Le Comte Ory is a rarely performed Rossini opera from 1828 that is based on a very naughty French sex farce, and it has some of the most sophisticated music the composer ever wrote. It was a complete treat to hear the work live for the first time last Thursday thanks to the Merola Opera Program which presented an extraordinarily accomplished production at the SF Conservatory of Music. The generously-sized orchestra, conducted by the Met conductor Pierre Vallet, required the removal of a few rows of audience seating, and was probably too large for the space as they were very loud through most of the evening.
It didn't matter much as the "emerging artists" onstage all had strong voices that easily carried over the orchestra. That was particularly true of tenor Minghao Liu in the challenging title role. He already sounds ready for big time stages.
(All production photos by Kristen Loken.)
Though the music is Rossini at his best, it's easy to see why the opera is rarely performed. The plot is both blasphemous and risqué, set in a 12th century French town where most of the men are away fighting in the Crusades. The town's women have locked themselves away with the virtuous Comtesse Adele, who is waiting for her brother to return home. Le Comte Ory dons a number of disguises while trying to seduce the Comtesse and is repeatedly unmasked by Meg Brilleslyper as his male page Isolier and Wanchun Liang as his tutor/babysitter. Pictured above, they were both strong-voiced delights.
For the first act, Ory posed as a wise, holy hermit dispensing advice to credulous women in his quest to gain access to the Comtesse Adele.
The ruse works and the depressed Adele is given license by the fake wise man to open up and love a little. This induces a series of arias sung spectacularly well by Eva Rae Martinez. Also noteworthy was the rich, warm voice of mezzo-soprano Ariana Maubach as the Comtesse's best friend.
The opera has a lot of echoes of both
Don Giovanni, with its rapey protagonist, and
The Marriage of Figaro, except in this version the Cherubino pageboy character ends up happily ever after with the Countess, and the sexually foiled youg aristocrat slinks away rather than being dragged to hell.
In the second act, Ory disguises himself as a female religious pilgrim caught in a Rossini storm who asks for hospitality from the Comtesse.
He's brought along some bad boy pals and they ransack the wine cellar during a wild scene that alternates between solemn prayers and raucous drinking songs. The chorus has a lot to do in this opera, and the small contingent from the Merola Opera Program did such a wonderful job that they deserve to be named individually: Alexa Frankian, Chea Kang, Anna Maria Vacca, Christopher Oglesby, John Mburu, Joeavian Rivera, and Jim Yu. Also noteworthy was the straightforward direction of Garnett Bruce and the simple, flexible set of scenic designer Miriam Lewis.
The penultimate scene depicts the tenor Count in nun drag trying to sexually assault the soprano Countess who has switched clothing with the mezzo-soprano male page Isolier. What makes this outrageous, gender bending scene amazing is the the vocal trio, which is one of the most gorgeous pieces of music Rossini ever composed.
Over the last few years, the SF Conservatory of Music has made major improvements in their main concert hall. Productions have advanced from bare-stage affairs with a few props to elaborate, fully staged operas with sophisticated lighting and projection setups. It was a pleasure to see it being used so well for this Merola production.
