June 15 2011
ITALY-NEW ENGLAND: DO YOU KNOW THAT?
Press Review for the Consulate General of Italy in Boston by Alessandra Granelli
The queen who turned to stone
by Jeremy Eichler - The Boston Globe
The biennial Boston Early Music Festival has returned,
drawing our gaze toward yet another operatic spectacle lost
to history. This year the work serving as BEMF’s centerpiece
is a sprawlingly ambitious, memorably colorful, occasionally
transporting work by Agostino Steffani called “Niobe: Regina
di Tebe.’’ The opera, and the festival as a whole, opened on
Sunday afternoon at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.
Steffani is a name hardly remembered today, even by opera
insiders, but he lived a fascinating life (1653 to 1728) not only
as a musician but also as a diplomat and later a bishop. He
was born in Veneto, traveled to Paris where he probably met
Lully, and spent most of his career in Germany. His
biographer, Colin Timms, persuasively frames him as a kind
of cross-pollinator of the Baroque, one who brought French
and Italian styles into a meaningful synthesis in Germany,
thereby helping to create the musical inheritance of Handel
(who studied and likely stole from his duets) and Bach (who
was born just three years before “Niobe’’ premiered in
Munich). Yet as “Niobe’’ suggests from its first act alone,
Steffani was not just a synthesist but also an inventive and
original musical voice.
With a libretto adapted (by Luigi Orlandi) from Ovid’s tale of
Niobe, the opera’s plot is easily summarized: the Queen of
Thebes is punished by the gods for her hubris and pride.
With her children struck down, her husband, Anfione, takes
his own life in grief, and Niobe is so bereft she turns to stone.
Steffani’s score is nonetheless epic in length. The composer
himself made cuts, as did BEMF’s artistic team, but Sunday’s
performance with two intermissions still clocked in at around
four hours.
Despite the opera’s title, the composer saves some of his very
best music for Anfione, a king in flight from the public
burdens of kingship, seeking instead a life of peaceful
contemplation. In Act I he sings an extraordinary aria of
longing for that quieter life that might “refresh my tired
soul,’’ the vocal line soaring over a distant and mysteriously
beautiful consort of offstage viols. Elsewhere he is given
brilliantly rageful coloratura, and a moving final aria. Even
the libretto glorifies his singing, with one aria described as so
powerful it causes the walls of the city to rise.
BEMF wisely recruited the excellent French countertenor
Philippe Jaroussky for this role, and on Sunday he sang it
with style, conviction, and at its more intimate moments, a
poignant sweetness of tone. Soprano Amanda Forsythe took
on the title role, giving a poised and vocally agile
performance, if also one that felt a bit dramatically
circumscribed, seldom reaching for the expressive extremes
that Niobe’s music would seem to welcome.
1
The rest of the large cast was uniformly capable and
sometimes more: Kevin D. Skelton was the Theban prince
Clearte, Colin Balzer was Tiberino, who rescues the young
maiden Manto, charmingly sung by Yulia Van Doren.
Charles Robert Stephens was the priest Tiresia, Matthew
White sang Creonte, and Jesse Blumberg was the magicianprince Poliferno. José Lemos provided earthy wisdom and
moments of comic relief alongside his fine singing as Nerea,
the Nurse. (Members of the PALS Children’s Chorus also
participated with abundant care.)Stage director Gilbert Blin
has given us another thoughtful and meticulous period
production — down to the hand gestures, by now a BEMF
trademark — with regal costuming by Anna Watkins and
elegant choreography by Caroline Copeland and Carlos
Fittante. The dance music written for the original opera has
been lost but the creative team seamlessly retrofitted the score
with plausible substitutes. The BEMF orchestra, led by
musical directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, did a
superb job on Sunday in showing off Steffani’s unusually
wide palette of colors and bringing to certain moments a
chamber-like intimacy.
More generally, O’Dette and Stubbs seem to have access to
an endless pipeline of works you’ve never heard but, if you
have a core sympathy for Baroque opera, you’ll be glad to
discover. (BEMF has already announced that its 2013
centerpiece will be Graupner’s “Antiochus und Stratonica’’ in
its North American premiere.) The brand of musical
archeology practiced here also reminds us that, to tweak a
line from Herzen, operas have a libretto but history does not.
There is, among all the other factors, an element of pure
chance in what music has survived to the present. Steffani’s
operas have not been lucky, but at least “Niobe’’ is now
finally on view, enabling modern audiences to enjoy it
coloristic riches and judge the bigger picture for themselves.
June 15 2011
Niobe, Wholeheartedly Recommended
by Geoffrey Wieting- The Boston Musical Intelligencer
The 2011 Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) got off to a
rousing start on June 12 with a lavish production of Agostino
Steffani’s 1688 opera, Niobe, Regina di Tebe at the Cutler
Majestic Theatre. An impressive number of individual and
institutional sponsors have been lined up for every aspect of
this undertaking, and its resulting exceptional quality is
visible and audible throughout. Paul O’Dette and Stephen
Stubbs are music directors as well as playing theorbo and
baroque guitar, and Gilbert Blin is the stage director. An
outstanding international cast is joined by the unsurpassed
BEMF Orchestra and the fine PALS Children’s Chorus, and
the superb singing and playing is complemented by the
terpsichorean pleasures offered by the BEMF Dance
Ensemble.
