Dayton Opera presents Mozart’s wedding day comedy of errors

The Dayton Opera present “Lucia de Lammermoor”

By Eric Street

Hide your cutlery! On Friday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m. in the Mead Theatre of the Schuster Center, Dayton Opera will present Gaetano Donizetti’s chilling tragedy “Lucia di Lammermoor.” The opera kicks off the passionate 2012-2013 Occupy Opera Season.

Despite her unusual hoarseness, probably due to Dayton’s high pollen count, stage director Kathleen Clawson is anything but speechless about Dayton Opera’s upcoming “Lucia di Lammermoor.”

“Lucia is a wonderful piece – some of the most beloved music in all of opera is there.  You’ve got the sextet, you’ve got Lucia’s fabulous Mad Scene – it’s an incredible tour de force for coloratura sopranos.  Every single character in the opera has their vocal star moment,” says Clawson.

“Lucia has a great story, based on the original Sir Walter Scott novel.  When the book was written, it was a wild hit.  People started wearing Scottish garb all over Europe when the book came out.  That answers the question, ‘Why did Donizetti write a Scottish opera?’ – Scotland was all the rage!

As a woman, perhaps I have a special sympathy for Lucia, the way she is manipulated and used for the political aspirations of her brother, the way she is treated as a commodity by her husband.  Really, the only good person onstage is Lucia.  She’s motivated purely by love, and that’s what makes her crazy.”

By all accounts the cast sounds promising. “It takes truly talented singing artists to recreate the masterful music of Donizetti’s demanding score, and that’s what we have in our Dayton Opera cast,” explains Dayton Opera Artistic Director Thomas Bankston. “We are excited to have company debuts in three of the leading roles of this production, soprano Angela Mortellaro as Lucia, tenor Joshua Kohl as Edgardo and baritone Lee Poulos as Enrico. Returning to Dayton Opera in the role of Raimondo is bass Matthew Burns.”

“We have a truly phenomenal cast, with wonderful voices to carry Donizetti’s beautiful, demanding music,” agrees Clawson.  “They’re all young and truly believable in their roles.  It doesn’t hurt at all that they’re the appropriate ages for the roles they’re singing, and they move well, too. We have a very talented up-and-coming group of young American opera singers.”

Dayton Opera favorites Kathleen Clawson, stage director, and Joseph Mechavich, conductor, who collaborated on last season’s “La Bohème,” return to lend their able direction to the “Lucia” production.

What should the audience expect?  “It’s a beautiful production,” says Clawson.  “The sets are from Cincinnati and the costumes are from Utah.  ‘Lucia’ is the perfect sort of opera for this time of the year – there are plenty of ghosts referred to in the text, and there’s also plenty of blood.  If someone wants to get their Halloween groove on, this is a great opportunity for them,” laughs Clawson.

Is there any advice she’d have for a first-time opera-goer?  “Yes, abandon yourself totally to this gripping story of a young girl, told through glorious music,” concludes Clawson.

About the Opera

Gaetano Donizetti wrote “Lucia di Lammermoor” in 1835 at the height of his reputation as an opera composer.  Rossini had retired from operatic composition and Bellini had died shortly before the Lucia’s premiere, which left Donizetti for a time as the undisputed genius of Italian opera.

Donizetti’s pre-eminence as a composer was simultaneous with a great upsurge of European interest in the history and culture of Scotland. The perceived romance of Scottish wars and feuds, as well as Scottish folklore and mythology, intrigued 19th century readers and audiences.  Sir Walter Scott makes extensive use of these themes in his novel “The Bride of Lammermoor.” Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott‘s historical novel.

Learn More

There are several opportunities to learn all about “Lucia di Lammermoor.” Back by popular demand, Art & Arias returns to Dayton Art Institute, 456 Belmonte Park North on Sunday Oct. 21 at 2:00 pm. This lively hour-long look at opera and art features musical performances and insight into how the visual arts relate to this production. Art & Arias is free and open to the public.

Free and informative Opera Overture presentations, with opera aficionado and University of Dayton professor Dr. Sam Dorf will be held Sunday, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m. at Books & Co. at The Greene and Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 3211 Lakeview Ave.

The Mid-Day Arts Café series continues. On Tuesday, Oct. 23, Bankston, Clawson and Mechavich will provide insights into the upcoming production and the rest of the Dayton Opera season. Tickets are $12 and include a box lunch from Citilites Restaurant & Bar. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and the presentation starts promptly at noon.

Enjoy pre-performance entertainment and food-by-the-bite and beverages on sale in the Wintergarden beginning one-hour prior to the performance. For ticket holders, a 20-minute “Opera Preview” with Dr. Dorf will take place one hour prior to each performance.

The Dayton Opera presents “Lucia de Lammermor” on Friday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m. in the Mead Theatre of the Schuster Center, 1 W. Second St. Tickets from $36 to $92 are available at Ticket Center Stage (937) 228-3630 or online at www.daytonopera.org.

Reach DCP freelance writer Eric Street at EricStreet@daytoncitypaper.com

Carmen Comes to The Victoria Theatre

By Eric Street

The Dayton Opera season sweeps to a dramatic close with four performances of The Tragedy of Carmen, a streamlined, contemporary turn on Bizet’s perennial audience favorite.  Dayton’s Victoria Theatre provides an intimate setting for the May 17 thru 20 performances. This version, sung in English and adapted by English stage producer Peter Brook, “is unlike any Carmen you have seen,” says Dayton Opera’s General and Artistic Director Tom Bankston. “The cast is comprised of four singing and three speaking parts. The orchestra is scaled back to 15-pieces, the libretto is in English, in a translation by famed Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick.”

