SEATTLE – Speight Jenkins is a man who hears voices. The general director of Seattle Opera is regarded for his ability to uncover opera talent, and when he encounters a great singer, he figures out how to get them on stage.
So when Jenkins heard Polish contralto Ewa Podles several years back, he booked her first in “Norma” then in “The Ring,” two of her triumphant performances of recent years. Podles is back in Seattle, and this time she’s in a baroque mood, singing the title role in Handel’s “Julius Caesar” that opened last weekend.
Baroque opera calls for lots of beautiful voices, and the company has the goods. The main cast is singing most of the performances and a second cast will take the major roles Sunday and March 9. It’s opera on a grand scale, the story of Caesar who conquers Egypt and its famed queen Cleopatra. Together they survive intrigue, murder and betrayal, vanquish their rivals and stand united on the throne.
Handel wrote gorgeous music and Seattle Opera makes the most of it and the famous story of those two powerful people in a compelling production. The staging, by director Robin Guarino, is clean, forceful and engaging. There are dramatic flourishes that give the narrative heft, such as the battles between the Roman and the Egyptian armies, shown in dance and fight sequences choreographed by Donald Byrd.
Paul Steinberg’s set, from Florida Grand Opera, is dominated by various-sized pyramids painted in primary colors of red, blue and yellow. Large columns appear in some scenes and the backdrop is a field of blue with white, abstract squiggles that could suggest the Nile River. The floor is polished to a luster so intense it reflects the sets. The lighting design by Robert Wierzel gives the somewhat spartan set a luminous quality.
The opera’s musical riches begin in the orchestra pit, where conductor Gary Thor Wedow (joined by assistant conductor Philip Kelsey on dual harpsichords) commands the orchestra. Some of the players are from Seattle’s period instrument community including internationally known Baroque instrumentalists Stephen Stubbs (baroque guitar and theorbo), Maxine Eilander (baroque harp), and Margriet Tindemans (viola da gamba).
Podles is a commanding Caesar with her astounding instrument, a richly hued voice of huge range, gleaming from top to bottom. She’s got power to burn, superb control and coloratura technique. When she plants her feet on the floor and begins to sing, she is really something to see and hear. Her singing has a masculine quality, suitable when you are a woman singing the part of a man. Part of the fun of opera is suspending belief from time to time, no more so than in “Julius Caesar,” where women dressed as men sing male roles and a countertenor, a male singer with the voice of a soprano, plays a key part.
Alexandra Deshorties is a beautiful Cleopatra, physically and vocally. The role suits the French-Canadian whose luminous soprano has resonance and long line that can caress a phrase, falling off softly into a hushed sob. In many ways “Caesar” is really Cleopatra’s opera, so rich are the melting arias that Handel wrote for the part.
Countertenor Brian Asawa as Tolomeo, Cleopatra’s brother and rival, sang with accuracy and passion. American mezzo-soprano Helene Schneiderman (as Cornelia, a Roman widow captured by Tolomeo) and mezzo-soprano Kristine Jepson, in her Seattle Opera debut as Sesto (Cornelia’s son), are both persuasive actors with remarkable voices.
Arthur Woodley brought his magnificent bass voice, and powerful physique, to the role of Achilla. Baritone Joseph Rawley as Curio and male soprano David Korn as Nireno round out the strong cast.
As always, Jonathan Dean’s projected captions add greatly to the enjoyment and understanding of the performance. When Caesar steps on stage in the opening act and speaks, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” it sets the tone for an evening of memorable history and music.
Bill Mohn photo
Alexandra Deshorties is Cleopatra in Seattle Opera’s “Julius Caesar.”
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