The Mad Scene

Its a nice coincidence when a widely respected teacher and her famous student take their turns on stage in consecutive days, such as Rebecca Chellappah’s performance of Mahler’s song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, taking place this coming Thursday (11 Feb) and only one day before Jeong Ae-Ree’s Birds of Paradise recital.

So what do these two familar faces think of this unusual turn of events? Says Rebecca: “I feel so fortunate to be singing these beautiful Mahler songs with the SSO! Ae Ree has many more years of experince as a singer than I have and she has been an inspiration and a mentor to me throughout my studies both as a teacher and a friend. I am definitely looking forward to her concert.

I think as singers we just hope to touch our audiences in the short time we share with them. As long as the audience leave with Mahler’s haunting melodies in their hearts and minds, I am happy.”

Mdm Jeong shares the same sentiments: “As a performer, I am always trying my very best to perform. with time hopefully I will become better and better. For all of us, it is a life time study, isn’t it? When you sing, you don’t need think of others. just be yourself and sing. I wish all the best for my loving student Rebecca and as well as for my own recital.”

The Mad Scene wishes bother performers the very best of luck in their concerts. Ticket information can be found on the newly updated Events Page.
 

And the reviews for La Boheme keep coming! Below is the Business Times’s take on the SLO’s recently concluded production. Note the part where the leading lady is referred to as “La Yuen”. We made it to the newspapers!

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Plenty of bright moments in this La Boheme
Business Times, Friday, 05 February 2010

OPERA
THERE’S a lot to appreciate in the Singapore Lyric Opera’s new production of La Boheme, as helmed by veteran Australian director Andrew Sinclair.

His updated 1930s Paris setting was bright and cheery where it needed to be in Cafe Momus and the street scenes, and suitably dark and dirty where necessary. In an opera that is probably performed too many times for its own good, there was thankfully no strange concept, no hint of directorial tyranny, which can be a strong temptation for directors who want to make their mark on this crusty warhorse.

The sets and costumes, by Priscil and Phylia Poh, do what they say on the tin, helped by excellent lighting work from actor-designer Lim Yu Beng.

The reason La Boheme is continually mounted is that it has glorious tunes, showstopper arias – Puccini seemed to have written in natural pauses for applause – and is a guaranteed tear-jerker (and hall-filler). The plot – revolving around the lives of four struggling artists, and parallel love stories – is about as cliched as you can get.

Yet the poorest production will move stony hearts surer than most other operas and it was easy to be touched by a lead soprano like Mimi, the singing flower girl, played by Nancy Yuen, a veteran Singapore-based, UK-trained lyric soprano.

Yuen, or “La Yuen”, as some of her fans have taken to calling her, has sung the role several times, most recently two months ago in Bangkok, and here carried a relatively inexperienced cast with her thrilling top notes, well spun legato and deep wells of emotionality.

Her poet Rodolfo, 28-year-old Japanese tenor Kota Murakami, was ardent and bright, but seemed a little boy lost at times and, on the opening night last Friday, appeared to mess up some of his stage directions.

The other standout performance of the night belonged to Song Kee Chang as Marcello, who dominated every scene he appeared in with his stage presence and gruff, yet sensitive baritone. His partner, the songstress Musetta, was played supremely well by debutant Kristin Symes. With her Ava Gardner curls she looked and acted the part, but her silvery, soft, almost soubrette-like soprano was a little small for the stage.

Brent Allcock as Schaunard seemed to veer off-key with unfortunate regularity but Martin Ng provided a workmanlike performance as the philosopher Colline, nailing his single aria Vecchia zimarra and generally impressing with his acting. In the ensemble scenes the acting and movement of the impoverished quartet were a little aimless, if enthusiastic, which would have doubtless improved later in the run of performances.

Wang Ya-Hui, conducting the Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra, put in a more than competent shift with a score that perhaps isn’t one of the most subtle or interesting in opera. She attended to every effect, every shift in colour and dynamics in a refreshingly transparent reading. Brass, winds and strings were well delineated and special mention must go to the solo violinist for some particularly exquisite playing.

