Word: opera
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Everything must contribute to the success of this goal, and of course the scenery and costumes play a large part in this undertaking. Although an opera can be enjoyed on cassette or radio, to see it is to truly believe it; there is little doubt that as a spectacle seen on stage, opera is a synthesis of the arts. No wonder an opera is a complex machine involving performances of singing actors, stage managers, costume designers, make-up artists, a full orchestra and behind it all, the authors of a text written or re-written as lyrics. Operatic work...
...Opera, whose birth coincided with the advent of enlightened ideas in the late 17th and 18th centuries, is a relatively young genre. Opera is as "modern," as epic is "ancient." So it comes as no surprise that the decision to transform Ethan Frome from literary text into opera would be made by an innovating Harvard alumni. Written by Douglas Allanbrook '48, the libretto is also the work of fellow Harvard graduate (John Hunt '48) while the production itself is headed musically by Douglas Allenbrook's son, John Allanbrook...
...audience strangely collide. At first, this non-traditional set-up might seem uncomfortable; the orchestra was extremely close, almost at arms-length from the public. But in fact, this proximity--a frequent device of theater and plays--creates an intimate interaction between the audience and the performers, rare in opera these days. What the work loses in majesty, it gains in intimacy and closeness...
...lead role of Ethan, offers a star turn as the stodgy, emotionally numb farmer, trying to break free from his oppressive marriage to Zeena. Poulis' deep, rich voice, along with his uncanny portrayal of Ethan's isolation and frustration, is by far the best performance in the opera...
Emily Browder, a faculty member at the New School of Music in Cambridge, convincingly plays the charming Mattie Silver, Ethan's love. Her soprano voice conveys the lightness and beauty of her character, literally breathing fresh air into the opera. Emily perfectly captures the spirit of the naive Mattie who--all alone in the world and pursued by men--still managers to keep her innocence. The petite, red-haired Browder shines in the role, a natural foil to Anita Constanzo's embittered Zeena. Although at first Constanzo's performance seems too rough in her expression of anger, the audience soon...