Author: Philip Gardner

@ My Met Score Desk for TROVATORE

Above: Maestro Daniele Callegari

~ Author: Oberon

Saturday October 26th, 2024 matinee – What made this performance outstanding was the conducting of Daniele Callegari; he made the music come alive with brisk but never rushed tempi, whilst keeping the volume under control, helping the singers to sing without forcing. At a few points, the musicians fell back on the Y N-Z approach: play loud and fast. But mostly, the performance was immeasurably satisfying. It wasn’t until I got home and checked the archives that I realized I’d heard a Callegari TROVATORE in 2013; the awfulness of his cast that night had made me purge the memory from my mind.

This afternoon, TROVATORE started with a bang: Ryan Speedo Green’s Ferrando immediately established the singer’s vocal authority, seizing our interest – and holding it – throughout his monolog, which was expertly supported by the Maestro. Ryan’s diminuendo on “All’inferno!” was chilling. The scene’s finale, and the sounding of the castle’s alarm bells, assured us we were in for some vibrant Verdi.

As Inez, Briana Hunter’s appealing voice and sense of urgency in her exchange with Rachel Willis-Sorenson’s Leonora engaged us in their story right from the start. At first, Ms. Willis-Sorenson’s tone showed a steady beat, and passing hints of sharpness, but the voice would come under control as the opera progressed. Maestro Callegari kept the forward impetus of “Tacea la notte placida” flowing, and the soprano went on to regale us with her deft vocalism in “Di tale amor“, etching in some very fine trills.

Igor Golovatenko gave the Count di Luna’s opening lines a quiet, sustained feeling; then the power of his voice came into play. All afternoon, he would prove himself an excellent Verdi baritone. The harp sounds, and Michael Fabiano’s instinctive phrasing and passionate delivery of the words of his serenade were a joy to experience. Coming forward, Mr. Fabiano’s scornful “Infida!” raised the performance’s temperature to the boiling point. Ms. Willis-Sorenson scorchingly brilliant “M’odi” staved off the duel until the dynamic stretta ended with a joint high D-flat from the soprano and tenor, and the adversaries’ swords clanged as they rushed off.

After a truly rousing Anvil Chorus with the blacksmiths’ thunderous hammerings, Jamie Barton (above in a MET Opera photo) commenced Azucena’s iconic “Stride la vampa” and I was soon thinking this would be Jamie’s best Met role to date. She could be deliciously subtle one moment and richly chesty the next, and her trills and top notes were really impressive. She ended the brief aria with a bang, but there was no applause. Jamie’s very sustained “Mi vendica!” was another perfect touch. Ned Hanlon’s powerful summons from the Old Gypsy made its mark.The gypsies headed off.

Now mother and son are alone, and Jamie commences the old woman’s story: what perfect support the Maestro and his players gave to her great narrative, and how persuasive the mezzo’s story-telling. As Azucena is about to tell her son the ironic truth of those moments at her mother’s execution, Fabiano/Manrico takes a poignant diminuendo of “Tu forse…?” and then the fire music of the high strings gives him an answer even before his mother can say the words. Jamie nailed the top B-flat of the story’s climactic moment, then sang her final lines in a sustained, chilling hush. Back in the day, this kind of singing would have stopped the show, but today there was only a brief round of applause.

A vividly expressive conversation between mother and son brings on Fabiano’s “Mal reggendo” in which his lyricism and sense of ebb and flow captivates, as does his marvelously quiet “Non ferir!” This great scene now races to its end with the striking duet “Perigliarti ancor...” with some plummy chest notes from Jamie, and as well as a colorful, wide-ranging cadenza.

Maestro Callegari gave us a wonderfully stealthy opening to the Convent Scene, and then Mr. Golovatenko’s great voicing of the recit leads to an exchange with Ryan Speedo Green before cresting with Di Luna’s powerfully delivered “Leonora di mia!. The great aria “Il balen...” was taken slightly faster that usual; overall it was beautifully sung though there were traces of sharpness along the way. Mr. Golovatenko was heartily cheered. Another exchange with Mr. Green, with some urgent chorus passages, led to di Luna’s brief cabaletta, which fades away as the nuns are heard approaching.

