THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MARK MOBLEY, MUSIC CRITIC
LENGTH: Long : 181 lines
IN JUNE 1975, SOPHISTICATED readers opened up their issues of the New Yorker. They found the usual - Jonathan Schell going on about Nixon, John McPhee going on about pinball and Nixon.
But at the back of the book, readers found something unexpected. Under the heading ``Violetta in Virginia,'' esteemed British critic Andrew Porter raved about a production of Verdi's ``La traviata'' in, of all places, Norfolk, Va.
``I think I have never before seen an opera so eagerly and enthusiastically welcomed,'' the review began. The principals were young and the conductor was making his debut. The sets were rented and the hall was an aging U.S.O. house that didn't have an orchestra pit. The company had a budget of just $33,000.
Yet one of the world's leading critics had come to Norfolk, heard the applause and proclaimed: ``The enthusiasm was not misplaced.''
Friday, Virginia Opera starts its 20th season with its fourth production of ``La traviata.'' The company didn't stay small for long, and this ``traviata'' will look quite different from the first one. The rented flats have been replaced by gorgeous sets designed by Eduardo Sicangco for the company's 1987 production. The Center Theater is now the modernized Harrison Opera House.
But some things haven't changed. The leads in this week's ``traviata'' are young artists on the brink of impressive careers. So were soprano Diana Soviero and baritone Jake Gardner.
Norfolk ``was a pretty exciting place at that time,'' Gardner recalled last week. ``I just remember the audience was incredibly enthusiastic. People were really hungry for the opera at the time.
``There was an audible gasp when I walked on stage. It really blew me away. The other thing I remember is slow-roasting a turkey at the Chrysler annex.''
The man in charge in 1975 is still in charge. General director and conductor Peter Mark began as the company's artistic director, conducting his first opera after a career as a solo violist. Today he is the artistic and administrative leader of a statewide company with a budget in excess of $3 million.
As the singers arrived in Norfolk for rehearsals three weeks ago, Mark flipped through photographs he hadn't seen in nearly two decades.
``Some of these gals are still in the chorus,'' he said. ``I remember this was beautifully painted scenery, but it was a flat drop. We have really come a long way in terms of the physical aspect of our production. . . . We didn't have a pit here. You can see here I'm sitting on a stool. Essentially, I had to crouch when the audience was in.''
Mark said that as he was getting the company up and running, an industry heavyweight advised him to hire a star such as Beverly Sills. A household name would sell tickets in a town not known for opera. But Mark asked, ``How could I follow that the following year?''
The company's search for young - and reasonably priced - talent was on. ``I really think we hit the jackpot in the beginning by finding three really attractive young singers who were at varying stages of unknown at the time,'' Mark said. ``I knew Diana Soviero from Juilliard. She was so vivacious and attractive and clearly theatrical.'' ``There was such combustion with those three artists. It more than made up for our beautifully painted but truly rudimentary set.''
Soviero was singing her first ``traviata'' in Italian. Also appearing in his first Italian role was Robert Young, head of the Old Dominion University music department. In the last act, when Soviero's character, Violetta, was on her deathbed, she was attended by Young as Dr. Grenvil.
``At that time, they had a call for local singers to try out for minor roles,'' Young, now 70, recalled. ``They seemed to be surprised at the quality of local talent.''
Young's operatic experience included producing and conducting ``La boheme'' at the Center Theater in 1957. He also appeared in a variety of operettas and musicals. But the ``traviata'' was in a different class.
``We met in the basement of Freemason Street Baptist Church, and there was always an excitement when we had the opportunity to work with the principals. Most of us had not had the opportunity to sing with voices of that caliber. It was so marvelous to be a part of it.''
Opening night, Young said, ``was one of the most exciting times in my life because I thought I was in the big time at last. I was singing with these great voices and I was considered able to keep my end up. The doctor comes in only in the last act, but I was in with the party crowd in the other acts. I was always on stage. I didn't do a lot except mingle, but I was always on stage.''
The audience was as worked up as the performers. ``It was so far above the standards we had had anywhere else in this town,'' said timpanist John Lindberg, the only remaining member of the original pit orchestra. ``It shocked people. It was a hell of a show.''
``They were all excited because it was Peter's debut,'' recalled Russell Stanger, who at the time was music director of the Norfolk Symphony. ``It was nice to be in an audience where there was a feeling of living. It was almost like a world premiere.''
Stanger had moved with the orchestra to the new Chrysler Hall three years earlier. ``What impressed me was the acoustics were so good. I was lamenting the bad acoustics in Chrysler Hall to myself and wishing we were back in the Center Theater.''