There were some technical issues – not for the first time, it must be said – with badly timed surtitles, and the translations also lose a lot of the poeticism of the original. Yet it was an impressive show on the whole.

So the semester has come to an end, that means all my young classmates have returned to their respective hometowns, to return in about 2 months time. As a parting gift to my violinist bunkmate, I decided to get him something “Made-in-Singapore”: the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s 2004 recording of the Butterfly Lovers featuring Gil Shaham (Copies are widely available in record stores in Taipei because the star just came to do a recital recently).

But after spending all that money I obviously had to borrow it back to make an MP3 copy. Now I know that its been forever since I’ve written a review (plus ST and Christopher are doing such a great job anyway) but I was so impressed by this CD that I just have to share it with Mad Scene readers.

The novelty of this recording is obviously that an ang moh, a world-famous one at that, would choose to record this Chinese piece at all (the producers are probably hoping that fans in the Western world will be encouraged to give this piece a listen), but I’m hardly the type to care about such trivialities. IMHO, one can only get so excited about the Butterfly Lovers after sitting through his nth performance, both live and recorded. But having sat in the hall during the live performance that inspired this recording, I was surprised upon re-listening at what a broad, lush and romantic interpretation this performance was.

In the opening phrases that introduced the love theme, Shaham’s sliding notes, meant to imitate the qualities of erhu playing, also sounded in effect like the solo voice of a young girl, such was the lyrical quality of his phrasing, aided by the sweet tone of his Stradavarius. Later on, the fast passages of the middle sections are no challenge for this world class soloist, so that even the most frantic parts are suffused with character and folk-song charm. In all parts of the performance, the music flowed like the verses of an aria, with phrasing that could have came from a young singing actress.

As for the orchestra, Maestro Shui and the SSO players are not afraid to milk every bit of sentimentality for all its worth. This is after-all a piece celebrated for its portrayal of the most famous lovers in Chinese culture. I remember a period where the Butterfly Lovers was on the SSO’s season every year, so their experience with this piece is never in doubt (that every string player could slide their notes in sync is just an example of their mastery of this piece), summoning up incredible breadth in the slow passages and appropriately angsty in the declamatory parts. This is one of those performances that stirs the heart and takes your breath away with its effortless virtuosity at the same time.

And then there’s the outstanding recording quality: so clear that you could hear the variety of solo instruments in perfectly clean sound (including the opening oboe theme, harp, cello and of course, Shaham’s violin), not to mention the finely layered voices within different sections of the orchestra. One downside is that you can also hear Shaham’s loud breathing rather clearly as well, but that may not be an issue if you are one of those who would like some ‘personal touches’ from the star soloist.

That this CD was made by my home orchestra in my home concert hall does give me a certain amount of pride, but this is definitely a recording worth checking out, home-made or not. If you are already a fan of this piece, I encourage you to pick up a copy on your next trip to an SSO performance.

Hypothetical question: during curtain calls, its traditional for the leading lady to walk backstage and bring out the conductor for his bows. But if the conductor is female, should the leading man be performing this task instead?

Since there’s already quite a detailed review on this blog I’ll refrain from typing another ‘proper’ review (whatever that means), suffice to say that I had a wonderful time tonight. The production is actually rather attractive, especially the ’steel bars’ that served as the opening curtain, the lively Cafe Momus scene, and the detailed backdrop of the friends’ apartment. La Yuen sounded reserved in the first half, perhaps the effect of singing 4 shows in a row, but the voice is always attractive, her trademark lightness of tone is always a pleasure to hear, which got fuller and rounder as the evening progressed. Kristin Symes had a rather small but attractive voice, natural for a coloratura I suppose. She camped it up and milked the role’s comedic bits for all its worth, and was also quite touching in her serious Act 4 moments. Maybe the accoustics are playing tricks on me, but from where I sat Martin Ng’s voice seemed to have grown substantially since the 2008 Turandot, and that attractive ember-ish colour unique in a bass baritone is coming through much clearer.