Above: Michael Fabiano and Igor Golovatenko as Manrico and Count di Luna; a MET Opera photo

There was a lovely exchange of farewells between Mlles. Willis-Sorenson and Hunter before all Hell breaks loose and Manrico returns from the dead. Ms. Willis-Sorenson launches the ensemble in hesitant wonder at her beloved’s re-appearance…radiant top notes, and the poignant “Sei tu dal ciel discendere?” from Leonora, and then a trading of insults between her rival lovers. Suddenly Manrico’s men rush in crying “Urgel viva!” and Manrico greets them with one of my favorite lines in the opera: “Miei prodi guerrieri!” The ensemble rushes to a finish but is halted for Ms. Willis-Sorenson to again beautifully voice her wonderment at her beloved’s resurrection.

After the interval, Ryan Speedo Green is again superb as he urges the Count di Luna’s men to victory in the coming siege. Azucena is apprehended lurking about the camp; Jamie Barton’s “Giorni poveri” is expressively sung, with nice subtleties of phrasing, but after Mr. Green calls the old gypsy out, Jamie turns fiery with “Deh, rallentate…!”

Inside his besieged castle, Manrico tries to calm Leonora though his fate seems predestined. Mr. Fabiano’s recit and his gorgeously phrased “Ah, si, ben mio” won him vociferous applause, though I was sensing a bit of tension in the highest notes. After a tenderly harmonized duet passage with his beloved, Ruiz (played by Daniel O’Hearn) rushed in to tell of Azucena’s impending execution. Manrco’s “Di quella pira” was taken at breakneck speed…very exciting…though again, Mr. Fabiano’s highest notes were not thoroughly comfortable.

After the applause had died down, there was a very odd sound of someone screaming from the stage-left wing; this was followed by a moan, and the sound of someone talking on a cellphone. No idea what the problem was.

(Update: on Sunday evening at the Tucker Gala, I found out the reason for the offstage commotion. After singing the “Di quella pira“, Michael Fabiano walked into the wings and tripped over something. He let out a scream and then a moan, and you could hear a walkie-talkie call summoning medics. He finished the opera, but last night at Carnegie Hall, he had to be walked unto the stage by the pianist, moving stiffly and very slowly. Kudos to Michael for keeping his commitment to the Tucker event.)

Now Ms. Willis-Sorenson regaled us with her spectacular singing in the great scene where Leonora comes to the tower where her lover is awaiting execution; she seeks to bargain with di Luna and save Manrico’s life. As Ruiz, Mr. O’Hearn brings her to this dark place; his voicing of his despair over Manrico’s imminent death was infinitely touching when a trace of a gentle sob spoke volumes of his devotion.

The the Met stage was now Ms. Willis-Sorenson’s to own, and own she did. Absolutely phenomenal singing here! Her recit was finely phrased, then came the beloved aria “D’amor sull’ali rosee” in which the soprano held her own against memories of great Leonoras from the past. Her line was beautifully sustained, the trills lovingly defined, her tone richly lyrical. In the cresting lines “Ma deh! non dirgli, improvvido, le pene del mio cor!” did not spin the piano/pianissimo effects that many sopranos favor, but instead sounded more resolute. Her cadenza featured a lovely piano top note, on which she did a thrilling crescendo. She finished the aria with the lower ending.

In the Miserere that follows, a vivid sense of fate developed at the soprano’s “Quel suon, quelle prece”, and her anguish at hearing Manrico’s voice singing an ardent farewell to her was palpable. Ms. Willis-Sorenson then sailed thru her cabaletta, dispensing the coloratura with aplomb and capping the scena with a house-filling high-C.

Both the diva and Mr. Golovatenko were cooking in their great duet, sung with great abandon and dramatic pointing of the text. Some people will doubtless say that the soprano left out the high-C at the end, but…it’s not in the score.

In prison, awaiting execution, Manrico tries to calm his anxious mother; Mr. Fabiano sang with consoling beauty of tone whilst Ms. Barton delivered a fearsome “Parola orrendo!“. Jamie’s superb control made “Si, la stanchezza” so moving, and then the two singers found a lovely blend in “Ai nostri monti“, with a perfect fadeway at the end. Mr. Fabiano’s anger at Leonora makes sparks fly, but Jamie interrupts them with a dreamy reprise of “Ai nostri monti“.

