by Daniel Hathaway
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 in his Cendrillon, beautifully produced by Oberlin Opera Theater last Wednesday evening at its opening performance in Hall Auditorium. [Read more…]
by Julie Anna Gulenko
Reprinted with permission from the
Oberlin College & Conservatory News Center
Oberlin Opera Theater aims to please seasoned patrons and first-timers alike with its spring production of Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon, which will be performed four times March 8 through 12 at Oberlin College & Conservatory’s Hall Auditorium.
Capturing all the magic and whimsy of the original tale of Cinderella, Oberlin’s production provides opera director Jonathon Field with the opportunity to engage audiences young and not-so-young.
“This is the perfect show for young people who have not seen opera before, and we have made it accessible for families of all ages,” says Field (below), who is hailed for his sometimes fantastically untraditional approaches to traditional repertoire. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When composer Philip Glass released his Songs from Liquid Days in 1986, the groundbreaking album featuring lyrics by Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, David Byrne, and Laurie Anderson quickly became Glass’s most successful album to date. Writing for The New York Times, critic Stephen Holden noted: “The album’s six songs are short, oracular reflections on time and love, with imagery that explicitly evokes mystical connections between people and objects, the living and the dead, and portrays dreams as portholes into eternity.”
This weekend those portholes into eternity will be reimagined by Jonathon Field when Oberlin Opera Theater presents Glass’s Songs From Liquid Days as part of Cleveland Opera Theater’s {NOW} Festival. Performances will take place on January 27 and 28 in Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall, and on January 29 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. (Seating is limited for the Oberlin performances. Ticketing information for all events is below.) [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The presentation of new and recently composed operas has been part of Cleveland Opera Theater’s mission since it was founded in 2006. Beginning on Friday, January 20, the company will launch its first festival dedicated to new opera works.
Scott Skiba, executive artistic director of COT, said that this year’s {New Opera Works} Festival features works that are in the beginning, middle, and ending stages of development. “Federico García Lorca’s final play, The House of Bernarda Alba, is in the initial stages of being adapted into an opera, and there will be a reading of the English translation by Lorca scholar Caridad Svich,” Skiba said during a recent interview.
Representing the middle period of development will be a preview of Scene Three from composer Nkeiru Okoye’s and librettist David Cote’s new opera We’ve Got Our Eye on You. “This will be a teaser of the complete opera, which will be presented during next year’s {NOW} Festival,” Skiba said. A recently completed work at the Festival will be Amelia Lost, a new opera by Larry Delinger and Brad Carroll which had its world premiere in Knoxville back in 2014 (pictured above). [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Jonathon Field’s Oberlin Opera Theater shows are always fresh and surprising, but his versions of Donizetti’s Viva la Mamma and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias burst onstage Wednesday evening in a laughfest of satire and surrealism. With casts that would put many professional companies to shame, these are must-see productions that will prick up your ears and kick-start your imagination. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin & Daniel Hautzinger
Directing an opera is an enormous task. “Opera equals nuclear fusion,” said Jonathon Field, Director of Opera Theatre at the Oberlin Conservatory. But Jason Goldberg, a fifth-year student majoring in vocal performance and opera directing at Oberlin Conservatory, isn’t afraid of the challenge.
On April 15 and 16 at 8:00 pm in Oberlin’s Fairchild Chapel and on April 17 at 3:00 pm in Case Western Reserve University’s Harkness Chapel, Goldberg will present his production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, a student-led project in collaboration with CWRU. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Just before the lights dimmed in Hall Auditorium on Wednesday evening, March 9, a young couple in the row behind me commented on the plot synopsis for George Frideric Handel’s Alcina. “I read it before I auditioned for the opera,” one of them said, “and I never figured it out.” The other replied, “I just read it now, and I don’t have a clue!” [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“There’ve always been stories about the young soldier who leaves his native country to go fight in a distant land but then becomes immersed in that land’s culture, and for whatever reason loses himself and his purpose,” Oberlin Opera Theatre Director Jonathon Field said during an interview. “That’s exactly what happens in Alcina — you have Ruggiero, who flies on a griffin onto this island and becomes enchanted with the sorceress Queen Alcina.”
On Wednesday, March 9 at 8:00 pm in Hall Auditorium, and continuing on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm, conductor Christopher Larkin will lead the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra and two all-star casts in Handel’s fantastical opera Alcina. [Read more…]
by Nicholas Jones
Opera is a great medium for exploring the courage of acting for freedom and the personal cost of heroic resistance. There is something built into the art form that deepens our view of even the most resolute of actions, showing us the often tragic consequences of taking the courageous path. We can hardly hear Vissi d’arte without understanding both Tosca’s heroism and the pain that comes with it. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When composer Nkeiru Okoye first began thinking about setting the life of Harriet Tubman to music she was certain it would take the form of an oratorio. “When I first had the idea to tell her story in music, I thought I would link spirituals together with some dialogue, and I would have this amazing piece,” Okoye told us during a telephone conversation from New Paltz, N.Y., where she is Director of Music Theory and Composition at SUNY New Paltz. “But I found out that that piece had been written already, so I needed to find a different angle.”
Over the next two weekends, Northeast Ohio audiences can experience the story of Harriet Tubman when Cleveland Opera Theater’s New Opera Works, in collaboration with Oberlin Opera Theater, presents the Midwest premiere of Nkeiru Okoye’s Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Line to Freedom. The opera is presented as part of Oberlin College’s Africana Unity and Celebration Month. Harriet Tubman, which premiered in New York City in February 2014, tells the story of the influential former slave and her rise to a pivotal role in the Underground Railroad. [Read more…]