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Voigt's Noble Alceste Battles Hell & Flu in Collegiate Chorale Concert |
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by Bruce-Michael Gelbert | >> see bio |
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photo by Erin Baiano
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| Deborah Voigt |
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The Collegiate Chorale concluded its New York season with a concert performance of Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera "Alceste" (1767, revised 1776), a relative rarity here, at the Rose Theatre on May 26, with Deborah Voigt making her role debut as the eponymous self-sacrificing Queen of Thessaly. There must be some unwritten law that dictates that one cannot present "Alceste" without the principal soprano undergoing some sort of strife mirroring that of heroine who literally goes to Hell for her husband.
An announcement was made at the outset of Voigt's indisposition, but determination to sing the demanding, wide-ranging, borderline-baroque-and-classical role as scheduled. Alceste does battle with death itself to keep Hades from claiming her husband, King Admète. Battling the flu, Voigt bravely steeled herself and held us rapt as she sacrificed her own health for the sake of her commitment to her art and wrestled with such heroic challenges as "Grands Dieux du destin" and "Divinités du Styx." One would like very much to hear Voigt undertake this dramatic role again when she is in peak form.
Then again, New York heard Kirsten Flagstad in this role-in the face of spurious accusations that she herself possessed Nazi sympathies, because her husband, Henry Johansen, had been arrested as a collaborationist with Vidkun Quisling-as well at least one lesser light, who tackled this formidable part with no more than the parched wraith of a lyric instrument at her disposal, so there is ample precedent for an Alceste in a profound predicament.
Vinson Cole made a welcome return to the local stage as Admète, who recovers his health when Alceste vows to make the ultimate sacrifice for him. Lending a clear lyric tenor to his music, Cole as Admète railed at his spouse in fury, when he learned that she would substitute for him in the journey to Hades, but, sadder and wiser, realized he could not live without her and infused with pathos his "Alceste! aux nom des Dieux sois sensible," when he sought to accept his fate and go to his death, in her stead, after all.
Richard Zeller brought a vibrant baritone to the roles of the high priest of Apollo, who learns what must be done to save Admète's life, and the hero Hercules, who intercedes with death (Thanatos) and rescues the royal pair. Ryan Kinsella, Kyungmook Yum, Gregory Hostetler, and Martha Sullivan impressed a variety of supporting roles.
The Collegiate Chorale distinguished itself in its varied assignment as the people of Thessaly, making moan expansively, fugally, about their fate, inextricably linked with that of their ailing king; fervently invoking Apollo and beseeching him to spare Admète; fleeing precipitously when avoiding the call to make the supreme sacrifice themselves; rejoicing when Admète recovered and all clouds seemed banished; bidding a moving farewell to Alceste as she took her leave of them; portraying the ghostly damned, greeting the Queen at the gates of Hades; and warmly welcoming back both monarchs at the dénouement.
New York City Opera Music Director George Manahan presided over the performance, leading his own NYCO players, who shone particularly in the rousing overture, which set the stage for the nobility of sacrifice and stately grandeur of the drama ahead, and in a buoyant celebratory dance near the start of the second act.
After a short summer season at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Collegiate Chorale returns to New York to appear at Radio City Music Hall, on October 9 and 10, under Ludwig Wicki's baton, to accompany high-definition showings of the film "The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring."
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