Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 5 Il Travatore

16 | November 17 - December 9, 2018 L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O Operatic music is boring. Remember that single soprano mentioned previously? She may be a powerful singer, but there’s far more to operatic music than that singer alone. There are eight main vocal categories – soprano, mezzo- soprano, contralto, countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass-baritone, and bass – and approximately 20 more specific classifications called Fächer {singular: Fach) that are used exclusively in opera. These Fächer are based on both a singer’s vocal size, vocal color, and where the voice most comfortably “sits” in terms of range. Musical variety in opera doesn’t stop at the singers; every composer has an individual style, just as every novelist has a unique writing voice. The soaring aria of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème sounds immensely different from the intense, sword-forging aria sung by the hero of Wagner’s Siegfried , yet both are equally effective. Contemporary operatic composers are taking even more risks sonically than their predecessors: Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel , for example, features several instruments not usually heard in an orchestra, including 1/32-size violins, an ondes, a small door, a salad bowl, and a set of pitched saucepans. There is certainly no shortage of musical variety and innovation where opera is concerned! Operas always end tragically. Operas with happy endings aren’t rare or unloved either. In fact, some of the most popular operas of all time fit into this category: The Marriage of Figaro is an opera buffa , The Magic Flute a Singspiel . A great many celebrated operas don’t deal with tragedy at all, such as Handel’s Ariodante (at Lyric this season) or Strauss’s Capriccio (a triumph at Lyric in 2014). “ Capriccio is virtually all talk,” says Lyric dramaturg Roger Pines, “but that doesn't bother me at all, since the whole thing is so incredibly witty – and in the last 20 minutes, the Countess has a scene all to herself that gives us some of the most glorious music Strauss ever wrote.” There is certainly no shortage of operas that leave audience members reaching for tissues, but a fair amount are jovial and light- hearted in nature. definitely not boring... ...and sometimes pretty funny! The opera repertoire is full of hilariously funny comic operas. Four favorites at Lyric are (from top to bottom) Rossini’s Cinderella (with Annie Rosen and Diana Newman); Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (with Christiane Karg and Adam Plachetka); Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (with Isabel Leonard, Alessandro Corbelli, and Nathan Gunn); and Don Pasquale (with Corey Crider and Marlis Petersen). TODD ROSENBERG TODD ROSENBERG ROBERT KUSEL DAN REST