Season Closes with 1st Performances of Jennifer Higdon & Jerre Dye’s Take on a Real-life Art Heist, with three Alternate Endings
By GEORGE B. PAROUS
Saturday evening, the crowd that filled Pittsburgh Opera’s Bitz Studio in the Strip heard the world première of Woman With Eyes Closed, as the company gave the enigmatic “family portrait” a rousing first performance that gave new meaning to the title. Tuesday night’s audience will hear the opera with a different conclusion and other nights a third. Advance sales created the need for an additional performance, the unusual Saturday, May 3, 2025, 2:00 PM matinee. What this and the other audiences hear will be the preview audience’s choice and even a chance at the cast’s selection.
Higdon and Dye’s work provided a fine night of genuine entertainment, and will do so until the lights dim at Pittsburgh Opera until the autumn. Briefly, when Mona – a tormented woman with true maternal instincts, finds a mysterious suitcase filled with stolen artworks, she must struggle with a choice to save these priceless paintings or save her son – the thief. Burning the paintings would destroy the evidence against her son, but one of the paintings -Lucian Freud’s “Woman With Eyes Closed”- looks just like her own mother, a painter who died when Mona was young. “The uncanny resemblance unlocks long-buried memories that fuel the fires of three different possible endings.” Women with eyes closed take on a new meaning.
Each time the Bitz Studio is used, designers and directors – indeed, the entire artistic team – find better ideas of how to make the most of the performing space. It was a genuine treat to see the chamber sized orchestra, high above the performing space below, with Conductor Antony Walker highlighted throughout. The gifted instrumentalists, lighting, projections, stage settings all combined for an entertaining evening that was gone – unfortunately – in a flash.
The music is contemporary opera. Melody is avoided wherever possible. Arias – anything wandering from declamation? Out of the question, almost entirely. But the newness of the work and an enthusiastic cast of singers and musicians made for an exciting night. It must be said that singing is a largely missing feature of the work. A sparkling orchestral accompaniment, rich in percussion, carries the cast through spots tedious at times for lack of other than dry declamation.
Thomas (Fran Daniel Laucerica) threatens his mother Mona (Meredith Arwady)
And such voices on the stage. As the beleaguered Mona, Meredith Arwady created a role, made her local debut, and astonished the first night audience with a true contralto voice nothing short of remarkable. So remarkable, indeed, that it’s safe to say that such a voice has not been heard in Pittsburgh since Stephanie Blythe sang Verdi’s Amneris and Saint-Saëns’ Dalila here over a decade ago. Vocally, she poured her soul into the part, and acted the role with a sincerity that was riveting. Her return to Pittsburgh is to be hoped for. Bass Matthew Soibelman, in the part of the Inspector, has a steadily resonant, rich and pleasing voice, but little other than recitatives to do here, and we’ll look forward to appearances he make in the future.
The work makes great demands on not one, but two, sopranos, and Audrey Welsh, (the Curator) and Lauryn Davis (Momma), gave outstanding performances. Tenor Fran Daniel Laucerica, as Thomas, the thief, delivered a captivating performance, acting and singing in a fashion that made hopes for his return to Pittsburgh Opera.
Mona (Meredith Arwady) plays dumb for the Inspector (Matthew Soibelman)
Momma (Lauryn Davis, left) reconnects with her daughter Mona (Meredith Arwady)
The word last shared by Pittsburgh Opera was that tickets for the remaining performances might be hard to come by. But visit their website, box-office – call – cancellations are possible.
Mona (Meredith Arwady) falls asleep haunted by what she’s recently heard from (left to right) the Curator (Audrey Welsh), Thomas (Fran Daniel Laucerica), and the Inspector (Matthew Soibelman)
The Artistic Team for Woman With Eyes Closed –
Conductor, Antony Walker (April 26, 29, May 2, 3, 2025); Conductor, Glenn Lewis (May 4, 2025); Stage Director, Kristine McIntyre; Set and Projection Designer, Luke Cantarella; Props Coordinator, Johnmichael Bohach; Costume Designer, Nancy Julian; Lighting Designer, Todd Nonn; Stage Manager, Tess Naval; Director of Musical Studies, Mark Trawka; Associate Coach/Pianist, James Lesniak; Resident Artist Pianist / Supertitle Caller, Maeve Berry; Assistant Stage Director, Dana Kinney.
David Bachman Photography for Pittsburgh Opera.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The commissioning of Jennifer Higdon for “Woman with Eyes Closed’ received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program. Commissioned by Opera Philadelphia. Funded in part by The Amphion Foundation, Inc.
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