Anticipation - Festivals

As summer approaches - and I have been assured that it is approaching despite the wet, cool, cloudy, very un-Italian spring - so does the Festival season. Last week the Maggio Musicale signaled the start of music making - classical, jazz, contemporary, rock, heavy metal, you name it - in almost any place that has a theatre, cloister or central piazza in Italy- and that means almost every city, town or village in the country.

Some are very local, others are of a more International flavour - but it would seem that all have one thing in common: massive budget cuts. The Maggio had to cancel two of its opera productions, the Rossini Festival replaced a major restoration of a grand opera with one of the Swan of Pesaro's one act farsas, the Verona Arena and Roma's Baths of Caracalla are playing it safe with old war horses and cutting the number of productions - its hard time all around. I won't go into how short-sighted it is of the current government considering what these events generate in tourist dollars - or even better Euros.

Our Festival schedule is starting to fill up - you may recall that as we left last year's Whitsun Festival in Salzburg - okay its Austria not Italy but its nearby - I was already booking tickets for this year. We're heading up at the end of the month for 5 days of Riccardo Muti, rare Napolentano opera by Jommelli and some killer concerts including one of our favorite groups Accordone. Plus some good food and I may even treat myself to a glass of one of those nice local wines. And in case anyone is wondering - no, we're not taking the puppies on this one. They are a bit too young for travel yet but never fear they will be well looked after.

The next one up is Spoleto's Festival of the Two Worlds and it has some of the most interesting programming around. After a disastrous few years of family in-fighting, Gian Carlo Menotti and Samuel Barber's Festival looks like its back on track with some off-beat but interesting offerings for its 52nd year. How about Woody Allen's production of Puccini's one act comedy Gianni Schicchi? Or a late night tribute to Nat King Cole in the beautiful Piazza del Duomo? Or a revival of Mozart, a French musical comedy that was all the rage on both sides of the Atlantic in 1925? Or an evening of Jerome Robbins ballets in the old Roman Amphitheatre? Or .. or.. and the list goes on. Classical, jazz, experimental, theatre, dance, exhibitions, lectures - the festival appears to be returning to its roots. The thought of all that, another meal at La Pecchiarda and the considerable charms of Spoleto has us planning two weekends as June turns into July - and yes the pups will come on this one.


Though the season at Caracalla has been cut down to one ballet and two operas and both of them standards, the Carmen stars Elina Garanca who has been burning up the stages in London and New York this past two months. And let's admit it there's a reason Carmen is popular - particularly when the Carmen looks this good! And there is still something magical about sitting in the open air at the Baths of Caracalla as twilight turns into a warm summer night that even last year's dreadful Aida couldn't dampen.

August brings the annual vacation trauma of Feragosto - that mass exodus to the beaches of Italy. We've tried to schedule our trip to Pesaro to avoid the traffic as much as possible but we won't count on the GPS's optimistic calculation of 4hr 32min driving time. Last year taught us a lesson. I am constantly amazed at the customer service levels at the Rossini Festival. I had submitted a ticket request via e-mail the opening day of ticket sales. A few days later a very pleasant lady phoned the house to talk about our choices. First she asked if I would be more comfortable speaking English then explained that the available seats for two of the performances I had requested weren't exactly the best and we discussed alternates. So different from the often take-it-or-leave-it attitude at a few other places I could name. That being said we get to see the highly-praised American mezzo Kate Aldrich and Rossini tenor par excellence Juan Diego Florez in Zelmira plus my favorite Rossini opera Le Conte Ory plus the charms of Pesaro and plus the incredible seafood. Plus we're planning a side trip to Rimini - just because its there!

And those are just the planned events as of today. Who knows what else is going to come up in the next month or so.

