July 20 -- report from Verbier

The Collegiate Chorale's final concert in Verbier was not, perhaps, musically our most challenging moment ever, but the company we were keeping certainly reflects glory on us. This may be about the finest Don Giovanni cast it is possible to assemble today, and we were part of it! Don Giovanni was Bryn Terfel, a stalwart friend of the chorale who sang with us in Bob's triumphant final Elijah. This was reportedly his last Don Giovanni ever, since he prefers the role of Leporello, so we were present for a bit of history. Leporello was the devastatingly effective René Pape. And Thomas Quastoff was singing his first Commendatore.

As I mentioned in my last entry, the original Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Don Ottavio were all sick. The substitute singers were Anna Samuil, and Annette Dasch and Michael Schade, who were both in the area preparing for upcoming performances at the Salzburg Festival. Not bad for last-minute replacements. The substitutes had to be brought in while the only road to Verbier was closed off for the Tour de France, so some were flown in by helicopter.

Since the production was extremely sold out, the Chorale members were not able to go out and watch from the auditorium once our scene was over, but we were allowed to stay backstage for the whole production if we wished, which was much more fun. From backstage, we could watch these great performers joking with each other, helping each other out, and dropping in and out of character, and we could see how they prepared for their big scenes, and what they thought of their performances. And we were seated right next to Thomas Quastoff and the offstage band when they played the graveyard scene in which the dead Commendatore tells Don Giovanni his days of laughter are over--so we were able to experience firsthand what an overwhelmingly huge voice Quastoff has at his command.

It was particularly amusing to watch the three bass/baritones playing Don Giovanni, Leporello, and Masetto (the young and very intense Robert Gleadow, whom you should definitely watch for). All three of them clearly know all three roles backwards and forwards, and none of them could resist singing along with each other's parts backstage. I would have loved to watch them rotate roles onstage.

In our big scene we play the wedding party for the peasants Zerlina (Sylvia Schwartz) and Masetto. The production was semi-staged, and so the director had encouraged us to look as festive as possible. It's not a very long moment, but Nancy Wertsch says that when we came rushing out, the whole stage lit up. We were certainly having fun. One of our high school students was selected to be the peasant maiden whom Leporello "takes under his protection," so she got to be pinched by René Pape. And during the dress rehearsal, Bryn Terfel had chosen the same girl to sing his serenade to--and had thrown her an orchid at the end--so she certainly has some lasting memories.

Later, at the end of the opera, the tenor and bass chorus portrays the demons who drag Don Giovanni down to hell. This had originally been planned as an offstage chorus, but because it was difficult to hear, the conductor requested that they be moved onstage. So, at Bryn Terfel's suggestion, they got to literally drag a struggling Don Giovanni off the stage. They had assumed that they'd be singing offstage, where no one would see them, so they could use their music. Now they suddenly found themselves having to memorize their music at the very last minute, which they did admirably.

From our vantage backstage, we could hear perfectly, but see only slivers of the action, but it was clearly a very funny performance. All the singers involved are brilliant actors. Particularly amusing was watching Don Giovanni tell Leporello how a young woman he met on the street had embraced him. Bryn Terfel demonstrated, most enthusiastically, by caressing the dignified conductor, Manfred Honeck.

For the Chorale, this opera was kind of a coda to our main concerts, but what a coda! It's a memory to treasure, and an opportunity very few people will ever be lucky enough to have.

Postscript: The Story of a Garland

In keeping with the director's desire for the bridal party to be festive, I wove seven flower garlands for the female chorus to wear. (There are many worse fates than to spend the afternoon sitting in a meadow in the Alps, twining wildflowers.) You can see us in these wreaths on the video of the performance posted by Medici TV (http://www.medici.tv/#/performance/551). The day after Don Giovanni, most of the Chorale left Verbier in the early morning, but I stayed on. I went for a walk, and stopped to rest on a bench high up in the Alps, looking down at the distant view of Verbier. Mysteriously, there at the foot of the bench was one of my flower garlands. It makes me very happy to think that this token of another wonderful season for the Collegiate Chorale at the Verbier Festival is still up there, keeping watch over Verbier.

-- Janet Pascal