Above: Michael Fabiano and Rachel Willis-Sorenson in the opera’s final scene; a MET Opera photo

Leonora reveals that her death is at hand: she has taken poison. Ms. Willis-Sorenson’s “Pria che d’altri vivere” was so poignant. Her death releases di Luna from his promise, and Manrico is swiftly executed. Jamie Barton then gave the opera a flaming finish with her powerful “Sei vendicata, o madre!”

Bravi, tutti!

I went to the stage door after the performance where I met Maestro Callegari; he very kindly signed my program (above).

~ Oberon

October 26, 2024
Rectangles and Circumstance @ 92nd Street Y

Above: Caroline Shaw; performance photo by Joseph Sinnott

~ Author: Lili Tobias

Wednesday October 23rd, 2024 – As part of a tour of the new album Rectangles and Circumstance, Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion performed a concert at the 92nd Street Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall this past Wednesday. The concert was split into two halves—the two sides of the record—plus a performance in between of Shaw’s 2017 piece for Sō Percussion, Narrow Sea.

As I walked into the concert hall, my eyes were immediately drawn to the immense set-up of musical instruments. There were truly so much stuff on stage that was hard to pinpoint exactly what was making what noise most of the time, leaving the origin of many of the sounds a mystery to me. Regardless of the specifics, I thought that Shaw and Sō Percussion were able to craft incredibly effective transitions from phases of primarily vocals (sung by Shaw herself) to mostly instrumentals to a balance of both. I’m curious how this performance might feel in a smaller venue though, so that the audience could get a better view of the instruments.

Singer Alicia Olatuja joined Sō Percussion (above, photo by Joseph Sinnott) for the performance of Narrow Sea. Her voice was quite different from Shaw’s, and it was cool to hear the contrast in how it blended with the percussion. Water also played a large part in both Narrow Sea and Rectangles and Circumstance. The final song on the first half of Rectangles and Circumstance was “The Parting Glass,” which is a Scottish/Irish folk song. During the performance of this song, a pitcher water was poured into a bowl, which one of the percussionists then dipped a set of crotales (I think) into. This had the effect of bending the pitch downwards and dampening the sound—very cool! In Narrow Sea, Olatuja multi-tasked by pouring water into bowls, all while still singing. The percussionists then hit the bowls with mallets as the water filled them up.

Shaw is definitely no stranger to setting interesting lyrics, and the lyrics on Rectangles and Circumstance were especially intriguing. They were largely inspired by nineteenth-century poems, taken in new directions by Shaw and the members of the quartet. In many of the songs, the repetition and extra-grammatical usage of the words felt mesmerizingly surreal. Shaw often sang into some kind of vocoder that added harmonies or looped her singing. She was also joined by another singer (whose name unfortunately doesn’t appear in the program!) on a few of the songs, and the two of their voices were balanced so well that it almost sounded like the vocoder, but more natural.

Performance photo by Joseph Sinnott

I was blown away by the cover of Schubert’s “An die Musik,” which ended the concert (and the album). The ensemble seamlessly transitioned into this final song through a long sustained rumbling sound that I could literally feel echoing through my body as it radiated through the hall. Going with a water metaphor (since that seemed to be a theme in this performance) I felt like I was submerged in water but the water was music, fragments of melody floating by on the waves of sound. As the song came to its end, Shaw introduced some distorting effects on her vocals. It was almost as if I was drifting off to sleep while listening to the song playing on an old record player in another room. The perfect end to the evening!

While I had only heard Shaw’s more “classical” music in the past, I felt so much resemblance in her compositional language to the music tonight as well. In particular, I’ve always admired how Shaw handles very simple sounds in her music. She’s able to tread the line between simple and complex sounds exceedingly well, never over-complicating anything that doesn’t need to be. I also find that she is able to create very effective transitions between contrasting parts of her music, bringing the listener to the new sonic environment in a completely instinctive way. She and the members of Sō Percussion seemed to gel really well on stage, and that strong partnership was apparent in the music itself too. It was wonderful to hear a different side of Shaw’s music, and side full of collaboration, that felt both new and also familiar at the same time!

