Tag: Bizet

The End of an Era

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For nearly nine years, I have lived for the opera. As soon as the golden jacquard curtain would make its final descent on the Met stage in New York, I would leave the cinema dreaming about my next opera and its corresponding outfit. The passion I felt when planning my opera outings would fuel me with a year-round energy that could only be described as the ultimate adrenaline rush. Truly, it was a love affair for the ages.
Sadly, an opera friend of mine delivered some devastating news in early October: the local theater where we would go to see the Live in HD simulcasts had been stripped of its standing and would no longer be carrying the Saturday matinees.
The news, which was magnanimous in its weight, left me subdued, but not surprised; the local attendance for the broadcasts had been steadily declining over the years and I had subconsciously questioned how long the theater would continue with the act. With my lack of transportation to the next closest movie theater (almost an hour away), I considered the news as the end of an era.
But don’t despair ─ I’ve always believed that when a chapter in life closes, a new one begins. I still plan to continue sewing and blogging, albeit, it won’t necessarily be centered around opera costumes. Besides, with the Met’s trend of embracing more and more abstract, modern productions, my window for creating real costumes was becoming narrower and narrower.

In celebration of the wonderful performances I have had the pleasure of seeing over the past 9 years, I thought it would be fitting to relive some of my favorite moments from my time at the opera.

My Top 5 Favorite Opera Performances

Although these are not ranked in any particular order, there is an undisputed #1.

1. Il Trovatore ─ October 3, 2015

Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Anna Netrebko in Il Trovatore / Metropolitan Opera

What can I say ? This is the opera that started it all for me. Not only did I almost bolt out of my seat at the shocking ending (he killed his brother ?!), but I was introduced to an artform that I never dreamed I would love. Additionally, because of this performance and two of its singers, I took an interest in watching concerts from Russia’s Kultura channel on YouTube and there started to teach myself the Cyrillic alphabet, which rapidly expanded into learning the Russian language.

2. La Fanciulla del West ─ October 27, 2018

Eva Maria Westbroek and Jonas Kaufmann in La fanciulla del West / Metropolitan Opera

There was no one more wrapped up in the romance of bandit Dick Johnson and saloon owner Minnie than me. It was my first time seeing Jonas Kaufmann on the big screen and I was smitten. Once I learned of the opera’s stage origins, I bought a novel adaptation of David Belasco’s “The Girl of the Golden West” and further immersed myself in the majestic California setting. And, I loved feeling like a frontier marksman with my Stevens .22 (no, it didn’t go to the theater with me).

3. Turandot ─ February 3, 2016

Nina Stemme in Turandot / Metropolitan Opera

How could I make a compilation of my favorite performances without including at least one from Turandot ? While each of the three performances I attended had its detractors, I chose the 2016 encore performance as my favorite due to my unsuspecting nature during my original outing. It was exhilarating, spine-tingling, and stunning. The way I felt while watching the Riddle Scene unfold was something I’ll never forget.

4. Der Rosenkavalier ─ May 13, 2017

Elīna Garanča and Renée Fleming in Der Rosenkavalier / Metropolitan Opera

Okay, I’ll admit it: I was in total belief of Elīna Garanča’s masculine alter-ego in this performance. Her movements combined with her statuesque height had me turning away from the screen while watching the hot love affair between Garanča’s teenaged Octavian and Renée Fleming’s seemingly much older Marschallin. Coupled with the sentimentality of both ladies retiring their respective roles from this particular opera, one could say it was a landmark performance. Strauss’s music wasn’t so bad either.

5. Les Pêcheurs de Perles ─ January 16, 2016

Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Diana Damrau in Les Pêcheurs de Perles / Metropolitan Opera

Choosing a Top 5 was no easy feat, but Bizet’s buried gem was a treasure. I remember seeing this as my third opera performance and decided to throw around some sophomoric clout with an elderly patron buying her ticket at the theater. “Are you going to the opera ? I’ve heard Matthew Polenzani is very good in this performance.” I airily inquired. “Well, I’ve heard Mariusz Kwiecien is very good as well !” she smartly slung back at me. The combination of dreamy music, along with a production that blended the sacred with the modern, edged this performance as one of my most memorable.