Simon Kyung Lee sang a spirited, unsentimental Che Gelida Manina that to me is quite refreshing, quite a change from the throbbing, lovelorn traditional way of in interpreting. He seems rather intent on being loud and louder throughout the evening (although there are attempts to sing softer); I can see why this would be irritating in a concert setting where without proper theatrical context, but in this full opera production I thought he was quite lively despite this, his interactions with colleagues quite sponteneous. Plus there’s no fear of not being able to hear him loud and clear. His anguished cries of “Mimi” at the opera’s end moved me the most.

In fact, what impressed me most of all is the overall sense of ensemble. Everything flowed along quite naturally and there’s no sense of “the director told me to do this and so I shall”. I guess after 4 nights and countless rehearsals the cast is getting much more familiar with each other, which in turn created a sense of sponteneity that makes everything look so natural.

Of course, there will always be some mistakes that happen in every live performance: the odd flat note, the odd line that goes out of synce with the orchestras, these are just tiny things that an audience should make room for when attending live events. But I do have one quibble about the direction: in Act 3, why does Musetta have an actual lover feeling her up? Not that I mind adding extra silent characters, but it doesn’t make sense that Marcello can physically attack a full-grown man who doesn’t retaliate but simply lie there while the contents of a trash can are being poured on him. Also it does justify Marcello’s tantrum as a justifiable act of emotion rather than acting out of paranoia.

But overall, I had a great time. After being away for such a long time its good be able to experience such a lovely opera production in my own home.

I’ve come hoooooooome, at lAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAst!

poll by twiigs.com

Christopher weighs in on yesterday’s opening night performance of the Singapore Lyric Opera’s La Boheme:

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It is never easy to stage a well-known opera, because the audience know it so well that even the smallest details will be noticed. With this production, I must say that I could see every effort being put into making it a success. While there were many enjoyable moments, this became a case of reverse Gestalt-psychology where the whole is unfortunately less than the sum of the parts.

The roles of Mimi, Rodolfo and Musetta were sung by three very sensitive singers: Nancy Yuen, Kota Murakami and Kristin Symes respectively. Miss Yuen and Muakami-San got better with each act and were at their best in act 4. All three main singers were sensitive and musical, and their voice textures are velvety and smooth. Miss Yuen was in her best form in recent years (and significantly better than her 2008 Violetta), and her high floating notes were effortless, wholly deserving her title of “La Yuen”.

Kota Murakami had a very nice vibrato and moving voice, neither metallic nor forced. I certainly loved his singing and enthusiastically hope to hear more of him in future, but I cannot say so for his unconvincing acting. Mimi was absolutely right to accuse Rodolfo for not helping to search for the key, because he didn’t! He already knew where the key was; he simply stood there, waiting for the moment to pick it up. Shouldn’t he be pretending at least? Although it was supposed to be pitch dark, Rodolfo simply walked over to Mimi to grab her tiny hand. But I must confess to loving his “Che gelida manina” , especially the tender vibrato that accompanied his high C, amidst the crowding orchestra detail work.

As Musetta, Kristin Symes was very natural in her singing but she seemed rather restrained in her presence. It should also be noted that all three singers were not “big” voices that soar over the orchestra easily.

The role of Marcello was sung by Korean baritone Song Kee Chang. He had a moving voice and his singing and acting, particularly in Act 2 (Latin Quarter), is well appreciated. The role of Shaunard was sung by New Zealander Brent Allcock: he acted very well and helped to carry the storyline convincingly in the first half of Act 1. Martin Ng Hon Wai who sang the role of Colline was secure in voice but could have done more to grab the limelight on himself during his important aria “Vecchia Zimara”. William Lim sang two roles as the landlord and Alcindoro; despite the stage time of two supporting roles, he was also unable to bring focus to himself.

