Agrippina at the Santa Fe Opera
I saw Handel's Agrippina last night and to me, it was all opera should be. Beautiful voices, great acting, gripping plot and plenty of lightning in the sky around the opera house. Out of the three operas I have seen at the Santa Fe Opera this summer, Agrippina was definitely the best.
Agrippina has a lot of plot twists to keep it fun, and some of the arias were hauntingly beautiful, especially those sung by Ottone (or Otho). Ottone is sung by the countertenor Christophe Dumaux from France. The crowd went wild after he sang of his grief at being dumped by Poppea and denounced as a traitor by all of his friends. He sings in falsetto, but uses all of his vocal cords to produce a richer sound (see the countertenor link for more info). His voice was beautiful and loud and clear and rich. I stood up as soon as he came out for his bow, as did many others.
Agrippina is the story of the scheming empress of Rome. She hears that her husband has died at sea, so she prepares to make her son Nerone (Nero) the king. However, Ottone saved Claudio, and so Agrippina is in a mess somewhat, and has to work a little harder to get Nero the coveted throne.
Handel wrote this opera in the early Venetian style, which featured many (at least three) castratos. Since there are no castratos anymore (thank goodness for those poor men), the roles were played by two men singing in falsetto, and one woman who played Nero. Many of the males were singing in quite high voices. I also loved Agrippina, the soprano Christine Goerke of New York, whose voice projected amazingly well - she could really belt it out, and her voice was gorgeous. I also liked Poppea, who would get played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie version - long blond hair, pretty, young, and slender. Everyone lusts after Poppea - well, Nerone, Claudio, and Ottone, and perhaps some in the audience. The singer Lisa Saffer plays the role, and she also has the coolest head shot in the opera program. She is really in love with Ottone, but the plot interferes at times with their romance. They had a duet, Poppea and Ottone, both sopranos, but so complementary too. I think Poppea even sang the lower notes than Ottone.
ANyway, this opera is definitely worth seeing a second time. I would love to sit up front and see the characters even more closely.
Note on Standing Room:
I bought a standing room only ticket. At the first intermission I asked an usher about whether I could find an empty seat. She told me it was against opera policy and there was nothing she could do. I nodded and ran out into the rain to purchase a cup of coffee. I was standing back at my "seat", when she tapped me on the shoulder and offered me a ticket up in section 2 I believe. I was off to the side, but not too far off, and in row Y, which is pretty close up. In fact I had about seven seats on both sides of me that were unoccupied. Anyway, it was great. Although cold...I had a cardigan on and my sweatshirt wrapped around my legs.