During my time in NYC I have become familiar with the writings of Italo Calvino, one of the great storytellers and fabulists of the twentieth century. Therefore, I greatly anticipated a production on an opera based on Mr. Calvino's Invisible Cities.
Opera should be magical. Be the plot and characters silly or profound, the composer of opera needs to create another world for the audience to slip into, or fall into. The production by Red Light New Music at the Italian Academy did just that. Although the composer and all of the performers are at the beginning of their careers, the production literally and figuratively enveloped listeners.
Mr. Calvino's extended short story uses the symbol of the city to weave a relationship between the aging emperor Kublai Khan and the young traveler Marco Polo and their strikingly contrasting views of the world. To me, Mr. Calvino's story and the opera are morality tales where a person who has supposedly gained much in his life wonders what he has really gained. He oversees a vast empire that encompasses many different languages and cultures and he is well aware of the external aspects of his dominions but he doesn't really know the places. He suffers from fitful sleep that is filled with dreams and nightmares. In one of his dreams, Marco Polo appears before him. Kublai Khan asks Polo to describe the cities of his travels. Polo tells stories about many different cities but they are all actually about the same city. It turns out that they are all reflections of Polo's home city of Venice as his perspective on all that he has viewed in his travels has been fashioned by his complete absorption with this city in all its aspects.
For the opera, composer Cerrone chose three of the cities Polo describes. These are framed by a prologue and finale with intermittent scenes to fill in the narrative. Each of the seven scenes tends to dwell on a particular "affect" in the manner of Baroque opera. Scenes 3 and 7 seem to be the most weighty and complex.
The music is not wedded to any particular style or compositional approach and Mr. Cerrone easily navigates from minimalism, to expressionism, to exoticism (evocations of the orient and the Middle East), and to mystical impressionism as the dramatic need requires. Likewise, the vocal writing moves from recitation, through arioso and to full aria writing. The wordless vocalizations of the chorus convey the dreamworld of Kublai Khan very effectively. In the sixth scene, where Polo speaks of the city of the dead, Adelma, he speaks and does not sing. During the final scene, Polo and the chorus of voices sing Kublai Khan to sleep with the words: "Kublai Khan, seek and find who and what in the midst of inferno is not inferno. Make them endure. Give them space."
The writing for the chamber ensemble made up of both acoustical and electronic instruments was always sensitive to the dramatic needs of each scene.
Video projections created by Lisa Grey were especially effective in scene four where the watery city of Armilla is the setting of Polo's narration.
Mr. Cerrone has been occupied with this project for several years and the opportunity to have it performed in various states of completion during that time has allowed him to develop a work that is imaginative, dramatic, and vocally appealing. It is also practical enough to be possible in other productions. It should have a successful future.
The music is not wedded to any particular style or compositional approach and Mr. Cerrone easily navigates from minimalism, to expressionism, to exoticism (evocations of the orient and the Middle East), and to mystical impressionism as the dramatic need requires. Likewise, the vocal writing moves from recitation, through arioso and to full aria writing. The wordless vocalizations of the chorus convey the dreamworld of Kublai Khan very effectively. In the sixth scene, where Polo speaks of the city of the dead, Adelma, he speaks and does not sing. During the final scene, Polo and the chorus of voices sing Kublai Khan to sleep with the words: "Kublai Khan, seek and find who and what in the midst of inferno is not inferno. Make them endure. Give them space."
The writing for the chamber ensemble made up of both acoustical and electronic instruments was always sensitive to the dramatic needs of each scene.
Video projections created by Lisa Grey were especially effective in scene four where the watery city of Armilla is the setting of Polo's narration.
Mr. Cerrone has been occupied with this project for several years and the opportunity to have it performed in various states of completion during that time has allowed him to develop a work that is imaginative, dramatic, and vocally appealing. It is also practical enough to be possible in other productions. It should have a successful future.
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