~ Lili Tobias

October 25, 2024
Vivaldi: Salve Regina ~ Andreas Scholl

Andreas Scholl sings Vivaldi’s Salve Regina.

Listen here.

October 24, 2024
Tebaldi/Simionato ~ GIOCONDA Duet

Renata Tebaldi and Giulietta Simionato (above) sing the great duet “L’amo come il fulgor del creato” from Ponchielli’s LA GIOCONDA at a Chicago Lyric Opera gala in 1956. Sir Georg Solti conducts.

Listen here

October 23, 2024
Lioba Braun ~ Alto Rhapsody

Lioba Braun sings Johannes Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, with Helmuth Rilling conducting the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR.

Listen here.

German mezzo-soprano Lioba Braun was born in 1957. Based at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, she has appeared at the major opera houses and festivals of Europe. She became internationally known after singing Brangäne at the Bayreuth Festival in 1994, and she performed the soprano role of Isolde onstage for the first time in 2012.

October 21, 2024
Paola Prestini’s SILENT NIGHT @ National Sawdust

Above: composer Paola Prestini; photo by Caroline Tompkins

~ Author: Lili Tobias

Saturday October 28th, 2024 – I was lucky enough to have a front row seat to the world premiere of composer Paola Prestini’s new opera, Silent Light. I walked into National Sawdust on Saturday night to ambient insect noises mingling with the chatter of the audience finding their seats. As I looked out over the set of unfinished wood, I could smell the faint hint of bacon, eggs, and pancakes. And these things were just the beginning of how this production expanded not only my ears, but all of my senses!

The innovative ways Prestini played with the sounds, visuals, and physical objects on stage really made Silent Light stand out, though the plot stuck close to standard operatic tropes—love, infidelity, etc. One of the first aspects of this that caught my attention was how she used mundane sounds either by themselves or incorporated into the musical sounds. The opera gets underway with the loud tick-tock of a grandfather clock (seen in the back left corner of the stage) oscillating in volume. The louder it gets, the more surreal the set feels. As that first scene progresses, the women and children of the family come onstage to set the table for breakfast (cooked onstage!) and all begin eating. The natural clatter of plates and utensils mingling with the warm low brass and string instruments created a very fun and realistic soundscape. It truly felt like the audience members were invisible observers within the room with the characters.

Above: the ensemble, photo by Jill Steinberg

I was especially impressed with the transitions between scenes, both in terms of the music and the staging. As breakfast wraps up, a wave of construction sounds rise up from the left side of the stage as the chorus becomes a team of workers. There’s a large waft of dust, which visually separates the two halves of the stage between the men at work outside and the women at work in the house. There were also two wonderful moments of transition between diagetic and non-diagetic music. One occurred during this scene as the chamber ensemble begins playing what seemed to me a lively popular song and the chorus sings along, simultaneously moving the chairs and table to prepare for the next scene. And later on, a French ballad begins playing on a television in the kitchen, then becoming the background for the characters Johan and Marianne to meet up in a hotel room. Both transitions were executed so seamlessly and really helped push the the flow of action forward.

Above: Brittany Renee; photo by Jill Steinberg

Another remarkable aspect of this opera were the juxtapositions between silence or quiet sounds and loud, nearly overbearing sounds. Overall, I felt like there was minimal actual singing in this opera, but not in a bad way at all! As a listener, I tend to get fatigued when operas have extra long passages of continuous singing, so I really appreciated the many moments of silence or instrumental music—or even just foley sounds—that provided contrast (and rest for the singers’ voices too). There were also many moments of abrupt shift from sound to silence. One especially striking moment takes place when Johan and his wife Esther are driving in a truck, Esther knowing that Johan has just slept with Marianne. The music, accompanied by the sound of heavy rain, creates a steady and unceasing anxiety as Esther finally comes to terms with her own feelings about her husband’s affair. Then it suddenly stops as she rushes out of the truck, leaving behind just the sound of the rain (and the literal water which has started pouring down onto the stage!).

