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LA Opera Podcasts: Behind the Curtain
20 Years with Maestro Conlon: A Farewell Concert
00:31:24
This episode continues our 20 Years With the Maes…
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- [00:03]
A
Welcome to behind the Curtain, LA Opera's official podcast. Each week we dive deep into the creative process with the artists, creatives and scholars who bring opera to life. Get ready to decode the drama, dissect the music and hear the heart behind the high notes. From backstage laughs to history making moments, every opera starts with a story. Today we bring you another episode of 20 Years with Maestro Conlon, our miniseries in which Gale Eichenthal illuminates the legacy of Maestro James Conlan in his culminating season with LA Opera. In this episode, we look forward to Maestro Conlan's Farewell concert on April 24, highlighting Mozart, Wagner and Verdi. Listen in as Maestro shares his personal connection to these composers, why their works must be heard in concert, and he reasserts his plans to continue conducting and educating audiences beyond his final season as Richard Seaver Music Director. Get your tickets now to Maestro's farewell concert on April 24 at laopera.org hello
- [01:07]
B
and welcome to 20 Years with Maestro Conlan, a behind the curtain miniseries celebrating the music director of LA Opera James Conlon in this his culminating season prior to becoming conductor Laureate. I'm Gayle Eichenthal and on this episode we're going to get a sneak peek preview of a very exciting and historic concert coming up to celebrate Maestro Conlon's history making 20 year tenure. The concert takes place here at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Friday evening, April 24th. Tickets are going fast, but there are a few seats available@laopera.org Maestro, what a pleasure to see you again.
- [01:48]
C
Thank you, Gail. I'm so enjoying this series with you.
- [01:51]
B
It's so much fun. I was thinking as we look toward April 24th and we'll explain the unique program that you're presenting, your typical opera gala consists of a grab bag of operatic chestnuts. This is not what's happening on April 24th. Tell us about how you put this together.
- [02:11]
C
Well, that's absolutely right and I think Christopher Kilch and I agreed. I said if there's one thing I hate, it's a beauty pageant, you know, where everybody comes out with their most beautiful aria. So I really don't enjoy that. So I don't think I would enjoy doing that. And he agrees. So I wanted it to be centered on the music, not the individuals appearing and what music has the most significance to me for me at this juncture, in order to celebrate 20 years of my music directorship here, which is also half the history of the opera company which is celebrating its 40th season. So I chose Mozart, Verdi, And Wagner. And the reason I did that only partially because for me they are personally totally fundamental and I can't live without any one of them. Although one is in hard times, one is forced to live a little more without Wagner than one would like. I can't live without them. But also more important, no opera company could, can or should live without them, because they really are. Now, there's a lot of other things, of course, but you don't have an opera company that cannot adequately produce Mozart, Verdi and Wagner on a regular basis. And so I feel that they're absolutely fundamental to any opera institution as well as to me personally.
- [03:35]
B
Share with us how you selected these three operas in particular. Mario Figaro, La Forza del Destino, Andy Meistersinger.
- [03:44]
C
One could have done any number of excerpts from any of those three composers. But I wanted to put something together that had, you know, strong contrast, which it does. But also I wanted to give at least a taste to our audience of two operas that we've unfortunately never produced. And Dimashtersinger is number one. I, in fact have done everything. I mean, the major Wagner works here, I would say eight in number eight, except for parts of which happened to have been done the year before I came here, and Dimashtersinger, which I don't think they've ever done, okay, Die Meistersinger is the most expensive opera probably to produce, period. And so I understand it's going on hard times. And so I wanted at least to be able to give some representation of Meistersinger to our audience because it hasn't been produced in my time. I do not know if it will be in the future. And a similar case is Verdi's La Forte di Listino, which I have advocated for years but to no avail. And I love it profoundly. And it is one of the Verdi operas that we just haven't done. And I wish we had, but we haven't. And I want to give the audience a taste of that. Now, when it came to Mozart, fortunately we've done almost everything I didn't do. I personally didn't direct Idomeneo here, but it was done shortly before my time by my predecessor, Kent Ngannou. Anyway, the Marriage of Figaro in my opinion fits all occasions because it is one of the most life affirming works, as is, in my opinion, Die Meistersinger. So it was a good second half to reaffirm life. Falstaff is for me the most life affirming of all the Verdi's operas. But we're producing it so we don't need to do it on the gala. That's how I arrived at those choices.
