Live opera broadcasts set to start fall season in the Flathead Valley

Now that summer is over, we can look forward to a wonderful new season of operas broadcast “Live in HD” from The Metropolitan Opera in New York City and shown at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center in Whitefish and Cinemark Signature Stadium 14 Theatre in Kalispell. The Met has chosen a terrific lineup of greatest hits and lesser-known gems for their HD season, all outstanding musical settings of stories of romance, loyalty, tragedy, seduction, betrayal, murder, revenge — the emotions that make us human.

What you need to know about “The Met: Live in HD:”

• The 2015-16 season includes 10 broadcasts, beginning Oct. 3 and ending April 30. English subtitles are projected on the screen.
• All the broadcasts will be shown live on Saturday mornings; most begin at 10:55 a.m.  
• For the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, single tickets may be purchased at the door on Saturday mornings (cash or check only): $20 adults/$5 students/$10 college students. A “season ticket bundle,” which consists of one ticket for each of the 10 broadcasts and may be purchased in advance for $180 (10 tickets for the price of 9). Call Carol Atkinson at 862-7591 to purchase a season ticket bundle.
• The intermissions at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center are as enjoyable as the operas themselves. On the TV screen in the lobby, watch behind-the-scene set changes and hear interviews with leading singers immediately after they leave the stage.
• For the Cinemark Signature Stadium 14 Theatres, single tickets are available for $23 adults/$16 children/$21 seniors. Season packages are available online for $207 for adults, $144 for children and $189 for seniors. Visit www.cinemark.com or call 406-752-7804 for more information.

Highlights for the Upcoming Season:

“Il Trovatore” (Verdi): Oct. 3 — Guiseppe Verdi is the greatest all-around opera composer ever, and “Il Trovatore” (“The Troubadour”) is one of Verdi’s most celebrated operas. “Il Trovatore” has been performed more than 600 times at The Met alone and is one of the top 20 operas performed world-wide. It’s a romantic tragedy jam-packed with famous melodies, lots of action, and high emotion. It has a bizarre back-story that includes a mother burning at the stake and a baby mistakenly thrown into the bonfire with her. The plot involves a troubadour seducing a lovely lady, a duel, Gypsies, more burning at the stake, a poisoning, and a pending execution in the dungeon of a castle. Verdi was reputedly enamored with dramatic plot lines — the more outlandish the better — and “Il Trovatore” has probably one of the most dramatic plot lines in the opera repertoire. It also has one of the most famous opera choruses, “The Anvil Chorus.” Even an opera newbie would probably recognize this melody; it is familiar and thrillingly high-energy. Russian soprano Anna Netrekbo is singing the role of Leonora.

“Otello” (Verdi): Oct. 17 — Considered one of Verdi’s very finest operas, “Otello” was composed late in Verdi’s career when he was nearing retirement. In fact, it almost never happened. Verdi’s music publisher kept bugging Verdi to quit working on his farm and get back to work writing an opera based on Shakespeare’s play “Othello, The Moor of Venice,” even going as far as sending a cake to Verdi three Christmases in a row with a chocolate Moor on top. This upcoming Met production of “Otello” is notable in opera circles because for the first time, the tenor who sings the Moor will not perform in blackface (Aleksandrs Antonenko was Don Jose in last season’s “Carmen”). “Otello” is a tragedy that features a gripping plot of jealousy, hatred, and unfortunate misunderstandings that lead to Otello killing his loving wife, Desdemona. Just before Otello kills her, Desdemona sings an especially touching aria “Salce, Salce” that is a prayer to the Virgin Mary in the face of death at her husband’s hand. We should all experience this classic Shakespearean tale, but maybe reading the play is a bit tedious and one-dimensional for you. Instead, come to the opera for a multi-sensory setting of this timeless story.

“Tannhauser” (Wagner): Oct. 31 — Let’s get the pronunciation correct of this Wagnerian (German) opera: “TAHN’-hoy-sir.” The second “a” has a double-dot over it, hence the “hoy” sound in it. This opera has a surprising plot, not the “lady with the horns” kind of opera I naively associate with Wagner. This guy Tannhauser is a singing knight who once lived with the goddess Venus in her Playboy Club-like “Venusberg,” and while there, Tannhauser enjoyed all the sexual pleasures Venus offered. But he tired of that and longed to return to the human world, where he entered a singing contest to win back his ex-girlfriend. For his contest selection, Tannhauser makes the mistake of breaking forth in a song that describes his over-the-top time as Venus’ boy toy, and that gets him in trouble with the pious people in the audience. They banish him to Rome to seek penance from the Pope, and after love, death, and redemption, he receives it — a common theme of Wagner’s later operas. This opera is famous for its overture, now a stand-alone symphony piece, as well as the glorious Grand March that the chorus sings. James Levine will be conducting “Tannhauser,” and he always does a tremendous job. South African tenor Johan Botha is in the role of Tannhauser and Dutch soprano Eva-Marie Westbroek plays Elisabeth.

“Lulu” (Berg): Nov. 21 — This is an outrageous story about a woman, Lulu, with morals as dark as the Seven Deadly Sins. This is a modern opera (1937) by Austrian composer Alban Berg; and this Lulu woman is one piece of work. The story involves greed, seduction, nymphomania, murder, suicide, bribery, cholera, prostitution, and yes, Jack the Ripper. Who wouldn’t want to see how all this nefariousness fits together into a plot about a beautiful woman and her many lovers? Admit it — we all love to peer into the lives of the over-sexed and under-principled, so here’s our chance. Composer Berg was highly influenced by Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone system, a musically complex chromatic composition technique that makes this opera sound “modern.” But Berg also idolized Wagner and Mahler who came before him, so Berg’s use of this modern compositional system is tempered by his love of traditional Romantic music. Berg is considered the “classist of modern music” because he handled this new tonality so skillfully. So in other words, we shouldn’t shy away from this opera because it sounds “modern.” Marlis Petersen stars as Lulu.

