Cincinnati Opera has three operas on the docket instead of the usual four: Puccini’s unabashed weeper La Bohème, with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Conductor and Music Director Louis Langrée making his Cincinnati Opera debut; Frida, a 1991 opera by Robert Xavier Rodriguez based on the life of artist Frida Kahlo, and Mozart’s The Magic Flute in a new multi-media production. La Boheme performances are in June; the latter two are July productions. La Boheme and The Magic Flute are in the Aronoff Center’s Procter & Gamble Hall; Frida in its smaller Jarson-Kaplan Theater.
What I’m most looking forward to is a special Cincinnati Opera Beyond Mainstage presentation, in collaboration with concert:nova, of Missy Mazzoli’s compelling multi-media work Song From the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt. It will star the electrifying mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, who appeared in the original 2012 New York production. Because of its more experimental nature, the chamber opera will be performed at the Aronoff’s intimate Fifth Third Bank Theater July 17-19 and 21.
Mazzoli is a major force in Contemporary music. Her compositions for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo voice and instruments have been performed throughout the world and recorded by leading soloists, ensembles and orchestras. She frequently tours with her band Victoire and her opera Breaking the Waves, based on Lars von Trier’s 1996 film, premiered last year to critical acclaim.
Songs From the Uproar takes off from the surviving journals of Isabelle Eberhardt, an extraordinary yet virtually unknown 19th-centuy woman whose life qualifies as operatic. Born in 1877, Eberhardt left Switzerland at age 21 after the death of her parents and brother. She traveled alone to Algeria, dressed as a man, converted to Islam, joined a Sufi order, fell in love with an Algerian soldier and died in a flash flood.
Written for mezzo-soprano, a five-member chorus and an instrumental quintet, Songs From the Uproar also utilizes film created by documentary filmmaker Stephen Taylor. Judging from the videos and the recording, Abigail Fischer is utterly convincing as the fiercely independent, mysterious Eberhardt. (cincinnatiopera.org)
Another exceptional mezzo, Kelley O’Connor, appears in February for a vocal recital accompanied by Louis Langrée. Sponsored by the Linton Music series, the program features songs by Brahms, Schumann, Debussy, and Henri Duparc.
O’Connor first appeared here in Cincinnati Opera’s 2009 production of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar. She was brilliant in the role of the poet Federico García Lorca and this past season was a frisky Prince Orlofsky in Cincinnati Opera’s rollicking production of Die Fledermaus.
The Feb. 26-27 recital program offers contrasts in style, tone and expression. I’m eager to hear O’Connor’s interpretations, as well as Langrée as an accompanist. There are two performances: one at Avondale’s First Unitarian Church and one at Congregation Beth Adam in Loveland. Both are warm, intimate settings, perfect for chamber music. (lintonmusic.org)
I haven’t made it to any of Cincinnati Soundbox’s performances, but its series starting in January gives me no excuses. Now in its second season, Soundbox is a chamber music series that presents music by living composers with no boundaries as far as style or genre. Noteworthy among Soundbox’s subsequent concerts is its New Concerto Project, which premieres four works for soloists and orchestra — all four are by women who have taken part in previous Soundbox programming. It occurs on May 2 at Covington’s Leapin’ Lizard Events Space. (cincinnatisoundbox.org)
Of course, I’m looking forward to hearing what Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra’s new artistic director, Eckart Preu, will do for its Summermusik. Nothing has been announced, but there are hints that Preu has exciting plans for programming way outside the envelope. (ccocincinnati.org) ©