- [05:39]
B
Touching on Figaro, I'm going to quote you, since we're looking back on 20 years, I love some of your commentary on these operas. You said part of Mozart's genius resided in his ability to portray human beings with all their imperfections and to accept them as they are and bind them all together in a harmonious cosmos is such a beautiful description of this great opera and very complicated plot, I might add. We love these folks, even though they're naughty, rascally, they lie, they even cheat.
- [06:14]
C
Well, so do we all. Nobody may want to admit that, but we are human beings with all of our foibles. I mean, every religion should in the end be talking about an all inclusive forgiving or whatever you like, but it's an all inclusive of life and people and things and animals. And every sentient being has its imperfections, but every sentient being is a fundamental part of the universe. And so I think Mozart intuited this. And it's not just his operas, it's every piece of music he ever wrote. You can feel it in the seams of. I mean, I was listening to some chamber music last night. Mozart. It's the same. It's all the same.
- [06:59]
B
What a treat to hear a big chunk of Margaret Figaro at the gala on April 24th. Again, tickets@laopera.org turning to La Forza del Destino, which, as you say, has not been done in a full production here. Where does it fit in between, say, the middle operas that we know so well? Rigoletto, Traviata, Trovatore, and the late ones, including Falstaff, which we have this season.
- [07:30]
C
First of all, having spent so many years in Italy, one is never supposed to pronounce the title of that opera without making certain gestures because it's supposed to bring bad luck. So I just want to mention that as a matter of fact, should you go to Italy, find another way to talk about this opera, this opera, this opera by. Yeah, because amazing things that happen.
- [07:52]
B
I mean, can I say Forza?
- [07:54]
C
Yes, yes. Because the rest will be implied.
- [07:56]
B
Oh my gosh.
- [07:57]
C
The common thing is to say quel opera in nominabile, which means that opera which should not be mentioned or the title, you know, it's a little bit like I'm gonna say it, Macbeth.
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B
Well, we're not backstage, right.
- [08:12]
C
And it's referred to as the Scottish play in England. And same reason, you know, amazing things have happened. Leonard Warren, the great, great, great Verdi baritone, sang the big aria, Urna fatale from La Forza on the Met stage and walked off stage, had a heart attack and died. I mean, things like that have happened that have done a great deal toward fostering this particular superstition. I only mention it almost as a comic aside because I'm not superstitious. But one should just know that. Just don't bring it up, Don't, I mean, find another way to express it.
- [08:48]
B
I'm beginning to understand why Christopher Kelch has declined to present this work.
- [08:54]
C
I hope that's not the reason.
- [08:55]
B
But it's funny because when I looked at the title in my notes, La Forza, you know what? It looked kind of funny to me because I always hear people say Forza.
- [09:06]
C
Yes, that's true as a short.
- [09:08]
B
Now I know why.
- [09:08]
C
Well, that may or may not be the reason, but. Yes, but, you know, interestingly, as you look at the title, the vast majority of Verdi operas refer to an individual who is the protagonist. And there are very few that some that refer to events. La Battaglia di Legnano, a few things like that. Il Masnadiere, which is a group of robbers, that's a Schiller play, but it's usually, you know, Don Carlo. La Traviata is a euphemism for Violeta. Il Trovatore is Manrico, but he's a, you know, Rigoletto is a person, all of that. But La Fortes del Destino is the only one where the protagonist is not a person, but literally a force. And I once had occasion to talk about the linking of two operas that have no resemblance to each other at all in any way, which are Pelleas, Melisande and La Forza, which are both about the omnipresence and power of destiny or fate, and that any human action within that is in fact less decisive than the fact that there are circumstances, call it destiny, or whatever you like to call it, that rule their lives like a marionette master rules the marionette. And that's the only time Fieri wrote an opera like that. And I think it's a very misunderstood opera in some respects, and dismissed by some as having a silly plot. On the other hand, they dismiss Il Trovatore and they say Simon Boccanegra is incomprehensible. And I don't really find any of that true, but okay, some people feel that way. They say, well, Laforce, that makes no sense. And I mean, things happen that couldn't possibly ever happen in life. And it's spread out all over Europe, you've got different locales and there's no unity of time and place and all those things that used to govern dramas in French, but also European theater. I think that the understanding is fundamentally, it is an epic opera. It is like a Russian novel, like Tolstoy. I also believe personally that without saying so, Verdi was very, very influenced by one of the great, great, great pieces of Italian literature, by the man he admired and loved more than anybody else, Alessandro Mazzoni Franklin, for whom he wrote the Requiem and his great novel, which is translated as the Betrothed I Promessi Sponsi goes on like that. And what it really is is a picture of life in Italy at the time of the great plague, the great Black death. So for me it has other aspects of it. I think it's a perfectly wonderful plot, if you want to know my opinion. But I don't think what anybody, at least who loves Verdi, can deny has some of the greatest music he has ever written. And so it belongs on our stage.
