I had another magical three days in Wexford - not a drop of rain, mild and mostly sunny. Yesterday morning I left the bright blue skies and autumn chill, armed with bread and cheese from the spectacular shop attached to Greenacres, Wexford's primary source for the best things in life!
Photo: Clive Barda
But the main reason for being here is of course the opera, in fact four operas of which three are extremely rare to encounter, and the fourth the European premiere of William Bolcom's Dinner at Eight, first performed in Minnesota in March last year. William Bolcom crafted three large scale operas which I saw in Chicago over the many years that I have been going, and indeed living there. These were McTeague, A View from the Bridge, and The Wedding. They were all extremely effective pieces and warmly received by that discriminating though conservative audience. Dinner at Eight is on altogether a smaller scale but with Mary Dunleavy (third from left above) spectacularly leading the very strong cast, it made for an evening hugely enjoyed in Wexford. Happy memories of Mary in Intermezzo and Falstaff at Garsington in recent seasons......
My first evening, Friday, I was at a verismo double bill, pieces by Franco Leoni and Umberto Giordano. The Leoni was L'Oracolo, famously recorded by Joan Sutherland and Tito Gobbi, but otherwise although premiered at Covent Garden in 1905 (conducted by André Messager!) and briefly performed with success at the Met in 1915, it has scarcely been seen since. But kudos to David Agler for resuscitating it for opera collectors to check out. It could be another 100 years before it is seen again so you must move quickly!
The Giordano, Mala vita, is an altogether more substantial item and a terrific half evening with fine singing and conducting (the excellent Francesco Ciluffo) with both pieces benefiting from splendid productions by the very gifted Rodula Gaitanu.
The third evening was a real rarity Mercadante's Il bravo. The narrative is almost incomprehensibly confusing, even by operatic standards, and I read the synopsis three times and was none the wiser. But its full of splendid music and was superbly conducted by Jonathan Brandani. The Wexford Orchestra is an outstanding group of players and he got energetic idiomatic and precision playing from them. Bravo indeed! The production was by the Barbe and Doucet team who will be responsible for the new Zauberflöte at Glyndebourne next year. Lets see how that works out. They produce beautiful images but telling the story with clarity was beyond them, or possibly anyone!
A real Saturday morning joyful event was the Tom Walsh lecture given by Thomas Allen. It turned out to be a splendid 75 minute "lecture recital" with a delightful mix of Tom's favourite things spanning his remarkable career since he emerged, in the Glyndebourne chorus, in 1969! He was utterly charming and elegant as always. And was accompanied brilliantly by Stephen Higgins. The full house at St Iberius church reveled in this hour of music making.
For some reason my blogging software is not allowing me to post pictures.......if it corrects this I will add some later today or tomorrow!
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