Christopher Alden (director)

Last updated

Christopher Alden (born 1949 in New York) is an American theater and opera director. He is the twin brother of David Alden, also an opera director. Both brothers belong to a generation of modernist directors, including Robert Wilson and Peter Sellars who are known for staging revisionist opera productions.

Contents

Early life

Alden and his identical twin David came from a show business family. Their father was the playwright Jerome Alden, and their mother was the Broadway dancer Barbara Gaye. As such, the brothers were drawn to musical theater from an early age. As eight-year-olds, they listened to recordings of Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, [1] and as teenagers in the mid-'60s, they frequently bought standing room tickets at the Metropolitan Opera. [2] By age 13, both had decided they wanted to be directors of opera.

Christopher studied theater at the University of Pennsylvania and began his stage career as an actor, appearing in Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival production of Two Gentlemen of Verona in the early ‘70s. But he was soon apprenticed to opera director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, working as his assistant in Houston, Paris and Salzburg. In 1974, Alden staged his first opera productions in New York (Francis Poulenc's Les mamelles de Tirésias ) and Omaha ( La Traviata and The Barber of Seville ). More assignments followed during the 1970s at Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Dallas Opera as well as a continuing relationship with Opera Omaha.

Directing career

In 1982, Michael Milenski of Long Beach Opera engaged Alden to mount a conventional staging of La Boheme . However, the following year saw a surreal production of Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice that was a critical and artistic breakthrough for both Alden and Long Beach Opera. Los Angeles Times music critic Martin Bernheimer wrote that "Alden tells the story with shadows and hints... Guided by the music, he uses people as scenery and ideas as costumes. To illustrate the central philosophical conflicts between Apollo and Dionysus, the director introduces daring images unimagined by the composer and librettist." [3]

Alden continued a long and fruitful collaboration with Long Beach Opera that yielded some unconventional settings of Claudio Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea , Orfeo and The Return of Ulysses ; Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia ; Jacques Offenbach's La Vie parisienne and Bluebeard and the world premiere of Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie's Hopper’s Wife .

In the early '90s, he began a similarly long relationship with the San Francisco Opera, staging the American premieres of Aribert Reimann's Ghost Sonata and Hans Werner Henze's Das Verratene Meer as well as new productions of Les Contes d'Hoffmann , Coronation of Poppea, Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All and Wallace & Korie's Harvey Milk .

He made his debut with New York City Opera as early as 1979 with a staging of Gioachino Rossini's Le comte Ory and went on to create productions for NYCO and Glimmerglass Opera that included Handel's Imeneo , The Rape of Lucretia, The Mother of Us All, Bluebeard, The Italian Girl in Algiers , John Philip Sousa's The Glass Blowers, Mozart's Don Giovanni . He is currently working on a new production of Leonard Bernstein's A Quiet Place scheduled to make its New York premiere in October 2010.

Alden has worked with several major and regional American opera companies, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Dallas Opera and Los Angeles Opera. He created the world premiere production of Anthony Davis' Tania at Philadelphia's American Music Theater Festival in 1992. He mounted Jonathan Dove's reduced versions of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre for the Eos Orchestra of New York in 2002-2004. For the Spoleto Festival USA, he produced the American premiere of Gluck's L'Ile de Merlin in 2007.

His work in Europe has encompassed assignments at Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera (where he directed the world premiere of David Horne's Friend of the People ), English National Opera (staging The Makropulos Case with Charles Mackerras in 2006). He and British director David Pountney co-directed Eight Little Greats, an acclaimed series of eight short operas for Opera North in 2005. Alden has also worked at the Opéra Comique in Paris (where he presented a triple bill of Georges Bizet's Djamileh , Le docteur Miracle and Don Procopio ), Cologne Opera, Opera Zuid in The Netherlands as well as in Bilbao, Antwerp, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Geneva.