Steffani is ripe for rediscovery: most of his operas survive in
manuscript only and haven’t been performed for over three
centuries. Nonetheless, he was a cosmopolitan musician,
highly regarded in his day, having studied and/or worked in
Italy, France, and, for the largest part of his career, in
Germany. Something of a triple threat, he was prominent as
composer, diplomat, and Roman Catholic clergyman. The
music of Niobe is wonderfully rich and varied; at times it
recalls earlier compatriots, particularly Monteverdi, and at
others employs daringly advanced harmony comparable to
passages later composed by J.S. Bach. Only Niobe’s dance
music has not survived though it has been established that it
was composed by Frenchman Melchior d’Ardespin.
Choreographers Caroline Copeland and Carlos Fittante have
done an commendable job of re-creating both music and
choreography, using other music by d’Ardespin and Steffani,
for the numerous pure dance sequences.
The piece opens with a fairly standard-issue French overture,
brimming with dotted rhythms, until the fast section begins
and drums and antiphonal trumpets are suddenly, thrillingly
added to the mix. When the curtain was raised on Thebes’s
King Anfione and his court, the set and costumes drew
immediate applause. We are quickly introduced to several of
the cast. Anfione seems an enlightened ruler, about to lay
down his power and let Niobe reign in his stead. The soonto-be queen’s nurse, Nerea, suspects what Anfione does not:
that the regent Clearte has amorous feelings for his charge
and even that she might return them. As Anfione, Philippe
Jaroussky, belonging to the relatively rare vocal category of
sopranist countertenor, cuts a regal figure and sings with
sovereign command (in every sense). Soprano Amanda
Forsythe is equally impressive as Niobe. As Clearte, tenor
Kevin D. Skelton sings handsomely and makes clear the
initial struggle within the character between his desires and
his duty. Countertenor José Lemos as Nerea takes full
advantage of being the central comic figure of the opera but
also loses no opportunity for vocal display.
2
The next scene introduces Theban maiden Manto, menaced
by a bear in the woods, and Alban Prince Tiberino, out
hunting and fortunately on hand to save her by capturing
and taming the bear. Soon after the rescue Manto’s father
arrives, the prophet and priest Tiresia whom Jove has given
clairvoyance to compensate for his blindness. As the maiden,
soprano Yulia van Doren makes an ideal ingénue, strikingly
beautiful and singing with a lovely light touch, excellent
agility, and a luscious sound, but also with a generous variety
of colors when desired. Tenor Colin Balzer makes a fine
counterpart for her and sings elegantly and ardently while
baritone Charles Robert Stephens has convincing gravitas as
the experienced father-figure, and authority as well as
outrage as soothsayer/priest.
Finally, we meet Poliferno, Prince of Attica and magician,
and Creonte, son of the King of Thessaly but under the
control of Poliferno. They arrive from above in the first
notable piece of stage machinery: a dragon with glowing red
eye, amidst clouds. The craven conjurer has nursed a grudge
against Anfione for a long time and plans to use Creonte to
exact his revenge. Enjoying the juicy villain role, baritone
Jesse Blumberg sings a vigorous, martial aria urging Creonte
(and his soldiers) to attack Anfione and take Niobe for his
own. Somewhat later, countertenor Matthew White gets his
own stirring vengeance aria as Creonte, though he is little
more than a mouthpiece for Poliferno at this point. In sharp
contrast of mood is his delectable love duet with Niobe, both
under the magician’s spell.
Niobe and Anfione, the two leading characters, have the
greatest range of music — contemplative, amorous, brilliant,
and (at the end) poignant. At the opening of Act III, the
bewitched Niobe and Creonte continue to believe they are
divine as well as in love with each other. Indeed, Niobe sings
an exquisite aria to Creonte, beautifully collaborating with
theorbo, baroque guitar, and baroque harp. Later, after
learning the truth but still wanting to believe in her divinity,
she goes off the deep end for a time in a combination mad
scene/vengeance aria; Forsythe gave a spine-tingling
account. Although through most of the opera, Niobe is quite
unsympathetic, due to her enormous hubris, she is horribly
punished near the end by the killings of all her children. Her
grief is so great she cannot even weep but instead gradually
turns to stone during her final aria. With poignant singing
Forsythe managed to make us feel a glimmer of sympathy for
her at her end.
