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Oberlin Opera Theater: two one-acts by John Musto & Mark Campbell (Mar. 6)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Oberlin Opera Theater’s spring productions brought two recent titles by composer John Musto and librettist Mark Campbell to the Hall Auditorium stage from March 5-7.

The excellent productions were masterfully directed by Scott Skiba, and the first-class Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble was conducted by Timothy Weiss, who synchronized stage and pit with a deft hand. And the singing and comedic acting — clearly informed by a residency with John Musto — were terrific.

Later the Same Evening (2007) was inspired by five paintings by Edward Hopper, the famous 20th-century chronicler of urban isolation. Bastianello (2008) expands on an outrageous Italian folk tale. Both have been filtered to some extent through Freudian psychoanalysis, which makes them relatable on the same program for those who wish to dig deeper.

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Oberlin Opera stages its second La finta giardiniera in a decade (Mar. 9)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The COVID pandemic has played with our concept of the passage of time so greatly that when Oberlin Opera announced it was staging Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s La finta giardiniera in March, many of us said to ourselves: Didn’t they just perform that piece recently?

No, it’s been ten years since Jonathan Field’s outsized rabbits lock-stepped across the Hall Auditorium stage, adding another layer of absurdity to an already harebrained plot.

The opera centers on the pretend garden-girl of the title, Violante. Having been stabbed and left for dead by her jealous lover, Count Belfiore, Violante is still in love with him and seeks him out. She and her servant Roberto take up fake identities (under the names Sandrina and Nardo, respectively) as gardeners at the estate of the Podestà (a type of mayor). A love heptagon ensues, involving those mentioned plus the Podestà’s housekeeper (Serpetta), niece (Arminda), and niece’s ex-lover (Don Ramiro). [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera embraces the fun and games in La finta giardiniera

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by Stephanie Manning

The Oberlin Opera students have recently been learning to see their stage as a playground — literally.

In Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, “ these characters are sort of playing games in regards to their romantic relationships,” director Stephanie Havey explained. “ So we’ve incorporated different children’s games and playground activities into the action, as a metaphor for how they’re manipulating each other.”

This comedic Mozart opera from 1775, which boasts enough mistaken-identity plotlines to set one’s head spinning, will be presented this weekend at Oberlin’s Hall Auditorium. Conducted by Christian Capocaccia, the Thursday, March 6, Friday, March 7, and Saturday, March 8 performances are at 8:00 pm, while the Sunday, March 9 performance is at 2:00 pm. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera on tour:
Jack and the Beanstalk

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by Kate MacKenzie

This January, the Oberlin Opera Theater hit the road, staging eleven performances of Jack & the Beanstalk across seven venues. While such tours are uncommon, it was the audiences of elementary school students that made the show truly special.

A Winter Term education tour was the joint vision of professors Stephanie Havey and Kyung-Eun Na, who served as Stage and Music Directors. Both had extensive experience organizing similar outreach programs, and felt a call for Oberlin Conservatory to be more active in the wider community. Equipped with an enthusiastic student cast and crew, the show began rehearsal on January 9th, a mere ten days before its preview performance in Warner Concert Hall.

The thirty-minute children’s opera was adapted from the music of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas by Johan Davies, who rearranged the simple but catchy melodies and authored a playful libretto to match. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera’s Ada Lovelace is as free as a bird (Jan. 26)

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by Stephanie Manning

Ada Lovelace’s “infinite energy” was more mental than physical. Lovelace, a 19th-century English mathematician, was chronically ill for most of her life — yet her agile mind worked magic on numbers, paving the way for important scientific discoveries.

That dichotomy is a cornerstone of The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace, composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Rob Handel’s opera about the brilliant woman often considered the first computer programmer. Oberlin Opera Theater presented a simple but effective staging on January 26, directed by Cara Consilvio. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera stages a Cendrillon of professional quality (Nov. 10)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Any regional opera company would be popping its buttons with pride to have produced such an impressive performance of Jules Massenet’s Cendrillion (Cinderella) as Oberlin Opera did in Hall Auditorium on Sunday afternoon, November 10.