I have always enjoyed the conducting of Wang Ya-Hui. As usual, she was very particular about contrasting tone colours of the various orchestral sections as well as the details of instrumental lines. The orchestra dutifully followed her direction in a very detailed reading, but perhaps their reading was too detailed. While I have always liked the way Wang conducts (mostly in symphonic works), the orchestra at times generated a larger-than-life presence that threatened to steal attention away from the stage performers. One part of the orchestral playing that I particularly enjoyed was the rather slow “Si mi chiamano Mimi”, which allowed the satin voice of La Yuen to do all her subtle vocal inflections and paint the portrait of a tender young lady (which unfortunately was sung mid-stage).

Regarding the stage direction, I can understand director Andrew Sinclair’s  attempt to use the full stage, blocking the singers in the front, middle and rear of the stage, but that had taxed unnecessarily on sensitive but smaller voices: a lot of the singing was placed far too much in the rear of the stage which negatively affected the singers.

In Act 2, the Latin quarter revealed a lot of poor coordination; stage movement obstructed the story rather than complimented it. There were a lot of people (including the full SLO choir and children choir), so one struggles to find where Rodolfo bought Mimi the bonnet, where Musetta told Alcindoro to go away, where the mother was scolding the kid, and so on. Alas, all these actions simply crowded out of show.

I appreciated Phylia Poh’s effort to create a vibrant street scene, but poor soloists… their costume colours did not stand out, and the audience had to search for them among the crowd. The bright colours of the street people were further aggravated by the predominantly pink-lighting, and this disadvantaged the poor soloists even more.

In Act 3, where the plot took place in cold February, lighting designer Lim Yu Beng’s abundant use of yellow lighting made it look like summer instead of winter. It became unconvincing when people rubbed their hand to kept themselves warm. Earth colours are supposed to be neutral, but the soloists had their warm-earth coloured overcoats, the buildings and wooden crates were all warm yellow, instead of the cool sienna. The colour scheme chosen failed to convince the audience that it was really cold winter.

Furthermore, when Mimi emerged from behind the wooden crates, she walked behind the crates, hence the fainting scene that followed was forced to happened in the mid-to-rear of the stage, and the important “Donde lieta usci” had to be there, which was not helpful when she had to project her sensitive yet small voice.

Overall, I must say the music quality is superb for SLO in recent years, but better production values would have made this a much better performance. We had some very sensitive singing from Miss Yuen and Murakami-San, and their voices blended well with one another; we had extremely detailed work of Miss Wang and her orchestra. I hope that more care can be given to the theatrical aspects and balancing of voices in future productions.

Song Kee Chang in Tales of Hoffmann with William Lim

Mad Scene readers may be asking: “surely there’s more to Boheme than endless articles of Nancy-love”? Well of course there is, but YOU try to conduct a long distance interview with a Korean in English. As Song Kee Chang is making his third appearance in Singapore after successful runs of Traviata and Hoffmann, I thought its time that Singaporeans get to know this bass-baritone a little better, such as what is his favourite local food and whether he prefers Callas or Tebaldi:

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The Mad Scene: Hello Mr Song, welcome back to Singapore! As this is your 3rd production with the Singapore Lyric Opera, tell us how does it feel to be working the SLO and in Singapore again?

Song Kee Chang: After being a part of so many productions, I am really excited to return to Singapore and take part in La Boheme.

The Mad Scene: Of the three productions you have SLO sung in (La Traviata, Tales of Hoffmann and La Boheme), which is your favourite? And why?

The Mad Scene: Song Kee Chang: La Boheme. Boheme has a beautiful melody and emotion. I really love this opera and my role (Marcello).

The Mad Scene: Have you tried any of our Singaporean food? Which is your favourite?

Song Kee Chang: Kopitiam Coffee & Toast

The Mad Scene: What do you like about the character of Marcello?

Song Kee Chang: I think he is a very artistic person despite his hot temper and straight forward attitude. He is also a romantic.

The Mad Scene: How do you find SLO productions compared to productions in other countries you have worked in?

Song Kee Chang: Of the productions I’ve appeared in, SLO’s are definitely some of the better ones. I can see that this company is growing fastly.

The Mad Scene: Besides La Boheme, what other operas will you be performing in for 2010?