- [12:18]
B
Well, what a thrill to hear lots of Music from Act 3 and 4 of La Forza del. You know what? Coming up on the gala celebrating Maestro Conlon's 20 years with LA Opera. That's April 24th. We must talk about Maestro Singer in a little more detail. I was amazed to read that he wrote this after Tristan and after the first two Ring operas. And he seems to have been working on Meistersinger and Siegfried in the same five year period. Was he actually doing both at the same time?
- [12:57]
C
Well, he actually stopped in the middle of the second act of Siegfried and basically took 10 years off and in that time produced first Tristan and then Meistersinger and then went back to finish the Ring afterwards. It is amazing in terms of compartmentalizing his mind. It is astounding. And actually, if you are really attentive to the Ring and you're aware of that fact, you can hear it really heats up and becomes late Wagner in the third act of Siegfried and then goes on in Die Goethe. But yes, that came in the midst of it. And then of course you realize he also created his probably greatest tragic masterpiece in Triesta, Isolde. And his only comedy, I mean, just as we talk about Falstaff, is the only. Well, it is almost the only, only comedy of Verdi. Meister Singer is his only comed as a mature artist. The harmonic language is totally different. I mean, much is made out of Tristan and chromaticism. It's a chromatic opera. Meistersinger is a diatonic opera. It is a highly, highly, highly. It's an opera based in traditional harmony in an amazing way. They are in some ways as far away from each other as. As you could imagine. Now, when you know them both in detail, you can see, okay, yeah, but it's still the same man, Wagner, working at that particular period of his life.
- [14:37]
B
And in the plot of Meistersinger, it's sort of about music stretching traditions into new direction. And there has to be some identification that Wagner had with these characters who are stretching the bounds of. Of music, as he did.
- [14:57]
C
I think in no other work as Meistersinger, Wagner has put himself at the center of the work. Now that he was a great, shall we just politely say, egocentric individual, yes, his ego is there. But the beautiful thing about great composers like Wagner and Mahler is that they put their own personal story into whatever music they're writing, and it turns out to be about all of us. And so he does. But there's no question that the two male protagonists, the young Walther von Stolzing, who's the tenor, and the older Hans Sachs, are both two aspects not just of music, but of Wagner himself. And so Hans Sachs is the old master, they are, after all, called master singers, who understands all the old rules and has risen in his environment to a predominant, preeminent position, having written in the old style. And then there's this young kind of wild rebel who comes into town and writes what he feels. And then there is a burgeoning relationship between the older Hans Sachs and the younger Walther, with the object of the reward is being able to marry the young Eva. Now, it's not an accident she's called Eva because that's like Adam and Eve. And so there are actually two men in love with Eva. One is the young Walter and one is the older Hans Sachs. And Wagner sees in himself the young Walther who's breaking all the rules, making it up as he goes along, but is going to revolutionize music. And Hans Sachs, who still represents a part of that tradition, but understands and recognizes in the young Walter that there is a new way and that the old or older must give in to that new way, which has a double aspect, because he is, as an older widow, widower, he's a little bit, or maybe a little more than a little bit in love with Eva. But he recognizes that, that it is appropriate that Eva should marry a young man and not an older man like himself. And so in two ways, this is a passing on of the generation. And I also think that a certain amount of projection is in Hans Sachs's the father he wish he had had, which he did not have, a sympathetic, knowledgeable mentor who understood and could lead a way for him. I think there's a wish fulfillment on a Freudian level, there's a wish fulfillment desire that partially shapes Hans Sachs's character.
- [17:56]
B
Something that Wagner identified with, perhaps.
