by Marion Lignana Rosenberg

OR this first column, editor Stefano Vaccara asked me to ponder the current state of Italian opera. The question gave me pause: What is “Italian” opera? To a card-carrying postmodernist, the term reeks of essentialism: the dubious assumption that “sources, forms, style, language and symbol all derive from a supposedly homogeneous and unbroken tradition” (to quote Salman Rushdie).
Sensible people, too, would concede that the notion of “Italian” opera is problematic, at best. Does it mean opera by Italian composers? What, then, is Verdi’s Don Carlos, a setting of a French text written in accordance with the traditions of the Paris Opéra? What about Monteverdi’s operas, composed long before there was an Italy? Do Italian-language works by Gluck and Mozart qualify as “Italian” opera? And is Ruslan y Lyudmila any less “Italianate” for being written by Glinka, a champion of the Russian national style?
There are no clear-cut answers to these questions. And history suggests that, whatever its creators’ pedigrees, opera is both gloriously mongrel and stubbornly Italian. An amalgam of many arts, opera was born, in part, of an attempt to reconstruct ancient drama, and thus of an experiment in philology: a science developed by Italians probing the time-bound, impure nature of all human endeavors. And while opera flourishes far beyond the confines of il bel paese, Italians and individuals of Italian descent continue to shape the form, from such leading interpreters as Cecilia Bartoli and Francesca Zambello to the behind-the-scenes artisans and professionals who keep dramma per musica alive.
So, with apologies to Bugs Bunny, Opera nova won’t be limited to “what’s opera D.O.C.” (Ouch!) We’ll bring the most exciting artists and events to your attention, no matter their country of origin. For now, we look at some highlights of the 2003-04 season in New York. In coming weeks, visit www.americaitaliareview.com for information on the new season in Boston, Philadelphia, and across North America. Arrivederci a settembre e buon ascolto!

NEW YORK
2003-04 promises to be the year of the tenor in New York. Run, do not walk, to buy tickets for Juan Diego Flórez’s début recital (in the Great Performers series) and his Met appearances in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and L’italiana in Algeri. Blessed with a rich, vibrant timbre, a prodigious technique, and oodles of charm, the 29 year-old Peruvian may be the most electrifying talent before the public today.
A charmer of a more heroic stripe, Marcello Giordani sings the title role in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, a rarely staged work that brims with the verve and splendor of its eponym’s own creations. Finally, the arresting, impassioned Neil Shicoff stars in Halévy’s 1835 grand opera La Juive. The tragic tale of the Jewish goldsmith Eléazar, his daughter Rachel, and the persecutions they face, La Juive was a repertory staple for nearly a century, but disappeared from European stages after the Nazis rose to power. With anti-Semitism once again raging on both sides of the Atlantic, Eléazar’s refusal to abjure his faith even in the face of death is a story that no one--American, Italian, or otherwise--can afford to ignore. Information: for Great Performers, <www.lincolncenter.org> or 212.875.5456; for the Met, <www.metopera.org> or 212.362.6000.

A regular contributor to Opera News, Marion Lignana Rosenberg has also written for Time Out New York, Salon.com, Playbill, Boston Magazine, and other leading publications.