{"id":86879,"date":"2016-11-24T13:37:56","date_gmt":"2016-11-24T12:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=86879"},"modified":"2016-11-24T13:37:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-24T12:37:56","slug":"chicago-lyric-opera-les-troyens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/chicago-lyric-opera-les-troyens\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago, Lyric Opera: “Les Troyens”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago, Lyric Opera, Season 2016 \/ 2017<\/em>
\n<\/em>“LES TROYENS”
\n<\/strong>\u00a0Opera in five acts and nine tableaux
\nLibretto and music Hector Berlioz <\/strong>after Virgil
\nEn\u00e9e \u00a0<\/em>BRANDON JOVANOVICH
\nDidon\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 SUSAN GRAHAM
\nCassandre <\/em>CHRISTINE GOERKE
\nChor\u00e8be<\/em> LUCAS MEACHEM
\nAnna<\/em> OKKA VON DAMERAU
\nNarbal<\/em> CHRISTIAN VAN HORNE
\nAscagne<\/em> ANNIE ROSEN
\nL’ombre d’Hector<\/em> BRADLEY SMOAK
\nPanth\u00e8e<\/em> PHILIP HORST
\nIopas<\/em> MINGJIE LEI
\nTrojan Soldier\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0TAKAOKI ONISHI
\nGreek Captain\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0PATRICK GUETTI
\nPriam<\/em> DAVID GOERTSEN
\nH\u00e9cube\u00a0<\/em> CATHERINE MARTIN
\nAndromache\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0HOLLY CURRAN
\nHelenus \u00a0<\/em>COREY BIX
\nHylas \u00a0<\/em>JONATHAN JOHNSON
\nFirst Soldier<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0KENNETH NICHOLS
\nSecond Soldier<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0NIKOLAS WENZEL
\nOrchestra & Chorus of Lyric Opera of Chicago
\nConductor\u00a0Sir Andrew Davis
\n<\/strong>Chorus Master Michael Black<\/strong>
\nDirector\u00a0Tim Albery
\n<\/strong>Set and Costumes\u00a0\u00a0 Tobias Hoheisel<\/strong>
\nLighting \u00a0David Finn<\/strong>
\nProjections\u00a0Illuminos
\n<\/strong>Choreographer\u00a0\u00a0 Helen Pickett
\n<\/strong>Chicago, 21 novembrer 2016\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Turning narrative fiction into drama is a task full of pitfalls. One pitfall that Berlioz dug for himself in his masterpiece, Les Troyens<\/em>, loosely based on the first books of Vergil\u2019s Aeneid<\/em>, lay in creating the prelude to Act IV, \u201cThe Royal Hunt and Storm,\u201d an orchestral illustration of the poem\u2019s discreet narrative of Aeneas and Dido out hunting, taking refuge from a storm in a convenient cave where \u2026 what occurs is not described. The orchestra seems to take care of all that. \u00a0But then grand opera sets in: a sequence of gala celebrations of the lovers\u2019 military victory over a neighboring king. Ballets, songs, a supper party \u2026 and the gorgeous sequence of quintet and septet, climaxing with the lovers alone to consummate their union with a throbbing duet of pretty speeches drawn from Berlioz\u2019 other favorite author, Shakespeare. If they have already become lovers in the cave, does that not rob the exquisite duet of its dramatic perfection?\u00a0During the prelude we can ignore this awkwardness of story line, but nowadays directors stage any music intended to be played before the curtain. Tim Albery<\/strong>, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, which is currently giving the opera its local premiere, has devised an alternative that violates none of the narrative and allows the psychology to evolve in proper sequence: At the first chords of the Royal Hunt, the curtain rises to show Didon asleep. Enter En\u00e9e, a bold intrusion into her dreams. Both singers leave the stage and are replaced by projected waterfalls and a nymphs-and-heroes ballet. It is clear that we are seeing Didon\u2019s unquiet erotic dreams. The relationship has not been consummated, but everyone\u2019s feelings being musically clear, we are set on a direct through the act to the Shakespearean rhapsody that concludes it so magically.