Picture by Cory Weaver
It’s fascinating to notice that whereas each the Los Angeles Opera (LAO) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are celebrating their farewell seasons with their Music Administrators, the celebrations take totally different varieties: One is extra introverted and introspective, whereas the opposite is exuberant and festive. After 20 glorious years, James Conlon, the second Music Director within the firm’s historical past, will retire on the conclusion of this season and assume the lifetime title of Music Director Laureate.
Conlon’s affect on the LA music scene can’t be overstated. Over these twenty years, he performed 68 operas by 32 composers in almost 500 performances. Most significantly, he launched LA audiences to the “Recovered Voices” sequence, a multi-year mission that includes operas by composers affected by the Third Reich, together with works by Alexander von Zemlinsky, Viktor Ullmann, Walter Braunfels, and Franz Schreker. Conlon additionally performed LAO’s first presentation of Richard Wagner’s full Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2009-10 and, in 2015, a brand new manufacturing of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles (the primary main US staging in 20 years). No marvel Conlon was inducted into the American Classical Music Corridor of Fame in 2009.
Conlon is concluding his farewell season with two closing works by opera masters, Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, each of which maintain explicit which means for him. In a heartfelt weblog submit, he detailed what Falstaff meant to him personally, from the time he noticed the “now legendary Zeffirelli/Bernstein manufacturing” to his first skilled engagement with the piece.
For this event, LAO dusted off Lee Blakeley’s 2013 Globe Theatre-inspired manufacturing, full with Adrian Linford’s units and costumes; this time it was directed by Shawna Lucey, the Common Director & CEO of Opera San José. Regardless of displaying its age, Linford’s units successfully transported the viewers to the opera buffa period, aided by period-appropriate costumes. I notably beloved the candle lanterns positioned across the stage within the first two acts.
Picture by Cory Weaver
Lucey emphasised the physicality of everybody on stage. There have been many coordinated actions, exaggerated even, to convey out the enjoyable and maximize the laughs. On the one hand, it made the present completely pleasant to look at, and the viewers lapped it up wholeheartedly on Saturday, the opening evening. However, such choices additionally one way or the other robbed the opera of its extra critical moments, notably throughout Falstaff’s “L’onore” monologue in Act One, which librettist Arrigo Boito tailored from Henry IV, Half 1.
In her Director’s Be aware, Lucey argued that “Falstaff belongs to Alice Ford and Meg Web page,” and that they didn’t simply outwit him—they “design[ed] his humiliation with the precision of navy strategists.” Such a feminist viewpoint was entrance and middle in her path and choreography of the onstage site visitors, bringing a recent perspective to the proceedings. The truth is, so efficient have been the 4 girls (Alice, Meg, Mistress Shortly, and Nannetta) in orchestrating Falstaff’s downfall that, for my part, the present inadvertently highlighted the piece’s inherent downside, one thing that had by no means crossed my thoughts earlier than. All of the name-calling and fat-shaming, delivered gleefully by the women going through the viewers, made me suppose they weren’t simply making an attempt to show “the previous buffoon” a lesson; it was pure, premeditated bullying, and doing it twice made it even worse. Such a realization, sadly, rendered their actions a lot much less humorous and virtually too merciless, at the very least to me! Certainly we’re not celebrating bullying in 2026? (An analogous query has been requested amongst Shakespearians.)
The Globe-inspired stage was stripped naked, adorned solely by the trunk of an previous oak tree, for the ultimate scene at Herne’s Oak in Windsor Park, Verdi’s model of nachtmusik. Whereas the procession-like entrance of the spirits may lack a dreamy or magical high quality for some, to me it marked a shift into the verismo period (akin to “Regina coeli” from Cavalleria rusticana or “Te Deum” from Tosca). Apparently, it additionally dropped at thoughts a direct parallel to the ending of Richard Wagner’s comedian opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, a piece with which Falstaff was typically in contrast.
On the musical degree, final Saturday’s efficiency had a lot to suggest. After a considerably tentative begin, the present gained power with the arrival of the 4 women, culminating in a completely thrilling third act. Conlon introduced a wealth of data to his masterful studying of the rating, detailing each nuance, contradiction, and irony whereas steadfastly sustaining the momentum of this fast-paced comedy. The ultimate fugue was particularly breathtaking, vastly aided by Jeremy Frank’s path of the refrain, an ideal finale that celebrated not solely human folly but in addition the opera firm Conlon has constructed.
Falstaff is actually an ensemble piece, and its success will depend on how tightly the ensemble works collectively. LAO assembled a wonderful forged for this revival, and so they established an amazing rapport with each other, visibly having plenty of enjoyable as they sang and acted their roles on stage. At the start, the 4 women, Nicole Heaston, Sarah Saturnino, Hyona Kim, and the debuting Deanna Breiwick, shone brightly each individually and collectively as Alice Ford, Meg Web page, Mistress Shortly, and Nannetta, respectively. They carried out Lucey’s imaginative and prescient brilliantly whereas every sustaining their very own tackle the position.
I’ve seen Heaston a number of occasions earlier than in lighter roles, so I used to be intrigued by how she coped with Alice. She actually didn’t disappoint. Her vibrant, wonderful instrument soared gloriously above the orchestra, effortlessly floating notes whereas skillfully appearing because the chief orchestrator of Falstaff’s ruination. Alice is central to the story, and Heaston lit up the stage every time she appeared. Her voice blended extraordinarily nicely with Saturnino’s darkish, velvety sound, notably once they in contrast their letters from Falstaff.
Kim mesmerized because the agent provocateur Mistress Shortly, utilizing different colours and phrasing in her voice to swimsuit the state of affairs. She moved with ease and had excellent comedian timing, particularly in her interactions with Falstaff. Whereas her voice is likely to be a tad brighter than the standard Mrs. Shortly, it sounded spherical and heat, with a totally supported center register, simply distinguishable from Saturnino’s Meg. Breiwick, alternatively, projected innocence along with her delicate, glowing voice, which morphed into an ethereal radiance throughout the Fairy Queen aria, “Sul fil d’un soffio etesio”. She paired superbly with Anthony León‘s lyrical supply as her lover, Fenton, and their haunting call-and-response caught with me lengthy after the opera ended. León additionally carried out his little aria “Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola,” which opened the ultimate scene, with such aching tenderness that it delighted the viewers.
Picture by Cory Weaver
The boys additionally carried out handsomely, not far behind the women’ excessive requirements. Italian baritone Ernesto Petti made his presence felt as Ford. There was a slight sense of menace and hazard in his voice, notably in his Act 2 aria “È sogno o realtà?”, which made his characterization of Ford advanced and fascinating. Three present members of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Younger Artist Program, Yuntong Han, Vinícius Costa, and Nathan Bowles, made vital (and humorous) contributions within the small roles of Bardolph, Pistol, and Dr. Caius, respectively.
That left us with Craig Colclough within the title position, his fifteenth at LAO since his 2008 debut. On Saturday, Colclough took some time to heat up, however he finally settled right into a burnished tone that proved extremely adaptable. He adopted a particularly playful persona as Sir John Falstaff from the get-go, each in his actions and particularly in his voice. Because of this, his “L’onore!” monologue, for instance, sounded much less convincing. It wasn’t till Act 3 that he turned critical (solely to be conned as soon as once more). All of this made his Falstaff such a good-natured determine that, for my part, he virtually didn’t should be so badly humiliated.
Regardless of all of the nitpicking, Saturday’s present was a particular success, and I’ve little question it is going to enhance in future performances. The viewers saved its loudest cheer for Conlon, a becoming tribute to the person who has formed LAO’s historical past over the previous twenty years.