- [17:59]
C
No question. Yeah, created it. You know, he really created this story. Many of those stories come from somewhere. He always puts himself in them. I mean, all of his protagonists are Wagner and his women, especially the early operas, have a certain role. And I mean, psychiatrists and psychologists can rip it to shreds because, I mean, the woman's function is to redeem the man. You don't have another function. I mean, that's a horrible, horrible, limited way to view the fullness of it. And yet, despite that, he composed, I mean, great women and great characters. I mean, obviously loved those women too. But his own limited understanding of. I don't. It's hard to say he didn't understand because he had an immense intellect and understood everything, but his intuitive feelings are very, may I say, warped. I think they are. And yet he creates human characters in which we can also recognize ourselves.
- [19:05]
A
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- [19:57]
B
Some of the singers that will be participating in Die Meistersinger and Margia Figaro and Forza are favorite artists of LA opera audiences. Juro Alfaro in Forza is Roderick Dixon, great tenor who performed the title role of Zemlinski's Tesferg the Dwarf. Very memorable couple of times here.
- [20:23]
C
Twice in fact. One of the hardest roles in opera repertory and so, by the way, is the tenor role of Don Alvaro in Forza. They don't grow on trees and you know, Roderick also is ideal now and ripe for Otello. And so Forza is just One step
- [20:45]
B
short of Otello, we have bass baritone Craig Colclough, whose career has ascended since he began here with LA Opera. And he. He will be your Falstaff.
- [20:56]
C
Yes, he will. And he'll be Figaro. And he's helping out a little bit with a few one liner cameos in both Forza and Meistersinger.
- [21:05]
B
And other company favorites include mezzo soprano Hyo Na Kim. And we're going to be hearing some of the young artists. The Young Artists Program, for those who don't know it well, began the same year as your tenure, 2006, 2007. A lot of the singers who've come through that program are major stars on the opera stage today, and that must be a source of such great pride. Nicholas Brownlee, Renita Miller, Angel Blue, Brenton Ryan, Janai Brugger, and on and on. What an incredible program. And it seems like more and more you have them performing on the main stage over the years.
- [21:49]
C
Well, if one can, and this is an ideal situation, the Marriage of Figaro lends itself to that. But we have several extraordinary young artists taking roles in the Marriage of Figaro and also in Meistersinger. I mean, not everybody's a Wagnerian tenor or soprano in Meistersinger, and we have several in that as well.
- [22:15]
B
I'd like to touch on another initiative that began right when you started as music director of LA Opera, which has had such a powerful impact international, and that is recovered voices bringing back on stage the voices that were either repressed or lost or banned during the Nazi era. How did you come to be so passionate about this?
- [22:42]
C
Well, I think my history is well documented and you can find it in many sources. One is on the Orel foundation website, which is now actually a part of Colburn. We have gifted that to the Colburn School. The Colburn School now has a really active program. It's called Music Response, I suppose, to differentiate it from LA Opera, but it is the same essence. And I became gradually taken with the necessity to address the issue of music that has fallen out of the repertory primarily because of the Nazi oppression. And that happened in Germany when I was there in the early 1990s. It just simply started by liking some of it and performing it. But a growing sense of mission over the years when I understood that a large volume, a vast volume of musical works remain not a part of the legacy and the patrimony that we deserve, or I don't know if we deserve it, but we ought to be able to avail ourselves of it. And we can directly attribute this to the suppression of mostly but not exclusively Jewish composers in Nazi Germany. And it's an unfortunate lesson, object lesson in how easy it is to destroy and how difficult it is to create or recreate or rebuild. A good thing to remember as one is involved in war making. The end of the Second World War is now 80 years behind us. And yet the damage that was done in 13 years, not even 13 years, 12 years between 1933 and 1945 by this regime has stayed, unfortunately, largely unaddressed in classical music, maybe not in some other disciplines. But yes, these pieces are being performed and yes, a lot more is being done than what was the case when I started out on my mission. Now, I was not the first, and I take no undue credit I was not the first, but I have stuck to it stubbornly over these 30 years, more than 30 years since I first became aware of how important it is. And that mission will outlast my lifetime. I will not live to see that fully. I would wish that had been different, but it takes a long time. And so I'm very happy to have been and to be actively now establishing in the Colburn School not just a partner, but a system where this can live on beyond me and where we can train and prepare a younger generation to pick up the reins of this music and to go on with this mission well after. I mean, for anybody who thinks it's now irrelevant, just look at how terrible anti Semitic acts are at this time. But. But there's a lot of antisemitic attacks, verbiage. There are still people who deny the Holocaust as incredible. That is to me personally. But this is why the art has to survive as well. Each one of us passes on, but art's not. And so that art has to become a part of what it should have always been from the beginning, has to take its place, and then it will have advocates and detractors. That's fine, because we do argument. I mean, not everybody, I don't know, loves Bruckner or Bartok or, I don't know, Salieri, but that's part of the game. We argue about aesthetics and do we like that, and we do not like that. But the fact is that we should be able to have that argument. Well, you can't argue where there's a vacuum of works that don't get played or nobody even actually even knows they exist. So it's basically to address that.
