In January of 2020, Greg Eldridge joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as the associate professor of opera directing. He made his directorial debut in late February with a well-received production of Handel’s gender-bending comic mashup Partenope. It also had the dubious distinction of being the last series of live performances before UC went into pandemic lockdown two weeks later.
With the welcome return of live performances to CCM stages, Eldridge is deep into rehearsals for Philip Glass’s opera Galileo Galilei, as delighted to be working in person with students as he is with the work itself. The work will be onstage at CCM March 31-April 3.
Philip Glass is one of the 20th century’s most influential and prolific composers. His extensive catalog includes 23 operas and chamber operas. Galileo Galilei debuted 20 years ago and Eldridge views it as a meditation on the intersections of science, art and religion.
“It’s important for us to be discussing these tensions, particularly in this country where there have been any number of restrictions placed on scientific endeavor and artistic expression, often in the name of systems that not everyone shares,” Eldridge tells CityBeat.
Dubbed the father of modern science by Albert Einstein, Galileo was acclaimed throughout Renaissance Italy as a leading astronomer and mathematician, as well as the inventor of the first timepieces and telescopes. He ran into trouble with the Catholic Church’s Roman Inquisition in 1616, when he was forced to recant his theory of heliocentrism — the earth revolving around the sun.
Galileo maintained his silence as well as his devotion to the Catholic faith but in 1633, he was again tried for heresy with harsher consequences: his works were forbidden to be published and he was condemned to house arrest for the rest of his life.
The opera opens in 1642 with a blind Galileo on his deathbed, recalling his life through 10 brief scenes that run backward in time. Singers take on multiple roles, some portraying characters in their youth and old age. The libretto by director Mary Zimmerman and poet Arnold Weinstein is based on Galileo’s letters to friends and family.
Eldridge says that he and the singers discovered a cyclical pattern in the opera’s structure.
“We’re going backward and forward in time, seeing relationships not working, coming full circle from creation to death,” he says. “We’re also seeing the life cycle of Galileo as a mirror to our time on earth.”
The cyclical pattern is also seen in the score.
Glass’s music uses Minimalism, known for repeated phrases with gradual variations. His mastery transforms repetition into a haunting and compelling score, especially in Galileo. It’s a sonic challenge for the audience and especially for singers and directors.
“It’s fiendishly difficult for singers and the big rule for them is to count,” Eldridge says. “My job is to create a space in which they feel supported enough that they have the freedom to count and room to see the conductor.”
Galileo’s favorite daughter Maria Celeste, a nun who shared his love of science, has the opera’s toughest music.
“It’s some of the most unfair writing I’ve seen in a contemporary piece,” Eldridge says. “It’s impossibly high and we’re very fortunate to have students who can do it. And all our singers are brilliant.”
Eldridge and his cast studied theatrical styles embedded in the opera to propel the story and develop characters.
“There are aspects of Bertolt Brecht’s Epic Theater, aspects of American Realism in terms of method acting and aspects of physical comedy going back to French farce,” Eldridge says.
There are also aspects that are unspoken, especially the intersection of art and science. Eldridge collaborated with a student choreographer to create movement underscoring the creative tensions.
“In mathematics and classical dance, everything is exact, technique-driven, built on perfection and form,” he says. “But the things they’re describing are so chaotic and messy and creative. A classical ballet can describe kingdoms being destroyed. A carefully structured scientific formula describes how planets smash into each other and destroy each other and create new life. We use dancers bridging classical and contemporary dance just as this opera tells a classical story in a modern form.”
Eldridge has high praise for CCM students and its facilities across disciplines, speaking from extensive experience with over 60 productions in eight countries. He studied opera directing in his native Australia and is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco and London’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at Covent Garden, where a special associate director position was created for him in 2015.
Galileo Galilei marks Eldridge’s third production of a Glass opera.
UC’s return to in-person classes facilitated working with students in lighting design, digital media, costume and wig design.
“We’re trying to provide as much opportunity as we can for technical design students to develop their suite of skills alongside the performers,” Eldridge says.
Technical facilities and studio setups add to CCM’s already impressive production arsenal.
“When I walked into the design studios for hair, wigs and makeup design, I thought I was in Covent Garden,” Eldrige says. “It’s such a professional setup, just like at the biggest national houses.”
Students in digital media and lighting design are creating projections for the set using circular designs, like planetary orbits and halos, to reflect the tension.
The opera ends with Galileo’s final flashback to his childhood, watching an opera about the constellation Orion, composed by his father, and performed by the Camerata, a Florentine group acknowledged as the crucible for European opera.
The irony isn’t lost on Eldridge. “At the end, Galileo recalls what inspired his passion for astronomy and how it affected all of his relationships, especially with his favorite daughter,” he says.
The performers sing a chorus of random syllables, gradually dying out until reality passes into abstraction.
Although Galileo’s story has tragic relevance as contemporary scientific inquiry is ridiculed and suppressed, Eldridge and his students aim to transcend a meta narrative.
“What’s important is that we’re moved,” Eldridge says. “And there’s ample opportunity for that.”
CCM Opera presents Galileo Galilei at the Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village, Clifton, from March 31 through April 3. Tickets are $39.50. More info: ccm.uc.edu/onstage.html.
Stay connected with CityBeat. Subscribe to our newsletters, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google News, Apple News and Reddit.
Send CityBeat a news or story tip or submit a calendar event.