – but incessantly intense operatic take on the Greek tragedy, soprano Christine Goerke’s rendition of the title role was a triumph and a cause for rejoicing among opera fans (in an anticipated turn, she’ll be playing Brünnhilde in the Met’s upcoming revival of Wagner’s Ring Cycle). Once again, the Met’s sensational new music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin proved to be miraculous in the pit, producing a huge but articulate sound from the great Met Orchestra.

IL TRITTICO
By Giacomo Puccini (music, libretto)
At the Metropolitan Opera House

Last of the three Met revivals of note was Jack O’Brien’s postcard-worthy 2007 production of Puccini’s relatively rarely performed trio of one-act operas (Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi), collectively under the umbrella title of Il trittico. The revival was pitch-perfect, beautifully capturing the very different tones of each opera. I was particularly moved by Stephanie Blythe and Kristine Opolais – each opera an star in their own right – thrillingly share the stage in the emotionally-draining Suor Angelica. But for less seasoned opera-goers, the main reason to have attended this revival was the chance to catch the legendary Placido Domingo (who has these days ingeniously rebranded himself as a baritone) astonishingly continue to slay the operatic stage in his comedic performance in the lighthearted Gianni Schicchi.

BERNSTEIN MASS
By Leonard Bernstein
Presented by Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival at the David Geffen Hall

One of the unlikeliest inclusions in this year’s “best of” list of opera experiences is the presence of the unruly Bernstein Mass, which was staged for a very brief run this summer at the David Geffen Hall courtesy of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. The work is subtitled “A Theater Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers”, and it’s exactly that. Although it follows broad outlines of a Mass, this massive undertaking (involving more than 200 players) was essentially a piece of music theater, one that impressed simply by its epic scope. Astonishingly, Louis Langrée was largely able to tame this beast of a production, including Bernstein’s deliriously eclectic, somewhat derivative, but undeniably exciting score.

Special Mention(s):

SATYAGRAHA by Philip Glass at the BAM Harvey Theater
MEFISTOFELE by Arrigo Boito at the Metropolitan Opera
LA TRAVIATA by Giuseppe Verdi at the Metropolitan Opera

Special mentions this year go to a number of productions. First is Robert Carsen’s staging of Boito’s Mefistofele for the Met, which created a theatrically rich experience despite the piece’s impossibly sprawling scope. Also worthy of a special mention is the intimate, circus arts-driven production of Philip Glass’s hypnotic Satyagraha, which was presented during the 2018 BAM Next Wave Festival. It was a fascinating approach that brought unity and drama to Glass’s highly episodic work, despite some uneven musical performances. Lastly, a special mention to Michael Mayer’s fragrant, flashback-oriented, but ultimately traditional (refreshing after his flashy, Las Vegas-set Rigoletto) new production of the Verdi favorite La traviata, starring the anticipated duo of Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Florez. Although both opera stars were very good, they didn’t transcend as I’d expect from any La traviata of true note.