Hailed by some critics as a “revelation,” the Peter Brook adaptation stirred lively debate when it opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in New York.  Stage Director Gary Briggle, remembered by Dayton audiences for his zesty direction of Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, Barber of Seville and Porgy and Bess, explains that Brook “believes Bizet’s original conception of Prosper Merimee’s novella Carmen was distorted by the demands of the Opera Comique, including a children’s chorus and big spectacle.”

Briggle explainst that Brook’s adaptation “is a compelling, fascinating, gripping deconstruction to get back to the original conception Bizet got from the novella.  The terrible betrayal by the Opera Comique was heightened when the producers further dishonored Bizet’s memory by turning the dialogue into recitative.  In fact, the Carmen we know is not the Carmen Bizet intended us to see. This production helps the audience confront the drama as originally conceived.”

When asked what sets this adaptation apart, Briggle explains, “It is in every way different from the expectations of audience members who have seen the traditional Carmen.  It has a fifteen-piece orchestra, it is in English, some of the music is reordered and it adds characters from the novella omitted from the opera.”

By all accounts, the cast is talented.  “Tom Bankston has found a quartet of young artists in their late 20s with a fearlessness to take huge risks, to explore the material in unprecedented ways,” says Briggle.  “We’re discussing every move together.  I can’t tell you how inspiring this is — of course, they sing beautifully, but they’re also fit, they act, they move!”

The main cast will be accompanied by three actors from the Human Race Theatre who emphasize the non-linear way of telling the story. “I’ve directed the traditional Carmen three times, so for me the challenge was overcoming the preconceptions. Many of Brook’s ideas grow out of Bertolt Brecht.  One of these is the alienation effect.  The audience doesn’t just sit back and let it wash over them, but intellectually participates,” says Briggle.

Much of the orchestration is gone. The elaborate scenery is gone.  Projections will have little to do with location, but everything has to do with the emotional and psychological frame of reference, using color, shape and iconic forms rather than linear visual backdrops.

“I’m very excited about it,” says Briggle. “It’s just ninety minutes long without intermission, which allows us to examine fully every single moment.  It’s set in 1935 Spain, so the costuming doesn’t allow the audience to go back to the spit curls and castanets of the traditional Carmen.”

The cast is splendid and is exploring the work in new and fascinating ways.  It’s a true collaboration between the singers and all the artists, which compels participants to be creative in ways not always possible in standard productions.  For example, for many Carmens the sets and costumes may have been intended for other productions.  This is a production that is liberated from all of that.

“It puts a tremendous responsibility upon all of us,” notes Briggle. “If we are true to Brook, the responsibility logically falls upon the singer-actors rather than the director.  I allow them to take risks and keep everyone’s eye on the destination.  It’s all about the process.”

The cast is comprised of the four members of Dayton Opera’s Artists in Residence —mezzo Julia Mintzer as Carmen, tenor Matias Mariani as Don Jose, soprano Jennifer Cherest as Micaela and baritone Patrick McNally as Escamillo. Human Race Theatre actors Jamie Cordes, Tim Lile and Alan Bomar Jones perform the speaking roles of Zuniga, Lillas Pastia and Garcia.

Jeffrey Powell, Dayton Opera chorus master and conductor of The Daughter of the Regiment will conduct members of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Set design is by Gary Briggle and John Rensel, with costumes by D. Barlett Blair and make-up by Thomas Venditelli.

(Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 17, 18 and 19 at 8p.m. and

Sunday, May 20 at 3p.m. in the Victoria Theatre. For tickets call Ticket Center Stage 228-3630. $15 Tweet Seats are available at all performances. Come early! An hour before each performance, Stage Director Gary Briggs speaks about the production. After the performance, join Dayton Opera on the balcony level for a Wine Tasting. Enjoy Veleta Wines from Granada, Spain, along with a sampling of their imported foods for $15. For tickets go to www.daytonopera.org, then click on Veleta Wine Tasting.)

Reach DCP freelance writer Eric Street at EricStreet@DaytonCityPaper.com.

Romeo and Juliette, with Veleta Tempranillo

By Eric Street

Looking for an unforgettable way to celebrate a special occasion? The Dayton Opera offers one of the hottest tickets in town with Charles Gounod’s lushly romantic Romeo and Juliet. Get your tickets now — performances are Friday, February 24 at 8p.m. and Sunday, February 26 at 3p.m. at the Schuster Center.

Shakespeare’s iconic Romeo and Juliet has inspired operas, ballets and orchestral works as diverse as Prokofiev’s ballet of the same name, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture, an extended choral symphony by Berlioz and Bernstein’s West Side Story.  Of some two dozen operatic treatments of the story, Gounod’s lyrical masterpiece has proven the most enduring.

Rehearsals for opening night are in full swing, and conductor Pat Reynolds is enthusiastic about the cast. “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with these artists on this Dayton Opera production. Tom Bankston has assembled a terrifically gifted cast, particularly, as one would expect, our Romeo and Juliet,” says Reynolds. “Rehearsals are intense and detailed. Our stage director Albert Sherman is fabulous to work with — very demanding, but he understands how to pace the long days in staging rehearsals. Best of all, the music! This is a gorgeous and exciting score that perfectly captures the range of passion and tragedy of the Shakespeare play.”

The Dayton Opera cast of Romeo and Juliet is notable for its many debuts.  Soprano Joanna Mongiardo, praised for her effortless coloratura, makes her Dayton Opera debut in the title role of Juliet. Her recent performance in Giordano’s rarely performed Il Re with Teatro Gratticielo at Lincoln Center in New York was among David Shengold’s selections for Das Opernwelt’s “Best of Year” 2011 issue.

