One Act Operas at Castalia

There is a lot to be said for one act operas. If you don't like them, they won't trouble you for very long. I note that Kilkenny Arts Festival has programmed two works this year. I enjoyed an evening devoted to one act works in Kilkenny last year. My report is here . This year's programme looks attractive, a Menotti sandwich with a Pergolesi filling and there are super young singers lined up and some big names scheduled for the Sunday Recital. Here is founder Alan O Conchubhair's programme note I note that baritone turned tenor Owen Gilhooly is director for one of the works Note the early start time of 7pm



'Opera at Castalia, Ireland's one-act opera festival takes place in July each year in the beautiful surroundings of Castalia Hall and Amphitheatre at the Camphill Community, Ballytobin, Callan, Co. Kilkenny. In its four year history this little festival has produced operas by Mascagni, Menotti, Sullivan, Walton, Rameau and Holst. Last year along with Riders to the Sea by Vaughan Williams, they presented two European premieres, In the Shadow of the Glen by Nancy van de Vate and The Bay of Fundy by Fiona Linnane. The last year has been a sad one for the Opera at Castalia family following the death of beloved co - founder, Brendan Mills.

Brendan's husband, Alan O'Conchubhair has said that Brendan's philosophy was that the show must go on and so on July 11th Opera atCastalia 2015 will present The Telephone and The Old Maid and the Thief both by Gian Carlo Menotti. Sandwiched between these two classics of 20th century opera will be an English language version of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona. The cast includes Maria McGrann, Gerry Noonan, Andrew Gavin, Laura Gilsenan, Rory Musgrave, Dara McMahon, Maria Hughes, Muireann Mulrooney and Tim Shaffrey.
The Sunday Recital the following day at 1pm will feature young tenor, Andrew Gavin singing Dies Natalis and a preview of a scene from Composer in Residence, Fiona Linnane's new opera, The Breakfast Table, which will receive its World premiere at Opera at Castalia 2016. The recital will conclude with a musical tribute to Brendan Mills with contributions from Imelda Drumm, Laura Gilsenan, Virginia Kerr, Sandra Oman and Cara O'Sullivan.
The 11th and 12th July promises to be a wonderful weekend of music in rural Kilkenny. Why not come along and listen to some 'little operas with big heart'.

Composer Fiona Linnane

A Feast of Faust at the Everyman

Faustian Pacts loomed large on  Friday with the metaphor featuring in the Irish Times leader. In Cork, the curtain opened   on the much anticipated production of Guonod's Gothic morality tale based on the ill-fated philosopher who sells his soul to the devil in return for youth. The blend of fine bel canto singing with Victorian kitsch served up in three generous hour long plus  helpings brought the first night audience at the Everyman Palace Theatre to their feet..
Here are some  thoughts  on this production.


The Orchestra: In a change to his more usual modus operandi of using an on stage mobile chamber ensemble cum actors, John O  Brien here uses an expanded static orchestra, dressing them in 18th century quasi military  jackets. 42 pieces even in a standard opera house would be feast enough for any Faust. The relatively intimate space served to intensify the impact of the large ensemble. Strings filled the pit space, wind and percussion were embedded in the set and brass colonized the off stage  boxes. The excellent orchestra playing under leader Ioana  Petcu Colan did justice to the colour in Guonod's 19th century score We particularly liked the  terrific organ timbre  from the pit evoking the  Gothic mood in the  third act, Dies Irae.

The Cast: There was fine singing all round from the cast of Irish and international artists. Korean tenor, Jung Soo Yun was a tortured Faust, Julian Tovey a dastardly Mephistophiles and Cara O Sullivan  a warm and stately Marguerite . It was in the smaller roles that most got under the skin of the smaltzy melodrama. Sandra Porter in the character cameo role of  Dame Marthe brought a welcome shot of humour to the sludgy libretto. Owen Gilhooly as the valiant Valentin brought a degree of stagecraft that upped the dramatic ante in any scene he appeared in. The  spirited third act trio with  Gilhooly,  Tovey and Soo Yun, Redouble, O Dieu Puissant  was a vocal and dramatic  highlight of the evening. It was good to see Cork baritone Brendan Collins in the role of Wagner.  Anne Gill was the faithful Siebel.

