My general feelings on contemporary opera are that of high appreciation rather than love, unless it's from a composer who has never been to my taste. The Metropolitan Opera have premiered a number of new operas as part of their fascinating if inconsistent Live in HD series, and it has more often than not a case of finding plenty to admire about the production but not being completely sold on the opera. 'Fire Shut Up in My Bones' is one of the contemporary operas premiered at the Met where both the production and opera bowled me over.
And there was a lot to like about 'Eurydice', which is a modern take essentially on the Greek legend of 'Orpheus and Eurydice' already embodied in opera by Monteverdi and Gluck (do prefer those operas on a side note). It is not as strong as 'Fire Shut Up in My Bones' at having the music not only being a huge part of the storytelling but embodying and immersing it, but the music does evoke a large range of emotions and at least it is harmonious with the words (only the rather twee plainchant section in the gates of hell sequence not so much) and the story is moving but also entertaining. This production that premiered at the Met as part of the 2021-2022 season is very good with many outstanding qualities.
The production isn't perfect. Not all the staging works, everything with the double was very muddled and confusing and indicative of director Mary Zimmerman never being sure what to do with him which did make me question his purpose.
Did feel too that Jakub Josef Orlinski was a little underpowered at times, especially when singing with the much stronger projected Joshua Hopkins through no fault of either (more down to voice type as baritones do tend to carry more than countertenors in volume). Was a bit mixed on the text projections, it was a very clever idea to do so, was imaginatively done and helped with understanding what happens, but with so much going on already they were a little too much and sometimes move on too quickly when people are still digesting.
So much is fantastic. It looks great, especially in the opening scene and the very clever and visually striking use of water. Zimmerman's direction is her most consistent and most tasteful, not all of it works but at least almost all of it makes sense with everything else and didn't have any distasteful or distractingly gratuitous touches like some of her previous work has. The wedding dance sequence and the escape from hell are especially note-worthy.
Musically, the production is outstanding. The orchestra play with one hundred commitment, authority, nuance and beautiful tone throughout, and the chorus likewise. Yannick Nezget-Seguin's enthusiasm, diligence and how well he accomodates everybody continues to shine through.
Have very little to fault the performances. Erin Morley is a poignant Eurydice, it was very easy to care deeply for her, and Hopkins is a robust and authoritative Orpheus with a robust voice that takes a gentler quality when needed. Orlinski is underpowered at times, but is luminous in his high middle/high registers and he is always engaged dramatically. The performance of the production comes from hilarious and demonic Barry Banks, his music is treacherous but he makes it sound so easy. Also found the stones a riot.
Concluding, lots of fantastic things and one of the better newly premiered contemporary operas of the Metropolitan Opera HD Live series but falls a little short of greatness. 8/10.
And there was a lot to like about 'Eurydice', which is a modern take essentially on the Greek legend of 'Orpheus and Eurydice' already embodied in opera by Monteverdi and Gluck (do prefer those operas on a side note). It is not as strong as 'Fire Shut Up in My Bones' at having the music not only being a huge part of the storytelling but embodying and immersing it, but the music does evoke a large range of emotions and at least it is harmonious with the words (only the rather twee plainchant section in the gates of hell sequence not so much) and the story is moving but also entertaining. This production that premiered at the Met as part of the 2021-2022 season is very good with many outstanding qualities.
The production isn't perfect. Not all the staging works, everything with the double was very muddled and confusing and indicative of director Mary Zimmerman never being sure what to do with him which did make me question his purpose.
Did feel too that Jakub Josef Orlinski was a little underpowered at times, especially when singing with the much stronger projected Joshua Hopkins through no fault of either (more down to voice type as baritones do tend to carry more than countertenors in volume). Was a bit mixed on the text projections, it was a very clever idea to do so, was imaginatively done and helped with understanding what happens, but with so much going on already they were a little too much and sometimes move on too quickly when people are still digesting.
So much is fantastic. It looks great, especially in the opening scene and the very clever and visually striking use of water. Zimmerman's direction is her most consistent and most tasteful, not all of it works but at least almost all of it makes sense with everything else and didn't have any distasteful or distractingly gratuitous touches like some of her previous work has. The wedding dance sequence and the escape from hell are especially note-worthy.
Musically, the production is outstanding. The orchestra play with one hundred commitment, authority, nuance and beautiful tone throughout, and the chorus likewise. Yannick Nezget-Seguin's enthusiasm, diligence and how well he accomodates everybody continues to shine through.
Have very little to fault the performances. Erin Morley is a poignant Eurydice, it was very easy to care deeply for her, and Hopkins is a robust and authoritative Orpheus with a robust voice that takes a gentler quality when needed. Orlinski is underpowered at times, but is luminous in his high middle/high registers and he is always engaged dramatically. The performance of the production comes from hilarious and demonic Barry Banks, his music is treacherous but he makes it sound so easy. Also found the stones a riot.
Concluding, lots of fantastic things and one of the better newly premiered contemporary operas of the Metropolitan Opera HD Live series but falls a little short of greatness. 8/10.
