Timeless ‘Figaro’ Opens Ambitious Florentine Opera Season

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Courtesy Of Florentine Opera

Wolfgang Mozart’s comic opera The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro in Italian, the language of its magnificent libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte) premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The audience’s enthusiasm on that first night resulted in five encored numbers; there were seven during the next performance. The opera tells of the lengths to which servants Figaro and Susanna have to go to get married, given that their libidinous employer, Count Almaviva, is dead-set on seducing Susanna. Figaro is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears consistently among the most frequently performed operas around the world; not bad for a work that premiered 233 years ago.

“The Marriage of Figaro is like coming home—for the performers and the audience,” explains Florentine Opera Company general director and CEO Maggey Oplinger. “Every singer I know has sung something from this show. Even if you haven’t seen it before, Mozart’s beautiful orchestration [which will be performed by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra] sounds great, and gorgeous character painting with the voice have withstood the challenges of time for a reason.

“We forget sometimes that the original play caused riots over its sneaky ‘the servants and women outsmart the employer’ theme and was fully banned by the Austrian emperor,” Oplinger continues. “I personally love how Count Almaviva can be both the Countess’ beloved gone astray and also a slimy, entitled ponce assuming he can have his way with whoever he wants. These characters are easy to understand but complex, so very human and flawed.”

Figaro opens the Florentine’s 2019-’20 main stage series (subsequent opera productions will be of Peter Brook’s The Tragedy of Carmen and Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth), and for this Mozart masterpiece, the company promises a top-notch show. “It’s a lush period production. You may see a battle of feather duster against feather fan, and the count is dressed like a king, and his home is a castle,” Oplinger says. “Our creative team is balancing the modern waves of a story like this in our day against the timeless setting Mozart envisioned and created in 1786. We’re laughing in rehearsals, which is always a great place to start. Expect a playful, traditional interpretation that highlights the personalities on stage—not a dusty, slow-moving museum piece.”

Figaro’s continuing relevance and eminent relatability makes it an easy choice—but certainly not easy to successfully pull off—for an opera company. But just what other considerations actually go into deciding what operas to perform during a given season? Why Verdi’s Macbeth and not, say, Friedrich von Flotow’s Martha? “Every opera company is going to answer that a little differently,” Oplinger responds.

Florentine’s Recipe for a Successful Season

“In our case, we’ve spent a number of seasons focusing heavily on baroque and modern opera. In the same way that you balance a meal as a chef, we want to balance our seasons for our audience. So, moving into this season, the team (before my arrival) looked at what audience favorites had been in the past, which past and debuting artists might be available, and what sets and costumes we own. They wanted to try a twist on a classic with Brook’s The Tragedy of Carmen, and we’re getting a great response to that so far.

“As we move into programming 2020-’21, we’re exploring the Florentine’s history, looking at what other companies are doing around the country and the world and identifying some singers we feel Milwaukee deserves to hear in all their glory. That means putting a singer in a role that fits like that perfect little black dress. We, of course, have our personal favorites, but an opera company isn’t just about what thrills us; we want to curate an experience for our audience. Our overall goal is to delight our experienced audience with a new piece to love and discover, thrill the first-time attendee and offer something every year that fits families and kids.

“Verdi’s Macbeth is a great example of this,” Oplinger explains. “William Shakespeare and Verdi rolled into one show? Glorious! It’s cropping up around the country as we explore the riches of that story and music, but Macbeth hasn’t graced the Florentine stage since the 2006-’07 season. We’ve got some incredible talent to show off this season, and down the road—as I get to know what Milwaukee is looking for on our stage—passion projects may creep in where they fit. A meal with a bit of a kick can be very satisfying.”

Besides its full-on opera productions, the Florentine offers intimate, casual “@ The Center Series” concerts taking place at the Wayne and Kristine Lueders Florentine Opera Center in Riverwest (926 E. Burleigh St.) and a brand-new “Spotlight Series,” which began on Wednesday, Sept. 18, with a one-hour program by Wisconsin-born mezzo-soprano Emily Fons.

“As Milwaukee’s opera company, we’ve been bringing great performers to this city since 1933,” Oplinger explains. “Opera singers are hired to sing a specific role under a conductor and stage director of the company’s choosing and as part of a huge production, but some of the best vocal work—and the most moving performances I’ve seen—have happened when a singer gets to choose their own repertoire and their own pianist and revel in the music that thrills them. When a performer is that engaged, the audience gets a thrilling ride.

“The Spotlight Series highlights an outstanding performer on their terms and also gives our audience a chance to meet a world-class singer, have a glass of wine and ask them why that last piece inspired them. It’s a way to immerse yourself in the glory of the voice and get to know the artist in a more personal way. The concerts are short, sweet and fun, and the intimacy is a great balance to the grandeur of our mainstage shows.”

The Marriage of Figaro plays Friday, Oct. 11, and Sunday, Oct. 13, at Uihlein Hall in the Marcus Center, 920 N. Water St. For tickets and more information, call 414-291-5700 or visit florentineopera.org.