Top Brass: The Barracka :
Anything is better with bit of  brass: The cast were upstaged (literally if not metaphorically) by the Barrack Street Brass Band. The full complement of the Cork institution filed in to fill the standing space at the back of the stalls to give a stirring rendition of the Soldier's Chorus accompanied by a male chorus to give a thrilling surround sound stereo experience. Quite the high point of the  evening. Long as the evening was, I would love to have heard an encore.

The Chorus: The ladies and gentlemen sang well and  were  animated and  lively  thoughout.


Set design:   Designer Lisa Zagone's set design for Pagliacci remains one of the most memorable of recent years. Here she  sets the action amid the Gothic wooden arches and dusty book shelves of a library, adding items like a suspended stain glass window  and a tomb stone to denote a church and garden. in later scenes  This worked fine for a first act but the unchanging backdrop  added to a samey-ness  to the production and induced a degree of cabin fever . Book stacks and on stage stairs made the stage area seemed cluttered and  constricted physical aspects of the performance, cramping the style of the choreography.

Costumes  were  monochrome  in  19th century Victorian style  serving  to enhance Mephistophiles dashing red rig out complete with top hat in the style of a Victorian music hall MD.


Programme, . The 16 pages A4 did not include a plot synopsis or any insight into the staging or anorak details like the edition..  It rather presumed that punters would a be  au fait with the Goethe's yarn or would take the trouble to look it up before the show.

Stage direction did not fully bring out some of the more sinister details of the plot. Marguerite's baby only becomes apparent to me when she picks up a Moses basket.

Running Time With curtain up at 7.30 and coming down at about 11.15, it did make for a long sit. While not of Wagnerian proportions, you will need  the stamina of the Victorians to last the duration. I could cheerfully have lost 30 minutes or so of the score and not feel short changed. Best to approach it  having had  a nap and your tea before the show


The Gothic horror vein has proved a rich one for the Cork Operatic Society.  Although not as much fun as Der Vampyr, I enjoyed their production of this  stodgy Victorian melodrama with it's catchy hit tunes. The music and singing is first class and well delivered here by the Cork Operatic Society under director John O Brien.

Faust runs at the Everyman Palace   4 more performances until Feb 28th

Review Orpheus http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2013/09/everyman-orpheus.html

Review Pagliacci
http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2012/06/pagliacci-for-everyman-cork-midsummer.html

Little Britten: Curlew River at St. John's, Smith Square

L

 There is no escaping Benjamin Britten this year. The centenary  has been a catalyst to blow the dust off some of the more seldom  heard works. In London last week, I was tempted by the novelty value and calibre of the cast, to visit the renowned chamber music venue, St John's, Smith Square,  for Opera Nova's production of Curlew River.
I was in time for a pre show talk with composers, David Mattthews and Thomas Hyde fleshing out the good programme notes. (You know this is a high brow gig when Matthews is credited as being Britten's 'amanuensis')

It seems that Arthur Sullivan wasn't the only British composer to be taken with things Japanese and Britten was inspired by  the Noh theatre tradition in his writing of Curlew River , one of three short works, titled  Parables for Church Performance, the fictional title placing the drama in the fenlands of East Anglia. (It seems like sacrilege but I can't help musing  on the parallel with the plot device of the Mikado of a parent searching for a missing child)
The playing of extracts from the Japanese play, Sumidagawa that inspired the work had me heading to the bar for something to sustain me through  an hour of more moaning glissandos in a similar vein. The musical style of Britten's work however wasn't overtly oriental, although sparse and simple in texture.

Owen Gilhooly

Mark Milhofer

The piece opened with the robed, all male cast processing up the aisle singing liturgical plain chant before the main protagonists assumed simple costumes for the telling of the tale of a journey in search of a missing child, the expression of the attendant grief and the resolution of finding peace at last. The elegant simplicity of the staging,the liturgical nature of plot, the ecclesiastical  setting and anchor of plainchant made this production feel  more akin to a passion play than anything else. A simple turquoise expanse of cloth served as  the river and a wooden mast and single white sail was  hoisted to signify the start of the journey.


The bulk of the  singing is shared between Mark Milhofer's Madwoman and Owen Gilhooly's Ferryman. Tenor, Mark Milhofer's performance was intense, almost unnerving. Baritone Owen Gilhooly brought out all the nuance in the role of the Ferryman You wanted to boo and hiss at his  sneering at the Madwoman and heave  a sigh of relief at the the softening to a more sympathetic mien.

