Arts & Events

A Great Crop of Merola Singers in 3 One-Act Operas

Reviewed by James Roy MacBean
Friday July 28, 2017 - 12:28:00 PM

I don’t know if it was this year’s rainy winter, but something gave us a bumper crop of Merola singers for 2017, as seen – and heard – in a program of three one-act operas presented July 20 & 22 at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. On tap were La serva padrona by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736), Savitri by Gustav Holst (1874-1934), and The Bear by William Walton (1902-1983). All three operas were conducted by Christopher Ocasek and directed by Peter Kazaras, with set designs by Donald Eastman.  

Pergolesi’s delightful 1733 opera La serva padrona is similar in plot to Donizetti’s much later Don Pasquale, with both operas treating relations between an older man and a much younger woman who manages to twist him around her little finger. Here the young woman, Serpina, was coquettishly sung by Jana McIntyre, who posseses exquisite vocal technique, great acting ability, and a soprano voice that will take her far. Jana McIntyre is definitely a singer to watch! Equally impressive was bass-baritone Daniel Noyola, a native of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, who sang the role of Uberto, the old codger who gets outwitted at every step by Serpina. Noyola has a robustly masculine voice, excellent diction in Italian, and a flair for comic roles. Together, Jana McIntyre and Daniel Noyola were as superb in their roles as one could ever hope to hear. 

Gustav Holst’s Savitri, which premiered in London in 1916, is based on an episode from the Mahabharata. Savitri is the loving wife of Satyavan, but Death comes to claim the life of Satyavan. Savitri pleads her case so eloquently, even offering to die in her husband’s place, that Death consents to offer her one wish, but it can only be for herself, not for her husband. Savitri phrases her wish in such a way that her own happiness necessarily includes continuing to share her happy married life with Satyavan. Death, outwitted, retreats. Sung in English, the role of Savitri was beautifully sung by soprano Kelsea Webb. She possesses a mellifluous, powerful voice with tremendous range, from Wagnerian high notes to the burnished chest-tones of a mezzo-soprano. Kelsea Webb also possesses admirable technique. 

Death was sung by David Weigel, whose stentorian bass-baritone has great power and elegance. Satyavan was sung by tenor Addison Marlor, and though his role is the least important of the three roles in this opera, Marlor sang with ringing clarity. A lush orchestral score was occasionally accompanied by a subtle soprano chorus.  

William Walton’s 1967 opera The Bear is adapted from Anton Chekhov’s play of the same title. Walton composed it for Benjamin Britten’s Aldeburgh Festival. The plot of The Bear revolves around a Russian widow in mourning who is confronted by one of her dead husband’s creditors who demands repayment of a loan. Though chided by her servant, Luka, for her excessive fidelity to her dead husband, the widow resists all social intercourse with the world, until the moment when, in the midst of a raging argument with her husband’s creditor, both the widow and the creditor realize a flaming spark of sexual interest in each other. Walton’s music playfully highlights the mock-melodrama of this plot. Performed here in English, Popova, the widow, was lustrously sung by mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon. Her servant, Luka, was robustly sung by bass-baritone Daniel Noyola; and the role of the creditor, Smirnov, was uproariously sung – and acted – by bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum. All three singers were superb in their roles. Ashley Dixon’s aria, “I was faithful all my life,” accompanied largely by solo piano, was a highlight of this opera, though it was matched again and again by the blustering masculinity of Quattlebaum’s Smirnov, whom Popova disdainfully refers to as “The Bear,” until that moment near the end when “The Bear’s” macho demeanor suddenly seems overwhelmingly seductive to her, and they couple passionately onstage. 

If the seven singers heard in this Merola program of one-act operas are any indication, the Merola 2017 Grand Finale scheduled for Saturday, August 17, at the War Memorial Opera House promises to feature a bumper crop of young singers well on their way to outstanding careers in opera. Don’t miss it!