24 Apr 2010
A “CNN Opera” — Shadowboxer at UMD
The University of Maryland Opera Studio premiered a new commission this week: Shadowboxer, composed by Frank Proto, and based on the life of boxing champion Joe Louis.
English Touring Opera are delighted to announce a season of lyric monodramas to tour nationally from October to December. The season features music for solo singer and piano by Argento, Britten, Tippett and Shostakovich with a bold and inventive approach to making opera during social distancing.
This tenth of ten Live from London concerts was in fact a recorded live performance from California. It was no less enjoyable for that, and it was also uplifting to learn that this wasn’t in fact the ‘last’ LfL event that we will be able to enjoy, courtesy of VOCES8 and their fellow vocal ensembles (more below ).
Ever since Wigmore Hall announced their superb series of autumn concerts, all streamed live and available free of charge, I’d been looking forward to this song recital by Ian Bostridge and Imogen Cooper.
Although Stile Antico’s programme article for their Live from London recital introduced their selection from the many treasures of the English Renaissance in the context of the theological debates and upheavals of the Tudor and Elizabethan years, their performance was more evocative of private chamber music than of public liturgy.
Evidently, face masks don’t stifle appreciative “Bravo!”s. And, reducing audience numbers doesn’t lower the volume of such acclamations. For, the audience at Wigmore Hall gave soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and pianist Simon Lepper a greatly deserved warm reception and hearty response following this lunchtime recital of late-Romantic song.
For this week’s Live from London vocal recital we moved from the home of VOCES8, St Anne and St Agnes in the City of London, to Kings Place, where The Sixteen - who have been associate artists at the venue for some time - presented a programme of music and words bound together by the theme of ‘reflection’.
'Such is your divine Disposation that both you excellently understand, and royally entertaine the Exercise of Musicke.’
‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven that old serpent Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’
There was never any doubt that the fifth of the twelve Met Stars Live in Concert broadcasts was going to be a palpably intense and vivid event, as well as a musically stunning and theatrically enervating experience.
‘Love’ was the theme for this Live from London performance by Apollo5. Given the complexity and diversity of that human emotion, and Apollo5’s reputation for versatility and diverse repertoire, ranging from Renaissance choral music to jazz, from contemporary classical works to popular song, it was no surprise that their programme spanned 500 years and several musical styles.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields have titled their autumn series of eight concerts - which are taking place at 5pm and 7.30pm on two Saturdays each month at their home venue in Trafalgar Square, and being filmed for streaming the following Thursday - ‘re:connect’.
The London Symphony Orchestra opened their Autumn 2020 season with a homage to Oliver Knussen, who died at the age of 66 in July 2018. The programme traced a national musical lineage through the twentieth century, from Britten to Knussen, on to Mark-Anthony Turnage, and entwining the LSO and Rattle too.
With the Live from London digital vocal festival entering the second half of the series, the festival’s host, VOCES8, returned to their home at St Annes and St Agnes in the City of London to present a sequence of ‘Choral Dances’ - vocal music inspired by dance, embracing diverse genres from the Renaissance madrigal to swing jazz.
Just a few unison string wriggles from the opening of Mozart’s overture to Le nozze di Figaro are enough to make any opera-lover perch on the edge of their seat, in excited anticipation of the drama in music to come, so there could be no other curtain-raiser for this Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, the latest instalment from ‘their House’ to ‘our houses’.
"Before the ending of the day, creator of all things, we pray that, with your accustomed mercy, you may watch over us."
The doors at The Metropolitan Opera will not open to live audiences until 2021 at the earliest, and the likelihood of normal operatic life resuming in cities around the world looks but a distant dream at present. But, while we may not be invited from our homes into the opera house for some time yet, with its free daily screenings of past productions and its pay-per-view Met Stars Live in Concert series, the Met continues to bring opera into our homes.
Music-making at this year’s Grange Festival Opera may have fallen silent in June and July, but the country house and extensive grounds of The Grange provided an ideal setting for a weekend of twelve specially conceived ‘promenade’ performances encompassing music and dance.
