{"id":31766,"date":"2015-06-03T20:58:19","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T03:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=31766"},"modified":"2015-06-15T01:38:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T08:38:06","slug":"murder-at-masada-tosca-in-the-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=31766","title":{"rendered":"Murder at Masada: Tosca in the desert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Oren conducts general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Political upheaval, police corruption, lies, treason, and murder and suicide (two of each!) \u2013 this is the plot of Giacomo Puccini\u2019s opera Tosca<\/em>, the main event at the Israeli Opera\u2019s summer festival at Masada. With a small but impressive cast of singers, it seems that the Israeli Opera has risen to the challenge of performing the work in the desert setting, and as usual, Daniel Oren’s enthusiastic conducting is a pleasure to the ears.<\/p>\n

\"Setting<\/a>
Setting the scene for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Gustavo<\/a>
Gustavo Porta – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tosca<\/em> is possibly the most famous of Puccini\u2019s heroines: a brave, independent and strong-willed woman. She goes out with a bang, uttering a final threat to her nemesis and leaping off the parapets of the Castel Sant\u2019Angelo.<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/a>
Gustavo Porta and Ira Berman – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like many operas, Tosca<\/em> is based on a play \u2013 Victorien Sardou’s La Tosca<\/em>. The first Tosca<\/em> was Sarah Bernhardt, who performed the role all over Europe and the Americas. New York audiences were horrified by the play, and the operatic version went on to stir emotions just as strong: the late musicologist Joseph Kerman famously described Tosca as a “shabby little shocker”.<\/p>\n

However, Tosca<\/em> remains a favorite (perhaps a guilty pleasure?) of many opera lovers, including this one. The announcement that Tosca will be performed at Masada led to some speculation as to the way the director will use the massive rock as a prop, especially given the title character\u2019s dramatic exit.<\/p>\n

\"Cast<\/a>
Cast member waiting to go onstage – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of course, what really makes the performance shine is the singing (which is amplified due to the vast open space). Singing the title role is Svetla Vassileva, who has already performed at Masada, in Verdi\u2019s Requiem. Born in Bulgaria, she performs Puccini roles all over Europe. Tenor Gustavo Porta is an Israel Opera regular and has performed the role of Cavaradossi many times. His rendition of the Act I aria \u201cRecondita armonia\u201d was especially pleasant.<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/a>
Gustavo Porta – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scott Hendricks, an American baritone in his Israeli Opera debut, is a truly evil Scarpia, combining vocal and dramatic expressions to convey lust one moment, rage the next, and in between a casual, nonchalant evil. He creeps up at Tosca’s shoulder menacingly, and leans back nonchalantly on a table or a chaise longue, watching and plotting.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/a>
Scott Hendricks as Scarpia – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Scott<\/a>
Scott Hendricks as Scarpia – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Scott<\/a>
Scott Hendricks as Scarpia – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the sadly small role of Angelotti, Mario’s resistance buddy, we have Carlo Striuli, another familiar voice in Israel who works with Maestro Oren regularly.<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/a>
Gustavo Porta and Carlo Striuli – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The story of Tosca<\/em> is very clear on locations: we move from the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle to a dining room in the Palazzo Farnese and finally to the prison of the Castel Sant\u2019Angelo. Here at Masada, instead of the elaborate Roman rooms, a large arc spans the stage, with an imposing, sword-wielding angel statue set at one end. The title “Roma, 1800” is written in huge letters on the arc. Throughout the performance, images are projected onto the arc, providing more detail about the setting of each act: paintings in Act I that add to Cavaradossi’s portrait of Mary Magdalene, marble in Act II which serves as a kind of wallpaper for the scene in the Palazzo Farnese.<\/p>\n

\"Scarpia<\/a>
Scarpia (Scott Hendricks) and Tosca (Ira Berman) against a marble background\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alongside Tosca<\/em>, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana<\/em> will also be performed at the Masada Opera Festival, with James Judd conducting and Michal Znaniecki directing (Znaniecki also directed last year’s Traviata<\/em> at Masada).<\/p>\n

For details about both events and tickets, visit www.tosca-at-masada.com<\/a> or www.israel-opera.co.il<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All images by Muperphoto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pleasures of watching Daniel Oren conduct!<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Oren – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Oren – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Oren – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Oren – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Oren – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Oren – general rehearsal for Tosca at Masada\/Photo: Muperphoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Political upheaval, police corruption, lies, treason, and murder and suicide (two of each!) \u2013 this is the plot of Giacomo Puccini\u2019s opera Tosca, the main event at the Israeli Opera\u2019s summer festival at Masada. With a small but impressive cast of singers, it seems that the Israeli Opera has risen to the challenge of performing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}