Public Comment

Eliza O’Malley, Berkeley Chamber Opera’s founding Artistic Director, wrote that in the present Covid pandemic, she searched for two one-act operas she could present in a program that wouldn’t require an audience be confined in a small theatre space over more than two hours. As a further caution, she asked patrons to wear N95 face masks that were handed out at the door of Berkeley’s Hillside Club on the nights of performance. Thus, two one-act Russian operas, Maddalena by Sergei Prokofiev, and Mavra by Igor Stravinsky, were given three performances over the weekend of June 17-19.

At the Saturday, June 18 performance I attended, second casts sang in both operas. Although I initially regretted not hearing Eliza O’Malley herself sing the title role in Prokofiev’s Maddalena on Friday or Sunday, I was greatly impressed by soprano Mary Evelyn Hangley in this role. Singing in Russian in Prokofiev’s Maddalena, Ms Hangley displayed a voice that is full and rich in tonal colours. She’s a graduate of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Adler Fellowship program and in 2021 she stepped in on three hours notice to sing the Mother in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel with San Francisco Opera. Mary Evelyn Hangley also made a last-minute house and role debut with Opera San Jose as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and in 2019 she performed with the San Francisco Symphony in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. 

Prokofiev’s Maddalena is a lurid tale of a crime passionel based on a play by Magda Gustavovna Lieven-Orlov. Set in 15th century Venice, the story involves a couple of newlyweds, Maddalena and Gennaro. Initially, they sing of their wondrous happiness together. However, when Gennaro’s friend Stenio knocks on their door, Maddalena hastily retreats as Gennaro opens the door to his friend. Stenio, who dabbles in alchemy, is an intense young man who gradually confesses that he is having a love affair with a mysterious woman who refuses to tell even her name. Stenio admits he has become obsessed by this mysterious lover, who is driving him crazy. When a sudden flash of lightning reveals Maddalena hiding behind a curtain, Stenio recognises her as his mysterious lover. Little by little, Gennaro is forced to make the painful realisation that his beloved wife has been unfaithful for at least three months. When both Stenio and Gennaro threaten to kill Maddalena, she boldly berates them as two men shamelessly attacking a defenseless woman. 

Gennaro and Stenio then turn their anger on each other, and Gennaro uses a dagger to stab Stenio. Mortally wounded, Stenio retaliates and stabs Gennaro. Both men die cursing Maddalena,who exults in simply being alive and free of these entanglements. 

Tenor Michael Boley was an effusive Gennaro, singing lustily in his love of Maddalena. Bass-baritone Sergey Khalikulov, a member of the faculty at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, was effective as the obsessed Stenio, and he sang with a full, robust voice. A small chamber orchestra led by Jonathan Khuner performed a piano score with Alexander Katsman on piano. Incidentally, the score of Prokofiev’s Maddalena was lost for decades, and this Berkeley Chamber Opera production may well have been at least a West Coast premiere of this opera. 

After intermission, an abrupt change of pace ensued, as a performance of Igor Stravinsky’s Mavra was given in English instead of Russian. Mavra, which is one of the earliest works of Stravinsky’s neo-classical period, had its premiere in Paris in 1922 under the auspices of Serge Diaghilev. Mavra has a rich score, here given with a reduced chamber orchestra in a piano score. Orchestrally, I found Mavra quite fascinating. Vocally, however, this English language version further trivialised an already thin and exceedingly trivial plot in which a young woman, Parasha, finagles a way to introduce her lover, Vassili, into her mother’s house disguised as the newly hired maid. 

In Mavra, soprano Cara Gabrielson sang the role of Parasha, and tenor Sidney Ragland was Vassili. Mezzo-soprano Leandra Ramm sang the role of the Mother, and mezzo-soprano Kirsten Anderson was a gossipy Neighbor. Coming as it did after the dramatically and musically intense presentation in Russian of Prokofiev’s Maddalena, this Englis-language version of Stravinsky’s Mavra was simply a distinct letdown. Eliza O’Malley directed both operas, and costumes were by Joy Graham-Korst.