Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Music by Antonio Vivaldi. Words by Sara Ruhl. A bird dance. A set made of water, soap bubbles and suds. English, Italian, Latin. The Seasons, debuting in March in Boston, draws on 300-year-old music to obliquely address present-day climate change. On January 14 New York City’s Works & Process series presented a discussion and preview that suggested an impactful production is in store.
Choreographer Pam Tanowitz spoke of how familiar to listeners are the four violin concertos that comprise Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. How to break through expectations? You can let people hear the music differently, she said, through dance. To prove it, four dancers previewed some of the compelling choreography of this hybrid dance-opera.
Soprano Whitney Morrison and baritone Brandon Cedel showed off powerful voices and melismatic skills as they sang arias from the production. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who co-conceived The Seasons with Ruhl, closed the preview with a stunning aria drenched in emotion. He sang the last part while lying on his side. Might that have been a suggestion from Zack Winokur, the choreographer-turned-director helming the production? It hinted at unconventional staging.
Arias from Vivaldi’s little-known operas inspired Costanzo to conceive The Seasons. Their lyrics often concern weather, he told us — the internal weather of our bodies and minds, particularly when we’re in distress. Disordering The Four Seasons, as the creative team does in The Seasons, reflects the distress of the whole world at the unexpectedly fast onslaught of climate change’s effects, from wildfires in Los Angeles to rising sea levels on the Boston waterfront where Boston Lyric Opera has its offices.
The Seasons is a co-production of Boston Lyric Opera, AMOC, and SCENE. It runs for five performances March 12–16 in Boston. Tickets and information are at the Boston Lyric Opera website.
