Heaven for opera lovers: 4 operas and 7 recitals

Posted 8/22/18

Academy of Vocal Arts president and artistic director Kevin McDowell, a longtime East Falls resident, speaks in front a group of AVA students at the Kimmel Center. (Photo courtesy of Camille Mola) by …

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Heaven for opera lovers: 4 operas and 7 recitals

Posted

Academy of Vocal Arts president and artistic director Kevin McDowell, a longtime East Falls resident, speaks in front a group of AVA students at the Kimmel Center. (Photo courtesy of Camille Mola)

by Michael Caruso

The Academy of Vocal Arts has announced its 2018-19 season of fully staged operas and recitals. The nation’s only full-scholarship school devoted solely to the training of classical singers will present four operas and seven recital programs.

The season gets underway Thursday & Friday, Sept. 20 & 21, at 7:30 p.m. with the “New Artist Recital” in AVA’s own Helen Corning Warden Theater at 1920 Spruce St. in Center City. Next on the roster will be the “Giargiari Bel Canto Competition,” set for Friday, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater.

The season’s first operatic mounting will be a Puccini double bill of “Le Villi” and “Suor Angelica,” running Nov. 3-27 with performances in the Warden Theater as well as at Lehigh University and The Haverford School’s Centennial Hall on the Main Line. A recital of “Russian Romances” Monday & Tuesday, Dec. 17 & 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Warden Theater will round out the calendar year.

AVA will start the New Year with its first-ever production of Dvorak’s “Rusulka” Jan. 26, 29 & 31 and Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in its Warden Theater. Close on its heels will be a “Winter Recital” Tuesday & Thursday, Feb. 12 & 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Warden Theater.

Mozart’s ever-popular “Cosi fan tutte” will be staged March 2-9 at the Warden Theater and March 12 at 7:30 p.m. in The Haverford School’s Centennial Hall. “Jubilate: A Concert of Sacred Music” is set for Saturday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr, and Sunday, March 17, at 7 p.m. in the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. A “Spring Recital” is scheduled for Tuesday & Thursday, April 2 & 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Warden Theater.

The final operatic presentation of the season is another first-ever for AVA: Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette” April 27-May 2 at the Warden Theater and May 7 in Centennial Hall. The entire season is set to come to a close Friday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. with a “Farewell Recital” that’s free to subscribers in the Church of the Holy Trinity.

AVA’s president and artistic director is longtime East Falls resident K. James McDowell. Talking about AVA and the new season during a recent conversation, he explained that AVA begins the school year with 26 students. “Again,” he said, “since that’s the number we’ve had for the last few years. Eight are new to AVA: from China, Mexico, Korea – and three that are local, coming from the Philadelphia area, including one from GAMP (a Center City magnet school focusing on music).”

McDowell mentioned with particular satisfaction a continuing relationship with a music school in Mexico City that has sent several of its students to Philadelphia to study at AVA. “They do an excellent job teaching musicianship there,” he said.

McDowell also pointed with satisfaction to AVA’s endowment of approximately $37m. “When I came here in 1986, it was only $3m. And we’ve experienced several big bumps in the road along the way. The years between 2008 and 2011 were difficult, but we’ve rebounded. And we ended last year with a surplus from both market gains and bequests. For the first time, we’re budgeting for bequests – a small amount, of course, but we’re hoping that develops.”

McDowell explained this year’s choice of operatic offerings by pointing to the current student roster of singers. “We have to choose operas that our students can sing and that prepare them to audition for major opera companies throughout the world,” he said. “And we need to choose operas that provide us with enough roles so that we can double and even triple cast to give as many students as possible the opportunity to perform and include those performances in their resumes.

“The Puccini double bill does that,” he continued. “The Dvorak gives our students the chance to sing a Czech opera. ‘Cosi’ gives us six equal roles that suit our young singers perfectly. And ‘Romeo et Juliette’ is an important opera in the French repertoire.”

McDowell added that the production of “Romeo et Juliette” will give AVA the chance to bring in a guest conductor – Stephen Mosteller – with whom the students can work alongside of music director Christofer Macatsoris. “I’m hoping to bring in a guest conductor every season. I think it’s important for the students’ experiences here as well as a way for us to look ahead into the future.”

In the same vein, McDowell said that AVA’s administrative staff will be enhanced by the addition of a soon-to-be-announced vice president to work with him. “Eventually I think we’ll have a separate managing director and a separate artistic director instead of having both roles combined in one person. I’m looking forward to the time when I can stage direct an opera every other year.”

For more information about AVA’s 2018-19, call 215-735-1685 or visit www.avaopera.org

RARE PERFORMANCE

Antonio Caldara’s “Missa Commemorationis” received only its second known performance in the United States Wednesday, Aug. 15, in the Roman Catholic Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul, just off Logan Circle along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Under the direction of Philadelphia’s Timothy McDonnell, the performance by vocal soloists, choir and orchestra was heard as part of the Traditional Latin Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Caldara, 1670-1736, was born in the Most Serene Republic of Venice and regularly worked in the Papal States in Rome. At the time of the Mass’ composition, he was the vice-kapelmeister for the Imperial Hapsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire in Vienna. Wednesday’s performance was based on a new critical edition of the score prepared by McDonnell, who teaches graduate choral studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Far lighter in texture for both choir and orchestra than the more famous settings of the Mass by either Haydn or Mozart, the Caldara was revealed as an unfairly overlooked score of delicate beauty that projects the sacred text of the Latin Ordinary of the Mass with eloquent word painting and elegant phrasing. McDonnell enhanced the musical portion of the liturgy with choral and orchestral music by Albinoni, Mozart, Manfredini, Hassler, Frescobaldi and Vivaldi. All were sung and played beautifully, with the entire liturgy televised by EWTN, the global Catholic television network.

You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net. To read more of NOTEWORTHY, visit www.chestnuthilllocal.com/Arts/Noteworthy

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