The DMMO Years
The 2008 Summer Festival
The 2008 Summer Festival season marked my tenth year and eleventh season as a member of the orchestra. All I could think of at the time was the usual, “My! How time flies!” It does indeed, especially when one is having as much fun as I did.
With the opening performance of each season. I was very fortunate in the fact that all of my nineteen seasons with the company were extremely interesting. There are, of course some operas in some seasons that had minimal parts, or none at all, in which case I would have had several nights off. Lee Hoiby’s “Summer and Smoke” was a case in point. It was the third production of my first season with the company, which was the 1998 summer season. I had heard of it before. When I was a member of the Lake George Opera Festival, the opera was programmed, but the percussionist played the show, as it was written so that one percussion could handle all parts if need be. The small size of the pit of the Queensberry High School in Glens Falls virtually dictated that, so I had some nights off during that season. Luckily, we had four productions that year, so I was still able to earn a tidy sum for the season. When we did it in 1998 with the DMMO, Dr. Larsen insisted that Mark Dorr and I share the duties, for which I was very grateful. Having to miss a production due to a one-man percussion part would have cut seriously into my earnings. Besides, it was an interesting show, and the timpani parts were not inconsiderable.
The Operas
Getting back to the 2008 Summer Festival, it consisted of the usual three mainstage productions, plus the “Stars of Tomorrow” concert held at Drake University during the last week of every season, with the exception of the 2002 Summer Festival. The operas for this particular season were all interesting in their own way. Two Italian operas, and one American opera were scheduled. The Italian operas were Verdi’s “A Masked Ball”, Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love“. The American opera was Mark Blitzstein’s “Regina”. This season was one in which all of the mainstage productions were operas that I had never played before. While I was familiar with the musical style of Verdi and Donizetti, I had never heard Marc Blitzstein’s “Regina“. As a matter of fact, I had never heard a note of his music until being advised that we would be doing his opera. I had only heard of him in reading about his “Airborne Symphony”, which was premiered in 1946. I was very curious to see how this would turn out. DMMO had already performed the opera once before, during the 1994 summer season. The “Elixir of Love” had been performed during the 1982 season, while “The Masked Ball” had been last performed during the summer season of 1993.
Verdi” Un Ballo in Maschera” or “A Masked Ball“
Even though DMMO advertised the opera with the English title, the performances were sung in Italian, and so I will henceforth refer to it as “Un Ballo in Maschera.” Let me mention here that when DMMO was founded in 1973, the operas were generally sung in English. The reason for this was to make the operas more accessible to the audiences in Iowa. Over the years, with the advent of supertitles, the necessity for singing them all in English was not as pressing, so the company transitioned to singing operas in their native language, except for comedic operas or operettas, which continued to be sung in English for several years. I believe that most if not all of the operas are done in their original language today.
Un Ballo in Maschera is based on the actual assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden, which occurred in 1792. For political reasons at the time, the name of the assassinated king was changed to the Duke of Richmond. I had never heard a note of it before learning that we would be playing it in 2008, and as I listened to it, I realized just how much fun it would be, and like many of Verdi’s opera timpani parts, just how much of an impact they could make, if properly executed.
The 2008 production was wonderful. I know I keep saying that, but I have to attest to the quality of the DMMO at the time, and continuing right up to 2024, which is when I last visited the company. Singers, chorus (apprentice artists make up the chorus), et.al. were all first-rate. Like all DMMO productions up until and including this season, it was staged and conducted by Dr. Robert L. Larsen, who was the Artistic Director of the company and one of the founding directors. He really knew this opera, and it was spectacular. The name of the Duke of Richmond was changed back to what was originally intended, and he became Gustav III as in real life. Political considerations at the time of composition no longer applied by the twenty-first century. The cast was first rate. Arnold Rawls was in the role of King Gustav III, and Todd Thomas was spectacular as the king’s friend and counselor, Anackstrom. Other cast members included Jan Opalach, Ryan Allan, Gwendolyn Bowers, Melanie Long, Brace Negron, Patrick McNally, and Lise Lindstrom. There were six performances, and each one was a gem. It was a fun opera, and I only needed the larger three timpani for the entire season, so that is what I brough out from Illinois. These were the three larger Light Mark XIs. They sounded just great, particularly in this opera.
Here is a performance from the Salzburg Festival 1990. Enjoy!
Donizetti: “The Elixir of Love” or “L’elisir d’amore“
As with the Verdi, I will refer to this opera with its Italian title, as we did perform it in Italian. “L’elisir d’amore” is completely different from “Un ballo un Maschera“. It is “melodramma giocosa” or “cheerful melodrama”, as the composer himself described it. It was the greatest hit of the composer’s career, and we had a great time preparing and presenting it. Dr. Larsen was particularly talented in bringing out the comedic elements or in staging a comedic opera. This was right in his wheelhouse, so to speak, and he ran with it, aided by a superb cast that included Jane Redding as Adina; Jeremy Little as Nemorino; David Small as Belcore; Jan Opalach as Dr. Dulcimara, and Ben Klaus, Chris Fusco and Edward Klatte. Like just about all of DMMO’s productions, the staging was so good that many of us in the orchestra took the opportunity to attend the piano dress rehearsals to get a good idea of what was going on onstage as we would never get the chance to do during the run of the production. We were never disappointed.
Here is “L’elisir d’amore from Vienna 2018! Enjoy!
Marc Blitzstein: “Regina”
This is one opera that I had never played nor heard of until the end of the DMMO summer season of 2007, when we learned that it would be programmed for 2008. I tried to get hold of some recordings but was unable to do. As a result, I learned it on the job, and while all went well, and the production was a good one, it never resonated with me. I don’t remember anything exceptional to report, other to say that Dr. Larsen staged and conducted it, and I remember that he did so convincingly. The cast included Gwendolyn Bowers;
Justin Hopkins; Ishan Johnson; Sara Gartland; Gwendolyn Jones; Anna Vikre; Kimm Julian; Rod Nelman;
Jeremy Little; Edwin Griffith; Ryan Allen; Albert (Hank)Adams; Quay Von Gowdy; Gwendolyn Brown and Benjamin Bear.
Here is a performance of “Regina” from 1980 by the Houston Grand Opera.
Enjoy! Now, on to 2009!
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