\u00a0In Chicago, Susan Graham, the go-to lady for the role of Didon these days, is in lush voice and her En\u00e9e is Brandon Jovanovich, taking it on for the first time with a dark, burnished sound, and the duet plays against a planetarium-like light show. Sir Andrew Davi<\/strong>s, the company\u2019s artistic director, leads the orchestra in a sweeping, delicately detailed account of the score, mercifully snipping a few of the many ballets and the comic scene of garrulous soldiers in the last act. What remains flows seamlessly, with all the rhythmic variety and balanced elegance of affect that were Berlioz\u2019 specialty. The chorus, too, a major part (many major parts) in this opera, performed brilliantly. \u00a0The rather straightforward Albery production is played in modern dress (with modern weaponry) on Tobias Hoheisel\u2019s turntable set, curved ramparts resembling a vast cement barrier, which calls today\u2019s Middle East to mind. The ramparts are battered and ruinous from ten years\u2019 warfare in La Prise de Troie<\/em>, brand new if grim as the newly rising city of Les Troyens \u00e1 Carthage<\/em>. The inner wall provides a backdrop for projections, the waterfalls of Didon\u2019s dreams and the starry night projections of the love duet. As it twirls about the stage, expertly and atmospherically lit by David Finn, ghosts of the dead or hallucinations of the living emerge unexpectedly around corners or down alleys. There is witty work with shadows, notably of the Trojan Horse rising ever larger to alarm Cassandre, and in this production it is the bloody Ghost of Hector, not the god Mercure as in Berlioz, who interrupts the love duet with the cry, \u201cItalie! Italie!\u201d to urge En\u00e9e towards his destiny. One might have liked more color in celebratory Carthage, but this is an intelligent and earnest effort. One of opera\u2019s supreme achievements has been worthily presented.\u00a0Christine Goerke<\/strong> declaims the falcon <\/em>part of Cassandre with power and regal authority. The lower notes seem more congenial to her than the soprano ones, curiously enough, but her brooding despairs anchor the opening scenes of Act I and rise to superb heights in the scene of the temple suicides. Her Cassandre did not remind me so much of her demented Elektra as of her Iphig\u00e9nie en Tauride many years ago, and Berlioz was a notable admirer of Gluck.\u00a0Les Troyens a Carthage<\/em> was to have introduced Sophie Koch\u2019s Didon, but she withdrew and was replaced by Susan Graham<\/strong>, who has sung the role in New York, Paris and San Francisco. Her mezzo is of the proper size and beauty but a cool sound, with little emotional kick. Her performance was first rate, but she lacks the sensuality I treasured in Troyanos\u2019s Didon or the searing anguish Lorraine Hunt Lieberman brought to the part. Too, I question whether Didon, however upset she might be at news of En\u00e9e\u2019s departure, would threaten to slash him with a dagger while begging him to stay at her side.\u00a0En\u00e9e was a role debut for the sturdy and ubiquitous Brandon Jovanovich<\/strong>, whose career moves from strength to strength. The voice is rather sturdy than spectacular, a solidly produced baritonal tenor, and he transposed the most extreme high notes. He does not seem reflective enough for his last-act meditation on duty versus inclination, but he creates a commandingly masculine stage figure for the many ensembles En\u00e9e is obliged to lead, and this exhausting role did not push him beyond his enviable strength. The entire enormous cast were ably chosen, aided perhaps by the director\u2019s habit of pushing them front and center whenever they had to declaim. The tenors of Mingjie Lei<\/strong> (Iopas) and Jonathan Johnson (Hylas), though pretty, seemed a trifle light for the size of an enormous Lyric Opera House, but these roles are understood to be boys in the context of the story. Lucas Meachem<\/strong> made an ardent Chor\u00e8be, Christian Van Horn<\/strong> a distinguished Narbal, and Bradley Smoak<\/strong>, bloody but unbowed, a powerful Ghost of Hector. Okka von der Damerau<\/strong> sang touchingly as Didon\u2019s sister, Anna, and Annie Rosen<\/strong>\u2019s Ascagne suggested a voice destined for greater things.\u00a0Photo\u00a0\u00a9 Todd Rosenberg<\/em><\/p>\n

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Chicago, Lyric Opera, Season 2016 \/ 2017 “LES TROYENS” \u00a0Opera in five acts and nine tableaux Libretto and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":86880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1744,7989,15258,895,17065,6962,15161,9354,4011,8084,3768,13402,15900,8210,1387,7640],"class_list":["post-86879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senza-categoria","tag-andrew-davis","tag-annie-rosen","tag-bradley-smoak","tag-brandon-jovanovich","tag-chicago","tag-christian-van-horn","tag-christine-goerke","tag-foreign-readers","tag-hector-berlioz","tag-les-troyens","tag-lucas-meachem","tag-lyric-opera-chicago","tag-mingjie-lei","tag-okka-von-der-damerau","tag-susan-graham","tag-tim-albery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}