Above: Anthony Dean Griffey and Margaret Lattimore; photo courtesy of Mr. Griffey

I also want to add that the novelties of this opera did not go unsupported by amazing musicianship. All the singers were incredibly strong both vocally and as actors, and the lyricism of Prestini’s music really helped them sound even more amazing! I also enjoyed Prestini’s writing for brass. Because of the small size of the instrumental ensemble, the proportion of brass instruments to other types felt very high relative to, for example, an orchestra. I liked how predominant a role the trumpet and trombone played in the music, and they really added a unique depth to the sound that was especially resonant in the small performance space.

Above: Daniel Okulitch and Julia Mintzer, photo by Jill Steinberg

This opera contained so many interesting things that it’s honestly been difficult to write about everything that caught my attention! I thought it was a huge success at National Sawdust, and I hope it gets many more performances. It will be super interesting to see how the staging evolves in different spaces and with different cast members. Silent Light was an incredibly immersive experience, and there was always something of interest to listen to, look at, and even smell!

~ Lili Tobias

September 29, 2024
Parlando: Night Music @ Merkin Hall

~ Author: Lili Tobias

Thursday September 26th, 2024 – A wonderful night to spend listening to Parlando’s Night Music! Led by conductor Ian Niederhoffer, Parlando is a one-of-a-kind orchestra that strives to introduce listeners to underrepresented works through inventive programming and spoken introductions that provide context for each piece. As is standard for the ensemble, Thursday’s program featured a wide range of classical music all united under the theme of “night” (and this concert covered a span of just over 200 years!).

The concert opened with the Nocturne from Fauré’s The Shylock Suite, Op. 57. I was unfamiliar with this piece, but it was a pleasure to hear for the first time. The orchestra played with an exceedingly delicate and precise tone. Though the piece was quiet all the way through, every note was clearly audible throughout the hall.

Next was Takemitsu’s By The Sea, which I was really looking forward to (and it didn’t disappoint)! In the past, I’ve seen some of Takemitsu’s chamber music scores and have always been blown away by how beautiful the written music itself is. This was my first time hearing any piece of his live, and any conception of how I thought the written music might sound was eclipsed by the incredible real-life sounds of the orchestra and two soloists. When introducing By The Sea, Niederhoffer mentioned that the first version of this piece was a duo between flute and guitar, and I could still feel the chamber music-like qualities present in the orchestral re-arrangement. The soloists and the strings lead each other back and forth in a constant ebb and flow of dynamic swells—just like the waves of the ocean the piece was inspired by.

Flautist Yoobin Son and harpist Parker Ramsay (photo above by Crios Photography) then joined the orchestra once more for the second movement from Mozart’s Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C Major, K. 299. I was especially impressed with Son’s incredible phrasing and expressive playing, which brought this intensely lyrical movement to another level. (She also wore a stunning lilac dress from designer Issey Miyake which seemed to float and dance along to the music.)

The final piece on the program, Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, Sz. 106, was a pleasant surprise. As someone who is not generally a fan of Bartók, I happened to love this piece. However, even after learning a bit about the social context surrounding its composition, I had a very different emotional response to the music. While the first movement wasn’t quite my cup of tea (especially after having had to sightread the fugue subject once for a musicianship class in college!), I greatly enjoyed the second, third, and fourth movements. The second and fourth I found especially fun—a stark contrast with the anguish Bartok may have intended it to convey. My ears latched onto the driving rhythms and confident percussive attacks and interpreted the music as lively and powerful, in a predominantly positive way.

The orchestra was met with a well-deserved standing ovation at the end, and the concert was followed by a lively reception. While there was talk during the reception of finding a larger venue for future Parlando concerts, I actually think that smaller-scale performances could be a huge benefit towards Niederhoffer’s vision. A more intimate concert space could help open up dialogue between the musicians, audience, and even composers if they’re still living. As an audience member, I felt a bit boxed in by the spoken introductions to each piece—almost as if I was being told what to feel rather than encouraged to react to the music in my own way. While I completely understand the value in providing this musical context to the audience, I think there is a lot of further potential to create a more multi-faceted dialogue that draws from the diverse backgrounds and unique interpretations of both the musicians and the audience members. I’m excited to see what the future of Parlando holds!