Modernist Vision

As an opera director, Christopher Alden is known for his use of contemporary imagery and, on occasion, a minimalist visual style, though never as spare as his contemporary Robert Wilson. He likened his own 1984 production of Coronation of Poppea to "a new wave rock video" [4] and has frequently expressed his desire to connect the inner world of opera theater to the modern sensibility of a younger audience. He has an eye for bold theatrical gestures that are often dramatically effective but sometimes considered crass. His use of overt sexuality, brutal violence and over-the-top, satirical humor has soured his relationship with conservative patrons (most notably, a critically derided Rigoletto production for Chicago Lyric that the company declared un-"revivable"). [5]

Though some opera audiences may be put off by his art, it is never Alden’s aim to shock for the sake of shock value. Rather, his approach to stagecraft — with its anachronistic cultural symbols, blood-and-guts characterizations and eye-catching visuals — is driven by a desire to reveal how powerfully opera stories can resonate with modern experience. Alden has said that "however fascinating the era in which an opera was composed may be, I have a primary responsibility to the world we live in now." [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Hall (director)</span> English theatre, opera and film director (1930–2017)

Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE was an English theatre, opera and film director. His obituary in The Times declared him "the most important figure in British theatre for half a century" and on his death, a Royal National Theatre statement declared that Hall's "influence on the artistic life of Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled". In 2018, the Laurence Olivier Awards, recognising achievements in London theatre, changed the award for Best Director to the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Opera</span> Opera company in Los Angeles, California

The Los Angeles Opera, originally called the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Korie</span> American librettist and lyricist

Michael Korie is an American librettist and lyricist whose writing for musical theater and opera includes the musicals Grey Gardens and Far From Heaven, and the operas Harvey Milk and The Grapes of Wrath. His works have been produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and internationally. His lyrics have been nominated for the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award. In 2016, Korie was awarded the Marc Blitzstein Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Gunn</span> American opera singer (born 1970)

Nathan T. Gunn is an American operatic baritone who performs regularly around the world. He is an alumnus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he is currently a professor of voice.

Victor Michael Milenski founded the Long Beach Opera in 1979, and was its general director for 25 seasons, retiring in 2004. Though local opera companies had been organized in the 1920s and 1960s in metropolitan Los Angeles, under Milenski’s direction the Long Beach Opera became the first professional opera company to take root in the modern era and survive. Having predated the formation of Los Angeles Opera and Orange County's Opera Pacific, Long Beach Opera is the Los Angeles area's oldest standing professional opera company.

Richard Pearlman was an American theatre and opera director and educator known for his encyclopedic knowledge on every aspect of opera from stage direction to makeup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Malfitano</span> American opera singer

Catherine Malfitano is an American operatic soprano and opera director. Malfitano was born in New York City, the daughter of a ballet dancer mother, Maria Maslova, and a violinist father, Joseph Malfitano. She attended the High School of Music and Art and studied at the Frank Corsaro Studio and Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1971. She often mentions that she was rejected from The Juilliard School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bejun Mehta</span> American opera singer (born 1968)

Bejun Mehta is an American countertenor. He has been awarded the Echo Klassik, the Gramophone Award, Le Diamant d’Opera Magazine, the Choc de Classica, the Traetta Prize, and been nominated for the Grammy Award, the Laurence Olivier Award, and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Michael Stallknecht called him "arguably the best counter tenor in the world today."

Long Beach Opera is a Southern California opera company serving the greater Los Angeles and Orange County metroplex. Founded in 1979, it is the oldest continually running opera company in the L.A. area. In June 2019 LBO presented the world premiere of The Central Park Five, an opera by Anthony Davis with libretto by Richard Wesley, about the Central Park jogger case. The opera won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in May 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Kraus</span> American opera singer

Philip Kraus is an American operatic baritone and stage director known for his performances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, starting in 1991, and for his co-founding of Light Opera Works, a professional light opera company in Chicago, in 1980.

