Tosca' and 'Butterfly' with live electronics, Music & Vision 3 gennaio

LOW COST, BUT EFFECTIVE

'Tosca' and 'Butterfly' with live electronics,
by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

It is no longer an experiment. It has being going on for nearly ten years. It has been hardly noticed by the Italian press, but reported on by The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Independent, La Tempestad, Expension Entorno, Actual and various German and Far Eastern (mostly Japanese and Korean) newspapers and magazines. Early in 2009, it was studied in depth by Suguru Agata, Segretary General of the Japan Electronic Keyboard Society; as a result, it has been included among the research and experimental lyric opera theatres under review and monitoring upon by the Open Research Center Project of the Showa Music University. In 2010, two of its productions will be seen at the Shanghai International Expo and at the Korean Chamber Opera Festival.
It is of interest to our readers for two reasons: firstly, it shows how low cost or budget opera can use modern technology -- very important information for opera houses in comparatively small towns as well as for touring companies; secondly, it provides indications to tourists visiting Rome for alternative ways to have an opera evening when the Teatro dell'Opera is not 'in season' or is 'sold out'. Although the most relevant aspect shows how to use technology to reduce costs, opera goers in Rome should to avoid falling into many well advertised traps: performances in churches and Renaissance palaces by occasionally and often carelessly assembled groups of amateurs : often their quality is abysmal.
Let us sum up how the Piccolo Lirico (www.piccolalirica.com) started and gradually established itself. About ten years ago, during one of the mini-recessions that plagued Italy before the 2008 massive world downturn, three active and ingenious, but no longer adolescent, girls found themselves out of job; All of them loved opera. They were respectively a stage director-manager, a stage sets and costumes designer and a conductor. They had guts. Thus, they set for an adventure: low cost, but decent quality opera. Of courses, with their limited means and no state or regional financial support, they never aimed at producing anything comparable to La Scala, La Fenice, San Carlo, Massimo or the Teatro dell'Opera. The tickets are about half the price of those in major houses and further discounts are offered to groups.

Piccolo Lirico's 'Tosca' at Teatro Flaiano
They found a small stage theatre nearly hidden in the central heart of Rome (the untouched Renaissance area between the Pantheon, the Collegio Romano, and Torre Argentina archeological setting). The theatre is an elegant and cozy 150 seat candy or jewel box. They decided that their operas should be different to those available in normal houses. Thus, performances start at 8pm promptly and end at 10pm (when the audience can enjoy dinners in many a trattoria nearby). Operas are often abridged by removing scenes with many singers and large choruses; also at the Bregenz Festival, operas are cut to fit one single stage set and not more than a two hour performance. At Bregenz, voices and orchestra are electronically amplified. However, there should be no compromise in quality, viz voices, acting orchestra, staging and alike (including dancing in their Carmen). And, of course, no amplification.

Daniela Yum as Madama Butterfly for Piccolo Lirico
Young singers are selected after a competitive process and receive training in acting: a now internationally known singer Amarilli Nizza started her career as Traviata at the Piccolo Lirico some ten years ago. The main innovations deal with stage sets and orchestra. The sets are computerized projections: in Tosca and Butterfly -- in repertory until 12 June 2010 -- the sets are, respecitively, reproductions of Rome in the early nineteenth century (with a small movie on Tosca's running in a period sedan to Castel Sant'Angelo) and the history of Japanese paintings from Tawara Sotatsu to latest experimental pictures. The orchestra is live electronics, but not, as usually done, an electone supported by normal instruments; there are four different electones, played by professional pianists under the baton of a professional conductor: they can reproduce the sounds of an orchestra of sixty instruments.

Marta Brivio as Tosca for Piccolo Lirico
Piccolo Lirico is worth a visit.
Copyright © 6 January 2010 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

TOSCA
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
ROME
ITALY
JAPAN
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