Oberon's Glade

Author: Philip Gardner

  • Giorgio Tozzi Has Passed Away

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    I’m very sorry to learn of the death of Giorgio Tozzi, the basso whose voice was among the first that I became familiar with when I started listening to opera at a very early age.

    My parents had presented me with a prophetic birthday gift: a two-LP set of Verdi and Puccini arias culled from various RCA Victor recordings. Tozzi was the featured basso (the other singers were Milanov, Albanese, Peters, Bjoerling, Peerce, Merrill and Warren…what a collection of voices to cut one’s operatic teeth on!) and I literally wore out the tracks of his performances of arias from NABUCCO and SIMON BOCCANEGRA. Once my voice changed I would try to sing along with Tozzi in these arias, and also with his rendition of “Some Enchanted Evening” which my mother loved so.

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    Giorgio Tozzi sang Don Giovanni in the very first performance I ever attended at the (Old) Met…

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    …and he was my very first Hans Sachs (at the ‘new’ Met). I saw him so many times over the years: as Daland, as Philip II, as Fiesco, as Colline, Mozart’s Figaro, Ramfis and and as Count Rodolfo in LA SONNAMBULA. He sang more than 500 performances with the Metropolitan Opera (in-House and on tour) between 1955 and 1975. He created the role of the Old Doctor in Samuel Barber’s VANESSA and sings in the classic recording of that opera. Tozzi sang in the final trio from LA FORZA DEL DESTINO during the gala concert that marked the end-of-an-era closing of the Old Met in 1966.

    In 1978, a few years after he had left The Met, I saw Giorgio Tozzi onstage for the last time. He sang (an acted) grandly as Oroveso in Bellini’s NORMA in a performance at Hartford CT opposite the thrilling Cristina Deutekom as Norma.

    Giorgio Tozzi’s voice became widely known outside the world’s opera houses when he sang the music of Emil de Becque for the soundtrack of the film SOUTH PACIFIC (Rossano Brazzi portrayed de Becque on-screen). Tozzi later appeared in stage productions of the musical and on Broadway in MOST HAPPY FELLA.

    Giorgio Tozzi sings the Old Doctor’s aria from VANESSA here: “For every love there is a last farewell; for each remembered day an empty room.”

  • Four Stars from New York City Ballet

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    Paul Kolnik’s images from two recent performances at New York City Ballet: above and immediately below: Janie Taylor and Robert Fairchild in Balanchine’s LA SONNAMBULA. Read about their performance here.

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    This performance marked the debuts of Janie and Robert in LA SONNAMBULA. 

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    Above: Teresa Reichlen and Amar Ramasar in a performance of the Peter Martins/John Adams ballet FEARFUL SYMMETRIES. I wrote about this revival here.

  • In the Studio with 360° Dance Company

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    Saturday May 28, 2011 – After watching Roman Baca’s HOMECOMING aboard the USS Intrepid, Kokyat and I went over to the DANY Studios where dancers from 360° Dance Company were in rehearsal for their upcoming performances at Dance Theater Workshop. The Company will present five works including a New York premiere entitled What was Still Is choreographed by Martin Lofsnes. Choreographers from Mexico, Norway and Italy will be represented. The performances are June 2nd – 4th. Information here.

    New York is a city filled with beautiful dancers and today we had the pleasure of meeting two of them, Martin Lofsnes and Danelle Morgan, for the first time. Martin Lofnes has danced with the Martha Graham Company from 1993 to 2006 dancing principal roles in the Graham classics; he has also worked with Pearl Lang, Matthew Bourne and Maurice Bejart, and he serves on the faculty of The Ailey School.

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    Martin spoke to me briefly about choreographer Jane Dudley and then launched immediately into a solo created by Ms. Dudley in 1934 entitled Time is Money. Set to a spoken text, the solo looks as fresh and meaningful as if it were just choreographed this morning. Martin’s spacious and fluid style seizes the imagination at once.

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    Martin Lofsnes rehearsing Jane Dudley’s Time Is Money.

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    In the duet Que Color Tiene El Amor (What Is The Colour of Love?), choreographed by Ricardo Flores, the strikingly attractive Danelle Morgan was a splendid match for Martin in terms of vivid lyricism and dramatic nuance. I’ve seen an awful lot of wonderful dancers at close range in their studios these past couple of years but Martin and Danelle really had something to say to me today. Their dancing continually gave me those little rushes of emotion that make my quest of pursuing the city’s best movers and shapers so rewarding.