Romeo is sung by tenor Ryan MacPherson, also making his first appearance with the Dayton Opera.  One of the most in-demand young tenors of his generation, MacPherson is recognized for his riveting stage presence. Baritone William McGraw, who performed in last season’s Fidelio, returns to the Dayton Opera as Juliet’s father, Count Capulet. Baritone Chad Sloan and bass Nathan Stark make their Dayton Opera debuts as Mercutio and Friar Lawrence, and Julia Mintzer will don the trousers for the role of Stephano, The sparkling first act, set at the Capulet’s masked ball where the young lovers first meet, will be enhanced by members of the Gem City Ballet, with choreography by Barbara Pontecorvo and the Dayton Opera Chorus, under the direction of Jeffrey Powell, is featured particularly in the prologue and gala first act.
Albert Sherman, stage director for New York City Opera, returns to direct his fifth production for the Dayton Opera.  His most recent engagement here was for the 2009 Merry Widow. Patrick Reynolds, Assistant Conductor for the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, will be at the podium.

About the Opera

Gounod’s opera Faust played over 300 times at the Théâtre Lyrique (now Théâtre du Châtelet) by the time the theatre manager commissioned Gounod to compose Roméo et Juliette.  Despite difficulties in casting the Romeo and problems forcing Gounod to compose the last act twice, the April 1867 opening night was hailed as a major success.  That July marked the London premiere of the opera, and in November it debuted in New York.  In 1873 Roméo et Juliette entered the repertoire of the Opéra-Comique, where it received nearly 400 performances in 14 years.  In 1888, Roméo et Juliette moved to the Paris Opéra, with Adelina Patti and Jean de Reszke singing the title roles.

Reasons for its success are not hard to fathom.  Adapted from one of William Shakespeare’s most performed plays, Romeo and Juliet offers a well-known plot emblematic of the struggles of young lovers.  The opera’s composer, Charles Gounod, made the most of the many musical opportunities inherent in the story, giving the passionate couple a series of luscious duets, stretching from their first meeting at the Capulet’s ball to their final farewell in the Capulet family tomb. In line with operatic tradition, the librettists manage to keep both of the pair alive long enough to sing an impassioned duet before death claims them, in stark contrast to Shakespeare’s play, which grants them each a soliloquy over the apparently lifeless body of the other.

Along the way there are plenty of other wonderful musical numbers, beginning with Juliet’s 1st Act Maria Callas, “Ah! Je veux vivre!”  It’s a delightfully showy coloratura waltz song akin to Marguerite’s “Jewel Song” in Faust.  To sample this vocal delicacy, do some research into “Je veux vivre,” and choose from a multitude of widely contrasting sopranos including Renee Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Anna Moffo, Kathleen Battle, Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Ruth Ann Swenson, Mirella Freni, Monserrat Caballe and Natalie Dessay.

If listening to some of the 6,000 renditions of the song has you hooked, check out “Ah! léve-toi, soleil,” Romeo’s passionate balcony scene aria.  Personal favorites available singing this lyric tenor staple include Jussi Bjoerling, Alfredo Kraus and Juan Diego Florez.

How to Go

After earning national press coverage, $15  Friday Nite Tweet Seats will return! Tweet Seats are located in the balcony so the light from smart phones does not distract others.

For tickets, call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or visit www.daytonopera.org. Dayton Opera has teamed with Veleta Wines for a special promotion. While supplies last, purchase two regular priced tickets to Romeo and Juliet and receive a complimentary bottle of Veleta Tempranillo wine at the performance! Use the code “Veleta” when ordering tickets. Restrictions are available on Dayton Opera’s website. All performances are supertitled in English!

Reach DCP freelance writer Eric Street at EricStreet@DaytonCityPaper.co

By Eric Street

Vania as Rodolfo and Inna Dukach as Mimi in Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’

Dayton Opera opens its 2011- 2012 season Oct. 21 and 23 with one of the most popular operas in the repertory, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. Why is La Bohème so beloved? According to Director Kathleen Clawson, “It’s because people love romance. It’s perfect in every way — musically and dramatically. The characters are just like you and me, or people that we know. And there’s that great music by Puccini. I can’t tell you when I saw my first Bohème, but I’m certain I was really small. Since then, I’ve seen countless productions, but every time I see it, I’m still reduced to tears at the end. It’s a wonderful, cathartic experience.”

The cast comes with glowing credentials. Making their Dayton Opera debuts are tenor Dinyar Vania and soprano Inna Dukach in the leading roles of the young lovers Rodolfo and Mimi. Vania and Dukach have already honed their interpretation together in a recent “off Schuster” production at the New York City Opera. Joining them are several artists already familiar to Dayton audiences, including soprano Kearstin Piper Brown as Musetta, baritone Eric McKeever as Schaunard, and bass Mark Baker in the dual roles of Benoit/Alcindoro.

Baritone Kyle Pfortmiller debuts as Marcello, joined by bass Christopher Temporelli making his first Dayton Opera appearance as Colline. Conductor Joseph Mechavich, already familiar to Dayton audiences, leads from the podium.

“It’s a truly exceptional cast,” said Clawson. “Every single one of the singers is exceptional. They’re young, attractive, and they sing really well. That’s the Holy Grail for opera.”
Joining the principals are the Dayton Opera Chorus and a children’s chorus.

“There are 13 in the children’s chorus, and they are spectacular,” said Clawson. “They sound wonderful and they are delightful. Sometimes I have to call out the adults for talking in rehearsal, but never the kids.” Excitement in the children’s chorus runs high. “We’re doing staging now, and it’s really intense,” says children’s chorus member Clay Goertemiller, a 12-year-old student at Oakwood Junior High School.

About the opera
La Bohème is an opera in four brief acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. According to the published score, it is based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. However, the opera actually owes more to Murger’s stage adaptation, La vie de Bohème. It was not legally advisable to admit this at the time, since the play was covered by copyright restrictions that did not apply to Murger’s original novel. Curiously, the opera’s fragile heroine is actually a composite of two of the novel’s characters, Mimì and Francine. The young lovers’ meeting closely follows the novel, but the couple who meet in the novel’s Parisian attic are not Rodolphe and Mimì, but rather Jacques and Francine. In the novel, the heroine dies alone in a hospital, while in the play and opera she expires on-stage, accompanied by grieving friends.