Honorable Mention

Agrippina
Ariadne auf Naxos
L’Elisir d’Amore

Toi, Toi, Toi,

Mary Martha

Revved Up Carmen

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As a welcome reprieve from my hectic work life, I walked into the Met’s new Carmen with a mind weighted in skepticism while simultaneously struggling to maintain its openness. Modern productions are not my cup of tea. Revolting staging or not, one thing would be certain: the music would be terrific ! Here, I was delighted. Aigul Akhmetshina, the star out of nowhere, wowed me from the first note of her Habanera, albeit was marred by the hideous chain link fencing that first obscured her from view.

Aigul Akhmetshina in a scene from Carmen ─ Metropolitan Opera

I didn’t hate the new production, which was set in a southern Texas border town replete with cowboys and contraband, but it didn’t resonate with me the way that the directors would have hoped. Some parts felt conceivable, like Escamillo’s spin as a rodeo champion, while others were contrived. Instead of in a cigarette factory, the girls in Act I worked for a weapons manufacturer, wearing pink uniforms. That was lost on me.

Kyle Ketelsen as Escamillo / Metropolitan Opera
A scene from Act I of Carmen / Metropolitan Opera

I’ve already pontificated about how the Met’s new, modern direction has mostly converted costume designers into professional shoppers (seriously─ all the clothes I saw in Carmen could be bought from Amazon or Goodwill), but it does allow me to create ready to wear garments for my regular wardrobe… or use pieces from my closet ! All of the clothes that I wore for Carmen were either created for other events or bought years ago at a consignment shop. Since cars and trucks were a focal point in Carrie Cracknell’s production, what could be a better photo backdrop than the cars and trucks in my own driveway ?

I wore the pleather pants I had sewn for the 2021 Wagnerians concert and the red scalloped lace bolero that was to resemble Lucia‘s “blood” back in 2022. Both were equally suitable for an edgy, “revved up” Carmen.

A metallic cylinder necklace, which was used in my Queen of the Night outfit for Die Zauberflöte, coincidentally mirrored the tubular LED lights that represented fast-passing highway lights in the production. How cool is that ?!

A scene from Carmen / Metropolitan Opera

Despite my ignorance of vehicular matters (I don’t drive), I enjoyed the assembly of automobiles used in the opera. That red Jaguar was saucy !

Kyle Ketelsen as Escamillo / Metropolitan Opera

But I had to settle for a white Chevy pickup truck instead.

Although I was amused by the updated landscape of the new production, I missed the glamour and languid luxury of a more traditional, Sevillian setting. All of these contemporary productions are starting to look the same: chain link fences, barbed wire, Walmart clothes, freakish facial tattoos, the unbathed masses… Hopefully there will one day be a reversal of trends and a renewed appreciation for art as beauty. Opera is too fine to be smothered in exhaust fumes.

Toi, Toi, Toi,

Mary Martha

Cast and Credits:

Carmen ─ Georges Bizet (1875)
Live in HD air date: January 27, 2024

Cast:
Carmen ─ Aigul Akhmetshina
Don José ─ Piotr Beczała
Micaëla ─ Angel Blue
Escamillo ─ Kyle Ketelsen

Credits:
Conductor ─ Daniele Rustioni
Production ─ Carrie Cracknell
Set Designer ─ Michael Levine
Costume Designer ─ Tom Scutt
Lighting Designer ─ Guy Hoare
Projection Designer ─ rocafilm/Roland Hovarth
Choreographer ─ Ann Yee
Live in HD Director ─ Gary Halvorson
Host ─ Matthew Polenzani

Carmen

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“Love is a rebellious bird that no one can tame… And if I love you, watch out !”

