Getting along with a prolific artist has never been easier. The old is that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 500 times. he didn’t. Picasso’s rarely seen cuts at the UCLA Hammer Museum, as a recent exhibition of his papers reveals an artist who spent almost every waking moment creating something special. I was always surprised and delighted.
But in a world overwhelmed and confused by ever-accelerating amounts of data, the latest alarming predictions by Britain’s National Physical Laboratory indicate that the amount of digital information the world is creating will total 125. to reach the zettabyte. Everyone in the world owns about 160 1-terabyte computer hard drives) — a composer born about 350 years ago who wrote countless hundreds of concertos, nearly 50 operas, and more. What do you do with a composer who has written so many songs? Who has the time, attention, resources and intellectual bandwidth?
Pacific Opera Project. Last weekend saw the US premiere of Vivaldi’s ‘Ercole Su’l Termodonte’ (Hercules of the Thermodon), with performances running until his January 21st. You’ll also find youth-friendly restaurants, coffee shops, and bars, as well as trendy resources for vinyl, yoga, tattoos, and vintage clothing.
Ebel is a women’s club and the historic building dates back to 1912.It’s that bold, camp venue that POP occasionally uses for lovingly low-budget and often silly opera productions, but with high musical standards. If you’re lucky, you’ll spot some winning young talent. The capacity is about 250 people, and the presence of the opera is amazing.
In “Ercole,” POP turned Ebel into a funky Baroque opera house. The company set up a rickety, unfinished “box” around the seats on the floor. All seats are folding chairs. Elegance is in your imagination.
The set is again a background painted in baroque style.maggie green costume A cute tunic. The effect is like his silly ’50s B-movie elevated to a trendy retro contemporary art exhibit. Inside, a chamber orchestra is tuning in in a makeshift pit. Century Garb with a powdered wig. It brings a smile to your face. Don’t trip over your do-it-yourself.
All Vivaldi’s operas are rare. The aria is a virtuoso showpiece, vividly illustrated (this is the composer of “The Four Seasons,” after all). While they may lack the character depth of Handel’s great stage productions, the singer can get a kick out of them and, like Marilyn Horne once did in ‘Orlando,’ a great artist could have done with her. The charm of Vivaldi is sometimes used in Vivaldi productions and left behind. A night like an opera. Produced in 2010, the “Ercole” recording features Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau and more and offers endless joy.
These were operas intended as pleasures of the moment rather than contemplative histories. Many are lost. Most parts are missing and will have to be rebuilt on the part of musicologists and performers as much as Ebel did with temporary modifications. But that’s part of the fun. Old music only exists when it is modernized, making every piece a unique problem-solving project.
Josh Shaw, who founded POP ten years ago, has his trademark jokes and takes on theatricality in surprising moments. It features eight up-and-coming singers who have had headlining roles in small companies across the country and minor roles in larger ones during their careers. I’m doing it. The quality of the songs varies, but the best are noteworthy, and the collective energy the cast creates is inspiring. I’ve been
Moreover, they endanger themselves more than anyone else. So intimate that even with the proscenium stage, this is the epitome of immersive opera. The singer reveals his voice completely, but is surprisingly bold. On his next two Saturdays, they gallantly sing his two-hour, twenty-minute opera matinees and evening performances.
Janet Todd (Hippolyte) (left) and Kyle Tinzon (Theseus) in Vivaldi’s Ercole sur Thermodonte.
(Martha Benedict/Pacific Opera Project)
“Ercole” is concerned with one of Hercules’ Ten Labors, in which he must obtain weapons from Antiope, Queen of the Amazons. These Amazons want nothing to do with men and go so far as to kill all male babies. The Greek military sees them as mysterious beings to be tamed or eliminated. But in the course of the battle—didn’t you know it?—male and female warriors begin to find each other irresistibly attractive. The happy ending is where Ercole obtains arms from Antiope and performs a double wedding.
Added to the intrigue is that a high voice reigns. All but two singers, whether female or male countertenors, are sopranos or altos. Hercules (Ercole) is a tenor with a minor baritone role. In Vivaldi’s time, when the castrati ruled the roost, the cast was all-male. That said, Vivaldi finds plenty of room to maintain a challenging complexity of drama, plot entanglement.
The most important roles are the androphobic Antiope and her warrior sister, Ippolita, who secretly falls in love with Hercules’ heroic companion Theseo (Theseus). Soprano Janet Todd, member of the Los Angeles Opera Chorus, is a multifaceted Ippolita full of fire and passion. Megan Martin brings warm intensity to Antiope. In general, Vivaldi was much more concerned with the daring Amazons than with his fidgety, macho Greek brothers. But he gives Teseo a ridiculously flashy aria, with countertenor Kyle Tinzon highlighting it.
Logan Weber (Ercole) and his Greek gang—Michael Skark (Alceste), Manfred Anaya (Teremone)—parade with hilarious flair. Véronique Filloux (Martesia, Antiope) daughter) and Audrey Yoder (Origia, Antiope’s other unstable sister) bring them back to their senses.
Kyle Naig conducts with his harpsichord flair. At Saturday night’s performance, the ensemble was not as strong to the end as the beginning.Baroque operas are long, and Vivaldi is an indomitable composer, thought by everyone else, to make his operas their own. Made in the 18th century. Sensory overload of the century. The difference between then and now, and surprisingly realized POP, is that overloading becomes a joy here, not a pain in the age of Zettabytes.
Pacific Opera Project’s “Ercole Sur Thermedonte”
Where: The Highland Park Ebell Club, 131 S. Ave 57, Los Angeles
when: 8 p.m. Thursday. 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Saturday. January 20th at 8pm. January 21, 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
tickets: $20 (1 balcony seat) to $320 (4-seat box)
information: pacificoperaproject.com
Execution time: 2 hours 20 minutes