The world premiere of Puccini’s La Bohème took place at the Teatro Regio in Turin Feb. 1, 1896, conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. It caught on swiftly in Italy and abroad. Its first performance outside Italy was at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires that June. It debuted in Alexandria, Lisbon, Berlin and Moscow the following year.
The Manchester premiere in an English translation in 1897, with the production supervised by Puccini himself. The same company gave the work its first stagings in London and Los Angeles later that year. The Metropolitan Opera performed it in 1900 with Nellie Melba as Mimì, a role she coached with the composer. La Bohème has since become one of the best-known gems of the opera repertory. It is now one of the most frequently performed operas in the world.

About Puccini
Giacomo Puccini was born in 1858 in Lucca, Italy, into a family boasting five generations of musicians. His father died when Puccini was 5 and he was sent to study with an uncle. At 17, Puccini walked the 18 miles to Pisa to see Verdi’s Aida. Inspired by the performance, he enrolled at the Milan Conservatory to study composition.

While studying in Milan, Puccini entered a competition for opera in 1882. Although Puccini lost, his Le Villi was later staged and it caught the attention of music publisher Giulio Ricordi, who commissioned a second opera in 1889. Edgar flopped due to its bad libretto, but Ricordi gave Puccini an allowance until the success of his next opera, Manon Lescaut.
From 1891 onwards, Puccini spent his time hunting, driving fast cars, chain smoking and composing at Torre del Lago, a village on a lake about 15 miles from Lucca.

Puccini’s La Bohème is one of his finest works, as well as one of the most romantic. He followed it with Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, La Rondine, Il Trittico and Turandot. Sadly, he developed throat cancer before completing Turandot, and the newly invented radiation treatments he underwent in Brussels could not save him. He died in 1924 and was entombed in his villa at Torre del Lago.

Tickets are on sale with discounts for seniors, WPAFB personnel and students. Friday Nite Tweet Seats for $15 are also available to members of area young professionals groups and their guests. When ordering, be sure to mention “Tweet.” For more information, visit www.daytonopera.org or call (937) 228-3630. La Bohème is sung in Italian and supertitled in English. Performances are Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 23 at 3 p.m.

Reach DCP freelance writer Eric Street at EricStreet@DaytonCityPaper.com.

By Eric Street

Donna Smith as Marie and David Portillo as Tonio, with director Johnathon Pape rehearsing for Dayton Opera’s ‘The Daughter of the Regiment.’

Dayton Opera revs up again in a big, tuneful way with Gaetano Donizetti’s comedy, “The Daughter of the Regiment,” which takes the Schuster Center stage April 15 and 17. This light-hearted two-act opera is famous for the aria “Ah! mes amis!,” which has been called Mount Everest for tenors because of its nine exposed high C’s. Luciano Pavarotti’s stardom dates from a performance of this opera in partnership with Joan Sutherland at the Metropolitan Opera, and the dazzling if perilous aria was one of his favorite showpieces.
The role of the rambunctious tomboy Marie, raised by the 21st regiment of the French army, will be taken by coloratura soprano Donna Smith. Smith last appeared with Dayton Opera in the 2007 “H.M.S. Pinafore.” David Portillo sings her tenor suitor, Tonio, in his Dayton debut. A frequent Dayton Opera performer, baritone Mark Andrew Baker returns as Sulpice. Gregory Jebaily, who sang in Dayton Opera’s 2010 “Faust” returns as Hortensius. Johnathon Pape will direct.
Making cameo appearances as themselves, Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Owen and his wife, Mary Beth, appear as special guests along with the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Honor Guard and the Wright Brass. Come an hour early to hear the Wright Brass perform, augmented by percussion and a singer, in the Schuster Center’s Wintergarden.
While celebrating their 50th anniversary with Donizetti’s bumptious military romp, Dayton Opera also celebrates Dayton’s own military and support personnel of Wright Patterson Air Force Base with discounts on season and individual tickets for all enlisted and support personnel. Dayton Opera Chorus Master and Conductor Jeffrey Powell conducts, marking his 20th anniversary with the company.