05 maggio - San Gottardo di Hildesheim

Elephants and Tiger and Tenors... Oh My - Part III

Well its only taken me three posts and one week to get to the reason for our jaunt up to Spoleto: Padmâvatî. French composer Albert Roussel wrote the work after he and his wife had returned from a long honeymoon voyage to India. He was fascinated with the culture, mythology and music of the Sub-Continent and when he received a commission for an opera decided to adapt a well-known 13th century Indian legend to the stage. Reverting to opera-ballet in the tradition of Lully, Campra and Charpentier, Roussel and librettist Louis Laloy tell the story of Padmâvatî the beautiful wife of Raj Ratan-sen of Chitor. Having been struck by her beauty the Sultan Alloudin demands she be given to him or he will sack the city and massacre its people. When Ratan-sen returns from battle wounded and defeated rather face dishonour Padmâvatî kills him and commits suttee on his funeral bier.

I have to admit I am not familiar with a good deal of Roussel's compositions and that 20th century French music is not really my thing. But as I said before I just couldn't let the opportunity to hear a much discussed but rarely performed work pass. Rarely performed because, though a brief 100 minutes, it demands a large orchestra, full chorus, corps de ballet, a conductor familiar with the French style, eleven soloists and, if it is to make its full effect, a level of production that most opera houses can't afford these days.

So how did the renewed Spoleto Festival do on those counts. To address the last requirement first - they imported the production lock, stock, 450 costumes, enormous sets and menagerie from the Théâtre du Châtelet. Staged by Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, it was sumptuously costumed and set by Omung Kumar Bhandula and Rajesh Pratap Singh. Walls rose and fell, smoke billowed, candle lit processions lead by Elephant head gods wended their way through the audience and across the stage, flower petals fell and the heroine and her husband found their apotheosis in a sunlit sky. Was it over-the-top as a few critics have claimed? Damn right! But how else do you stage an opera-ballet of this nature? And it worked marvelously as theatre!

The Châtelet chorus, a major element in Roussel's writing, was nothing short of stupendous - whither wordless accompanying Padmavati's preperations for suttee, hymning Shiva or issuing war cries they were a major strength. The Prague National Symphony Orchestra played under the impassioned Emmanuel Villaume who drew all the drama out of Roussel's dense score while not quite avoiding some of the bombast. The dancers - a troupe of 20 from India - performed Tanusree Shankar's interesting mix of modern and traditional Indian dance movements faultlessly.

The lead singers were all new to the production and it seemed to me at a bit of a disadvantage. Not only where they competing with a grandiose production but given the brevity of the work there was no great opportunity for development. Alessia Nadin in her lovely brief introducion of Padmavati before she removes her veil and Philippe Do as the typically French high-tenor Brahmn showed to best advantage. John Bellemer's Ratan-sen was colourless both vocally and dramatically and Giorgio Surlan as Allouddin blustered effectively as I've seen him do on several occasions. It must have been hard to live up to that entrance on elephant back.

Though Padmâvatî is a brief role - 35 minutes of singing apparantly - it is an intense one. Nicole Piccolomini delivered all the required passion and intensity though I felt her finest moment was in the quiet lament that ended the first act. Hers is a voice more contralto than mezzo if perhaps lacking some of the velvet associated with that, now, rare type of voice. It was an impressive Italian debut and I'm looking forward to hearing more of her though it appears Berlin is home base for the moment.

And that menagerie I've been talking about for almost a week now? The horse brought on a rather nervous messenger to deliver news of the Sultan's advance; the elephant paraded in, knelt to deposit Alloudin in midstage, trumpeted and sauntered off; the tiger was paraded across the back of the stage as the suttee preparations began. None of it had much to do with the opera but it all added to the spectacle.

And I think that is the only way Padmâvatî can be enjoyed - as a spectacle musically, visually and dramatically. On those counts Spoleto had a winner. And Betty Jean got her elephant!

The obviously happy cast received at least 15 curtain calls from a responsive and pleased audience - count Betty Jean and I as part of that group.

Production photos by Marie-Noëlle Robert for Théâtre du Châtelet.

06 lulgio - Santa Maria Goretti

Elephants, Tigers and Tenors! Oh My!!!! - Part II

So there I am last Thursday reading Opera Chic – the many armed Goddess of Opera on the Internet – and I come across this post about the Spoleto Festival. Laurent and I enjoyed a weekend in Spoleto during the winter and knew that the famous Festival di due Mondi was in question for this year – frankly I had given up looking at the website. After Gian Carlo Menotti’s death last year things had been left in disarray and a typically Italian battle was going on for control of the once prestigious festival. Then OC goes and posts about a production of Albert Roussel’s often discussed by seldom seen Padmâvatrî - and its star the young American contralto Nicola Piccolomini - that opened the Festival last Friday.

