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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.

[Read more…]

Oberlin Opera: L’Orfeo in Hall Auditorium (March 17)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The ancient Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice has interchangeable endings.

At the end of Claudio Monteverdi’s musical fable L’Orfeo, first performed at the ducal palace in Mantua on February 24, 1607 and staged by Oberlin Opera Theater in four Hall Auditorium performances last weekend, the god of music lives on to continue to enchant everything that hears him sing, having been snatched from the clutches of Pluto in a classic deus ex machina intervention.

Those who prefer happy-ever-after endings can rejoice that Monteverdi didn’t set the alternate conclusion of Alessandro Striggio the Younger’s libretto, in which Dionysius’ Maenads, having grown tired of his incessant mourning for Eurydice, dramatically tear Orpheus limb from limb.

Oberlin’s production, directed by Stephanie Havey and conducted by Christian Capocaccia, offered the rare opportunity to hear Striggio’s poetic verse and Monteverdi’s inventive score performed by college age voices and period instruments. [Read more…]

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…]

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