David Alden is a prolific theater and film director known for his post-modernist settings of opera. He is the twin brother of Christopher Alden, also an opera director in the revisionist mold. The two brothers have covered much of the same repertoire in their long careers, but whereas Christopher's operatic settings place greater emphasis on his characters' emotional range, David's protagonists are more broadly caricatured and his productions far more politically charged. Another distinguishing feature between them is that David has been more active in Europe throughout his career, having enjoyed a particularly close creative partnership with Sir Peter Jonas for more than two decades, at both the English National Opera and the Bavarian State Opera.

Gotham Chamber Opera was a professional opera company located in New York City. The company was founded in 2000 under the name of the Henry Street Chamber Opera by Artistic Director Neal Goren and specialized in producing rarely performed chamber operas from the Baroque era to the present. In 2003, it changed its name to the Gotham Chamber Opera (GCO) after incorporating as an independent 501(c)(3) organization. Its Executive Director was Edward Barnes, who took over from David Bennett. It closed in 2015.

Kent Opera was a British opera company active between 1969 and 1989. It was based in Ashford and regular venues included The Orchard Theatre, Dartford; Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells; Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury; Kings Theatre, Southsea; Theatre Royal,Norwich, and the Derngate, Northampton. Its operas were performed in English, usually with new translations of the libretto by professor Michael Irwin, but also by Norman Platt or Anne Riddler. For the first two years it performed with the Midland Sinfonia but later had its own orchestra.

Barrie Kosky is an Australian theatre and opera director. Based at the Komische Oper Berlin, he has worked internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Bible</span> American opera singer

Frances Lillian Bible was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had a thirty-year career at the New York City Opera between 1948 and 1978. She also made a number of opera appearances with other companies throughout the United States, but only made a limited number of appearances abroad. Martin Bernheimer wrote in Opera News that, "Frances Bible was cheated by destiny. She never quite achieved the international recognition she deserved. Bible had it all—a mellow, wide-ranging mezzo-soprano, an attractive stage presence, genuine theatrical flair, a probing mind and a technique that allowed her to sing bel-canto filigree one night, Verdian drama the next. She was one of the rare American singers who savor the English language. She understood the value of economy, never stooping to easy effects. Perhaps she was too versatile, too tasteful and — dare one say it? — too intelligent for her own good."

Thaddeus Strassberger is an American, Italian and Cherokee Nation citizen who works as an opera director and scenic, costume, lighting and video designer in over fifteen countries around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Roth Costanzo</span> American countertenor

Anthony Roth Costanzo is an American countertenor. He began his career in musical theatre at the age of 11. Costanzo is a graduate of Princeton University and of the Manhattan School of Music. In 2012, he won first place at the Operalia competition. In 2009, he was a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has been an actor in film and a producer and curator. He is the designated general director and president of Opera Philadelphia.

Yuval Sharon is an American opera and theater director from Naperville, Illinois, based in Los Angeles. He is the founder and co-artistic director of The Industry Opera. Since 2020, he has served as the Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director of Detroit Opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stéphane Degout</span> French opera singer

Stéphane Degout is a contemporary French baritone. He grew up in Saint-Jean-de-Niost (Ain) and has been living in Lyon since 1995.

Sheri Greenawald is an American soprano and music educator who had a performance career in concerts and operas during the second half of the 20th century and early 21st century. She has portrayed principal roles in the world premieres of several operas, including works by composers Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Catán, Carlisle Floyd, Thomas Pasatieri, and Stephen Paulus. She has performed leading roles with opera companies in the US and abroad, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Bavarian State Opera, La Fenice, and Paris Opera. She was particularly active as a performer with the Santa Fe Opera and San Francisco Opera. A former member of the voice faculty at the Boston Conservatory, she served as director of the San Francisco Opera Center from 2002 through 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 Rupert Christiansen (2007-02-08). "Will Orfeo go to the Disco?". Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
  2. ↑ Stephen Moss (2006-05-26). "Twin Powers". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
  3. ↑ Martin Bernheimer (26 September 1983). "Death in Venice: Graceful, Fluid". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ↑ Donna Perlmutter (14 November 1984). "Baroque Opera as a Rock Video". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ↑ Neil Fisher (12 May 2006). "Iconoclast or Evil Twin?". The Times (London).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.