Francis preaching to the birds, Giotto
Today is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi. The Rose Ensemble has created a concert and recording entitled Il Povorello which culminates three years of research into Franciscan music, and the music of that time and place. I attended their outstanding concert at the Basilica in downtown Minneapolis Saturday night. It is difficult to overstate the excellence of this group. Each member is a first-class musician, and they have an almost-perfect ensemble sound that grows from seriousness of purpose and a sense of fun. I’ve never bought their recordings, because I would rather hear them live…sorry guys!
Minnesota Opera played Bizet’s Pearl Fishers these last two weekends and I saw the closing performance this afternoon. It was a good group of singers. Isabel Bayrakdarian, after a rocky start on her first bit of vocalese, was emotional and fluid, and Jesus Garcia and Philip Cutlip were great from their first duet on. The scene and costumes, designed by Zandra Rhodes and imported from a San Diego production, gave the piece an appearance of a storybook come to life.
Pearl Fishers…entrance of Leila, MN Opera's version.
(This picture doesn’t show how the scenery had the appearance of a drawing; e.g hatchmarks for rain, drawn flames for fire. It was simple and lovely.)
The choreography, also moved over from San Diego, mimicked every subdivided beat and flourish in the score. As usual in MO’s productions, the stage direction was sluggish and odd. I assume–as in every behemoth production in this city–that the idea of um, acting got overwhelmed by spectacle. Luckily, Zenon dancers were on stage to move around and make a few things happen in the crowd scenes.
An opera production can get static and stay that way. Things’re just too complex. Something needs to give and–given the demands of music and the boatloads spent on mise en scène–it’s the acting that gives. However this piece, with its nice tight little cast and story, would’ve been an ideal moment to dig in.
As for the music–wonderful. The story: insert obligatory reference to Edward Said here.