That got me thinking – and when I start thinking after visiting OC that normally means I end up travelling and spending money – we had a few things planned for the weekend but they could be worked around the second performance on Sunday afternoon. Friday night we were having dinner at a great little Thai restaurant in our neighbourhood and I mentioned it to my friend Betty Jean. When I promised her an elephant on stage she offered to drive with me.

So after dithering for a day I decided I had to grasp this opportunity – when would I ever get to see Padmâvatrî, an Elephant, a Tiger, a Horse, gorgeous costumes from India and an up and coming young contralto – a species as rare as white tigers – all in one shot?

Sunday morning Betty Jean and I headed up, its only a little under two hours by car, had lunch at the newest addition to Il Gambero Rosso in the area, the wonderful La Pecchiarda - Eggplant Parmesan, Roast Lamb, rosemary roast potatoes, a glass of the house white (yes I fall off the wagon on occasion) and a honey melon for dolce and all for next to nothing. Until you get out of Rome you tend to forget how expensive a city it is.

We sat in their garden enjoying the sunshine then wandered around town – I had forgotten how steep those hills can be, particularly in the blazing sun - stopping in at the Duomo and the odd shop here or there.

As we were walking towards the Teatro Nuovo we came across one of the stars of the opera having a bath in the middle of a side street – not a common sight but he didn’t seem too upset when we took his picture. Unlike the elephant, who was an French import, this guy was a local who was having his day in the spotlight.


It seems that every town in Italy has a theatre like the Nuova – the standard 18th century opera house with poltroni (ground floor seats,) several levels of palchi (boxes) and at least one if not two galleries for those short on cash and not afraid of heights. In a rather charming touch the proscenium clock in Spoleto only shows the correct time twice a day – it appears to have stopped at 5:45.

Roussel's piece of orientalizm hasn't been heard in Italy since the 1970s and Italian opera goers are not known to be terribly responsive to the unfamiliar so it came as no surprise that the house was about two-thirds full. Fortunately it was an appreciative audience and there was much to appreciate, and I'll write more about that in the next posting later today.

04 lulgio - San Odo

Elephants and Tigers and Tenors!! Oh My!! - Part 1

My friend Betty Jean and I headed up to Spoleto yesterday on a whim. And here's what we saw:



The 51st Festival dei due mondi di Spoleto had opened with a performance of Albert Roussel's rarely heard Padmavâtî on Friday and we caught the repeat on Sunday afternoon. And there were tigers ... and tenors... and 20 Indian dancers, 450 costumes in incredibly gorgeous fabric and more special effects than Star Wars.

More about it a little later this week.

30 giugno - I Martiri Proromani

Throwing Out the First Ball of Spring - 1492

Though last month's weekend in Spoleto was cut short we did get a chance to see a great deal of this intriguing medieval town in the mountains of Umbria. Brought back to notice in late 1950s by Gian Carlo Menotti and his partner Samuel Barber and their Festival of the Two Worlds, it is a stunning example of what can be accomplished by careful restoration. Though this year's Festival (it would be the 51st) seems up in the air we counted more than 12 buildings under restoration in the historic centre - a close look at the photo at the left reveals at least 6 cranes in the northern part of the town alone.

The restored Rocca or Albornoz Fortress was built in 1359 as a Papal stronghold - when she controlled the Duchy, Lucrezia Borgia often slept there between 1499 and 1503. It hovers over the town and dominates the valley below.Used as a prison from 1817 until 1983 it has been converted into a National Museum for the treasures of the region from pre-Christian to late Renaissance times.
The Camera Pinta, in the tower of the Courtyard of Honour, is decorated with a wonderful series of frescoes dating from the 15th century depicting knightly and courtly pleasures. The subjects and the colours have a certain spring-like spirit to them, and I love this delightful couple playing catch over an archway. They've been playing this game for over 500 years now - I wonder if he ever caught the ball?

04 aprile - San Isidoro