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By David Gregson
Thankfully, the San Diego Opera still flourishes. This month we have performances of Rossini's delightful bel canto romp, The Italian Girl in Algiers (February 8, 11, 14 and 16), and next month the world premiere of composer-in-residence Myron Fink's The Conquistador (March 1, 4, 7 and 9).
Here and throughout the nation, even as our symphonic institutions struggle for survival, opera is enjoying an astonishing rise in popularity. No doubt it's the visual spectacle that attracts audiences as much as the music. Movies, television and computer screens have turned us into a visual culture. We have forgotten how to listen.
Fortunately, various local organizations are valiantly attempting to keep our ears and minds stimulated despite the shrinking audience for classical music. February brings several aural joys: English pianist Richard Goode, playing with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra-the remarkable ensemble that somehow manages to perform superlatively without a conductor (Civic Theatre, February 7), and the four brilliant perfectionists known as the Tokyo String Quartet (Sherwood Auditorium, February 21). Both visits are courtesy of the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. The acclaimed Paris-based Ysaye String Quartet plays at UCSD's Mandeville Auditorium (February 9) as part of the university's classical series, while the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, the Athenaeum, the La Jolla Symphony and other reliable local groups are offering interesting programs (see the What's Doing column for details).
For those who have a problem deciding between the sensual overload of opera and the relatively austere pleasure of pure music-making, March 1 is the most troublesome date on the calendar. That's when Brazil-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen debuts locally, in direct conflict with the premiere of The Conquistador. Cohen's one-time-only recital at Escondido's California Center for the Arts (CCA) counts as one of the year's most important musical events. Fortunately, lovers of fine pianists and opera have three extra dates on which to experience The Conquistador.
With or without competition from staged spectacles, the piano recital has long been an endangered species in this part of the world. The Mainly Mozart Festival folks have been trying to revive it lately by presenting artists of the stature of Peter Donohoe, John Lill and-upcoming March 6, 7 and 8-Anne-Marie McDermott in intimate settings in La Jolla, Rosarito and Ensenada. But Robert A. Freedman, CCA's normally dauntless impresario, has noticeably reduced the center's solo piano offerings. Cohen's concert is the lone piano recital of the 1996-97 CCA season.
It should be a memorable event. "Mu- sic for me is life," Cohen tells me. "It's not just something that's a consequence of something else. It's a language." At his CCA recital Cohen will be speaking Bach, Haydn, Bach-Busoni and Liszt. From the evidence of recordings and privately circulated tapes, he is especially fluent in the latter. Cohen the pianist goes straight to the heart of a composer some listeners claim to find shallow and flashy.
"There was a generation that went through a sort of denial of the romantic element of the human experience," Cohen says. "It was almost a fear of getting in touch with the emotions. Liszt's romantic music is basically the expression of mankind. In Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, you can talk about deepness, profundity; that has something to do with form and structure, themes and exposition. Liszt represents the height of looking for more freedom of expression. We should be open to this idea and be able to find a personal identification emotionally."
Now a senior lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, Cohen concertizes with the world's leading orchestras and serves on a number of music juries including the Liszt Competition in Holland and the Busoni Competition in Italy. His recital at the CCA is rivaled in importance only by that of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who plays there March 12 with Kathryn Stott on piano.
balletomanes may look forward to an important premiere staged by the local semiprofessional California Ballet: Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, choreographed by the company's new associate director, Thor Sutowski, February 8 and 9 at the CCA. Otherwise, traveling up the coast is necessary-the American Ballet Theater performs in Costa Mesa February 11 to 16.
But there's no question that major operatic activity is going on right here in our midst. Rossini's beguiling and somewhat mischievous Italian Girl makes her welcome first appearance, with bright young mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux in the title role. And The Conquistador looks as if it just may be a hit with audiences. For one thing, it comes from the pen of a composer who, like pianist Cohen, believes that music must flow from the heart.
"If the piece is to be successful, the audience has to identify with the characters on the stage and feel their emotions," Myron Fink says. Dissonant music and the grotesque stories of many modern operas may scare audiences off, "but they love pieces like La Bohème that speak to their emotions... [and] they vote with their feet" if they hear something they don't like.
Based on the life of Don Luis de Carvajal, founder of the city of Monterrey and pacifier of the northern frontier of Mexico, The Conquistador is Fink's fourth opera. As with his first three-Jeremiah, Judith and Holofernes and Chinchilla-it is written in collaboration with librettist Donald Moreland. The plot was inspired by the historical tome The Martyr: The Story of a Secret Jew and the Mexican Inquisition in the 16th Century by Martin Cohen.
"That book contained the germ of the story, but in my first conference with Moreland, he decided one of the two main characters was more important than the other," explains Fink. After further research, Moreland "basically took off and did his own thing. In dealing with historical fact, of course, you have to choose, select and simplify."
Meanwhile, Fink's wife, Bonnie, suggested the piece needed a love interest. "How many successful operas with a tenor in the leading role are without a love interest?" she sensibly asked. Thus does strict historical accuracy give way to the demands of drama; consult Shakespeare for some prime examples of this process.
Just how does grand opera differ from the popular musical-theater works of Andrew Lloyd Webber? "Without wanting to sound snobbish," says Fink, "it's the complexity of the music. Of course, we would all love to be so successful as Webber! But his music is simple, very accessible, and contains a tremendous amount of repetition. He gets hold of a very small idea and he repeats it. Well, for a certain segment of the public, that's exactly what they want. But operatic music is more complicated and makes greater demands. It takes a greater degree of musical sophistication on the part of the listener."
Whatever the degree of sophistication, Fink's emotion-charged operatic scores seem to go over well with audiences. The New York Times has praised Jeremiah to the skies, and San Diego Opera general director Ian Campbell is hoping international critics and the local public will do the same for The Conquistador. Heaven knows it has a first-rate cast-soprano Elizabeth Hynes, tenors Jerry Hadley and John Duykers, mezzo-sopranos Adria Firestone and Vivica Genaux, baritone Louis Otey and bass Kenneth Cox.
And for those of us who crave our spectacle, Berkeley Repertory Theatre artistic director Sharon Ott is commanding the forces, while Old Globe Theatre veteran scene designer Kent Dorsey provides the sets and lighting. As Campbell himself is fond of saying of his company, "We make music worth seeing." Visit David Gregson’s Classical Music and Dance forum (http://www.sandiego-online. com/forums/dance/dance.htm) at San Diego Magazine’s web site.
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