For a time last year, it seemed like the city would lose its Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. An emergency fund appeal and some significant budget tightening—including a reduction in the size of the ensemble—put the MSO on solid footing.
As if to answer the unspoken question, “Why do we want an orchestra, anyway?” the MSO opened its season Saturday with a magnificent and thrilling concert version of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
But this wasn’t the usual “concert” opera, which often consists of soloists standing in front of an orchestra reading their parts from music stands. Instead, the MSO split the difference between a concert reading and a fully staged presentation, placing the orchestra in “the pit” in front of the stage, but raising the floor so the musicians were only a few feet below the action on stage. One could watch the drama onstage while still being able to watch Edo de Waart and his musicians work their magic.
And magic it was: gorgeous, warm ensemble with precise and charged articulation when it’s called for; sensitive accompaniment that allowed the singers to live in every line. Just listen to the way de Waart gently interjects the orchestra during Donna Anna’s dramatic musings before “Non mi dir.” Or feel the way the continuo accompaniment (Francesco Lecce Chong on harpsichord and Susan Babini on cello) adds crackle and spark to the jaunty conversations between Don Giovanni (Daniel Okulitch) and his trusty Leporello (Matthew Rose).
The cast is quite simply world class, and showed its pedigree and experience throughout the evening. The true standouts: Rose’s Leporello, sung with command and acted with brilliantly disheveled roguery; Paul Appleby’s Don Ottavio, who sung a stirring “Il mio tesoro”; Tamara Wilson’s Donna Anna was the emotional heart of the evening, singing with a thrilling passion.
Stage director James Darrah found imaginative ways to find delicious comedy in the simple staging, including some hilarious flirting between Leporello and cellist Babini during the Act One party scene. But it was the drama of the characters and the music, handled brilliantly by the singers and de Waart, that carried the evening. After this performance, there was no doubt that Don Giovanni is one of the greatest operas ever written. And we saw and heard it here, right in our own home town.
The concert will be offered one more time on Tuesday night.
