Dear Festival lovers,
I am popping my head back up from behind the harpsichord to bring you ecstatic news of the theatrical feast we are cooking up here in beautiful Upstate NY. All five mainstage shows (including our youth opera, Rumpelstiltskin and the Unlovable Children) are now in rehearsal, with our artists and Apprentices bounding between countries, characters, and centuries daily. From Arcadia to Penzance, from seventeenth century Venice to twenty-first century America, from Queen of England and King of Heaven to clown and shepherd, we have a kaleidoscope of singing and dancing ready to be unveiled in less than a month.
Of course, while I am eagerly watching all our productions unfold, I am mostly involved this summer with the ‘shepherding’ of my realization of La Calisto. Our cast is perfectly suited to their roles, despite their roles crossing mythological ground from half-goat deities to celestial kings and queens to shepherds and forest nymphs. We have the mighty voices of Craig Irvin and Eve Gigliotti as the King and Queen of Heaven, the crystalline radiance of Emilie Kealani as our nymph Calisto, and the luxurious blend of mezzo Taylor Raven and countertenor Kyle Tingzon as Diana and Endymion (those duets are a thing of rare beauty). All of this is somehow implied in Cavalli’s two-stave score, which carefully gives each character their own signature musical language: the satyrs bleat goaty dotted rhythms, the humans sing in dance-like triple meter, the gods in stately, regal four-in-a-bar.
They are being helped get even further into character with the aid of our Director of Stage Movement and La Calisto choreographer, Eric Sean Fogel, who is working with six of our fabulous dancers to help them embody nymphs, satyrs, and furies. Of course, Baroque music is full of dance, with set pieces throughout the score providing fabulous opportunities for our professional dancers (and singers!) to show off. Eric has complemented Cavalli’s careful vocal characterization for each level of character (human, half-beast, god) with its own distinct physicality, making their amorous interactions even more awkward and hilarious. The dancers have even christened their nymph and satyr characters; I’ll leave it to you to decide which nymph is “C.H. Valentine” and which is “Chasti”…
Your first chance to catch snippets of everything you have to look forward to this season comes July 13, with our annual Springfield Appreciation Concert in the theater. Tickets (just $5!) are available at Convenience Corner in Springfield Center (at the corner of Rt 20 & 80), and at the Cooperstown Chamber, 31 Chestnut St. in Cooperstown – or call (315) 858-0304 to reserve.
Photo by Sofia Negron
This will also be your first opportunity to hear our stunning Artist-in-Residence, Tara Erraught; she and I will perform a couple of her signature showstoppers together on that program. Take it from me, she didn’t earn the title ‘bel canto queen’ for nothing! She is hard at work coaching all our Young Artists and making sure that Elizabeth Cree will be an unmissable experience later this summer.
See you all at the Festival – snap those tickets up while you still can!