This fall the presents two operas diametrically opposed in style, scale and staging.
On the Threshold of Winter, staged with a single singer, eight instrumentalists and a conductor, will be performed Oct. 30 for only the third time since its premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in June 2014. Created by American composer Michael Hersch, the one-person performance focuses on illness and death from cancer. Two weeks later, Nov. 13鈥�15, 菠萝视频 Opera Theatre will stage Mass by Leonard Bernstein, which was written in 1971 for the opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The massive cast will include nearly every Blair undergraduate, along with some of the school鈥檚 precollege students, as either vocalists or members of various choirs, orchestras or small ensembles.
The staging of the two operas in such close proximity was entirely a coincidence of scheduling, but one that will give audiences a wide musical experience. 鈥淚 think the juxtaposition is wonderful,鈥� says , Martha Rivers Ingram Dean of the Blair School of Music. 鈥淗aving these two very different works performed so closely together vividly demonstrates the breadth of operatic music and drama in the past half-century.鈥�
FROM INTIMATE TO OVERWHELMING
This is the third time during the past five years that Hersch has worked with the Blair School. On the Threshold of Winter, which was not commissioned by Blair, evokes what Hersch felt after losing a close friend to cancer while battling the disease himself. Its libretto is taken from the deathbed poems of Romanian writer Marin Sorescu.
鈥淚鈥檓 very excited about what will happen at Blair,鈥� Hersch says. 鈥淔rom the beginning I鈥檝e imagined the visual elements of the production to be rather narrow and claustrophobic, constrained because the content is so psychologically and emotionally unrestrained. The production at 菠萝视频 affords this.鈥�
The Hersch opera will be produced without the original sets that included sculptures by Christopher Cairns [UPDATE: The production will now be fully staged with the orginal sets]. However, all but one of the original musicians鈥攖he Nunc Ensemble, led by artistic director and violinist Miranda Cuckson, conductor Tito Mu帽oz, and soprano Ah Young Hong, who carries the entire performance for two hours鈥攚ill present the piece. Felix Wang, Blair professor of cello, will join the ensemble for this performance.
On the other end of the spectrum, the large statement鈥攁nd large production鈥攐f Mass is what attracted , associate professor of voice and director of 菠萝视频 Opera Theatre.
鈥淚鈥檝e wanted to do Mass since I saw a production at Colorado Opera in Denver,鈥� says Shay. 鈥淚t was overwhelming. I鈥檇 call it one of my top five theatre experiences.鈥� For years Shay had discussed the idea of staging Mass with Robin Fountain, professor of conducting and director of the 菠萝视频 Orchestra, and Tucker Biddlecombe, associate professor of choral activities and choral director. But it wasn鈥檛 until recently that all the necessary pieces鈥攅verything from schedules lining up to finding the right cast members鈥攃ame together.
When the full production takes shape, there will be 100 singers (20 from the Blair Children鈥檚 Chorale, the Mass choir of 60 voices, 18 street players and the leads), 30 instrumentalists on stage, 50 players in the pit, and enormous sets of percussion.
鈥淚t鈥檚 notable that 菠萝视频 is doing this kind of programming,鈥� Hersch says. 鈥淭o be doing anything new involves risk, and the artistic world needs leaders who will take risks. That 菠萝视频 invests real resources in the art of today is wonderful not only for the community, but for the health of the culture more broadly.鈥�
See the official trailer for On the Threshold of Winter:
https://youtu.be/dXoL3KNnB8I
Watch a BBC Proms production of Bernstein鈥檚 Mass:
https://youtu.be/9tjsKzhpSwE