There’s a “slide of harmony” and “all the bones leave your body at that moment and you collapse to the floor, it’s so extraordinary.”
“Music for a while, shall all your cares beguile.”
The hum of bees rising from myriad scented blooms; gentle strains of birdsong; the cheerful chatter of picnickers beside a still lake; decorous thwacks of leather on willow; song and music floating through the warm evening air.
The University of Maryland Opera Studio premiered a new commission this week: Shadowboxer, composed by Frank Proto, and based on the life of boxing champion Joe Louis.
The unexpected subject matter, juxtaposing the seedy world of boxing with the sophistication of opera, is bound to raise a few eyebrows. However, it contains topics typically found in opera: love, betrayal, sex and scandal. Every aspect of the show – music, lighting, costumes, staging, and audio-visual effects – is carefully designed to create a story which takes place in the abstract reflections of Joe’s memory. The unique subject coupled with Leon Major’s brilliant staging, an exceptional production team, and a crew of fresh, young voices, provides an intriguing and gratifying night at the opera.
The libretto, created by John Chenault, is not just a chronological biography of Joe's life; the story begins just before Joe's death. Continually jumping through time, the opera explores moments of triumph and the moments where the protagonist allows his demons to prevail. Through the journey, we are introduced to three Joe's: Old Joe in a wheelchair (Jarrod Lee), young, vibrant Joe eager to tackle the world (Duane A. Moody), and boxing Joe for the fight scenes (Nickolas Vaughn). On the surface, clear racial tensions are addressed, but there is more to Joe's story than the trials and tribulations of an African-American trying to succeed in a white world. From Joe’s perspective, we witness his vulnerability to women, his issues with the IRS, and the unjust title of democratic symbol the US media placed upon Joe during World War II. This “CNN opera” is much like John Adam’s Nixon in China, in that we see the real Joe behind the media portrayal, allowing the audience to formulate their own perceptions of Joe Louis.
As Old Joe's impending death draws near, ghosts from his past begin to haunt him. The stark stage, with large white panels and black chairs combined with a masked cast clad in gray, is very effective. The neutral palette not only enhances the ghostly quality of Joe's hazy memory, but it also allows the cast to become a part of the media machine; they become the black and white newspaper clippings that pop off the screen as Joe becomes a victim of propaganda. The cast’s recurring stage direction to freeze in time creates photographs frozen in place as Old Joe reflects on the event before him. The cast also behaves as ghosts; stoic figures that seem to float across the stage as wisps of Joe’s memory ebb and flow through his mind.
Time changing can be difficult to execute on stage; however, Leon Major and the production team accomplish it deftly. The dim lighting with swirling smoke effects places us in Old Joe’s disoriented dream-world; the impressionist-like music accompanying Old Joe, freely floating like Debussy’s Pelléas, adds to the atmosphere as he weaves his way in and out of the gray figures hovering through his mind. As soon as we are transported to a specific moment in the past, the stage lights up, masks are removed, the music finds a solid, upbeat rhythm, and the cast springs into action, just as quickly as a picture or memory can flash through one’s mind.
The stage can look quite cluttered at times; each member of the large cast has their own chair. However, besides adding to the image of Joe’s mind, cluttered with memories, the use of so many chairs is quite resourceful; they create the boxing ring and they symbolize the people in Joe’s life. As memories fade or characters pass on, the chairs are tipped over, symbolizing their departure. The clutter and confusion works particularly well during transitions into fight scenes. The movement of people and chairs, along with sound effects, cheering, and choreographed boxing fights emulates a real sporting crowd moving, shifting and alive with action.
The multi-media components are equally important in shaping the abstract images of Joe’s mind. Textured panels hung at angles provide a place to project video clips and photos, which are not merely plastered up on the wall; they are snippets of images taken from different angles. More importantly, the panels provide a backdrop for the lighting effects and shadows necessary to further express the meaning behind the opera’s title. The most effective shadow moment occurs during Marva's powerful aria in act two, sung by Adrienne Webster. As Marva expresses her frustration over loving Joe despite his infidelity, their shadows reflect her feelings even further: Joe has become a ghost to her. He is a distant and unattainable shadow of a man who used to be her husband, someone she now only sees in the news.