- [26:41]
B
And that music is so beautiful and accessible and fascinating. And I remember concerts that you've done with LA Opera over the years. Years, the music of Schulhof and Alexander von Semlinsky, Korngold and many, many more. Thank you for bringing us that great music and spreading the gospel, if you will, that these voices must be heard. Looking back on these 20 years with L A Opera, some 500 performances, more than 70 works. And that's on top of your, I don't know, something like 300 performances at the Met, 37 years or so at the Cincinnati May Festival and on. And I'm making this point not just to flatter you, but I've always gotten the impression you are inexhaustible. And I know that in leaving L A Opera you are not retiring. That would be impossible.
- [27:35]
C
Well, thank you for mentioning that. Yes, because a lot of people misread that to me. So, no, I'm not retiring. I will be continuing. I have a full 26, 27 season, a lot of which is in Europe, but some of which is here. And I have a lot of other activities which are important to me or will be important to me, and options that I'll be looking into without having to be a music director. I must say that is an important change. I have been a music director of at least one place and sometimes two, and sometimes even three at one time for the last 47 years. And there comes a time when, as the Italians say, basta. I don't want all the other responsibility that comes with that. But I still love to conduct and I still love to music. And I still love being active in education and speaking and writing and recovered voices or music restored, whichever term you care to use. I will be just as active as always. And yes, I'm exhaustible, but I just haven't found the end yet.
- [28:37]
B
Well, I keep thinking of conductors like Pierre Monteux, Stokowski, and these days, Herbert Blumstedt, who turns 99 in a cat couple of months. He's still conducting.
- [28:49]
C
He's amazing. I mean, he's totally amazing.
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B
It has to be the aerobics of conducting.
- [28:54]
C
Well, people like to say that, and maybe that's partially true, but I think also it's if you can still be useful in life, I think that makes a big difference. People accept older conductors in a way that they don't accept older, other things. Now that being said, I think there's a lot has shifted in my lifetime. It was not easy to be a young conductor when I was a young conductor, but we were all told, just, just wait, just wait. Your boat comes in when you're 70 and everything is your oyster. Well, that hasn't worked out at all because there's been a run on youth and been run on a lot of other things. So it's not a gift to be an older person. But I wear my age proudly. I'm 76 now. I don't care what anybody thinks. You want to hire me, hire me. You don't want to look at a conductor who's 76. Don't come to my concerts. But you know, that's my age and I think I bring some things to be it symphonic or operatic that I couldn't possibly have brought to my podium when I was 26 years old. So like it or love it like it come, don't come, whatever you want. But I still do what I do and hope to share it with as many people who wish to have me share with them.
- [30:04]
B
Compared to Herbert Plumstead, you are a spring chicken many decades to come to conduct, and that's very good news for your audiences in la. We look forward to Falstaff. We look forward to Magic Flute as the grand finale and on April 24, a gala concert here at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Tickets@laopera.org this has been episode five of 20 Years with Maestro Conlon, the spinoff of L A Opera's behind the Curtain podcast series. Thank you for listening and thank you Maestro. What a pleasure.
- [30:38]
C
It is my pleasure. And thank you to you, Gail.
- [30:41]
A
Get your Tickets now to Maestro's farewell concert on April 24th at la opera.org don't forget to like, comment and subscribe to behind the Curtain wherever you listen to podcasts and share this episode with your friends on your favorite social media. Did you know that as a nonprofit, LA Opera relies on charitable donations from arts lovers just like you? Learn more about how your support brings our stage to life@laopera.org donate we can't wait to see you at the Opera.