Commissioning an opera and staging its world premiere is one of the boldest and most challenging things any arts group – in any genre – can do. One of the most complicated art forms – with its combination of theater, music, dance and design – opera nonetheless has a relatively small audience that is almost obsessive in its devotion to the classics. The prospect of a brand new work can lead to skepticism and even hostility in audiences, not only because it is unfamiliar, but because it is likely to embrace new musical ideas and styles that are strange to many ears.
Still, if any art form is to survive, it has to have new works. That’s why William Florescu and the Florentine Opera should be applauded even though Rio de Sangre, the new opera it staged this weekend, was far from a complete success.
Commissioned from composer Don Davis and librettist Kate Gale, the piece tells the story of a Latin American politician and the personal and political challenges he faces after taking power. It’s a story right out of a Shakespearean history play, complete with a fickle populace (see Coriolanus), treachery between family and friends (Othello, Henry IV) and romantic entanglements with political consequences (Cleopatra). But Gale is more a poet than a dramatist, and can’t seem to craft a story that creates the kind of psychological tension that makes opera tick. She chooses to keep some of the most dramatic events offstage – or example, an argument between the president and his chief general about using a military helicopter to rescue the president’s son after an earthquake – rather than use them as material for charged exchanges between the characters.
Davis – familiar to many from his scores for the three Matrix movies – writes with an ear for texture and charged rhythms, taking a lot of cues from “post-Minimalist” composers like John Adams. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (Joseph Rescigno conducting) sounded great during the instrumental sections. Davis, however, doesn’t have a lot of writing for voice in his resume, and it shows. There are occasional memorable moments in Sangre, such as the Act Three aria sung by Blanca (Ava Pine), the president’s daughter, during her imprisonment by the rebels. But mostly, the melodies meander in a kind of shapeless free-flow that is without dynamics or emotional resonance.
The Florentine cast did their best with the material. Particular standouts were Pine and Vale Rideout, playing Igneo, Blanca’s fiancé. Director Paula Suozzi created some marvelous stage pictures, working on Noele Stollmack’s striking turntable set, and did her best to keep the dramatic momentum going amid the piece’s several scene changes (another sign that Davis is more of a movie guy than an opera guy).
The Florentine’s terrific production of Elmer Gantry last year showed that contemporary opera has a place in a city like Milwaukee. Let’s hope that the Florentine continues its commitment to an expanded repertory even though its first commission didn’t quite measure up.