Imaginative staging by Stephanie Havey, skillful pacing by conductor James Feddeck, beautiful set design and costuming by Laura Carlson-Tarantowski and Chris Flaharty, respectively, plus dramatic and — for the fairies — enchanting lighting by Jeremy K. Benjamin provided a supportive environment for splendid singing by the cast and brilliant playing by the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra.

Literally thousands of versions of the Cinderella tale exist in cultures around the globe, but many of the details of Massenet’s opera date back to Charles Perrault’s 1697 Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre, which adds what have now become essential elements to the tale: a young girl mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, who temporarily attracts the attention of a handsome prince at a royal ball and is eventually reunited with him to become a princess herself. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera Theater to stage Massenet’s Cendrillon

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by Mike Telin

“This is one of those stories that just lingers through one’s life,” conductor James Feddeck said during a telephone conversation. “And I think in this particular telling of the story what is so interesting is how absolutely human and relatable these characters are.”

Whether you know her as Cendrillon, Aschenbrödel, La Cenerentola, La Cenicienta, Soluschka, or, most likely, Cinderella, the story of that downtrodden stepchild is an irresistible fairy tale. It’s been turned into many operas, but perhaps most magically by Jules Massenet.

On Thursday, November 7 at 8:00 pm, Oberlin Opera Theater will present Massenet’s Cendrillon in Hall Auditorium. Stephanie Havey directs and James Feddeck conducts the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra. Performances continue on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

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Oberlin Opera Theater: The Dark Side of Orpheus

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted courtesy of Oberlin College and Conservatory

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has appeared in art for centuries, in everything from books, to paintings, to music. So why do we keep telling it? That question weighed on Stephanie Havey’s mind as the stage director began planning for Oberlin Opera Theater’s production of L’Orfeo.

“There’s something very relatable in that doubt that Orpheus has,” Havey says about the bard’s quest to rescue his wife from the underworld. “That fear of losing his loved one, and also doubting himself—I think these themes are all very universal.”

Written at the turn of the 17th century, Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo is one of the earliest examples of opera as an art form. But it’s not the only operatic take on Orpheus. Havey, Oberlin’s visiting assistant professor of opera theater for 2023-24, has directed the versions by Gluck and Offenbach at other points in her career. But she says Monteverdi’s has a distinct perspective on the dark side to Orpheus’ musical power.

[Read more…]

Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring at Oberlin: taking a comic opera seriously (Nov. 2)

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by Daniel Hathaway

In a video interview for Minneapolis Opera, Dame Jane Glover recalled the sage advice her director gave to the cast of Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring when she conducted his only comic opera at Glyndebourne.

Never try to be funny. You have to be real. These people are saying these things because they mean it. It is quite easy to get carried away into something that is caricature and therefore shallow as opposed to real and profound.

Oberlin Opera Theater director Stephanie Havey and her excellent student ensemble obviously concurred on Thursday evening, November 2, staging a production in Hall Auditorium that was delightful and authentic in every respect. The denizens of the fictional village of Loxford all seemed to be playing themselves rather than just animating cardboard figures ordered up from central casting. [Read more…]

Oberlin Opera to return to Britten’s only comic title (or is it really?)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Oberlin Opera Theater produced memorable performances of Benjamin Britten’s only comic opera in March of 2014 (pictured). Albert Herring returns to the stage of Hall Auditorium this week for performances from Thursday evening, November 2 through Sunday afternoon, November 5 with a new stage director, a new conductor, and — thanks to the regular turnover of student populations — a pair of new casts. (Click here for tickets.)

Populated with stock British characters who might have stepped right out of an Agatha Christie novel, Britten’s three-acter was adapted by librettist Eric Crozier from Madame Husson’s Rosier, a story by Guy de Maupassant, and relocated from France to Suffolk. The opera debuted in 1947 at Glyndebourne in front of audiences who were grateful for some comic relief after the long slog of World War II.

Here’s what happens.

As the curtain rises, the fictional village of Loxford is in a tizzy because none of the candidates for May Queen measure up to the formidable Lady Billow’s exacting moral standards. As a compromise, the village committee decides to switch to a May King and nominates Albert Herring, son of a widowed greengrocer whose apron strings have kept him so tightly bound that he’s oblivious to temptation. [Read more…]

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