~ Lili Tobias

September 27, 2024
ETHEL @ Merkin Hall

Above: the members of ETHEL – Dorothy Lawson, Kip Jones, Ralph Farris, and Corin Lee – with flautist Allison Loggins-Hull; photo from the ensemble’s website

~ Author: Shoshana Klein

Tuesday September 24th, 2024 – In the middle of a busy week, I got to hear the legendary string quartet ETHEL as well as flautist/composer Allison Loggins-Hull at Merkin Hall – the beginning of their official season as well as mine! Somehow I hadn’t crossed paths with ETHEL before, although I have known about them for a while – as one of the few dedicated new-music string quartets.

Above: interview with Dorothy Lawson, Allison Loggins-Hull, and John Schaefer

This concert was also a New Sounds live broadcast, so in between each piece there were interviews by John Schafer with members of the ensemble. While I’m not a die-hard New Sounds listener, I’ve heard enough to be excited to hear it happening live.

Another interesting note is that the ensemble was set up a little differently than you’d expect – with the viola on the left, the cello on the right and then the violins flanking the flute, which was in the middle. It makes for a bit more of a balanced sound than the usual string quartet, which has the violins on one side and the two lower voices on the other.

The first piece, by Sam Wu, called Terraria, was in a very familiar new-music tonality that it feels like we use a lot nowadays, but there were enough different soundscapes for it to be interesting and engaging. It felt very much descriptive of a type of landscape and was a good opening piece.

The second piece was by Migiwa “Miggy” Miyajima, who is Japanese – the piece was in four movements and she has a jazz background that was evident but not overwhelming. Each movement was distinct and interesting, and my favorite might have been one in which members of the string quartet vocalized a drone while Allison played an alto-flute melody over the top.

The next piece was by Leilehua Lanzilloti – the composer on the program I was most familiar with – and was introduced with some information about Hawaii and US imperialism. They talked a lot about how the music had a lot of the “island music” feeling and that definitely came through – partially through some layered rhythmic plucking textures in the strings. Another really interesting effect was one in which the strings used multiple strings playing the same note and oscillated back and forth – sort of the string equivalent of what I’d call a timbral trill on the oboe, in which you slightly change the note so that it’s only vaguely perceptible.

The piece by Xavier Muzik was fun and energetic – it definitely had a different energy than the pieces before it even though it started somewhat similarly to some of the others. The last piece, by Ms. Loggins-Hull, had electronics and started with a fixed media drum beat that was kind of intense. It was a really nice piece that had a lot of variation and she certainly didn’t seem to give herself an easy part, which she of course performed flawlessly.

I’m going to be honest: this concert was in the middle of a really busy time and I can’t say that I gave it the attention it deserved, but I was able to tell that all the music was really high quality and of course the performers are as well. It was well curated and nice to have one experience that was about an hour and a half interspersed with engaging interviews about the music. It always takes me a minute to get used to an amplified string quartet, but the sound was really well done and sounded exactly like listening to new sounds, which was both comforting and exciting to hear while seeing the music being made.

~ Shoshana Klein

September 26, 2024
BalletX @ The Joyce ~ 2024

Above: Savannah Green in Takehiro Ueyama’s HEROES; photo by Christopher Duggan for BalletX

~ Author: Oberon

Wednesday September 25th, 2024 – Philadelphia’s BalletX at The Joyce tonight, offering three New York premieres: Takehiro Ueyama’s HEROES, Jodie Gates’ BEAUTIFUL ONCE, and Loughlan Prior’s MACARONI. Over the years, this Company has commissioned nearly 130 world premieres.

The three works presented tonight were well-contrasted, and I must immediately praise the Lighting Designer, Michael Korsch, whose work was nothing less than sensational; this gave a special glow to the evening. Of the beautiful and highly accomplished BalletX dancers, two were known to me: Savannah Green (who danced in the closing work) and Jerard Palazo, who danced in the ballets by Loughlan Prior and Takehiro Ueyama, and who generated considerable star-power.

Above: Minori Sakita and Ashley Simpson in Jodie Gates’s BEAUTIFUL ONCE; photo by Christopher Duggan for BalletX

The evening opened with Jodie Gates’s BEAUTIFUL ONCE, set to a score by Ryan Lott performed by Son Lux and yMusic. The slurring music of the opening moments soon transforms into rhapsodic themes as the dancers meet on the gorgeously lit stage, embracing one another with genuine affection. The choreography – danced on pointe – is full of sweeping lifts and swirling movement, all gracefully executed. A series of duets, laced with fleeting solos and passages danced as trios and quartets, keeps the eye thoroughly engaged.

