Handel's "Acis and Galatea", one of the events of the 2019 Summer International Opera Workshop (Tel Aviv)

Nils Nilsen, Mayan Goldenfeld (photo: Maxim Reider)

Under the auspices of the Israel Vocal Arts Institute, the 33rd Summer International Opera Workshop (SIOW), taking place at the Israel Conservatory of Music, Tel Aviv from July 8th to 27th, 2019, was a veritable beehive of activity. The Israel Vocal Arts Institute was founded in 1987 by former Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat and Joan Dornemann of the Metropolitan Opera, New York. This year’s faculty included renowned vocal experts Kevin Murphy, Dan Ettinger, Chen Reiss and Michael Schade. In addition to performances of  “Acis and Galatea” (Handel), “Don Giovanni” (Mozart) and two one-act pieces by Puccini - “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi” - there was a gala concert at the Tel Aviv Museum, one of  Broadway favourites and an “It’s Your Choice” concert, as well as five programs for children at the Tel Aviv Port. 

 

This writer attended the performance of G.F.Handel’s “Acis and Galatea”, played to a full auditorium at the Israel Conservatory of Music on July 24th. Directed by Michael Shell (USA) and conducted by Chris Crans (USA), Tania Lohkina (USA) played a piano reduction of the orchestral score. Appropriately referred to by the composer as “A Serenata; or Pastoral Entertainment”, “Acis and Galatea”, Handel’s first dramatic work in the English language, was commissioned in 1718 by James Brydges, Earl of Carnarvon, at whose stately home in Middlesex the earl kept a group of musicians for his chapel and entertainments. The libretto, based on Dryden’s translation of an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses, was written by John Gay, John Arbuthnot, John Hughes and Alexander Pope and  tells of the love between the mortal Acis and the Nereid (sea-nymph) Galatea; when the jealous cyclops Polyphemus kills Acis, Galatea transforms her lover into an immortal river spirit, as she performs one of the most gorgeous arias in the music of Handel - “Heart, the seat of soft delight”. 

 

Opening the pastoral opera with a colourfully dramatic recitative, Italian-Israeli soprano Mayan Goldenfeld, in the mammoth role of Galatea, gave a competent, polished performance, her richly-coloured soprano range and theatrical know-how portraying the nymph as both sweet and charmed by innocent, idyllic love but also as strong and clear in intent. Young Norwegian singer Nils Nilsen gave credence to the character of the naive and starry-eyed shepherd boy Acis, his large, reliable tenor voice fresh, lyrical and intense. With his towering physique and fine authoritative vocal presence, Israeli baritone Eitan Mechtinger was well cast as the one-eyed cyclops Polyphemus, the “thund’ring Gyant” consumed with seeking the love of Galatea, dealing well with the role’s technical challenges. (His English pronunciation still needs some work.) And then there is the philosophic Damon, offering words of wisdom to both Acis and Polyphemus, to be ignored by both, played by tenor Anton Trotoush Elrom, a student at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv; he gave a sympathetic, convincing and musical depiction  of the well-meaning shepherd. Solos by other members of the cast were indeed commendable; the excellent ensemble singing, highlighting the rich timbres and musicality of excellent voices, also provided much pleasure. 

 

With the participants’ singing, acting and emotional involvement of prime importance, the production’s staging and costumes were minimal, but the young artists, light of foot, flitting up and down the aisles of the auditorium, created the atmosphere of an  idyllic pastoral setting inhabited by carefree shepherds and nymphs celebrating the perpetual joys of nature as the opera began, its first half including a few humorous touches. Then, with the safety of the rural landscape destroyed in the opening of Act 2, the ground trembles under the cyclops’ footsteps, and the semiquavers which previously represented soft water now become earthquakes and avalanches.  Actor Joshua Sutton, also fleet of foot, gave charm and whimsy to the character of Cupid. Kudos to Tania Lohkina, whose articulate, sensitive and stylistically informed accompaniment substituted splendidly for Handel’s outstanding instrumental score, no mean feat, and to Maestro Chris Crans for drawing the musical threads together in tasteful, carefully balanced musical eloquence. 

 

“Acis and Galatea” is indeed a perfect work; it has been performed continually since its first publication and its popularity is amply deserved. The masque displays Handel’s music at its finest, with his rich palette of effects, affects and word-painting; the Tel Aviv audience might have benefited more from the latter if supplied with the verbal text. Still, the young artists’ dedicated performance kept the audience both well entertained and involved; as Acis’ death scene concludes with the chorus singing “Mourn all ye muses”, in the form of a solemn saraband, we are once again reminded that Handel’s “Acis and Galatea”, however entertaining, also deals in human emotions and psychology.

“Mourn, all ye muses! Weep, all ye swains!

Tune, tune your reeds to doleful strains!
Groans, cries and howlings fill the neighb'ring shore:
Ah, the gentle Acis is no more!”

 

Eitan Mechtinger (photo: Maxim Reider)