Alexandra Rodrick was a strikingly real Donna Elvira who communicated her volatility with vivid acting and a glint of steel in her mezzo-soprano voice.
Respighi premiered his arrangement of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in 1935, a time period that, according to L’Orfeo’s stage director and choreographer Keturah Stickann, produced big, romantic scores typified by lush, almost cinematic orchestration. “It’s interesting because we not only have the history of Monteverdi, but we also have the lens that Respighi put on top of it,” Stickann said. Staging a show that has never been seen in the United States means there was no template for Stickann to follow, no institutional memory of how it should look. That blank canvas, along with Respighi’s lens on top of Monteverdi, allowed her to approach her directing with unfettered, unclouded eyes.
Directed and choreographed by Keturah Stickann, the production has been set in rural America at roughly the time Respighi wrote his orchestration to maintain a historical, nostalgic feel. According to Belcher, the director’s vision for the production grew in part out of a desire to not only utilize the unique space the Chautauqua Amphitheater provides, but also the Chautauqua experience itself in terms of creating a genuine community. The challenges in updating this piece are clear: references to Antiquity, such as the Furies, not to mention the appearances of gods like Apollo (Arnold Livingston Geis) and Pluto (Evan Ross). Establishing the religious fundamentalism of the region through a snake-handling scene early on, which at first to me seemed like cheap stereotyping, but ultimately served to establish the community’s belief in very real angels and demons and Hell and helped make the update work for me.
Festival conductor Bruce Stasyna not only leads the San Diego Symphony in fine and diverse performances over the weekend, he also co-conceived with Alan E. Hicks the opening concert, which drew 425 cars on Saturday. As in past “One Amazing Night” recitals, opera was just one of the genres explored. Subtitled “Unmasking the music of notorious pandemics” may sound like dreary fare, but it was fascinating.