Donizetti and His “Daughter”
The third son of a pawnshop caretaker, Gaetano Donizetti was born in humble circumstances November 29, 1797 in Bergamo, Italy. Like Haydn and Schubert, Donizetti‘s first musical training was as a choirboy. He was admitted at the age of nine on a full scholarship to the Lezioni Caritatevoli, a school founded by German opera composer Johann Simon Mayr. Young Gaetano studied with Mayr, who greatly influenced Donizetti’s musical development and helped him launch his professional career. Mayr later sent Donizetti to Padre Stanislao Mattei, Rossini’s teacher, for further composition lessons.
Donizetti went on to become the most prolific of the Bel Canto composers, outstripping his Italian contemporaries Rossini and Bellini in sheer number of operas composed, variously estimated between 65 and 75. Due to the speed with which he often composed, the quality can be variable and his first 32 operas remain generally unheard. However, with the international success of his tragic 1830 “Anna Bolena” (Anne Boleyn) in Milan, Donizetti’s star rose. He achieved yet greater fame with his best-known comedies, “L’elisir d’amore” (Elixir of Love) and “Don Pasquale,” both of which have been staged by Dayton Opera. His 1833 “Lucrezia Borgia” continued to secure his standing.
Donizetti’s most famous serious opera, “Lucia di Lammermoor” (1835), became a pivotal work in the bel canto revival of the late 1950s and 60s, and productions of his operas became career-changing springboards for rising artists such as Callas, Sutherland, Sills, and Pavarotti. His writing typically calls for great virtuosity from the soprano and tenor leads.
Throughout his career Donizetti battled with the powerful Italian censors to put his works on stage, and he relocated to Paris in 1838. It was there that he composed “La fille du regiment” (The Daughter of the Regiment) in 1840. “The Daughter of the Regiment” is still frequently performed and in 2008 was telecast in high definition to theaters worldwide (including Dayton) from the Metropolitan Opera.
By all accounts Donizetti was a kind man, supportive of fellow composers and loyal to his long-time mentor, Mayr. He dominated the Italian opera scene during the years between Bellini’s death and Verdi’s rise to fame after “Nabucco.” Unfortunately, he encountered great personal sadness and loss in his adult life. Donizetti met his wife, Virginia, in Rome and married her in 1828. None of their three children survived. His parents died in the mid 1830s, and the year after his parents’ death, Virginia died in a cholera epidemic.
As a continuance of this series of unfortunate events, Donizetti suffered from syphilis. Symptoms of the then incurable illness appeared as early as 1843, and by 1845 his condition had deteriorated so severely that he was institutionalized. A friend of his, Baron Lannoy, interceded with Donizetti’s nephew to have the composer moved to a Paris apartment where he could receive care and visitors. Giuseppe Verdi came to see him there and was deeply saddened by his colleague’s condition.
Friends in Bergamo finally arranged for Donizetti to be brought back to his hometown. He stayed there as a guest at Baroness Scotti’s palace until his death in 1848 at 52. He now rests near the grave of his teacher and patron Johann Simon Mayr.

For tickets, call (937) 228-SING (7464) or go to www.daytonopera.org for more information.
Performances are sung in French and subtitled in English.

Reach DCP freelance writer Eric Street at
contactus@daytoncitypaper.com.

By Pat Suarez

The Dayton Opera's 'Fidelio' chorus rehearsal

In 1801, Beethoven was in despair over his increasing hearing loss. In his words, “Let me tell you that my most prized possession, my hearing, has greatly deteriorated. Needless to say, I am resolved to overcome all this, but how will it be possible?”

The answer was to work… to write and, more specifically, to write an opera. After toying with a libretto from the pen of Emanuel Schikaneder, the impresario responsible for Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” Beethoven turned to a stage work by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly that two other composers had set to music.

The story centered on a woman named Leonore who disguised herself as a prison guard assistant named Fidelio to infiltrate the prison holding her husband (Florestan) who was sentenced to death as a political prisoner.

Beethoven wrote a three-act opera for the November 1805 premiere. Many complained that the opera was too long, so, for an 1806 production, Beethoven trimmed one act and opened the opera with a new overture, “Leonore Overture No. 3.” Because “Leonore Overture No. 3” tended to musically overshadow the first act that followed the overture, Beethoven had to scale back that overture. So, eight years later, Beethoven again revised his opera and penned yet another overture, finally matching the name of the overture with the name of the opera.

At 123 minutes over two acts, “Fidelio” is short by opera standards. Yet, it’s a compact powerhouse of efficiency of both time and action on the order of Richard Strauss’s “Salome.”

Beethoven employed a considerable amount of spoken dialogue that fills in plot detail and ties together the sung dialogue. There is no dry recitative (harpsichord with short bursts of sung dialogue); Beethoven’s characters literally talk to one another, for the most part unaccompanied by music. The Dayton Opera’s Kathleen Clawson, the director for this production, will add narration in addition to the surtitles over the stage.

The Dayton Opera will “semi-stage” the performances, which is a smart move. “Fidelio” is one opera where a concert performance doesn’t lessen the impact of the experience. Semi-staging also puts more emphasis on the music and the voices, which (ironically) increases the musical wallop that “Fidelio” can give.

As if he were a conduit from the past before him and the future after him, Beethoven provided echoes of Mozart and musical precursors of operas to come. The airy opening duet in Act One is reminiscent of Papageno’s and Papagena’s exchanges in “The Magic Flute.” Like “The Magic Flute,” Beethoven wrote a score with forward propulsive flow throughout opera. Again invoking the spirit of “The Magic Flute,” Rocco’s aria about marriages needing money recalls Papageno. Florestan’s Act Two opening aria is eerily Wagnerian: It is easy to conjure up Lohengrin when listening to Beethoven’s music that accompanies Florestan’s description of his predicament. Additionally, the rising opening notes of Florestan’s first aria are, for the tenor voice, similar to (and as demanding as) how Wagner’s “Rienzi” Overture is for an orchestra’s principal trumpet.

Beethoven presented a true test for those who tackle the roles of Florestan and Leonore. Beethoven was notorious for stretching the capabilities of his singers in his choral music and in his “Ninth Symphony,” but the results have been memorable for two centuries. In fact, the last four minutes of “Fidelio,” for soloists, choruses and orchestra provide as grand a Beethoven experience as the finale of his “Ninth Symphony” or his “Choral Fantasy.”

Beethoven preferred that people sing in groups. While solo arias abound in “Fidelio,” the opera is full-up with duets, trios and quartets. If one remembers Mozart’s challenge to the emperor in the film “Amadeus” (“How many voices can you have singing at the same time?”), then the Act One quartet (Marzelline, Leonore, Rocco, Jaquino) makes a significant case for Mozart’s principle that many people talking is just noise, but many people singing is glory defined. It’s also the definitive challenge for the Mead Theater staff that manages the surtitles. Keep an eye on how they handle all of those words from four people singing in unison!

The story is a thriller, slowly amping up the tension, bit by bit throughout the opera, making the most of its 123 minutes. The Act Two scene, in the dungeon, with Rocco, Florestan and Leonore will tempt some in the audience to scream out, “Just tell him who you are!”