Marva’s stunning arias show her complete emotional breakdown as the relationship develops and falls apart. The first aria, sung in act one, is a sultry song of seduction; the lilting accompaniment with a slinky saxophone reflects Marva’s struggle between allowing herself to succumb to Joe’s sexual desires, while also trying to maintain her dignity. The second aria reflects her frustration and inability to let go of her womanizing husband. Both arias are based on the same music; however the second turns into an agitated cry with ascending chromatics in the orchestra, expressing her agony and rage about to bubble over. Her arias, much like those of Nixon’s wife Pat in Nixon in China, allow us to see the powerful and passionate woman behind the iconic man.
Other memorable characters include two sets of trios. The male reporters throw Joe on a pedestal when he’s up and kick him when he’s down. The writing, with its swagger and intense spit-fire text, underlined by angular pizzicato patterns in the strings, is reflective of a fast-paced news report, and the three singers, Andrew Owens, Andrew McLaughlin, and Colin Michael Brush, give stellar performances. Their line “You heard it hear first” appears many times throughout the opera, each time depicting a different period in Joe’s life: the excitement of his first fight, the disillusionment of his loss to Schmeling, the confusion surrounding Joe’s retirement, and the shock at his death. Three beauties (Madeline Miskie, Amelia Davis and Amanda Opuszynski) create the other trio and are omnipresent; they slither and snake around Joe, begging for sex and money. All six pressure and entice Joe, shaping both his public reputation and the personal choices he makes.
Additional noteworthy performances include Lillie Brooks, Joe’s mom, played by a member of the Maryland voice faculty, Carmen Balthrop. Clearly a seasoned professional, Balthrop sets a fantastic example to the students with her effortless voice and ownership of the character. Joe’s trainer, Jack Blackburn, played by VaShawn Savoy McIlwain, is another highlight of the evening. McIlwain is tough in every sense of the word: his look, his demeanor, his expression and his voice. The man personifies everything one expects in a world-class boxing coach – smart, demanding and intimidating.
The chorus plays a rather large role; at times it becomes a character, and other times it becomes part of the orchestra. Like the music in the entire opera, their part is extremely difficult to sing. There is very little repetition, the chords are highly chromatic, and the pitches come out of nowhere. Additionally, most of their material is sung on neutral syllables, which can be extremely difficult to memorize. Their role would rival Phillip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach where the singers repeat endless arrangements of solfege syllables and numbers. However, the repetitive minimalist nature of Einstein with clear diatonic sonorities has its advantages over the atonal harmonies sung by the Shadowboxer chorus. Many of the leads also need to use a dialect appropriate for their characters, as observed in operas such as Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Floyd’s Susannah. Learning this opera is no simple task, and the cast should be commended.
Despite its difficulty, I find the score to be quite remarkable as the musical layers unfold. When the balance between all the sections is right, the vocal color of the choir weaves in and out of the texture, reflecting Joe’s mind weaving in and out of insanity. The score is incredibly eclectic, combining elements of jazz, Broadway, and atonality, to name a few. In addition to the pit orchestra, Proto includes a jazz band on stage – a creative and welcome component to an opera paying homage to the time period in which Joe Louis lived. One of the many memorable moments with the jazz band includes an aria by Max Schmeling (Peter Joshua Burroughs), Germany’s propaganda puppet; it is ironic that Max’s music would be set to jazz, something the Nazis would have loathed. Like the saxophone used in Marva’s aria, jazz soloists emerge as characters as Joe continues to lose his mind in act two; he has a conversation with a trumpet and a saxophone, thinking they are former boxers talking to him from the grave.
Shadowboxer brings a fresh element to the stage. Sports fans will love the choreographed fight scenes; history buffs will enjoy the connection to social and political issues surrounding an epic American character; jazz musicians will appreciate seeing their art form performed in an uncharacteristic venue; and opera lovers will enjoy seeing dedicated, talented students perform this challenging and unique opera.
Kelly Butler
University of Maryland