Reviews

GSA: Orpheus in the Underworld
March 17, 2023, ODU University Theatre
Review by John Campbell

Written by Jacques Offenbach, directed by Governor's School for the Arts Vocal Music Chair Shelly Milam, conducted by Stephen Coxe and choreographed by Morgan White, the eighteen-piece orchestra and cast of forty-plus singers and dancers gave a brilliant and fun performance of the world's first, great, full-length operetta (Paris, 1858).

This frothy spoof of a serious opera by Gluck tells the story of Orpheus, his love for Eurydice and his attempts,through the power of music, to win her back from death and to bring her back to the land of the living.

Scene on Earth: We were tipped-off to the change from the original story when the added character Public Opinion (Aurora Sauer in male evening attire) gave us the “Turn off All Cell Phones” message and traded bows with Conductor Coxe. The opening song was sung by Logan Windley as Eurydice while gathering cornflowers for her new lover. She is bored to death with her husband Orpheus (Jadon Colbert) and is having an affair with the shepherd Aristeus (Ted J.C. Thomas) who is really the God Pluto in disguise. After an argument between the married couple they decide not to stay together; she is fed up with his violin playing and he is happy to enjoy his new mistress, Cynthia.

Orpheus' violin student, Summer Littles, gives us a showstopping performance of a piece by Gluck from his original opera. He warns Eurydice of a surprise in the garden. There she is bitten by a serpent and Pluto happily whisks her off to the Underworld but not before she has time to leave a note for her husband. Orpheus is pleased that she is gone until Public Opinion steps in and bosses him about, saying that he has to show public grief and journey to Olympus and plead with Jupiter, King of the Gods (Jarius Hines) to descend to the Underworld to retrieve his wife. Orpheus grudgingly heads off with Public Opinion.

Scene on Mount Olympus: Here we see the gods and goddesses lounging about in their gold-trimmed togas, overseen by Morpheus, God of Dreams (Riah Lubansky). We hear from Juno, Queen of the Gods (Faith Woodberry-Crisp), Cupid (Isabela Farrell), Venus, Goddess of Love (Isabella Gayton). Mercury, (Savannah Stephens) and Diana, Goddess of the Moon, Hunting and Virginity (Mary Reins). They complain about living on Olympus, Jupiter's hypocrisy about his sexual escapades and especially their steady diet of nectar and ambrosia! The ensemble's singing was wonderful here and throughout.

Jupiter hears Orpheus's plea and grants him permission to rescue Eurydice but Jupiter declares that he will go with them to the Underworld to investigate the affair personally. Bored, all the other gods plead to come along and they all descend.

The Underworld: Meanwhile in Pluto's Underworld boudoir, Eurydice is kept in seclusion and guarded by the dim-witted former King of Boetia, John Styx (Banks Boney). Eurydice is bored and accepts the advances of Jupiter disguised as a fly (fun costume with black, folding wings like a shawl). Cupid coaches Jupiter in how to get romantic attention. It works and they disguise Eurydice as a bacchante, a worshiper of the god Bacchus (a very sultry LaVonte Evans), to escape the Underworld together.

Pluto throws a raucous party with spicy food for all the gods and goddesses. Jupiter and Eurydice arrive and try to fool the crowd by her disguise as she sings a hymn to Bacchus. As Pluto begins to inspect the “bacchante,” Jupiter creates a diversion by having the party join in a minuet. Pluto's one-upmanship has him introducing a can-can instead. Public Opinion arrives with Orpheus and Jupiter lets him take Eurydice with him, with the proviso that he must not look at her until they are out of the Underworld. To ensure he can't succeed Jupiter hurls a thunderbolt at Orpheus' feet. Eurydice decides to actually become a bacchante and the entire cast erupts into a wild can-can.

A special thanks to everyone who made this performance possible: the students, both vocal and instrumental, their instructors and parents in what was a huge undertaking to bring such a glittering, glamorous and fun production to the University Theatre where the staff and tech students also did a great job. Also a nod to Todd Rosenlieb and the TR Dance staff and to that large community of GSA supporters who believe in the arts.

GSA Faculty Recital
April 3, 2023, Miner Music Hall
Review by John Campbell

Music by Chopin and Dvořák shared an evening with György Kurtág, Sofia Gubaidulina and songs by Poulenc and Stephen Coxe, our local composer, pianist and impresario.

The Neal Miner Music Hall inside the Governor's School for the Arts building is a flexible space with movable chairs and is home to recitals, chamber concerts and GSA Orchestra rehearsals. It is an intimate space with good acoustics and is now the home of two Steinway grand pianos.

A last-minute program change had Dr. Coxe offering four piano pieces. Bagatelle, Op. 126 No. 1 (1825) by Beethoven, was grand in its own way with nuanced playing in the hymn-like melody. A prelude by Debussy, La fille aux cheveux de lin (1910), was dreamy and nostalgic. The Mazurka, Op. 63 No. 3 (1846) by Chopin offered a slow dance rhythm that became more energetic but with a somber ending. By far the most exciting for us was Memory Mist (1949) by African American composer Florence Price (1887-1953). This mellow, sentimental music had a bell-like resonance in the pianist's touch, informed by pop, jazz and a spiritual that seemed to drift pleasantly away. It was one of a set of Seven Miniatures by Price who is only now being discovered by a wider audience.