The nimble musical ensemble placed to one side made up of a half a dozen or so assorted instruments including harp, flute and percussion added  colour rather than harmonic texture to the canvas.

SJSS aka Queen Anne's footstool

This was an intense  and absorbing evening, quite unlike any other operatic experience I have enjoyed, not least for the solemn hush  of the listening audience gathered.  You literally could have heard a pin drop for the duration and the cough index was zero.. That doesn't happen very often and it is thrilling when it does. Marking Britten at 100? - Opera Nova's,  Curlew River will do me very nicely to mark the centenary.  Thank you very much. At £10 for a side seat near the top, it has to be  one of the best value tickets for a top class experience.

The production is a touring production and auspicious in that It marks the debut of Opera Nova. The production  moves to Presteigne Festival later in the month and later to other festivals in Oxford and Canterbury.

Venue Notes. It would have been nice to have dwelt a little  longer in the lovely  Crypt. Although the programme notes clearly stated that refreshments would be available following the performance, this regrettably was not the case.

www.sjss.org.  St John's Smith Square . Why an apostrophe but no comma?

I was surprised the event did not appear in the Time Out music listings either in the print or online version.

Here's a treat. #CurlewRiver pics @StJohnsSmithSq w/ @MarkMilhofer @unclehooly. Next stop @PresteigneFest 21+22 Aug pic.twitter.com/964IP7yqka
— NovaMusic (@NovaMusicOpera) August 11, 2013

Passion Sunday Chorale: Gloria and MIC Spring Concert

The last Lenten Sunday began to the temperate treacly tones of broadcaster Tim Thurston as he presented his Sunday morning radio show, Gloria Like a morningtide liturgical Whispering Bob, the LyricFM  presenter shares several  qualities with Bob Harris,  the iconic BBC presenter of the Old Grey Whistle Test. First there is the soothing baritone  voice,  deep and rich like molasses mixed with double cream. Then there is  his zeal for unearthing and eulogising little known  work, in this case sacred choral music with a  particular penchant for Renaissance composers and finally his  good cheer, earnest but in a calm unruffled sort of a way rather than a happy clappy Marty  fashion. Always appropriate to the liturgical calendar, Sunday's playlist included Passion chorales, Allegri's Miserere and Russian Orthodox chants . 

2009 Wexford Festival Choir Excerpts  Theresienmesse. marking 200th anniversary of Haydn's death

In the afternoon I joined the Limerick Baroque Players and the Mary Immaculate Choral Society for their Spring Concert, a performance of Haydn's Theresienmesse at St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick. Not as frequently performed as The Seasons or The Nelson Mass, there is plenty of melodic variety and rhythmic energy, dynamic contrasts to make it a very enjoyable work to play. and comes late in the Classical composer's canon when he was enjoying a degree of notoriety following his London symphonies. The work is apparently a named for the soprano who first sang it rather than for to wife of Haydn's patron for whom it was commissioned.

Soprano Marie Therese ,  1799

The quartet of singers delivered fine singing and there was time for some chat in the green room before the performance. Contralto,  Sarah Ellen Murphy  told me she had enjoyed opening the Kate O Brien weekend recently with a recital of newly composed songs by her friend Fiona Linnane. 

Soprano Carmel Conway 2012

Carmel Conway is a  very versatile performer and she chatted about her experience of touring with American singer Nanci Griffith . Owen Gilhooly has been busy touring with OTC's much lauded  production of The  Magic Flute and can be heard again soon at the Limerick Choral Union's performance of Brahm's Requiem at the end of the month. There was a lot of interest in young Dublin based tenor, Lawrence Thackery a recent prizewinner at the Feis Ceoil . A founder member of  DYOC, I met Lawrence recently in Ennis at a terrific showcase of young operatic talent in Dublin Youth Opera Company's Jukebox Opera , Thicker than Water. (My review here)

 Bass Owen Gilhooly, 

Conductor Michael Murphy

Among the large attendance were Gertie McCabe Secretary of the Irish Church Music Association and Malcolm Green, conductor of Limerick Choral Union.  Great music, splendid singing. elegant venue, the company of musicians . No better way to spend a Lenten Sunday afternoon.

Violin Duo Aine and Karen




Tim Thurston on improvisation and musical sub genres. http://journalofmusic.com/focus/breaking-sound-barriers-why-all-musical-boxes