The music becomes dense and passionate, and a sense of belonging pervades the stage. When the dancers are not dancing, they remain on the sidelines, as if supporting their colleagues. A lovely quintet for the women seems to offer a perfect ending to the piece, but then the men take over and the dancing flows on. As the ballet nears its end, individual couples step forward and embrace – not passionately, but tenderly.

The program note refers to BEAUTIFUL ONCE as “a response to the chaotic moments in life”, and reminds us of the blessèd assurance of friendship and community.

Above: Jonathan Montepara and company in Loughlan Prior’s MACARONI; photo by Christopher Duggan for BalletX

I hardly ever enjoy comic ballets (Jerome Robbins’ THE CONCERT being an exception) and I can’t say that I derived much pleasure from Loughlan Prior’s MACARONI, a spoof on gay manners from the powdered wig era. The music, by Claire Cowan, served the choreographer well, laced with sounds of the harpsichord to evoke the baroque.

The cast of eight included three women en travesti, dancing on pointe. Everyone danced superbly whilst showing expert comic timing and entering fully into the campy atmosphere. But as the work progressed, I felt rather sad: yes, we have made so much progress over the years…and yes, we must be able to laugh at ourselves. But there is still rampant homophobia and plenty of anti-gay/anti-trans violence in this country. Just a week ago, I heard three Spanish boys talking about me on the subway, using their favorite slur: pato. Will it never end?

Above: Francesca Forcella and Jerard Palazo infrom Take Ueyema’s HEROES; photo by Christopher Duggan for BalletX

After the interval, Takehiro Ueyama’s HEROES summoned up a world of poignant beauty and mystery – a world we can always access in our imaginations but which the choreographer here transforms into reality. In his program note, Take dedicates the ballet to citizens who played a crucial role in the recovery of Japan from the devastation of World War II.

Here, Mr. Korsch’s lighting designs (in collaboration with Christopher Ham) were extraordinarily atmospheric, and Eugenia P. Stallings’ costume designs – red garments that seemed at once ancient and ultra-contemporary – evoked the priestly rites that bind the community together.

The piece opens with a prologue: deep rumblings are heard, and the summoning sound of chimes. From the pit, Tokoshieni – composed by percussionist Kato Hideki and performed by him and violinist Ana Milosavljevic – transports us to an illusory place and time. A red-clad couple emerge from the shadows and perform a slow, stylized duet to the sound of mysterious whispers. An eerie, brooding feeling creeps in; the man performs a slow solo and and the woman responds in kind. They don red jackets and vanish into the darkness.

The music of John Adams – The Chairman Dances – rises as the full stage becomes illuminated. A diagonal of white chairs stage right becomes a walkway as the dancers enter. They move the chairs about, establishing a place for the evolving ritual. The chairs are lined across the stage and there is a wonderful seated passage of arm and hand gestures. A unison dance and individual walkabouts are highlighted by brief solos.

The music turns spacious and the dance slows, only to rebound as the dancers march about. Another unison passage leads to everyone dropping to the floor…only to rise and race about in a circle. Now the jackets come off and are collected; the dancers sit in a semi-circle, with the corpse of a woman covered with a jacket.

A new beat develops; there is an intense duet which evolves into a trio and then a wild female solo. The lighting continues to play a powerful part in the effect of the choreography. In a visual coup, there is a striking line-up across the space, and the dancers advance towards us. They then fall into single-file and proceed to cross the bridge of chairs, sure of their destiny.

More of Christopher Duggan’s images from HEROES:

Above: dancers Skyler Lubin and Mathis Joubert

Above: dancer Itzkan Barbosa

~ Oberon

September 25, 2024
Rival Princesses: Cruz-Romo/Bumbry

A brief and rather bizarre black & white film of excerpts from AIDA from a performance given at Orange on a windy evening in 1977. Gilda Cruz-Romo is Aida and Grace Bumbry is Amneris, with Luigi Roni as the King of Egypt and Peter Gougalov as Radames. Thomas Schippers conducts.

Watch and listen here.

September 24, 2024