Beethoven exploits many levels of tension, worthy of anything Verdi or Puccini ever wrote: How will Leonore reveal herself to Florestan and what will happen when Rocco discovers that Leonore is really a female? What will happen to Florestan when Pizzaro shows up to kill him after Rocco has dug his grave? What will Leonore do to stop Pizzaro? Will Leonore fire the pistol into Pizzaro that she unexpectedly pulls out after shielding Florestan from Pizzaro’s dagger and revealing herself to be Florestan’s wife? What will Marzelline think when she realizes that she is losing a potential husband and that potential husband was, in fact, a woman?

For the Schuster Center performances on Friday, Jan. 28 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 30 at 3:00 p.m., Neal Gittleman will lead the Dayton Opera Chorus, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. You might not associate Beethoven with opera, but after “Fidelio,” that connection will be made permanent.

Reach DCP classical music critic Patrick Suarez at contactus@daytoncitypaper.com

By Eric Street

Porgy And Bess

The Dayton Opera’s brilliant, collaborative Porgy and Bess is a worthy celebration of 50 years. Conducted with verve by Neal Gittleman, the swift-paced, visually striking production is awash in vocal talent. NaGuanda Nobles particularly casts a spell with her opening “Summertime.” Thomas Beard and Kearstin Piper Brown fully inhabit their title roles, impressing as actors as well as gifted singers. Tenor Roderick George as Sportin’ Life snakes his way into the audience’s heart, while Judith Skinner provides his fearsome nemesis, an unstoppable, full-toned Maria. Phillip Boykin’s resonant Crown is commanding as is Adrienne Dandrich’s compelling Serena, especially her emotionally searing “My Man’s Gone Now.” Porgy is also elevated by Debbie Blunden-Diggs’ inspired choreography and the sensuous-to-frenzied presence of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Stage director Gary Briggle doesn’t fear strong choices, such as letting Porgy gradually reduce his handicap for an ending reminiscent of Amahl. Performances continue Friday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Schuster Center, Second and Main Streets. Tickets are $36-$92. Call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or visit www.TicketCenterStage.com

By Eric Street

Cast Of Porgy & Bess, Photo By Christopher Smith.

Backstage at the Schuster Center the atmosphere nearly crackles with anticipation as musicians, dancers, chorus, soloists and stage hands prepare for what should be the biggest collaborative project of the season: George Gershwin’s iconic American opera Porgy and Bess. This landmark production, which opens Saturday, October 23 and continues Friday, October 29 and Sunday, October 31, simultaneously celebrates Dayton Opera’s 50th anniversary and commemorates the 75th anniversary of Gershwin’s acclaimed masterpiece, which began its initial Broadway run in October 1935.

If the evening staging rehearsal I attended last week is any indication, Dayton audiences are in for a huge treat. The sizeable stage used for rehearsal almost overflows with the unusually large, powerful opera chorus, assorted props, and numerous solo singers required for the production, so space is at a premium. Director Gary Briggle along with chorus master Jeffrey Powell, conductor Neal Gittleman and rehearsal pianist Carol Walker have positioned themselves in the most advantageous spots, along the front edge of the staging area. Everyone involved works with focus and intensity to bring Gershwin’s richly demanding work to life, but from time to time the group erupts into full, easy laughter at a quip from Briggle, who is leading this rehearsal with an assured hand.

The sound from the full chorus is glorious, at times electrifying, and although Gershwin doesn’t recycle actual spiritual tunes for his score, so adept is he at assimilating the idiom of African-American song that several of the numbers sound as if they might indeed be authentic. Because of the rigorous rehearsal schedule, which calls for three rehearsals a day, some of the soloists are “marking,” singing at less than full voice or dropping the pitch an octave lower. Nevertheless, it is clear that Dayton Opera general and artistic director Tom Bankston has assembled a cast for this production which has been chosen from some of the finest up and coming African-American singers in the region.

While it would be inappropriate to review a rehearsal at this early stage, suffice it to say that audience members can expect to see a production filled with heart, memorable music and wonderful singing. Porgy offers more than just the famous title roles – Gershwin gives great vocal opportunities to a number of principal singers. Watch for Roderick George as an insidiously charming, sweet-voiced Sportin’ Life in “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” NaGuanda Nobles as Clara in a shimmering “Summertime,” and Judith Skinner as a spunky Mariah to be reckoned with.  Even in rehearsal, with piano instead of an orchestra, Adrienne Dandrich as Serena offers an emotionally searing, beautifully sung “My Man’s Gone Now.”

Porgy unfolds as a series of scenes from life in 1920s Charleston, South Carolina, set in the humble, close-knit African-American community of Catfish Row, a large mansion now turned into a tenement. Although the setting of the opera is nearly a century ago, Porgy doesn’t need updating, and is, in some respects, as modern as today’s newspaper or blog.  It unflinchingly addresses problems that are anything but behind us, including drugs, crime, poverty, violence and infidelity. To a post-Katrina audience, the gripping scene in which nearly the entire cast huddles together in shelter from a deadly hurricane is all too contemporary, though the cowering refugees are spared from hearing a president’s mother (and former first lady) declare how well things are working out for them.

Cast and Collaboration

This original Dayton Opera production of Porgy is a major community-wide collaboration, bringing together dancers from Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC), choir members from Central State University and Wilberforce University, as well as the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and music director Neal Gittleman.  Stage Director Gary Briggle returns to Dayton Opera to direct this large production with sets and costumes designed by Felix Cochran for the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Resident lighting designer John Rensel lights the production.

