Virtual Virtuosi: The Met Opera Series at TSL
by Ross Rice

With all due respect to those aficionados and enjoyers of the grand tradition of Opera, most of you reading this probably don’t care for opera, or at least are pretty sure you THINK you don’t. It’s hard to make a predominantly upper-crust European tradition going back hundreds of years, with its creative peak some 150 years ago, something new and resonant to present times. Opera is expensive, usually only in major cities, you have to dress up too much, and do they have to sing so dang loud? Why bother?

Well, if it was made a lot easier, why NOT bother for a change? Time and Space Limited in Hudson offers a way to experience opera in an almost ideal format, at a very reasonable price. And not just any old opera company, folks, but one of the world’s best: the Metropolitan Opera, in New York City.

This month (the series runs through April 27) the opera is Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, with libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, incidentally one of over 200 operas that have been based on Shakespearean works. A Parisian who studied mostly 16th century religious music in Italy, Gounod (1818-1893) is most known for his musical setting of Ave Maria, and his opera Faust, which actually caused some controversy when a critic publicly doubted Gounod’s authorship, and found himself challenged to a duel by the irate composer (the critic retracted…now THAT’S how you handle a bad review!) Roméo et Julliete, a perennial crowd-pleaser, though not considered one of the all-time greats, still has plenty of great roles and arias for top singers, and that all-important opera element: a classic love story, with one (or both) of the lovers dying very melodically and passionately.

I arrive on time to the TSL building at 434 Columbia St., just one street over from Warren St., Hudson’s main drag. The parking lot is full: it usually is when TSL runs the show live, and then replays it as an “encore” the following day. Entering the main building, it becomes fairly obvious that today’s program is a sell-out (reservations are recommended, especially for the live feed). Most folks in attendance are in winter garb; some stand on opera decorum and dress up a bit more, but, generally it’s pretty casual. Entering the main viewing theatre, which can handle up to 150 patrons, a large screen exhibits the curtain at the Met, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound captures the crowd murmur and orchestra tuning. It really feels like you are smack dab in the middle of the audience in New York City, with absolutely amazing seats.

Then, the screen cuts to the “conductor-cam.” None other than the legendary tenor Plácido Domingo smiles from the podium with baton poised for the downbeat. Domingo, who has clearly been exposed to and influenced by so many great conductors over his considerable career, has found a rewarding second career with the orchestra, and with obvious skill and score familiarity, starts the overture. Various cameras in sections of the orchestra during this beginning sequence allow an intimate view seldom experienced by the audience. The broadcast mix is superb, the in-house JBL speakers giving high fidelity sound.

But, when the camera finally pans to the opening curtain, we get the whole treatment. As you can imagine, the Met spares no expense for sets, lights, and costumes, and boy…do they get their money’s worth. Revolving concentric circles dominate the center stage, occasionally shifting in pitch and height, with map-like icons on the circumference. A Calder-esque astrolabe is suspended from the ceiling, and nebulae and star-clusters hover in the background, re-enforcing the universality of the themes of Roméo et Juliette, and their “star-crossed” love. The saturated reds, oranges, and purples, and attention to the detail of the Italian Renaissance style of the costumes is impressive, making the chorus effective as moving and singing scenery. The multi-camera editing, with its amazing close-ups and dolly and crane sweeps, gives us a truly idealized opera experience. It’s almost overwhelming.

“For some people, it’s an almost religious experience. People cheer, clap, and even cry,” says Michael Chameides, whose duties are chameleonic, but he’s the guy who often presents the public face of TSL. Today, he is also the guy who makes sure the satellite feed is good, and adjusts volumes on the surround-sound speaker array, under the instructions relayed up to the projection booth from TSL co-founder and artistic director Linda Mussmann. He explains the genesis of this new relationship with the Met: “We partnered with a company called Emerging Pictures a little over a year ago. They act as an intermediary to the distributors—who traditionally have distributed films on 35 mm—digitize the films, and then re-broadcast them as digital content. In terms of pixels and actual amounts of information, it’s just as good as film, and it’s a lot cheaper and it’s a lot more environmentally friendly.” Last year, The Met series became available through Emerging Pictures, and TSL jumped on it. The results: a big hit in the community, and an accessible way to enjoy world-class opera.

The Met Opera broadcasting program was the brainchild of the Met’s new general manager, Peter Gelb, whose previous experience included managing Vladimir Horowitz, being publicity director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (under Seiji Ozawa), and heading the classical music division at Sony Records. Starting by broadcasting Madame Butterfly last year to people outside the opera house and on Times Square, the broadcast started becoming a bigger hit when it became available via satellite, resulting in sold-out venues hundreds, even thousands of miles from the actual performers. This year, TSL opted to go for the live satellite feed, and purchased a dish for the roof, which required some serious fund-raising, much of it from private donations and the yearly Opera Gala. Finally, after some tough negotiation with the Met folks, the deal was made. Says Chameides, “They’re mission is our mission. They want to have a more grass-roots style opera, where people can see it all over the country. It’s cheaper, it’s more accessible, and we are sort of a model of what they’re looking for: a small independent theatre, so they were more inclined to bend a little.”

With broadcasts to over 600 venues all over the world, including North America, Australia, Europe, and Japan, Gelb might have found a way to bring opera to the Digital Generation. It helps that the Met performances are spot-on, with two of the most notorious and dynamic stars in the opera firmament. Russian soprano Anna Netrebko has meteored to superstar status almost overnight, starting with her breakthrough performance as Natasha Rostova in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, originally (and legendarily) with the Kirov Opera, later reprised at her Met debut in 2002. As Juliette, she plays the part at first with an actual teenage innocence, becoming more mature and glamorous as the opera progresses. Netrebko has the full package: amazing chops, movie star looks, and actual acting talent. Tenor Roberto Alagna brings not only his proven talent to this Roméo, but just a touch of scandal as well. Along with ex-wife and famous Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, Alagna had been dismissed from the Met in 1998 for objecting to the set designs for Verdi’s La Traviata, and last December walked out on a performance of Verdi’s Aida after being booed on his first aria. Somewhat beloved as a bad boy of opera in his native France, Alagna—though certainly no winsome teenager—still manages to make the romance believable, and the performance, with its excellent supporting cast and chorus, has a satisfying resonance despite the fact that it’s, well, opera. You don’t come to this format for gritty realism, it’s the melody, the spectacle, the otherworldly vibrato.

Still, I honestly must recommend this experience, even to those who would never consider actually attending the opera in person. Between the attention to detail in the broadcast from the Met (really, just amazing production values here), and TSL’s excellent low-key and intimate environment (not to mention low price), this is about the best opportunity you will ever have to check out the wonders of the world of opera. And yes, sometimes it all does come together into something that truly feels timeless and ageless, and you may come to understand why opera has lasted as long as it has in the history of human expression.

Time and Space Limited is located at 434 Columbia St., Hudson NY (www.timeandspace.org, 518.822.8448). The series continues through April, with the next performances being Verdi’s Macbeth (Jan. 12-13) and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut (Feb. 16-17). Upcoming performances include Britten’s Peter Grimes, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Puccini’s La Boheme, and Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment. Contact TSL at www.timeandspace.org for more details, and check out their many other movie, art, and music selections