The 32d season of Lyric Opera became an entry in the history books Saturday when the curtain came down on the longest season in the company`s history–for that matter the longest season in the history of any Chicago opera producer.
Looking back over the season offerings, one is first struck by the high proportion of quality to quantity. Never before has a Chicago opera company presented so many performances of so many operas during a single season, or done so at such a high artistic level. By even the most sober estimate, general manager Ardis Krainik produced a banner year of opera.
The repertory had both balance and diversity, the roster of singers and conductors proved exceptionally strong, and there were few lapses from the performance standard that for more than three decades has earned Chicago the respect of opera`s global village.
Krainik`s big gamble involved extending the season through the end of January, a month when a number of Lyric subscribers either have left town or have turned their thoughts to other cultural pursuits. But for the
performances of ”The Merry Widow,” ”La Gioconda” and ”La Boheme” given between Dec. 30 and Jan. 31, the Lyric tallied an impressive average attendance of about 91 percent, slightly higher than the average overall attendance for the season. That the Opera House is now open for business between Christmas and the first week of February has become one of the happiest developments in Chicago music.
The most recent season represented the final phase of Krainik`s planned two-year expansion, a period during which Lyric went from 54 performances of seven operas in 1984, to 66 performances of eight operas in 1985-6, to 73 performances of nine operas in 1986-7. A nine-opera repertory is expected to be the Lyric norm for the foreseeable future. Krainik put into effect her plans for an increased season with the certainty that her subscribers were ready for more opera, and the box-office figures for the 32d season amply support her conviction.
Although the average overall attendance has been slightly declining in each of the expansion seasons–from 97 percent in 1984, to 93 percent in 1985-6, to 90 percent in 1986-7–those declines must be weighed alongside a steady increase in ticket sales. For the 1984 season the company sold 184,430 seats; in 1986-7 that figure jumped to 231,330. What opera company would not be overjoyed to sell roughly 47,000 more tickets in just two seasons?
If Lyric Opera is regularly held up by operagoers and reviewers from outside Chicago as the model of how a major American company should be doing things, criticism of the Metropolitan Opera is usually implied. The Met has come under heavy attack in recent seasons for, among other things, its failure to produce a regular parade of superstars, mediocre casting, fluctuating podium standards and poorly rehearsed productions.
One answer, of course, is that the Lyric, a smaller organization that produces three to five performances a week for 19 weeks, is in a better position to marshal its artistic resources than a huge and complex institution like the Met, which mounts seven performances a week over a season running from September to June. Generally speaking, the fewer the operas, the more attention a company can give each one.
But the other answer relates to how much careful planning goes into the matching of artists to repertory. Here Krainik and her artistic director, Bruno Bartoletti, have shown, in the opinion of many opera observers, exceptionally keen judgment. A balance has been achieved between the showcasing of top international artists who are necessary for the well-being of any major international theater (Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Tatiana Troyanos) and important American singers who are already established
(Jerry Hadley, Neil Shicoff) or who are beginning to make names for themselves (Kallen Esperian, Richard Leech).
Of course, at the Lyric as elsewhere, bidding for the top singers often takes some form other than dollars.
The top fee at Lyric is slightly higher than $9,000 per performance, about the same as it is at the Metropolitan.
But the Lyric has increasingly found it can lure established singers like Pavarotti, Jon Vickers, Joan Sutherland, Kiri Te Kanawa and Marilyn Horne to Chicago by offering them other glittery perks, such as new productions, concert engagements or unusual repertory packages–something that the Met has until recently seemed unwilling to do.
As a matter of fact, under company auspices, Pavarotti is scheduled to present a recital Sept. 9 at the Auditorium Theatre, nine days before opening the Lyric season in Verdi`s ”Il Trovatore.”
Partly because it isn`t locked into a years-in-advance casting system, the Lyric seems to be a lot more flexible than other companies in handling sudden cancellations. Less than 24 hours after having heard the Barrington-bred Esperian sing in New York, Krainik had signed her to replace Gabriela Benackova as Mimi in Lyric`s ”La Boheme.” Just as adroitly she assigned Hadley and Leech the Rodolfos that Giuliano Ciannella vacated so that he could take over the role of Enzo in ”Gioconda” for Nicola Martinucci. These days it`s hard to imagine the Met casting department piecing together so complex a jigsaw puzzle with such coolness and aplomb.