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    The programme for 360° Dance Company’s performances at Dance Theater Workshop further includes a second work by Jane Dudley: Cante Flamenco, and Alessandra Prosperi’s Satsang. The new Lofsnes work, What Was Still Is, is set for six dancers to a score compiled from Middle Eastern, Mexican, Spanish and American works.

    Rehearsal photos by Kokyat.

  • At the Noguchi Museum

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    Sunday May 29, 2011 – Kokyat and I have been talking about going to the Noguchi Museum for months and today we finally made it there. 

    Noguchi’s Water Stone (1986) at the Met Museum is one of Kokyat’s favorite works of art. Every time we go to The Met we make a pilgrimage to sit and observe the stone. The best times are when there are no other museum visitors around. We usually fall silent when sitting there; it creates a peaceful atmosphere. There is a very similar work at the Noguchi Museum (top photo) but it’s outdoors, and the surface of the pool refects the sky and trees in every-changing patterns.

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    The Noguchi Museum is not all that easy to get to from Manhattan. It’s a long walk from the nearest subway stop (though there is shuttlebus service from Manhattan) and so it is blessedly free of baby strollers, cellphones and tourist traffic. The atmosphere is wonderfully tranquil and there’s a deep connection with nature both in the wood and stone which Noguchi fashioned into masterpieces…

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    …and in the garden’s trees and plants, some of them native to Japan and rarely seen in the States. The blending of art and nature is so calming.

    The museum is housed in what was once a run-of-the-mill industrial building. Noguchi saw something in the space and its ‘courtyard’ (then a run-down parking lot and storage area), transforming the mundane property into a spectacular sculpture garden while creating ten galleries within the building to house a large collection of his works. He also bought a small building across the street where he lived.

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    Noguchi did not always sign and date his work, but his signature runes (above) can be found on many pieces. Most of the works are simply presented without the title cards and descriptive information one usually sees in a museum. Noguchi wanted the viewers to draw their own inferences from his work without being steered by his own concepts in creating them.

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    Noguchi at Versailles in the 1950s.

    We spent a long time wandering the galleries…

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    …then Kokyat fell asleep in the garden beneath a wall of bamboo. It is such a serene and restful place.

    Isamu Noguchi’s work with Martha Graham was recently celebrated in an evening of works on which they collaborated, performed at the Rose Theater. In another connection with dance, Noguchi designed ORPHEUS for George Balanchine and his stylized lyre from that production was for years the iconic logo of the New York City Ballet.

    I’ve posted some of my photos from our day at the museum on Facebook.

  • Aboard the USS Intrepid: HOMECOMING

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    On Saturday May 28 at 11:30 AM, Roman Baca’s HOMECOMING will be performed aboard the USS Intrepid. This brief but extraordinarily moving work is performed to a haunting John Corigliano score (from the film THE RED VIOLIN) over-laid by the reading of letters sent from home to US servicemen on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Earlier in the week, Kokyat and I stopped by the DANY Studios where Roman and his dancers were brushing up the work for its Intrepid premiere. They will dance HOMECOMING twice in succession aboard the ship. Kokyat’s photo at the top: dancers Taylor Gordon, Michael Wright and Lisa Fitzgerald.

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    Waiting at home: Adrienne Cousineau clings to the shirt of her husband. Mundane items like articles of clothing…

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    …or photographs of the servicemen keep a connection for spouses, mothers and girlfriends.

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    Above: dancers Aaron Atkins and Adrienne Cousineau. The joy of reunited couples is offset by the emptiness of those whose loved ones do not return from the war, or return with life-shattering injuries.

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    Taylor Gordon searches among the returning troops for her missing soldier.

    Roman Baca enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 2000 and served in Fallujah, Iraq. Returning home, he picked up his dance career where it had left off. The resonances of his wartime experience prompted him to start work on HOMECOMING; he formed Exit 12 Dance Company to pursue his choreographic vision.

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    Sgt Baca has a deep personal interest in and commitment to US servicemen and -women returning from the mid-East wars who suffer from the psychological effects of their experience. His primary focus is on homelessness and suicidal tendencies among the veterans, stemming from  frustration with the government’s increasing unwillingness to fittingly honor their service with care and compassion. Sadly, our troops are still abroad and at risk every day while being largely forgotten here at home.

