I must tell you about the amazing night I just spent at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, enjoying an incandescent performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore, one of the most beloved works in the repertoire.   True, it’s a somewhat ridiculous plot, and there are more than a couple of moments which inspire eye rolls if not out and out guffaws.  But the musical score is one of Verdi’s most stupendous creations, with several arias that are among his finest,  plus the justifiably famous Anvil Chorus.   To do this work justice, however, you need a high octane cast; in fact, critic George Bernard Shaw once famously remarked that in order to have a successful production of this opera,  “all” you need are the four greatest singers in the world.    I’m not sure the Lyric quite managed that feat,  but the four principals we heard tonight were just about as good as anyone you can hear today in this kind of music.   The title character,  the troubadour Manrico,  was portrayed by Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee, whose brilliant voice seemed completely undaunted by this role’s stern challenges, including the rip-roaring aria “Di quella pira.”  Opposite him, as Leonora – the woman he loves – young American soprano Amber Wagner unleashed one of the most gorgeous voices I have ever heard in 27 seasons of attending the Lyric.  The voice is luscious and powerful, and she has the very real potential to be opera’s next superstar. Already a superstar, at least as far as opera fans are concerned,  is mezzo/contralto Stephanie Blythe, who just received the ultimate compliment from me in one of  my most recent Journal of Singing columns, when I called her “very likely the greatest opera singer in the world today.”  The voice is a force of nature, like a mighty stream – but wed to the sound itself is exceptional musicality and dramatic flare.  All that being said,  she has been ailing as of late and throughout the run she has had to leave out high notes,  take certain lines down an octave,  and even skip entire phrases to make it through.  Tonight’s performance, which was closing night of the production,  was – according to a friend of mine in the orchestra – her best performance of the run …. and only someone who really knew the role inside out would have even guessed that she was having to do some sly rewriting of the part to survive the night.  All the same,  she was extraordinary.   So was a young American baritone by the name of Quinn Kelsey, who really delivered the goods as the villain Count di Luna … even singing the fiendishly difficult aria “Il Balen” with amazing ease.   The orchestra and chorus were in superlative form – and the production itself, borrowed from none other than the Metropolitan Opera,  was marvelous.

And if all that weren’t enough,  I got to enjoy all that from a really great seat on the main floor …. a rare treat for me. My best friend Marshall Anderson and I have had season tickets for 27 seasons – but our normal night is Tuesday and our normal seats are up in the top balcony – miles away from the stage but still a great place to hear anything and everything. Unfortunately, I had to miss what would have been my night to see Il Trovatore because I was needed to deputize for the Carthage Choir while the conductor was out of town – and rehearsal ended just a little too late for me to make it down.  (I would almost certainly have missed the beginning, which would have meant watching Acts One AND Two on a monitor in the lobby.)  But tonight was an open night for me and with Kathy tied up with something else anyway,  it was the perfect chance for me to go.   And as it turned out, waiting until today to actually buy the ticket proved to be the smartest thing I could have done, because this turned out to be a RUSH performance …..  two hours before curtain all remaining seats were half price!   That allowed me to indulge in a seat on the main floor – which give a spectacular sense of immediacy that you don’t quite get up in the nosebleed section.

It was a glorious night –  easily in my all-time top ten favorite Lyric performances …. which is saying a lot, considering how much amazing opera we’ve seen there over the years.  The only thing that kept it from being a perfect night was that I was there all by myself – without my usual opera buddy, Marshall.   I can’t tell you how odd it was to sit there during intermission and not engage in spirited discussion about what we had just experienced – or to walk out of the opera house at the end of the night with absolutely no one with whom to share the excitement.   It made me realize anew that there is absolutely nothing quite like the joy of Live Music experienced with a friend or friends – the absolute opposite of the iPod phenomenon that seems to be the norm for more and more people, with people experiencing their hand-picked favorites in the splendid isolation of their headphones.  I think for those of us of a certain age, that will always be a strange and unsatisfying way to take in music, no matter how pristine the technical fidelity.  It was great to be there to experience this performance in the flesh.  In fact, this was a performance which demonstrated the truth of an announcement which typically is made during the HD simulcasts from the Met.  “As glorious as it is to be able to see and hear a performance like this in a simulcast,  nothing compares to the majesty of experiencing this kind of singing in the opera itself.  So come to the Met ….”    Those words echoed in my mind tonight again and again, as I thought to myself “I am so lucky to be sitting in this seat, hearing this!”  The unlucky part was in experiencing it alone.

So as I ride the METRA train back home,  I’m feeling the need to acknowledge and thank Marshall for the role he has played in my opera-going over the last 27 years.  First of all, he’s the guy who actually orders and pays for the tickets (and I gradually pay him back over the course of the year.) And much like two people who are well-matched on the tennis court,  Marshall and I are a really good opera dual because we come to the art form with comparable levels of experience and expertise – with similar if not identical preferences for singers, productions, etc. – and with the same blend of veneration for past glories wed to a healthy hope that opera still has a lot of great things to offer.  (Some die hard opera fans are such tiresome curmudgeons who affection for the luminaries of the past prevent them from appreciating the best new singers.)  In short, we are on the same wavelength – both devoted to this art form – if not quite as frighteningly nerdy about it as some people we see from time to time for whom nothing in life matters as much as opera.   We love it,  Marshall and I, but it isn’t quite our Reason For Existence.   It’s just something that gives us enormous pleasure – both the wonderful performances like tonight’s and the not-so-wonderful performances as well (because those are SO much fun to dissect!)

IMG_3243

So Marshall,  please know how much you were missed tonight …. and please know how much I appreciate the great joy of experiencing opera with you.    And Nick and Mike (among others),  thanks for being such eager and appreciative new opera fans;  it has been a great joy for me to share the wonders of this art form with you – and I trust that you’ll pay it forward someday.  And Kathy, please know how much I appreciate your willingness to let me indulge this passion of mine as much as I do.   For some guys it’s deer hunting or fishing or football or wood-working or creating those little ships-in-a-bottle.  This is my big indulgence,  and I’m thankful that I can do it with your blessing.

Pictured above:  The curtain calls at the end of tonight’s performance.

By the way, I said that tonight was in my top five among performances enjoyed at the Lyric.   The top five are:

  1. 1)FAUST-  Fleming, Leech, Ramey

  2. 2)ELEKTRA-  Marton, Rysanek

  3. 3)BILLY BUDD-   Gunn

  4. 4)SUSANNAH-  Fleming, Hadley, Ramey

  5. 5)IL TROVATORE-  Lee, Wagner, Blythe, Kelsey

  6. 6)DIE WALKURE-  Eaglan, Voigt, Domingo

  7. 7)LA BOHEME-  Freni

  8. 8)LA BOHEME-  Netrebko

  9. 9)DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN-  Voigt, Brewer

  10. 10) GOTTERDAMMERUNG-  Marton

plus, of course,  the Ardis Krainik Farewell Gala,  the 50th Anniversary Gala, the 60th Anniversary Gala,  and the Renee Fleming/Jonas Kaufmann Gala.  Magical nights, all.