Act I ─ Carmen

Opera’s most notorious femme fatale finally sashayed her way into the theater after keeping me waiting for years. Truthfully, I have longed to see Carmen for two reasons. First, the bouncing music, which is both tuneful as well as recognizable, is an alluring draw to Bizet’s landmark opera. And then there’s Carmen herself, a meaty role for any mezzo-soprano. Clémentine Margaine, French by birth, slipped into the black dress for this Live in HD performance.

Clémentine Margaine as Carmen / Metropolitan Opera

Gritty, but perfumed, Clémentine Margaine balance crude manners with beguiling charm. Watching her sent my mind into vacillations of resolve as to who she really was: a woman who looked attractive at first glance, but on further inspection was nothing more than a broad wearing lipstick and eyeliner. There was a hardness about her ─ an earthiness ─ that befit the role of the tempestuous gypsy well. This baseness was especially noticeable when compared to the sweet and singular Micaëla, played by Polish soprano, Aleksandra Kurzak, who also happens to be the real life wife of Roberto Alagna, the opera’s Don José !

Aleksandra Kurzak as Micaëla and Roberto Alagna as Don José in Carmen / Metropolitan Opera

While the songs were as exciting as I hoped they would be, I wouldn’t say that Carmen ranks as one of my favorite operas. It’s too long for a story that feels humdrum and predictable. From a personal standpoint, Bizet’s earlier work, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, was much more intriguing in terms of plot and outcome. Nevertheless, I was happy to be able to check Carmen off my list of must-see operas.

A scene from Carmen / Metropolitan Opera

Just as the singer who plays Carmen often relishes the chance to live vicariously through the role, so I also wanted to step into the clicking heels of a Spanish gypsy through my portrayal. Although Richard Eyre’s production is set in Seville during the 1930’s, I felt many of the costumes seemed pertinent to the present day and so I decided to model my look after the dancing ensemble worn by Carmen in Act II.

A scene from Act II of Carmen / Metropolitan Opera

A voluminous bell sleeve blouse and lace skirt swings in time to the rousing Gypsy Song while a black corset exemplifies Carmen’s signature seduction. Planning my version of the outfit was easy, especially when I thought of the coral colored crinkle skirt in my mother’s closet that would be perfect for the part. Marking the tiers with rows of beads, it was destined for bohemian couture. Two yards of Raschel lace, which I bought for a bargain during a Black Friday sale, were draped and pinned on the outside of the skirt like a sarong.

The lower half of the outfit complete, I moved onto the fun parts ─ the corset and the blouse !

Yes, I made a corset. It was easy with the patterns and instructions from the Corset Academy, which I use often when making structured garments. Shaping my figure, the corset was mostly hidden beneath the flouncy tie bottom blouse I sewed using the free wrap blouse pattern from Anke Herrmann’s website for Flamenco Dressmaking. Her advice and support were valuable as I altered the style slightly to suit my needs. Once I found a festive dot crepe fabric on closeout online, I was ready to sew my blouse.

Making the bell sleeves was not as difficult as I anticipated, especially using a circle skirt cutting layout. And I loved using the rolled hem setting on my BabyLock serger ! It made the edges of my bell sleeves frilly and polished.

“But what about your hair ? Is it real ?” Yes and no. Looking over past Met performance pictures, I knew I needed tightly curled locks to match that of the character’s and so I related my plight to my mother (also known as my hairstylist) whereupon she gauged that trying to curl my naturally soft and wavy hair was a futile effort. Ultimately, she suggested I find some hairpieces. Well, I did, but the entirety of that story is not fit for publication. It involved a shady shop on the wrong side of town and a man who tried to convince me that he bore an uncanny resemblance to Che Guevara. Fearful for my life ? Just a smidge.
Doing her best, my mother mingled my hair with the newly bought hairpieces to capture the Spanish vibe I was seeking.

