A Nifty Fifty-Ninth

A five-star summer

The collective shoulder of the Santa Fe Opera, closing down its 59th season on Saturday, Aug. 29, has borne a few heavy crosses this summer: Bryan Hymel's cancellation as Rigoletto's Duke of Mantua; Lee Blakeley's awful mounting of that show; a notorious midweek monsoon for Mozart; and a pair of muy extraños, ego-preening critical exercises by the brash young man from New York City.

But no matter. In a bunch of ways, the past season's programming hewed to the SFO's long-standing, tried-and-true formula: a surefire ticket (that Rigoletto), a comic opera (Donizetti's Daughter), a touch of Mozartino (a rarity this year—La Finta Giardiniera), an obeisance to John Crosby's happy fetish for R Strauss (a bold take on Salome) and a world premiere (the co-commissioned theater piece by Jennifer Higdon—Cold Mountain).

The score? A balanced season on the whole, with plenty more hits than misses. To begin at the end: that remarkable Cold Mountain. It's still something of a work in progress. Last week, Higdon presented flutist Bart Feller with 20-some bars of new stuff. Is possible? asks the composer. Sure, joked the flute. Provided you write me a flute concerto.

But that's just a wee example of the good-humored but deeply serious professionalism that lies behind the creation of Higdon's American war tragedy for Santa Fe and elsewhere. You feel a sense of collaborative effort in making this work the success that it is, a mingling of talents: the composer, the librettist Gene Scheer, the director Leonard Foglia and his stellar production team, the principal singers and the fine supporting apprentice artists, the conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the SFO orchestra. They're in it together, all-for-one, one-for-all, as Dumas would have it. I'll say it again, this is the company's finest presentation of an American opera since Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All back in 1976.

Another work, mighty familiar to Santa Fe audiences—11 productions since 1962—gets a radical makeover this summer. That would be a Salome minus the veils, the biblical hoo-haw, the bare-chested slaves (Maestro, you know who I'm talking about) and all the exotic appurtenances that the depraved princess hauls around in more conventional appearances. None of that. It's a drama of the ineffable unconscious made Freudian and more than a little disturbing. Jochanaan even looks like a junior version of Dr. F himself. Director Daniel Slater digs deep into Salome's scary psyche; soprano Alex Penda reveals those dark compulsions; David Robertson's orchestra skitters and shouts out Strauss' psychodrama.

So—an exclamation of praise for that orchestra, seemingly more silken, more stirring, more superb each season as it shimmers, say, from Strauss to Mozart. Chief conductor Harry Bicket leads a caressing account of Finta, making this odd, improbable assemblage of mostly deformed characters seem human, if not entirely likeable. Bicket lets the music do the talking, making Mozart's early-ish effort at buffa sound as good as it really is. Tim Albery's staging cooperates, hinting at the action's serious underpinnings despite an often farcical surface. The uniformly convincing cast carries on with the SFO's long tradition of super-honed Mozartean ensemble work.

In this summer's Rigoletto, it's all about the voices, just as it needs to be, for opera in general and for Verdi in particular. Quinn Kelsey makes his debut here in the title role one we'll long remember for his balanced, nuanced reading. He's a true Verdi baritone with power to spare but also the intelligence that knows persuasive restraint. In another debut, Georgia Jarman, an ex-apprentice artist, spins a web of delicacy and heartbreak as Gilda. Her Caro nome floats and ripples and floats some more. A third debut, Jader Bignamini, makes a strong impression in the pit. The less said about Lee Blakeley's obtuse, obvious, look-at-me staging the better.

The company provided a daredevil opening with The Daughter of the Regiment. I use the term advisedly since it follows hard upon last summer's provocative, crazily effective production of Donizetti's sort-of companion comedy, Don Pasquale, under the (I mean it) inspired direction of Laurent Pelly. OK, comparisons are invidious, so we go not there. The 2015 Donizetti outing makes for a mirthful, forget-your-troubles night at the opera, fast-paced and colorful, courtesy of director Ned Canty. As Marie, Anna Christy makes like the requisite canary-bird, Alek Shrader's Tonio makes a meal of the scenery and high-kicking Kevin Burdette makes us elderly folk feel almost young again.

Leap ahead, now, to SFO's forthcoming season number 60, and hastily revisit the company's aforementioned formula for making it all happen. To open, the Big Ticket: Puccini's shoot-'em-up La Fanciulla del West, for my money his niftiest. Then, re-enter the now totally mature Mozart with a fire-and-brimstone Don Giovanni, dubbed by my opinionated mentor GB Shaw as just the greatest opera, period. Well, one of them, for sure.

The seriously neglected world, for SFO anyway, of serious French 19th century opera gets the nod with Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Harry Bicket in the pit once more and husband-and-wife Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez singing the star-crossed. Hello again to Richard Strauss and his farewell stage opus, Capriccio, frankly my fave. The all-star cast includes Amanda Majeski, Susan Graham and Eric Owens, with the suave Leo Hussain conducting. Completing the season, another American first for the company, Samuel Barber's touching Vanessa, brings the return to Santa Fe of James Morris as the Old Doctor.

So, for now—that's all, folks. Hope to see you for the 60th.

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.