James Karas
When a program for an opera gives
you a diagram of who loves whom you brace yourself for a rough trip in trying
to figure out the plot. When the names of four of the seven characters begin
with the letter “a” you may consider yourself licked.
Fear not. This is opera seria and
these people will fall in and out of love, throw in some treachery and all will
live happily ever after. Well, most of them, anyway. Yes, Xerxes of Xerxes
is the Persian Emperor Xerxes who got his butt kicked by the Greeks around 480
B.C. but Handel had better things to deal with in his opera.
A smidgeon of plot. Xerxes was
betrothed to Amastris but dumped her. Now he loves Romilda. His brother
Arsamenes also loves Romilda and she loves him (but not Xerxes). Atalanta also
loves Arsamenes. She wants to trick Xerxes into marrying Romilda so she can
have Arsamenes. Hint: intercept a letter and spread lies, Atalanta.
Amastris pops in disguised as a
man to check out the situation. Romilda’s father Arodates checks in and all is
worked out in the end.
Xerxes is a static opera
with no chorus, a few duets but mostly recitatives and arias sung by the
characters who tend to walk on stage, do their job and go off. There is no
doubt about the beauty of most of the arias as well as Handel’s music.
Conductor Tazewell Thompson and
Director Nicole Paiement have assembled a fine cast for the job. Countertenor
John Holiday, Jr. leads the cast as Xerxes. He was last seen at Glimmerglass in
2015 as Giulio Cesare in Cato in Utica and again displayed
his exquisite and delicate voice.
Allegra De Vita as Arsamenes,
Emily Pogorelc as Romilda and Katrina Galka as Atalanta in Handel's Xerxes.
Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival
Mezzo soprano Allegra De Vita
sings the role of the faithful Arsamenes. It is a pants role, obviously, and
her low notes serve her well in a fine performance. My only minor complaint is
about her costume. She is a woman pretending to be a man. Her costume should not
make her look like a woman. There is enough confusion in the opera.
Glimmerglass has an extensive and
redoubtable Young Artists program and five of the seven singers in Xerxes are drawn from that program. The
tricky and mendacious Atalanta is in the vocal chords of soprano Katrina Galka;
soprano Emily Pogorelc handles the role of Romilda; mezzo soprano Abigail Dock
sang Amastris, the jilted one who appears disguised as a man.
Handel does provide a comic role
in Elviro sung by bass baritone Calvin Griffin who is given scope for his comic
talent as well as singing. Bass Brent Michael Smith plays Ariodates, the father
of Romilda who is not involved in a love affair. I name all the Young Artists
in recognition of their developing talents and fine performances.
Sara Jean Tosetti has designed
some lovely gowns for the ladies. The set by John Conklin consists of three
raised platforms and some hanging panels in the background. Changing light
effects by Robert Wierzel provide plenty of color.
_____
Xerxes by George Frideric Handel (music) and Nicolo Minato and
Silvio Stampiglia (libretto), is being performed seven times between July 15
and August 18, 2017 at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York.
Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or www.glimmerglass.org
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