Bringing together a truly golden pair
Actéon and Pygmalion
★★★★(out of 4) By Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Jean-Philippe Rameau. Opera Atelier and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Directed by Marshall Pynkoski and choreographed by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, conducted by David Fallis. At the Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge St., until Nov. 3. operaatelier.com Opera Atelier’s first production of the season is a brilliant pairing of two short French operas that straddle the Baroque era. Each depicts a different aspect of love. Both were inspired by Ancient Roman poet Ovid’s epic Metamorphoses.
The operas are brilliantly staged and were performed impeccably at Thursday’s opening night.
Linking the two is a new work in progress that, at this stage in its development, shows love dancing to the music of a solo violin.
The opening opera, Actéon, was written by Marc-Antoine Charpentier in 1683 for his patron, King Louis XIV. It tells the story of a young prince who prefers hunting over amorous entanglements.
Out in the woods by himself one day, he spies on Diana and some nymphs and gets caught. Diana turns him into a stag who is then caught and killed by his own hunting hounds.
The opera is moralistic, suggesting that restraint and virtue are paramount.
Pygmalion, set to music by Jean-Philippe Rameau in 1748, was created for the court of Louis XV. It tells the tale of a sculptor who falls in love with one of his creations. Venus brings the statue to life and a celebration of love’s pleasures ensues.
These are not big, serious works. They are best appreciated as royal entertainments. They include a chorus and a wealth of instrumental interludes as pretexts to get a corps de ballet out on the stage.
Opera Atelier’s production makes the most of all the material with smart staging by director Marshall Pynkoski, elegant and inventive choreography by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, excellent singing by the cast and chorus, and ever graceful work by the Opera Atelier Corps de Ballet.
Tenor Colin Ainsworth, a frequent Opera Atelier collaborator, is the star attraction in both operas, showing off his lyric voice to great effect.
David Fallis ably conducts the period-instrument Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, nimbly teasing out the beguiling dance rhythms in these two colourful scores.
The Baroque gestures used by the singers are as foreign to us as Baroque dance, but the seamless staging has the magnetic power to melt away the centuries that separate us from the gilded precincts of Versailles.
Gerard Gauci — Opera Atelier’s one and only scenographer — continually surprises with the layering of his trompe l’oeil sets. And Michelle Ram- say’s lighting helps make the magic come alive.
Although it is modern dance, Tyler Gledhill’s short solo piece, Inception, seamlessly stitched the two operas together. Gledhill was accompanied by period-instrument violinist Edwin Huizinga, who composed the music.
This was a taste of what Opera Atelier hopes will one day soon be a full-length work incorporating voice with dance.
Presented in the gilded Elgin Theatre, Actéon and Pygmalion are a glittering pairing.
Opera Atelier is taking them on the road to Chicago, as well as the Royal Theatre at the Palace of Versailles near Paris, as soon as the Toronto run is finished.
It means that even more people outside of Toronto will get to see how lucky we are to have such operatic talents in our midst. Classical music writer John Terauds is a freelance contributor for the Star, based in Toronto. He is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Follow him on Twitter @JohnTerauds