Apollo and Dafne + Clarence and Anita

Fair is fair.  I have not slept well lately except at the opera so the comments below are not only sketchy but unreliable.

Underworld Productions Opera, another of those small NYC opera programs recent put on a truly clever program of operas (or 300 years of exploiting women, as the articistic director noted).  Two one act operas, one by Handel and one by Ben Yarmolinsky examined male lust foisted upon unwilling females.  Apollo attempts to seduce Dafne who turns into a tree to evade him.  Clarence Thomas haresses (or doesn't, depending on your point of view)  Anita Hill who becomes a law professsor.  Is that the 20th Century equivalent of turning into a tree?

 In any case Handel is lovely and the voices were good.  Very simple production at the theater in the Riverside Church. 

The Yarmolinsky was very good with contemporary instruments including keyboards and touches of the Supremes in the close harmony and many other musical references (at least for those fully awake) and even though the text was taken from transcripts--not my favorite writing technique--it managed to be colloquial and effective.  Yarmolinsky felt sympathy for both main characters but expecially for Thomas, but in a Q & A before the opera noted that each was presenting an image that they wanted the public to believe.

Phaedra by Henze

You can see that getting back into blog harness has been really difficult.  It has been nearly a month since I posted.  Apologies to those who care.

Sunday we went to Opera Philadelphia to see Phaedra by the German composer Hans Werner Henze, a genuine 21st Century opera despite a title belonging to antiquity.  This is the story of Phaedra, the wife of Theseus who slew the minotaur and the step-mother of Hippolytus whom she loves.  The gods are up to mischief and Hippolytus (Hippolyt in German is a loyal follower of Artemis (or Diana) and Phaedra is a follower of Aphrodite.  This does not end well for Hippolytus who at the end of Act I is killed and in Act II is resurrected and made the god of the forest.  There is much here both dramatically, musically and philosophically.  The music is atonal but dramatic.  The staging simple but arresting.  The action takes place before of panel of twelve white squares framed in black with projections.  The panel moves back and forth from time to time.  The twelve projections, although abstract, are unique so far as I could see.  Artemus sung by a male counter-tenor wearing shoes with at least four inch platforms may or  may not be a reflection of the fact that Henze is gay.  There are so many 'trouser' roles how can we quibble about the reverse.  Artemis was sung by Anthony Roth Costanzo who sings in both the counter-tenor and baritone ranges in a role that requires both.  This is a showy performance one can either love or hate.  Hippoytus was sung by William Burden is a Norse (or German) god--large solid and with a pleasant voice.  Tamara Mumford in the title role was lovely.

For a more detailed review, see the New York Times, Monday, June 6, 2011, page C7.