I hadn’t necessarily planned on discussing politics with mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, but it was inevitable that during our conversation earlier this week the subject would arise. One of opera’s most highly-acclaimed mezzo-sopranos, the Latvian-born Garanča is deeply concerned about what’s going on in neighboring Ukraine. She’s also thinking about the presence of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s music in her upcoming recital at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica on Tuesday, March 15th.

“Particularly today the Russian political situation is difficult and artists are very often challenged nowadays: is the Russian music allowed to be performed?” she pondered during our conversation. “We kept it because this program was announced long before the disaster that’s going on at this very moment happened. I was thinking the music per se is not at fault, and the literature and art per se is not at fault. Latvia has a lot of rooting into this music and this wide soul. We are sentimental and we are melancholy some times. I find that Rachmaninoff particularly has written incredibly beautiful [music] for a mezzo-soprano voice. So why not? I will try then to to give the feeling of how I see Rachmaninoff.”

Garanča, who will be accompanied by Malcom Martineau on piano, has conquered many of the major roles for mezzo-sopranos including Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Margueritte in La Damnation de Faust, Kundry in Parsifal and, of course, the title role in Carmen.

When asked if there’s any role she’s terrified of doing she revealed her nerves of steel and that her dream role will soon become a reality.

“I think I’m too old to be terrified. No, I’m not terrified. I still would like to do Amneris [in Verdi’s Aida] which has been my dream role. Regrettably up to now it still hasn’t happened. Hopefully it will happen in 2023 in January. I’m curious about somebody like Azucena from Il Trovatore because I think it will be very interesting to play. I think it will be interesting to do somebody like Ortrud [in Wagner’s Lohengrin] or Mistress Quickly [in Verdi’s Falstaff]. But I have to say for me Amneris, because I haven’t sung the most exciting and most beautiful role. I always said when I sing it, that’s all. I’m ready to stop singing because I have achieved that goal and that mountain that I wanted to achieve and reach.”

Not that Garanča will retire. But after several years of singing that role she will consider switching to recitals and recordings. Fellow mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli compared an opera singer’s voice to a fine wine that has to be aged. Garanča thinks there’s more to it than that.

“I can agree that you have to give time to develop, but just time will not do it. You have to work really on that. You need to adjust technique, you need to research repertoire, you need to push your limits sometimes and you need to challenge yourself, you know? Twenty-five or 30 years ago when I started to actually think about singing I never thought that I will be able to make such a big circle of starting really with Baroque and Mozart and bel canto and really to end up in Wagner.

“It’s not my, how should I say, continuous repertoire, but you know, I’ve started to develop and sing it. But it’s not just like I’m sitting and waiting. I had to work a lot for that, then I had to go to many coaches and many lessons with the teachers.”

Her first recording, Arie Favorite, was released over twenty years ago. In order to look forward often requires looking back. When Garanča does that she has a full understanding of how her voice has matured.

“If I listen now to some of my earlier recordings I still remember that feeling going on and my thinking, Oh my God! Now I listened to some of the things actually, not that bad really. Probably the thing is that you’ll learn to also love your aging instrument. You realize and you accept that certain things are not anymore possible. But I don’t get sad about it because there are so many more things that I can do with it now. And I believe that the voice is also what you are as a person and your personal experiences. Your life experiences also translate in how you sing and how your body becomes and how your personality as a singer becomes.”

If she has concerns it is about the challenges artists have to face in a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate a prickly public.

“When I voice my voice or I express myself, I do not think about if it’s now politically correct or it’s artistically correct. My heart needs to express it and it’s for my own dignity. I think the human being at this very moment is living in this consumer society that very quickly switches from right to left and from left to right. We are very limited in seeing different colors in between. It’s either white or black and I think that at some point that also has to change because we are all different and we all should have the right and must have right to live life and be free of expressing.”

Garanča goes on to explain that this doesn’t just impact the artist, but also the art.

“Also, art in a way is suffering in that respect. Before actually believing and listening to the message that art actually wants to give we start to take it apart. Are we correct in this way? Are we correct in that way? If we do that do we offend this part of the humanity or can we challenge this part? And I think it loses its purpose. We are there to communicate with emotions. We are there to transport. We are there to support history, the imagination of somebody. And if it all gets just corrected by politics, it loses its purpose.”

Though her idol Christa Ludwig once described opera as “an impossible art – if you can say it is an art at all,” Garanča still firmly believes in the power of a great production of a great opera. In other words, in her art.

“You know what? Music has its magical power that when all of the ingredients suit to each other – meaning conductor, staging, costumes, voice – that’s so magical. Where you say, ‘Oh my god, it’s already finished. I didn’t notice how quickly or how long the opera was.’ You know what I mean? It just went in one breath from their first moment down to the last moment; from the joyful meeting up to the death of one or the other one. It was just one breath and we aim to give those nights and they become special and then art.”

To watch our full conversation with Elīna Garanča, please go to our YouTube channel here.

For tickets and more information on Garanča’s recital at The Broad Stage, please go here. She will be performing Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra March 31st – April 5th. For details go here. At the end of May Garanča will begin performances as Dalila in Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila at The Royal Opera in London. For details go here.