Steeped in Sevillian style, I thoroughly delighted in playing opera’s most infamous gypsy, especially when twirling around in the theater on the way back to my seat. Olé !

Toi, Toi, Toi,

Mary Martha

Casts and Credits:

Carmen ─ Georges Bizet (1875)
Live in HD air date: February 2, 2019

Cast:
Carmen ─ Clémentine Margaine
Don José ─ Roberto Alagna
Micaëla ─ Aleksandra Kurzak
Escamillo ─ Alexander Vinogradov

Credits:
Conductor ─ Louis Langrée
Production ─ Sir Richard Eyre
Set and Costume Designer ─ Rob Howell
Lighting Designer ─ Peter Mumford
Choreographer ─ Christopher Wheeldon
Live in HD Director ─ Gary Halvorson
Host ─ Ailyn Pérez

Les Pêcheurs de Perles

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Set in a modern day Ceylon, the Met’s new revival of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles was a delightfully exotic romance of uncharacteristic story standards. Penny Woolcock’s production perfectly mingled the secular with the sacred, the grime with the gilt, and enchanted me from start to finish.
The shanty fishing village with its rickety cardboard and tin hovels added a realistic element to the production as did the mix of costumes on the chorus members: while some were dressed in filthy baseball caps and torn overshirts, others bedecked themselves in saris and turbans, just as Southeast Asian tradition dictates.

A scene from Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles / Metropolitan Opera

This opera was a beautiful escape from start to finish. The music perfumed the theater and left a trailing scent as the curtain descended. I especially loved the enchanting tenor/baritone duet, “Au fond du temple saint”.

Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien sing an excerpt from “Au fond du temple saint” / Metropolitan Opera

While the romance of The Pearl Fishers may have started as a typical opera love triangle, the ending was anything but conventional: the man who kept his promise and was faithful to his honor lost everything and the traitorous one, escaping death with the defiled priestess, made out like a bandit. All elements combined, I loved this opera so much that I went to see the encore showing the following Wednesday.

Diana Damrau as Leïla in Les Pêcheurs de Perles / Metropolitan Opera

My outfit is one crafted from my closet. Modeling in front of my bedroom mirror, I experimented with different scarves and skirts to come up with an Indian subcontinent look.
Layer upon layer the outfit built itself into a makeshift “sari” that was instantly recognizable by its onlookers. (Weeks after The Pearl Fishers encore, I once again stepped into the far off theater location for the encore showing of Turandot. There I was greeted with inquisitive queries from strangers of vague familiarity: “Were you the one dressed as the Indian the last time ?”)

Of course, I knew I needed to accessorize with gobs of pearls in every shape and size, but also rings of topaz and bangles of gold. The crowning touch was my matha patti headpiece, which was reworked from a cheap, broken necklace.

I think my favorite aspects of this outfit are the ones that came from far away lands ─ the teal and aqua fringed pashmina wrap was bartered at a local market in Afghanistan while the cowrie shell necklace traveled from Tanzania (thank you, Uncle Kim, for the precious gifts !). Just think ─ the shells around my neck came from the Indian Ocean, just like the pearls in the opera !

Toi, Toi, Toi,

Mary Martha

Cast and Credits:

Les Pêcheurs de Perles ─ Georges Bizet (1863)
Live in HD air date: January 16, 2016

Cast:
Leïla ─ Diana Damrau
Nadir ─ Matthew Polenzani
Zurga ─ Mariusz Kwiecien
Nourabad ─ Nicolas Testé

Credits:
Conductor ─ Gianandrea Noseda
Production ─ Penny Woolcock
Set Designer ─ David Bird
Costume Designer ─ Kevin Pollard
Lighting Designer ─ Jen Schriever
Projection Design ─ Fifty Nine Productions
Live in HD Director ─ Matthew Diamond
Host ─ Patricia Racette