    A recent development in the situation shows some promise.    

    The USS Intrepid is docked at 150 12th Avenue, near West 23rd Street. A ticket to the Intrepid museum gets you aboard for the performance and you can stay on all day for Fleet Week activities.

    These images are from the rehearsal; Kokyat also plans to shoot on the Intrepid where we spent a memorable evening last Autumn.

    The dancers in HOMECOMING are: Taylor Gordon, Adrienne Cousineau, Lisa Fitzgerald, Jackie Koehler, Joanna Priwieziencew, Michael Wright, Aaron Atkins and Preston Bradley. More of Kokyat’s images from this rehearsal will follow shortly.

    No matter what your stance on the war and the USA’s involvement in these far away lands, HOMECOMING is something everyone should experience.

  • HOMECOMING Aboard the USS Intrepid: Gallery

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    Here are some of Kokyat’s images from the May 28th, 2011 performances of Roman Baca’s HOMECOMING on board the USS Intrepid. The dancework was presented as part of the ship’s Fleet Week activities over the Memorial Day weekend. Read about the event here. Above: Preston Bradley.

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    Taylor Gordon

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    Taylor Gordon, Michael Wright, Lisa Fitzgerald

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    Adrienne Cousineau

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    Joanna Priwieziencew

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    Adrienne Cousineau

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    Lisa Fitzgerald

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    Michael Wright

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    Adrienne Cousineau, Aaron Atkins

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    Lisa Fitzgerald

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    Taylor Gordon

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    Sgt Roman Baca, choreographer and artistic director of Exit 12 Dance Company.

    All photos by Kokyat.

  • 2280 Pints!

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    Friday May 27, 2011 – From the many invitations that I receive each week to dance events, this one from The Neta Dance Company caught my eye because of the title of the work they are presenting: 2280 Pints! Described as a dancework for seventeen dancers and 57 5-gallon plastic buckets, it just sounded so quirky that I had to give it a go.

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    On entering the space at Dance Theater Workshop, we find the dancers posed like living statues as the music of Chopin’s second piano concerto fills the air. Each dancer has a white plactic bucket. Coins are distributed to the incoming audience members who then wander among the dancers, pressing pennies into the dancers’ open palms or dropping them into the buckets. A bell rings; suddenly the dancers break their poses and rush into the audience, grabbing people at random. Each dancer takes a guest onto the stage and arranges him/her in a statuesque pose. Thus did my friend Kokyat make his New York stage debut.

    From there, a roller-coaster ride of movement and music commences. Neta Pulvermacher deploys her squad of dancers and their fifty-seven buckets in a richly imaginative series of danced and mimed tableaux, set to a musical smorgasbord that runs the gamut from Mozart to Sonny & Cher. 

    The buckets are arranged, stacked, knocked over, sent skidding across the floor; they become hats, shoes, podiums, spotlights, drums, sinks, stepping-stones; they are hoisted and lowered over the playing area.  The dancers come and go as each musical number unfolds; sometimes there are big ensembles with everyone moving in unison and playing the buckets like percussionists kits. Other moments are more intimate: a girl sings the old Charlie Chaplin tune “Smile” (sings it really well, too) while four dancers simply raise and lower buckets over their faces, revealing their features as droll masks.

    Does it sound like a mish-mash? To an extent, it is. What saves it and makes it brilliant is the musicality of Neta’s choreographic style and the sheer energy and commitment of her dancers. One or two segments seem to stretch out a bit long but at those times one can focus on the individual personalities of the very attractive young performers. A giant plus to the production comes from the lighting by B. Lussier.

    I loved running into Taylor Gordon (either I go for months without seeing Taylor or I see her every day for a week) and to see Deborah Wingert and Matthew Westerby again. Many thanks to Alessandra Larson for inviting us to this really enjoyable evening.

    2280 Pints! continues at Dance Theater Workshop (on West 19th off 8th Avenue) thru Saturday evening. Kids over 5 will get a kick out of it at a Saturday matinee. Details here, with a video trailer.

