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| John Barnstead introduces the rarely performed dramatic opera. (Bruce Bottomley Photo) |
The holidays are over, but on Sunday, January 18, Opera Nova Scotia and the Dal Department of Music offered a rich winter treat: a collaboration on Rachmaninoffâs one-act opera Aleko.
While the latest blizzard raged outside, those in attendance at the Lilian Piercey Concert Hall viewed an in-concert performance of Aleko by baritone Gregory Servant, soprano Beth Hagerman (a ±«Óătv student,) tenor Jason Davis, mezzo Kathryn Servant, and bass Neil Robertson, as well as ±«Óătv professor Peter Allen on piano. The Walter Kemp Singers performed choral sections. This talented ensemble (about half of whom are ±«Óătv faculty, students and alumni) is headed by Walter Kemp, previous chair of the ±«Óătv Music Department and Director of the Kingsâ Chapel Choir.
John Barnstead of the ±«Óătv Russian department introduced Aleko: a rarely-performed dramatic opera from 1893, inspired by Pushkinâs poem The Gypsies. The operaâs libretto, somewhat loosely following the original verse, charts the crimes and infidelities of Aleko, a young fugitive, and his gypsy wife Zemfira. Rachmaninoffâa child prodigy, as well as Tchaikovskyâs protĂ©gĂ©âwas only a teenager when he composed Aleko, which won a coveted gold medal for composition from the Moscow Conservatory before premiering at the Bolshoi Theatre.
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| Neil Robertson and Kathryn Servant perform Aleko. (Bruce Bottomley Photo) |
Dr. Barnstead also coached the singers in diction, as Aleko was performed entirely in Russian: a task which, according to Dr. Kemp, required learning much of the score phonetically.
As well as singing the title role, Dr. Servant, chair of the ±«Óătv Department of Music, produced and coordinated this performance of Aleko.
âRachmaninoffâs songs are so beautiful, so I decided to research his operatic repertoire,â says Dr. Servant. âWhen I discovered Aleko, I said⊠âwe have to perform this.â
The opera, which Dr. Servant characterizes as âvery lush, with rich harmonies and sweeping, passionate melodies,â features echoes of Mascagni and Tchaikovsky, as well as hints of Rachmaninoffâs future mastery of his craft.
âThis presentation is a 100 per cent collaboration between Opera Nova Scotia and the Dal Music Department, demonstrating the university's service to the community and its willingness to forge links with performing arts organizations across the province,â says Dr. Kemp.
Aleko was also the latest offering of Opera Nova Scotiaâs âInformoperalsâ program â a season of more relaxed, pay-what-you-can operatic performances, especially of rarer and less widely-performed pieces.
Judging by the near-full house that greeted Alekoâdespite the equally dramatic weatherâand the standing ovation that followed it, the Informoperals program is succeeding admirably. In fact, the diversity of the crowd was striking: young students brushed shoulders with more experienced patrons of the arts, but when Dr. Barnstead asked the audience to indicate who among them was previously unfamiliar with Aleko, almost everyone raised a hand.
Other Informoperals to be offered this year include âThe Counter-Tenor from Baroque to Britten,â featuring Andrew Pickett and Jennifer King, on March 1, and âChildren in Operaâ on April 5, at the Maritime Conservatory. Both performances are pay-what-you-canââ25 cents to 2,500 dollars,â in the words of Dr. Kemp.
Opera Nova Scotiaâs spring production will be Stravinksyâs The Rakeâs Progress: like Aleko, a relatively recent composition, and, like Aleko, chronicling the dangers inherent in idleness and wanton behavior. âEven in the desert, our nomad tents did not escape misfortune; fatal passions exist everywhere, and against fate there is no protection,â the old gypsy dramatically warns Aleko (whom of course goes off and causes catastrophe anyway.) Presumably, however, one should be relatively safe at the opera.