Celebrating its 25th year of musical performance and top-quality opera, Opera North in Lebanon presents performances of Puccini's Turandot, as well as Verdi's Falstaff, which will run through the month of August.
This year's performance of Turandot, Puccini's final work, is a 20th- century Western adaptation of ancient Eastern folklore, reflecting both the historical European conception of China as a barbaric land, and the West's captivation by the exoticism of Chinese culture. Puccini died before the opera's completion.
When a coldhearted and blood-thirsty princess meets a devout and lovestruck prince, she presents him with three riddles. Like previous suitors, the noble and mysterious Tartar Prince Calaf must correctly answer these three riddles to win the princess and avoid execution.
"What is born each night and dies each dawn?" asks Princess Turandot. After correctly answering "hope," Calaf conquers the princess' following two riddles. Prince Calaf, as a testament to his chivalric nobility, ultimately melts Turandot's icy heart.
Completed by Franco Alfano, Turndot raises the question: If a composer dies before completing his masterpiece, should the work be left unfinished, or completed by someone else? Though various artists attempted to compose Turandot's true conclusion, none could achieve Puccini's sound.
"[The ending] could be more Puccini-esque," said Heidi Baxter, who has played the flute and piccolo with Opera North for 17 years. "Puccini had a magical chromatic sense and the person who finished it didn't have the same sensitivity."
Despite Alfano's contribution to the opera, Turandot concludes with emotional gusto when Li, the loyal servant of Calaf's father, sacrifices herself for love -- the love she feels towards Calaf and the love she desires Turandot to feel.
Michael Hayes' spectacular performance as Prince Calaf is enhanced by the orchestra's musical wonder. Drawing freelance musicians from all over the nation and led by Burkot, this year's Opera North orchestra produces an unprecedented sound.
This year's performance has included the largest orchestra in the history of Opera North, the company's executive director, Risa Bridges-Hall, explained.
"It's always a challenge to play opera,"Baxter said, adding, "It's really fun because [the performance] just varies."
Baxter explained that variation between performances occurs because a singer has more freedom to set the tempo of the piece. Opera North draws principle singers who perform with major production companiesuch as the New York City Opera or the Metropolitan Opera.
"The singing is really outstanding, especially this year," Baxter said. "The tenors are more mature and just a nicer quality voice."
The chemistry between an opera singer and the orchestra is a dynamic balance, which Opera North has mastered over the course of 25 years. Burkot has maintained this balance since the company's conception in 1982.
"Louis has an uncanny ability: He has a really fine-tuned ear for the voice," Sharon Daniels, director of Boston University's Opera Institute, said in a recent Opera North publication celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Opera North has continued its tradition as an educational resource for young artists. Selecting only around 24 to 30 young performers from over 800 auditions, the company has maintained its prestige and helped to produce some of the finest opera performers in the nation.
"The Young Artist Program is probably considered one of the top training programs in the country, and has a national reputation," Bridges-Hall said.
Dartmouth students continue to work with Opera North and take full advantage of the educational opportunities it provides. Three sophomores, Tyler Putnam '09, Courtney Valentine '09, and Aulden Kaye '09 participated with the production this summer.
"I've had to really budget my time this summer but it's been a really incredible experience," Kaye, who sang in the chorus and participated with the Young Artist Program classes, said regarding her experience.
"Audiences coming from farther afield are drawn to the company by its artistic reputation, the unique setting of the Upper Valley, and the diversity of musical offering -- two to three operas, programs of opera scenes, and master classes with world-renowned artists," Maria Laskaris, Dartmouth's new Dean of Admissions and trained choreographer wrote in a publicity booklet.
The Opera began as a free performance in the basement of the Hopkins Center and was originally proposed by Burkot, a former voice teacher at Dartmouth College, as an opportunity for students to experience operatic stage performance. Burkot is now the conductor and music director for what Money Magazine has named "one of the best summer opera festivals in the world."
Opera North has benefited the local economy immensely, providing more for the Hanover area each year. An estimated 15 percent of ticket buyers live beyond the New Hampshire-Vermont area, according to Bridges-Hall.
"The impact that the opera has had on the area, for one, is that it has been able to provide professional opera to the Upper Valley, to children and to adults through the education programs, not to mention the economic impact that the production has had," Bridges-Hall said. "It has a lot of potential and is slowly becoming a destination summer festival."