“Our cast is a nice mix of returning and new singers,” Bankston said. “Returning artists Kearstin Piper Brown (Bess), Adrienne Danrich (Serena), Eric McKeever (Jake), and Phumzile Sojola (Mingo) are all alumni of Dayton Opera’s Artist in Residence Program. Kearstin was a part of the recent revival of Paul Laurence Dunbar: Common Ground (2006). Adrienne was Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2007) and the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (’04).  Also returning will be NaGuanda Nobles (Clara) who appeared as Liu in Turandot (2008) and Deborah Nansteel (Lily/Strawberry Woman) from last season’s Faust. Joining us for the first time are Thomas Beard (Porgy), Phillip Boykin (Crown), Roderick George (Sportin’ Life), Judith Skinner (Maria), and Cameo Humes (Peter). Beard is a product of the Young Artist Program of the Washington Opera where he was encouraged by opera great Placido Domingo. He has been performing with regional companies and has performed the title role in the U.S. and on tour. Phillip Boykin will reprise the role he performed in the recent 75th anniversary Porgy national tour. Later this season he will be appearing in New York City Opera’s upcoming production of Séance on a Wet Afternoon. Roderick George reprises the role he debuted with Pittsburgh Opera Theatre, Judith Skinner returns to the role she performs with Atlanta Opera later this season, and University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music student Cameo Humes debuts his role.

The cast includes three Dayton area singers of note. Opera-goers will be treated to hear Central State University’s director of vocal and choral activities William Henry Caldwell (Jim), Wright State University music faculty instructor Vincent Davis (Robbins), and Wilberforce University visiting professor of voice Tifton Graves (Nelson/Crabman). Three area actors in speaking roles round out the cast: Daniel Britt (Detective), Peter Wallace (Coroner) and Michael Taint (Policeman).

Further, world-renowned DCDC is making time in its own busy season schedule to perform in this celebratory production. Six dancers from the troupe’s main company join the cast.

“Collaborating with the Opera has always been an exciting and enjoyable experience for me,” said DCDC artistic director and Porgy choreographer Debbie Blunden-Diggs. “We have done several operas with Dayton Opera, the last being Samson and Delilah in 2007. It’s exciting to begin the process of sketching out movement with the dancers in the studio to Gershwin’s great music.”

Approximately 20 students each from Wilberforce and Central State Universities are joining with members of the Dayton Opera Chorus to make up the choral ensemble, directed by the aforementioned Jeffrey Powell.  When asked if he was enjoying his expanded chorus, Powell unhesitatingly shot back, “Great!  Love it!” Reflecting on the experience for the university students, Caldwell said, “This is a most valuable experience for the singers, especially for vocal majors. This opera has served as a launching pad for many major black artists, including CSU alum and famed soprano Leontyne Price.”

The artistic leaders for Porgy do not conceal their passion for the project.  “Blues, jazz, gospel, spirituals, prayer are all included in Gershwin’s score,” said Briggle. “From the first moment of rehearsal, I compel the performers to take personal ownership of this music. This opera requires a tremendous investment. It’s so dramatic. It goes from the depths of grief, despair and death to sublime heights of faith, hope and love. It’s an immense canvas.”

Gittleman, who will conduct both Porgy and Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio for Dayton Opera this season, displays similar zeal for the undertaking. “Working on Porgy for Dayton Opera is both great fun and a great responsibility,” he said. “I think this is one of the great operas, period. And the chance to do my first Porgy with an inspired director like Gary Briggle and a cast that’s a fabulous mix of veterans and first-timers is, for me, a real dream come true.  I got plenty o’ Porgy…an’ Porgy’s plenty fo’ me!”

The Creation of ‘Porgy and Bess’

In 1926 George Gershwin read Porgy by DuBose Heyward, a native of Charleston, South Carolina.  Gershwin wrote the author, suggesting that they collaborate on an American folk opera based on the novel. After eight years of correspondence, George and his brother Ira finally joined Heyward for the summer of 1934 at Folly Beach, located on an island about 10 miles from Charleston. They spent considerable time observing the residents of nearby James Island who became the models for the Catfish
Row community.

DuBose Heyward wrote the libretto, and Ira Gershwin and Heyward wrote the lyrics. By mid-August the Gershwins left Charleston, and George set to work orchestrating the opera. When it was completed in July 1935, Porgy and Bess was his most ambitious creation and his favorite composition. Incorporating a wealth of blues and jazz idioms into the classical art form of opera, Gershwin also used forms borrowed from his experiences on James Island, including the jubilee, praying songs, street cries, work songs, and spirituals.

Gershwin personally involved himself in casting Porgy, and he insisted that the singing be done entirely by classically-trained African-Americans. Mindful of the box office as well as the color bar in effect in opera at that time, he chose to give Porgy a Broadway run at the Alvin Theater rather than in an opera house, and the word “opera” was carefully avoided. Though Porgy was to run for 124 nights on Broadway, its opening night performance in New York was considered by many to be “too long” and the score was soon cut.  Many of those cuts were not to be reopened until the major 1976 Houston Grand Opera production.

Justifiably suspicious after years of stereotypical and demeaning portrayals by Hollywood, African-Americans of the day were at first reluctant to embrace Porgy. Put off by the use of authentic dialect and chagrined by the lack of respectable middle-class models, it took some time for them to warm up to the opera.  Nevertheless, Gershwin took pains to insure that Porgy presented an insider’s view, and the few white characters in the show appear more as intruders than as members of the Catfish Row community.  To heighten this impression, the white characters do not sing but only act. Their actions are markedly unsympathetic, such as the Detective who interrupts a funeral to haul an innocent elderly man off to jail merely as a ploy to elicit testimony.

Over the years the work that Gershwin regarded as his greatest achievement gradually won enduring popularity, first abroad and later at home. Several generations of classically trained black singers have found their first big break in a production of Porgy and Bess.  Gershwin’s insistence that the opera be sung only by African-Americans was a daring move in his day, and one that was to eventually help open operatic stages around the world to artists of color.