Stanger was also impressed by the support Mark was getting from his intensely devoted board. ``He was uncompromising, which delighted me inwardly, because here was someone standing up for artistic ideals. He didn't have the problems (the symphony) did because he had some people willing to go the way he said. He wasn't completely controlled by the union then, either.''
It would be almost 20 years before the opera would hire the local orchestra outright, as companies in some other cities do. Back then, Mark hired ringers from larger cities to augment the Norfolk Symphony. ``The orchestra had never played an opera before,'' Mark said. ``It was very different from what they had been used to. I remember it took a great deal of energy to try to convey the freer emotional give-and-take.''
But Mark's most significant import would be not an orchestral musician but Porter, the New Yorker critic. Mark's wife, composer Thea Musgrave, knew Porter from England. ``She didn't know if this was a wise thing to do,'' Mark recalled. ``I spoke with him and I said, `Listen. This is a fledgling opera company and we're still beginning.' ''
Gardner said Porter was shy, sitting in a corner for most of the post-opera party. Mark said Porter wanted to see the Dismal Swamp before returning to New York, and that he kept his verdict to himself.
``You didn't know until the review came out,'' Mark said. ``I think it conveyed some of the excitement of the community and some of the assets of the company. We bought 200 copies after the fact at a cheap rate that I negotiated. I gave five to each board member to go out and fund-raise.''
``They strong-armed some people for money,'' Lindberg said. ``They needed money and they went out and found it.'' Before ``traviata'' opened, the company had attracted 90 people to a $250-a-head cocktail reception. By the 1979-1980 season, the company had a budget in excess of $1 million.
``During that time a lot of opera companies were beginning,'' Gardner said. ``Places like Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Augusta, Georgia. That was really the bread and butter for all of us starting out at that time.''
Gardner, whom Porter praised as having ``a baritone of very beautiful quality,'' returned to Virginia Opera for ``Mary'' and may be heard on the company's Novello recording of the opera. Today he is based in Germany, where opera companies and performing opportunities are more plentiful. He is principal baritone of Cologne Opera, and will sing his first ``traviata'' for that company this season.
``When you work on a great piece like that, you can work on it as long as you keep singing,'' he said.
Virginia Opera received even more national and international acclaim in 1978 for mounting the American premiere of Musgrave's ``Mary, Queen of Scots.'' This production was followed by world premieres of ``A Christmas Carol'' (1979) and ``Harriet, The Woman Called Moses'' (1985). In January, the company debuts her ``Simon Bolivar,'' a grand opera about the South American liberator.
The 1975 ``traviata'' marked the final singing role for Young, the ODU music department head, though he was a spear carrier in ``Tosca.'' Now 70 and retired from teaching, he rejoined Virginia Opera this season as an office volunteer.
One humble volunteer at the first ``traviata'' became perhaps the most famous and influential of all the participants. The house manager, local boy Will Crutchfield, became a music critic of the New York Times and has since embarked on a conducting career.
Mark has guest conducted at New York City Opera and the National Opera of Mexico, as well as with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony and the Richmond Symphony. But his base of operations is still Norfolk.
``It was like picking up a live electric wire and you just buzzed with it,'' Mark said. ``This whole 20 years has been a buzz.''
The luckiest day of his company's life may have been one of the first, the day ``traviata'' opened. A day in June, 1975.
It was Friday the 13th. ILLUSTRATION: THE VIRGINIA OPERA
BILL TIERNAN/Staff
[Color Photo]
1994
Eilana Lappalainen, Michael Galanter, left, and Douglas Nagel star
in "La traviata" at the Harrison Opera House.
1975
OPERA FACTS
What: Verdi's ``La traviata,'' one of the most beloved of all
operas, is based on the same story featured in the film ``Camille.''
A Parisian courtesan, Violetta, leaves her high life for a young man
from an upstanding family. The man's father persuades her to leave
his son. The couple eventually reunite, but on Violetta's deathbed.
Who: The cast includes soprano Eilana Lappalainen, tenor Michael
Galanter and baritone Douglas Nagel, all of whom appeared with the
company last season. The sets were designed by Eduardo Sicangco for
Virginia Opera's 1989 production and are among the most beautiful
ever seen at the company.
When: Friday at 8 p.m. Additional performances at 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Oct. 21 and 23.
Where: Harrison Opera House in Norfolk
Tickets: $12.50 (students) to $63
More information: call 623-1223.
by CNB