Song Kee Chang: Magic Flute, Turandot, Elisir d’amore, Romeo et Juliet and Le Nozze di Figaro.

The Mad Scene: Which opera role would you most like to show audiences in Singapore?

Song Kee Chang: I like to sing Figaro in il Barbiere di Siviglia and Escamillo in Carmen.

The Mad Scene: What CDs/DVDs have you bought recently? How do you find them?

Song Kee Chang: Merry Widow. I found at a record store and decided to give it a try.

The Mad Scene: Who do you prefer, Callas or Tebaldi?

Song Kee Chang: It’s a hard question but I’ll go with Callas.

The Mad Scene: Lastly, tell us why we should all attend the Singapore Lyric Opera’s production of La Boheme?

Song Kee Chang: Because, it is action packed with comedy, drama and of course lots of LOVE!

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La Boheme runs till 3 Feb 2010. Check out the Events Page for details.

Now you’ve probably read in our latest interview with “La Yuen” Nancy Yuen that she has accepted a job offer at a Hong Kong conservatory. “What’s going to happen next?”, folks have been asking, “will she continue to sing in Singapore?”, to which my reply was: “How should I know?” So I’ve taken the liberty to ask the La Yuen herself for clarifications as well as her thoughts on her new title:

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Hi Nancy! News of your new position in Hong Kong are spreading fast, and some opera fans are wondering about your change in schedule. Would you like to describe for us what your new position in Hong Kong will entail?

Nancy: I am delighted to have been offered the position of Head of Vocal Studies at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, starting from March 2010. My first task there will be to direct the complete opera of Cosi fan tutte by the vocal students, with sets, costumes and orchestra, opening on 23rd March 2010.

The Mad Scene: Will you be moving to Hong Kong permanently?

Nancy: My heart and home is very much in Singapore, being a real Singaporean. I will try my best to come home over the weekends and holidays.

The Mad Scene: How about your position as head of voice faculty at NAFA? Will you still continue to serve at this school?

Nancy: It also breaks my heart to have to leave my “babies” at Nafa, unfortunately I cannot be in two places at the same time. My full time appointment at Nafa ceases at the end of February. I will continue to give one on one vocal lessons to the year 3 and year 4 vocal students over the weekends until term finishes in May 2010 as a part-time lecturer.

The Mad Scene: Will this new job affect your appearances with the Singapore Lyric Opera?

Nancy: SLO chooses the singers at its own discretion. Working for SLO is a bonus which I enjoy, since Singapore is my home and I treat every performance as my ultimate one which means I treasure every second of working with the team and have a wonderfully happy time, whether rehearsing or performing.

The Mad Scene: Lastly, in the grand tradition of giving favourite sopranos “La” titles, Singaporean audiences have decided to bestow to you the title of “La Yuen” (roundness in Chinese) as a tribute to your many years of performing leading roles in Singapore as well as the lovely round quality of your voice. What are your thoughts on this title?

Nancy: To bestow a title on me is a real honour. Thank You. With the double meaning of roundness in the voice and probably on the appearance too, what more can one ask for! Any publicity is good publicity.

Thank you for your support over the years to the opera scenes in Singapore.  I think it is absolutely important to generate more attention on all aspects of opera to arouse the interests of the public and you have taken a major step forward making it abuzz.  Bravo.

Please do come and watch La Boheme as I think it is one of the best all round productions ever.

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Erm La Sonnambula, did you mean to imply that is Nancy fat?

Ticketing information for La Boheme is available on the Events Page.

So I was walking along the streets of Taipei and who should I bump into but my BFF Paris Hilton!

Paris: “Hey did you see the feature on the SLO’s Boheme in the Business Times?”

Me: “No! Do you have a copy?”

Paris: “Yup, here it is. Did you know that they may do The Magic Flute and Salome next?”

Me: “O-M-G that’s hot!”

Paris: “Loves it! Ttyl!”