“Les Pecheurs de Perles” (Bizet): Jan. 16 — This is Bizet’s “other” opera; “Carmen” is more famous, but few operas can match “The Pearl Fishers” for sheer lyric beauty. Bizet composed exquisite arias, duets, trios, and choruses for this opera, set in an exotic pearl-diving village in the Far East. The “Friendship Duet” is one of the best-known numbers in opera, and the chorus “Prayer to Brahma” is a thrilling highlight. The Pearl Fishers has a familiar plot — two men love the same woman. The opera ends happily for the woman and one of the men, but not so well for the left-out guy. But after Lulu, we might need to see at least somebody living happily ever after. German coloratura soprano Diana Damrau stars as Leila, with the two friends who rival for her love sung by Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien.

“Turandot” (Puccini): Jan. 30 — Some say “toor-ahn-DOTE”; others say “toor-ahn-DOT.” But we can agree on this: “Turnandot” is a romantic happy-ender set in China with just a little bit of tragedy thrown in. Yes, the Chinese princess Turandot gets to chop the head off any suitor who doesn’t pass her riddle questions. Believe it or not, the Chinese government was so touchy about this supposedly bad reflection on their country that they banned its performance there until only 18 years ago. Puccini died while trying to finish “Turnandot” (someone else did, based on Puccini’s sketches). At Turandot’s debut in 1926, Conductor Arturo Toscanini abruptly stopped the music and turned to the audience saying, “Here the Maestro put down his pen” — and that was the end of the evening. We will get to see the whole thing, including the arguably most famous tenor aria in all of opera, “Nessun dorma,” (“None Shall Sleep”), a favorite encore of the Three Tenors and an aria that will stir your soul.

“Manon Lescaut” (Puccini): March 5 — This flaky woman Manon was so appealing to opera composers that Massenet wrote an opera about her, and so did Puccini. When asked why he wrote an opera about the same woman as Massenet, Puccini replied, “A woman like Manon should have more than one lover.” She sure had trouble deciding which man in her life to love. Would it be the handsome young Des Grieux or would it be the wealthy old Geronte who could give her jewels and gold? Fickle Manon makes her decision and after some evil antics ends up sailing with him from France to New Orleans, where they disembark and wander penniless through the Louisiana wilderness. This new Met production stars German tenor Jonas Kaufmann as Des Grieux and Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais as Manon Lescaut.

“Madama Butterfly” (Puccini): April 2 — This is a gut-wrenching personal tragedy set in Japan, a story of love gone wrong and the contrast between loyalty and betrayal. “Madama Butterfly” is the basis for the Broadway show “Miss Saigon” with the setting changed from Japan to Vietnam. In short, an American Navy officer Pinkerton marries on a whim the Japanese teenager Cio-Cio-San (nicknamed “Butterfly”), all the while expecting to return to the States to marry a real American wife. After a short honeymoon, Pinkerton leaves Butterfly — pregnant. Butterfly never gives up hope that he will return, despite the doubts of Butterfly’s loyal maid, Suzuki. Officer Pinkerton does return to visit, but with his new American wife — which doesn’t go so well in the Butterfly household. Butterfly will be sung by Puccini specialist Kristine Opolais. Pinkerton will be Roberto Alagna, and Suzuki the maid will be sung by American mezzo Maria Zifchak.

“Roberto Devereux” (Donizetti): April 16 — Before he died of syphilis and insanity in 1848, Donizetti wrote more than 70 operas, including such perennial favorites as “Don Pasquale” and “Lucia di Lammermoor.” His opera “Roberto Devereux” is one of his lesser-known works and is actually new to the Met stage this season. Curious opera goers will have much to chat about after seeing this set-in-London story of convoluted romance in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. In real life, Roberto Devereux was an English Duke and executed for treason; in the opera, he set the hearts aflutter of both the Queen and a member of her court, and he pays the ultimate price for his many charms. We will be treated to the sumptuous costumes of Elizabethan England and see famous historical figures onstage, but we will hear these English characters sing in Italian. Remember, the Italian opera-going public enjoyed operas about other lands, so this language/setting disconnect was not uncommon. Starring as Queen Elisabeth is American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky; her royal rival Sara is Latvian mezzo Elina Garanca, and American tenor Matthew Polenzani (who will star in “Les Pecheurs des Perles”) will be the ill-fated Roberto Devereux.

“Elektra” (Richard Strauss): April 30 — Oh boy, hang on — this is a one-act tragedy based on the ancient Greek myth about extreme domestic violence. Elektra’s mother and lover murdered Elektra’s father, and Elektra always vowed to revenge that horrid act despite her sister urging her to let it go so they could lead normal lives. Nothing was normal about Elektra, that’s for sure. She recruited her long-lost brother to chop up her mother, all while screaming “Stab her again!”

Strauss’ powerful music perfectly accompanies this emotional agony, especially in the last 15 minutes of the opera. Again, we opera-goers have to suspend our disbelief and listen to this opera sung in German, but set in ancient Greece. Starring as Elektra is Swedish prize-winning dramatic soprano Nina Stemme. “Elektra’s” shocking ending will send us staggering out into the lobby, dramatically ending the 2015-16 season of “The Met: Live in HD.”

Sally Murdock is a guest writer for This Week in the Flathead and can be reached at murdock@cyberport.net.