Arrive Early

If you hold a ticket, you are encouraged to arrive one hour prior to curtain for a variety of entertainment coordinated by Dayton Opera’s Celebration Committee. Enjoy free entertainment and mingle with other opera lovers. In addition, a 20-minute overview of the opera will be presented one hour before each performance in the Mead Theatre by Luke Dennis. Casual “dinner-by-the-bite” and refreshments are available in the Wintergarden in addition to a full dinner menu at Citilites Restaurant & Bar. For reservations, call (937) 222-0623 or e-mail citilites@schustercenter.org.

Also, in honor of the Gershwins’ opera, an original art exhibit entitled From Porgy to Barack, a portfolio of lithographs inspired by both the opera and the election of the United States’ first African-American President, will be on display in the Mead Theatre lobby. The exhibit features artwork by 12 regional African-American artists, including Olu Bandele, Larry Collins, Abner Cope, Dwayne Daniels, Bing Davis, Donivan Hahn, Terrance Hammonds, Kevin Harris, Annisa Lewis, Velma Morris, Althea Murphy-Price and Ellen Price.

Porgy and Bess will be performed Saturday, October 23 and Friday, October 29 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, October 31 at 3 p.m. at the Schuster Center, Second and Main Streets. Tickets are $36-$92 with discounts available for seniors, students and all WPAFB personnel. Discounts for groups of 10 or more are also available. For tickets or more information, call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or visit online at www.TicketCenterStage.com or www.DaytonOpera.org

Reach DCP opera critic Eric Street at
contactus@daytoncitypaper.com

By Eric Street

The Cast Of 'Porgy And Bess' Photo By Tim Wilkerson/Atlanta Opera

Do your friends complain that the papers only print bad news? Tell them this: the Dayton Opera is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season with three must-see operas and a Star Gala featuring leading singers from recent Dayton Opera productions. “Our 50th season will truly be a community-wide celebration filled with many firsts for Dayton Opera and our audience,” said Thomas Bankston, Dayton Opera general and

artistic director.

Appropriately for an American company’s Golden Anniversary, the season opens October 23, 29 and 31 with the most American of all operas – George Gershwin’s golden operatic hit Porgy and Bess.  “With the help of Tom Bankston’s casting magic and gorgeous sets, we’re going to showcase African-American artists and give Dayton a Porgy to remember,” said Chuck Duritsch, Dayton Opera marketing director. In this year of anniversaries, Dayton Opera’s first solely produced presentation of Porgy also marks the 75th anniversary of its 1935 Broadway premiere.

Many who have never darkened an opera house door will recognize songs from George and Ira Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess including “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and “Bess, You Is My Woman Now.” Though Porgy and Bess is set in 1920s Charleston, South Carolina, the themes it addresses are as contemporary as today’s news from the temptations of drugs and infidelity to the power of hope in the human heart despite all odds.

This costly production of Porgy is made possible through broad based community-wide collaboration, including Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC), Central State University, Wilberforce University and the Dayton Philharmonic with music director Neal Gittleman. “I’m so proud of the way Dayton Opera partners with other organizations,” Duritsch added.  “It helps us take things up to the next level.” Porgy will be sung in English with English surtitles.

In conjunction with Porgy, opera-goers will be treated to an exhibition in the Wintergarden featuring works by Olu Bandele, Larry Collins, Abner Cope, Dwayne Daniels, Bing Davis, Donivan Hahn, Terrance Hammonds, Kevin Harris, Annisa Lewis, Velma Morris, Althea Murphy-Price and Ellen Price. From Porgy to Barack is a portfolio of lithographs inspired by both the opera and the election of the United States’ first African-American President. Twelve African-American artists from the Greater Dayton region created images working with lithographic materials provided by the printer, John Driesbach, and Central State University. The exhibit premieres during a press event kicking off Dayton Opera Week on October 19 at 5:30 p.m. in the Schuster Center. It is open to the public free through October 31.

The season continues January 28 and 30 with another Dayton Opera first: the company premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s monumental Fidelio. In a special 50th anniversary collaboration with aforementioned Dayton Philharmonic music director Neal Gittleman, this production will take a semi-staged, dramatized concert form. Amid some of Beethoven’s most soaring music, a narrator presents the gripping story of a heroic wife fighting to save her wrongly imprisoned husband from an unjust assassination in prison. Its thrilling choral finale embodies the same spirit as the stirring “Ode to Joy” that closes Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

On April 15 and 17, Dayton Opera dons uniforms with Gaetano Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, a tuneful and utterly delightful comedy about the rambunctious Marie, who has been raised by an entire army regiment. For a while it looks as though she may have to abandon the regiment and her beloved Tonio, but all ends happily in this opera famous for Tonio’s “9 High C’s” aria, one of Pavarotti’s most famous signature tunes.  While celebrating their 50th anniversary with Donizetti’s effervescent military romp, Dayton Opera will also celebrate Dayton’s own military and support personnel of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, with discounts on season and individual tickets for all enlisted and support personnel.  Dayton Opera chorus master and conductor Jeffrey Powell will conduct, marking his own 20th anniversary with the company.     Dayton Opera climaxes its 50th anniversary season May 22 with a festive Star Gala featuring an impressive roster of recent stars of the Dayton Opera.  The Dayton Opera Chorus will join them in a recital of some of opera’s greatest music, highlighting the company’s rich 50-year history. Projected images of the people and productions from Dayton Opera’s history will recall memories of seasons past and bring this landmark anniversary season to a fitting close.  A special 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner attended by the Star Gala artists follows as an optional add-on to this Sunday matinee performance.

Single tickets are on sale and range from $39 to $92 with further discounts available for seniors, students and all WPAFB personnel. Tickets for groups of 10 or more are on sale as well. Subscription for the 2010-11 season are available by mail and phone and range from $122 to $313 for a full series. For more information, call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or visit online at www.DaytonOpera.org.

Reach DCP opera critic
Eric Street at contactus@
daytoncitypaper.com