Anfione is celebrated for his musical abilities so it is only
fitting that his music be especially wonderful. In Act I he
sings praises of the music of the spheres. Jaroussky here
demonstrated marvelous control in his expressive shading of
vibrato and dynamics. (There was also some delightful, apt
choreography here: children carrying globes of various sizes
June 15 2011
in carefully planned orbits around the monarch.) In Act II,
Tiresia clues Anfione in to what is really going on,
reawakening his fighting spirit. At this point the infuriated
king launches into the most spectacular aria in the opera,
declaring vengeance on Poliferno and Creonte. The
brilliance of Jaroussky’s coloratura was astounding and the
virtuosity of the accompanying continuo equally so. Much
later when he realizes that his children have all been killed
due to Niobe’s pride, Anfione stabs himself and dies over the
course of his final lament aria. This has not only the
commonplace descending chromatic bass line but an
answering ascending line, tightening the emotional screws in
the singer’s moving performance.
When Creonte takes the Theban throne, he tries to heal
wounds by punishing Poliferno, blessing the union of
Tiberino and Manto, and forgiving Nerea for her earlier
foolish machinations. He sings a final florid aria in praise of
destiny, and the opera ends with a celebratory dance in
which virtually all the orchestra’s instruments, standard and
exotic, get a final “bow.”
A final word of praise is due all the technical crew whose
meticulous planning made this immense production go off
without a hitch. The multi-layered sets worked well and had
an authentic period feel while making efficient use of the
somewhat limited stage and wings space. The multiple flying
apparatuses (dragon and clouds) convincingly conveyed
characters “from sky to earth” and certainly heightened the
drama! I fervently hope that this triumph will lead to other
Steffani opera productions even though they will be hard put
to match the standard set by this one. Recommended
wholeheartedly!
3
June 15 2011
Riconoscimento europeo alla ricerca a Riccardo Zecchina
Riccardo Zecchina, ordinario di Fisica Teorica al Politecnico
di Torino, ha ricevuto il più prestigioso riconoscimento
europeo alla ricerca: l’ERC Advanced Investigator Grant1,
finanziamento rivolto ai ricercatori d’eccellenza in ogni
ambito di studi. Dalla sua istituzione nel 2007, solo 24 dei
793 Grant attribuiti in tutta Europa sono stati assegnati a
ricercatori attivi in enti di ricerca italiani, nelle scienze fisiche
e ingegneristiche. Riccardo Zecchina con il suo lavoro ha
introdotto nuovi metodi computazionali – vale a dire
metodologie per tradurre un problema teorico nel linguaggio
del computer, che lo rende risolubile – che promettono di
portare a progressi sostanziali in molte discipline della
scienza applicata e dell’ingegneria, in primis nella biologia
molecolare e nelle neuroscienze. La biologia molecolare
odierna è in grado di acquisire una quantità di dati
inimmaginabile anche solo nello scorso decennio.
L’interpretazione di tali dati in termini di meccanismi di
interazione tra geni, proteine, RNA, è un problema di
grande difficoltà computazionale la cui soluzione può portare
a scoperte innovative sia nella comprensione dei meccanismi
biologici fondamentali sia nelle terapie cliniche di malattie
complesse, come i tumori e le malattie neurodegenerative. Il
finanziamento ad personam, di oltre un milione di euro,
viene assegnato per un progetto che ha due obiettivi primari:
uno di tipo teorico, che mira ad un ulteriore sviluppo
metodologico, l’altro di tipo applicativo, che si propone di
adattare le nuove tecniche a tutto vantaggio della ricerca
biologica. Saranno dunque sviluppati metodi, modelli e
codici per la soluzione di problemi di ottimizzazione su
grandi scale. Le prime applicazioni riguarderanno
l’identificazione dei meccanismi di regolazione genica e la
loro relazione con la progettazione di cure tumorali
personalizzate, oltre all’analisi dei meccanismi elementari
della memoria. Sempre di più i progetti dell’ateneo hanno
carattere interdisciplinare e trasversale rispetto alle discipline
scientifiche, secondo lo spirito voluto dall’Unione europea.
Le scienze applicate – nel cui ambito rientra il progetto – ben
interpretano la filosofia europea. Non deve dunque stupire la
stretta connessione di studi politecnici con quelli più
squisitamente bio-medicali.
Riccardo Zecchina collabora su questi argomenti con tre
centri di ricerca negli Stati Uniti, (Microsoft Research New
England e M.I.T., Boston, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center, New York), oltre che con la Human Genetics
Foundation a Torino.
(ZipNews)
4
June 15 2011
Christopher Kavi Carbone - Andiamo Tutti! Celebrating Italy in Story & Song
(Children)
Tuesday, July 19 - 10:30 AM at Providence Public Library
Come along with Christopher Kavi Carbone as we travel to
the country of Italy, on a Magic Gondola of the
Imagination!
Through interactive Storie e Canzoni (Storytelling & Songs)
we will enjoy an Abbondanza of smiles & wisdom from this
beloved land. Andiamo, Tutti! – Come along, Everyone!
With guitar, mandolin and everyone‘s voices too, a variety of
instruments and music will accompany us along the way.
Christopher Kavi Carbone is co-director of Arts-inCelebration!
5