Even more important is the fact that Krainik has created the familial conditions at Lyric Opera that make singers want to appear here, and, once they are in Chicago, feel they belong. ”Tender loving care is my specialty,” she recently told an interviewer. ”I`ve heard from many singers` friends that the artists love to come back, and the only way to keep that happening is for things to be more or less tranquil. There is no way they will feel that something else is more important to management than their well-being.”
Of course, not everything that Lyric produced during 1986-7 turned out to be as splendid as it may have looked on paper.
The two big soprano discoveries of the season were to have been Edita Gruberova, the coloratura queen of Vienna, in ”Lucia di Lammermoor”; and Ghena Dimitrova, hailed in some quarters as the next Maria Callas, as Gioconda. Gruberova turned the role of Lucia into an extended coloratura concert. Dimitrova emitted voluminous sounds.
Perhaps Vienna and Verona know how to showcase these divas` talents better than Chicago. Perhaps they were intimidated (as many newcomers are) by the Opera House`s physical and acoustical peculiarities. Whatever the case, neither debut proved as auspicious as it might have been. Moral: All that glitters on the Continent may not do so in Chicago.
Contrast this with the curious back-door treatment accorded June Anderson. Although the talented American soprano has conquered operatic Milan and Paris, she could barely get to first base this season at Lyric, which relegated her to a supporting role in ”Orlando,” then gave her a paltry two performances as Lucia after Placido Domingo offered his tenoral services to Lyric for a limited engagement. Two weeks after her Chicago ”Lucias,”
Anderson was in London garnering raves for her Donizetti heroine; Covent Garden had the chivalric grace to give her prima billing for the full run of the production.
Some capsule observations are in order. The Lyric season began with a new production of ”The Magic Flute” that only humorless purists would have disliked, a triumph for director August Everding and his production team. It was the finest thing this writer saw at Lyric all season. A pity the Everding ”Zauberflote” couldn`t have been filmed, for it clearly did for Mozart in the 1980s what Ingmar Bergman`s famous film version achieved in the `70s: It translated the broadly comic spirit of the original German farce into a modern, childlike sensibility. All eight performances played to capacity houses.
The ”Bohemes” that Lyric presented last autumn with Katia Ricciarelli and Vyacheslav Polosov (the Russian-emigre tenor who was making his American staged opera debut) in leading roles proved less effective than the winter performances that featured Esperian and Hadley. However, Michael Tilson Thomas made an impressive podium debut, and one may expect this level of achievement to be reflected in future appearances by American conductors at the Lyric.
Not heard in the city for 41 years, ”Parsifal” closed the last remaining major gap in Lyric`s Wagner repertory, and, for the most part, closed it admirably. Vickers gave one of his finest performances in the title role, supported by a fine cast of Wagnerians and the vigorous conducting of Christoph Perick. A pity that the Pier Luigi Pizzi production was unworthy of them.
”Orlando” proved an apt showcase for Horne, whose unique vocal gifts were framed by a lavish neobaroque extravaganza that was at once stylish, witty and entertaining. ”Ballo” had Pavarotti, in glorious voice, as its prime vocal asset, although Verdi veterans Fiorenza Cossotto and Piero Cappuccilli added much to its success.
If ”Katya Kabanova” drew the season`s lowest average attendance, 78 percent was a respectable enough figure for a Janacek work that the city had never heard before, but clearly deserved to. The qualities that make this a masterpiece of 20th-Century music drama came through vividly in the emotionally intense performance conducted by Bartoletti, with Ellen Shade taking the title role.
The ”Merry Widow” seemed to please just about everyone but this critical curmudgeon, who found it inferior to the version given here six years ago. Whatever the vocal shortcomings of its leading lady, ”La Gioconda”
poured on the Italianate blood-and-thunder with a good cast. And the Esperian- Hadley team made the final ”Bohemes” soar with the spirit of youthful romance.
One is pleased to hear that the Lyric public was so enthusiastic about the limited use of projected English titles this season that the company will provide them for all nine operas next season. Diehard traditionalists had better reconcile themselves to operatic reality: Captions are here to stay.
If one has any urgent hope for the future of Lyric Opera, it is that the city of Chicago improve its support of the company. That support is at present almost nonexistent. In the past City Hall has provided funding for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Art Institute, but it has been slow in recognizing the equal cultural and municipal importance of Lyric Opera. Now is the time for the city that reaps enormous benefits from Lyric Opera`s eminence in the international opera community to help secure the financial well-being of that institution.LYRIC 1 CAPTION
