A Force of Nature

AT A CRITICAL POINT in The Rhine Gold (the first part of Richard Wagner’s incomparable four-part “music drama,” The Ring of the Nibelung), Erda, Mother Earth herself, rises up from the ground to warn Wotan, king of the gods. “Give up that damned ring, Wotan!” she orders him. “It’s got a curse on it!”

Yes, there was a story about an evil ring that corrupts its wearer—oh, about a century or so before J.R.R. Tolkien’s hobbit Frodo fled the Shire for Mount Doom at the far corner of a Technicolor-saturated Middle Earth. And when the Seattle Opera cast Wagner’s mighty Ring cycle last year, they chose contralto Ewa Podles for the part of Erda. The audience was stunned by her; no other singer in recent history has so frequently been hailed as “a force of nature.”

San Diego Opera patrons have the privilege this year of hearing the magnificent Podles in the title role of Handel’s Julius Caesar in Egypt (April 13, 15, 21 and 23), sure to be one of the season’s brightest highlights. SDO general director Ian Campbell has gone all out to get the very best people for a production that includes soprano Lisa Saffer as Cleopatra, countertenor Brian Asawa as Ptolemy and fabulous mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux as Sextus. Those who have not seen this opera are really missing out. It not only helped trigger the current worldwide Handel revival, it made the now legendary Beverly Sills a household name after years of relative obscurity at the New York City Opera.

Podles is just one of the exciting stars to look for in the coming months. There’s also tenor Lawrence Brownlee, taking on the romantic lead of Count Almaviva in Rossini’s perennial classic, The Barber of Seville (January 28 and 31, February 3, 5 and 8). Making waves of late, Brownlee has already sung the role at Italy’s La Scala. The ever-adorable Rosina is played by soprano Kirstin Chávez, and the mischievous Figaro, the immortal barber of the title, by baritone Christopher Maltman. Much loved here in San Diego, world-famous bass-baritone Ferruccio Furlanetto plays the explosively comedic Don Basilio.

Lucia in Donizetti’s bel canto tragedy Lucia di Lammermoor (February 18, 21, 24, 26) was a signature role of Dame Joan Sutherland, one of the 20th century’s greatest divas (before the word “diva” meant just any female pop singer who makes the cover of magazines). If Dame Joan sang Lucia anywhere on earth without her husband, Richard Bonynge, on the podium, I don’t know about it. Bonynge conducts the opera here with soprano Angela Gilbert, a finalist for the Cardiff Singer of the World, in the title role, and tenor Richard Leech as her ill-fated lover, Edgardo. Gilbert comes with much good press, while Leech is a familiar figure here.

Bizet’s Carmen (March 25, 28, 31 and April 2) and Mozart’s The Magic Flute (May 6, 9, 12, 14 and 17, with the now famous “homegrown” Zandra Rhodes sets and costumes) round out the season. Marina Domashenko is the sexy cigarette-girl seductress Carmen, and an interesting lyric tenor, Rainer Trost, makes his company debut in Flute. But Podles alone is worth a subscription!

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