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Preview: Tafelmusik's Jeanne Lamon takes on opera Hercules with strength of 10 ordinary men

By John Terauds on January 19, 2012

Jeanne Lamon (Sian Richards photo)

Thirty years after taking over Toronto’s then-struggling Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, violinist Jeanne Lamon is expanding her scope to include opera.

Tonight marks the opening of Lamon conducting (from her concertmaster’s desk) a semi-staged concert of George Frideric Handel’s 1745 “musical drama” Hercules. It and Semele are the only two English-language operas he wrote (although there is no evidence that it was ever fully staged in his day).

With the help of staging and choreography by Opera Atelier co-artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeanette Lajeunesse Zingg, Toronto is getting its first period-performance presentation of this work.

Although it would be too onerous to check every historical record, Lamon is pretty sure this is the first time Hercules is being heard in Toronto, ever.

The front of the stage is being left open for a small group of Opera Atelier dancers and soloists, an excellent group that includes soprano Nathalie Paulin and mezzos Allyson McHardy and Laura Pudwell in the female roles (which are far more important than the masculine title might suggest), as well as tenor Colin Balzer. The title role is sung by baritone Sumner Thompson.

Arranged behind them will be an expanded Tafelmusik orchestra, numbering 30. The Tafelmusik Chamber Choir will be one step up, in the balcony behind the stage.

Usually, the choir is the domain of director Ivars Taurins, but he has stepped aside this time to allow Lamon to be in charge of everything.

“I’ve really wanted to do this opera,” says Lamon, who has only tried conducting something on this scale once before, with the young ensemble of the Paris Opéra several years ago.

Lamon believes Hercules has been unfairly sidelined in the current wave of revivals and renewed public interest in Baroque-era operas.

This opera is unusual in that it focuses on character development more than the typical morality tale of opera seria. It also requires two exceptional mezzos, Lamon points out. Hercules, she says, showcases one of the great mad women in all of opera — Hercules’ wife Dejanira, who is being portrayed by McHardy.

The opera opens with Dejanira convinced that Hercules has been killed in battle and that she will never see him again. Her mourning turns to anger when Hercules returns with a beautiful young captive. The (unjustified) anger then turns to revenge as Dejanira kills her husband with a poisoned cloak.

Thanks to a blossoming career in Europe, McHardy is a Torontonian with only a nodding acquaintance with home base. “We’re correcting that,” says Lamon of her vocal trump card.

Tafelmusik’s guiding force would love to do more semi-staged opera, if there’s enough public interest. Lamon says this fits with the mandate she has always seen for her orchestra.

“Our job is to find great works, to find something fabulous that isn’t done enough,” she asserts.

“Opera in concert does not have to be staid and stiff,” Lamon adds. She explains how, as the resident orchestra at the first two editions of Kent Nagano’s Reate Festival in Italy, the orchestra had a chance to participate in two productions of Mozart operas that did not use traditional staging. “It made me think it can be done,” she says.

Because Hercules is in English, there’s no need for surtitles, also helping the audience connect more closely with what’s happening on stage.

Tonight’s performance at Koerner Hall is sold out, but there are some tickets left for shows that continue to Sunday afternoon. For more information and tickets for Friday’s performance, click here.

To give you a taste of what to expect, here is the Overture as well as the culmination of Dejanira’s madness, brought to us by the fabulous Joyce DiDonato, as presented by conductor William Christie and Les Arts Florissants:

John Terauds

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