Madeline Ehlinger, Soprano in the Title Role, Shares Some Thoughts on the Production
By George B. Parous
The Rose Elf, is a one act chamber opera with music and libretto by David Hertzberg, which premiered in the catacombs of a Brooklyn cemetery in 2018, is the next offering from Pittsburgh Opera, beginning next Saturday evening.
The Observer noted that the work “shocked, confounded, disturbed, and, in the end, exalted.” Opera Newscalled the piece, “a compelling and welcome addition to the operatic canon.” OperaWire noted the work’s “palpable sense of tragedy, its creepiness, and the heavy infusion of eroticism within the story,” but also wrote of Hertzberg as “masterful at using a minimal number of instrumentalists to create gargantuan sound.” The New Yorker said its music “blooms with warmth and depth,” so we’ll certainly look forward to the first local staging with much curiosity.
Resident Artist Madeline Ehlinger, who will sing the title role, recently took time to share some insight on her role and the production. “The Elf lives in a garden bower, and happens upon a couple,” she answered when asked for some background on her character. “The Elf immediately takes a keen interest in what’s going on between the couple and tries to fix things through ‘Elfin’ powers. Elves are into nature, and very much emotionally in touch with both the humans they encounter, and the world of itself.”
Ms. Ehlinger, as one of the Three Ladies in November’s The Magic Flute, sang Mozart’s music, with Maire Therese Carmack and Corrie Stallings, in one of the most mellifluous examples of pure bel canto in ensemble singing the writer has heard in many years of countless operas. Asking her about the differences in singing centuries’ old music and the contemporary, she replied: “David Hertzberg, the composer, has really written the music beautifully. It’s great to sing. He wrote the libretto himself, so he was able to perfectly marry the music with the text that was in his head. Although it’s totally different from The Magic Flute, the transition really hasn’t been all that difficult because it’s enjoyable music to sing.”
As for the production: “Rehearsals are going really well. There’s actually a dancer involved. A lot of the Elf’s part is talking to the Rose. Our director Kaley Karis Smith chose to hire a dancer to portray the Rose, so I’m not just singing to a prop. It’s fun, and very different. Although the opera is a fairy tale, it is a dark one. It’s very beautiful, but there’s a lot of tragedy in it. I think audiences can expect to see something that’s very visually appealing. But it packs a punch that you might not expect when you think ‘oh, it’s a fairy tale about an elf in a garden and a pair of lovers’. There’s a lot more that goes on than you might expect.
“A lot of the show is the Elf is alone, while the humans are somewhere else, but Kaley is staging it so that they interact even if the humans don’t notice me. So I’m not just by myself in a corner while all the action is happening elsewhere. It’s more of an ensemble show than I thought it would be, which is great. The set is beautiful. There are flowers hanging from the ceiling, and there’s going to be a lot of projection work. The flowers are actually white, but using projections they are going to change color based on the mood of what’s happening in that moment of the opera. So visually that will make it really exciting to watch.
“The audience will be on two different sides of us, so we’re not just singing directly ‘to’ them. It impacts where the conductor can be, since he can’t be right in front of us. We are going to have monitors set up in different areas with the conductor shown to us. And on top of that you have to be aware that you can’t just look forward. There’s a lot of turning around without making it look like you’re trying too hard to see everyone – you have to stay aware that there are people on multiple sides of you and not just right in front of your face. In that way it feels like the audience is more involved, because you’re surrounded by them instead of just presenting to them. I think it will be very effective given the nature of the show.”
Since live performances in front of live audiences are still a comparative novelty, it seems like for the immediate future, asking singers what they are most looking forward to in a production, will be a “must ask” question. “I’m just really excited to share the stage with the rest of the cast,” Ms. Ehlinger replied. “A lot of us have been working together for our second year now. It’s fun to do a show when we all know each other really well. It’s a welcoming space to try things out in the rehearsal process. I’m excited to see what it becomes with us working closely together over the past weeks.”
It seems a lot of people are excited. Presently, all four productions are sold-out. To check for openings if they become available, full production details and more, visit Pittsburgh Opera.
Others in The Rose Elf cast are Andrew Turner as The Beloved (Horus); Véronique Filloux as The Girl (Luna); Jeremy Harr as The Brother, and Grace Lopez as “The Rose.” James Lesniak Conducts.
Special thanks to Chris Cox, Director of Marketing and Communications for Pittsburgh Opera.
David Bachman Photography for Pittsburgh Opera
Categories: Company, Feature, Show Previews
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