1

Each year OperaOnline.us selects some of the best performances and best of everything else we have seen in opera in the preceding season. We rate what we have seen based not on which company put on the show, but rather on how each opera was presented. In is way, each company is treated with equal standing and every performance and production has a chance to be measured against all other performances and productions so that when an award is given it is given based on the high standards set not by us, but by the quality of everything that has been seen that year.

For years, singers and opera companies have taken pride in being nominated for and receiving the "Best Of" from OperaOnline.us. This year, as in others, we salute all the performers, musicians and behind-the-scene production staff and crews that have labored to make opera so pleasurable. By these awards we hope to acknowledge those on and behind the stage and say "thank you" for a job well done. As in the past, our awards are separated into the areas we have active reviewers: Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston (the northeast) and Washington D.C. and Virginia.

BY Paul Joseph Walkowski

The operas reviewed by me this year were:
Puccini’s MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Opera North.
John Adams’ DR. ATOMIC, New York Met
Handel’s XERXES, Boston Baroque.
Puccini’s TURANDOT, Opera New England, Cape Cod.
Verdi’s AIDA, Teatro Lirico D’Europa.
Mascagni/Leoncavallo, CAV/PAG, Teatro Lirico D’Europa.
French Baroque/PIGMALION, Boston Baroque.
Bizet’s CARMEN, Opera North

While this year I cut back on travel due to high gasoline prices, and given the fact Connecticut Opera and Granite State Opera closed their doors and Boston Lyric and Opera Boston no longer provide review tickets to us here at OperaOnline.us, I did manage to get around and see some fine operas elsewhere. Interestingly, this year, as in the past, there were more companies that asked us to attend than we could accommodate because of distance and scheduling. We thank those companies for their invitations and hope that in the future we can meet their invites, Given all that I want to take a moment to salute some of the performers and productions that stood out in my mind for the shows I did attend and salute those that I thought were the “Best Of” opera I have seen in the previous opera year.

So without further delay, let’s get right to the heart of the matter.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF A LEADING MALE: I saw many fine performances last season, but the one that stuck most with me was watching and hearing Canadian baritone GERALD FINLEY singing the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer in the Met’s production of John Adams’ “Dr. Atomic.” The second act aria sung by Oppenheimer “Batter my heart, three person’d God,” was moving and magnificently delivered. Finley projected well with a baritone voice that was clear, passionate and rich in tone, in an opera that had a strained libretto and musical composition that was melodically challenged for the most part.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF A LEADING FEMALE: Well there was some pretty stiff competition in this category, but the production we chose, the concert opera by Handel, “Xerses” (Serse) from Boston Baroque really scored big, both with the audience and this reviewer. One singer in particular stood out, and this is what I wrote: “Hats-off to AMANDA FORSYTHE and “that little red dress” and her wonderful voice and stage presence and for the way she rendered a flirtatious Atalanta, playing to the audience, and anyone else in this wonderful cast that caught her eye. It’s difficult with a cast as good as this to pick out any one and say, ‘that was the one that stole the show,’ but if I were to venture down that road, she would be ‘that one.’ Brava for winning this year’s “Best Of” in this challenging category.

BEST OPERA: It was dark and different and the musical score and libretto wasn’t that great. However, this is one opera where the sum of the parts may actually be less than the whole and the whole still comes out a winner because of the force of the Met’s extraordinary production talent and imagination. We’re talking here of John Adams’ “DR. ATOMIC.” It is the winner in this category because in spite of its flaws, its overwhelming and brooding imagery left a powerful impression that was unmistakable and profound. Well done!

BEST COSTUMES: This year the award goes to ANGELA HUFF for her work in National Lyric Opera’s “Turandot,” staged by Opera New England of Cape Cod. Even though we liked the use of color and the realistic costumes of the performers much more than we enjoyed the show, the costumes did stand out and gave this production a Big Show feel in a small theater.

BEST SCENERY/SETS: It was unusual, imaginative and eerie and all that, and while it didn’t leave any positive images, the Met’s “Dr. Atomic” sets did capture a mood about as well as any set we have seen in recent years. I wrote of the sets: “There were

moments when the use of something like the sets to convey a fuller thought was inspiring. The perfect orderliness of the periodic table, for example, projected onto a sheer screen at the very beginning of the first act, set in front of the same table set behind it and comprised of block letters raised in disorder to the rafters was a nice way of warning of the disorder that could come from order if used unwisely. It was that kind of imagery that kept the audience and this writer entranced and interested throughout.” Hats off the set designer JULIAN CROUCH for a job well done.

BEST LIGHTING: When it came to setting an ominous mood, we have to give the award this year to BRIAN MACDEVITT for his lighting of the Met’s “Dr. Atomic” by John Adams. The Met has a big stage and it can be lit in many ways, but for this production it seemed the hues were more sunset than sunrise, and the lighting was used effectively to set a mood that sent a clear chill through the audience. Not the most pleasant mood, but effective.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF AN ORCHESTRA: Sometimes you know what to expect from an orchestra and sometimes you don’t, especially when the work being performed is something few have heard before. In selecting “Best Of” in this category, we look to MARTIN PEARLMAN, conductor of Boston Baroque for both selecting and leading his orchestra in performance of for works of three composers of the French Baroque period: Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Missa, Assumpta est Maria), Jean-Philippe Rameau (Pigmalion, act de ballet) and John Baptiste Lully (Pieces de symphonic). I concluded my review of these performances in March of 2008, writing: “This was Boston Baroque at its very, very best. I loved it and so, too, did the audience.” Enough said!

By Carie J. Delmar

The operas, recitals and concerts I reviewed for the 2008-09 season include: Los Angeles Opera’s “Il Trittico” (“Il Tabarro,” “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi”), “The Fly,” “Madama Butterfly,” “Carmen,” “Die Zauberflöte,” “Das Rheingold,” “Die Walküre,” “Die Vögel” and “La Traviata”; Opera UCLA’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Carousel”; and Frederica von Stade at The Broad Stage. I attended but did not review a recital given by Vladimir Chernov at Chapman University and an opera-scene showcase performed by the Domingo-Thornton Young Artists at the Broad.

BEST OPERA OVERALL: The winner is Los Angeles Opera’s “Die Zauberflöte.”

I wrote in my review: “Los Angeles Opera’s current production of ‘The Magic Flute’ is kind of like being at Disneyland: the colorful sets, costumes and lighting are magical. . . . I was in awe from the very first moment I saw the gigantic serpent. . . . It was a glorious production. How could anyone worry about the economy while looking at a midget alligator in tennis shoes or a long-legged ostrich in high heels? What fun!” (A Peter Hall production; also Gerald Scarfe, designer; Stanley M. Garner, director)