Well yeah that’s roughly how I got this feature of the Business Time’s coverage of Singapore Lyric Opera’s upcoming Boheme, opening on 29 Jan (THIS FRIDAY!):

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Business Times - 22 Jan 2010
OPERA
Doing her best to jerk opera to life
By CHEW XIANG

PRIMA donna Nancy Yuen straggles into the Esplanade’s rehearsal studio slightly late for our interview, apologising profusely and carrying her styrofoam packed lunch which she proceeds to eat outside, in the corridor. Yuen is the only Singapore-based opera singer who can claim significant successes on the big European stages but hers is as far away from diva behaviour as you can get.

Which isn’t really surprising in Singapore. Operas, and therefore opera singers, are rare and consequently don’t occupy a very exalted place in the national arts firmament. The Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) is the only professional troupe here and cobbles together stage productions at a rate of just one, or in good times, two a year. (The Singapore Symphony Orchestra, by contrast, has three or four concerts a month).

‘We just don’t have this tradition in Singapore,’ says Yuen, in an interview ahead of the SLO’s production of Puccini’s 110-year-old warhorse La Boheme (Yuen, naturally, is singing the star role of Mimi, the impoverished flower girl). ‘We have some good singers, we have a strong tradition of choral music but they are just so used to the choral mode, just standing there and singing, they are not used to act, to invest in the time and energy to be involved in movement on top of singing,’ she explains.

But Yuen is doing more than most people to jerk opera to life. The Hong Kong-born and UK-trained lyric soprano has taken a step back from a glittering career in Europe to come to Singapore and to help her husband Toh Weng Cheong, who is the chairman of the SLO. And when we met she’d just come from classes she teaches at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, where she heads the vocal studies programme and is doing her best to put into place a pipeline of trained singers and to beef up the level of appreciation in Singapore.

It’s been getting a little better of late. Local television has been showing (foreign staged) operas at prime time on weekend nights. If money permits, the SLO might put on Mozart’s Magic Flute later this year, and more exciting still, Richard Strauss’s Salome next January.

But the lack of audiences is the perennial concern. Money is, not surprisingly, the biggest issue, Yuen says. ‘Finding money to support is a problem. We need more private sponsorship and also the government to help us.’ She notes with some regret that cities with a fraction of Singapore’s population seem to be able to sustain a vastly more vibrant arts culture.

The arts and money - a timeless theme, and one that is at the core of La Boheme, immensely popular ever since its premiere in 1896. The SLO’s production will be handled by veteran Australian director Andrew Sinclair, who worked on the 35-year-old production by John Copley in London’s Covent Garden - revived there only last month - when it was still new.

In this, by his count his tenth La Boheme, he will be updating the setting to Paris, in the 1930s, but is otherwise eschewing the gimmickry that many opera directors today are so fond of. ‘The music is timeless, the story, of four students in pursuit of their ideals - that is relevant always,’ he says. His directing credo is simple - pay respect to the text. ‘I have no time for directors who tell their singers, never mind what the text is about, just do this and this.’

Which is, in some quarters, a rather old-fashioned approach. Yet the art form has been around hundreds of years, and with opera now freely available on the Internet, in cinemas (at least those abroad) and on DVD in high definition, there’s no lack of alternatives of a sort for aficionados, even in an operatic wasteland like Singapore.

But there’s no substitute for the real thing up close. In between interviews I spent a few minutes listening to the Musetta, Kristin Symes, rehearse her aria Quando m’en vo - and marvel anew at the amount and beauty of sound a trained human throat can produce. ‘It’s a very different experience, hearing it live,’ notes Sinclair. ‘Nowadays we want everything packaged, easy to digest, but the beauty of this is that you never know what is going to happen when the curtain goes up.’

‘La Boheme’ by Giacomo Puccini will be performed at Esplanade Theatre, Jan 29 and 30 and Feb 1-3;

Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra,

Wang Ya Hui conductor;
Director: Andrew Sinclair;
Soloists: Nancy Yuen as Mimi, Kota Murakami and Simon Kyung Lee alternating as Rodolfo, Song Kee Chang as Marcello, Kristin Symes as Musetta

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Ticket information can be found on the Events Page.