These pieces were followed by a three-song cycle by Stephen Coxe, Hebrew Songs (2014), sung by tenor Randall Ball, who recently paired with soprano Billye Brown Youmans in Coastal Virginia Chamber Music's Valentine program Love: Lost and Found. He sings with the Virginia Chorale and is on the voice faculty of GSA. Sung in Hebrew, the cycle opens with a big declaration Ashkim I'veit hasar (I come early to my Lord's house). Halo tireh meyudai (Do you not see?) has a gentle piano opening and Galgal umazalot b'mamadam (The stars and planets were out of place) is a lament for a life full of challenges. His singing was full of passion and often intensity. I praised Randall for his Hebrew pronunciation later and learned that he sings in the choir at Ohef Sholom Temple and is Director of Traditional Worship at Great Bridge United Methodist Church where we heard CVCM's Valentine program.

The next musical treat was Játékok (Games) (1977) by Romanian born György Kurtág (b. 1926) with Cox and Willett on two Steinways, their backs to us and the pianos side by side. With his entire forearm he played several notes at once while she played scales, occasionally sneaking in a struck chord. As Köd-Kanon (Fog Canon) ended, both of his forearms were on the keyboard. In Veres (Beating) Rebecca took the lead, playing individual notes. Stephen added crisply struck single notes. Harangok (Bells) has space between each note, all bell-like in tone. The coherent sound of equals becomes more sequenced as it progressed. This piece is longer that the first two and Rebecca's playing gave the illusion of the sound of fading bells. Sarabande, named for the popular European dance of the 16th to 18th centuries, was spare but traditional and played by each crossing their hands as if they were dancing on the keyboards, arms relaxed, fingers busy.

Homage a Paganini was next. Nicola Paganini was a brilliant violinist and a brilliant, flashy showman. A series of flashy runs on two pianos echoing each other was brief but brilliant. Of Kurtág it has been said that his music is hard to catagorize since it is compressed but not dense, lyrical but not sweet, dark but not dismal, quiet but not calm. He remained in Budapest, Hungary during the worst of the cold war, teaching at the Bartok Secondary School and, like the GSA teachers, training gifted young performers (for the national philharmonic). In February, 2023 he turned 97 years old!

Next, to reorient us, Dr. Coxe played the Chopin Mazurka, Op. 17, No. 4 (1823), alone, with its romantic familiar tune, dialing back from the intensity of what came before.

After intermission soprano Kathryn Kelly sang, most beautifully, two songs by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). In Nuage (Cloud) (1956) (FP 162 from Deux Melodies), staring at a cloud, the singer “sees”a narrative in the images in her minds eye, “We will see eternity appear, chasing time.” There was power and depth in her telling.

C (1943) (FP122) was written in the darkest days of the German occupation of France during World War II and is one of Poulenc's most moving creations. The poet Louis Aragon fled across the bridge of Cé on the Loire near Angers. In the poem he speaks in the style of a medieval ballad, telling of a wounded knight near a castle of an insane duke with swans in the moat and a meadow for dancing. The poet snaps back to the reality of abandoned cars, discarded weapons and ill-dried tears. This ravishing song was seen as an expression of the French resistance. The singer Pierre Bernac recalled a performance during the occupation when the Germans in the hall were baffled when the French audience stood silently in solidarity.

Carol Kimball says “it's tone of extreme melancholy and intensely felt emotions reaches an exquisite climax ...” and Ms. Kelly shaped each phrase with so much precision and such delicacy. Dr. Coxe's piano crescendo, then sudden pianissimo in sync with the voice was one of the most beautiful moments of Poulenc's creation.

We caught our breath and on they continued with Lithuanian composer Sofia Gubaidulina's (b. 1931) Dancer on a Tightrope (1995). Violinist Amanda Gates, who heads the GSA Instrumental Music Department, with Coxe at the piano, created a sound world like no other. We heard scraping and whispering of strings, striking of strings within the piano, the violin quietly strummed, regular notes from the piano answered by plucked violin, then piano overtones. Now big piano chords, a back and forth of instruments that didn't always overlap. Then big piano chords, bass or treble, violin abrasive or a whisper, then spells of improvisation. These free, wild organic narratives often culminated in what Gubaidulina calls a “transfiguration,” a moment of radiant clarity and in this piece a great deal of fun and joy as their balance holds, like dancers on a tightrope!

We took a deep breath to get ready for Sonatine, Op. 100 (1894) in four movements by Antonín Dvořák. His New World Symphony, Op. 95 and his String Quartet Op. 105 “American” are well known and were written in the same year as Sonatine but this charming, little "American Indian Lament” deserves to be better known. Violinist Elizabeth Coulter Vonderheide and Dr. Coxe played this four movement work. The first movement's principal melody has a firm, rhythmic spine and the secondary melody has an American folk-like sound. It seemed familiar and rich; an intense fiddle tune and an energetic piano. The second movement is a laid-back duet. There is an echo section with the melody passed back and forth. Then a gentle wind-down that may have given the piece it's nickname. The third had sparkling energy and showcased Ms. Coulter Vonderheide's violin. The dance-like, fast tune mellowed, then increased in speed and suddenly it was over.

Once again the GSA faculty has offered a smorgasbord of chamber music possibilities to the students and a fine chamber music evening that happens nowhere else in Hampton Roads. It gave the performers the opportunity to play music they enjoy and a chance to shine in rare repertory.