  • HOMECOMING Aboard the USS Intrepid

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    On Saturday May 28 at 11:30 AM, Roman Baca’s HOMECOMING will be performed aboard the USS Intrepid. This brief but extraordinarily moving work is performed to a haunting John Corigliano score (from the film THE RED VIOLIN) over-laid by the reading of letters sent from home to US servicemen on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Earlier in the week, Kokyat and I stopped by the DANY Studios where Roman and his dancers were brushing up the work for its Intrepid premiere. They will dance HOMECOMING twice in succession aboard the ship. Kokyat’s photo at the top: dancers Taylor Gordon, Michael Wright and Lisa Fitzgerald.

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    Waiting at home: Adrienne Cousineau clings to the shirt of her husband. Mundane items like articles of clothing…

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    …or photographs of the servicemen keep a connection for spouses, mothers and girlfriends.

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    Above: dancers Aaron Atkins and Adrienne Cousineau. The joy of reunited couples is offset by the emptiness of those whose loved ones do not return from the war, or return with life-shattering injuries.

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    Taylor Gordon searches among the returning troops for her missing soldier.

    Roman Baca enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 2000 and served in Fallujah, Iraq. Returning home, he picked up his dance career where it had left off. The resonances of his wartime experience prompted him to start work on HOMECOMING; he formed Exit 12 Dance Company to pursue his choreographic vision.

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    Sgt Baca has a deep personal interest in and commitment to US servicemen and -women returning from the mid-East wars who suffer from the psychological effects of their experience. His primary focus is on homelessness and suicidal tendencies among the veterans, stemming from  frustration with the government’s increasing unwillingness to fittingly honor their service with care and compassion. Sadly, our troops are still abroad and at risk every day while being largely forgotten here at home.

    A recent development in the situation shows some promise.    

    The USS Intrepid is docked at 150 12th Avenue, near West 23rd Street. A ticket to the Intrepid museum gets you aboard for the performance and you can stay on all day for Fleet Week activities.

    These images are from the rehearsal; Kokyat also plans to shoot on the Intrepid where we spent a memorable evening last Autumn.

    The dancers in HOMECOMING are: Taylor Gordon, Adrienne Cousineau, Lisa Fitzgerald, Jackie Koehler, Joanna Priwieziencew, Michael Wright, Aaron Atkins and Preston Bradley. More of Kokyat’s images from this rehearsal will follow shortly.

    No matter what your stance on the war and the USA’s involvement in these far away lands, HOMECOMING is something everyone should experience.

  • Roman Baca’s HOMECOMING: Gallery

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    A gallery of Kokyat’s images from a studio rehearsal of HOMECOMING, a timely and evocative dancework created by Roman Baca. HOMECOMING is to be performed aboard the USS Intrepid on Saturday May 28th at 11:30 AM. Read about this work here. In the photo above: Michael Wright and Lisa Fitzgerald.

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    Preston Bradley with Adrienne Cousineau and Taylor Gordon

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    Michael Wright

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    Adrienne Cousineau

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    Jackie Koehler

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    Taylor Gordon

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    Joanna Priwieziencew

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    Aaron Atkins, Adrienne Cousineau

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    Adrienne and Lisa

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    All images by Kokyat. My thanks to him, and to Roman Baca and his dedicated troupe of dancers for sharing this experience with us.

  • Checking In with John-Mark Owen

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    Friday April 29, 2011 – Down to SoHo this morning to watch choreographer John-Mark Owen putting the finishing touches on a new solo performed by Jesse Marks, a soloist with Colorado Ballet. Kokyat and I met Jesse last year when he appeared with Lydia Johnson Dance here in New York City.

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    The solo, entitled Sonatae, is set to music of Heinrich Ingaz Franz Biber. It begins with the dancer in a contemplative Narcissus-like pose and then flows into space-covering movement. John-Mark, a choreographer after my own heart for our shared love of Baroque music, shows Jesse off to beaufitul advantage. I really enjoyed seeing Jesse again.

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    Sonatae will premiere at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center in performances on May 6th and 7th when John-Mark’s work shares a triple bill with Island Moving Co (from Newport, RI) and Cherylyn Lavagnino. Details here.

    Both Jesse Marks and John-Mark Owen will be appearing in Dances Patrelle‘s GILBERT & SULLIVAN: A Ballet! at Dicapo Opera Theatre May 12th – 15th. Information here. Read about it here.