Main photo: Elīna Garanča (© Sarah Katharina)

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Anaïs Mitchell wrote the book, music and lyrics for Hadestown. The show is directed by Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812). Hadestown actually began life as a concept record by Mitchell which was released in 2010. The premiere of the musical took place in 2016 at the New York Theatre Workshop (the same place where Rent had its premiere.)

As befits a musical based on these two myths, the show takes place on earth and in the underworld. The set (by Rachel Hauck) feels like we’re in a New Orleans venue much like Preservation Hall.

Reeve Carney (Penny Dreadful; Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark) plays Orpheus. Eva Noblezada (Miss Saigon revival) plays Eurydice. Patrick Page (Spring Awakening), who originated the role of Hades is currently filming, so Tom Hewitt (The Rocky Horror Show) assumes the part until Page returns on November 2nd. Amber Gray (Natasha, Pierre…) plays Persephone. André De Shields (The Full Monty) plays Hermes who serves as our guide through the story.

I got the feeling watching this show and witnessing the audience response that Hadestown is going to be the next hot show in New York. The music is terrific. The performances are uniformly great (including a trio of women called “Fate” who serve as sort of moral guardians in the musical). The choreography by David Neumann serves the story well. And Chavkin’s direction keeps the story moving and leaves you with numerous images that will linger long after the show is over.

It should also be noted that the instrumentation is sparse but energetic. The orchestra employs only seven musicians playing a piano, violin, cello, guitar, trombone, glockenspiel, double bass, drums and percussion. They are on stage and just as much a part of Hadestown as the cast.

Main photo: Eva Noblezada, André De Shields and Reeve Carney in “Hadestown.” All photos by Matthew Murphy

For tickets go here.

Update:  HADESTOWN won 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Score and Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

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If you’ve been living under a rock and aren’t familiar with this musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda took Ron Chernow’s nearly 1,000 page biography of Alex Hamilton and turned it into a multi-ethnic mix of hip-hop, rock, rap, blues, R&B and traditional Broadway music. It went from the Public Theatre in New York and quickly became a worldwide sensation.

Hamilton was nearing its 2,000th performance on Broadway just prior to the pandemic. The show received 16 Tony Award nominations and won 11 including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Direction and Best Choreography. If that wasn’t enough, it also won the Pulitzer Prize.

Heading the Los Angeles cast in the return of Hamilton is Jamael Westman as the title character. He received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance in the London production.

Nicholas Christopher plays Hamilton’s rival, Aaron Burr. Rubén J. Carbajal portrays John Laurens and Hamilton’s son, Philip. Joanna A. Jones (known to local audiences for her many performances as part of For the Record) plays Eliza Hamilton with Taylor Iman Jones as her sister Peggy Schuyler (she also plays Maria Reynolds) and Sabrina Sloan as sister Angelica Schuyler. Carvens Lissaint plays first President George Washington; Simon Longnight is in the dual roles of Marquis De Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson with Wallace Smith as Hercules Mulligan/James Madison. Returning to play King George is Rory O’Malley who performed the role when Hamilton first played Los Angeles.

As it was when Hamilton first played the Pantages, there is a digital lottery for tickets for every performance with a limited number of $10 seats. That lottery is in place for this engagement.

If you want to be in the room where Hamilton happens go here. Note: You must be vaccinated and be able to show proof of vaccination to attend this show at the Pantages. Masks are required to be worn at all times (except when eating or drinking.)

Photo of Jamael Westman and the Eliza National Tour cast of Hamilton by Joan Marcus (Courtesy of Broadway in Hollywood)

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Even if you’ve never been to LA’s train station, you’ve probably seen it in such movies as Blade Runner, Bugsy, Catch Me If You Can and The Dark Knight Rises.

The public piano is re-opening at Union Station and to celebrate they are going to start posting archived pop-up performances of five different pianists making great music called Play On! Each performance will be streamed beginning at 7 PM on the Facebook and Instagram page and YouTube channel for L.A. Union Station. The performances will remain available on the YouTube channel.

The series starts today, July 19th, with pianist and producer Jamael Dean – my personal favorite of the five soloists. He’s performed with Kamasi Washington, Thundercat (who joined Washington for Sunday’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl) and more. He’s a musician who knows the traditions of jazz and just how far he can play with them to create his own sound.

Tuesday, July 20th Donia Jarrar will be performing. She creates a fusion of classical music, improvisation, electronic and more to create her own kind of music that has found its way into film, dance, theater and more.

Wednesday July 21st will feature Ukranian Inna Faliks. Classical music is her speciality and she’ll be performing the music of Maurice Ravel and Franz Liszt. She’s the head of piano for UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music and has performed with Camerata Pacifica, Bodytraffic and more.

If jazz and funk is your thing you’ll want to check out Brandon Coleman on Thursday, July 22nd. Coleman has also collaborated with Kamasi Washington and Babyface, Flying Lotus and Donald Glover. His music is as infectious as his omnipresent smile.

The series closes out with jazz on the Latin side with a performance by Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Montes. He was instrumental (pun intended) in the music on Jane the Virgin and has collaborated with many of the top Latin Grammy nominated artists of our time.

There’s only one other artist missing from this list: you. If you find yourself at Union Station and have the talent and nerve to tickle the ivories, the piano is waiting for you. After the hiatus forced by the pandemic, it’s my understanding that the piano has not been drinking. (Extra points if you get that reference!) So play on!

Main photo: Jamael Dean/All photos courtesy of L.A. Union Station

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